W. Somerset Maugham 
Three Early Novels (Barnes & Noble Library of Essential Reading) 
Liza of Lambeth, Mrs Craddock, The Magician

The three novels in this collection,
Liza of Lambeth (1897),
Mrs Craddock (1902), and
The Magician (1908), had a lasting influence on the literary world. Their settings are various—ranging from the South London slums through the Kentish countryside to the British expatriate community in early twentieth-century Paris—and yet they have common qualities. In each, the protagonist is isolated from a traditional community and unable to create new personal relationships that might enable survival in a changing society. The three novels thus dramatize a dilemma Maugham faced in his own life and one that is the central theme of much modern literature.

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W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) is best known as a playwright and short-story writer. He was born in Paris, orphaned at ten, and abruptly transported first to the house of a provincial English clergyman uncle and then to the harsh environment of a British boarding school. A closeted homosexual moving in bohemian circles in London and Paris, Maugham took his revenge on his past suffering and present insecurities through fiction.