Tipping the Velvet [Hardcover]

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Riverhead Books (1998)
• ASIN: B001E39R1K
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (186 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,276,220 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Sarah Waters is the bestselling author of Tipping the Velvet, Affinity, Fingersmith, and The Night Watch. Winner of many literary awards, she has been shortlisted for both the Man Booker and Orange Prizes. She lives in London.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

58 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good god, what a triumph!, September 26, 2000

By 

stinkerbelle (Brooklyn, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tipping the Velvet: A Novel (Paperback)

When I heard about this book, I thought, "Victorian-era erotica? I don't think so!" But in the end, it turns out that my thirst for totally engrossing, wonderfully entertaining, and incredibly well-written lesbian fiction has at last been quenched. Nearly 500 pages was barely enough of Waters' evocative tale of Nancy Astley, aka Nan King, and her life and times as a newly out "tom" (surely the 19th-century English equivalent of "dyke"), a male-impersonating prostitute, a kept "boy," and finally a self-realizing adult. The sights, smells, sounds, tastes of turn-of-the-century England were so brilliantly captured that I couldn't wait to take the subway somewhere, anywhere, so that I could sit down and read without anyone bothering me! The novel is an erotic and emotional triumph. I can't wait to read Affinity, Waters' next...it's already sitting on my desk. If I haven't raved enough about this book, take my word that it's highly recommended.

48 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unique And Delightful - A Must-Read!, June 13, 2003

By 

Jana L. Perskie "ceruleana" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tipping the Velvet: A Novel (Paperback)

I was skeptical when I picked up "Tipping The Velvet" at a local bookstore. I do not like labels, and Sarah Waters's first novel had been touted by the press, and readers alike, as a "lesbian novel," whatever that means. However, the book's synopsis on the back cover, drew me in and I took a chance and bought it. I am so glad that I did. What a delight!

This is a historical novel, set in a Victorian England that few have glimpsed. And "Tipping The Velvet" allows us to view it all, center stage. It is a story peopled with characters that are fleshed out so believably, it is almost like reading with 3-D glasses. The characters, especially Nancy Astley, come right off the page and have the capacity to touch your heart and make you care...deeply.

Nancy is born and raised in an English seaside resort where her parents own an oyster restaurant, and Nancy can shuck with the best of them. She seems perfectly content with her lot in life, loves her family and imagines that someday she will marry one of the neighborhood boys and have a family of her own. During the summer months, when business is booming, Nancy frequents a nearby town's music hall for entertainment. Thus Passion enters her life with a capital "P."

Nancy sees a male impersonator perform for the first time on an evening excursion to the hall. Not just any male impersonator...but the ever so seductive Miss Kitty Butler. Nance is entranced and obsessed with Kitty. She schemes to meet the object of her devotion and becomes first, Kitty's friend, then her employee/girl Friday. Her once normal life is turned topsy-turvy, filled with passionate fantasies. Her family is delighted with Kitty "the celebrity" friend, and accepts her completely. However, Alice, Nancy's sister, and until recently her best friend, is hostile and suspicious of the relationship between her sister and the performer. With the changing seasons, business falls off and Kitty is on the move. She takes Nancy with her to a newer and bigger gig in London, where our heroine loses her innocence, in more ways than one. Adventure, disillusionment and major heartbreak loom on the horizon for our Nancy - until she finds herself reaching rock bottom. If you don't know what "rock bottom," sometimes called "the pits," is in Victorian England, you may want to reread Dickens.

It takes seven years for Nancy to climb out of the pit she fell into, (or was she pushed?), and fashion a life for herself. Her attempts to earn a living wage are outrageous, fascinating and ingenious. The folks she meets along the way are absolute originals. The take on London's local color, sexual and socialist politics, and social and sexual mores are delicious.

Sarah Waters is an extraordinary writer and teller of tales. This is so much more than a book about a woman's sexuality...although sexuality is an important aspect of the novel. Ms. Waters writes about the fight for selfhood and independence in a world where these terms mean little, especially for a female. I just couldn't put this one down and look forward to reading more work by Ms. Waters. I give this my most highly recommended seal of approval!!!

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tom Jones with a heart, November 25, 1999

By 

amy bloom (CT) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tipping the Velvet: A Novel (Hardcover)

I have read two very,very good picaresque novels in my life and after Kate Vaiden and Huck Finn, there's Tom Jones, which is pretty good. Tipping the Velvet has the strength and earthy sensibility and observation of Twain, the poignant threads of Reynolds price plus--it's got some genuinely erotic bits, great style, history,panache and charm. It may cause straight women and men of all kinds to wish that they were lesbians (like the protagonist) but it is a book open to anyone literate. What a true Christmas pudding of a book.