I had never before read anything by Sarah Waters. Although I actually did start "The Nightwatch" and gave up after twenty pages. But her latest was a book club choice so I was stuck. I found the first half to be a terrific read. The setting of Champion Hill was beautifully described and the post war London of 1922 seemed a wonderful place. Whether on her walks around the city or taking a tram, this was the place to be for Frances.
She and her mother are from a good family, down on their luck after the death of Frances' father, and having to rent out rooms in their big old house that reminded me dramatically of my grandmother's in a leafy, classy part of Sheffield. Their relationship with their lodgers is central to the story which turns half way through from a domestic drama into something else completely.
I enjoyed the number of set pieces, Frances' trips to Central London, the cemetery with her mother, the party, Snakes and Ladders, the park and later nerve shredding events. The author has constructed a clever plot and is very good at dialogue. My only reservations were that the second half is so completely different to the first with the twists and turns of a mainstream thriller. The story itself is almost completely told in a linear structure, but in a way that was good as being different from so many modern novels that consistently backtrack.
So overall, a long book but one that had me hooked. I cannot avoid mentioning the relationship between Frances and Lillian. This was all new to me.
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