The House of Doors: Longlisted for the Booker Prize 2023

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Within these layers of the storyline are many different strands. There is the intrigue of the murder trial, insight into Maugham’s life and Sun Yat Sen’s, and the lives of Europeans, Straits Chinese, Malays and others in Penang at this time. The writing is excellent, although I occasionally found descriptive passages a little overdone and convoluted, and it held my interest completely throughout. I thoroughly enjoyed it and the only reason it’s not a 5 star read for me is due to very minor issues such as this. I am always excited about a book that's about real people, and Eng's newest is a book about W. Somerset Maugham. It helps that I'm already a fan of Maugham's work and have read four or five of his novels, I don't know what this would read like if you haven't read any of his work or know much about him; but I tell a lie, because the book isn't really about Maugham at all. If you do nothing, you will be auto-enrolled in our premium digital monthly subscription plan and retain complete access for 65 € per month. From the bestselling author of The Garden of Evening Mists, a spellbinding novel about love and betrayal, colonialism and revolution, storytelling and redemption.

I have read the author's other books so when I saw this title I knew I had to read it. The author did not disappoint. In The House of Doors we meet Lesley and her husband - two expats living a pampered life who welcome a visitor, the famous author W."Willie" Somerset Maugham. Willie arrives with his secretary lover Gerald and in his two weeks stay upend the status quo, Tan’s storytelling is perfectly poised, moving between first-person narration by Lesley and a third-person account that follows Maugham. Lesley is a subtly portrayed society hostess whose identity is conditioned by her deep attachment to Penang. Born and brought up in the area, she speaks fluent Malay and claims to have no intention of moving, even as she is gently encouraged to relocate to a drier climate for the sake of Robert’s worsening lung condition. s Penang is where we meet our protagonist Lesley Hamlyn. Her husband Robert is a lawyer, and it’s fair to say that they live a very comfortable life, mixing in the very highest circles.

A writer,’ Robert said. ‘A very famous one. An old friend, actually. He stayed with us in Penang. He’s promised to visit us here. We’ll introduce you to him when he comes.’ Lesley is also drawn into the drama of her friend Ethel's trial for murder, another real-life aspect of the plot of the book. The descriptions of Panang, including the casuarina trees on the beach and other tropical scenes could not be more artfully described; the air, the water, and the gardens are painted carefully and beautifully, as are the houses.

One of the standouts is the friendship that grows between Lesley and Willie. Lesley confides about her life in the straits — more than she thought she would tell him. And it was more than Willie expected to hear. Lesley had a personal connection to the Chinese revolutionary, Sun Yet Sen. …. T ensions between the public and the private lie at the heart of Tan Twan Eng’s The House of Doors, a novel predominantly set in Penang in 1921 and immersed in the social mores of the British Empire. Lesley Hamlyn is married to Robert, a barrister eighteen years her senior. Theirs is a polite, passionless marriage, burdened but also sustained by deep silences and long-stored secrets, the two keeping their ‘true thoughts camouflaged from each other’. On the large map pinned up in his study the lower shores of the Great Karoo lie about a hundred and fifty miles to the north of Doornfontein. But there were days when I felt it was much closer, and I was convinced I could sense its timeless silence reaching out from the deepest heart of the desert – its stillness, its infinite emptiness. It called to my mind a story I had once heard: a pair of explorers, husband and wife, had got lost during an expedition across the Gobi Desert. To hide their growing despair and feelings of hopelessness as they wandered deeper and deeper into the desert, they stopped talking to each other. I often wondered which of the two was more oppressive: the silence of the desert, or the silence between the husband and his wife. Sun Yat-sen was a Chinese revolutionary who served as the first provisional president of the Republic of China and the first leader of the Kuomintang (Nationalist Party of China). He was exiled in Penang not long before he managed to assist to the fall of the Qing dynasty rule. I do not want to divulge much of the plot, so I only want to say that Lesley will become a supporter of the movement. Also, she is the best friend of the white woman accused of murdering a man. Both events ant the drama that follows are well written, and I appreciated the change in timelines. From his previous novel I noticed that the authors likes to play with different timelines and it is a skill he masters well. It is a novel about love, betrayal, hope, murder, lies and hate.I loved The Garden of Evening Mists so I was delighted to have the opportunity to read this and I wasn’t disappointed. This is very good storytelling with multiple layers of interest and the bonus of being based on actual events. The House Of Doors is the 2nd novel I’ve read by Tan Twan Eng in less than a year. It proved to be a disadvantage vis a vis my reaction toward this book since it followed the wonderful The Garden of Evening Mists. As a result, I only gave this novel 4 stars although it might have received more if I had not read his better novel first. The House of Doors is brilliantly observed and full of memorable characters. It is so well-written, everything so effortlessly dramatized, the narrative so well structured and paced, that this is a book that will mesmerize readers far into the future.” ―Colm Tóibín, author of The Magician I launched into The House of Doors enthusiastically because I was in the mood for some historical fiction set in the heyday of the British Empire. Also, Somerset Maugham intrigues me even if he has a penchant for describing female characters variously as frivolous and hysterical/ broad and dumpy or pretty yet oddly unattractive, but that's the 1920s for you.

Daily routines take place when Willie and Gerald are visiting. Willie spends a few hours a day writing in his room. There are also hours spent at the beach for Willie and Gerald…. The novel is his first since the Man Booker-shortlisted title The Garden of Evening Mists which Canongate also released. Canongate will also be republishing Tan’s Booker-longlisted debut novel The Gift of Rain in its Canons series on 7th July.

Willie has hidden his homosexuality…..and was married to Syrie. They lived in London, had one daughter, but Willie traveled so much with his ‘secretary’ (cover-up for lover) so often he wasn’t home much.. Their marriage of convenience was unraveling. Thank you Canongate and NetGalley and Tan Twan Eng for this advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

Tan Twan Eng writes pleasing evocative novels but sometimes I think they are a little too subdued for my taste. Think languid rather than electrifying. His new book revolves around a couple’s friendship with author and playwright William Somerset Maugham, set in the 1920s and orbiting the imperial dynasty of China and the unease of Empire. This beautiful novel takes place in Penang and centers around novelist W. Somerset Maugham (Willie) when he stays with old friend Robert and his wife Lesley as he gathers stories for the book that will end up being The Casuarina Tree. The prose in this novel is breathtaking and the descriptions of Penang make the setting feel like a character. Most of the love stories in this book are underpinned with pain and I was left with a bittersweet ache at the end of my reading. I am still deciding if I want to read The Casuarina tree too or just enjoy the spell that The House of Doors has left on me. I am looking forward to reading more books by this author.The world is so still, so quiescent, that I wonder if it has stopped turning. But then, high above the land, I see a tremor in the air. A pair of raptors, far from their mountain eyrie. For a minute or two I want to believe they are brahminy kites, but of course they cannot be”. Told from both perspectives, the plot envisions Maugham’s visit in 1921. He has just discovered that a poor investment decision has left him pretty much broke. He’s desperate to write his next book and is searching for a topic. Lesley tells him the story of her friend, who was convicted of murdering a man with whom she was having an affair. The fact that it’s told by Lesley to Willie reduces some of the impact, being told as a secondhand account. Maugham, having arrived in Penang to stay with his old friend Robert and wife, Lesley, has been given some dreadful news regarding his finances. He needs stories and ones that will increase his fortune not only to keep his own travels financed but also to keep his assistant, Gerald, by his side.