Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

This is an interesting and worthwhile novel, set in mid-19th century England, involving two young women, one an heiress and one a thief (aka "fingersmith"). They are brought together by a rogue who is known only as Gentleman, who arranges for the thief, Susan, to be a maid for the heiress, Maud. Susan's job is to help convince Maud to run away and marry Gentleman, who poses as a well-bred man named Richard Rivers to fool the heiress and her uncle, the master of the house. Gentleman and Susan's plot is that, once Maud is legally married to "Richard Rivers", then she will be committed to a madhouse, and Susan will get a share of the large inheritance that is expected to come from the marriage.

But things are not what they seem. Not anywhere. There are a couple of very nice twists here.

The novel is very well-written, and even though Dickens is an obvious influence none of that author's ponderous style is here. There is also a good amount of profanity and sexuality (in a way the reader may not expect) that further separates this from Dickens. But there is good, honest emotion here, and the characters are very well developed. The dialogue puts you right into the story.

Very much recommended.

Thanks, Paul. I've been searching for an adventure story for awhile. I'll definitely take a look at this.

I read this one a while back, loved it. I thought that it was very much influenced by Dickens.