Unless you are familiar with lesbian slang of the late 1800s, you probably did not know that tipping the velvet has absolutely nothing to do with a) leaving a tip, b) tipping your hat, or c) velvet fabric. (I won't post what it really is as I'm pretty sure my immediate family reads this. If you're curious, just google it.)
The book is a coming of age story for a young woman, Nancy, who at the beginning of the story is about 16 or 17 years old. Her sister's boyfriend works at a theater and when the show isn't sold out, which seems to be every night, he allows the girls to watch for free. Nancy soon becomes obsessed with one of the acts, a masher (which is slang for a woman who dresses up like a man) named Kitty Butler. Before long Nancy is making the trip to see the show every night and Kitty, noticing her adoring fan, offers Nancy the chance to be her dresser. It isn't long before Kitty's act becomes too popular for the little theaters, and her manager, Walter, takes Kitty to London to grow her career. Nancy goes with her to escape her family and the small town oyster life. The girls have to share a bed and so one night they have a little too much to drink and...well, you know what happens. (But of course from Nancy's conversations with her sister about her feelings for Kitty, you'd have to be blind not to have seen that coming.)
Life continues blissfully for Kitty and Nancy in their relationship until other mashers start coming onto the scene. Suddenly Kitty's act is not as unique and exciting as it was before. So when Walter walks in one day to find Kitty and Nancy singing and dancing together, he reacts the way any normal man would. What could be better than one woman? TWO! A new act is created and suddenly Nancy is a star. Unfortunately, her happiness is brought to an abrupt halt when Kitty decides she's ashamed to be a lesbian and secretly marries Walter. Nancy runs away and thus ends part 1.
In part 2, Nancy finds herself wandering on the street wearing her masher outfit (menswear) when she's approached by a man looking for a little fun. Deciding that this seems like an easy way to make a quick buck, Nancy turns to world's oldest profession: prostitution. This continues until she meets Diana, a very wealthy woman who invites Nancy to come live with her in luxury as her companion/boy toy. Everyone is happy and this goes on for a while, but then Nancy has sex with one of the maids and is promptly tossed out on the street. End part 2.
Nancy begins part 3 broke, beat up, and pretty much desperate. She goes to the house of Florence, a woman she met once years before, and after much persuading, talks Flo into letting her stay there in exchange for housekeeping, cooking, etc... After a few months of sleeping on the floor, doing hard manual labor, and making no money, Nancy falls back on what she knows: sex. Though the book tries to convince you that Nancy is in love with Florence, I think it's pretty obvious she just didn't want to sleep on the floor anymore.
If this book is about Nancy escaping her small town life, Waters has definitely succeeded in transforming Nancy into a big city girl (errr....boy). But in the process she becomes someone completely different than the Nancy we come to love at the beginning of the story, and you just want to yell at her to go home to her family! Though her sister clearly does not approve of Nancy's lesbian relationships, when midway through the book Nancy moves without telling anyone and stops writing letters, it's hard to feel that the family shunned her for the lifestyle choice. Clearly Nancy has turned her back on them. And so, as she makes one bad decision after another, it's just too hard to be sympathetic.
Verdict: Well written, but the story is hard to relate to and the characters (except Kitty) lack warmth. I heard they're making a movie so I'll be interested to see how the images on screen match the ones in my head.
