The House of Doors

by Tan Twan Eng

It is 1921 and at Cassowary House in the Straits Settlements of Penang, Robert Hamlyn is a well-to-do lawyer and his steely wife Lesley a society hostess. Their lives are invigorated when Willie, an old friend of Robert’s, comes to stay.

Willie Somerset Maugham is one of the greatest writers of his day. But he is beleaguered by an unhappy marriage, ill health and business interests that have gone badly awry. He is also struggling to write. The more Lesley’s friendship with Willie grows, the more clearly she see him as he is – a man who has no choice but to mask his true self.

As Willie prepares to leave and face his demons, Lesley confides secrets of her own, including how she came to know the charismatic Dr Sun Yat Sen, a revolutionary fighting to overthrow the imperial dynasty of China. And more scandalous still, she reveals her connection to the case of an Englishwoman charged with murder in the Kuala Lumpur courts – a tragedy drawn from fact, and worthy of fiction.

From Man Booker Prize-shortlisted Tan Twan Eng, The House of Doors is a masterful novel of public morality and private truth a century ago. Based on real events, it is a drama of love and betrayal under the shadow of Empire.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, Asia, Literary Fiction, Book Club, LGBT

320 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 4, 2023

About the author

Tan Twan Eng was born in Penang and lived in various places in Malaysia as a child. He studied law at the University of London and later worked as lawyer in one of Kuala Lumpur’s most reputable law firms; in 2016, he was an International Writer-in-Residence at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. Tan's first novel, The Gift of Rain (2007), was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize and has been translated into Italian, Spanish, Greek, Romanian, Czech and Serbian. The Garden of Evening Mists (2011), his second novel, won the Man Asian Literary Prize and Walter Scott Prize, and was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.

Reviews

[Adina ( back from Vacay…slowly recovering) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Longlisted for the Booker prize 2023

Book 2/13 ( No, I do not plan to read them all)

The House Of Doors is the 2nd novel I’ve read by Tan Twan Eng in less than a year. It proved to be a disadvantage vis a vis my reaction toward this book since it followed the wonderful The Garden of Evening Mists. As a result, I only gave this novel 4 stars although it might have received more if I had not read his better novel first.

The House Of Doors is divided in two mingled points of view, Lesley Hamlyn written in 1st person and Somerset “Willie” Maugham written in 3rd person. The two characters intersect in 1921 in Straits Settlement of Penang. Lesley lives in Cassowary House together with his husband, Robert, a lawyer and her two sons. During his Asian trip, the famous Writer Somerset Maugham, a good friend of Robert’s, decides to visit the family for three weeks. He travels together with his secretary/lover, Gerald.

Maugham is a here a passive character; he is a vessel through which we get to listen to Lesley Hamlyn’s secrets from her past. The writer proves to be an excellent listener, which prompts the disillusioned Lesley to share confidences about events surrounding the visit of the Chinese revolutionary, Sun Yat-sen to Penang and a famous murder. Both the murder and the visit were real events, although the former took place in 1911. The author puts them together to serve his plotting objectives, to positive results, I think.

Sun Yat-sen was a Chinese revolutionary who served as the first provisional president of the Republic of China and the first leader of the Kuomintang (Nationalist Party of China). He was exiled in Penang not long before he managed to assist to the fall of the Qing dynasty rule. I do not want to divulge much of the plot, so I only want to say that Lesley will become a supporter of the movement. Also, she is the best friend of the white woman accused of murdering a man. Both events ant the drama that follows are well written, and I appreciated the change in timelines. From his previous novel I noticed that the authors likes to play with different timelines and it is a skill he masters well. It is a novel about love, betrayal, hope, murder, lies and hate.

The novel was inspired by the short story called Letter, which can be read in the Cassowary Tree collection. Also, if you read this novel, you will probably wonder how Maugham’s symbol looks like.
Here is a pic:

[Maureen · Rating 4 out of 5]

*4.5 stars.*

1920’s Penang is where we meet our protagonist Lesley Hamlyn. Her husband Robert is a lawyer, and it’s fair to say that they live a very comfortable life, mixing in the very highest circles.

They currently have none other than famous novelist and old friend of Robert’s, W. Somerset Maugham (whom they affectionately call Willie) staying with them.

Robert warns Lesley not to say too much to Willie, as he’s known to use people’s stories in his novels. However, as Lesley becomes ever more comfortable around him, she feels compelled to tell her story - and it includes being very good friends with real life Chinese revolutionary Sun Yat Sen, as well as the trial of her friend Ethel Proudlock for murder.

With a fascinating storyline, ‘The House of Doors’ was also beautifully written, here’s just a small example - “So I remained here, a daub of paint worked by time’s paintbrush into this vast, eternal landscape”. In addition, the author’s descriptions of Penang are stunning, making the landscape almost a character in itself. Highly recommended.

*Thank you to Netgalley and Canongate for an ARC in exchange for an honest unbiased review *

[Beata · Rating 5 out of 5]

My third novel by the Author, highly anticipated after years of silence, centres around historic figures, the main one being W. Somerset Maughan, whose visit to Penang in early 1920s is one of the plots.
I cannot praise enough beautiful prose and descriptions of Malaysia, especially its nature, and the plots masterfully interwoven. I have read some novels by WSM but know little of his private life, so The House of Doors fills in the gaps in my literary education.
Tan Twan Eng's latest novel was definitely worth waiting for!
*A big thank-you to Tan Twan Eng, Canongate, and NetGalley for arc in exchange for my honest review.*

[Elyse Walters · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one extraordinary-special book.
From beginning to end.
I am blown away!!!
I absolutely love Tan Twan Eng . . .
(and very sad I’ve read each of his other novels — and haven’t a new one at my fingertips).

During the epilogue my eyes became teary —tears I wanted to hold back — until finally, it wasn’t possible… a gush of tears over-took me. I was a sopping wet noodle.

