Catalina

by W. Somerset Maugham

TAMARA MORGAN

MONTGOMERY MANOR

TAMARA MORGAN

Genres: Fiction, Classics, Historical Fiction, Spain, Romance, British Literature, Literature

352 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1948

About the author

William Somerset Maugham was born in Paris in 1874. He spoke French even before he spoke a word of English, a fact to which some critics attribute the purity of his style.

His parents died early and, after an unhappy boyhood, which he recorded poignantly in Of Human Bondage, Maugham became a qualified physician. But writing was his true vocation. For ten years before his first success, he almost literally starved while pouring out novels and plays.

Maugham wrote at a time when experimental modernist literature such as that of William Faulkner, Thomas Mann, James Joyce and Virginia Woolf was gaining increasing popularity and winning critical acclaim. In this context, his plain prose style was criticized as 'such a tissue of clichés' that one's wonder is finally aroused at the writer's ability to assemble so many and at his unfailing inability to put anything in an individual way.

During World War I, Maugham worked for the British Secret Service . He travelled all over the world, and made many visits to America. After World War II, Maugham made his home in south of France and continued to move between England and Nice till his death in 1965.

At the time of Maugham's birth, French law was such that all foreign boys born in France became liable for conscription. Thus, Maugham was born within the Embassy, legally recognized as UK territory.

Reviews

[Fergus, Weaver of Autistic Webs · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book written by an old man like me - but so unlike me, Maugham’s late novel is anything but musty, dusty and fustian!

It sparkles.

For this beautiful book is Maugham’s own delightful elegy to a bygone age - the age of abiding Faith in Supernatural Powers - and to its innocence, as well as to his own now bitterly-reversed early years of ingenuous trust that once had flowered in his childhood.

Let this Master transport you back to a wonderfully magical time, with a ravishingly beautiful tale of a young girl’s heavenly vision, and its complicated aftermath.

When Maugham broke with his longtime workaholic habits and penned this, he was a broken old man.

Besieged by countless nasty memories, regrets, and family troubles, he was anything but a peaceful and contented senior in his Golden Years.

This book was his refuge from that storm.

Retirement doesn’t have to be like that, you know!

For if you have walked the path of life up its straight and narrow centre, you will regret nothing. Indeed, you will reap an abundant harvest of wisdom and serenity that will last you the rest of your days.

When I first retired, to speak personally, I was still besieged by the Brobdingnagians that had overflowed from my workplace into my own neck of the woods. It was not pleasant.

Plus, like Maugham, I had burnt myself out on the job!

So as the months went by, I reinforced the faith that had always nourished me - as one would reinforce a dike in the Low Countries, when a bitter winter gale springs out of the North East.

And it worked.

But you know what?

As my faith progressed, those gross creatures from Brobdingnagia morphed into Houyhnhnms, who are MUCH easier to deal with!

Yes, yes, I’m speaking darkly and figuratively, but if you know what Gulliver’s Travels is REALLY about you’ll get my drift!

For as your spiritual life intensifies, your soul becomes purged of its grosser aspects.

So, there we are, then. Me and Mr. Maugham. Two polite acquaintances from the world of Robert Frost’s The Road Less Travelled.

Maugham, who wrote like an Angel, took the common, dirty main highway...

and I,
I took the road less travelled by!

But the masterpiece he’s written here will live forever.

And it will delight you!

[Chrissie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a story of historical fiction set in Spain in the latter 1500s, during the Spanish Inquisition. Persecution of the Jews and the Moors is what comes to mind, but during this era the arts, theatre and sciences also flourished. Maugham draws the entire scene. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra was published in 1605. We meet both Don Quixote and his squire in Maugham’s book. Chivalry, fables, bullfights and strolling players fill the story. Miracles, heresy, assertions of witchcraft and a crisis of faith are important elements. We meet friars and a bishop, nuns and a prioress, common people and those of high standing. The value of humor, critique of the church and the clergy, even the art of writing books is touched upon. This was W. Somerset Maugham’s last published novel.

