THE PAYING GUESTS

by Sarah Waters

You all know that I tend to gravitate toward historical fiction, but it feels like it’s been a while since I read a big, juicy novel like this one, and I can’t recommend it highly enough. It honestly has a bit of everything, and when I tell you I devoured it, I spent three straight hours (of a much needed mom’s night away) in bed just tearing through the book as fast as I could.

Set in a high-class neighborhood in London after WWII, The Paying Guests centers around Frances, an old maid at 30, who lives with her mother. All of the men in their family have died and their finances are shaky, so they have decided to rent out two rooms to a young couple from the “clerk class.” Lillian and Leonard move in and life gets a bit more exciting for Frances.  Slowly, and despite their age and class differences,  she and Lillian become friends.

There are two major plot twists in this novel, each one marking the shift between the three parts. I don’t want to spoil either one because they were so delightfully unexpected for me. But the book is not all boring spinster tea parties, I promise! There are some extremely sexy parts and some of it is  horrifyingly gruesome. My only complaint is that the third part starts to drag a bit as it meanders through a trial in the British legal system. (Although this may be more the fault of the British legal system than the book.) Overall though, if you are looking for an engrossing summer read and you don’t mind carrying a 500-pager to the beach, The Paying Guests is a great choice! (Lily)