From the oyster huts of Whitstable to the music halls of Victorian London,
Tipping the Velvet is the glorious first novel from this much-loved author
'Piercing the shadows of the naked stage was a single shaft of rosy limelight, and in the centre of this was a girl: the most marvellous girl - I knew it at once! - that I had ever seen.'A saucy, sensuous and multi-layered historical romance, Tipping the Velvet follows the glittering career of Nan King - oyster girl turned music-hall star turned rent boy turned East End 'tom'.
'Erotic and absorbing... Written with startling power' New York Times Book Review
'An unstoppable read, a sexy and picaresque romp through the lesbian and queer demi-monde of the roaries Nineties' Independent on Sunday
'Waters is an extremely confident writer, combining precise, sensuous descriptions with irony and wit' Observer
Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
ISBN: 9780349018485
Number of pages: 480
Weight: 380 g
Dimensions: 196 x 128 x 34 mm
Intelligent, witty and stylish, the novel re-imagines a lost lesbian history through vivid sensual detail, evocative period slang (the title is a sexual euphemism) and a satisfyingly complex plot - Independent
Waters is an extremely confident writer, combining precise, sensuous descriptions with irony and wit. This is a lively, gutsy, highly readable debut - Observer
An unstoppable read, a sexy and picaresque romp through the lesbian and queer demi-monde of the roaring Nineties. Imagine Jeanette Winterson on a good day collaborating with Judith Butler to pen a Sapphic Moll Flanders. It's gorgeous - Independent on Sunday
This could be the most important debut of its kind since that of Jeanette Winterson - Daily Telegraph
An extremely confident writer, combining precise, sensuous descriptions with irony and wit in a skilled, multi-layered pastiche of the lesbian historical romance - Christina Patterson, Observer
Erotic and absorbing... Written with startling power - New York Times Book Review
Wonderful... a sensual experience that leaves the reader marveling at the author's craftsmanship, idiosyncrasy, and sheer effort - San Francisco Chronicle
Compelling... readers of all sexes and orientations should identify with this gutsy hero as she learns who she is and how to love - Newsday
Delectable... written in roguishly lilting prose filled with the sights, sounds and stenches of London street life - Seattle Times
Glorious... an exceptional debut - Boston Globe
Richly entertaining... Waters's debut offers terrific entertainment: swiftly paced, crammed with colorful depictions of 1890s London and vividly sketched Dickensian supporting characters, pulsating with highly charged (and explicitly presented) erotic heat - Kirkus
This lush tale fearlessly and feverishly exposes the political, social and sexual subversions of Victorian-era gender-benders: sapphists, libertines and passing women... Waters is a masterful storyteller... Nancy's search for love and identity is a raucous, passionate adventure and a rare, thrilling read - Publishers Weekly