This novel is beautifully engrossing — filled with fascinating heartfelt and heart-wrenching gripping history
— YES!!! A MASTERPIECE!!!
It’s based on true events. It’s a work of fiction; yet it features characters and events drawn from history…a murder in 1911 which Eng set in 1910 to coincide with Sun Yat-Sen’s extended stay in Penang.

One of my top 10 - ‘ever’ favorite books!!!!

I’m busy today with my husband Paul, but I will return in a day or two or three to write a review.
I highly highly HIGHLY recommend it.
Those who have read Tan Twan Eng before - will not be disappointed.

I’m back…

Attempting to offer up a more detail book report here….but be clear ….the best thing I can say to others is “just read it!!!”

NO MAJOR SPOILERS….

Books like “The House of Doors” is a great reminder to why we read. It’s an exquisitely written moving novel …. the type we want to both devour and savor….and will think about long after finishing it. ….sad that it had to end.

“The House of Doors” is divided into three sections.
It begins and ends in Doornfontein, South Africa in 1947.... with Lesley Hamlin as our narrator. She and Robert moved into a modest bungalow on the property of Robert’s cousin, Bernard, who was a sheep farmer. It was an adjustment for Lesley and Robert ……
Lesley says: “The vastness, the emptiness of Karoo countryside made me want to weep when we first moved here. Everything was so bleak — the land, the light, the faces of the people.I was a child of the equator, Born under monsoon skies; I pined for the cloying humanity of Penang”.
Lesley missed her garden — the trees she planted - flowers, shrubs, their high ceilings in Cassowary House, her old busy life of the different committees she was on, but with time, she did adjust realizing she no longer cared about those things.

The bulk of the storytelling takes place in Penang, Malaysia.
The year is 1921, Lesley and her husband, Robert (a lawyer and war veteran) are living at their Cassowary House on the Straits Settlement of Penang.
W. Somerset Maugham, the famous novelist was an old friend of Robert’s. Robert and Lesley call him Willie.
After a package arrives — the book “The Casuarina Tree”….by Maugham, one of Robert’s favorites….(Robert owns every book of his)….Willie and his secretary, Gerald come for a two week visit.

Willie has hidden his homosexuality…..and was married to Syrie. They lived in London, had one daughter, but Willie traveled so much with his ‘secretary’ (cover-up for lover) so often he wasn’t home much.. Their marriage of convenience was unraveling.
Willie has other problems besides his marriage … he suffers a huge financial loss — and his health is failing as well.

Lesley and Robert’s marriage is a kind of deception too. Behind the facade…are hidden true feelings … as well as adulterous affairs by both.

Daily routines take place when Willie and Gerald are visiting. Willie spends a few hours a day writing in his room. There are also hours spent at the beach for Willie and Gerald….
Breakfast and dinners are spent on the veranda with Robert and Lesley.
One of the standouts is the friendship that grows between Lesley and Willie. Lesley confides about her life in the straits — more than she thought she would tell him. And it was more than Willie expected to hear. Lesley had a personal connection to the Chinese revolutionary, Sun Yet Sen. ….
And not only does Willie (and readers) learn about the war and a mysterious scandal— but OMG….we learn about a murder trial that takes place in Kuala Lumpur, involving Ethel Proudlock, (Lesley’s-friend-an English woman) ….that is gripping!!!! > and fascinating!!!
It’s a story Maugham becomes interested in and wants to write about.

There is so much to love: history, topography….the complexities of betrayal, adultery, murder, friendships, marriages, art, literature, music, philosophers, poets, scholars, political strife, corruption, race, gender, secrets, sexuality, illness, death, loss, love…

With three-dimensional memorable characters ….Eng’s depiction of their relationships— particularly between Lesley and Willie is masterly.
This might be the closest thing to a perfect novel that I’ve ever read.

“The world is so still, so quiescent, that I wonder if it has stopped turning. But then, high above the land, I see a tremor in the air. A pair of raptors, far from their mountain eyrie. For a minute or two I want to believe they are brahminy kites, but of course they cannot be”.
“My eyes, follow the two birds as the drift on the span of their outstretched wings, writing circles over circles on the empty page of sky”.


Highly recommended….a book favorite!

[Fionnuala]

Doors.
There are so many types.
Open doors, closed doors, half doors, glass doors, mirrored doors, painted doors, swinging doors, revolving doors.
This book is a little like all those types of doors, but mostly it's like the final one: a revolving door.

The story revolves between fact, fiction, and fan-fiction.

There is the fact of William Somerset Maugham's trip to Malaya in 1921.
There is the fact that a woman called Ethel Proudlock murdered a man in Kuala Lumpur in 1911.
There is the fact of the publication in 1926 of Maugham's collection of stories, The Casuarina Tree, based on his time in Malaya.

That brings me neatly to the fiction part of this revolving door argument.
Maugham said himself that his stories were fictionalised renderings of real people and events he came across or heard about on his travels, including the above-mentioned episode of Ethel Proudlock's trial for the murder of her lover which Maugham retold in a story called 'The Letter', changing the location from an urban setting to a rural one and altering the names of the characters. Ethel is called Leslie in his version, and her husband is called Robert, and Maugham invents a plot involving blackmail over a letter Leslie had written to the victim inviting him to call on her the night she murdered him—whereas her statement to the police had said she hadn't communicated with him in months.

If you're wondering why I'm going into such detail about that particular story, it's simply to help introduce the fan-fiction aspect of my revolving door argument.
In The House of Doors Tan Twan Eng has fictionalised Somerset Maugham's time in Malaya and has included a lot of the material from Maugham's Casuarina Tree stories, changing names of characters and details of plots as he goes along just as Maugham had done before him with real-life people and events.
And in a nice comic turn, Tan makes his invented characters comment on Maugham's habit of basing his stories on the people he meets in his travels, some of them even recognizing their 'real-life' selves in Maugham's characters. And Tan borrows the names 'Robert' and 'Leslie' from Maugham's story 'The Letter' for the main characters of his book—they are the couple with whom the fictionalised Maugham stays while visiting Penang. Tan also includes the story of Ethel Proudlock's trial that Maugham had fictionalised except that he changes the woman's name from Maugham's 'Leslie' back to the real-life name Ethel, and invents a different motive for the blackmail plot Maugham had come up with.

