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Summary: Beautiful and fascinating
Review: I bought this book a few years ago based purely on the cover. I had not heard of it before, and had no prior conceptions about it before reading it. When I finally did get around to reading it I wondered how I could have just left it on the shelf for so long. Tipping The Velvet is the story of a Victorian lesbian and her adventures as she stumbles her way through life. It starts off quite gentle and romantic and becomes progressively more explicit in each section of the book. I have never read anything like it and I found it absolutely enthralling. It is not, in my opinion, a book written for lesbians, it is a book written for anyone who wants to read a wonderful story.
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Summary: I couldn't put it down!
Review: I truly could not. I'm an avid reader and I have eclectic tastes in reading material. But very few books enthrall me so much that I can't put them down. Every spare moment I had, I picked up Tipping the Velvet. I was totally emmersed in the story. It's dramatic, amusing, and erotic all at once. I loved it.
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Summary: don't hesitate to buy this book!
Review: I've never felt compelled to write a review before now. it is a beautifully written, captivating story, full of characters and a plot that are wonderfully engaging and sincere. waters does a brilliant job of capturing physical and emotional love between the characters. and it's true: once you start, you won't be able to stop reading! it is one of my new favorites, right at the top of my list with jeanette winterson's "Written on the Body." BUY IT NOW.. !
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Summary: Fast Becoming My Favorite Book
Review: What a phenomonal piece of work this novel is. Tipping the Velvet has surpassed my expectations in every conceivable way. I am an avid reader, with high standards. I often find myself thumbing through books that I pick-up, eagarly skimming for the "good parts", which often fail to materialize. Sadly, this seems to be particularly true of recent gay/lesbian interest fiction. With Tipping the Velvet, on the other hand, I found myself slowing down - completely engrossed in the sentient experience that was reading this novel. I can't reccomend this book enough. An awesome first novel, by a clearly gifted and talented author. I can't wait for Sarah Waters' next publication!
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Summary: ...finish it, turn it over, enjoy again!
Review: A wonderful tale in three parts, Sarah Waters book traces the "coming out" of a working class oysterman's daughter. Her self-awareness emerges in a delightful narrative as she falls head over heels in love the first time, struggles when that relationship ends, and begins a rebound of adventure, danger, fool-hardiness, and eventually, a sense of her true self. Both light-hearted and poignant this book is a treat from start to finish.
Rating:
Summary: Tipping The Velvet
Review: Incredible first novel; rich in textures, emotionally touching -- one of the best lesbian novels I've read yet!
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Summary: A REMARKABLY ASSURED DEBUT
Review: Lusty and lavish, richly embroidered and boldly rendered, Tipping The Velvet is an amazingly assured debut novel. With an eye for revelatory detail and pitch perfect idiomatic phrasing British writer Sarah Waters offers a riveting panorama of late Victorian England from the Dickensian wretchedness of poor houses to the marble floored villas of society's favored. Tipping The Velvet, the title being a euphemistic reference to sexual activity, was hailed in England last year as a "lesbian classic." Perhaps so, for one becomes chillingly aware of the travails suffered by women who dared to challenge the orthodox views of 1890s London, whether it concerned sexual preference or adequate wages. Yet this novel is also that rarity - an exquisitely penned, rapidly paced, thoroughly entertaining tale that leaves the reader wanting more. Eighteen-year-old Nancy Astley is an oyster girl in the bleak coastal town of Whitstable. She "scrubbed, and rinsed, and plied the oyster knife," all the while humming a music hall song. "Music hall songs and the singing of them" were her passion until she met Miss Kitty Butler, a cross-dressing singer. Then Kitty became her passion. When Kitty is offered an opportunity on the stages of London, Nancy follows as her dresser, wondering "how it would be to live at Kitty's side, brim-full of a love so quick, and yet so secret, it made me shake". In short time Nancy pulls on her first pair of trousers, clips on braces and joins Kitty on stage. As a twosome the act is a smashing success, until the night a drunk in the audience jeers, calling them "toms." Anxious to protect her reputation, a frightened Kitty quickly marries, and a heartbroken Nancy flees to the streets. Penniless and alone, she dresses as a male prostitute and becomes a "renter," hustling for sovereigns in the Burlington Arcade or through Leicester Square. Nancy describes her situation with detached bravura: ".....the world of actors and artistes, and the gay world in which I now found myself working, are not so very different. Both have London as their proper country, the West End as their capital. Both are a curious mix of magic and necessity, glamour and sweat." Later, on a dark and chill night when Nancy has not "earned so much as a three-penny bit," a lace-curtained brougham approaches, and she is picked up by Diana, a wealthy widow, who takes the young "renter" to her sumptuous home, Felicity Place. Diana grooms Nancy to be her kept "tart," then exhibits her before a coterie of sapphic friends. Indignity is heaped upon indignity by the imperious, controlling Diana, until she drives Nancy from her home. Once again penniless and dispossessed Nancy finds refuge in the home of Florence Banner, a selfless charity worker, a Socialist with whom Nancy at last finds acceptance and then the love she has so desperately sought. Ms. Waters is as adept at limning libidinous interludes as she is at crafting an absorbing narrative. All of this is abundantly clear in Tipping The Velvet, an affecting, memorable triptych in which she seamlessly interweaves searing eroticism and poignant self-discovery against painterly scenes of fin-de-siecle London. A native of Wales, Ms. Waters is currently at work on her second novel. With Tipping The Velvet she has set an extraordinarily high standard for herself.
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Summary: This Book Made my insides tremble with pleasure ; )
Review: The only thing that I regret about this book, is that I didn't buy it the very first day it came out. Sarah Waters did a fabulous job on writing this great masterpiece. When reading this book, I could feel and see everything that was happening throughout the novel. The book was so great that it's almost like you can feel yourself becoming the characters, especially Nan , the main character. She goes through so many incredible changes, so incredible that it's almost shocking to remember how she first was. It is also very erotic at times that it just makes you full of pleasure while reading this. READ THIS BOOK
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Summary: A Tip about Tipping the Velvet: Unforgettable!
Review: I was recommended this book a few months ago by a co-worker. I resisted then, partly because I was reading other books, partly because I did not think that I would be the right audience for Ms. Waters (I'm a woman, of heterosexual persuasions). I found myself a few days ago, wandering in a book store and picked it up. I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN! I walked with it to the counter, paid almost without looking up and quickly ran to my apartment so that I could sit properly and continue this wonderful story. Sarah Waters' characters are real and unforgettable.
Rating: 
Summary: An enjoyable and fun romp!
Review: Tipping the Velvet is a must read for anyone who loves good literature. From the moment you begin the book you want to read it all the way to the end. Once I began my journey with Nan, I did not want to stop. The writing is superb and you feel like you are inside the book with the characters. Do not be put off by the idea that it is lesbian erotica. This book is not just for lesbians. Give it a try and you will see.
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