The Paying Guests

The Paying Guests

Author: Sarah Waters

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2014-09-16

Total Pages: 576

ISBN-13: 0698157702

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The New York Times bestselling novel that has been called “a tour de force” (Wall Street Journal), “unputdownable” (The Washington Post), “a delicious hothouse of a novel” (USA Today), “effortless” (The Economist), “seductive” (Vanity Fair) and “pitch perfect” (Salon) “Superb, bewitching…Forget about Fifty Shades of Grey; this novel is one of the most sensual you will ever read, and all without sacrificing either good taste or a "G" rating” – NPR “One of the year’s most engrossing and suspenseful novels…a love affair, a shocking murder, and a flawless ending … Will keep you sleepless for three nights straight and leave you grasping for another book that can sustain that high.” — Entertainment Weekly (A rating) “Volcanically sexy, sizzingly smart, plenty bloody and just plain irresistible." —USA Today (4 stars) 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. 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. Little do the Wrays know just how profoundly their new tenants will alter the course of Frances’s life—or, as passions mount and frustration gathers, how far-reaching, and how devastating, the disturbances will be. Short-listed for the Man Booker Prize three times, Sarah Waters has earned a reputation as one of our greatest writers of historical fiction, and here she has delivered again. A love story, a tension-filled crime story, and a beautifully atmospheric portrait of a fascinating time and place, The Paying Guests is Sarah Waters’s finest achievement yet.


Book Synopsis The Paying Guests by : Sarah Waters

Download or read book The Paying Guests written by Sarah Waters and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2014-09-16 with total page 576 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The New York Times bestselling novel that has been called “a tour de force” (Wall Street Journal), “unputdownable” (The Washington Post), “a delicious hothouse of a novel” (USA Today), “effortless” (The Economist), “seductive” (Vanity Fair) and “pitch perfect” (Salon) “Superb, bewitching…Forget about Fifty Shades of Grey; this novel is one of the most sensual you will ever read, and all without sacrificing either good taste or a "G" rating” – NPR “One of the year’s most engrossing and suspenseful novels…a love affair, a shocking murder, and a flawless ending … Will keep you sleepless for three nights straight and leave you grasping for another book that can sustain that high.” — Entertainment Weekly (A rating) “Volcanically sexy, sizzingly smart, plenty bloody and just plain irresistible." —USA Today (4 stars) 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. 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. Little do the Wrays know just how profoundly their new tenants will alter the course of Frances’s life—or, as passions mount and frustration gathers, how far-reaching, and how devastating, the disturbances will be. Short-listed for the Man Booker Prize three times, Sarah Waters has earned a reputation as one of our greatest writers of historical fiction, and here she has delivered again. A love story, a tension-filled crime story, and a beautifully atmospheric portrait of a fascinating time and place, The Paying Guests is Sarah Waters’s finest achievement yet.


The Paying Guest

The Paying Guest

Author: George Gissing

Publisher: IndyPublish.com

Published: 1895

Total Pages: 200

ISBN-13:

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Over the course of his literary careeer, George Gissing emerged as a chronicler of Britain's emerging middle class. In novels such as New Grub Street, he took it upon himself to outline the challenges facing this new demographic niche, which he described as "well educated, fairly bred, but without money." The Paying Guest explores same of the same themes -- class tensions, intrigue, and the grit beneath the glittering surface of the Victorian era.


Book Synopsis The Paying Guest by : George Gissing

Download or read book The Paying Guest written by George Gissing and published by IndyPublish.com. This book was released on 1895 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over the course of his literary careeer, George Gissing emerged as a chronicler of Britain's emerging middle class. In novels such as New Grub Street, he took it upon himself to outline the challenges facing this new demographic niche, which he described as "well educated, fairly bred, but without money." The Paying Guest explores same of the same themes -- class tensions, intrigue, and the grit beneath the glittering surface of the Victorian era.


