Sarah Waters Books in Order
Sarah Waters has written 6 books, published between 1998 and 2014. The first book is Tipping the Velvet (1998) and the newest is The Paying Guests (2014). Publication order is the reading order below.
- Books
- 6
- Published
- 1998–2014
- Total pages
- 3,049 across 6 books
- Reading time
- 51–76 hours
Reading time is an estimate, not a recorded figure: 3,049 pages at 300 words a page, read at 200–300 words a minute.
Sarah Waters is a Welsh novelist whose fiction places lesbian protagonists in Victorian society. Tipping the Velvet (1998) and Fingersmith (2002) are the best known of the six novels; the BBC adapted both as television mini-series, in 2002 and 2005, and Fingersmith became the South Korean film The Handmaiden in 2016. The catalogue also holds Affinity (1999), The Night Watch (2006), The Little Stranger (2009) and The Paying Guests (2014). Spiritualism, prisons and social history run through the work.
How many Sarah Waters books are there?
Sarah Waters has 6 books, released between 1998 and 2014.
Sarah Waters Books in Publication Order
The table lists all 6 Sarah Waters books in the order they were published, with the release year, the page count where one is on record, and how many independent book listings confirm each title. Catalogue data as of September 2026.
- 1Tipping the Velvet1998 · 472 pages · confirmed 2/419984722/4
- 2Affinity1999 · 368 pages · confirmed 2/419993682/4
- 3Fingersmith2002 · 582 pages · confirmed 2/420025822/4
- 4The Night Watch2006 · 528 pages · confirmed 2/420065282/4
- 5The Little Stranger2009 · 528 pages · confirmed 2/420095282/4
- 6The Paying Guests2014 · 571 pages · confirmed 2/420145712/4
Sarah Waters books grouped by series
Each title below is a row in the publication-order table above. None of these groups has a reading-order page of its own on this site.
Standalone books
6 books6 Sarah Waters titles here are not listed as part of any series.
Do you have to read Sarah Waters books in order?
No. No source lists any of the 6 Sarah Waters books here as part of a series. The numbered table above gives them by publication date.
Where to start with Sarah Waters
Start with Tipping the Velvet (1998), the earliest published title.
What is the newest Sarah Waters book?
The Paying Guests (2014) is the newest Sarah Waters book released so far.
Is there a new Sarah Waters book coming?
No next Sarah Waters book is announced in the catalogue, which is a gap in the listings it merges rather than a sign that the run has ended.
Awards Sarah Waters has won
Wikidata records 5 awards and 5 nominations for Sarah Waters. Each row states whether the title won or was shortlisted, and the year the award was given.
- Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction2007Won
- Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction2003Wonfor Fingersmith
- CWA Historical Dagger2002Won
- Somerset Maugham Award2000Won
- Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction2000Won
- Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction2015Shortlistedfor Behind the Door
- Booker Prize2009Shortlistedfor The Little Stranger
- Booker Prize2006Shortlistedfor The Night Watch
- Booker Prize2002Shortlistedfor Fingersmith
- Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction2001Shortlisted
Sarah Waters at a glance
- No recent titles
- The newest Sarah Waters title on record dates from 2014, 12 years ago. No later title is catalogued.
- Release pace
- Sarah Waters books have appeared about one every 3 years on average.
- Length
- 3,049 pages across all 6 books with a recorded length, a median of 528 pages each.
- Busiest decade
- Most Sarah Waters books, 3 of 6, were published in the 2000s.
What the Sarah Waters books are about
All 6 Sarah Waters books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. The subjects below are the ones that recur across them, most frequent first: social life and customs is tagged on 3 of 6. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.
- Social life and customs 3 of 6 books
- History 2 of 6 books
- Lesbians 2 of 6 books