I came to this novel with a lot of good will from previous Sarah Waters’ novels—in particular The Night Watch, Fingersmith, and Tipping the Velvet. Waters is interested in how the “love that dare not speak its name” actually speaks its name quite loudly in the past—whether it’s during World War II, the 1890s or the 1860s. Her characters, often at the fringes of society, fall in love, double-cross each other, and challenge the norms of the worlds they live in, in all sorts of […]
Turbulent Waters in Post WWI London
Sarah Waters’ The Paying Guests has been getting a lot of good press since its release last month, and the praise for this novel is much deserved. It really is a masterful work. Waters creates a suspenseful and heartbreaking love story against the backdrop of post-WWI London. Its rigid moral climate and deteriorating social and economic situation contribute to an almost suffocating environment that limits opportunity for women and criminalizes unconventional sexual desires. Waters stands shoulder to shoulder with Edith Wharton and Kate Chopin in […]