The House of Doors
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Narrated by:
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David Oakes
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Louise-Mai Newberry
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Written by:
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Tan Twan Eng
About this listen
Bloomsbury presents The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng, read by David Oakes and Louise-Mai Newberry.
LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE
SHORTLISTED FOR THE WALTER SCOTT PRIZE FOR HISTORICAL FICTION
INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER
NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORKER, NPR, SLATE, THE FINANCIAL TIMES, AND A WASHINGTON POST NOTABLE WORK
A NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS' CHOICE
From the bestselling author of The Garden of Evening Mists, a spellbinding novel about love and betrayal, colonialism and revolution, storytelling and redemption.
The year is 1921. Lesley Hamlyn and her husband, Robert, a lawyer and war veteran, are living at Cassowary House on the Straits Settlement of Penang. When “Willie” Somerset Maugham, a famed writer and old friend of Robert’s, arrives for an extended visit with his secretary Gerald, the pair threatens a rift that could alter more lives than one.
Maugham, one of the great novelists of his day, is beleaguered: 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.
A mesmerizingly beautiful novel based on real events, The House of Doors traces the fault lines of race, gender, sexuality, and power under empire, and dives deep into the complicated nature of love and friendship in its shadow.
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What listeners say about The House of Doors
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- PWL
- 2024-03-25
Superb!
I had never heard of Tan Tang Eng before but I am now going to read/listen to everything he’s written. Simply brilliant! It’s like reading Somerset Maugham and that’s high praise indeed.
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- Amazon Customer
- 2024-05-14
Spellbinding
At the start of this book, I didn't quite know where it was leading but I was enchanted by the general vibe of the prose and story. by the end I was feeling feelings I didn't know I had. would definitely recommend a listen!
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- clevrgrl
- 2025-01-18
Beautiful Prose
This is worth a listen just for the beautiful, almost poetic prose. So wonderfully descriptive. I sincerely appreciated to different turns of phase employed to describe some of the most ordinarily uninteresting things. They made me take pause and really reconsider the beauty of these ordinary things/actions.
That being said, the story itself was quite boring & unengaging for me.
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- Anonymous User
- 2024-10-28
Not an Interesting Story
After winning the Pulitzer Prize, I really wanted to read this book. The performances were great but the story just was not captivating at all. I had to force my self to finish.
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