The truth is that you are an alien from another time and place altogether.” You may imagine from other stories you’ve read, that you know it well, but those stories flattered you, welcoming you as a friend, treating you as if you belonged. This city I am bringing you is vast and intricate, and you have not been here before. Keep your wits about you you will need them. The opening scene alone is enough to pull you in It’s not very often I find a 800+ page book so ‘unputdownable’. It’s Faber’s writing alone that makes this novel such a success. He talks directly to the reader, seducing you into this world he has created, tempting you to read on, and ultimately keeping you hooked until the very last page. What I love most about this novel is Faber’s own voice throughout.

Whilst Williams seeks comfort in Sugar’s naked arms, Sugar is scheming to turn his life around – to give him the confidence to take on his father’s business and become a wealthy man, and in doing so, she becomes more a part of his life than he ever dreamed she would.

Then in walks Mr William Rackham – a struggling writer, who is married to a mad woman, has a daughter he never sees, and very little source of income. She is determined to use these skills to carve a better life for herself. Only, Sugar isn’t like other prostitutes – she is very literate, she can read and write, and is very intelligent. The main thread of the story follows Sugar, who has been forced into prostitution by her own mother. It is ultimately about sex – about the utter contrast between innocence and virginity, with being forced into a life of prostitution and sleeping with anyone for a few coins. But The Crimson Petal and the White delves deeper into places that Dickens and the like would never have dared to go before. At 835 pages, it’s certainly not a short read, but I can assure you it is worth every second of the time it takes you to read it!Īny novel that has a Victorian London setting is ultimately going to be compared to Charles Dickens, and Faber does capture those same bleak, haunting, and filthy scenes of Londonthat Dickens is renowned for. The Crimson Petal and the White has been called “the first great 19 th century novel of the 21 st century.” If you haven’t read it already, then it’s probably recently come to your attention via the BBC television adaptation featuring Ramola Garai ( ‘I Capture the Castle’), and Chris O’Dowd ( The IT Crowd). Step into Victorian London and meet our heroine, Sugar – a young woman trying to drag herself up from the gutter any way she can – and the host of unforgettable characters that make up her world.

The apple crimson petal stories