What to read, watch, and listen to if you lovedFingersmith
Aisling Walsh · Series · 2005
If you loved Fingersmith, start with Fingersmith (Sarah Waters, 2002) — a book from the same story. Below: 4 books, 2 films and 2 podcasts, each matched to Fingersmith across media.
What hooked you in Fingersmith is the delicious tension of watching complex schemes unravel through the eyes of deeply unreliable narrators.
Start with the source
Adaptation
The Handmaiden
Film · 2016
Books on the same thread
The Woman in White
Wilkie Collins · Book · 2005
Explores: Mistaken Identity, Asylum, Conspiracy.
Like Fingersmith, this Victorian classic masterfully traps its characters within a web of asylum conspiracies and mistaken identities, ensuring that the truth remains just out of your reach.
The Moving Finger
Agatha Christie · Book · 2000
Explores: Small Town Secrets, Poison Pen Letters, Mistrust.
If you enjoyed the atmosphere of suspicion in Fingersmith, you will appreciate how this mystery uses hidden identities and village secrets to constantly challenge your perceptions of the truth.
Alias Grace
Margaret Atwood · Book · 2010
Shares a thread with Fingersmith: unreliable narrator.
You will find the same obsession with class struggle and female trauma in this work as you did in Fingersmith, anchored by a similarly enigmatic and unreliable narrator.
The Girl on the Train
Paula Hawkins · Book · 2015
Shares 2 threads with Fingersmith: Unreliable Narrator, Psychological Thriller.
Much like the perspective shifts that define Fingersmith, this thriller relies on an unreliable narrator to slowly dismantle your understanding of a domestic situation gone dangerously wrong.
Films on the same thread
The Handmaiden
Film · 2016
Shares a thread with Fingersmith: Psychological Thriller.
This film is the definitive successor to Fingersmith, mirroring its intricate plot of a maid caught between a manipulative scheme and a forbidden, transformative romance with her employer.
The Housemaid
Paul Feig · Film · 2025
Shares 2 threads with Fingersmith: Identity Theft, Psychological Thriller.
This story echoes the power dynamics of Fingersmith, placing a vulnerable housemaid into a wealthy household where gaslighting and identity theft turn a job into a dangerous game.
Podcasts on the same thread
Unravelling Amy
Podcast
Shares a thread with Fingersmith: identity theft.
The elaborate deceptions and financial schemes detailed here mirror the criminal underworld of Fingersmith, offering a real-world look at how far a master manipulator will go to succeed.
Criminal
Podcast
Explores: Justice, Wrongful Conviction, Morality.
If the moral ambiguity of Fingersmith captivated you, this podcast explores similar questions of justice and human behavior that arise when people are caught in the middle of crime.
Keep exploring
Common questions
Is Fingersmith based on a book?
Yes, the 2005 television adaptation of Fingersmith is based on the 2002 novel of the same name. Both works follow the story of a pickpocket hired to help a swindler defraud an heiress living in a secluded countryside estate.
Should I watch The Handmaiden if I enjoyed Fingersmith?
If you enjoyed the plot of Fingersmith, you should watch The Handmaiden. Released in 2016, The Handmaiden is a film adaptation that draws from the same source material as the 2005 television production of Fingersmith, featuring the same core narrative of a maid and an heiress.
What is the plot of Fingersmith?
Fingersmith follows a pickpocket recruited by a swindler to serve as a maid for a secluded heiress. The goal is to help the swindler seduce the heiress, steal her fortune, and commit her to a madhouse, though the plan changes when the two women discover their connection.
Are there other versions of Fingersmith?
Yes, the story of Fingersmith exists in multiple formats. You can experience the narrative through the original 2002 book, the 2005 television production directed by Aisling Walsh, or the 2016 film adaptation titled The Handmaiden.