Bookworm
Sarah Waters: The Paying Guests
The title of Waters’ new novel is a euphemism for “lodgers,” here used by the protagonist’s family to mask the shame of taking on tenants following WWII.
By Michael Silverblatt • • 28m ListenSarah Waters mines literary genres and periods in history and brings the lesbians out of the shadows: she isn't addressing homophobia, she says, but the way in which lesbians and gays have always been able to get on with their lives. She does this in a way that feeds a traditional hunger for novel-reading, filled with crime, passion, and cliff-hangers. The title of her new book, The Paying Guests (Riverhead Books), is a euphemism for "lodgers," here used by the protagonists' family to mask the shame of taking on tenants in the economic upheaval following WWII.
