The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng
$7.99
The House of Doors
- By: Tan Twan Eng
- Narrated by: David Oakes, Louise-Mai Newberry
- Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins
- Categories: Literature & Fiction
About this listen
Bloomsbury presents The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng, read by David Oakes and Louise-Mai Newberry. LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE SHORTLISTED FOR THE WALTER SCOTT PRIZE FOR HISTORICAL FICTION INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORKER, NPR, SLATE, THE FINANCIAL TIMES, AND A WASHINGTON POST NOTABLE WORK A NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS’ CHOICE From the bestselling author of The Garden of Evening Mists, a spellbinding novel about love and betrayal, colonialism and revolution, storytelling and redemption. 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. 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. A mesmerizingly beautiful novel based on real events, The House of Doors traces the fault lines of race, gender, sexuality, and power under empire, and dives deep into the complicated nature of love and friendship in its shadow.
©2023 Tan Twan Eng (P)2023 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
jaf
Beautiful reading of an author who carefully uses language to paint the story
The plot, woven around historical and authorial events fills in gaps plausibly yet imaginatively. Did not want it to end, yet the ending was very satisfying
Amazon Customer
Descriptive
Enjoyed learning about Somerset Maugham, his books, Ethel Proudlock, and life in that time period .