The book starts off strong but dissolves into a fable that has already been told. A miracle will be performed by “he who best serves God”. Who that is is the story. Will it be the Bishop, a brave warrior or a baker? The three are brothers. And there is a love story—will Catalina get the one she loves? Will it be a happy-ever-after story or not?

The humor varies from irony to slapstick.

I think the author didn’t focus properly on what kind of novel he was writing. Is it supposed to be funny? Is it supposed to be critique of an era, of religion, of the clergy? Is it a morality play? It is a bit of each.

Davina Porter narrates the audiobook very well. She uses different intonations for different characters. She is easy to follow. At times, when the historical details are thick and when a cleric speaks in double negatives, I had to rewind.

My ratings of Maugham’s books :
*Then and Now 5 stars
*Mrs Craddock 4 stars
*Cakes and Ale 4 stars
*The Painted Veil 4 stars
*The Verger 4 stars
*Liza of Lambeth 3 stars
*The Razor's Edge 3 stars
*The Summing Up 3 stars
*The Gentleman in the Parlour: A Record of a Journey from Rangoon to Haiphong 3 stars
*The Magician 3 stars
*Up at the Villa 3 stars
*Christmas Holiday 3 stars
*Catalina 3 stars
*Theatre 2 stars
*The Moon and Sixpence 2 stars
*Of Human Bondage 2 stars
*The Merry-Go-Round 1 star

[Greg · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you'd like to listen to a song called "Catalina" or see what the tattoo on my back looks like click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cK7mYY...

I tried to do a little bit of research to find out more about this novel but all I've come across are references to the book using a very crude google search.

This is Maugham's last novel and it's an historical one set in 16th century Spain. It's about an beautiful crippled girl who through a visit by the Virgin Mary is miraculously cured. If I were more educated about 16th century Spanish culture I might know if she is part of a 'true' story, I think that there might be a true story about this cure and possibly the religious figures involved. Later in the book she happens across an insane knight-errant and his squire who rides a donkey, the names aren't given of these two but I'm pretty positive the knight might have been out jousting windmills before the scene he's in takes place. Again I'm slightly ignorant about some things, so I don't know if there was a young woman named Catalina who meets up with this knight in his published adventures and if the heroine of this novel is jumping through stories like a less conspicuous Thursday Next. The novel ends with it's namesake becoming a renowned actress, which again could be based on a real person at the time. I like to think that book is actually a juxtaposition of three different fictional and non-fictional stories into one creative narrative, but I have only the clue of Don Quixote popping up in the middle of this book as a clue.

Stranger than the possible conjectures about the plot is the printing history of this book. I don't know if when you look up at the cover of the book if you see the Harlequin cover that I chose, but if you don't then just think about it being a Harlequin Romance cover. The cover of the edition I own is even bawdier than the Harlequin on and promises a 'lusty' story. The promise is sort of a lie though. The story is actually quite virginal. There are no bodices being ripped open and while there is a scene where the teenage Catalina would love to get some lovin' the book is on the whole very wholesome in carnal matters. But ignoring the raciness of the covers (keep in mind mass-markets of the 1950's were very sensational and usually a lot more exciting than the actual novels turned out to be) it's mind-boogling that it was a Harlequin novel. According to an encyclopedia the novel was originally serialized in Harpers and entitled "Windmills". Then it was released as a book in a 1948. It seemed to have sold fairly well and was a book of the month club selection, and well it was a novel by the author of Of Human Bondage, Razor's Edge and Cakes and Ale, respected books. Maugham lived for another fourteen years after Catalina was released, so he was alive when in 1954 it was released as a Harlequin Romance (Romance number 266 to be exact).

I want to know why it was released in this format? At first I was thinking that maybe Maugham was dead when it happened, and someone in his estate was cashing in. And I thought it would be as strange as say if a year or two from now one of John Updike's book came out re-issued in between The Greek's Unwilling Conquest and Spread for the Sheik. Now that I know he was still alive I'm thinking of it like Philip Roth deciding that Dying Animal should get the trashy romance treatment one month.

