"Refined, repressed and simmering... a delicious tale of Victorian spiritualism" - Independent on Sunday

"Spooky, spellbinding, exquisitely written... I do believe Waters is on the way to becoming a major literary star" - Val Hennessy

"Beautifully, atmospherically written, this is a tale to thrill your very soul " - Metro

"An exquisitely sad, pseudo-ghost story... it is a novel that takes countless risks" - Independent on Sunday

"Affinity is the work of an intense and atmospheric imagination... Sarah Waters is such an interesting writer, a kind of feminist Dickens" - Daily Telegraph

"Sarah Waters is such a brilliant writer that her readers would believe anything she told them" - Daily Mail

"Extraordinary... written in a subtly caricatured period style... So well researched is this novel that both diaries seem grotesquely authentic" - The Times

"Sexy, spooky, stylish, Affinity is a wonderful book" - Guardian

"Waters displays her incredible talent for the Gothic historical novel in this splendid book about a Victorian women's prison and the affair there between an inmate and a lady visitor" - San Francisco Chronicle

"Gothic tale, psychological study, puzzle narrative... superbly suspenseful... This is gripping, astute fiction that feeds the mind and senses" - Seattle Times

"Unfolds sinuously and ominously... a powerful plot-twister... a truly suspenseful tale of terror; and a piece of elegant, thinly veiled erotica. Like a Ouija board, Affinity offers different messages to different readers, scaring the shrouds off everyone in the process" - USA Today

"A richly detailed exploration of the mysterious affinity that appears to unite two lonely women... Waters has found a superb metaphor for the love that dares not speak its name, and developed it with remarkable ingenuity and power: another stunning performance" - Kirkus