At NoveList, every recommendation begins with a love of stories. Our team, made up of librarians, authors, and devoted readers, takes the time to handpick books that feel just right. We know that reading is personal, and that’s why we focus on what makes a story truly connect.
This is the fourth installment of our series where we’re introducing you to the people behind the recommendations and asking them to share a book to recommend. Read the others on our blog here.
Prior to joining the Product Management team at NoveList, Savannah Dorsett-Jones spent nine years as a public librarian. Her first library job was in fourth grade. When she was paid in discarded books, her destiny as a future librarian was set.
Describe the work you do for NoveList in a few short sentences.
As a Product Manager, I work as a go-between for our customers and development team, soliciting feedback in a variety of ways — one on one interviews, surveys, user testing, ensuring that our products work the way you want them to.
What is the title and author of the book you recommend?
The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters
In a few sentences, what is this book about?
Set just after World War I, a once-comfortable household takes in boarders to make ends meet, and the small annoyance of shared living soon spirals into something with lasting consequences. That summary barely scratches the surface of it all, but I don’t want to spoil anything. Verily there are plot twists!
Why do you love this book? What made it stand out to you?
The whole World War I/interwar years era is a period I find completely fascinating; how every aspect of society was impacted, social norms changed, innocence lost…give me all the books about it! I wish there was as much fiction out there on the topic as there is for World War II.
Who would you recommend this book to? (e.g., fans of a certain genre, mood, author, etc.)
People who see a five hundred plus page book and think ‘Challenge accepted!’ and who generally groove on complex characters, strong sense of place, slow build tension and moral ambiguity.
If you could invite one character from this book to dinner, where would you take them and why?
Frances Wray, the narrator, is smart and capable but feels smothered by family duty and social expectations. I’d take her out for a great meal she didn’t have to cook or clean up after, then let her roam a museum or library with her own thoughts. And we’d finish the day with someplace she can be as loud and unladylike as she wants — a political rally, a roller derby match, one of those modern art installations where you smash stuff, whatever floats her boat.
Describe the perfect setting for reading this book.
Sprawled out in a comfortable chair when you have nowhere else to be and nothing else to do and can truly immerse yourself. When I first experienced The Paying Guests, I was in a book dry spell due to a lot of outside stress, and it felt incredibly decadent to simply read for hours — like I was luxuriating in the pages. It would have been even better with snacks.
Is there anything else about this book or about NoveList that you’d like to share with the reader that I didn’t think to ask?
This title has a soft spot in my heart as the first thing I’ve read by Sarah Waters, but I’d honestly recommend anything she’s ever written if you love immersive historical fiction. I’ve since read her entire output, and she manages to walk that perfect balance of rich detail and clearly having done a ton of research, but her work has never devolved into an information dump. Maybe she has a time machine?
Angela Hursh is Manager of Library Marketing Content and Services for NoveList. She is currently reading Before Dorothy by Hazel Gaynor.
Savannah Dorsett-Jones is Product Manager for NoveList. She is currently reading Women of a Promiscuous Nature by Donna Everhart.
