You’ve probably heard the buzz surrounding The House of Doors. It was the book everyone seemed to be carrying on the tube or at the airport a year or two ago. Honestly, it’s one of those rare novels that manages to be both a Booker Prize longlist darling and a genuine page-turner. If you're looking for a dry historical lecture, this isn't it. Tan Twan Eng basically took real-life scandals, a legendary writer, and the stifling heat of 1920s Penang and mashed them into something that feels uncomfortably real.
It’s about Somerset Maugham. Or "Willie," as the characters call him.
He arrives in Penang in 1921, broke, sick, and trapped in a miserable marriage. He stays with his old friend Robert Hamlyn and Robert’s wife, Lesley. What follows isn't just a dinner party story. It’s a slow-burn reveal of secrets that involve Sun Yat-sen, the Chinese revolution, and a real-life murder trial that rocked the Federated Malay States.
The Real History Behind The House of Doors
Most people assume historical fiction is 90% imagination. With this book, that’s not really the case. Tan Twan Eng did some serious heavy lifting in the archives.
Take Ethel Proudlock. In the book, she's a central figure of gossip and dread. In real life, she was the wife of a school headmaster in Kuala Lumpur. In 1911, she shot a man named William Steward on her veranda. She claimed he tried to rape her. The court didn't buy it. She was the first white woman sentenced to death in the Malay States, though she was later pardoned. Maugham actually used this real event for his famous short story The Letter. Tan Twan Eng takes that meta-layer—a writer using a real tragedy for "art"—and turns it into the engine of his own novel.
Then there’s Dr. Sun Yat-sen.
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He was actually in Penang. He stayed at 120 Armenian Street. He was raising money for the 1911 Xinhai Revolution to overthrow the Qing Dynasty. In the novel, Lesley Hamlyn gets drawn into his world. It’s not just a plot device; it shows the intersection of the fading British Empire and the rising tide of Asian nationalism. It's messy. It’s complicated. It’s exactly how history actually feels when you're standing in the middle of it.
Why Maugham Matters Here
Somerset Maugham is a tricky figure to write about in 2026. He was a superstar in his day but has since been labeled as everything from a colonial apologist to a misunderstood genius. Tan Twan Eng doesn't sugarcoat him. Willie is presented as a man who is essentially a predator of stories. He listens, he observes, and then he betrays those who trusted him by putting their lives on the page.
The book leans heavily into Maugham's personal life too. His relationship with Gerald Haxton—his secretary and "companion"—is central. In the 1920s, being gay was a criminal offense in the UK and most of the Empire. The fear of another Oscar Wilde-style downfall hangs over the characters like the humidity in Penang. This shared secrecy creates a bond between Willie and Lesley Hamlyn. They both have lives they have to hide from the world.
The Setting Isn't Just Background
If you've ever been to Penang, you know the atmosphere is thick. The smells of incense, sea air, and durian. The colonial architecture of George Town. The author describes the "house of doors" itself—a collection of carved Chinese doors that create a sort of labyrinth. It's a metaphor, sure, but it's also a physical reality of the era's craftsmanship.
British Malaya in 1921 was a weird place. You had the rubber boom, the social rigidness of the "Straits Settlements," and a simmering political unrest. The book captures that tension where everyone is pretending to be "proper" while their private lives are falling apart. It’s about the masks people wear. Lesley is the perfect hostess, but she’s hiding a revolutionary spirit. Robert is a veteran of the Great War, but he’s dying of lung issues.
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What Most People Get Wrong About the Plot
A lot of readers go into this thinking it’s a romance. It’s really not. Or at least, it’s not a traditional one. It’s a book about the cost of storytelling.
One of the most nuanced parts of The House of Doors is how it handles the concept of "truth." Maugham tells Lesley that "a writer’s soul is a small, dark, and rather dirty thing." He’s admitting that he’s not a hero. He’s a voyeur. By the end of the book, you have to ask yourself: was it worth it? Was the great literature Maugham produced worth the lives he exposed to public ridicule? There aren't easy answers.
Key Historical Figures Featured:
- Somerset Maugham: The cynical, world-weary British writer.
- Gerald Haxton: Maugham's flamboyant and often troublesome lover.
- Sun Yat-sen: The "Father of Modern China" in his pre-revolutionary days.
- Ethel Proudlock: The real-life center of a scandalous murder trial.
Navigating the Narrative Structure
The book jumps between different timelines. We see Lesley in the 1940s, looking back from South Africa, and the core events in 1921 Penang. This isn't just to be fancy with the structure. It’s about memory. It’s about how we look back at our lives and realize the "minor" moments were actually the ones that changed everything.
The prose is lush, but it’s sharp. It doesn't waste words on fluff. Tan Twan Eng spent five years writing this, and it shows in the precision of the sentences. He doesn't just say it's hot; he makes you feel the sweat sticking to a silk dress.
Actionable Insights for Readers and Travelers
If you’ve finished the book and want to dive deeper, there are actually things you can do to see the "real" world of the novel.
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Visit the Sun Yat-sen Museum in Penang. It’s located at 120 Armenian Street, George Town. It’s a preserved shophouse where the actual historical meetings took place. You can see the long, narrow layout and get a sense of the "house of doors" aesthetic.
Read "The Casuarina Tree" by Somerset Maugham. This is the collection of stories Maugham wrote after his travels in Malaya. Reading The Letter alongside Tan Twan Eng's novel provides a fascinating look at how reality is transformed into fiction. It’s like a literary "before and after" photo.
Check out the Eastern & Oriental Hotel. The "E&O" in Penang is where Maugham actually stayed. It still exists. You can sit on the terrace, have a gin and tonic, and look out at the Andaman Sea, exactly as the characters do in the book. It’s one of the few places where the 1920s atmosphere hasn't been completely paved over by modernity.
Understand the Legal Context.
If you're interested in the Ethel Proudlock case, legal historians have written extensively about how her trial reflected the racial and gender biases of the British colonial legal system. It's a sobering look at why she was convicted when a man might have been acquitted under the same circumstances.
The House of Doors isn't just a book to be read; it's a map of a time and place that no longer exists but still shapes the world today. It challenges the idea that the "good old days" were particularly good for anyone involved in them. It's a study in repression, both personal and political. Whether you're a fan of Maugham or just love a well-researched historical drama, the layers of this story offer more than enough to chew on for a long time.
The best way to experience it is to take it slow. Let the atmosphere sink in. Pay attention to the doors—what they hide, what they reveal, and who gets to open them.
Next Steps for Deepening Your Understanding:
- Compare the Fiction to the Fact: Read the 1911 newspaper archives regarding the Ethel Proudlock trial (available via the National Archives of Singapore or the British Library).
- Explore the Architecture: Look up "Straits Eclectic" architecture to see the specific style of the shophouses described in the novel.
- Trace the Map: Use a vintage 1920s map of George Town to follow the characters' movements from the E&O Hotel to the botanical gardens.