And to extend the door analogy, Tan designed his book to swing between two points of view. Like two half-panels of a double door (a double door features in the plot), the chapters alternate between a first-person narrative by Lesley and a third person narrative from the point of view of Somerset Maugham, called Willie in the story. Tan must have enjoyed fictionalising Maugham who had fictionalised so many real people in his work. His depiction of Maugham makes me feel that he holds him in very high regard but I did wonder about the real depth of his respect for the British author. From time to time, the writing in the 'Willie' chapters has a heavy-handed quality whereas the 'Lesley' chapters don't have that quality at all. I wondered if Tan might be commenting discreetly on Maugham's own style which I've found a bit laboured in some of his books, and especially in the stories in The Casuarina Tree.
Here's a few examples from The House of Doors :
He orbited the table to the windows.
And this one from a different scene:
‘It’s twice the size of Light’s tomb,’ said Willie as he completed his perambulation.
Is it only me who finds such phrasing ridiculous. Could it be deliberate on Tan's part?

What is definitely deliberate is the way Tan has modeled his main character, Lesley, whose surname is Hamlyn, not on Maugham's murderer character called Leslie but on another character called Mrs Hamlyn from the best story in The Casuarina Tree, entitled 'P&O'. Mrs Hamlyn in that story has recently discovered that her 'baldish, stoutish' husband has a lover. Lesley Hamlyn in Tan's story discovers something similar. But whereas Tan's Mrs Hamlyn chooses to stay in Malaya, Maugham's Mrs Hamlyn decides to abandon her life in Malaya and to take a ship back to England. She is a very fine character, and her thoughts, like Tan's Lesley Hamlyn's, are always engaging. She takes an interest in another passenger who is ill and who eventually dies on the journey, and she ponders the fact that with his death, his name will be forgotten:
Mrs. Hamlyn remembered what the consul had said, that among Mr. G’s papers no letters could be found, not the name of a single friend to whom the news of his death might be sent, and she knew not why this seemed to her unbearably tragic. There was something mysterious in a man who could pass through the world in such solitariness.

That thought echoes one that Tan's Lesley Hamlyn repeats often in one form or another. Here's the first version of it: A story, like a bird of the mountain, can carry a name beyond the clouds, beyond even time itself. And Tan gives her a further thought to complete the revolving door effect: Willie Maugham said that to me, many years ago.

Tan also invents a scene where Lesley and Robert Hamlyn discuss the stories in the The Casuarina Tree which they buy some years after the fictional Willie Maugham stayed with them in Penang:
Robert bought a copy of The Casuarina Tree. He read it and passed it to me, not saying a word. I opened it with more than a little trepidation...
…‘I just wish he had described me accurately.’ Robert looked down at his seated form. ‘I’m not “baldish” and “stoutish”, am I?’
I laughed. ‘He didn’t think much of my looks either.’
‘We got off lightly, I suppose—even if he did cast you as a murderess. The bloody cheek of the man.’

And we, the readers, watching the cool way Tan re-tells Maugham's stories and re-casts his characters, realise what mirrored surfaces these revolving doors have turned out to be. Tan recycles elements out of every one of the six stories in Maugham's collection in one way or another—and there are reflections from other Maugham books too. Sometimes the recycling is as slight as the mention of an egret's feather or a Gauguin painting, sometimes it's only a side-show in a larger story like the tale of a woman who leaves her husband for the doctor who is treating her. But sometimes the recycling is as weighty as the episode of two men caught in the huge waves of a bore as it flowed upriver towards their light craft. When Willie (re)tells that story to Lesley in Tan's book, Lesley thinks about the luck that saved him from certain death on that occasion:
But...what was the price for [the luck's protection]. Was he cursed to live a long, long life, only to watch all his friends and loved ones fall by the wayside? To outlive everyone, even his enemies; to witness his popularity wane, his books forgotten...

Of course Tan knows that Maugham long outlived his friends and his loved ones, and witnessed the wane of his popularity. But his books are not completely forgotten. I don't always love his writing style but I read three of his books earlier this year and Tan Twan Eng motivated me to read a fourth, The Casuarina Tree. In fact I broke off reading The House of Doors after the second chapter (a Willie chapter that didn't appeal to me) and picked up the Maugham story collection that had been mentioned by Lesley in the retrospective piece at the beginning of Tan's book. I didn't love the first story in Maugham's book either so I went back to Tan's book for a bit, but then swung back to Maugham's and continued like that until I finished them both. I might not have finished either without the other. For me they were two panels of the same door. They each benefitted enormously from the other.

[Flo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Longlisted for Booker Prize 2023

I can't decide if being a W. Somerset Maugham fan helps or not with this book.

I can certainly see some things that Tan Twan Eng tried to do. For example, it doesn't really surprise me that a book about 'Willie' Somerset Maugham isn't actually about him or only about him. This happens in a lot of his own books. He's the author who, no matter how interesting a character he is, needs to find another story to tell.

In this novel, the other character who is, in fact, the real protagonist, is Lesley—a housewife caught in an unsatisfying marriage—who gets to host the author in Penang in 1921, at a moment when he is in a financial crisis. The problem is that Lesley is a boring character and, in the end, Maugham himself agrees. Even if Lesley tells him her story, despite a rocky start caused by her homophobia, the book he writes is about her friend, who definitely has a more interesting tale to tell.

I do think that 'The House of Doors' does manage to show us a more realistic look at what it meant to be gay a century ago and why Maugham was so hesitant to write about himself. I just wish his companion were more interesting.

