Is Fingersmith (2002) CHUD or WOKE?
chudrank score: 60 / 100 (slightly WOKE-leaning). 0 is CHUD (right-wing), 100 is WOKE (left-wing).
Book by Sarah Waters, 2002.
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Why: Queer historical novel; sympathetic to marginalized characters
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 naive 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 dispos…