Affinity

The plot was beguiling, almost as much as the purported mesmeric qualities of one of the novel’s main characters, the medium Selina Dawes; Sarah Waters has a fine ear for a slightly raised style of Victorian prose, combining that with a page-turning ethos, I found this book unputdownable.

Set almost entirely in winter, the book is perfect for reading fodder as the nights begin to shorten. 

Looking to move past the social shame of her suicide attempt, Margaret Prior begins visiting a woman’s prison to conduct rehabilitative charity work. But when she meets the young spiritualist Selina Dawes, she finds herself pulled into a world of smouldering passion and the realisation the world may be more than she ever realised. 

In this book, Sarah Waters takes Victorian gothic romance and brings it into the modern age. Reading this book involves peeling away the layers and interpreting the unspoken. Nothing is spelt out, as none of the characters would ever deign to say such things out loud.… show more.

Set in the dark prison walls of Victorian London, and the prim and proper front parlours of the upper classes, this is another subtle, creepy suspense. The Victorians of England had a fascination with the paranormal—from photographing the dead to séances—and this is what draws the protagonist into the drama. A privileged young woman, during her weekly round of duty at a local prison, becomes entranced by a beautiful and gifted spiritual medium, who’d been accused of trickery at one such event. The story is so deftly told you honestly cannot work out what’s real and what isn’t,… show more.

This historical novel set in Victorian England is, in my opinion, a winter read. Grab a blanket, find a cozy couch, set yourself up with a cup of tea, and dive into Affinity. The tale it tells is twisted, and will have you wondering, How in the hell is this all going to resolve? I especially enjoyed it because I worked as a visiting artist in a women’s prison, and I can tell you, the relationship between inmate and visitor is complicated. The novel also deals with social status, which I love. Is it a love story? Decide… show more.

This wasn’t the first Sarah Waters novel I read (it’s her second), but it was the one where I completely fell in love with her writing. Set in Victorian England, Margaret Prior is haunted by her past. Thinking she’ll push the shadows away through charitable works, she becomes a Prison Visitor. However, she meets – and falls for – mysterious inmate Selina Dawes and things go very, very wrong. 

I love novels where things are not quite as they seem and Waters is a mistress at creating an unsettling atmosphere. It also taught me a lot about writing from the… show more.