[Meike · Rating 3 out of 5]

Longlisted for the Booker Prize 2023
Listen, I just can't with this Booker longlist: Sure, this is a decent historical novel based on real events, but it's far, far removed from any aesthetic decision that would indicate that postmodernism ever happened and from any plot points that are of heightened relevance for the social and political climate we live in today. This wouldn't bother me so much if the whole list wasn't such a mess, I guess, but alas, I'm annoyed.

The book revolves around the real W. Somerset Maugham who in the early 1920's travels to the Straits Settlement of Penang (today part of Malaysia) with his lover Gerald Haxton. He made bad decisions at the stock market and finds himself almost broke, plus he contemplates divorcing his wife back home - which means he is in desperate need of money. Enter Lesley Hamlyn, the wife of Maugham's good friend Robert. The chatty woman is the second main character, inspiring the famous author to craft new texts based on her stories, among them the play The Letter about the Ethel Proudlock case (Proudlock shot and killed a man in the colonies, she was sentenced to death and later pardoned), contained in Maugham's collection The Casuarina Tree set in the Federated Malay States.

There is love and intrigue with an exotic (I know, I know) back drop, there is some commentary on queerness as well as colonialism with its bored and useless settlers, plus there is a plotline featuring Sun Yat-sen, a (real) Chinese statesman. Ergo: There are a lot of people and ideas thrown into the mix, plotlines intersect, there are time jumps etc., but somehow the language remains slow and portly like a day in the extreme heat of the places depicted.

This is well done and all, but where is the edge? Where is the surprise? Where is the punch? This fits into the classic canon that British authors have established when writing about the colonies, and in that respect, the novel sometimes comes across as a pastiche. Another entry that remains just too prim and proper for my taste.

[Kerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

4/12/25
Now listening to the audio for the 2nd reading. My bookclub will discuss in a few days so I was more reviewing it than rereading but I can't turn away or speed up--it is so good. Will give my review and new thoughts on the audio when I finish this second reading.

4/15/2025--review of the audio re-read.

I was so pleased to have a reason to re-visit the House of Doors. I travel much and don’t often get to attend my at home bookclub so to get the chance to hear how these readers felt about this book, one I recommended and loved, was one I could not pass up even if I had to re-arrange a travel schedule. It gave me a reason to re-read it in audio form along with the print. My first reading had been as an Advance Reader Copy on my Kindle (prior to the book’s release) a form of reading I try to avoid if at all possible.

A few remarks on the audio: I do the majority of my reading on audio, usually with the text in hand. I enjoy the story telling experience in audio and it is a better fit for me in most cases. It unusual for me to enjoy a reading experience more than the audio. I think there were two reasons I did not like the audio as much as the print : First Lesly’s voice was more frail and old sounding to me throughout the book. I wanted it to be younger sounding in the parts where she was telling about her former life and the story there. I just wasn’t crazy about that character narration even through it did make sense, since the story is one of a memory. Second: Maugham’s stammer got on my nerves after awhile. I could appreciate the accuracy of it but it got old and it did not help story’s pacing.

What I did love in audio was the imagery. It came so alive in the telling. I could see and feel the air, the house, the ocean and all the loveliness Twan Eng brings to this story. For that alone I am so happy I listened to this.

What a great, great story. At times it was like reading a whole different book where I knew the story through reviews and word of mouth but not really what it is in the flesh, so to speak. I saw so many things I had missed the first time around and also was able to capture all the beauty of the writing that I had experience the first time around.
If you haven’t read this book I encourage you to do so, It is a good one, so glad I re-visited it.

This review is from my first reading:

On my last trip to London a few months ago I made an early morning trip to Waterstones, waited for the doors to open and then found a clerk willing to suggest the latest and the best she had read recently. Among the books she placed in my hands was The House of Doors. I’d read the author’s The Gift of Rain and knew what a great atmospheric writer he is but I didn’t buy it as I only had so much room in a carry on and I figured I would get the audio when back in the states. Ahh my regrets to find it would not be published in the U.S till October. I went immediately to NetGalley to see if the ARC was available. Luckily it was and I was given the eBook for this honest review.

This is a book that slowly reveals itself but grabbed this reader in the early pages when it began the story with Somerset Maugham’s visit to the narrator’s home in Penang Malaysia. The time is 1921 and the narrator and the primary point of view is that of Lesley Hamlyn but also that of Somerset Maugham known as Willie in these pages. Eng does a beautiful job at setting the reader in the heavy, humid atmosphere of Malaysia

“the air felt as if it had been painted on my skin with a hot dripping brush”.

a place where the British have set themselves above and separate from the locals.
Almost the first 25% of the book is taken with putting the reader in the setting and in giving an understanding of the background of this time and place. It is slow going at first but like dipping into a pool of warm water the beauty of the sentences soon enveloped me. I did find myself anxious for the plot but was satisfied with finding chapters narrated by Maugham and his own journey to this area and learning more of that story—fictional but based on his writings at that time, with references to the books that would soon be finished and later published. If you love the works of Maugham like I do this made up for any distinct plot in the early going.

Soon the layers of this narrative begin to peel back. There is a trial of an English women who shoots and kills a family friend who she says was trying to rape her. There is Sun Yet-Sen, a true historical figure of the time who is in town to raise money for his cause of overthrowing the current Chinese emperor and establishing a republic in China. There is Lesley, the main narrator, getting involved with this cause and finding something she can truly believe in and fall into. There is a mixing of races, memory, loss, secret loves and important symbols and so much more that languidly all co-exists and then there is the House of Doors.

“hanging from the ceiling beams were more doors, carefully spaced apart and suspended on wires so thin they seemed to be floating in the air. We walked between the rows of painted doors, our shoulders and elbows setting them spinning slowly. Each door pirouetted open to reveal another set of doors, and I had the dizzying sensation that I was walking down the corridors of a constantly shifting maze, each pair of doors opening into another passageway, and another, giving me no inkling of where I would eventually emerge.”

