“Oliver Twist with a twist…Waters spins an absorbing tale that withholds as much as it discloses. A pulsating story.”—The New York Times Book Review The Handmaiden, a film adaptation of Fingersmith, directed by Park Chan-wook and starring Kim Tae-Ri, is now available. Sue Trinder is an orphan, left as an infant in the care of Mrs. Sucksby, a "baby farmer," who raised her with unusual tenderness, as if Sue were her own. Mrs. Sucksby’s household, with its fussy babies calmed with doses of gin, also hosts a transient family of petty thieves—fingersmiths—for whom this house in the heart of a mean London slum is home. One day, the most beloved thief of all arrives—Gentleman, an elegant con man, who carries with him an enticing proposition for Sue: If she wins a position as the maid to Maud Lilly, a naïve gentlewoman, and aids Gentleman in her seduction, then they will all share in Maud’s vast inheritance. Once the inheritance is secured, Maud will be disposed of—passed off as mad, and made to live out the rest of her days in a lunatic asylum. With dreams of paying back the kindness of her adopted family, Sue agrees to the plan. Once in, however, Sue begins to pity her helpless mark and care for Maud Lilly in unexpected ways...But no one and nothing is as it seems in this Dickensian novel of thrills and reversals.
"Detective Inspector Irene Huss is an investigator assigned to the Violent Crimes Unit in Goteborg, Sweden. She is a wife and mother, her husband is a chef and she has twin daughters and also a judo champion and an avowed feminist in a police department which is still adjusting to the presence of women as officers." -- Jacket.
In one horrible moment, Jon Stuart became a widower and a social outcast. Although cleared of any involvement, his friends, colleagues and even old lovers pronounced him guilty. Four years later, his only hope is that the prime suspects' memories are as long as those of his accusers, and that by bringing them together again at the scene of the crime, history will repeat itself--this time in front of witnesses.
