69. The Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
Set in Victorian England, this story is told from the alternating perspectives of Susan an orphan raised in a den of thieves, and Maud a country heiress. In a grand scheme created by a man known as the Gentleman, Susan is enlisted to act as Maud’s maid in order to entice her into marrying the Gentleman, who then intends to abscond with her inheritance. There are a number of twists and turns in this story that I didn’t see coming which I enjoyed. Waters also does an excellent job of setting the scene, but I felt the story really dragged at parts. The book is kind of broken up into 4 parts with parts one and two telling the same story first from the perspective of Susan and then from the perspective of Maud. I felt like Waters could really have moved through Maud’s story much quicker since we already knew everything that happened. As the book is over 500 pages long I think editing that down would have made the story much tighter and more engaging. I give it a 6 out of 10.