Queer? I should say it is criminal! Sarah Waters’ affinity 1999

This article examines Sarah Waters' novel, Affinity, in the light of Victorian discourses concerning the nature of criminal women, spiritualism and lesbianism. Placing Waters' novel into the context of these discourses, the essay highlights the parallels between late Victorian and late-twentieth-century lesbianism, particularly in the ways in which Waters herself draws parallels between her central protagonist and diarist, Margaret Prior, and her own role as a contemporary lesbian author.