Tipping The Velvet

Really strong start, in the first third of the book, with some truly lovely prose and a very sweet story. The second third and most of the third third are a different story (snort):
- A character that started out melting my heart turned into someone whose motivations and logic I couldn't understand—at all—and for whom I very quickly lost sympathy.
- Waters does this thing where she enjoys using alternate definitions of words common in the queer lexicon. It's quite clever and amusing, but the words are overused and the ploy gets a bit tiresome. In the first part of the book, we see this happen with “queer”; later, we see it with “gay.”
- I really can't wrap my head around the choices Nan made and how she ended up being this selfish, manipulative, hateful, petty little twit. I'm still so flummoxed that I had to note it twice.

At the end, we are offered a bit of redemption, some tying up of loose ends, and a tentative assurance of happily ever after. Because I'm not actually very difficult to please, this is enough for the story to earn back a star. Other stars awarded for several brilliant turns of phrase, pleasantly surprising historical accuracy, and ultimately an admirable first novel.