Tan Twan Eng

Gebundenes Buch

The House of Doors

Beschreibung

"The year is 1921. Lesley Hamlyn and her husband, Robert, a lawyer and war veteran, are living at Cassowary House on the Straits Settlement of Penang. When "Willie" Somerset Maugham, a famed writer and old friend of Robert's, arrives for an extended visit with his secretary Gerald, the pair threatens a rift that could alter more lives than one. Maugham, one of the great novelists of his day, is beleaguered: Having long hidden his homosexuality, his unhappy and expensive marriage of convenience becomes unbearable after he loses his savings--and the freedom to travel with Gerald. His career deflating, his health failing, Maugham arrives at Cassowary House in desperate need of a subject for his next book. Lesley, too, is enduring a marriage more duplicitous than it first appears. Maugham suspects an affair, and, learning of Lesley's past connection to the Chinese revolutionary, Dr. Sun Yat Sen, decides to probe deeper. But as their friendship grows and Lesley confides in him about life in the Straits, Maugham discovers a far more surprising tale than he imagined, one that involves not only war and scandal but the trial of an Englishwoman charged with murder. It is, to Maugham, a story worthy of fiction. A mesmerizingly beautiful novel based on real events, The House of Doors traces the fault lines of race, gender, sexuality, and power under empire, and dives deep into the complicated nature of love and friendship in its shadow"--

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Gale, a Cengage Group
• Seitenzahl: 504
• Erscheinungstermin: 31. Juli 2024
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 216mm x 140mm x 25mm
• Gewicht: 576g
• ISBN-13: 9781420514773
• ISBN-10: 1420514776
• Artikelnr.: 70251045

Rezensionen

Outstanding . . . The House of Doors again displays [Eng's] talent for atmospheric evocation of place and period . . . Beautifully detailed and encompassing the vagaries of Maugham's life, the contours of his creativity and the personal and political tensions covertly quivering through the sultry colony around him, The House of Doors is a finely accomplished piece of work Sunday Times

Entrancing . . . lushly atmospheric . . . There's much to untangle and savor in this exquisite novel . . . Tan has pulled off not just a captivating novel, but an ingenious twist that explores how literature works its magic.