The Gentleman in the Parlour: A Record of a Journey from Rangoon to Haiphong by W. Somerset Maugham (William Heinemann, 1930) Willie has other problems besides his marriage … he suffers a huge financial loss — and his health is failing as well.

I found each time a new door was opened on a new part of the story, fascinating, and the prose is delightful. A fictional world, that, if it ever existed, only existed for few people, for a short period of time, between two world wars and was supported by all the excesses of colonialism. Maugham, one of the great novelists of his day, is 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. 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. The lie of each relationship exposes its suffocating function as an instrument of establishment soft-power. Lesley, clever, refined and bored, is also drawn to the egalitarian spirit of the Chinese political movement that intends to overthrow the imperial Manchu dynasty.W. Somerset Maugham, the famous novelist was an old friend of Robert’s. Robert and Lesley call him Willie. 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.

Writing for The Guardian in a mixed review, critic Xan Brooks stated: "Sun, in his way, is as much a storyteller as Maugham. But his revolutionary adventure feels undercooked and imported. We view it via Lesley, the white colonial wife, and her vision of events is partial and obscured." [2] Brooks also stated that the eclectic storylines in the novel sometimes reduce the overall quality, stating "The sheer weight of its interests sometimes slows it down". 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. 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. W. Somerset Maugham and his wife Syrie in the mid 1920s. I could not find a photo from Penang in 1921. This image was sourced from W. Somerset Maugham: A Portrait Gallery

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.... 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. 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.” 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. When the World’s Most Famous Writer Visits a Hotbed of Amorous Intrigue, by James Wood, The New Yorker, November 6, 2023.

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!!!” This is, indeed, a novel of many doors – perhaps a couple too many. The title refers to the literal kind: the ancient Chinese doors collected by the revolutionary Chinese lover of Lesley Hamlyn, Somerset Maugham’s fictional English host, and stored in the house in downtown Penang in which the couple meet. Tan Twan Eng provides an extensive bibliography of the books used in his research which he lists in his Afterword. The Unfinished Revolution: Sun Yat-Sen and the Struggle for Modern China by Tjio Kayloe (Marshall Cavendish, 2017)

The Booker judges described The House of Doors as ‘historical fiction at its finest’. Were you inspired by any other writers of historical fiction while writing the book? 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… 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. The House of Doors is a 2023 historical novel by Tan Twan Eng, published by Bloomsbury Publishing. The novel, set in the 1920s British colony of the Federated Malay States, tells the stories of the local residents and visitors, including a fictionalized version of William Somerset Maugham.

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. 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. I begin with the main characters. I work out what is it that they are seeking. I always know the ending, although getting there is another matter entirely. With this novel, I even knew what the concluding sentence would be; every other word and sentence preceding it was directed, like an arrow fired from a bow, towards that final sentence.What does your writing process look like? Do you type or write in longhand? Are there multiple drafts, long pauses, or sudden bursts of activity? 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. There’s a gap of 10 years between the publication of The House of Doors and your previous book - did you always anticipate it would take a long time to write this one? 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”.