Affinity by Sarah Waters

The year is 1874, and Margaret Prior, an unhappy spinster mourning a failed love affair, decides to embark upon a course of good works. She begins to visit the inmates of Millbank Prison, hoping to bring comfort to the women incarcerated there. She makes an instant connection with a lovely prisoner named Selina Dawes, whom she first sees holding a violet to her lips. How did a prisoner manage to get a flower into the stony precincts of Millbank?

Margaret falls deeply under the spell of Selina, so much so that she comes to believe that there is a supernatural connection between them. How else to explain the objects that vanish from her room, only to appear in Selina's cell? Or the flowers that Selina seems to send to her from prison? Best of all, Selina tells Margaret that, in the spiritual realm, male and female don't matter: only love. Margaret dares to believe that she might have a happy future with Selina. But there is much that Margaret doesn't understand.

Affinity flawlessly captures the Victorian period and its fascination with spiritualism. It is also a riveting suspense story. The secrets that surround its hapless protagonist unfold slowly but remorselessly, leaving Margaret (and the reader) breathless with shock. If you enjoy historical novels, ghost stories, or books in which everything is not as it seems, don't hesitate to check out this marvelous novel.