Cover of Affinity

Affinity

  • 1999 first published
  • 368 pages
  • ★ 3.7 (3 ratings)
  • 10 editions

Affinity is a 1999 sapphic fiction and ghost story novel by Sarah Waters. It takes readers to England and London in the 19th century. Key subjects include Spiritualism, prisons, women prisoners and Ghost.

Open Library readers give it an average of 3.7 out of 5 from 3 ratings, and 36 more have it on their want-to-read list. It has been published in 10 editions across 4 languages.

At about 368 pages, most readers finish it in 6–7 hours.

About Affinity

A spellbinding ghost story, a complex and intriguing historical mystery, and a poignant romance with an enexpected twist.An upper-class woman recovering from a suicide attempt, Margaret Prior has begun visiting the women’s ward of Millbank prison, Victorian London’s grimmest jail, as part of her rehabilitative charity work. Amongst Millbank’s murderers and common thieves, Margaret finds herself increasingly fascinated by on apparently innocent inmate, the enigmatic spiritualist Selina Dawes. Selina was imprisoned after a seance she was conducting went horribly awry, leaving an elderly matron dead and a young woman deeply disturbed. Although initially skeptical of Selina’s gifts, Margaret is soon drawn into a twilight world of ghosts and shadows, unruly spirits and unseemly passions, until she is at last driven to concoct a desperate plot to secure Selina’s freedom, and her own.As in her noteworthy deput, Tipping the Velvet, Sarah Waters brilliantly evokes the sights and smells of a moody and beguiling nineteenth-century London, and proves herself yet again a storyteller, in the words of the New York Times Book Review, of "startling power." A tale that will leave readers "transfixed with horror and excitement" (Daily Mail, London) Affinity, in its accomplishment and sophistication, leaves no doubt as to this writer's considerable gifts.“[Affinity] confirms Waters’ uncanny gift for establishing an instant connection between her readers and her flawed yet compelling central…
Description from Open Library

Themes, setting & tropes

Genres

Setting

Era

Subjects

  • Spiritualism
  • Prisons
  • Women prisoners
  • Millbank Penitentiary, London, England
  • Thriller
  • Millbank Prison, London, England
  • London, England
  • Ghost
  • Historical
  • LGBTQ novels
  • Stonewall Book Awards
  • Ferro-Grumley Award for Lesbian Fiction Winner

Quick answers

Who wrote Affinity?

Affinity was written by Sarah Waters and first published in 1999.

What genre is Affinity?

It is usually shelved as Lesbian & Sapphic Fiction, Ghost Stories, Occult Fiction and Historical Fiction.

How long is Affinity?

The median edition has 368 pages, about 6–7 hours of reading at 250 words per minute.

What books are similar to Affinity?

Readers who like it often enjoy A Christmas Carol, The River Knows and Soulless.

More by Sarah Waters

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