I read The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng on holiday in Fuerteventura in October and was captivated by it.

It is set in Penang in Malaysia (see my blogs on Malaysia: Jungle Soldier, When The Future Comes Too Soon, The Malayan Trilogy, The Glass Palace, A Town Like Alice, and The Storm We Made),
which I visited a decade ago, having long been fascinated by the history of the country. Lesley, its central character, finds herself in 1921 telling her story to visiting author Somerset Maugham, who is friends with her husband Robert and has come to stay with them, bringing his male secretary and lover with him.

Lesley recounts her friendship with Ethel Proudlock, tried in 1910 for the murder of her lover, and her own affair with Arthur, a Chinese man who left her to fight for the revolution. She also shows Maugham how she came to terms with realising that her husband was gay, the root of their unsuccessful marriage.

The author conjures George Town and Penang Hill exactly as I remember them, the heat, humidity, streets, and the turquoise waters of the sea. It was a delight to spend time in this place again with such fascinating characters in such a unique period of history.