The House of Doors

The House of Doors is a 2023 historical and literary fiction novel by Malaysian author Tan Twan Eng. The House of Doors is Tan’s third novel; The Gift of Rain (2007) was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, and The Garden of Evening Mists (2012), was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and won the Man Asian Literary Prize and the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction. The House of Doors is longlisted for the 2023 Booker Prize.

The House of Doors is loosely based on the 1926 short story “The Letter” by British author W. Somerset Maugham, who also appears as a character in this novel. “The Letter” is, in turn, based on the 1911 Ethel Proudlock case, which focused on the murder trial of Ethel Proudlock, who killed a mine manager named William Steward. Ethel also appears as a character in The House of Doors, while the central character of “The Letter,” Leslie, is paralleled in The House of Doors’s protagonist and narrator, Lesley Hamlyn. The novel deals with questions of the interplay between history and fiction and memory and storytelling while bending genre and exploring the influence of colonialism on Penang.

This guide refers to the 2023 electronic version from Bloomsbury Publishing. Pagination may vary.

Content Warning: This guide refers to anti-gay bias and language, racism, racial slurs, and other archaic language to refer to racial and ethnic groups, sexism, adultery, and discussion of rape and violence, including gun violence.

Plot Summary

The House of Doors uses a “looped” nonlinear timeline, with its Prologue starting in 1947 before the main portion of the novel moves to 1921. In the 1921 section, Lesley Hamlyn tells a story from 1910, which is presented in Book 2. Within these sections, characters often think back to past events; these memories are marked by past tense in the Summary sections, followed by paragraph breaks and temporal markers to show a return to the narrative present.

The novel opens in 1947 in Doornfontein, South Africa, where Lesley Hamlyn lives following the death of her husband, Robert. She receives a copy of W. Somerset Maugham’s The Casuarina Tree, sent from Penang, which has a variation of the hamsa symbol Maugham inscribed on his books. She looks at a photo of herself and Ethel Proudlock, then another of herself, Robert, Maugham (who is fictionalized as the character Willie), and Gerald Haxton—Willie’s lover and secretary—from Maugham’s visit to Penang in 1921.

The narrative shifts to 1921, moving between Lesley’s and Willie’s perspectives. In Penang, Willie wakes to a copy of his newest book, On a Chinese Fan, which he discusses with Lesley. She asks if he knows anything about Dr. Sun Yat Sen, a former president of China whom she knew in Penang. A letter informs Willie that an investment has gone badly.

Lesley travels into town, feeling sympathy for Willie’s wife, Syrie, and wondering if she knows of Willie’s affair with Gerald. She wishes to write to Dr. Sun but doesn’t have his address. She visits the abandoned headquarters of the Tong Meng Hui, an underground revolutionary society, and then another house. Willie laments the urgent need to write a book to restore his finances while growing suspicious that Lesley had an affair with Sun. Lesley meets with her brother, Geoff. She refuses to move to South Africa with Robert, who seeks a drier climate for the sake of his lungs, which were damaged in World War I. She agrees to secure Geoff an interview with Willie in exchange for Geoff seeking Sun’s address. Willie reluctantly agrees to the interview, as he must promote his work to earn money.

Lesley’s attempts to discover Sun’s address are unsuccessful. Unable to sleep, she encounters Willie and tells him the story of her experiences in 1910. In April, she learns that her friend, Ethel Proudlock, has been arrested for killing her attempted rapist (who, it will later be revealed, was her lover; Ethel was blackmailed into killing him by her father and husband). When asking Geoff for more information about Ethel’s case, Lesley learns that Robert is having an affair. She resolves to act normally around her husband, and the two attend a party where they meet Dr. Sun and Arthur Loh. The Hamlyns befriend Sun, and Lesley becomes fascinated by his politics, though she dislikes that he practices polygamy. She laments that marriage places an undue burden on women.

Lesley travels to Kuala Lumpur for the inquest that will determine if Ethel is to go on trial for murder. The details of the case don’t align with Ethel’s explanation, but Ethel refuses to admit her affair with Steward, even if it will exonerate her of murder. She is charged and will be executed by hanging if found guilty.

In 1921, Willie feels inspired by Lesley’s story and begins notes for a story. He still believes Lesley had an affair with Sun and thinks back to the start of his own affair with Gerald. He and Lesley reconvene that night, Lesley eager to continue her story despite her misgivings that she is betraying Robert and Ethel.

In 1910, Sun and the Hamlyns become friends. Lesley is fascinated by him and learns more about Chinese history, though Robert forbids her from becoming involved with the Tong Meng Hui due to safety concerns, a racist dislike of his wife being seen with a Chinese man, and the suspicion that Sun and Lesley are having an affair. Even so, Lesley begins work editing translated pamphlets for the group and befriends Arthur Loh. Arthur takes her to the House of Doors, where he keeps his collection of intricately carved and painted doors that he purchases from condemned buildings. Lesley discovers a love note between Robert and his assistant, Peter Ong; she is shocked to learn that he is involved with a Chinese man.

She attends a fundraising party for Sun, where she feels powerfully affected by his speech. She and Arthur arrange to meet at the House of Doors following the party and begin their sexual affair. She is summoned to testify on Ethel’s behalf. Arthur offers to accompany her to Kuala Lumpur, but she declines for secrecy.

In 1921, an ill Robert expresses dismay over “what they did” to Ethel (221) but falls asleep before he can clarify. Willie and Lesley discuss what marriage means to gay men following the Oscar Wilde trial, but Lesley is unconvinced by Willie’s portrayal of her as Robert’s protector.

In 1910, Lesley attends Ethel’s trial. The story of the killing is shown from the perspective of various witnesses, each presenting slight variations. Ethel refuses to admit the affair and claims she does not remember the evening. Ethel is convicted of murder and sentenced to death by hanging. Lesley visits Ethel, who reports that she has withdrawn her appeal and requested a pardon from the Sultan of Selangor, which upsets the white European community in Malaya, who do not believe an Asian ruler should determine the fate of a white woman. Dr. Sun is deported from Penang following a speech criticizing British rule of Malaya; Arthur leaves for war in China, leaving Lesley a pair of doors inscribed with a Japanese samurai’s poem. Ethel is pardoned on the condition that she leave Malaya forever. In 1912, Lesley learns Dr. Sun is now President Sun Yat Sen. She wishes to celebrate but feels a lack of belonging.

In 1921, Willie prepares to depart Penang, struggling with the choice to write about Lesley’s story, which he knows will gain him commercial success but destroy Lesley’s marriage. Lesley shows him the House of Doors, though she refuses to go inside without Arthur. She throws a small farewell party for Willie, inviting Peter Ong, which shocks both Willie and Robert. Willie asks if he can write about her; Lesley reports using a pseudonym for Arthur, and she does not fear Willie will reveal Robert’s affair with a man. She elects to go to South Africa with Robert, and the two leave Penang soon after Willie.

In 1947, Lesley misses Robert; they enjoyed many friendly years after moving to Doornfontein. She reads “The Letter” from the newly delivered copy of The Casuarina Tree, recognizing it as a message from Arthur. She thinks of traveling back to Penang to see him.