The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters

Liz enjoyed this book, which can be found on the shelves, or reserved at, Low Fell Library.

Liz thought that this book really picked up once a crime has been committed…

It is 1922 and London is tense. Ex-servicemen are disillusioned, the out-of-work and the hungry are demanding change.

In South London, a genteel Camberwell villa, now bereft of brothers, husbands and even servants, life is about to be transformed as impoverished Mrs Wray and her daughter are obliged to take in lodgers.

With the arrival of Lilian and Leonard Barber, a modern young couple of the ‘clerk class’, the routines of the house are shaken up in unexpected ways.

As passions mount and frustration gathers, no one can foresee just how far-reaching, and how devastating, the disturbances will be.

A compelling story with believable characters, real tenderness, excruciating tension and some surprises.