How perfectly this house of doors seemed to reflect the story being told. No direct way through it but one that is navigated step by step. The heart of the story is told by Lesley each evening in retrospect as she talks to Maugham over their evening drinks, alone in her garden. She reveals secrets no one else has ever known and the reader listens along with Maugham to her beautiful but heart-breaking story. (all the while this reader wonders how or if Maugham will take this personal confession and write it into a story).

She says of her recollections,
“I could not tell where fiction became memory, and memory fiction”

It is a wonderful read. Incredible in its slow reveal and the images. I don’t think there will be much that will top it for this reader.

[Doug · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5, rounded up.

Oddly, before this I had read very little of W. Somerset Maugham's work - although I have read about half of the output of his nephew, Robin - who I absolutely love. I'd also not read this author's first two novels but suspect this - like the previous ones - will be in contention this year for the Booker Prize. This is exquisitely fine storytelling, and using some basic facts about Maugham's visit to Penang in 1921, an infamous murder that occurred there in 1911, and Sun Yat-sen's sojourn there in 1910, the author weaves an enthralling tale that really keeps one rivetted.

Just before reading this, since it centers around Maugham's composition of the short story (and subsequent stage adaptation of) The Letter, I not only read both of those, but also rewatched the 1940 Bette Davis film adaptation - and would strongly suggest doing at least one of those before attempting to read this.

Also, do a Google photo search on each of the particulars to familiarize oneself with what everybody looks like (it enhances one's enjoyment!) - and listen to this (which is a recurring musical motif throughout): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p32vl....

What prevented me from a full 5-star rating is that I got lost a few times within the various timelines (which also includes a prologue and epilogue set in 1947) and keeping the wealth of characters straight (thank g-d for the Kindle search feature!). Also, it would have been generous to provide a glossary of Malaysian terms - many of which were NOT deciphered by Kindle! And there were some passages on the political happenings that, while necessary - sorry - I found a bit boring.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

The House of Doors was a beautifully written, but ultimately unsatisfying book. Eng did a great job of describing the time and place. But both main characters, Willie (Somerset Maugham) and Lesley, the wife of his old school chum that he’s visiting in Penang, came across as flat.
Told from both perspectives, the plot envisions Maugham’s visit in 1921. He has just discovered that a poor investment decision has left him pretty much broke. He’s desperate to write his next book and is searching for a topic. Lesley tells him the story of her friend, who was convicted of murdering a man with whom she was having an affair. The fact that it’s told by Lesley to Willie reduces some of the impact, being told as a secondhand account.
At one point, Lesley mentions to Willie that all his stories seem to be about unhappy marriages. Certainly, because of the stigma of divorce, couples stayed married regardless of their happiness and often sought out affairs instead. This plays out in this book as well. You would think with all the various love affairs and high emotions, the story would have been livelier. But sad to say, it came across as dry and lifeless to me.
The story tackles the homophobia of the day. Lesley and Willie have an interesting conversation about the norm of homosexuals marrying to hide their tendencies, despite what that means for their wives.
The book does fulfill one of my desires of historical fiction, which is to teach me something I didn’t know. In this case, it’s Sun Yat-sen’s rebellion against the Qing dynasty.
I have not read Maugham’s The Casaurina Tree. I’m not sure if reading it would have deepened my appreciation for this book.
My thanks to Netgalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for an advance copy of this book.

[Jola · Rating 5 out of 5]

The doors spun slowly in the air, like leaves spiralling in a gentle wind, forever falling, never to touch the earth.

Every time I think of Tan Twan Eng writing The House of Doors (2023), I see a jeweller grinding and polishing every single word, working with patience and dedication, unhurriedly stringing the words onto bracelets of sentences and necklaces of chapters. The effect is stunning. I'm glad I listened to the audiobook — the gentle flow, the melody of this prose is just breathtaking.

The House of Doors is partly a biographical novel, based on a few facts of William Somerset Maughm's life. It depicts the creative process, how literature and reality intersect, and the clash between mundane everyday life and the writer's creativity. An interesting coincidence: I was thinking how Colm Tóibín’s route in his biography of Thomas Mann, The Magician, was different, and in the evening, I read in The Guardian his enthusiastic opinion on this book: The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng is fascinating, engrossing and has given me infinite pleasure. I couldn't agree more.

The way Tan Twan Eng deftly weaves in some elements of Maugham's style so that it almost sounds like a pastiche and adds some elements from Maugham's books, some of the realia, is just extraordinary. Since I've started The Casuarina Tree, a collection of Maugham's short stories set mostly in Malaysia, which inspired The House of Doors, I appreciate Tan Twan Eng's talent even more. Not just talent. How much work, time and research must have gone into this novel and, at the same time, it seems so effortless, so understated, so smooth, so subtle.

The image of the door, different kinds of doors to be exact, is vital, present even in the title, and often recurs in the novel. I think it symbolizes various kinds of entrapment and imprisonment in which the characters are stuck. Lack of freedom in many senses, including the literal one (Ethel's story). Also in the political and historical aspect, being trapped by conventions, by the unhappy marriage, by the sexual orientation that is not only disapproved of but legally forbidden and prosecuted. But the door is also a new beginning, opening up new possibilities, inviting us to make choices. And that is what this novel is mostly about. There are other important symbols also, for example, the hamsa and the casuarina tree. A meaningful musical leitmotiv reappears also, Reynaldo Hahn’s L’heure exquise.

When I finished The House of Doors yesterday, I stayed motionless and silent for half an hour, wondering what had just happened. This novel has an old-fashioned charm; it reads as if it were a classic written in the first half of the 20th century. The sense of time and place is evoked in an amazing way, I mean not only the clothes, interiors, furniture, food, nature, landscapes but also the characters' opinions and beliefs. I like the fact that the author led me astray plotwise on several occasions: for example, in the beginning, I thought this was going to be a sort of remake of Out of Africa in a Malayan setting, even the farm in Africa was mentioned, but it all went in a completely, completely different direction.

