The House of Doors
Book description
LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2023
LONGLISTED FOR THE WALTER SCOTT PRIZE FOR HISTORICAL FICTION
A SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
A FINANCIAL TIMES, NEW STATESMAN, NEW YORKER AND WASHINGTON POST BOOK OF THE YEAR
Willie Somerset Maugham is one of the greatest writers of the early twentieth century. But in 1921…
Why read it?
2 authors picked The House of Doors as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
This story about a scandal amongst expats in colonial East Indies between the wars took me to a different part of the world and brought home to me just how false that life could be. It was written with sympathy andnn taught me a lot about W. Somerset Maugham as well.
I was intrigued by Tan Twan Eng’s choice to tell this story, set in the early 20th Century in Penang, from the perspective of English expatriates. The story swirls around a long visit by W. Somerset Maugham, but for me, it was the local people, landscape, and historical events that gave the book its depth, breadth, and beauty.
I found his weaving of the real, the fictional, the historical, and the imagined into a seamless story both masterful and mesmerizing.
From Iris' list on immersed in another culture, country and time.
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