The Little Stranger

The Little Stranger

Author: Sarah Waters

Publisher: McClelland & Stewart

Published: 2009-05-05

Total Pages: 482

ISBN-13: 1551993392

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From the multi-award-winning and bestselling author of The Night Watch and Fingersmith comes an astonishing novel about love, loss, and the sometimes unbearable weight of the past. In a dusty post-war summer in rural Warwickshire, a doctor is called to see a patient at lonely Hundreds Hall. Home to the Ayres family for over two centuries, the once grand house is now in decline, its masonry crumbling, its garden choked with weeds. All around, the world is changing, and the family is struggling to adjust to a society with new values and rules. Roddie Ayres, who returned from World War II physically and emotionally wounded, is desperate to keep the house and what remains of the estate together for the sake of his mother and his sister, Caroline. Mrs. Ayres is doing her best to hold on to the gracious habits of a gentler era and Caroline seems cheerfully prepared to continue doing the work a team of servants once handled, even if it means having little chance for a life of her own beyond Hundreds. But as Dr. Faraday becomes increasingly entwined in the Ayreses’ lives, signs of a more disturbing nature start to emerge, both within the family and in Hundreds Hall itself. And Faraday begins to wonder if they are all threatened by something more sinister than a dying way of life, something that could subsume them completely. Both a nuanced evocation of 1940s England and the most chill-inducing novel of psychological suspense in years, The Little Stranger confirms Sarah Waters as one of the finest and most exciting novelists writing today.


Book Synopsis The Little Stranger by : Sarah Waters

Download or read book The Little Stranger written by Sarah Waters and published by McClelland & Stewart. This book was released on 2009-05-05 with total page 482 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the multi-award-winning and bestselling author of The Night Watch and Fingersmith comes an astonishing novel about love, loss, and the sometimes unbearable weight of the past. In a dusty post-war summer in rural Warwickshire, a doctor is called to see a patient at lonely Hundreds Hall. Home to the Ayres family for over two centuries, the once grand house is now in decline, its masonry crumbling, its garden choked with weeds. All around, the world is changing, and the family is struggling to adjust to a society with new values and rules. Roddie Ayres, who returned from World War II physically and emotionally wounded, is desperate to keep the house and what remains of the estate together for the sake of his mother and his sister, Caroline. Mrs. Ayres is doing her best to hold on to the gracious habits of a gentler era and Caroline seems cheerfully prepared to continue doing the work a team of servants once handled, even if it means having little chance for a life of her own beyond Hundreds. But as Dr. Faraday becomes increasingly entwined in the Ayreses’ lives, signs of a more disturbing nature start to emerge, both within the family and in Hundreds Hall itself. And Faraday begins to wonder if they are all threatened by something more sinister than a dying way of life, something that could subsume them completely. Both a nuanced evocation of 1940s England and the most chill-inducing novel of psychological suspense in years, The Little Stranger confirms Sarah Waters as one of the finest and most exciting novelists writing today.


Affinity

Affinity

Author: Sarah Waters

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2002-01-08

Total Pages: 366

ISBN-13: 9781573228732

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“Gothic tale, psychological study, puzzle narrative…This is gripping, astute fiction that feeds the mind and senses.”—The Seattle Times An upper-class woman recovering from a suicide attempt, Margaret Prior has begun visiting the women’s ward of Millbank prison, Victorian London’s grimmest jail, as part of her rehabilitative charity work. Amongst Millbank’s murderers and common thieves, Margaret finds herself increasingly fascinated by on apparently innocent inmate, the enigmatic spiritualist Selina Dawes. Selina was imprisoned after a séance she was conducting went horribly awry, leaving an elderly matron dead and a young woman deeply disturbed. Although initially skeptical of Selina’s gifts, Margaret is soon drawn into a twilight world of ghosts and shadows, unruly spirits and unseemly passions, until she is at last driven to concoct a desperate plot to secure Selina’s freedom, and her own. As in her noteworthy deput, Tipping the Velvet, Sarah Waters brilliantly evokes the sights and smells of a moody and beguiling nineteenth-century London, and proves herself yet again a storyteller, in the words of the New York Times Book Review, of "startling power."


