Affinity

Name: Affinity
ISBN: 9787208143098

萨拉·沃特斯 / 沈敏Shanghai People's Publishing House · ChinaMar 2026

4.1

Word count: 199K words
Chapters: 65
ISBN: 9787208143098

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Summary

A spiritualist imprisoned, a wealthy young lady yearning for freedom, and a group of women trapped by their era. When the wealthy Margaret first sets eyes on the inmate Selina Dawes, she is utterly captivated. Selina awakens in her a visceral sense of confinement, a longing for freedom, and a yearning for an unknown life. Powerless to resist, she visits the prison again and again, showing Selina ever greater care—from sympathy to identification, from resonance to love, Margaret's feelings for Selina spiral beyond control. But is this enigmatic girl a glib fraud, or a prodigy of extraordinary gifts? Affinity is the second novel in Sarah Waters's celebrated Victorian trilogy—a work of narrative and textual power that exposes the emotional and social predicaments of women with depth and sharpness.

Editor's review

Affinity is the second installment in Sarah Waters's acclaimed Victorian trilogy and was shortlisted for the Orange Prize and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. It continues Waters's masterly evocation of Victorian society, yet at its heart lies a dark psychological drama of desire, class and deception. Set in a women's prison, the story unfolds through the complex, ambiguous relationship between Selina Dawes, an upper-class medium, and Margaret Prior, a gentlewoman imprisoned for fraud. Waters's prose is delicate and coolly controlled; she refuses to romanticize the relationship, instead placing it under a microscope of power, dependency and self-deception. The oppressive prison environment and the uncanny atmosphere of spiritualism form a deft intertext, together revealing that what imprisoned women of the era was not only the body but also the mind and destiny. Readers are drawn into a suspenseful, layer-by-layer narrative while profoundly sensing the characters' struggles between moral dilemma and emotional need. This is more than a historical story: it is an enduring inquiry into the human desire for solitude and connection.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in Victorian history and society, especially the situation of women
Readers who enjoy nuanced psychological portrayal and complex relationships, and prefer literary suspense
Fans of Sarah Waters, or readers eager to explore her "Victorian trilogy" in depth
Lovers of beautifully written, atmospheric literary fiction dealing with class, gender and power

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking fast-paced, plot-driven or light entertainment
Readers impatient with psychological detail, historical texture and ambiguous emotional relationships

Reading tips

Pay attention to subtle shifts in narrative perspective and to how different characters perceive the same event; this is key to understanding their motives and the story's deeper meaning.
Read it alongside Waters's Tipping the Velvet or Fingersmith to see how she handles similar themes in different settings.
Consider the multiple metaphors in the title "Affinity": it refers both to a spiritualist bond and to the dangerous emotional ties and power relations between characters.

About the publisher

Shanghai People's Publishing House China · Founded in 1951

Shanghai People's Publishing House is a comprehensive publisher whose list focuses on academic monographs and general-interest titles in philosophy, social sciences, politics and law, economics and management, and history. Among its books are Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties History in the Chinese Dynastic History series; The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy in foreign literature; the Wenjing Classical Translation Illustrated Edition of The Complete Greek Tragedies of Euripides; and works of social theory such as Max Weber's Economy and Society and Dialectic of Enlightenment: Philosophical Fragments. Its authors include Wang Zhongluo, J.R.R. Tolkien, Luo Niansheng, and Zhou Zuoren.

版权信息
致谢
楔子
1873年8月3日
第一部
1874年9月24日
1872年9月2日
1874年9月30日
1872年9月30日
1872年10月4日
1874年10月2日
1874年10月6日
1872年10月12日
1874年10月15日
1874年10月16日
1872年11月3日
1872年11月6日
1872年11月13日
1872年11月17日
1874年10月17日
1872年11月25日
1874年10月21日
1872年11月26日
第二部
1874年10月23日
1872年12月9日
1874年10月28日
1872年12月17日
1872年12月19日
1873年1月8日
1874年11月2日
1873年1月25日
1873年1月26日
第三部
1874年11月5日
1874年11月10日
1874年11月14日
1874年11月20日
1873年3月10日
1874年11月21日
1874年11月23日
1874年11月24日
1873年4月2日
1874年11月28日
1874年12月2日
1873年5月26日
1874年12月11日
1873年5月30日
第四部
1874年12月21日
1874年12月23日
1874年12月24日
1875年1月6日
1873年6月14日
1873年6月21日
1873年6月25日
1873年7月3日
1875年1月15日
1875年1月16日
1875年1月19日
1875年1月20日
第五部
1875年1月21日
1873年7月18日
1873年8月1日

FAQ

Is this a horror novel or a pure ghost story?

Not at all. Although it revolves around spiritualism and includes suspense and uncanny elements, its core is psychological. The supernatural serves mainly as a narrative device to reveal inner lives, social repression and power structures rather than to create pure terror.

Will I be lost if I haven't read other works by Sarah Waters?

Not in the least. Affinity is a standalone story. Each novel in her "Victorian trilogy" shares themes but has an independent plot, so you can start with any of them.

What is the tone of the book?

The overall tone is dark, oppressive and full of tension. Set in a prison, it explores deception, desire and imprisonment, with profound and complex emotional portrayal. The ending is not conventionally bright, but the journey is literarily powerful and thought-provoking.

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About the author

萨拉·沃特斯 Author

Sarah Waters is a contemporary British novelist whose work appears in Chinese reading circles as foreign literature and social fiction. Four of her books are included here: Fingersmith, The Night Watch, Affinity, and Tipping the Velvet. Though varied in subject, these four share a close attention to human relationships and period atmosphere: Fingersmith is set in the Victorian era and revolves around deception, desire, and class; The Night Watch turns to war and the postwar years, writing about ordinary people's emotions and choices amid historical change; Affinity and Tipping the Velvet touch on questions of mind, body, and gender. Waters often uses historical settings to carry modern concerns; her plots are intricate yet controlled, and her characters' inner lives are finely drawn, giving the books both readability and room for discussion. Public information about her life, education, and awards is limited, so no inferences are made here; her achievement as a writer is chiefly shown in the breadth of subject matter and narrative skill displayed in these works.

沈敏 Author

Shen Min is an author about whom limited public information is available; only one work by this name appears in the current collection, Ling Qi (roughly, "A Pact of the Spirit"). According to the existing classification, this work falls under prose and miscellaneous writings, suggesting that it is closer to flexible essays, sketches, or miscellaneous prose than to a tightly structured novel or scholarly monograph. Because the author's dates of birth and death, nationality, educational background, and writing career cannot be verified, this note makes no speculations about them. As for Ling Qi itself, the title carries a certain introspective and spiritual resonance, and given its placement among prose and miscellaneous writings, the text may lean toward personal feeling, everyday observation, and the recording of moods, written in a relatively free style. For readers, Shen Min remains a name to be approached through the work itself; until more material emerges, any understanding of the author and the writing can rest only on the limited clues offered by this single work.