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The Paying Guests

Sarah Waters

Why we're reading this: The Paying Guests is set in England's 1922 post- war economy where societal class lines begin to disinteg…more
[close] The Paying Guests is set in England's 1922 post- war economy where societal class lines begin to disintegrate. The struggling upper-class Wray family has lost all their male family members and in an effort to make ends meet, Frances and her mother take in a young married couple (from the clerk class) who rent a suite of the Wray's vacant rooms. Waters crafts her atmospheric setting with great skill; however, in my opinion, this work is an overly long, predictable love story gone wrong. Waters is an incredible writer, but this felt like a soap opera to me and ultimately, I was just relieved to be finished.

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Aug 01, 2014 Andie rated it really liked it

Set in London in 1922, Frances Wray and her mother are both down on their luck. All the men in the family are dead; the two sons in the killing fields of World War I and the father of a stroke after losing the family fortune through unwise investments. The servants that made their Edwardian life so comfortable are long gone and the debts are piling up. Frances, although she toyed with feminism prior to the war & had a lesbian relationship that has since devolved into "just friends," does not see Set in London in 1922, Frances Wray and her mother are both down on their luck. All the men in the family are dead; the two sons in the killing fields of World War I and the father of a stroke after losing the family fortune through unwise investments. The servants that made their Edwardian life so comfortable are long gone and the debts are piling up. Frances, although she toyed with feminism prior to the war & had a lesbian relationship that has since devolved into "just friends," does not seem to consider getting a job a possibility. Neither does her mother seem capable of listing a dust cloth or heating up a can of soup. Frances takes over these tasks, keeping the heavier jobs like scrubbing the floors on her hands and knees to the times her mother is out of the house doing her "charity work."
To stave off financial disaster, the Wrays have converted the second floor of their house (save for Frances' bedroom) to an apartment that they will rent out to lodgers who they call "paying guests" - a euphemism to try & hide their financial distress. These ledgers are Len & Lillian Barber who are Frances' age, but definitely from several steps down the social scale from the Wrays. Len is a clerk in an insurance office & Lilian spends her days at home "decorating" the new apartment with vulgar bric-a-brac, scarves, macrame and ostrich feathers.
Lillian and Frances start a tentative friendship which grows into a passionate sexual love affair. Waters is very detailed in her descriptions their erotic lovemaking to the point where I wished she had left something to the imagination. All this going on at such close quarters with Frances' mother and Lilian's husband is bound to end badly, and when it does, Len is dead with his head bashed in with a heave ashtray. Lillian and Frances have to get rid of the body and from this point - about halfway through the novel - the story becomes one f those page turners you cannot put down.
Sarah Waters has not only written an love story of great tenderness and insight, but has also written a wicked satire on British manners and class and a thrilling murder/trial story to boot. This is the first of Miss Waters' books I've read, but it certainly will not be my last.
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Jul 31, 2014 Mary rated it liked it

Shelves: historical-fiction, advance-readers-copy, edelweiss, crime-fiction, marriage

The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters
The Paying Guests is set in England's 1922 post- war economy where societal class lines begin to disintegrate. The struggling upper- class Wray family has lost all their male family members and in an effort to make ends meet, Frances and her mother take in a young married couple (from the clerk class) who rent a suite of the Wray's vacant rooms.
Waters crafts her atmospheric setting with great skill.

So why the 3 star rating? In my opinion, this work is an overly l ...more

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Dec 16, 2014 Toni Moore marked it as to-read

Sep 13, 2014 LK marked it as to-read

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