I love 'Fingersmith' (also 'The Paying Guest' if you're interested in more Waters).

I know I read McTeague in a grad school class and I mostly remember the dental horror and the scenes in the desert that seemed like a pre-cursor to a scene I recall from loony toons... The most menorable thing is that I read this for a survey course on realism and at some I commented on how clever it had been for the professor to specifically select books that focused on money and he was like -?? Not on purpose!

Turns out that's just what realism is!