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Paying Guests by Sarah Waters

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The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters

Book Summary

It is 1922, and London is tense. Ex-servicemen are disillusioned, the out-of-work and the hungry are demanding change. And in South London, in a gentell Camberwell villa, a large silent house now bereft of brothers, husband and even servants, life is about to be transformed, as improvished widow Mrs Wray and her spinster daughter, Frances, are obliged to take in lodgers.

Review

Sarah Waters novels are always eagerly anticipated by her many fans and  “Paying Guests” doesn’t disappoint.  All the familiar elements are there, a fastidious re-creation of  English  society  and the value of times and  an impeccable rendering of the historical period, in this case 1920’s London.  Add to that the usual twists and turns of the plot, where nothing is as it seems.  The main characters are France Wray and her mother, who are of the genteel class, but have fallen upon hard times as the saying goes.  They take in “paying guests” or lodgers from the new Clerk class, a young couple named Lillian and Leonard Barlow.  This signals the beginning of a friendship between the spinsterish Frances who is only 26 years old and the slightly  younger  but glamorous Lillian.

The  marriage of Lillian & Leonard seems  loving one minute and ambivalent the next , and then  a brutal murder occurs in the salubrious suburb of Camberwell.   It turns out that Leonard has been hiding something and Lillian has her own secrets, meanwhile the smitten Frances becomes embroiled in this web of deceit.  The Police start investigating the murder and it becomes a game of cat and mouse.  The tension is palpable and Waters cleverly manipulates the plot,  so that the story becomes a page turner that grips the reader to the end.

Enjoy!

Reviewed by: Katherine

March Violets by Philip Kerr

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First Wednesday Book Group – September 2014

 

Comments

  • Good story. Did not like style of writing-too many similes. 2 out of 5 stars.
  • Enjoyed the book. Setting interesting & background also. Dialogue good.
  • Historically fairly accurate. 3.5 stars, would recommend.
  • Found Bernie Gunther captures Berlin well in 1930s. Depicts corruption & brutality of Nazis. Marries history and fiction well. Episodes in book gel with actual history. Liked Bernie Gunther. 4 stars, would recommend.
  • Enjoyed Berlin, fascinating. History of time accurate. Did not like references to women; sexist. Dark corrupt, hopelessness portrayed well. 3.5 stars
  • Set the scene well of pre-war era. See the horror beginning. Fascinating! I would not have picked up prior to reading group; so grateful for that. 4 stars
  • Wisecracking, irritating. Lost track of some characters enjoyed back story. 3.5 stars.
  • Put off by similes (too many). Good descriptions without similes. Plot too wide? 3 stars.

I am Malala by Malala Yousafzai

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Second Tuesday Book Group – August 2014

 

Summary

malalaI come from a country that was created at midnight. When I almost died it was just after midday.

When the Taliban took control of the Swat Valley in Pakistan, one girl spoke out. Malala Yousafzai refused to be silenced and fought for her right to an education.

On Tuesday, October 9, 2012, when she was fifteen, she almost paid the ultimate price. She was shot in the head at point-blank range while riding the bus home from school, and few expected her to survive.

 

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Sinning Across Spain by Ailsa Piper

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First Wednesday Book Group – August 2014

 

SinningSummary

Sinning Across Spain is the story of Ailsa Piper’s 1300 kilometre walk from the southern city of Granada to Galicia, “the bathtub of Spain”, in the far northwest, carrying an unusual cargo. Aside from 10 kilograms of practicalities, she also lugged a load of sins in her swag.

In the tradition of medieval believers, or scammers, who paid others to carry their sins to holy places, and so buy forgiveness, Ailsa asked her colleagues and friends to donate a sin. She then shouldered them across country, being taunted and tempted by them along the way, and trying to discover the mysteries of faith. What is faith? Did she have it? Could she get it? Would she know it if she saw it?

Sinning across Spain celebrates the call of the road, the possibilities for connection, and the simple act of putting one foot down – and then the other, and repeat – for more than a thousand kilometres of dusty road.

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