August Book Club: The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng

Hi everyone,

Our August book club read takes us to 1921 Penang. English writer, William Somerset Maugham has decamped to colonial Malaysia and is looking for his next story. His host, Lesley, does not disappoint and secrets are slowly revealed. Based on real-life events, Tan Twan Eng's The House of Doors mixes revolutionaries, murder and duplicitous lives in colonial Malaysia.

**See Blurb and Goodreads link below to read more about the book**

If you're ready for some crackin' historical fiction then please join us for book club this month.

We’ll be meeting at the New Farm Library Meeting Room at 6.30pm on Wednesday 30th August 2023.

BYO something to sip and/or munch on. A $5 donation to help cover the annual Meetup fees is always appreciated.

If you'd like to join us then just RSVP 'Yes' and get reading!

See you on the 30th!
Cheers
Trish

***
Publisher’s blurb:
It is 1921 and at Cassowary House in the Straits Settlements of Penang, Robert Hamlyn is a well-to-do lawyer and his steely wife Lesley a society hostess. Their lives are invigorated when Willie, an old friend of Robert's, comes to stay.Willie Somerset Maugham is one of the greatest writers of his day. But he is beleaguered by an unhappy marriage, ill-health and business interests that have gone badly awry. He is also struggling to write. The more Lesley's friendship with Willie grows, the more clearly she see him as he is - a man who has no choice but to mask his true self.As Willie prepares to leave and face his demons, Lesley confides secrets of her own, including how she came to know the charismatic Dr Sun Yat Sen, a revolutionary fighting to overthrow the imperial dynasty of China. And more scandalous still, she reveals her connection to the case of an Englishwoman charged with murder in the Kuala Lumpur courts - a tragedy drawn from fact, and worthy of fiction.From Man Booker Prize-shortlisted Tan Twan Eng, The House of Doors is a masterful novel of public morality and private truth a century ago. Based on real events it is a drama of love and betrayal under the shadow of Empire.

About the author:
Tan Twan Eng was born in Penang, Malaysia. His debut novel The Gift of Rain was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2007 and has been widely translated. The Garden of Evening Mists won the Man Asian Literary Prize 2012 and the 2013 Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction, and was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2012 and the 2014 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. He divides his time between Kuala Lumpur and Cape Town. The House of Doors is his third novel.

What does Goodreads say?
https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/62912749