Instaread Summaries 
Summary of The Paying Guests 
by Sarah Waters | Includes Analysis

PLEASE NOTE: This is a summary and analysis of the book and NOT the original book. 

Summary of The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters | Includes Analysis 

Inside this Instaread:

• Summary of entire book

• Introduction to the important people in the book

• Analysis of the themes, important people and author style

Preview of this Instaread:

The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters is a historical romance novel and crime story. It is

set just outside postwar London in the year 1922.

Frances Wray is a twenty-six- year-old single woman who lives with her widowed

mother, Emily. After losing her two brothers in the war, Frances is left to take care of her

mother and thehousehold. Her father mismanaged the family’s financial affairs before his

death, leaving his wife and daughter struggling to get by with few resources. The Wrays

are forced to dismiss thehousehold help, leaving Frances to do most of the household

chores. Frances decides she must rent out some of the rooms in their house to help with

money issues.

Frances makes arrangements for Leonard and Lilian Barber, a young, married, working

class couple, to move into the rooms on the second floor of the Wray home. Leonard’s

friend, Charles Wismuth, helps them move in…

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