Quiet, lazy days on … the beach, that’s all I want,’ Willie said. ‘I’ve piles … of books to read, and Gerald hasn’t fully recovered yet. He needs his rest, lots … of it.’ This novel is beautifully engrossing — filled with fascinating heartfelt and heart-wrenching gripping history The author Tan Twan Eng writes historical fiction set in Malaysia, the country where he was raised. His newest novel, "The House Of Doors," revolves around a famous British author who spent time traveling in the region, the short story writer W. Somerset Maugham, known to his friends as Willie. "The House Of Doors" has already made the longlist for this year's Booker Prize, and Tan Twan Eng is here to talk with us about it. Welcome to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. The world is so still, so quiescent, that I wonder if it has stopped turning. But then, high above the land, I see a tremor in the air. A pair of raptors, far from their mountain eyrie. For a minute or two I want to believe they are brahminy kites, but of course they cannot be”. What does your writing process look like? Do you type or write in longhand? Are there multiple drafts, long pauses, or sudden bursts of activity?

The former Kuala Lumpur lawyer first burst onto the global literary scene with his 2007 debut novel, The Gift of Rain, which was set in Penang during the Japanese occupation that heralded the end of British rule. Long-listed for the Booker, it inevitably drew comparisons with the work of fellow Malaysian writer Tash Aw whose first novel, The Harmony Silk Factory, was set in Penang on the brink of occupation and had also been long-listed for the prize two years before. As Willie prepares to leave and face his demons, Lesley confides secrets of her own, including how she came to know the charismatic Dr Sun Yat Sen, a revolutionary fighting to overthrow the imperial dynasty of China. And more scandalous still, she reveals her connection to the case of an Englishwoman charged with murder in the Kuala Lumpur courts – a tragedy drawn from fact, and worthy of fiction.

Colonial scandal

TAN: Yes. It's - as I mentioned in my first novel, "The Gift Of Rain," you can cross worlds and cultures just by crossing a street. You've got the Little India quarter, and as you take the next street, you're coming to the Malay quarter and then the Chinese. And it's so wonderful. And all of these cultures are mingled and merged. And they've created a cuisine which is uniquely Penang as well, Peranakan food, so many variations of that food. And I think it's one of the most delicious foods in the world. The British carved out plantations from the dense jungle, turning the country into the world’s biggest exporter of rubber, and developed a booming tin industry, with legions of ethnic Indian and Chinese migrants keeping the colonial economy humming. The year is 1921. Lesley Hamlyn and her husband, Robert, a lawyer and war veteran, are living at Cassowary House on the Straits Settlement of Penang. When “Willie” Somerset Maugham, a famed writer and old friend of Robert's, arrives for an extended visit with his secretary Gerald, the pair threatens a rift that could alter more lives than one.

Inspired by David Copperfield, Kingsolver crafts a 21st-century coming-of-age story set in America’s hard-pressed rural South.With three-dimensional memorable characters ….Eng’s depiction of their relationships— particularly between Lesley and Willie is masterly. For cost savings, you can change your plan at any time online in the “Settings & Account” section. If you’d like to retain your premium access and save 20%, you can opt to pay annually at the end of the trial.

I begin with the main characters. I work out what is it that they are seeking. I always know the ending, although getting there is another matter entirely. With this novel, I even knew what the concluding sentence would be; every other word and sentence preceding it was directed, like an arrow fired from a bow, towards that final sentence. A historical novel about W. Somerset Maugham’s sojourn to Malaysia and the secrets he discovered there. At one point, Lesley mentions to Willie that all his stories seem to be about unhappy marriages. Certainly, because of the stigma of divorce, couples stayed married regardless of their happiness and often sought out affairs instead. This plays out in this book as well. You would think with all the various love affairs and high emotions, the story would have been livelier. But sad to say, it came across as dry and lifeless to me.Set in two main time lines, in tropical Penang and KL a woman reveals a story of her past to William Somerset Maugham. Based around some real characters and events, it's a story within a story.