Love. Drama. Crime.

Frances Wray and her widowed mother live in genteel poverty on Champion Hill -- it's just south of London and still considered a fashionable district in 1922. Unfortunately, Mr. Wray died with substantial debt and the two women are forced to acquire paying guests to sustain their quiet lives without hired help or funds for upkeep of the decaying house. The young, new renters, Leonard and Lilian Barber, take up residence in rooms on the upper floor and soon create a seismic shift in the lives of the homeowners. Frances, in particular, finds herself caught up in a sudden new passion as she watches the tenants, does the chores, and tries to maintain the sparsely furnished spaces where she and her mother languish. While Leonard is at work as an insurance clerk, Frances and Lilian forge a relationship that invariably leads to a crime, an unanticipated challenge, a moral dilemma, and a quandary with implications that mean the difference between being caught in a trap or gaining freedom.

I vacillated between a 3 and a 4 rating on this one and settled for 3.5 -- I haven't felt this ambiguous about a novel for quite some time. That said, the slow buildup and the storyline were enough to keep me coming back for more even as I was wishing that Waters would step up the pace of the narrative and move along, stop repeating herself, and get to the end a little faster. That's not to say that I found this tale suspenseful even though I think it is meant to be. It was more like having something continuously dangled nearby but out of reach almost to the point of frustration and annoyance. This was not a mystery, per se, as the reader knows exactly what happened but it takes a slow, infuriating and somewhat exasperating while to get to the climax. The resolution was absolutely fitting even as I was on tenterhooks as I continued reading even faster to see if the author would make that choice.

I've read a couple of this author's other books and always enjoy her unique stories and settings. I'd recommend this to fans of Sarah Waters and those who enjoy a bit of sinister with their

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I'll admit, after reading a reviewer say she couldn't put this book down, I was confused. The first few chapters provided insight into post war life in London - nicely written and insightful, but hardly getting under your skin.

But wait, because the Author continues to peel away layers of the characters' personal thoughts, fears and passions in a way, that does get under your skin. Eventually you are treated with a palpable heat coming off of each page.

The story develops into a crime theme, that starts out rather unbelievable. And then develops in ways you would least expect.

All in all, a most enjoyable read.

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A very long book that dragged on and on. This book could have been 200 pages less and the story would still have been well told.
The ending was disappointing after 500 pages of a build up.

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I've read a few other novels by Waters including FINGERSMITH, TIPPING THE VELVER, and THE LITTLE STRANGER. All were quite enjoyable reads although they were for the most part outside of my normal reading preferences. THE PAYING GUESTS was another very well-written novel that I found quite compelling although I thought it could have been edited and shortened. At over 600 pages, the opening part of the novel went on for over 200 pages without really a lot happening but I did think the wait was worth it. The novel really picks up after that.

It takes place in London in 1922 where Frances Wray lives with her mother in a big house that is in need of repair. Her two brothers were killed in the war and her father died soon after, leaving behind a shocking mess of debt. To alleviate the debt they decide to rent out part of their house to some "paying guests", Leonard and Lilian Barber. The Barbers are from a lower class who the Wrays would probably not normally associate with but they desperately need the added income. The first half of the book did kind of drag and if you have ever read anything else by Waters, you can probably guess that Frances falls for the beautiful Lillian. The tension builds as they come to express their love for each other. But then the rest of the book explores what happens after a shocking act of violence. Will Frances and Lillian be able to survive this and will their love remain intact?

Waters is a real wordsmith and is great at describing the mores of the times in which she writes. In this case it is shortly after WWI which greatly affected all those left behind when most men were killed or savaged by the war. Crime and poverty are prevalent. Overall, I did find this to be on a par with her previous novels although as I said, I felt it could have been shortened somewhat. But overall, I would still give it a high recommendation.

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