Description

Book Synopsis

''A page-turning melodrama and a fascinating portrait of London on the verge of great change'' Guardian



It is 1922, and in a hushed south London villa life is about to be transformed, as genteel widow Mrs Wray and her discontented daughter Frances are obliged to take in lodgers. Lilian and Leonard Barber, a modern young couple of the ''clerk class'', bring with them gramophone music, colour, fun - and dangerous desires. The most ordinary of lives, it seems, can explode into passion and drama... A love story that is also a crime story, this is vintage Sarah Waters.

''Another wild ride of a novel... magnetic storytelling'' Tracy Chevalier, Observer

''You will be hooked within a page'' Charlotte Mendelson, Financial Times

''Sumptuous... the writing is impeccable. A joy in every respect'' New Statesman

''An unsurpassed fictional recorder of vanished eras and hidden lives'' Sunday Times

The Paying Guests

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    RRP £10.99 – you save £0.55 (5%)

    Order before 4pm tomorrow for delivery by Mon 29 Jun 2026.

    A Paperback by Sarah Waters

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      Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
      Publication Date: 1/8/2024
      ISBN13: 9780349018539, 978-0349018539
      ISBN10: 0349018537
      Also in:
      Historical Fiction

      Description

      Book Synopsis

      ''A page-turning melodrama and a fascinating portrait of London on the verge of great change'' Guardian



      It is 1922, and in a hushed south London villa life is about to be transformed, as genteel widow Mrs Wray and her discontented daughter Frances are obliged to take in lodgers. Lilian and Leonard Barber, a modern young couple of the ''clerk class'', bring with them gramophone music, colour, fun - and dangerous desires. The most ordinary of lives, it seems, can explode into passion and drama... A love story that is also a crime story, this is vintage Sarah Waters.

      ''Another wild ride of a novel... magnetic storytelling'' Tracy Chevalier, Observer

      ''You will be hooked within a page'' Charlotte Mendelson, Financial Times

      ''Sumptuous... the writing is impeccable. A joy in every respect'' New Statesman

      ''An unsurpassed fictional recorder of vanished eras and hidden lives'' Sunday Times

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