Then the first part comes to its conclusion, and with it, we see the first of many plot twists. Jeez, women had such an exciting time in Victorian England, right? Not! All they do is go for walks around the house and do some sewing.

Sue’s not the brightest bulb in the book Maud is an odd duck. We see Sue’s life in Victorian London, and then we are transported to a remote country house where Maud lives a very stifling life, working as an unpaid secretary to her uncle. The entire first part of the book is the setting up of the story. None of this is a big surprise, as we know by now that Waters writes mostly lesbian characters. Sue develops a conscience, and even more alarming she develops feelings for Maud.

The plan is for Sue to work as her lady’s maid, get her trust, and help Gentleman in his courting of Maud. The book starts with Sue plotting with a crook (ironically named Gentleman) about swindling a rich lady Maud into marriage. However, I initially found it a bit hard to get into this book. They plan to put Maud in the madhouse and take the money themselves.Īll goes astray, though, when Sue falls in love with Maud.įingersmith was shortlisted for the Orange Prize and the Booker Prize and has been widely acclaimed for good reason. Rivers (the gentleman) can get close to her and eventually marry her. Maud is an orphan who lives with her uncle, but what is happening in the Lilly house? When a conman presents them with a scam that has a payout of 40,000 pounds, Sue signs on to swindle rich Maud Lilly. Once in, however, Sue begins to pity her helpless mark and care for Maud Lilly in unexpected ways.But no one and nothing is as it seems in this Dickensian novel of thrills and reversals.Susan “Sue” Trinder is a fingersmith (British slang for thief) who lives in the slums of London with a baby farmer (a person who looks after unwanted babies), Mrs.Sucksby. With dreams of paying back the kindness of her adopted family, Sue agrees to the plan. Once the inheritance is secured, Maud will be disposed of-passed off as mad, and made to live out the rest of her days in a lunatic asylum. One day, the most beloved thief of all arrives-Gentleman, an elegant con man, who carries with him an enticing proposition for Sue: If she wins a position as the maid to Maud Lilly, a naïve gentlewoman, and aids Gentleman in her seduction, then they will all share in Maud’s vast inheritance. Sucksby’s household, with its fussy babies calmed with doses of gin, also hosts a transient family of petty thieves-fingersmiths-for whom this house in the heart of a mean London slum is home. Sucksby, a 'baby farmer,' who raised her with unusual tenderness, as if Sue were her own. Sue Trinder is an orphan, left as an infant in the care of Mrs.

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