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Grrrr, that ending ! ... anyway.

Tipping the Velvet is the fourth Sarah Waters book I have read. Fingersmith and the The Paying Guests being ones I have particularly enjoyed. This book, as to be expected in a first novel does have some creaky bits, however Waters passion for research is on full display. Packed full of details on dance halls, lesbian subcultures, socialism, class and other more salacious details about life on the streets of Victorian London. As titillating as it sets out to be I found it a little dull, particularly the last third. Generally I would conclude from this book I am not a romance reader as I found myself doing a lot of eye-rolling at all the rapidly beating hearts and sweaty palms of the first section. Much later in the story I think I was wishing for the innocent hand-holding sections back again.

Another problem preventing my full enjoyment was I really did not like the main character of Nan King. It is entirely possible we were not suppose to like her as she is vain, selfish, and preening by turns and seemed to cast her affections wildly about the place in ways I didn't quite understand.
However, as the book is almost entirely her story it became tiresome to read about her so constantly. I felt particularly sorry for all the people she cast aside at various points in her "journey of self-discovery". I suspect the ending was set up to right all these wrongs but the way this was engineered was so ridiculous that I was pretty happy when I could finally be rid of Nan King and her adventures.

A good read for Sarah Waters completists but not for the faint of heart ;)