In 2002, Sarah Waters expressed the sadness she had felt at putting Margaret Prior, protagonist of

and victim of a terrible deception, “through the mill” (Q&A session,

). Fittingly, then, her next novel,

, detailed the guilt and sorrow of two women who intentionally swindle one another. It is told in three parts, in a loose reference to the Victorian triple-decker novel, and the first-person narrative voice switches from the first woman to the second, and back again. The reader is privy only to that which is revealed by the narrative voice, for there is no omniscient narrator. The novel's technique of maintaining secrecy and revelation through the switching of narrative position has led some reviewers to compare it to Wilkie Collins'

1983 words

Citation: Yates, Louisa. "Fingersmith". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 09 January 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=23070, accessed 21 November 2024.]