The House of Doors is a milestone in my reading life: it’s the first audiobook ever I was able to finish. Yes, I know, I'm an ancient audio-bloomer. I had tried different audiobooks before with identical effects: almost immediately I caught my thoughts wandering off far from the subject of the book, even if the plot was theoretically gripping. It didn’t happen this time. I was mesmerized from the first sentence to the last. The novel is read by two narrators: David Oakes, who was perfect, and Louise-Mai Newberry. Unfortunately, her attempts to change the tone and modulation of her voice, depending on who was speaking, felt awkward, especially when she was pretending to be a man or a child. For instance, Willie sounded as if he was suffering from a chronic toothache or lockjaw. Louise-Mai Newberry has a truly lovely voice and it’s such a pity she didn’t let it shine but kept doing odd things with it, sometimes resulting in an unintended caricatural effect. The Leslie part in her interpretation was brilliant though.


René Magritte, The Victory, 1939.

[♑︎♑︎♑︎ ♑︎♑︎♑︎ · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’m very sorry to say I didn’t connect with the prose on any level, and by “I’m very sorry” I really do mean sincere sorrow, because my expression of regret here is not throat-clearing preamble to a bad review, even if it is now getting to the ‘bad review’ part, where I’m about to say the language in this book is floofy nonsense, where seventeen words are used instead of seven, or four, and where the romanticization of every gesture would be tolerable if only it weren’t expressed in the most superficially adequate way possible, and why can’t I just enjoy this illusion of good writing and good story? What is the matter with me? Why can’t I just relax and enjoy it? Argshdjckehsh

[Hugh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Longlisted for the Booker Prize 2023

This is the kind of book that would not have been out of place on a Booker list 20 or even 50 years ago - a well crafted historical novel set in colonial Penang. Tan cleverly mixes fact, fiction, history and literature to produce a very convincing tapestry, one which I really enjoyed reading, and which meets the very high expectations created by his two previous novels (The Gift of Rain and The Garden of Evening Mists). I must confess that I have never read Somerset Maugham, so I am not sure how convincingly he is portrayed. For me this was the best book of the longlist so far (though I am currently reading Prophet Song which may well challenge it for my top spot).

[Thomas · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wanted to get into this one but couldn’t, sad to say it’s my third two-star review in a row. I think within The House of Doors lies some interesting themes related to the secrets we keep in our relationships as well as how power dynamics related to gender, race, and sexual orientation affect our relationships. Unfortunately I struggled to feel invested in the story and the characters though. One, the writing style felt both flowery and dull – like it came across as both intellectualized and distanced, while still trying to convey emotion, and it didn’t work for me. The characters also felt flat and unintriguing. We’ll see what my book club thinks of this one.

[Alex.andthebooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5/5

Znakomicie napisana (i przetłumaczona!), niezwykła historia. Uwielbiam jej historyczne odniesienia i oparcie na prawdziwych zdarzeniach, ale także lekkość i hipnotyzujące piękno języka.

[Faith · Rating 5 out of 5]

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

[Sofia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellently done.

Very aptly named. This House of Doors opens with a story that then opens into another story and another and another. Just like the House of Doors we visit in the book, we go from one door swiftly onto another door, then another door and another .....

Tan Twan Eng is a great storyteller capable of having a multitude of brilliantly hewed threads wonderfully woven into a whole. His threads examine the tumultuous beginning of the Republic of China, Sun Yat-sen, William Somerset Maugham, Ethel Proudlock, and through them, marriage, betrayal, homosexuality, love, family, finding a way forward.



An ARC gently provided by author/publisher via Netgalley.

2023 Booker longlist

[But_i_thought_ · Rating 3 out of 5]

The House of Doors reads like a novel that was written for adaption to the big screen. It is bracketed by a narrated prologue and epilogue, marked by repeating conversational references, and teeming with visual motifs (the Hamsa symbol, the Casuarina tree, the titular house of hanging doors). It even contains guidance on the musical score (with frequent references to by Reynaldo Hahn’s L’heure exquise).

As a novel, however, it was less successful for me. The writing is functional and pared down, with occasional bursts of poetry. These tend to arrive at the end of chapters where the author has the strange habit of pausing scenes to have characters stare impassively at a patch of nature, contemplating eternity. For example:

“That night, side by side, we drifted among the galaxies of sea-stars, while far, far above us the asterisks of light marked out the footnotes on the page of eternity.”

And:

“We watched the two birds run on and on, into the horizon, into eternity.”

The romance at the heart of the story also felt overly “constructed” to me. When the romantic characters kiss for the first time, it is to the soundtrack of a thunderstorm (“and then he was before me, his hair dripping, rain plastering his shirt to this body”) – a scene which could have been lifted straight out of Middlemarch. When one of the lovers serves the other tea, the latter remarks, “It smells of the first drops of rain falling on the lawn on a scorching day.”

I need some wine with that cheese, please.

One could argue that these nods are intentional – the writing leaning on Somerset Maugham’s, the romantic subplot leaning on the traditions of Victorian fiction – but unfortunately these factors hampered my immersion in the story.

Ultimately, this felt like a novel designed by a civil engineer. Thoughtfully constructed. Carefully plotted. Meticulously researched. But lacking a certain quality of novelty, for me.

I still think the film adaption, when it comes, will be excellent.

Rating: 6/10 for the overall reading experience; 8/10 for the ending

Also on Instagram.

[Kate O'Shea · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book that most definitely grew on me as the stories in this historical fiction unfolded.

The beginning of the story is told by Lesley Hamlyn, an elderly woman living in South Africa having spent most of her life in Penang. A package has arrived which gives Lesley pause to reflect on her life in Malaysia.

The second point of view is the voice of W Somerset Maugham, the writer who spent most of his life away from Britain writing his own fiction about people he met on his travels.

Maugham, having arrived in Penang to stay with his old friend Robert and wife, Lesley, has been given some dreadful news regarding his finances. He needs stories and ones that will increase his fortune not only to keep his own travels financed but also to keep his assistant, Gerald, by his side.

