The House of Doors: Longlisted for the Booker Prize 2023

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Despite the differences between them Maugham finds himself drawn to Lesley and she finally tells him not only her story but that of a friend whose affair spiralled out of control with devastating consequences. Lesley and Robert’s marriage is a kind of deception too. Behind the facade…are hidden true feelings … as well as adulterous affairs by both. They currently have none other than famous novelist and old friend of Robert’s, W. Somerset Maugham (whom they affectionately call Willie) staying with them. In the 20's Maugham was an actual well known author and this story is based on many of the truths of his life. An additional focus of the story is that of Lesley's friend Ethel who is incarcerated after she shoots a man attempting to rape her.

Such a lyrical novel about history, love, the mores of the era, and the love of landscape. I did not skip one word in this novel. It is another beautiful offering from Eng. Thank you Netgalley! Funder reveals how O’Shaughnessy Blair self-effacingly supported Orwell intellectually, emotionally, medically and financially ... why didn’t Orwell do the same for his wife in her equally serious time of need?’ It is 1921 and at Cassowary House in the Straits Settlements of Penang, Robert Hamlyn is a well-to-do lawyer, his steely wife Lesley a society hostess. Their lives are invigorated when Willie, an old friend of Robert’s, comes to stay.Ai, that’s not funny, Bernard,’ his wife said. ‘Coincidentally, our GP in the dorp disappeared that same morning,’ Bernard continued. ‘Left his wife behind. Neither hair nor hide of him has ever been seen again.’ 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. This is, indeed, a novel of many doors – perhaps a couple too many. The title refers to the literal kind: the ancient Chinese doors collected by the revolutionary Chinese lover of Lesley Hamlyn, Somerset Maugham’s fictional English host, and stored in the house in downtown Penang in which the couple meet. I put down the photograph. The morning is decanting its light down the slopes of the far mountains. It is the autumn equinox today; here, in the southern bowl of the earth, the portions of day and night are exactly equal. The world is at an equilibrium, but I myself feel unsteady, off-balance.

Maugham, one of the great novelists of his day, is beleaguered: Having long hidden his homosexuality, his unhappy and expensive marriage of convenience becomes unbearable after he loses his savings-and the freedom to travel with Gerald. His career deflating, his health failing, Maugham arrives at Cassowary House in desperate need of a subject for his next book. Lesley, too, is enduring a marriage more duplicitous than it first appears. Maugham suspects an affair, and, learning of Lesley's past connection to the Chinese revolutionary, Dr. Sun Yat Sen, decides to probe deeper. But as their friendship grows and Lesley confides in him about life in the Straits, Maugham discovers a far more surprising tale than he imagined, one that involves not only war and scandal but the trial of an Englishwoman charged with murder. It is, to Maugham, a story worthy of fiction. The year is 1921. Lesley Hamlyn and her husband, Robert, a lawyer and war veteran, are living at Cassowary House on the Straits Settlement of Penang. When “Willie” Somerset Maugham, a famed writer and old friend of Robert's, arrives for an extended visit with his secretary Gerald, the pair threatens a rift that could alter more lives than one. Lesley missed her garden — the trees she planted - flowers, shrubs, their high ceilings in Cassowary House, her old busy life of the different committees she was on, but with time, she did adjust realizing she no longer cared about those things.I liked some of his stories,’ said Helena. ‘But “Rain”’ – she made a face – ‘I’ll never forget that one.’

The Doberman lying at Robert’s feet lifted his head and barked as Willie approached the table. Husband and wife lowered their newspapers. ‘Don’t be rude, Claudius,’ Robert said, reaching down to rub the dog’s ears. ‘Morning, Willie. You’re bright and early. Sleep well?’ Just before reading this, since it centers around Maugham's composition of the short story (and subsequent stage adaptation of) The Letter, I not only read both of those, but also rewatched the 1940 Bette Davis film adaptation - and would strongly suggest doing at least one of those before attempting to read this. The book does fulfill one of my desires of historical fiction, which is to teach me something I didn’t know. In this case, it’s Sun Yat-sen’s rebellion against the Qing dynasty. There's much to be said about Eng's ability to craft a scene, especially the vivid settings and descriptions of nature. Though the novel as a whole seems to fall into many of the tropes of historical fiction, he does excel in rendering a location or crafting a rich environment within which his characters reside. The way Tan Twan Eng deftly weaves in some elements of Maugham's style so that it almost sounds like a pastiche and adds some elements from Maugham's books, some of the realia, is just extraordinary. Since I've started The Casuarina Tree, a collection of Maugham's short stories set mostly in Malaysia, which inspired The House of Doors, I appreciate Tan Twan Eng's talent even more. Not just talent. How much work, time and research must have gone into this novel and, at the same time, it seems so effortless, so understated, so smooth, so subtle.From the bestselling author of The Garden of Evening Mists, a spellbinding novel about love and betrayal, colonialism and revolution, storytelling and redemption. 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. It’s based on true events. It’s a work of fiction; yet it features characters and events drawn from history…a murder in 1911 which Eng set in 1910 to coincide with Sun Yat-Sen’s extended stay in Penang. When I finished The House of Doors yesterday, I stayed motionless and silent for half an hour, wondering what had just happened. This novel has an old-fashioned charm; it reads as if it were a classic written in the first half of the 20th century. The sense of time and place is evoked in an amazing way, I mean not only the clothes, interiors, furniture, food, nature, landscapes but also the characters' opinions and beliefs. I like the fact that the author led me astray plotwise on several occasions: for example, in the beginning, I thought this was going to be a sort of remake of Out of Africa in a Malayan setting, even the farm in Africa was mentioned, but it all went in a completely, completely different direction.

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. 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”. I begin with the main characters. I work out what is it that they are seeking. I always know the ending, although getting there is another matter entirely. With this novel, I even knew what the concluding sentence would be; every other word and sentence preceding it was directed, like an arrow fired from a bow, towards that final sentence. Willie opened the lids of the chafing dishes. Kippers and bacon and sausages and eggs and toast, as he had expected. There were also plates of cheeses and bowls of local fruit – bananas and mangoes and starfruit. He filled only half his plate and sat down at the table.It was high summer when we arrived, the sun smiting the earth. Everything was so bleak – the parchment landscape, the faces of the people, even the light itself. How I ached for the monsoon skies of the equator, for the ever-changing tints of its chameleon sea. 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. …. It's hard to imagine that Maugham traveled as much as he did, especially in Europe and Asia, and that he knows so many people, especially in South Asia. He is well known. His ability to describe characters and the drama of their lives is fascinating, and his incisive look at the power of people is mirrored in their interactions. Eng's characters are gently drawn and yet they could not be stronger nor more well defined. Tan Twan Eng spins a tale of colonial scandal and intrigue in The House of Doors . . . solid, well-crafted . . . engrossing. Eileen M Hunt: Feminism vs Big Brother - Wifedom: Mrs Orwell’s Invisible Life by Anna Funder; Julia by Sandra Newman