Affinity

an Upper-class Woman, Recovering From A Suicide Attempt, Visits The Women's Ward Of Millbank Prison As Part Of Her Rehabilitation. There She Meets Selina, An Enigmatic Spiritualist-and Becomes Drawn Into A Twilight World Of Ghosts And Shadows, Unruly Spirits And Unseemly Passions, Until She Is At Last Driven To Concoct A Desperate Plot To Secure Selina's Freedom, And Her Own.

unfolds Sinuously And Ominously...a Powerful Plot-twister. The Book Is Multidimensional: A Naturalistic Look At Victorian Society; A Truly Suspenseful Tale Of Terror; And A Piece Of Elegant, Thinly Veiled Erotica. (usa Today)

gothic Tale, Psychological Study, Puzzle Narrative-sarah Waters' Second Novel Is All Of These Wrapped Into One, Served Up To Superbly Suspenseful And Hypnotic Effect. (the Seattle Times)

the Advocate - Nancy Chinn

waters Has Perfect Pitch In Her Representations Of Bourgeois Victorian Life, The Puritanical Misery Of Prisons In The 1870's, And The Spiritualist Subculture...she Has Created A Compelling Character In A Deeply Absorbing Book.

Author : Sarah Waters

Publisher : Riverhead Books

Published Year : 2002

Edition : Reprint

Format : Paperback, 368 pages

Dimensions : 5.23 (w) x 8.04 (h) x 0.99 (d)

ISBN : 1573228737

ISBN13 : 9781573228732

Overview :

An upper-class woman recovering from a suicide attempt, Margaret Prior has begun visiting the women’s ward of Millbank prison, Victorian London’s grimmest jail, as part of her rehabilitative charity work. Amongst Millbank’s murderers and common thieves, Margaret finds herself increasingly fascinated by on apparently innocent inmate, the enigmatic spiritualist Selina Dawes. Selina was imprisoned after a séance she was conducting went horribly awry, leaving an elderly matron dead and a young woman deeply disturbed. Although initially skeptical of Selina’s gifts, Margaret is soon drawn into a twilight world of ghosts and shadows, unruly spirits and unseemly passions, until she is at last driven to concoct a desperate plot to secure Selina’s freedom, and her own.

As in her noteworthy deput, Tipping the Velvet, Sarah Waters brilliantly evokes the sights and smells of a moody and beguiling nineteenth-century London, and proves herself yet again a storyteller, in the words of the New York Times Book Review, of "startling power." A tale that will leave readers "transfixed with horror and excitement" (Daily Mail, London) Affinity, in its accomplishment and sophistication, leaves no doubt as to this writer's considerable gifts.