Fingersmith by Sarah Waters is the book for discussion on September 26

The book selection is Fingersmith by Sarah Waters. When I first picked up this book, I wasn't sure I was going to like it. I am not a fan of Dickensian Victorian novels. But boy, this is a page turner. And while you are turning pages, watch out for all the twists and turns Sarah Waters has written into the plot. Wow!

As Linda Mu. cautioned at the book group last time, this is not a book to pick up a few days before we get together at the end of September. It is a dense novel (about 600 pages) with a lot of detail to pay attention to (it's a suspense novel). But I thought it was a fast moving book and it is still hard for me to put it down - I'm on my second reading and I've watched the movie several times.

Speaking of the movie: After we are done discussing the book in book club, Erica and I are hosting a movie night where you are invited to come over and watch the BBC version with us. More about this later.

Here are two synopsis/reviews of the book. Hopefully it will peak your interests and encourage you to go out and get the book if you haven't done so already.

Happy Reading - Jen

From Amazon.co: Fingersmith is [a] hypnotic suspense novel is awash with all manner of gloomy Dickensian leitmotifs: pickpockets, orphans, grim prisons, lunatic asylums, "laughing villains," and, of course, "stolen fortunes and girls made out to be mad." Divided into three parts, the tale is narrated by two orphaned girls whose lives are inextricably linked. Waters's penchant for byzantine plotting can get a bit exhausting, but even at its densest moments--and remember, this is smoggy London circa 1862--it remains mesmerizing. A damning critique of Victorian moral and sexual hypocrisy, a gripping melodrama, and a love story to boot, this book ingeniously reworks some truly classic themes.

From Library Journal: In Victorian London, the orphaned Sue Trinder is raised by Mrs. Sucksby, den mother to a family of thieves, or "fingersmiths." To repay Mrs. Sucksby's kindness, Sue gets involved in a scam but soon regrets it.