Waters’ perfectly captures her idolisation and, while Nan is somewhat obsessive in those early moments of infatuation, Kitty isn’t just an oddity to her. Nan’s innocent wonder when she first watches Kitty on stage is just a glorious thing to experience as a reader. The opening chapters are some of my favourites in the entire novel. The plot of this novel is complex and rich in detail. It is not a perfect relationship, Waters never depicts unrealistic relationships, but it is deeply emotional and beautifully written. In the beginning, they pretend that their relationship is sisterly as a romantic relationship between women in Victorian England would be taboo but their feelings grow for each other. She begins a friendship with a ‘masher’, a male impersonator, called Kitty who she follows to London. Nancy “Nan” Astley is a sheltered young woman, just 18 years old, living with her working-class family who run an oyster restaurant in Whitstable, Kent. Tipping the Velvet is a novel which concentrates on lesbian themes, mostly on eroticism and self-discovery, but it is also a wonderfully researched historical novel set in Victorian England.
I loved when I first read in in 2015 and I loved it even more during this re-read. I decided to re-read Tipping the Velvet last week (as part of a re-read-a-thon over on tumblr) but I’ve never reviewed it on here so I’m finally going to talk about one of my favourite books! In time, Kitty breaks her heart, and Nan assumes the guise of butch roue to commence her own thrilling and varied sexual education – a sort of Moll Flanders in drag – finally finding friendship and true love in the most unexpected places.
Summary: When Kitty is called up to London for an engagement on “Grease Paint Avenue”, Nan follows as her dresser and secret lover, and, soon after, dons trousers herself and joins the act.
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