Book Synopsis Affinity by : Sarah Waters

Download or read book Affinity written by Sarah Waters and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2002-01-08 with total page 366 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Gothic tale, psychological study, puzzle narrative…This is gripping, astute fiction that feeds the mind and senses.”—The Seattle Times An upper-class woman recovering from a suicide attempt, Margaret Prior has begun visiting the women’s ward of Millbank prison, Victorian London’s grimmest jail, as part of her rehabilitative charity work. Amongst Millbank’s murderers and common thieves, Margaret finds herself increasingly fascinated by on apparently innocent inmate, the enigmatic spiritualist Selina Dawes. Selina was imprisoned after a séance she was conducting went horribly awry, leaving an elderly matron dead and a young woman deeply disturbed. Although initially skeptical of Selina’s gifts, Margaret is soon drawn into a twilight world of ghosts and shadows, unruly spirits and unseemly passions, until she is at last driven to concoct a desperate plot to secure Selina’s freedom, and her own. As in her noteworthy deput, Tipping the Velvet, Sarah Waters brilliantly evokes the sights and smells of a moody and beguiling nineteenth-century London, and proves herself yet again a storyteller, in the words of the New York Times Book Review, of "startling power."


The Night Watch

The Night Watch

Author: Sarah Waters

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2016-07-28

Total Pages: 112

ISBN-13: 1350014087

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I thought everything would change, after the war. And now, no one even mentions it. It is as if we all got together in private and said whatever you do don't mention that, like it never happened. It's the late 1940s. Calm has returned to London and five people are recovering from the chaos of war. In scenes set in a quiet dating agency, a bombed-out church and a prison cell, the stories of these five lives begin to intertwine and we uncover the desire and regret that has bound them together. Sarah Waters's story of illicit love and everyday heroism takes us from a dazed and shattered post-war Britain back into the heart of the Blitz, towards the secrets that are hidden there. Olivier-nominated playwright Hattie Naylor has created a thrilling and theatrically inventive adaptation of a great modern novel. The stage adaptation of The Night Watch was premiered at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, on 16 May 2016.


Book Synopsis The Night Watch by : Sarah Waters

Download or read book The Night Watch written by Sarah Waters and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2016-07-28 with total page 112 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: I thought everything would change, after the war. And now, no one even mentions it. It is as if we all got together in private and said whatever you do don't mention that, like it never happened. It's the late 1940s. Calm has returned to London and five people are recovering from the chaos of war. In scenes set in a quiet dating agency, a bombed-out church and a prison cell, the stories of these five lives begin to intertwine and we uncover the desire and regret that has bound them together. Sarah Waters's story of illicit love and everyday heroism takes us from a dazed and shattered post-war Britain back into the heart of the Blitz, towards the secrets that are hidden there. Olivier-nominated playwright Hattie Naylor has created a thrilling and theatrically inventive adaptation of a great modern novel. The stage adaptation of The Night Watch was premiered at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, on 16 May 2016.


Fingersmith

Fingersmith

Author: Sarah Waters

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2002-10-01

Total Pages: 596

ISBN-13: 9781573229722

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“Oliver Twist with a twist…Waters spins an absorbing tale that withholds as much as it discloses. A pulsating story.”—The New York Times Book Review The Handmaiden, a film adaptation of Fingersmith, directed by Park Chan-wook and starring Kim Tae-Ri, is now available. Sue Trinder is an orphan, left as an infant in the care of Mrs. Sucksby, a "baby farmer," who raised her with unusual tenderness, as if Sue were her own. Mrs. Sucksby’s household, with its fussy babies calmed with doses of gin, also hosts a transient family of petty thieves—fingersmiths—for whom this house in the heart of a mean London slum is home. One day, the most beloved thief of all arrives—Gentleman, an elegant con man, who carries with him an enticing proposition for Sue: If she wins a position as the maid to Maud Lilly, a naïve gentlewoman, and aids Gentleman in her seduction, then they will all share in Maud’s vast inheritance. Once the inheritance is secured, Maud will be disposed of—passed off as mad, and made to live out the rest of her days in a lunatic asylum. With dreams of paying back the kindness of her adopted family, Sue agrees to the plan. Once in, however, Sue begins to pity her helpless mark and care for Maud Lilly in unexpected ways...But no one and nothing is as it seems in this Dickensian novel of thrills and reversals.


