Daniel, Lucy (30 August 2014). "The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters, review: 'eerie, virtuoso writing' ". The Daily Telegraph . Retrieved 4 October 2014.

Margaret Prior, the protagonist. Margaret is from an upper-class family that resides in Chelsea, London, and begins to visit Millbank some months after attempting suicide following her father's death. Narrated in alternating chapters by the two very different women, this dark, moody story incites fear, melancholy, and terrible pity. As always, with this author's work comes a thoroughly researched story and a compelling look at women in oppressive circumstances, as well as how their limited choices often lead to desperate attempts to control their own destinies. There's also an erotic undercurrent of forbidden attraction running deep in this novel as Margaret finds herself increasingly drawn to the mysterious Selina Dawes, who has been imprisoned for a spiritualist reading gone horribly wrong. Their subtly blooming attraction is heightened by the misery of the contrast with Selina's living conditions at Millbank Prison (an actual London prison, by the way), and it's a certainty that in Margaret's desire to save Selina, she is also desperate to save herself. La historia está escrita en forma de diario a dos voces, las de Margaret Prior y Selina Dawes, lo que dota a la novela de un mayor intimismo. Margaret vive bajo el asfixiante techo de su madre, viendo como sus hermanos avanzan en sus vidas, casándose y formado su propio hogar, y ve como la soltería se está convirtiendo en su única opción. El fallecimiento de su padre, al que tenía un apego especial y con el que compartía las mismas aficiones intelectuales, así como la traición amorosa de una amiga, son hechos que siguen atormentándola. De tal modo, Margaret decide convertirse en visitadora, haciendo compañía a las mujeres de la cárcel de Millbank. Será en este duro ambiente donde Margaret conocerá a la misteriosa Selina, una joven médium. When I started this book, I had no idea how sad Affinity would make me. Because it does, and it has, for at least two days even after finishing the book. This ambitious second novel, a richly detailed exploration of the mysterious ‘affinity’ that appears to unite two lonely women, boldly extends the range of the British writer ( Tipping the Velvet, 1999).The novel was adapted into a screenplay by Andrew Davies. A feature film based on Davies' adaptation of Affinity premiered on 19 June 2008 at the opening night of Frameline, the San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival, at the Castro Theater. [1] [2]

She scissored the curls away, and - toms, grow easily sentimental over their haircuts, but I remember this sensation very vividly - it was not like she was cutting hair, it was as if I had a pair of wings beneath my shoulder-blades, that the flesh had all grown over, and she was slicing free...” It’s like a quiet storm. You feel the subtle change in the air first, and then the smell, the wind, the gloominess. Affinity is a 1999 historical fiction novel by Sarah Waters. It is the author's second novel, following her debut Tipping the Velvet. Set during 1870s Victorian England, it tells the story of a woman, Margaret Prior, who is haunted by a shadowy past and in an attempt to cure her recent bout of illness and depression, begins visits to the women's wards of Millbank Prison. Whilst there she becomes entranced by the spiritualist Selina Dawes, with whom she becomes obsessed and begins an inappropriate relationship. Written as an epistolary novel, the story alternates as a series of diary entries written by both main characters.

The story is alternatingly told by Selina and Margaret, who are so well described and developed, as to almost be in the room with me as they speak. So emotionally complex, multi-faceted, raw and passionate, yet unimaginably vulnerable and so totally distant that I was unable to connect with either of them on any level. However, Waters' writing detailing delicious descriptions of life in a Victorian women's prison was awesome. So awesome in fact that I felt like I was there in the bleak and rigid clasp of fear and despair - haunted (haha) by the question if the supernatural could be real. In fact, having read most of the book at night now that the darkness has gripped us up here in the North, made Affinity the perfect read in the run up to Halloween. I deeply felt for Margaret. I felt her frustration and how repressed she was. I can understand how suffocated she felt under her mother's constant nagging. One of the most powerful aspects of Affinity is the setting and the atmosphere the author creates. Millbank prison is like a character in itself - the author's descriptions of the prison is so vivid that you can feel the prisoners' predicament in the controlled and suffocating environment.

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.” Waters explores many themes in Affinity. Margaret is a lady with many privileges, but she cannot break out of her cocoon and truly be herself. Dawes is trying to better herself, but rather than take a traditional job, she needs patronage. Thus, she won’t truly have self-determination upon her release from prison either. Unfortunately, I didn’t care for either character very much. Margaret is weak and whiny. Dawes is just plain untrustworthy and suspicious.Margaret, though technically a "free" woman, is still a prisoner - to her gender, to her circumstances and to her mother's wishes. Affinity is about a spinster (an older, unmarried woman) named Margaret Prior and, boy, has life really messed her up. Her father (whom she loved dearly) is dead, her mom is overbearing and protective and a Bible away from being the mom in Carrie, her former (female) lover is married to her brother and they have a child together. She takes chloral every day for her emotional instability/insomnia, eventually using it to aid in her suicide after the death of her father. Her suicide failed, obviously, so she decided to be a Lady Visitor at Millbank prison, spending her days speaking with convicts. Selina Dawes. What a character. She had me good. I will say that. I guess I was not paying attention, so enraptured by Waters' writing, I was. At least that is what I say. I feel like I should have seen it from a million miles away. Her story was very interesting, although I do wish there was more detail, more insight into her childhood. In fact, I felt like the center of the story told was quite intense, extremely well told, even a little long, but could have used more insight into "Miss Prior"/Aurora's history, both before + after. Also set in the 1940s, The Little Stranger also differs from Waters' previous novels. It is her first with no overtly lesbian characters. Initially, Waters set out to write a book about the economic changes brought by socialism in postwar Britain, and reviewers note the connection with Evelyn Waugh. [22] During the novel's construction, it turned into a ghost story, focusing on a family of gentry who own a large country house they can no longer afford to maintain.

To pigeon-hole this book in any single genre is really difficult, as it would sit equally well as either a historical mystery/thriller, or a gay/lesbian novel, without being offensive in either. Royal Society of Literature All Fellows". Royal Society of Literature. Archived from the original on 5 March 2010 . Retrieved 10 August 2010. Miss Madeleine Silvester, the girl in the sitting with Selina who is witnessed as being hysterical by Mrs. Brink shortly before her death. Review of "Affinity" ". AfterEllen. Archived from the original on 18 May 2012 . Retrieved 29 May 2012. Hughes, Emma (10 September 2014). "[Untitled review of The paying guests]". Books. Country Life. 208 (37): 138.Affinity is told from both Selina's and Margaret's perspectives. The reader feels as fascinated by Selina as Margaret is. Yet, she still remains an enigma, a mystery throughout the book. The story unfolds slowly, with each chapter pulling you in completely. Affinity is the tale Margaret, a young lady living in nineteenth-century London. After her father's death, Margaret has fallen ill for half a year. Now everything is slightly better, she has taken it upon her to visit the female inmates at the Millbank prison as Lady Visitor. Here she meets the spirit medium Serena, who starts to intrigue her more with every visit.