Who Would Like This Book:
This book is an absolute treat for lovers of immersive historical fiction and vividly drawn characters. Sarah Waters brings late Victorian England to life, from the briny oyster parlors to the dazzling, secretive world of music halls and the less-spoken-of queer subculture. It's bold, sensuous, and unafraid to explore themes of gender, sexuality, and class. If you enjoy coming-of-age tales with complex heroines, rich atmosphere, and a fresh look at LGBTQ+ history, Tipping the Velvet is a can't-miss.
Who May Not Like This Book:
Some readers found the plot a little far-fetched or melodramatic, with character motivations sometimes feeling hard to believe. The story also includes explicit sexual content, so if that's not your jam or you're looking for a subtle romance, this might not be the best fit. Others mentioned that the pacing lags in the middle or that the historical accuracy of the LGBTQ+ acceptance felt a bit optimistic. If you prefer your historical fiction strictly conventional or with tightly controlled plotting, you may not love this one.
About:
'Tipping the Velvet' by Sarah Waters is a historical fiction novel set in the 1890s in London, following the story of Nancy Astley, a young oyster girl who falls in love with a male impersonator named Kitty Butler. The book explores Nancy's journey as she follows Kitty into the world of theaters, working as a dresser before becoming a performer herself. The novel delves into themes of lesbian love, gender roles, and self-discovery in Victorian England. The writing style is described as sensual, detailed, and engaging, providing a vivid picture of the lesbian society in the 18th century.
The plot of 'Tipping the Velvet' is divided into three acts, each peopled with vibrant characters and told in lushly written prose. The book captures the sexual growing pains and challenges faced by Nancy as she navigates the complexities of love, identity, and societal expectations. While some readers found the protagonist to be flat or the plot soap-operatic, others praised the realistic characters, compelling storytelling, and historical accuracy in depicting London's lesbian society during that era.
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Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings
Content warnings include explicit sexual content, themes of sexual exploitation, class domination, and societal violence.
Has Romance?
The novel features significant romantic elements, primarily focusing on Nancy's various relationships, particularly with Kitty and Florence.
From The Publisher:
"Erotic and absorbing…Written with startling power."-The New York Times Book Review
Nan King, an oyster girl, is captivated by the music hall phenomenon Kitty Butler, a male impersonator extraordinaire treading the boards in Canterbury. Through a friend at the box office, Nan manages to visit all her shows and finally meet her heroine. Soon after, she becomes Kitty's dresser and the two head for the bright lights of Leicester Square where they begin a glittering career as music-hall stars in an all-singing and dancing double act. At the same time, behind closed doors, they admit their attraction to each other and their affair begins.
Ratings (53)
Incredible (9) | |
Loved It (20) | |
Liked It (16) | |
It Was OK (5) | |
Did Not Like (2) | |
Hated It (1) |
Reader Stats (191):
Read It (60) | |
Currently Reading (1) | |
Want To Read (87) | |
Did Not Finish (2) | |
Not Interested (41) |
2 comment(s)
I’ve started and dropped
Tipping the Velvet about a million times since I was sixteen. I find the 1890s London theatre scene inherently boring—I know, there’s something wrong with me—but Waters’ language is so pleasing to the ear that it hardly matters. The electric, assertive first-person of the opening line that patters into hypnosis:
you are getting very hungry for oysters. God, the oysters. I could really use a dozen on the half-shell after this. If you're a food writing lover, here's your next read after [a:Ruth Reichl|5662|Ruth Reichl|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1398389266p2/5662.jpg]. The way that each sentence harmonizes with the next sproings off that ASMR-sensation of scratching your spinal fluid behind the ears. Waters could sound good writing the phonebook. I adore many novels with perfectly suitable, workmanlike prose--making the language invisible is a skill too--but high-quality, professional prose always blows me away. This is the novel your English teacher wants you to bring home.
When I was a teenager—when I dropped
Tipping the Velvet so many times—I was sick of sapphic romances where the leading women were insta-lovey solely because they were both WLW. I was reading a lot of M/M and even M/F, and it seemed like everyone was getting their proper narrative due except F/F. And every F/F story had the extra burden of convincing me that
I could live a satisfying life with women.
Now I can finally see the value of a novel like
Tipping the Velvet. It isn't meant to be an epic romance novel between Kitty Butler and Nancy Astley
(or Nan and Diana, Nan and Flo, etc.)
. It’s a lesbian coming-of-age. Nan’s snap-attraction to male impersonation is valuable for its relatability among butch women and women who love butch women. It's meant to make you go,
"Yes! This is it! This is what it's like! Even in another time!" The insta-loveiness has a thematic purpose. But if you’re someone who digests [b:Wuthering Heights|6185|Wuthering Heights|Emily Brontë|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1630501681l/6185._SY75_.jpg|1565818] as no more than a ~toxic romance~, you might also have a hard time with
Tipping the Velvet. I can see by the reception that a lot of non-sapphics enjoyed this book, and there are plenty of reasons to, but personally, I don't think it would have held my attention if I weren't sapphic myself. I says this as someone who finds nearly every era of historical fiction to be a snooze-fest.
My only substantial critique is that Waters doesn’t give you a clear roadmap until fairly late in the novel. When we left for London, I thought the rest of the book would be portraying the bohemian theatre scene and a blooming life-partnership between Nan and Kitty. I was bereft trying to catch where Waters was planting the seeds for later satisfaction. Waters tries to give you some foreshadowing with
little-did-I-knows in the first hundred pages, but for the life of me, I could not figure out where they were going or how soon. I thought it was foreshadowing for the novel's climax, not the break-into-two. This left me feeling blindfolded well into the second-act slump of the midpoint and through to the third act, when I finally figured out what she was doing: portraying the odyssey from first love to true love. Oh! Okay! Why didn't you say so? The building, sequential morality play of it all reminds me of [b:The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling|99329|The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling|Henry Fielding|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1444450775l/99329._SY75_.jpg|1350343], another lazy English sex-comedy bildungsroman. (I guess also Dickens.) Yet
Tipping the Velvet lacks the clear telegraphing of
Hello, I'm going to tell you about this one dude's life from birth-to-marriage or the structure leant by the road.
But I'm glad I finally punched through to the end, because all of the absolute best moments of the novel are paid out in the last act; I won't spoil them, but those combined with the confident prose are worth every star. (And not to compare Georgian to pre-Edwardian, what a Yankee faux pas--but if you've grown tired of the upper-class Tory politicking in
Gentlemen Jack,
Tipping the Velvet portrays the working-class socialist underbelly with just as much passion.)
I loved it even more then the first Sarah Waters book that I read, fascinating historical information.
What can you read after
Tipping the Velvet?
About the Author:
Sarah Waters is the New York Times bestselling author of The Paying Guests, The Little Stranger, The Night Watch, Fingersmith, Affinity, and Tipping the Velvet. She has been shortlisted three times for the Man Booker Prize, has been a finalist twice for the Orange Prize, and was named one of Granta's best young British novelists, among other…
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