Review: Affinity by Sarah Waters

Although I was aware of Sarah Waters' existence for many years before reading her work for the first time, I had never really been tempted to pick up her books because I was mainly familiar with the TV adaptations of her stories. I say 'familiar' but I hadn't actually watched them. Obviously, the screening of Tipping the Velvet several years ago could only have failed to enter your consciousness if you were living on the moon - lesbian Victorian action? Come on!!! - but I'm afraid I didn't tune in.

Until fairly recently, I probably had Waters pegged as a Catherine Cookson-style author, a peddler of bodice-busting potboilers and that genre holds absolutely nothing of interest for me as a reader. It was only when I picked up Waters' latest work, The Little Stranger, that I realised my mistake. It immediately became one of my all-time favourite novels and I vowed to read the rest of her canon as a matter of urgency. After reading The Night Watch, I was utterly converted and I am pleased to say I now have her complete five books on my shelf (in alphabetical order, natch).

Since then I have read her books in, I believe, reverse chronological order. And funnily enough, I think my affection for them diminishes slightly in accordance with that. Don't get me wrong, no matter what aspects of her stories I might find unsuited to my personal taste, there can be no denying that Waters is a superb storyteller who keeps you hooked until the very last page. But I enjoyed Fingersmith slightly less than The Night Watch and Affinity is probably on a similar level for me.

Compared with the complex narrative weaving Waters employs in The Night Watch - which, despite my enormous regard for The Little Stranger, I think is probably her finest work to date - Affinity is a simple enough tale. A troubled middle class woman tries to atone for a past mistake by becoming a Lady Visitor at London's forbidding Millbank Prison, where she attempts to brighten the grim days of the female prisoners within.

It is only a matter of time before her attention is captured by the enigmatic Selina Dawes, a well-known medium who was imprisoned after a young woman suffered injuries during a seance. Whether or not Dawes' talents are genuine remains to be seen, but she certainly weaves an unshakeable spell over our heroine.

Dawes' story is revealed in flashback, even as her present day relationship with her enraptured visitor advances towards its nerve-shredding climax. This is a highly effective device, as nothing is more guaranteed to keep pages turning than the promise of a secret soon to be revealed.

I liked this story better than Fingersmith, as the intentions of the main character appear purer than either of the female leads in the latter book. There was also a notable absence of sex, with Waters focusing more on the electricity between two women forbidden to touch, not just by society but by prison rules. The heroine is sympathetic and this unsatisfied longing worked better, I found, than more explicit scenes described in Waters' other books.

Although to date I have preferred Waters' post-war stories, Affinity is still a gripping and infinitely readable tale with a decent twist.