 The popularity of her first novel cast a standard for Affinity to follow , which Waters consciously made darker , set in a women 's prison with a character who connects with spirits of the dead . Waters found it daunting to follow the success of Tipping the Velvet and reviewers marked the differences in the main characters : where Nan <unk> seeks out and states her desires , Margaret in Affinity is compelled by desire , but internally struggles with it . 
