Sarah Waters author page

Sarah Waters biography

Sarah Waters is a British novelist known for her historical fiction, particularly set in Victorian and twentieth-century Britain. She studied English literature at the University of Kent and later completed a PhD at Queen Mary, University of London, focusing on lesbian and gay historical fiction. Waters’s academic background has influenced her writing, with her novels often exploring themes of gender, sexuality, and class.

Her debut novel, Tipping the Velvet, was published by Virago in 1998. The book is set in Victorian England and follows the journey of Nancy Astley, a young woman who becomes involved in music hall performance and same-sex relationships. Waters’s second novel, Affinity (1999), is a psychological ghost story set in a women’s prison in the 1870s. Her third novel, Fingersmith (2002), is a crime thriller involving deception and betrayal, also set in Victorian England.

Waters continued to explore historical settings in her later works. The Night Watch (2006) is set in London during and after the Second World War, while The Little Stranger (2009) is a gothic novel set in a post-war country house. The Paying Guests (2014) is set in 1920s London and examines the social changes following the First World War.

Sarah Waters’s novels have received critical recognition and have been shortlisted for major literary awards, including the Booker Prize and the Orange Prize for Fiction. In 2019, she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.