Summer Reads...

Tipping The Velvet by Sarah Waters - 5 stars *****

This has been on my to-read list for ages, as I love Sarah Waters' work, and this is supposed to be one of her finest. Set in the late 19th century, it tells the story of Nancy Astley, who leaves her oyster girl past behind in Whitstable after she meets the eccentric and exciting Kitty Butler, a showgirl with a difference - her act requires her to dress as a man and sing songs accordingly. Nancy becomes besotted and strikes up a great friendship with Miss Butler, and together they travel to London to earn their fortune.

After a period of unrelenting longing for each other, the pair eventually confess their feelings and begin living as 'sweethearts'. However, despite an increasingly popular act that now includes Nancy herself (stage name Nan King) her world doesn't stay perfect for long when she discovers Kitty in bed with their male manager.

Horrified, Nancy runs away and is left vacant and with nothing, forcing her to dress as a man and become a 'renter', until she is picked up by the mysterious Diana. She turns out to be an extremely wealthy widow with lesbian tendencies, who installs Nancy as her personal sex slave, in exchange for a life of luxury. However, Nancy soon becomes bored with the lifestyle of a kept woman, and ends up right back on the street where she started, again with nothing. She eventually re-finds love and happiness, with someone she perhaps shouldn't have been so quick to stand up...

This was a fabulous story of rags to riches, twice over. The language and writing style is second-to-none, as would be expected from such a brilliant author. Her depiction of character relationships is so vivid and lifelike, I shed more than a few tears whilst reading this, as it is impossible not to become invested in such a well developed character as Nan King. I am lucky enough never to have had a broken heart, but from reading this novel I can safely say I am happy to wait a lifetime if it feels as bad as is described in Tipping The Velvet. 

One passage that particularly sticks with me is right at the end, when Nancy meets Kitty again at a rally after many years,

'We gazed at one another then. Her lips were damp and slightly parted; and she had paled, so that her freckles showed. Involuntarily I thought back to that night at the Canterbury Palace, when I had met her first and learned I loved her, and she had kissed my hand, and called me 'Mermaid', and thought of me as she should not have... She turned away; and as I stood and watched her, I found that I was aching slightly, as from a thousand fading bruises...'

I think the rawness and honesty of her admittance, that despite over five years, she still feels such heartache, really summarises the beauty in this book, and I highly recommend you read it.