Why “The Crimson Petal and the White” Should Be Your Next Read

If you’re in the mood for an immersive, visceral dive into 19th-century London, The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber might be just what you’re after. This isn’t your typical Victorian novel filled with prim-and-proper protagonists and neatly tied-up endings. Faber’s masterstroke is in his uncompromising portrayal of the grit and grime of Victorian London, seen through the eyes of a young prostitute. The storytelling is bold, the characters unforgettable, and the historical detail lush. While the narrative occasionally meanders, it pulls you deeper into this atmospheric world. For fans of historical fiction, this is not a book you read — it’s a book you experience. With Faber’s ability to straddle dark and light moments, moral dilemmas, and human frailty, you’ll find yourself reluctant to leave the fog-drenched streets of this highly original take on Victorian society.

Michel Faber: A Brief Bio

Born in the Netherlands in 1960, Michel Faber has led a life marked by rich cultural influences. His family moved to Australia when he was young, and it was there that he spent most of his formative years. Faber started his writing career relatively late but quickly made his mark on the literary world. His debut novel, Under the Skin (2000), established him as a distinctive voice, combining literary elegance with unconventional subject matter. However, The Crimson Petal and the White (2002) cemented his reputation as a writer of immense skill. Faber’s works often explore the complexities of human nature, relationships, and societal norms, with a flair for combining the personal with the historical or speculative. He has also won numerous accolades, including the Saltire Society Scottish Book of the Year Award. He is known for his ability to traverse genres from literary fiction to science fiction and historical sagas.

A Gritty, Living Portrait of 19th-Century London

Faber’s The Crimson Petal and the White offers one of the most vivid depictions of 19th-century London in contemporary fiction. From the filthy, fog-choked streets of St. Giles to the grand drawing rooms of the wealthy, Faber’s attention to historical accuracy is extraordinary. Unlike many novels set in the Victorian era, where descriptions of London feel either romanticised or glossed over, Faber pulls no punches. His London is teeming with life, but it’s the kind of life that crawls from the gutter rather than from the pages of Great Expectations. The squalor, poverty, and stench of the city are palpable; you can almost hear the cries of street vendors and feel the mud sucking at your boots.

What sets The Crimson Petal and the White apart from other novels in the genre is how it immerses the reader into this world through the perspective of the lower classes. It’s not about top hats and lace gloves but the down-and-out characters navigating a system stacked against them. From disease-ridden back alleys to the suffocating opulence of upper-class homes, every corner of London is brought to life meticulously. Faber even makes the city feel like a living entity, a backdrop that nurtures and destroys those living within it.

Class Hierarchy and Victorian Society

Victorian society was notorious for its rigid class distinctions, and Faber spares no effort in portraying the harsh reality of this hierarchy. In often excruciating detail, he examines the lives of people who live both within and on the margins of these social structures. The world of The Crimson Petal and the White is split between the upper-class families whose fortunes are built on commerce, respectability, and a strict moral code and the working-class people whose lives are bound by survival and exploitation.

The central focus of Faber’s examination of class is the relationship between William Rackham, a wealthy but indecisive heir to a perfume business, and Sugar, the young prostitute he becomes obsessed with. William’s life, confined by propriety and societal expectation, contrasts sharply with Sugar’s world, shaped by poverty, exploitation, and violence. Faber clarifies that the two interdependent classes live in vastly different worlds. The novel also touches on how, even within the confines of the upper class, there are hierarchies and suffocating rules, particularly for women like Agnes Rackham, William’s wife, who suffers both physically and mentally under the pressures of Victorian ideals of femininity and motherhood.

Through characters like Sugar and William, Faber explores the power dynamics inherent in a society that allows men to move between classes relatively quickly. At the same time, women, particularly those born into poverty, have few options to escape their circumstances. Victorian hypocrisy is laid bare — while the upper classes champion moral purity, their wealth and comfort often rest on the exploitation of the lower classes. In short, Faber presents Victorian society as a machine of progress and a cage of repression.

A Prostitute as Protagonist: A Bold, Unconventional Choice

Faber’s decision to centre his novel around a prostitute is bold and deeply compelling. Sugar, the young woman at the heart of The Crimson Petal and the White, is far from the passive, victimised figure you might expect in a novel set in Victorian London. She’s sharp, resourceful, and ambitious. Her life in a brothel has honed her survival instincts, but she is more than just a product of her environment. Sugar reads voraciously, writes in secret, and possesses an intelligence that far surpasses many upper-class men she encounters.

This choice of protagonist immediately sets The Crimson Petal and the White apart from other Victorian novels. Where many historical fiction books might shy away from the harsh realities of a prostitute’s life, Faber delves into it with unflinching honesty. Sugar’s life is far from the romanticised fallen women of 19th-century literature. Instead, she is given depth and agency, making her not just a symbol of a downtrodden class but a fully fleshed-out character whose story is both engaging and heartbreaking.

By choosing Sugar as his protagonist, Faber shines a light on those typically relegated to the margins of Victorian society and literature. His portrayal of her is sympathetic but never pitying, showing the resilience and complexity of women who are often forgotten or misunderstood in narratives about this era.

Where The Crimson Petal and the White Stands in Historical Fiction

Since its publication in 2002, The Crimson Petal and the White has stood out as one of the most ambitious works of historical fiction. Its commitment to historical accuracy and its modern sensibility place it in a league of its own. While comparisons could be made to other novels set in Victorian London, such as Sarah Waters’ Fingersmith or Michael Cox’s The Meaning of Night, Faber’s novel feels unique due to its sheer scope and depth. He doesn’t just depict the era but dissects it, offering a critique of the social and moral structures that defined Victorian England.

It stands out because it is willing to dwell on the uncomfortable and unsavoury aspects of the time period. The novel’s length and density may be daunting for some readers, but it rewards those willing to invest the time with a richly textured narrative and characters who linger in the mind long after the final page. Among works set in London over the last two decades, The Crimson Petal and the White is a towering achievement, marrying the best elements of historical fiction with an unrelenting exploration of human nature.

For lovers of literary historical fiction, this novel continues to resonate. It offers a dark yet fascinating portrait of a world long gone yet all too familiar in its exploration of class, gender, and power.