The House of Doors is a beautifully written, fictionalized take on Maugham's time in Malaysia. The story is told from multiple POVs and with multiple timelines. It would be a great book club pick (I think my Grandma would've enjoyed it).

The story took a little while to get to the meat of the plot, but it found its way. It was also difficult to read a story from a colonizer's POV, but I think there was some redemption.

Masterfully woven plots and gorgeous imagery of Malaysia are my favorite parts of this beautifully written book. This is truly a must read.

In 1921, Somerset Maughn, known as Willie to his friends, arrives in Penang, Malaysia, along with his secretary Gerald. He is there to visit his old friend Robert who lives there with his wife Lesley and their children. Maughn has just released a new book and it is doing well but while on his visit, disaster strikes. He gets news from his lawyers that he has lost all his savings in a risky investment. Distraught, he looks around for material for a new book.

Willie is gay and Gerald is not only his secretary but his lover. He had hoped to divorce his wife and travel more extensively with Gerald but that is not likely if he is impoverished. He hears that Robert and Lesley had known the Chinese revolutionary Sun Yat Sen and believes that Lesley may have had an affair with him. Would that be a good topic? Willie believes that everyone knows a writer uses everything he hears so he doesn't need to feel guilty about exposing secrets others have kept hidden. But as he gets to know Lesley better in late night conversations, he finds a better topic. One of Lesley's friends had been charged with murder of a man she might have been involved with.

Robert and Lesley have secrets but not the ones that Willie suspects. Their marriage has been a sham for many years but under everything there is still some love existent. Lesley is torn between keeping her secrets or blowing everything up in the relief of having someone to tell them to. What will Willie do?

This novel was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize as were his two previous novels. It won various awards and is considered a best historical fiction. Eng was born in Penang so he knows the area and can reproduce it and its culture during this time period. There is much discussion of homosexuality and of the Chinese revolution to overthrow the Emperor. The murder trial adds mystery while validating the cultural attitudes of the English who lived there and considered themselves above the native population. This book is recommended for readers of historical and literary fiction.

I am really torn with this book. On one hand, one could say that it is beyond technically proficient. It follows the formula of a historical novel very clearly and appears to do what it originally set out to do. My issue is, this read so much like it was written from a Western perspective and that was extremely disappointing.

The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng was high on my list after all the praise. Honestly, which of course all my reviews are, it was hard for me to get into. I'm not sure if it was because I read at Thanksgiving when my mind was being pulled into many different direction OR if it just wasn't for me. Bummed because I had high hopes.

Thank you for the opportunity to review this new novel.

I'm very sorry to say that I was not a fan at all. I had a hard time getting into the story and after a while I was bored. I started to skim and eventually put it down. I'm sure other will love it since It has gotten so many rave reviews.

This is the Malaysian history I wish I knew! Admittedly I don't know much about W. Somerset Maugham. There's a beauty and lushness in the language here.

✨ Review ✨ The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng

What I loved
⭕️ the multiple timelines of this historical fiction story
⭕️ how these multiple timelines were nestled into layers of storytelling
⭕️ the settings of the book
⭕️ the complicated ways that people find love in and out of marriage
⭕️ the parallels to history (e.g. Ethel's story)

What I didn't love
⭕️ I don't know a lot about Somerset Meagher's writing and so the allusions / parallels to that went over my head
⭕️ the racial dynamics were complicated and hard to sort through without more historical knowledge about this place and time

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 (3.75)
Genre: historical fiction 1910s/1920s / literary fiction
Pub Date: 2023

Thanks to Bloomsbury Publishing and #netgalley for the gifted advanced copy/ies of this book!

This is engrossing literate story telling in top form. A memorable mix of fictional characters with real characters as W. Somerset Maugham.

The House of Doors” by Tan Twan Eng takes place in Malaysia in the 1920s. The protagonist is expatriate Lesley Hamlyn who, together with her husband Robert, hosts W. Somerset Maughm for some months. Lesley, in an increasingly difficult marriage, finds herself talking intimately with “Willie”, knowing he has a penchant for putting the people he meets into his stories. She tells him about her relationship with the Chinese revolutionary, Sun Yat-sen and her friend’s murder trial. The end result is these stories fueled Maughm’s “The Letter” (about the murder trial). It’s been many years since I’ve read W. Somerset Maughm, but I’m about to go dust off the books in my shelf and reread them. Thank you NetGalley for an ARC of this fabulous book.

Reading this story set in a time over 100 years ago, in governments long gone, with social systems no longer present, it amazes me to still feel the echoes, recognize and long after the beauties and rarities left behind. Here we have an example of these in the stories told by an author of those days - adeptly gathered like ripe fruit by Tan Twan Eng and reimagined and extended. The House of Doors is one of those - featuring a version of W Somerset Maugham himself, and a few of his stories from The Casuarina Tree.