Despite the differences between them Maugham finds himself drawn to Lesley and she finally tells him not only her story but that of a friend whose affair spiralled out of control with devastating consequences.

This, for me, was a beautiful piece of historical fiction. I've read several Maugham books and stories over the years and for some reason it never occurred to me that they were loosely based on people he'd met. This book, in a way, is an homage to Maugham. It involves stories of love and devotion - both real and fictional. Tan Twen Eng manages to evoke a feeling of the last century and its attitudes to homosexuality, adultery and male dominance.

A wonderful book that I struggled to start but am delighted I persisted with. I look forward to reading more by this author.

[Blair · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tan Twan Eng’s books are like sinking into a big, warm, cosy bed. I’m generally not a big fan of fiction about real people, but this story – about the writer William Somerset Maugham staying with an English couple in 1920s Penang – is gorgeously written and gently absorbing. The plot incorporates the character of Sun Yat Sen, a real-life Chinese revolutionary, as well as an infamous murder and trial (which, in turn, was also fictionalised by Maugham!), that of Ethel Proudlock. It seems like these different strands should be difficult to reconcile but here, it feels effortless. I also really enjoyed the little Easter-egg-style references to characters from the author’s other novels.

I received an advance review copy of The House of Doors from the publisher through Edelweiss.

[Edita · Rating 4 out of 5]

To love, and to be loved, and yet not be able to let anyone know about it. And every trace of that love obliterated when you’re gone.’ Willie was struck by the pain in her eyes. ‘No one would ever know it had ever existed, that it had given you great joy,’ she said, ‘perhaps the only joy you’d ever experienced in your life.’
*
Between us lay this great, heavy silence, accreting over the years, layer upon layer, hardening like a coral reef, except a coral reef was a living thing, wasn’t it?
*
The winds of old longings blew my sails down the street to the House of Doors.
*
Over the years my memories of all that I had shared with him did not fade, but their sharp outlines gradually softened and blurred, so that there were often moments when I felt as though our affair had never taken place, that it had all been just a story I had read once too often until I could not tell where fiction became memory, and memory, fiction.

[Matthew Ted · Rating 3 out of 5]

99th book of 2023.

3.5. I am always excited about a book that's about real people, and Eng's newest is a book about W. Somerset Maugham. It helps that I'm already a fan of Maugham's work and have read four or five of his novels, I don't know what this would read like if you haven't read any of his work or know much about him; but I tell a lie, because the book isn't really about Maugham at all.

There's two stories running parallel throughout the novel at different timepoints. Although the novel begins in 1947, almost all of it jumps between 1921 and 1910 and alternates every chapter from Lesley to 'Willie' Maugham himself. Eng's made an interesting structure with the book: Maugham is the 'listener', as we are; the parts in 1910 are Lesley's remembering. It's full of adultery and murder. I suppose if you're going to tell a tale like that, you want to tell it to a writer. The 1921 deal with Maugham's present day life in Penang staying with Lesley and her husband with his male secretary-lover, trying to write and dealing with all the other issues in his life like his wife back in England or his finances. I'm not often one for flashbacks, but I found Lesley's story compelling and Eng's framework (using Maugham as the listener) was a good way of doing it.

And Eng's writing is like water; it's lucid and clear. I fell through the pages with ease. In fact, it reminded me of Maugham's writing and I wonder if Eng is attempting to replicate that. There are still lines like this to catch onto,

That night, side by side, we drifted among the galaxies of sea-stars, while far, far above us the asterisks of light marked out the footnotes on the page of eternity.

[Peter Boyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This Booker longlisted novel is mostly set in the Malaysian province of Penang. Lesley and Robert Hamlyn live a comfortable life, though their marriage has begun to strain. They welcome the author, "Willie" Somerset Maugham, an old friend of Robert's, to stay at their sizable home. Maugham has troubles of his own - he is a closeted gay man, travelling the world with his "secretary" Gerald, much to the chagrin of his wife Sylvie. But he's also in financial trouble and running out of things to write about. That all changes when Lesley begins to unburden her secrets to him - there are stories of revolutionaries, infidelity and even murder in her past. For an artist fresh out of ideas, these shocking revelations couldn't have come at a better time.

This is an elegantly told story. I don't know a huge amount about the life of Somerset Maugham, but from what I can gather, the narrative blends fact and fiction together very well. We surmise early on that Lesley has some mysteries to spill, and though the reader might try to predict them, the twists still come as a surprise. I also found the dichotomy of Maugham's existence interesting - a sought-after celebrity who succeeds through meeting new people and spinning their stories, but also an introverted soul who wrestles with a clandestine sexual identity. I did find the pacing a bit off - the first act of the novel is a slow burn that might test the patience of some. However, those who persevere to the end will be rewarded with a neat pay-off.

[Fiona · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved The Garden of Evening Mists so I was delighted to have the opportunity to read this and I wasn’t disappointed. This is very good storytelling with multiple layers of interest and the bonus of being based on actual events.

The story opens with an older Lesley sitting on her veranda in Africa. She receives through the post a copy of a book by W. Somerset Maugham, The Casuarina Tree, and is immediately transported back to her native Penang and the events of 1910 - 1921. The earlier years focus on Sun Yat Sen’s activities in Penang where he tried to enlist support and funding from the Straits Chinese to further his revolution to overthrow the Qing dynasty in China. In 1921, W(illie) Somerset Maugham and his lover/secretary, Gerald, come to stay with Lesley and her husband, Robert, in Penang. Over several evenings, Lesley relates her story of these earlier years to Maugham, including the murder trial of her friend, Ethel Proudlock, an Englishwoman living in Kuala Lumpur. Everyone knew that the inspiration for all his short stories was based on his experiences abroad and the stories he heard on his travels so Lesley was taking a risk divulging very personal information to him. The author has quoted Maugham on the title page as saying, Fact and fiction are so intermingled in my work that now, looking back on it, I can hardly distinguish one from the other.

