Book Club: The House of Doors by Ten Twan Eng  

The House of Doors is a 2023 historical novel, set mostly in the 1920s British colony of the Federated Malay States. It tells the stories of local residents and visitors, seen through the eyes of British expatriate wife, Lesley Hamlyn. The visitors include writer William Somerset Maugham and Chinese revolutionary leader Sun Yat-Sen. An important sub-plot is the true story of Ethel Proudlock, her 1911 trial for murder, and the resultant scandal in British colonial society in Kuala Lumpur. Somerset Maugham wrote a short story, "The Letter", based on the Proudlock case.

Ten Rwan Eng is from Kuala Lumpur, and a lawyer with a degree from University College, London. He has written two other novels, including the 2012 “The Garden of Evening Mists,” later developed into a film.

Critical acclaim for this novel includes a nomination for the 2023 Booker Prize. It figured as one of the best novels for 2023 in The Washington Post, as well as the "best fiction books of 2023" by the UK’s Financial Times.

This novel was kindly introduced to me last year at a visit to the Caterham and Coulsdon Book Club Meetup.