A real page turner. 1922 London, and the country is still suffering the lost of so many men in the Great War. Mrs. Wray and her spinster daughter Frances are going broke, as besides losing to brothers to the war, it turns out that Frances' deceased father left them with nothing but debts. They have a big house, and they rent out rooms to a young couple, and the book is about their relationship.

Waters' writing is very descriptive, especially in its middle portion when all hell breaks loose. She also uses the tropes of mystery novels and especially noirs, really well, as all through the book you feel the inevitability of what is coming, and it really puts an effective dark cloud over everything. You can see what's coming, but it's not predictable.

This isn't as strong a book as The Little Stranger, but I couldn't put it down, driven mostly by her descriptive writing. ( )

[a:Sarah Waters|25334|Sarah Waters|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1409248454p2/25334.jpg] can be relied upon for sustained tension and plot twists that catch you off guard. I read 'The Paying Guests' faster than expected, as the tense atmosphere rapidly hooked me. The book begins with early 1920s social awkwardness, as Frances and her mother are forced to rent out the top floor of their house to lodgers. The couple who move in are below Frances' family on the social scale, which creates some initial tension. Then Frances bonds with the housewife, Lilian, while her husband is out at work. Given this is a Sarah Waters novel, I was unsurprised that Frances turned out to be a lesbian and fell in love with Lilian. Subsequent events, however, definitely kept me on my toes. After becoming close friends, Frances and Lilian begin a passionate affair. This is fraught with difficulty, given that it must be kept secret and Lilian is married. I appreciated the fact that both women periodically asked themselves and each other what they were doing, whether this infatuation had any meaningful basis. It would be unrealistic if they did not and Waters is adept at showing that their bond is strong and meaningful.

I knew from the blurb ('...a love story that is also a crime story...') that at some point there would probably be a murder. Lilian taking illegal abortifacients then accidentally killing her husband Leonard in the same evening was still a shocking twist. With incredible level-headedness, Frances manages to cover up both. I am not a great fan of whodunnits and get much greater enjoyment from novels like this, in which the reader knows exactly what happened and the suspense comes from whether anyone (or everyone) else finds out. The last 350 pages of 'The Paying Guests' are compulsive to read for just this reason. The police investigate Leonard's death; Frances and Lilian consider confessing to manslaughter, decide it is too late, then reconsider repeatedly after a young man is arrested for Leonard's murder. The final twist, that the man is acquitted and the two women reunite as they still love each other, took me by surprise. I was expecting a downbeat, tragic ending and was pleased to find it hopeful instead.

'The Paying Guests' evokes London a hundred years ago very vividly, with many details of personal grooming, housework, class differences, etc. Frances' perspective conveys the psychological claustrophobia of sharing a home with strangers better than anything else I've read for a long time. Although it wasn't as ingenious as [b:Fingersmith|8913370|Fingersmith|Sarah Waters|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1545241494l/8913370._SY75_.jpg|1014113], I found 'The Paying Guests' highly involving and beautifully written. ( )

This writer is smooth as silk... I did not even get through the first full page and I felt myself floating inward.... into her world.
Looking forward to the adventure of this book. ( )

Um, I didn't finish. This book is BORING! ( )

Despite being overly long and drawn out, it is a great story beautifully written. The sheer joy and excitement of an unexpected and forbidden love. A desire constantly questioned emotionally as real or simply a humiliating delusion. Is this fragile love worth the price of total ruin. Exquisite! ( )