302:. If this is Waters’s early 20th-century crime novel, it does not match the imagination of this earlier Victorian crime novel. Perhaps Waters does not want to put on a fireworks display of plot surprises. She does give us a poignant love story which symbolically sees in the death of the old order, the death of the old-fashioned husband and maybe the birth of an era of love without secrets. Yet we find ourselves wishing for a few more fireworks all the same."
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sense of period.". "As the narrative unfolds into a tense and dramatic court case, their plight tugs on the heart-strings. The novel’s conclusion when it arrives is satisfying, if slightly predictable and the loose ends are nicely tied. A great rainy day read, The Paying Guests is raunchy, romantic and thoroughly entertaining. Another triumph for Sarah Waters, it is unputdownable."
190:"I thought how interesting it would be if the lover was a female lover". Waters continues "The impact of the First World War was to shake things up enormously, loosening up old mores, fashions and behaviours. The early ’20s were like the waist of an hourglass. Lots of things were hurtling toward it and squeezing through it and then hurtling out the other side."
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another. Finally the novel seems a discussion of the very nature of intimacy. As charming as the period details are, it would be easy to fall into quaintness, with appealing costumes, Edwardian parlance, and slipping into the pantry for a quick fondle. But Waters saves it by the eerie power of her writing."
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Its pastiche propriety and faux-Edwardian prose (people are forever "colouring" and "crimsoning" and "putting themselves tidy") become irritants; and the novel's descent into melodrama as a murder is committed – and the inspector called – turns this engaging literary endeavour into a tiresome soap opera."
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is however critical: "As
Frances and Mrs Barber progress towards an affair. Waters's plain-spoken description of this relationship immediately begins to undermine the novel's integrity as a period piece: the sexual perspective is designed for the modern reader, and starts to resemble a costume drama.
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is full of praise: "One of the things that brings her characters to life is that Waters is very good at describing physical contact, gestures, deeds. People recede from each other even as they become more physically entangled. Even living at such close quarters, her characters remain a mystery to one
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Waters wrote, "Having set my two previous books in the 1940s I thought I’d venture back a couple of decades, and in the pursuit of information about
British domestic life in the interwar years I began looking at murder cases; I went to them purely, really, for the sake of their incidental detail. But
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where spinster
Frances lives with her genteel mother Mrs Wray and mourns the death of her brothers in the Great War. Her father has died leaving considerable debts and they are obliged to take in lodgers: Lilian and Leonard Barber of the "clerk class". The guests bring with them colour, fun and music
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writes: "A lengthy novel, The Paying Guests takes a while to really get going and the first third could arguably be much shorter. However, when the drama kicks in, it’s worth the wait...The 1920s setting is a joy to read. One of Waters’ strengths is the apparent ease with which she conjures up a
255:(4.0 out of 5) based on critic reviews with a critical summary saying, "Waters's skill at evoking historical time periods is peerless, and she also once again delivers romantic relationships with a powerfully erotic charge."
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in 1935 – both cases involving a husband, his wife and her young male lover, in which a moment’s reckless violence had fatal consequences for almost everyone concerned." And in an interview with
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also has some reservations, concluding: "Waters's historical fictions have shown her to be adept at tight, intricate plotting, most dazzlingly illustrated in the breathtaking plot twist in
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who said that "this novel magnificently confirms Sarah Waters' status as an unsurpassed fictional recorder of vanished eras and hidden lives."
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482:"The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters, review: 'eerie, virtuoso writing', Sarah Waters’s sensational novel won’t disappoint her legion of fans"
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This article is about the Sarah Waters novel. For the 2009 Bollywood film, see
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Sarah Waters interview: 'I pay attention to women's secret history and lives'
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