Mae’n 1922, ac mae Llundain yn llawn tensiwn. Mae cyn-filwyr wedi’u dadrithio ac mae’r di-waith a’r newynog yn mynnu newid. Yn Ne Llundain, mewn fila fonheddig yn Camberwell, tŷ mud mawr sydd bellach yn brin o frodyr, gŵr a gweision, mae bywyd ar fin cael ei drawsnewid, fel y mae’n rhaid i weddw dlawd Mrs Wray a’i merch, Frances, gymryd lletywyr.

Gyda dyfodiad Lilian a Leonard Barber, cwpl ifanc modern o’r ‘dosbarth clerc’, bydd arferion y tŷ yn cael eu newid mewn ffyrdd annisgwyl. Ac wrth i nwydau a rhwystredigaeth gynyddu, ni all neb ragweld pa mor bellgyrhaeddol, ac mor ddinistriol, fydd yr aflonyddwch.

Dyma clasur Sarah Waters: wedi’i disgrifio’n hyfryd gyda thensiwn, tynerwch, cymeriadau credadwy, a syrpreis. Dyma stori hyfryd.

It is 1922, and London is tense. Ex-servicemen are disillusioned, the out-of-work and the hungry are demanding change. And in South London, in a genteel Camberwell villa, a large silent house now bereft of brothers, husband and even servants, life is about to be transformed, as impoverished widow Mrs Wray and her spinster daughter, Frances, are obliged to take in lodgers.

For with the arrival of Lilian and Leonard Barber, a modern young couple of the ‘clerk class’, the routines of the house will be shaken up in unexpected ways. And as passions mount and frustration gathers, no one can foresee just how far-reaching, and how devastating, the disturbances will be.

This is vintage Sarah Waters: beautifully described with excruciating tension, real tenderness, believable characters, and surprises. It is above all a wonderful, compelling story.