The Paying Guests
2 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by Plum-crazy from Brighouse, West Yorkshire United Kingdom on Thursday, July 12, 2018
'There came the splash of water and the rub of heels as Mrs Barber stepped into the tub. After that there was a silence, broken only by the occasional echoey plink of drips from the tap...'
Frances had been picturing her lodgers in purely mercenary terms - as something like two great waddling shillings. But this, she thought, was what it really meant to have paying guests: this odd, unintimate proximity, this rather peeled-back moment, where the only thing between herself and a naked Mrs Barber was a few feet of kitchen and a thin scullery door. An image sprang into her head: that round flesh, crimsoning in the heat.'
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 genteel Camberwell villa, a large silent house now bereft of brothers, husband and even servants, life is about to be transformed, as impoverished widow Mrs Wray and her spinster daughter, Frances, are obliged to take in lodgers.
For with the arrival of Lilian and Leonard Barber, a modern young couple of the 'clerk class', the routines of the house will be shaken up in unexpected ways. And as passions mount and frustration gathers, no one can foresee just how far-reaching, and how devastating, the disturbances will be...
Have a bit of a love/hate relationship with this author, so I wondered which category this would fall into..... & it was good news!
This was an engrossing story, the blurb above gives you the gist of the tale & anyone familiar with Waters' previous books will know how this tale is going to go.....however despite that it still managed to catch me off guard as I was expecting a it to take a different tack - shan't say what for fear of spoilers! A good read :o)
Frances had been picturing her lodgers in purely mercenary terms - as something like two great waddling shillings. But this, she thought, was what it really meant to have paying guests: this odd, unintimate proximity, this rather peeled-back moment, where the only thing between herself and a naked Mrs Barber was a few feet of kitchen and a thin scullery door. An image sprang into her head: that round flesh, crimsoning in the heat.'
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 genteel Camberwell villa, a large silent house now bereft of brothers, husband and even servants, life is about to be transformed, as impoverished widow Mrs Wray and her spinster daughter, Frances, are obliged to take in lodgers.
For with the arrival of Lilian and Leonard Barber, a modern young couple of the 'clerk class', the routines of the house will be shaken up in unexpected ways. And as passions mount and frustration gathers, no one can foresee just how far-reaching, and how devastating, the disturbances will be...
Have a bit of a love/hate relationship with this author, so I wondered which category this would fall into..... & it was good news!
This was an engrossing story, the blurb above gives you the gist of the tale & anyone familiar with Waters' previous books will know how this tale is going to go.....however despite that it still managed to catch me off guard as I was expecting a it to take a different tack - shan't say what for fear of spoilers! A good read :o)
Journal Entry 2 by Plum-crazy at Wishlist Book, A RABCK -- Controlled Releases on Tuesday, November 20, 2018
Released 5 yrs ago (11/21/2018 UTC) at Wishlist Book, A RABCK -- Controlled Releases
CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:
Enjoy!
Released as part of the 2018 NOVEMBER "THE" Challenge (#38)
Released as part of the 2018 NOVEMBER "THE" Challenge (#38)
Journal Entry 3 by Anne-Elliott at Southampton, Hampshire United Kingdom on Saturday, November 24, 2018
Thank you so much for this wishlist book, Plum!
Journal Entry 4 by Anne-Elliott at Southampton, Hampshire United Kingdom on Wednesday, January 23, 2019
I was engrossed in this book such a tense, rollercoaster of a story. The characters were believable and Water's conveyed the protagonists frustrations with their lives well. I hope the BBC dramatises this book - would make a cracking series.