Review: "The House of Doors"

By Nilima Sinha, Library Committee

​The House of Doors is a fascinating novel written by Tan Twan Eng.    It is the story of the Hamlyns, Lesley and Robert, who lived in Penang, in the Federated Malay States, when it was a British colony. 

In 1910, Dr. Sun Yat Sen, the revolutionary leader who was the first president of the Republic of China, came to Penang seeking support from Chinese​immigrants in Penang.  Sun Yat Sen so ​impressed Lesley with his personality and speeches that she became a follower and began working for his cause.

In 1920, Robert’s old friend, Somerset Maugham, the novelist, playwright and short story writer, came on a visit to Penang and stayed with the couple in their home, the Cassowary House. Accompanying Maugham was his secretary (and his lover), Gerald.  Maugham kept his homosexuality  

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hidden from the public. He was married with a wife and a daughter in England. 

Despite Lesley’s initial apprehension of his extended stay at her home, Maugham soon becomes one of her trusted friends.  She reveals to him previously unshared details of a murder trial of an Englishwoman, who was a close friend of Lesley.  Maugham continues to probe, and Lesley divulges secrets from her own marriage and life.

Out of this visit to Penang came Maugham’s collection of short stories, The Casuarina Tree.  Maugham used real characters in his stories and often didn’t disguise them.

Tan Twan Eng borrows details from Maugham’s stories and skillfully combines real events with imagined ones to create a mesmerizing masterpiece, in effect doing what Maugham did when he used people’s real stories to create his fiction.  It is an elegant story of a story.  The writing is beautiful, bold and authentic.

The House of Doors is in the Coffman collection and can be found in the Fiction section shelved under Tan.