Book Synopsis Fingersmith by : Sarah Waters

Download or read book Fingersmith written by Sarah Waters and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2002-10-01 with total page 596 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Oliver Twist with a twist…Waters spins an absorbing tale that withholds as much as it discloses. A pulsating story.”—The New York Times Book Review The Handmaiden, a film adaptation of Fingersmith, directed by Park Chan-wook and starring Kim Tae-Ri, is now available. Sue Trinder is an orphan, left as an infant in the care of Mrs. Sucksby, a "baby farmer," who raised her with unusual tenderness, as if Sue were her own. Mrs. Sucksby’s household, with its fussy babies calmed with doses of gin, also hosts a transient family of petty thieves—fingersmiths—for whom this house in the heart of a mean London slum is home. One day, the most beloved thief of all arrives—Gentleman, an elegant con man, who carries with him an enticing proposition for Sue: If she wins a position as the maid to Maud Lilly, a naïve gentlewoman, and aids Gentleman in her seduction, then they will all share in Maud’s vast inheritance. Once the inheritance is secured, Maud will be disposed of—passed off as mad, and made to live out the rest of her days in a lunatic asylum. With dreams of paying back the kindness of her adopted family, Sue agrees to the plan. Once in, however, Sue begins to pity her helpless mark and care for Maud Lilly in unexpected ways...But no one and nothing is as it seems in this Dickensian novel of thrills and reversals.


Paying Guests, a Novel

Paying Guests, a Novel

Author: E F 1867-1940 Benson

Publisher: Legare Street Press

Published: 2022-10-27

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781016843164

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This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.


Book Synopsis Paying Guests, a Novel by : E F 1867-1940 Benson

Download or read book Paying Guests, a Novel written by E F 1867-1940 Benson and published by Legare Street Press. This book was released on 2022-10-27 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.


The Perfect Guests

The Perfect Guests

Author: Emma Rous

Publisher: Berkley Books

Published: 2021

Total Pages: 306

ISBN-13: 0593201604

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"1980: Beth Soames is fourteen years old when a kind couple finds her playing the violin at her orphanage's yearly fund-raiser. The Averills take her home with them to Raven Hall ... At times, Beth ... dreams she's truly part of the family--until she's asked to take part in what seems like a harmless game ... Present day: Sadie Langton is an actress struggling to make ends meet when she lands a well-paying gig attending a weekend party. Her anonymous employer sends her a suitcase of clothing, a dossier of the role she is to play, and instructions--it's strange, but she needs the money, and when she sees the stunning manor she'll be staying at she can't resist the chance"--


Book Synopsis The Perfect Guests by : Emma Rous

Download or read book The Perfect Guests written by Emma Rous and published by Berkley Books. This book was released on 2021 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "1980: Beth Soames is fourteen years old when a kind couple finds her playing the violin at her orphanage's yearly fund-raiser. The Averills take her home with them to Raven Hall ... At times, Beth ... dreams she's truly part of the family--until she's asked to take part in what seems like a harmless game ... Present day: Sadie Langton is an actress struggling to make ends meet when she lands a well-paying gig attending a weekend party. Her anonymous employer sends her a suitcase of clothing, a dossier of the role she is to play, and instructions--it's strange, but she needs the money, and when she sees the stunning manor she'll be staying at she can't resist the chance"--


Arabella of Mars

Arabella of Mars

Author: David D. Levine

Publisher: Open Road Media

Published: 2024-02-13

Total Pages: 401

ISBN-13: 1504091701

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“A fanciful romp through a cosmic 1812, Hugo Award–winning Levine’s first novel is a treat for steampunk fantasy fans.” —Library Journal (starred review) Born on Mars, sixteen-year-old Arabella Ashby enjoys many more freedoms than most girls her age, tramping around the desert with her older brother. But that liberty is not to last. Finding Mars much too unladylike for her daughters, Arabella’s mother takes the girls back to London, where they’re sure to find suitable husbands among the ton. Weighed down by Earth’s gravity—and her own unhappiness—Arabella dearly misses her father and their shared passion for automata. When she learns of his death, she also uncovers her cousin’s devious plot to travel to Mars, murder her brother, and claim the family inheritance for himself. To foil his dastardly plans, Arabella disguises herself as a boy to gain employment on an airship to Mars. Though she is valued by the captain for her talent with the automaton navigator he invented, she must survive French privateers, mutiny, and her own unmasking, only to reach a Mars embroiled in rebellion . . . “If Edgar Rice Burroughs, Jules Verne, and Patrick O’Brien had sat down together to compose a tale to amuse Jane Austen, the result might be Arabella of Mars. So. Much. Fun!” —Madeleine Robins, author of the Sarah Tolerance Regency mystery series “A very clever and entertaining start to a memorable saga.” —Kim Stanley Robinson, New York Times–bestselling author “Arabella, a human teenager born on Mars, is catapulted into adventure in a tale that cleverly combines some of the most intriguing elements of steampunk and classic science fiction.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)