Within these layers of the storyline are many different strands. There is the intrigue of the murder trial, insight into Maugham’s life and Sun Yat Sen’s, and the lives of Europeans, Straits Chinese, Malays and others in Penang at this time. The writing is excellent, although I occasionally found descriptive passages a little overdone and convoluted, and it held my interest completely throughout. I thoroughly enjoyed it and the only reason it’s not a 5 star read for me is due to very minor issues such as this.

With thanks to NetGalley and Canongate for a review copy.

[Anne Bogel]

Reviewed in the January 2024 edition of Quick Lit on Modern Mrs Darcy:

In his Booker-longlisted novel, Malaysian writer Eng imagines how British novelist W. Somerset Maugham came to write his short story "The Letter," which was hugely popular in its time (largely because it was adapted into a widely-seen play and then a film starring Bette Davis). Maugham, who was vastly more successful in his day than I had realized, was known to mine real life for material, particularly the relationships of his friends and acquaintances. Eng focuses here on Maugham's visit to Penang in 1921 to visit an old British friend and his wife. Shortly upon his arrival, he learns he's lost his life savings to a bad investment, and must quickly write another novel to fund his much-desired further travels. With a novelist's ear for scandal, he quickly suspects the wife has stories to tell that he can then re-tell on the page: of her loveless marriage, her relationship with a Chinese revolutionary, and especially of her friend who will soon stand trial for murder. You don't need to be familiar with Maugham's work to enjoy this lush historical look at colonial Malaysia and the disrupting influence of a famous writer on the hunt for material—but you'll likely want to read "The Letter" because of it.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

The House of Doors, by Tan Twan Eng, is a work of historical fiction set in the British colony of Penang, Malaya during three time periods, the earliest in 1910 and the next in 1921. A prologue and postscript are set on a farm in South Africa, far from the primary activity of the novel.

As the novel opens Lesley Hamlyn and her husband Robert have learned that Robert’s long-ago university friend, Somerset Maugham, is in Asia and will soon be in Malaya. He and his secretary will soon be their houseguests. It is during their two week visit that Lesley shares with “Willie” some stories of interesting events in Penang and Malaya that happened during 1910, including a lengthy visit by Sun Yat Sen.

To be continued….

Thanks to Bloomsbury Publishing and NetGalley for an e-arc of this book. The review is my own.

[Trudie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tan Twan Eng writes pleasing evocative novels but sometimes I think they are a little too subdued for my taste. Think languid rather than electrifying.
I launched into The House of Doors enthusiastically because I was in the mood for some historical fiction set in the heyday of the British Empire. Also, Somerset Maugham intrigues me even if he has a penchant for describing female characters variously as frivolous and hysterical/ broad and dumpy or pretty yet oddly unattractive, but that's the 1920s for you.

I think Tan Twan Eng does a great job of capturing both Maugham the man and some echo of his writing style. There are several strands to this book, one involves the case of Ethel Proudlock - a scandal of the time, and a case that Maugham turned into one of his famous short stories. I really like how the author plays with these layers of storytelling. Another true-life character Sun Yat-sen - a Chinese revolutionary and the first provisional president of China also flits through this novel but in ways that were not entirely satisfying.
Still... I am nit-picking, this was ultimately an enriching read, with the sights, sounds, food and flora of Penang of the early 20th century gorgeously described.

[Claire · Rating 5 out of 5]

The House of Doors is an great story, well-told. These are the kind of books I often enjoy the most. At a surface look, this is absorbing historical fiction; a story inspired by real people (Chinese revolutionary, Sun Yat Sen, and the writer W. Somerset Maugham) and by the short story The Letter, published in Maugham’s collection The Casuarina Tree. This would have been enough for me, but there is more at work here. Eng’s mirroring of Maugham’s style, and use of the voice of the colonist to explore the experiences of life in inter-war Malaysia adds a layer of complexity to how we can read this narrative. Clever, but not in a way that detracts from the story itself. This went straight to the top of my personal Booker shortlist.

[Katie Lumsden · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really interesting novel, with some fantastic moments and beautiful writing. I found the characterisation really strong, although I at times struggled to know for certain what the centre of the book was, so perhaps it's one of those that is slightly too literary for me. I am now curious to read some W. Somerset Maugham.

[Maxwell · Rating 3 out of 5]

[Longlisted for the 2023 Booker Prize]

Recounting the two weeks that author William Somerset Maugham visited Malaysia in 1921, Tan Twan Eng's third novel (each of which have been nominated for the prize) is a sepia-toned rendering of colonialism, infidelity, and the power of fiction.

The story starts in 1940s South Africa where Lesley Hamlyn lives on a remote farm. One day she receives a copy of one of Maugham's book which triggers a memory from his visit to her home in Penang decades earlier. This in turn compels Lesley to tell Maugham of events that occurred about a decade prior to his visit, as a story-within-a-story.

There's much to be said about Eng's ability to craft a scene, especially the vivid settings and descriptions of nature. Though the novel as a whole seems to fall into many of the tropes of historical fiction, he does excel in rendering a location or crafting a rich environment within which his characters reside.

The characters, unfortunately, feel a bit hollow, or like playthings for the author to dictate his story through; perhaps because Maugham is a real person and thus there's only so much creative liberty Eng can take with him—or maybe because the emphasis on playing intertextually with Maugham's works overshadowed Eng's own themes and explorations. Ironically, the one character who felt the most intriguing, Ethel, is the one we only hear about occasionally and mostly at the end of the novel.

I haven't read Maugham before which definitely doesn't feel like a prerequisite for picking up this book. I don't think my reading suffered because of that lack of context; perhaps I didn't enjoy it as much simply because this type of historical fiction, one that leans into melodrama and has a cinematic feel, isn't what I gravitate to in fiction. But I can see this hitting the spot for a lot of readers, especially the right kind of historical fiction fans.