{"product_id":"the-paying-guests-9780349004600","title":"The Paying Guests","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eSHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN''S PRIZE\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThis novel from the internationally bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eThe Little Stranger\u003c\/i\u003e, is a brilliant ''page-turning melodrama and a fascinating portrait of London of the verge of great change'' (\u003ci\u003eGuardian\u003c\/i\u003e)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt is 1922, and London is tense. Ex-servicemen are disillusioned, the out-of-work and the hungry are demanding change. And in South London, in a genteel Camberwell villa, a large silent house now bereft of brothers, husband and even servants, life is about to be transformed, as impoverished widow Mrs Wray and her spinster daughter, Frances, are obliged to take in lodgers.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFor with the arrival of Lilian and Leonard Barber, a modern young couple of the ''clerk class'', the routines of the house will be shaken up in unexpected ways. And as passions mount and frustration gathers, no one can foresee just how far-reaching, and how devastating, the disturbances will be.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis is vintage Sarah Waters: beauti\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbsolutely brilliant\u003c\/b\u003e * Sunday Times *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAnother wild ride of a novel . . . magnetic storytelling\u003c\/b\u003e * Observer *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA page-turning melodrama and a fascinating portrait of London on the verge of great change\u003c\/b\u003e * Guardian *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThis novel magnificently confirms Sarah Waters's status as an unsurpassed fictional recorder of vanished eras and hidden lives\u003c\/b\u003e * Sunday Times, Fiction Book of the Year *\u003cbr\u003eI raced through it, breathing fast and when I had finished had to reread parts of the wonderful early chapters. I don't like historical novels but this is the exception. I shall let a few months go by and then read it all over again with, I'm sure, undiminished pleasure * Guardian *\u003cbr\u003eYou know you are in the hands of a skilful, confident writer when you read a Sarah Waters book. She slowly reels you in. \u003cb\u003eShe weaves plots and themes that creep up and entangle you while you are innocently following her characters.\u003c\/b\u003e They go about their shadowy business and by the time you raise your head from the page to take a breath, you're hooked * Telegraph *\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Paying Guests \u003c\/i\u003edemonstrates the writerly qualities for which Waters is esteemed, proving as 'fantastically moody and resonant', in terms of the rendering of domestic space, as a novel the author herself described as such and which she once said she would like to have written: Daphne du Maurier's \u003ci\u003eRebecca\u003c\/i\u003e * Literary Review *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSickeningly tense - and thumpingly good\u003c\/b\u003e * Daily Mail *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eYou will be hooked within a page\u003c\/b\u003e . . . At her greatest, Waters transcends genre: the delusions in \u003ci\u003eAffinity\u003c\/i\u003e (1999), the vulnerability in \u003ci\u003eFingersmith\u003c\/i\u003e (2002), the undercurrents of social injustice and the unexplained that underlie all her work, take her, in my view, well beyond the capabilities of her more seriously regarded Booker-winning peers. But \u003ci\u003eThe Paying Guests\u003c\/i\u003e is the apotheosis of her talent; at least for now. I have tried and failed to find a single negative thing to say about it. Her next will probably be even better. Until then, read it, Flaubert, Zola, and weep * Financial Times *\u003cbr\u003eA nod towards \u003ci\u003eLittle Dorrit\u003c\/i\u003e also seems perceptible in the book's quiet ending amid the bustle and clamour of London. Unillusioned but tentatively hopeful, it is a beautifully gauged conclusion to \u003cb\u003ea novel of ambitious reach and triumphant accomplishment\u003c\/b\u003e * Sunday Times *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA masterpiece of social unease\u003c\/b\u003e . . . It isn't so much the plot that makes you read on - the novel's armature is a comparatively uncomplicated suspense narrative but barnacled to it is an astonishing accretion of detail . . . A virtuoso feet of storytelling * Evening Standard *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA seductive thriller\u003c\/b\u003e * Vanity Fair *\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Paying Guests\u003c\/i\u003e is so \u003cb\u003eevocative and compelling\u003c\/b\u003e that all the time I was reading, I had a feeling it was me who had done something terrible, instead of her characters * Observer, Books of the Year *\u003cbr\u003eBrilliantly involving . . . \u003cb\u003ejuicy, beautifully observed and not afraid to be explicit\u003c\/b\u003e * Metro *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWaters's page-turning prose conceals great subtlety\u003c\/b\u003e. Acutely sensitive to social nuance, she keeps us constantly alert . . . From a novelist who has been shortlisted for the Booker three times, this is a winner * The Economist (Intelligent Life) *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAn uninterruptable joy of a novel . . . Sarah Waters at her tip-top best\u003c\/b\u003e * Evening Standard, Books of the Year *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSumptuous... The writing is impeccable... A joy in every respect\u003c\/b\u003e * New Statesman, Books of the Year *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA triumph: spellbinding, profound and almost problematically addictive\u003c\/b\u003e... Waters is so powerful a narrator, so in command of her material as she twists, defies and confronts without using cheap tricks, that she could make us believe anything... Morally complex, atmospheric, romantic and psychologically deep, \u003ci\u003eThe Paying Guests\u003c\/i\u003e is an astonishing achievement... a beautiful and brilliant work by a consummate storyteller * Sunday Express *\u003cbr\u003eA sumptuously subdued story of making do and getting by after the great war * Guardian *\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Paying Guests\u003c\/i\u003e reminded me just how clever it is to create characters that captivate through their adventures in a world so well-realised that you can almost