Cakes and Ale

Narrated by the mild, watchful Willie Ashenden, this comedy of literary reputations circles the memory of Edward Driffield, a celebrated novelist recently dead, whose widow and admirers are busy polishing him into a national monument. What they would rather forget is Rosie, Driffield’s warm, unfaithful, wholly alive first wife, who is the real heart of the book. Maugham uses the story to mock the pieties of literary fame, and readers at the time enjoyed spotting caricatures of Thomas Hardy and Hugh Walpole in its pages. He himself named it among his favorites of his own novels. First published in 1930, it stays sharp and affectionate at once. This free PDF and EPUB edition preserves one of his most personal and best-loved works.