Tan Twan Eng skillfully picks up the trail, and widens it, showing readers a deeper view, one that explains (a little) the blindspot of white society - self-centeredness, no room for 'others,' through characters such as Lesley as they watch consequences crash on all levels in Penang, as Japan and China fight for dominance around the people who've always lived there no matter what they were called, by whoever had settled in amongst them. The story is haunting, showing much of what we miss as humans even during times we are closest to history-changing events (as ever, by whoever is doing the writing/record-keeping).

One of the aspects I most enjoyed was the speed with which I connected with the characters. . .all of them in some way. . .Lesley and her intentional blinders with Robert, Willie and his midnight swim, Arthur and his house of doors (oh, I'd love to see that!), and Sun Wen with his best and brightest love - the one that will crush him in the end. . .

I will be thinking of this story for a long time. . .and have already started reading The Casuarina Tree.

*A sincere thank you to Tan Twan Eng, Bloomsbury USA, and NetGalley for an ARC to read and independently review.* #TheHouseofDoors #NetGalley

An immersive window into Penang in the early 1900s and the life of Somerset Maugham. Recommend reading "The Letter," the final story in his collection The Casuarina Tree or watching the movie adaptation prior to reading The House of Doors.

After seeing all of the Booker hype around this book, I was excited to read it. The summary sounded really interesting, but I found it to just be okay. The story was sort of dull and dragged on a bit, The writing is lovely, but I just needed something more exciting to be happening.

This was hauntingly beautiful. Told in alternate timelines and viewpoints, the reader is introduced to Lesley and her husband Robert who live in Penang in 1921. Robert’s old friend Willie Maugham, an author, comes to visit them with his secretary/lover, Gerald. What follows is a tale of love and betrayal amidst the beauty and heat of Asia. Willie is drawn to Lesley and her stories, trying to find out if there is more to her and her marriage to Robert than meets the eye.

Lesley Hamlyn and her husband Robert have a lush life in 1921 Malaysia. The couple welcomes notable writer W. Somerset Maugham and his secretary (and secret lover) Gerald for an extended stay. But Maugham is quietly searching for creative inspiration to turn around his declining career, and he finds it in Lesley’s connection to former Chinese revolutionary Dr. Sun Yat Sen.

A richly detailed, immersive historical fiction set around real people, this book asks what it means to trust someone with your story. The prose is undoubtedly beautiful and the perspective on art and the imperfection of artists is interesting. There's some kind of heart or passion missing here in my opinion, but still certainly worth reading!

Thank you to Net Galley and Bloomsbury USA for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. I was drawn to this book as it interwove the story of W. Somerset Maugham, called Willie, into a story along with Lesley and her husband Robert who are living at Cassowary House in Penang. The story wasn't as much about Willie although he is a part of the story but more about the colonialism, the colonizers living with the natives, a woman's role and her limitations in early 1900s, and relationships and their secrets that lead to consequences. I did enjoy learning about a different part of the world through the eyes of Lesley, a woman born in Asia but culturally English. A lot of the book has to do with relationships and infidelities. Willie has a secretary, Gerald, but it's obvious to everyone that they are in a relationship even though Willie has a wife and family back in England. Lesley also hears from her brother that her husband Robert is having an affair. It's hard for her to believe but when she uncovers the truth she is shocked. A good half of the book deals with Lesley's friend Edith who kills a man. There is talk that they were having an affair but Edith claims that she was raped by the man and ended up killing him. There is a trial and, when all the secrets come out, the real truth is shocking. This story is told in flashbacks to fill in the specifics to conversations in the present. Overall, it was an interesting read.

Very well written about Somerset Maugham visits an unhappy couple. There are revolutionaries, homosexuality, secrets - it is about so much and so well written

When I read The Garden of Evening Mists many years ago, I felt bewitched by the language, setting, plot, characters. The House of Doors gave me the same feeling. I didn’t want it to end but I had to find out the truth of the various plots. Set mainly in Penang, Eng relates the story of Lesley and Robert, a well-to-do couple, and their visitor Somerset Maugham, aka Willie. Willie arrives in 1921 and is a sharp observer, always looking for fodder for his stories. Lesley’s stories intrigue him, her involvement with the revolutionary Dr. Sun Yat Sen, the murder trial of her close friend Edith, romances and life, in general, in Penang, in 1910. Eng begins his wonderful novel in South Africa in 1947. Robert has died and she receives a parcel.

Tan Twan Eng's writing is just sublime. I've never read anything by W. Somerset Maugham but the beautiful storytelling drew me in and the mixture of fact and fiction used to explain the mystery kept me enthralled. I can see what it was on the Booker Prize list.

Thanks to Bloomsbury for the copy to review.

Robert and Lesley are visited by Robert’s old friend William Somerset Maugham. Maugham’s gentle probing into the lives of the residents of Penang opens up a story encompassing love, loyalty, colonialism, revolution adultery, hidden homosexuality and a writer’s inspiration.
For a change, the blurb for this book describes it very accurately. However, the blurb does not convey how beautifully written and atmospheric this book is.

This is the third book that I have read by this author and he is consistently excellent. While his ability to describe a place and make you feel it is compelling, he is equally good at exploring characters. Unfortunately, I have now read all of his novels. I wish there were more.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher