Cakes and Ale is a delicious satire of London literary society between the Wars. Social climber Alroy Kear is flattered when he is selected by Edward Driffield's wife to pen the official biography of her lionized novelist husband, and determined to write a bestseller. But then Kear discovers the great novelist's voluptuous muse (and unlikely first wife), Rosie. The lively, loving heroine once gave Driffield enough material to last a lifetime, but now her memory casts an embarrissing shadow over his career and respectable image. Wise, witty, deeply satisfying, Cakes and Ale is Maugham at his...
Cakes and Ale is a delicious satire of London literary society between the Wars. Social climber Alroy Kear is flattered when he is selected by Edward ...
W. Somerset Maugham led many lives, including that of a doctor in London's slums, a successful playwright and novelist, an agent for British Intelligence during World War I, and a world traveler. In 1917, he took the first of many voyages to the Pacific Islands and the Far East, where his keen sense of observation found inspiration for some of his finest writing. Rain and Other South Sea Stories features one of Maugham's most famous tales, concerning the clash between a missionary and a prostitute. "Rain" was adapted for the stage and filmed on three separate occasions, its leading...
W. Somerset Maugham led many lives, including that of a doctor in London's slums, a successful playwright and novelist, an agent for British Intellige...
The first and most autobiographical of Maugham's masterpieces. It is the story of Philip Carey, an orphan eager for life, love and adventure. After a few months studying in Heidelberg, and a brief spell in Paris as a would-be artist, he settles in London to train as a doctor where he meets Mildred, the loud but irresistible waitress with whom he plunges into a tortured and masochistic affair.
"From the Trade Paperback edition.
The first and most autobiographical of Maugham's masterpieces. It is the story of Philip Carey, an orphan eager for life, love and adventure. After a ...
Larry Darrell is a young American in search of the absolute. The progress of his spiritual odyssey involves him with some of Maugham's most brilliant characters - his fiancee Isabel whose choice between love and wealth have lifelong repercussions, and Elliott Templeton, her uncle, a classic expatriate American snob.Maugham himself wanders in and out of the story, to observe his characters struggling with their fates."
Larry Darrell is a young American in search of the absolute. The progress of his spiritual odyssey involves him with some of Maugham's most brilliant ...
"Though Aleister Crowley served as the model for Oliver Haddo, it is by no means a portrait of him. I made my character more striking in appearance, more sinister and more ruthless than Crowley ever was. I gave him magical powers that Crowley, though he claimed them, certainly never possessed. Crowley, however, recognized himself in the creature of my invention, for such it was, and wrote a full-page review of the novel in "Vanity Fair," which he signed 'Oliver Haddo.' I did not read it, and wish now that I had. I daresay it was a pretty piece of vituperation, but probably, like his poems,...
"Though Aleister Crowley served as the model for Oliver Haddo, it is by no means a portrait of him. I made my character more striking in appearance, m...
Her voice was so weak that it seemed to come already from a great distance. The child did not answer, but smiled comfortably. He was very happy in the large, warm bed, with those soft arms about him. He tried to make himself smaller still as he cuddled up against his mother, and he kissed her sleepily. In a moment he closed his eyes and was fast asleep. The doctor came forwards and stood by the bedside. "Oh, don't take him away yet," she moaned.
Her voice was so weak that it seemed to come already from a great distance. The child did not answer, but smiled comfortably. He was very happy in the...
"Though Aleister Crowley served, as I have said, as the model for Oliver Haddo, it is by no means a portrait of him. I made my character more striking in appearance, more sinister and more ruthless than Crowley ever was. I gave him magical powers that Crowley, though he claimed them, certainly never possessed. Crowley, however, recognized himself in the creature of my invention, for such it was, and wrote a full-page review of the novel in Vanity Fair, which he signed 'Oliver Haddo.' I did not read it, and wish now that I had. I daresay it was a pretty piece of vituperation, but...
"Though Aleister Crowley served, as I have said, as the model for Oliver Haddo, it is by no means a portrait of him. I made my character more strik...
Of Human Bondage (1915) by W. Somerset Maugham is a semi-autobiographical novel, a striking psychological masterwork of one young man's life journey, obsession, love, alienation and personal vulnerability.
Philip Carey, subtle, intellectual and artistic, is born with a club foot, a condition which causes him lifelong psychological torment. Philip spends his youth as an art student in Paris, then as a medical student in London. He forms friendships, relationships, observes beauty and engages in a variety of social interaction. He experiences a loss of faith, poverty, extravagance, and...
Of Human Bondage (1915) by W. Somerset Maugham is a semi-autobiographical novel, a striking psychological masterwork of one young man's life journey, ...
Of Human Bondage (1915) by W. Somerset Maugham is a semi-autobiographical novel, a striking psychological masterwork of one young man's life journey, obsession, love, alienation and personal vulnerability.
Philip Carey, subtle, intellectual and artistic, is born with a club foot, a condition which causes him lifelong psychological torment. Philip spends his youth as an art student in Paris, then as a medical student in London. He forms friendships, relationships, observes beauty and engages in a variety of social interaction. He experiences a loss of faith, poverty, extravagance, and...
Of Human Bondage (1915) by W. Somerset Maugham is a semi-autobiographical novel, a striking psychological masterwork of one young man's life journey, ...
