Tipping the Velvet
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Book Details
Written by Sarah Waters.
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Editorial Review (from Amazon.com)
This stunning and steamy debut chronicles the adventures of Nan King, a small-town girl at the turn of the century whose life takes a wild turn of its own when she follows a local music hall star to London..."Glorious...a sexy, sinewy sojourn of a young woman in turn-of-the-century England."--The Boston Globe
"Erotic and absorbing...If lesbian fiction is to reach a wider readership, Waters is the person to carry the banner."--The New York Times Book Review
"Wonderful...a sensual experience that leaves the reader marveling at the author's craftsmanship, idiosyncrasy and sheer effort."--The San Francisco Chronicle
"Amazing....This is the lesbian novel we've all been waiting for."--Salon.com
"Compelling...Readers of all sexes and orientations should identify with this gutsy hero as she learns who she is and how to love."--Newsday
"Echoes of Tom Jones, Great Expectations...Waters's debut offers terrific entertainment: pulsating with highly charged (and explicitly presented) erotic heat."--Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
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I am "L" thinks this book is Excellent.
From www.sarahwaters.com --> "Sarah was inspired to write Tipping the Velvet whilst working on her PhD thesis on lesbian historical fiction which underlined the inadequacies and potential of the contemporary lesbian historical genre. Whilst planning the novel, she became increasingly intrigued by the Victorian music hall, and by male impersonator turns in particular. Her research led her to investigate music-hall life, the Whitsable oyster trade, Victorian fashion and daily life as well as Suffragism and early Socialism. She also read a fair amount of nineteenth-century pornography and dictionaries of slang and vulgar words..."
The book is a page-turner, I barely wanted to put it down. When I wasn't reading it, I was thinking about when I could! It is very well-written and all that research puts this lesbian novel in a class by itself. It has definitely raised the bar for lesbian fiction, thank goodness!