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The Paying Guests

shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction

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The Paying Guests

By: Sarah Waters
Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
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About this listen

 'I raced through it, breathing fast and when I had finished had to reread parts of the wonderful early chapters. I don't like historical novels but this is the exception. I shall let a few months go by and then read it all over again with, I'm sure, undiminished pleasure' Ruth Rendall, Guardian

It is 1922, and London is tense. Ex-servicemen are disillusioned, the out-of-work and the hungry are demanding change. And in South London, in a genteel Camberwell villa, a large silent house now bereft of brothers, husband and even servants, life is about to be transformed, as impoverished widow Mrs Wray and her spinster daughter, Frances, are obliged to take in lodgers.

For with the arrival of Lilian and Leonard Barber, a modern young couple of the 'clerk class', the routines of the house will be shaken up in unexpected ways. And as passions mount and frustration gathers, no one can foresee just how far-reaching, and how devastating, the disturbances will be...

This is vintage Sarah Waters: beautifully described with excruciating tension, real tenderness, believable characters, and surprises. It is above all, a wonderful, compelling story.©2014 Sarah Waters Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction Women's Fiction Scary Thought-Provoking England

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Critic reviews

Absolutely brilliant
Another wild ride of a novel . . . magnetic storytelling
A page-turning melodrama and a fascinating portrait of London on the verge of great change
This novel magnificently confirms Sarah Waters's status as an unsurpassed fictional recorder of vanished eras and hidden lives
I raced through it, breathing fast and when I had finished had to reread parts of the wonderful early chapters. I don't like historical novels but this is the exception. I shall let a few months go by and then read it all over again with, I'm sure, undiminished pleasure
You know you are in the hands of a skilful, confident writer when you read a Sarah Waters book. She slowly reels you in. She weaves plots and themes that creep up and entangle you while you are innocently following her characters. They go about their shadowy business and by the time you raise your head from the page to take a breath, you're hooked
The Paying Guests demonstrates the writerly qualities for which Waters is esteemed, proving as 'fantastically moody and resonant', in terms of the rendering of domestic space, as a novel the author herself described as such and which she once said she would like to have written: Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca
Sickeningly tense - and thumpingly good
You will be hooked within a page . . . At her greatest, Waters transcends genre: the delusions in Affinity (1999), the vulnerability in Fingersmith (2002), the undercurrents of social injustice and the unexplained that underlie all her work, take her, in my view, well beyond the capabilities of her more seriously regarded Booker-winning peers. But The Paying Guests is the apotheosis of her talent; at least for now. I have tried and failed to find a single negative thing to say about it. Her next will probably be even better. Until then, read it, Flaubert, Zola, and weep
A nod towards Little Dorrit also seems perceptible in the book's quiet ending amid the bustle and clamour of London. Unillusioned but tentatively hopeful, it is a beautifully gauged conclusion to a novel of ambitious reach and triumphant accomplishment
A masterpiece of social unease . . . It isn't so much the plot that makes you read on - the novel's armature is a comparatively uncomplicated suspense narrative but barnacled to it is an astonishing accretion of detail . . . A virtuoso feet of storytelling
A seductive thriller
The Paying Guests is so evocative and compelling that all the time I was reading, I had a feeling it was me who had done something terrible, instead of her characters
Brilliantly involving . . . juicy, beautifully observed and not afraid to be explicit
Waters's page-turning prose conceals great subtlety. Acutely sensitive to social nuance, she keeps us constantly alert . . . From a novelist who has been shortlisted for the Booker three times, this is a winner
All stars
Most relevant
The early chapters reminded me of Anita Brookner’s novels focussing on women of slender means living dreary, sheltered lives. The death of her father has left Frances and her mother short of money and reluctantly they have taken in a couple, Lillian and Leonard Barber, as paying guests. Set just after the First World War the author captures the sombre mood of the time and the nuances of class differences between the hosts and their paying guests. There are hints that Frances is not just the weary drudge of the early chapters but underneath is a woman of spirit who fought for woman’s rights.

Lulled into thinking that this will be a book of domestic and social minutia the narrative erupts into seething passions of stolen kisses and much more. As the author of Tipping the Velvet I shouldn’t have been surprised that the passions were among women. The vicissitudes of illicit love affairs and society’s unfair prejudices against unconventional love dominate the middle section of the book and are the backdrop to the surprising series of events that catapults the book into a crime novel culminating in a tense courtroom drama.

I found this an enthralling novel, well-written and full of surprises that gathers pace such that I couldn’t stop listening as the outcome is far from obvious. My only criticism is that it’s not necessary to portray male characters are caricatures of boorishness and insensitivity to idealize love among women.

Juliet Stevenson is a superb narrator and one of the reasons I chose this book.

A book full of surprises

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Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes! I have already recommended it to quite a few. It has a fantastic, gripping, thrilling storyline and my own life was encompassed by it until the very last page!

What did you like best about this story?

All of it!

What does Juliet Stevenson bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

I have never bought an audio book prior to this but in my job I do a lot of driving and so decided to try it. Juliet Stevenson read the book in a very convincing way with different voices for characters and pauses in all the right places.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I wish I could have spared 21 hours straight to listen to it! Many nights in the week I stayed up late just to hear a bit more of it - it was very difficult to put down!

Any additional comments?

Fantastic! Buy it now and listen to it!

I couldn't put it down!

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It was a good portrayal of the boring provincial life of many women after the war keeping house for their mothers.
The characters were well described and easy yo relate to. I liked the contrast between Frances's posh mother and friends and Lilian's family.
Courtroom scenes were well written, with just enough suspense without milking it it.

Slow start but good story and well narrated

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Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Yes, it sounds like a contradiction as I couldn't put it down, it absorbed me, but
I didn't like it very much. I didn't like the characters and i found the house a depressing place and as most of the story took place in the house I wanted to get away from it. They were all pretty selfish self absorbed characters.

Would you recommend The Paying Guests to your friends? Why or why not?

Probably would recommend but with the caveat that I didn't like the characters.

What does Juliet Stevenson bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

Very empathic in her reading. I find her voice a little slow at first, but once I get used to it I think she brings great emotion in a restrained way.

Did The Paying Guests inspire you to do anything?

Yes, I needed to listen to something completely different after it.

Any additional comments?

Overall, it was compelling and I would say give it a go. Generally, I love Sarah Water's books

Couldn't put it down but didn't really like it!

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Would you try another book written by Sarah Waters or narrated by Juliet Stevenson?

I have read two other books by Sarah Waters and loved them, this book followed the style of Jodi Picoult (moral dilemma) and was not written well

What was most disappointing about Sarah Waters’s story?

I loved the characters of Frances and Lillian, but they became increasingly unbelievable

What does Juliet Stevenson bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

Juliet Stevenson is magnificent reading this story, so many voices and intonations added to my early enjoyment

Was The Paying Guests worth the listening time?

Until the last couple of hours, I was gripped and intrigued, but then the story becomes tedious and unbelievable

Started well, rubbish ending, disappointing

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