W. Somerset Maugham

Mary Panton walls up her desires in a beautiful villa high up in the hills above Florence, as she calmly contemplates her disastrous marriage. She turns for help to the notorious Rowley Flint, and through him comes to realise that to deny love, with all its passions and risks, is to deny life itself.

Down among the drab slums of Lambeth, eighteen-year-old Liza is the darling of Vere Street. But then Liza meets Jim Blakeston, charming and worldy, new to the area, and married. Soon the streets are wise to their passionate affair and Liza's fall from grace is fast and fatal.

W. Somerset Maugham's first novel is about the gloomy, poverty-stricken world of South London in the 1890s and how it affects one young girl who tries to escape from it.

I can’t help it if you were careless with your cigarette case. I was extremely careful with your heartConstance has everything. A loving family, a beautiful home, a fulfilling career, and a husband as devoted to her as he is to his mistress. When her perfect set up is threatened, Constance fights back but refuses to play by the rules. Can she withstand society’s expectations? And can society withstand the force of a woman determined to do things her own way?Laura Wade (Posh, Rivals) reunites with RSC Co-Artistic Director Tamara Harvey (Pericles) after their Olivier Award-winning collaboration, Home, I’m Darling, to reimagine Somerset Maugham’s subversive comedy, The Constant Wife, in a sparkling new version.This edition was published to coincide with the RSC production at the Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, in June 2025.

William Somerset Maugham CH (1874 -1965) was an English playwright, novelist, and short story writer. He was among the most popular writers of his era and reputedly the highest-paid author during the 1930s. Both Maugham's parents died before he was 10, and the orphaned boy was raised by a paternal uncle who was emotionally cold. He did not want to become a lawyer like other men in his family, so he trained and qualified as a physician. His first novel Liza of Lambeth (1897) sold out so rapidly that Maugham gave up medicine to write full-time.

Collector's Edition Laminated Hardback with Jacket Trapped in a stifling marriage and craving passion, a reckless young woman makes a fateful mistake-an affair that shatters the fragile balance of her world. When her cold, vengeful husband discovers the betrayal, he issues a chilling ultimatum: accompany him to a cholera-ravaged village in the heart of China or face total ruin. Forced into an alien and perilous landscape, she finds herself grappling with love, loss, and the stark reality of her own emptiness. As the days unfold amid beauty and death, she embarks on an unexpected journey of transformation-one that will challenge everything she thought she knew about herself and the man she once despised.Set against the backdrop of colonial China, The Painted Veil captures the tensions of East and West, privilege and duty, in a rapidly changing world. Through its gripping tale of betrayal and redemption, the novel explores themes of self-discovery, morality, and the consequences of personal choices. Maugham's nuanced portrayal of a woman's transformation challenges early 20th-century gender expectations, making it a quietly subversive work of its time. Beyond its compelling story, the novel remains a poignant reflection on cultural misunderstanding, imperialism, and the search for meaning in an unforgiving world.