On her first visit she is entranced by the sight of a young woman with a flower, who reminds her of a Carlo Crivelli painting. To counter this, she becomes a 'Lady Visitor' of the prison's female wards, hoping to escape her troubles and be a guiding figure in the lives of the female prisoners. Margaret is generally unhappy, recovering from her father's death and her subsequent suicide attempt, and struggling with her lack of power living at home with her over-involved mother despite being almost 30. Margaret Prior (also called 'Peggy' and 'Aurora'), an unmarried woman from an upper-class family, visits the Millbank Prison in 1870s Victorian-era England. Like her first novel, Affinity contains overarching lesbian themes, and was acclaimed by critics on its publication. Written as an epistolary novel, the story alternates as a series of diary entries written by both main characters. Whilst there she becomes entranced by the spiritualist Selina Dawes, with whom she becomes obsessed and begins an inappropriate relationship. Set during 1870s Victorian England, it tells the story of a woman, Margaret Prior, who is haunted by a shadowy past and in an attempt to cure her recent bout of illness and depression, begins visits to the women's wards of Millbank Prison. It is the author's second novel, following her debut Tipping the Velvet. Affinity is a 1999 historical fiction novel by Sarah Waters.

Sarah waters author