reach out and touch it * Sunday Herald *\u003cbr\u003eSuper gripping... There is a huge momentum to this story * Evening Standard *\u003cbr\u003eWaters is acutely alive to the way domestic interiors can mirror psychological ones... I read the topsy turvey courtroom denouement with genuine wonder at the virtuosity of its unravelling, the emotional subtlety of its implications about how people linger in others. Such intelligence is indeed thrilling * Telegraph *\u003cbr\u003eShe gives us a poignant love story which symbolically sees in the death of the old order, the death of the old fashioned husband and maybe the birth of an era of love without secrets * Independent *\u003cbr\u003eThe novel's remarkable depth of field - from its class-ridden background to its individuals' peccadilloes - is sharply portrayed by an author writing at her best. Waters's 20-20 vision perceives the interior world of her characters with rare acuity in a prose style so smooth it pours down the page in a book to be prized * Scotland on Sunday *\u003cbr\u003eWaters is an absolute master of pulse-pounding historical fiction * Entertainment Weekly *\u003cbr\u003eWaters has always been attracted to sensationalist plots, and this novel progresses through at least two: a secret love affair between two women and a murder trial. But the novel is really about tiny changes in feeling, often evoked in gorgeous simile * New Yorker *\u003cbr\u003eYou open \u003ci\u003eThe Paying Guests\u003c\/i\u003e and immediately surrender to the smooth assuredness of Sarah Waters's silken prose...\u003cb\u003e A novel that initially seems as if it might have been written by E.M. Forster darkens into something by Dostoevsky or Patricia Highsmith\u003c\/b\u003e. It also becomes unputdownable... a seriously heart-pounding roller-coaster ride * Washington Post *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA tour de force of precisely observed period detail and hidden passions\u003c\/b\u003e * Wall Street Journal *\u003cbr\u003eWaters masterfully weaves true crime, domestic life and romantic passion into \u003cb\u003eone of the best novels of suspense since \u003ci\u003eRebecca\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e... diabolically clever... with one of the hottest sex scenes ever to be set in a scullery * Los Angeles Times *\u003cbr\u003eWeaves her characteristic threads of historical melodrama, lesbian romance, class tension, and sinister doings into a fabric of fictional delight that alternately has the reader flipping pages as quickly as possible, to find out what happens next, and hesitating to turn the page, for fear of what will happen next * Boston Globe *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA gold mine of period detail, from class snobbery to sex - but with timeless urgency when it comes to love \u003c\/b\u003e * Vogue *\u003cbr\u003eAn exquisitely tuned exploration of class in post-Edwardian Britain - with really hot sex... Waters is a master of pacing, and her metaphor-laced prose is a delight... until the last page, the reader will have no idea what's going to happen * Kirkus (starred review) *\u003cbr\u003eAn absorbing character study [and] expertly paced and gripping psychological narrative... Waters brings historical eras to life with consummate skill, rendering authentic details into layered portraits of particular times and places * Publishers Weekly (starred review) *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eRaunchy, romantic and thoroughly entertaining... Another triumph for Sarah Waters\u003c\/b\u003e * Express *\u003cbr\u003eA pulse-pounder of a novel that feels personal and raw even while it delivers the genre goods... \u003cb\u003eWaters remains a master of her genre\u003c\/b\u003e, the historical novel rewritten as a dissection of the individual conscience... undeniably fascinating * Chicago Tribune *\u003cbr\u003eA beautifully observed tale of murder, suspense, crumbling class distinctions and steamy lesbian love in post-Edwardian London * People *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA delicious hothouse of a novel\u003c\/b\u003e... There's palpable tension from page one, so buckle up and prepare for a wild ride... channels the past via E.M. Forster, Dickens and Tolstoy, quickened with a dollop of contemporary Dennis Lehane noir * USA Today *\u003cbr\u003ePitch perfect... powered by queer longing, defiant identity politics, and lusty, occasionally downright kinky sex * Slate *\u003cbr\u003eThree novels for the price of one... a meticulously observed comedy of awkward manners, a story of torrid, forbidden trysts conducted behind a façade of conventional feminine respectability, and a tense tale of crime, mystery and suspense that culminates in a nail-biting courtroom drama * Salon *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eMoody and atmospheric... keeps you guessing until the very end \u003c\/b\u003e * Library Journal *\u003cbr\u003eWaters is a gifted storyteller with a way of bringing historical eras to life... With the swiftly shifting mores of post-war British society as a backdrop, she once again provides a singular novel of psychological tension, emotional depth and historical detail * BookPage *\u003cbr\u003eGripping... Sarah Waters is, quite simply, a marvelous writer... with complete mastery over her material * Globe and Mail *\u003cbr\u003eIt has the pacing of a thriller, and the atmosphere, period setting and class-consciousness of truly informed historical fiction * Bay Area Reporter *\u003cbr\u003eWith the intricate plotting of Dickens and the gothic textures of the novels of the Bronte sisters, Waters blurs the lines of Victorian fiction by bringing the hidden sexual world into the light, reframing erotic secrets in marvels of pseudo-Victorian crafting... exquisite * Australian *\u003cbr\u003eA heart-crushing... utterly engrossing tale * Toronto Star *\u003cbr\u003eWaters is an author to cherish * Guardian *\u003cbr\u003eMasterly... delightful... tremendously vivid... Waters is a cracking storyteller * Tatler *\u003cbr\u003eWaters is not simply one of our best historical novelists, but one of our best novelists . . . sooner or later, she's going to be given the Booker. If you haven't already, start reading her now, and be one step ahead of the crowd * Independent on Sunday *\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Little, Brown Book Group","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48733634625879,"sku":"9780349004600","price":10.44,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780349004600.jpg?v=1720000944","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/the-paying-guests-9780349004600","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}