Book Synopsis Arabella of Mars by : David D. Levine

Download or read book Arabella of Mars written by David D. Levine and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2024-02-13 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A fanciful romp through a cosmic 1812, Hugo Award–winning Levine’s first novel is a treat for steampunk fantasy fans.” —Library Journal (starred review) Born on Mars, sixteen-year-old Arabella Ashby enjoys many more freedoms than most girls her age, tramping around the desert with her older brother. But that liberty is not to last. Finding Mars much too unladylike for her daughters, Arabella’s mother takes the girls back to London, where they’re sure to find suitable husbands among the ton. Weighed down by Earth’s gravity—and her own unhappiness—Arabella dearly misses her father and their shared passion for automata. When she learns of his death, she also uncovers her cousin’s devious plot to travel to Mars, murder her brother, and claim the family inheritance for himself. To foil his dastardly plans, Arabella disguises herself as a boy to gain employment on an airship to Mars. Though she is valued by the captain for her talent with the automaton navigator he invented, she must survive French privateers, mutiny, and her own unmasking, only to reach a Mars embroiled in rebellion . . . “If Edgar Rice Burroughs, Jules Verne, and Patrick O’Brien had sat down together to compose a tale to amuse Jane Austen, the result might be Arabella of Mars. So. Much. Fun!” —Madeleine Robins, author of the Sarah Tolerance Regency mystery series “A very clever and entertaining start to a memorable saga.” —Kim Stanley Robinson, New York Times–bestselling author “Arabella, a human teenager born on Mars, is catapulted into adventure in a tale that cleverly combines some of the most intriguing elements of steampunk and classic science fiction.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)


What Shines from It

What Shines from It

Author: Sara Rauch

Publisher: Alternating Current

Published: 2020-02-08

Total Pages: 192

ISBN-13: 9781946580115

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The eleven stories in Sara Rauch's What Shines from It are rife with the physical and psychic wounds of everyday life. In "Beholden," girl meets boy meets the unsettled spirits of post-9/11 New York City, but her future can't hold them all. In "Kitten," a struggling veteran and his wife argue over adopting an abandoned kitten, deepening their financial and emotional rifts. In "Abandon," a ghost-baby ravages a woman's body following a late-term miscarriage, marring her chances for new love. And in "Kintsukuroi," a married potter falls for a married geologist and discovers the luminosity of being broken.What Shines from It is populated by women on the verge of transcendence-brimming with anger and love-and working-class artists haunted by the ghosts of their desires. Abiding by a distinctly guarded New England sensibility, these stories inhabit the borderlands of long-established cities, where humans are still learning to embrace the natural world. Subtly exploring sexualities, relationships, birth and rebirth, identity, ghosts, and longing, Rauch searches for the places where our protective shells are cracked and, in spare, poetic language, limns those edges of loneliness and loss with light.


Book Synopsis What Shines from It by : Sara Rauch

Download or read book What Shines from It written by Sara Rauch and published by Alternating Current. This book was released on 2020-02-08 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The eleven stories in Sara Rauch's What Shines from It are rife with the physical and psychic wounds of everyday life. In "Beholden," girl meets boy meets the unsettled spirits of post-9/11 New York City, but her future can't hold them all. In "Kitten," a struggling veteran and his wife argue over adopting an abandoned kitten, deepening their financial and emotional rifts. In "Abandon," a ghost-baby ravages a woman's body following a late-term miscarriage, marring her chances for new love. And in "Kintsukuroi," a married potter falls for a married geologist and discovers the luminosity of being broken.What Shines from It is populated by women on the verge of transcendence-brimming with anger and love-and working-class artists haunted by the ghosts of their desires. Abiding by a distinctly guarded New England sensibility, these stories inhabit the borderlands of long-established cities, where humans are still learning to embrace the natural world. Subtly exploring sexualities, relationships, birth and rebirth, identity, ghosts, and longing, Rauch searches for the places where our protective shells are cracked and, in spare, poetic language, limns those edges of loneliness and loss with light.