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Loading... Affinityby Sarah Waters
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. 2   mrstreme | Oct 4, 2009 |  aarti | Sep 19, 2009 | Superbly researched and written. I love Victorian novels, and this contemporary fiction hits the tone exactly right - like a Bronte novel in mood and repressed passion. I was dreading the ending, fearing it would be false, but instead it was pretty much what I had hoped for and completely true to what would have to have occurred. Beautiful writing and an excellent look at women in a cold, cheerless prison of 1870's England. Dialogue and vocabulary also struck me as very accurate. A tour de force and a perfect pre-Halloween read. (  ) kishields | Sep 19, 2009 | I. Loved. This Book. Affinity doesn't seem to be as popular as Waters' other novels and I cannot see why. Perhaps it's the subtly of the story. The subtly is one of the reasons I loved it so much. I don't need things explained in detail about the supposed bond between people. This is how I write my own stories; you just feel it. You can feel the emotions of the characters and their feelings without them having physical contact with another person. The supernatural aspect is the main reason I loved this. This made me excited to read Affinity and it did not disappoint. It's a brilliantly crafted story with spirituality woven into it. So far this would have to be my favorite of Waters' novels. The ending will blow you away. ( ) runaway84 | Aug 11, 2009 | A library book I happened across, with much glee. She's very popular, so it's a rare occasion to actually find one of her books at the library. Another of Waters' Victorian pastiches, this one is from the diary of a young woman, Margaret Prior, who is recovering from an unspecified illness and takes up the job of being a Lady Visitor to Millbank Prison to show the inmates the error of their ways through her refined lady-like behaviour. I love the Victorians. So repressed, so much emotional mileage to be had from said repression. We also get the occasional note from Selina Dawes, a medium who has been sent to the prison after something went wrong. And as the book progresses, Margaret becomes obsessed with Selina and her case. The historical detail is simply marvelous, as one would expect of Waters' books. For example, I have no idea of whether lady visitors to the female prisoners actually existed, but I truly believe they did now because of this book. The book slowly and tantalisingly gives us clues as to what happened previously, and builds up the tension until the final pages. I didn't actually see the ending coming, and it wasn't what I was hoping for, but I did love it. A fabulous story, wonderfully told, highly recommended. (  )3 wookiebender | Aug 10, 2009 |  no reviews | add a review
Amazon.com (ISBN 186049692X, Paperback)Affinity is a tale of power and possession that Henry James himself might admire. In her first novel, Tipping the Velvet, Sarah Waters explored secrets and longing--capping off this lesbian romp with a utopian-socialist vision. Her intricate follow-up is just as sensual but infinitely darker, its moral more difficult to descry. Its stylistic and psychological rewards, however, are visible at every turn, the author's persuasive imagination matched by her gift for storytelling.In late September 1874, Margaret Prior makes her way through the pentagons of London's Millbank Prison, a place of fearful symmetry and endless corridors. This plain woman on the verge of 30 has come to comfort those behind bars, several of whom Waters brings to instant, sad life. And our Lady Visitor plans to take her role dead seriously, having recovered from two years of nervous indolence in her family's Chelsea house. One person, however, makes her job a passion. Opening an inspection slit (or "eye" as these devices are known), Margaret hears "a perfect sigh, like a sigh in a story." Peering inward, she's confronted by the most erotic of visions--a woman turned toward the sun, caressing her cheek with a forbidden violet: "As I watched, she put the flower to her lips, and breathed upon it, and the purple of the petals gave a quiver and seemed to glow..." Selina Dawes may indeed have the face of a Crivelli angel, but this medium is in for fraud and assault, her last session having gone very badly indeed. Suffice it to say that the first full encounter between these two very different women is enthralling. "You think spiritualism a kind of fancy," Selina riddles. "Doesn't it seem to you, now you are here, that anything might be real, since Millbank is?" And soon enough Margaret receives several viable signs of the supernatural: a locket disappears from her room, flowers mysteriously appear, and her dazzling friend knows everything about her. Strangest of all, Selina seems to love her. As Margaret records her weekly prison forays, her own past comes into focus, notably her plans to travel to Italy with her first love (who is now her sister-in-law). But her current journal, she convinces herself, is to be very different from her last one, which "took as long to burn as human hearts, they say, do take." Meanwhile, Waters offers a narrative two-for-one, placing Margaret's diary cheek by jowl with Selina's chronicle of her pre-Millbank existence. This dispassionate, staccato record initially suggests that we can separate truth from desire. Or can we? What Waters's haunting creation leaves us with is a more painful reality--that knowledge and belief are entirely different things. --Kerry Fried (retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:00 -0400) The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details. |
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Margaret Prior was an unmarried lady who was mourning the death of her father and the marriage of her childhood lover, Helen. To find a purpose with her life, she became a “Lady Visitor” at Millbank Prison, specifically to the troubled female prisoners who could benefit from visits by a society woman. During her visits, Margaret found a special attachment to one inmate – Selina Dawes – a medium arrested for allegedly beating a young girl and causing the death of her guardian.
Learning more about Selina’s plight, Margaret became more interested in spiritualism, and Waters masterfully wove Victorians’ obsession with ghosts and mediums into the story, allowing the reader to learn more about this aspect of Victorian culture. Eventually, Margaret’s interest in Selina became more deep and attached – to the point that Margaret agreed to aid Selina’s prison escape.
Margaret and Selina proved to be characters that were sympathetic and unforgettable. Margaret was emotionally fragile, unsure about her sexual orientation in a sexually repressed society – the perfect candidate to assist Selina. The young medium was depicted as someone lost; her innocence slightly suspect, but a character you hoped the best for (she reminded me of Margaret Atwood’s Grace in Alias Grace). Together, their relationship was emotionally charged and great to read.
I selected Affinity to read as my first book of October because of its ghostly elements. I was pleasantly surprised that I got much more than a ghost story. Affinity was a great psychological thriller and historical fiction novel. If you love these genres, then make sure to put this book on your TBR list. (