 The greatest literary strengths in Tipping the Velvet , according to reviewers and literary scholars , are the vibrant portrayal of the districts and streets of London , and Waters ' ability to create sympathetic and realistic characters . Her use of synaesthesia in lush descriptions particularly interested Harriet Malinowitz in The Women 's Review of Books . For example , Malinowitz cites the scene when Nan first meets Kitty , removing her glove to shake Kitty 's hand . Very much an oyster girl , Nan 's hands are covered with " those rank sea @-@ scents , of liquor and oyster @-@ flesh , crab @-@ meat and whelks , which had flavoured my fingers and those of my family for so many years we had ceased , entirely , to notice them . " Nan is mortified that she smells like a herring , but Kitty assuages her fears , kissing her hand and telling her she instead smells like a mermaid . Malinowitz includes this and other descriptions of sights , sounds , and smells in Victorian London as examples of elements that are " breathlessly and wittily detailed " . 
