It is 1922, and London is tense. Ex-servicemen are disillusioned, the out-of-wor
k and the hungry are demanding change. And in South London, in a genteel Camberw
ell villa, a large silent house now bereft of brothers, husband and even servant
s, life is about to be transformed, as impoverished widow Mrs Wray and her spins
ter daughter, Frances, are obliged to take in lodgers. For with the arrival of L
ilian and Leonard Barber, a modern young couple of the 'clerk class', the routin
es of the house will be shaken up in unexpected ways. And as passions mount and
frustration gathers, no one can foresee just how far-reaching, and how devastati
ng, the disturbances will be. This is vintage Sarah Waters: beautifully describe
d with excruciating tension, real tenderness, believable characters, and surpris
es.
