Quotes from book
Tipping the Velvet

Name: Tipping the Velvet
Author: Sarah Waters

For the TV serial based on the novel, see Tipping the Velvet Tipping the Velvet is a historical novel by Sarah Waters; it is her debut novel. Set in England during the 1890s, it tells a coming of age story about a young woman named Nan who falls in love with a male impersonator, follows her to London, and finds various ways to support herself as she journeys through the city. The picaresque plot elements have prompted scholars and reviewers to compare it to similar British urban adventure stories written by Charles Dickens and Daniel Defoe.

“Being in love, you know… it's not like having a canary, in a cage. When you lose one sweetheart, you can't just go out and get another to replace her.”

Sarah Waters book Tipping the Velvet

Source: Tipping the Velvet

“With every step I took away from her, the movement at my heart and between my legs grew more defined: I felt like a ventriloquist, locking his protesting dolls in to a trunk.”

Sarah Waters book Tipping the Velvet

Source: Tipping the Velvet

“It was heavy, and I staggered when I lifted it; but it was strangely satifying to have a real burden upon my shoulders – a kind of counterweight to my terrible heaviness of heart.”

Sarah Waters book Tipping the Velvet

Source: Tipping the Velvet