Excerpt from The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

'His doctor advised him that the air here would be good for her,' said Bernard, keeping one eye on the lamb chops on the grill. 'Graham – the husband – bought a piece of land on Jannie van der Walt's farm and built their new home on it, a great big house. We'll take you out there one of these days to take a gander at it.' Bernard went to the oil drums and flipped the lamb chops over; fat dripped onto the fire, sending clouds of maddened smoke hissing into the air. 'The wife's health improved,' he resumed when he sat down again, 'but one morning, about three weeks ago, she walked out on him. Left him when he was still snoring away in his bed.'

'She took all her jewels,' Helena picked up the tale, 'but she didn't leave a letter for Graham, the poor man, not even a note.'

Bernard chuckled. 'Knowing Graham, that deplorable lack of manners probably enraged him more than anything else.'

'Ai, that's not funny, Bernard,' his wife said.

'Coincidentally, our GP in the dorp disappeared that same morning,' Bernard continued. 'Left his wife behind. Neither hair nor hide of him has ever been seen again.'

I glanced over to Robert sitting opposite me; our eyes met. 'Just the sort of tale Willie would have relished,' he said.

'Willie?' asked Bernard.

'Somerset Maugham,' said Robert.

'Who's he?' one of the guests asked.

'A writer,' Robert said. 'A very famous one. An old friend, actually. He stayed with us in Penang. He's promised to visit us here. We'll introduce you to him when he comes.'

'I liked some of his stories,' said Helena. 'But "Rain"' – she made a face – 'I'll never forget that one.'

'Is dit 'n lekker spook storie?' one of the men asked, rubbing his hands together with relish.

'No,' replied Helena. 'It's about a ... a woman.' Her face flushed; she smoothed the folds of her skirt around her knees. 'Oh, I'll lend you the book, Gert – you can read it yourself.'

'Ag, who has time to read?' Bernard grinned at me. 'Did he put you two in his stories?'

Twilight was dissolving the mountains. I pulled my shawl closer around my shoulders. 'He probably found us,' I said, giving just the briefest of glances at Robert, 'to be the most boring married couple he'd ever met.'

Excerpted from The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng. Copyright © 2023 by Tan Twan Eng. Excerpted by permission of Bloomsbury Publishing. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.