`We were all more or less thieves at Lant Street. But we were that kind of thief that rather eased the dodgy deed along, than did it … We could pass anything, anything at all, at speeds which would astonish you. There was only one thing, in fact, that had come and got stuck - one thing that had somehow withstood the tremendous pull of that passage - one thing that never had a price put to it. I mean of course, Me.’

Sue Trinder, orphaned at birth, is born among petty thieves - fingersmiths - in London’s Borough. From the moment she draws breath, her fate is linked to another orphan, growing up in a gloomy mansion not too many miles away . . .

A modern day Dickens, Sarah Waters is one of Britain's rising stars.

Reviews

• 'It is a rare pleasure to discover a writer as assured as Waters' Joan Smith, Sunday Times
• 'A chilling, ingenious erotic thriller - unputdownable' Sunday Express
• 'Sarah Waters is one of the best storytellers alive today…sooner or later she's going to be given the Booker' Matt Thorne, Independent on Sunday
• 'An extraordinarily good novel' Douglas Kennedy, Mail on Sunday

Ebook (PDF)

Published 03/02/2003