Affinity

An eerily brilliant and spooky tale of spiritualism and deception

'Now you know why you are drawn to me - why your flesh comes creeping to mine, and what it comes for. Let it creep.'

From the dark heart of a Victorian prison, disgraced spiritualist Selina Dawes weaves an enigmatic spell. Is she a fraud, or a prodigy? By the time it all begins to matter, you'll find yourself desperately wanting to believe in magic.

'Refined, repressed and simmering... a delicious tale of Victorian spiritualism' Independent on Sunday

'Spooky, spellbinding, exquisitely written' Val Hennessy

'Beautifully, atmospherically written, this is a tale to thrill your very soul' Metro

'Sexy, spooky, stylish... a wonderful book' Guardian

Refined, repressed and simmering... a delicious tale of Victorian spiritualism -- Mel Steel Independent on Sunday
Spooky, spellbinding, exquisitely written... I do believe Waters is on the way to becoming a major literary star Val Hennessy
Beautifully, atmospherically written, this is a tale to thrill your very soul Metro
An exquisitely sad, pseudo-ghost story... it is a novel that takes countless risks -- Matt Thorne Independent on Sunday
Affinity is the work of an intense and atmospheric imagination... Sarah Waters is such an interesting writer, a kind of feminist Dickens -- Fiona Pitt-Kethley Daily Telegraph
Sarah Waters is such a brilliant writer that her readers would believe anything she told them -- A.N. Wilson Daily Mail
Extraordinary... written in a subtly caricatured period style... So well researched is this novel that both diaries seem grotesquely authentic The Times
Sexy, spooky, stylish, Affinity is a wonderful book Guardian
Waters displays her incredible talent for the Gothic historical novel in this splendid book about a Victorian women's prison and the affair there between an inmate and a lady visitor San Francisco Chronicle
Gothic tale, psychological study, puzzle narrative... superbly suspenseful... This is gripping, astute fiction that feeds the mind and senses Seattle Times
Unfolds sinuously and ominously... a powerful plot-twister... a truly suspenseful tale of terror; and a piece of elegant, thinly veiled erotica. Like a Ouija board, Affinity offers different messages to different readers, scaring the shrouds off everyone in the process USA Today
A richly detailed exploration of the mysterious affinity that appears to unite two lonely women... Waters has found a superb metaphor for the love that dares not speak its name, and developed it with remarkable ingenuity and power: another stunning performance Kirkus

Sarah Waters, who was born in Wales, has been described as 'one of the best storytellers alive today' (Matt Thorne, Independent), and there can be no doubt that readers and critics alike have been gripped by her extraordinary imagination. Sarah Waters' first novel, Tipping the Velvet, won a Betty Trask Award, and was shortlisted for the Mail on Sunday/John Llewellyn Rhys Prize. Her next novel, Affinity, won the Somerset Maugham Award and the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award while Fingersmith and The Night Watch were both shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and the Orange Prize. The former also won the CWA Ellis Peters Dagger Award for Historical Crime Fiction and the South Bank Show Award for Literature. The Little Stranger was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2009 and The Paying Guests was shortlisted for the Baileys Prize in 2015. Tipping the Velvet, Affinity, Fingersmith and The Night Watch have all been adapted for television, The Little Stranger was adapted as a film by Lenny Abrahamson, and Fingersmith inspired Park Chan-wook's film, The Handmaiden. Sarah Waters has been named Author of the Year five times: by the British Book Awards, The Booksellers' Association, Waterstone's Booksellers, Glamour Magazine Awards and the Stonewall Awards. In 2019 she was awarded an OBE for services to literature.

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