Tipping the Velvet

Starred review from May 3, 1999
With a title that's a euphemism for cunnilingus and a plot awash with graphic lesbian sex, this lush tale fearlessly and feverishly exposes the political, social and sexual subversions of Victorian-era gender-benders: sapphists, libertines and passing women. Set in 1890s London against a backdrop of music halls and socialist demonstrations, Waters's debut (published to acclaim in England) is an engrossing story of a "tommish" woman battered and buoyed by the mores of the times. At 18, Nancy Astley is a fishmonger in coastal Whitstable, working with her sister and parents in the family oyster parlour. Smitten by male impersonator Kitty Butler, Nancy attends every show at the Canterbury Palace until the star notices her. A stunned Nancy finds herself Kitty's companion and dresser, and sexual tension keeps the pages turning as she becomes first Kitty's sweetheart, then her partner ("two lovely girls in trousers, instead of one!") in a wildly successful stage act. Kitty's shame over her sexual preference sends her into marriage to their manager, Walter Bliss, propelling devastated Nancy into a series of erotic excursions and a struggle for survival, first passing as a young man and hustling, then as wealthy widow Diana Lethaby's kept "tart," finally as the housekeeper for union organizer Florence Banner. Waters is a masterful storyteller, tantalizing the reader as Nancy endures melancholy squalor, betrayals, the lustful motives of swindling gay-girls and imperious ladies. The circumstances by which Nancy finally finds true love are unpredictable and moving. Amid the gentlemen trolling Piccadilly Circus for trysts with "renter" boys and the wealthy female guests of the Cavendish Clubs "Sapphists Only" parties, Nancy's search for love and identity is a raucous, passionate adventure, and a rare, thrilling read. Agent, Judith Murray.

March 15, 1999
This rambunctious first novel by an English writer asks whether an oyster-girl can find success and lesbian love at the end of the 19th century. Nancy Astley leaves home to follow talented music hall artist Kitty Butler to London to become her dresser, companion, and, eventually, lover. Soon she is swept up into Kitty's theatrical world and becomes a performer herself. Rich, famous, and in love, Nancy loses it all overnight when Kitty chooses to closet herself in a conventional marriage. Friendless and destitute, Nancy descends into the demimonde before finding her feet again. Though the novel bogs down as Nancy drifts in sexual limbo with a rich and cruel mistress, Waters's use of detail has the reader smelling the smoke of the music halls, seeing the grime of London's slums, and indulging in the sensuous luxury of the very rich. From the seaside to the Socialist underground, this is an amusing romp through late Victorian society. For most collections. [The publisher is comparing Waters to Jeannette Winterson.--Ed.]--Devon Thomas, Highland Twp. Lib., MI

January 1, 2000
When Nancy Astley falls for Kitty Butler, a cross-dressing cabaret singer, she has no idea just how far she'll go from her roots shucking oysters in a seaside resort in Kent. Waters's rowdy debut novel strikes out for a woman finding her independence in turn-of-the-century England, while painting a colorful portrait of the time. (LJ 3/15/99)

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