over 500 pages of victorian lesbians, gloomy gothic houses and evil uncles, obsessives and frauds, plot twists worthy of soap operas, foggy cramped victorian london of fingersmiths, baby farmers, & conmen and at the heart of it all the love story of two girls connected by fate and lies. the atmosphere, the pacing and the angst!! made for a perfect reading experience. i smiled, giggled, eye rolled at the men, was scared, and just devoured this book.
might be 4.5 on a different day but the five stars are straight from my heart for sue and maud and also sukhee and hideko(the handmaiden remains an adaptation for ages.)