Mrs Craddock

Best reserved for reading after his later novels, this is a good book which clearly fits into W Somerset Maugham's early development as a writer - following on from the success of his first novel, Liza of Lambeth, it was one of only 2 early novels he cared to remember in his Summing Up biography. It is a well written novel which shows some of the glimpses of irony, linguistic ability and literary brilliance he would later develop. I have not rated it more highly only in comparison to the later, more accomplished novels he wrote- it at times seems youthfully naïve or very clearly marked by the prudishness of its time, right at the end of the Victorian era, which can feel out of date today and make it all the more surprising that it was controversial when it was published. Of note, it does not have the gritty realism of Liza of Lambeth but is instead a focus on more bourgeois and aristocratic society.

A kind of light Thomas Hardy with a touch of Charlotte Bronte. I raced through it and couldn’t put it down. Absolutely loved it .

Somerset Maugham tells the story of the decline of a marriage from the woman's point of view. His insight is amazing and I was spellbound, although saddened. I loved this book.

Very pleasant reading. One of the very best novels of Somerset Maugham (I read all his novels).

nice book