But what about the novel? It was ok. It was written in a very conventional manner. The characters and their backstories were better than the novel as a whole though. I personally liked all the religious stuff about the inquisition and warring factions of priests and nuns but if you aren't as interested in the sordid and convoluted history of the Catholic Church and it's various heresies you might find Maugham spends a bit too much time on the religion aspect of the story and not enough on the romance.

[Melody Schwarting · Rating 3 out of 5]

Catalina was another library sale find, this time in a Book of the Month Club edition, with a dust cover that looked like it had seen the other side of the Inquisition. I picked it up because a) Maugham wrote it and b) it concerns church history. (Toward the end, Teresa of Àvila makes an oblique appearance.)

Maugham here spins a tale that reads as if it had been written decades before 1947 (the narrative is dated January 25, 1947, though the publication date is 1948). Catalina is Maugham’s last published novel, and concerns some end-of-life questions about how one has lived. Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist kept coming to mind: Catalina is a similar morality tale, one step removed from an allegory, but with much less effort and hand-wavy moralisms than The Alchemist. The answers can seem painfully obvious to any reader familiar with stories like that of King David or literally any fairy tale concerning a youngest son. While this is a spoiler for the story, it’s also obvious from the first 30 or so pages of the novel.

Catalina is unevenly told and not very satisfying to read. At times, we are tightly bound to the action in peppery dialogue. At other times, we learn years’ worth of events in a paragraph. The detached stance toward the title character was disappointing, but we do get in the heads of other characters, who are more memorable. Catalina is rather blank, without much of an interior life as far as we can see, and thus her arc lacks depth. Yet, the Bishop and Doña Beatriz, even Uncle Domingo, are made more fascinating to follow than Catalina.

The portrayal of the Bishop reminded me somewhat of Endo Shūsaku’s portrayal of a Nazi prison guard in Sachiko, though the Bishop and the guard had rather opposite spiritual solutions to identical struggles. I’ve heard many ex-Catholics say things like, “You can leave Catholicism but it doesn’t leave you,” referring to the ingrained guilt/penance model and how it overtakes one’s entire emotional self. We see this in full force in the mind and body of the Bishop, which is as fascinating to read as it is painful. Doña Beatriz was interesting, but she never earned my sympathy like the Bishop did.

Overall, Catalina is not a favorite, but it had just enough spirituality to pique my interest and make it worth reading (without the focus on spirituality, it would have been a one- or two-star read). I do wonder why Maugham didn’t publish much between Catalina in 1948 and his death in 1965. I look forward to reading more of his earlier works, even if Catalina wasn’t a winner.

[Dhanaraj Rajan · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a typical Catholic novel with Catholic themes. Of course that does not take away some sarcastic remarks relating to the times in which the plot is set in (16th Century Catholic Spain). Readers can very well remember that it was the time of the Great Inquisition.

The novel can be divided into two parts.

The first part is a kind of a Catholic moral tale. It answers this question: Who serves God better - the Bishop with his prayers and mortification or the great soldier/noble who fought against the enemies of Faith or the simple person who did his everyday duties with complete dedication? The answer is obvious. But it comes out nicely in the first part of the novel with lots of dramatic sequences.

The second part is a miniature version of the great Italian Classic, The Betrothed. Or at least, it seemed to me like that. Also it is a kind of rags-to-riches fairy tale in which Christian/Catholic virtues are aptly narrated. This novel edified the reader with good entertainments.

Bonus Information: The Blessed Virgin appears twice in the novel as a character. Once in the first part and the other time in the second part. Her appearance in the second part, I found, very lovely.

[Saber shiri · Rating 3 out of 5]

کاتالینا داستانی دینی و مذهبی ، دختری به نام کاتالینا که در اثر وقوع حادثه در گاوبازی پایش فلج می شود و مریم عذرا بر او ظاهر می شود و می گوید که یکی از پسزهای سوان خوارز می تواند او را شفا دهد . معجزه رخ می دهد و داستان حول این اتفاق وواکنش اطرافیان از این اتفاق و خود زندگی کاتالینا روایت می شود.
در داستان های موام به گونه ای نوشته می شوند که هیچ اتفاق هیجانی در داستان رخ نمی دهد که باعث متحیر شدن خواننده گردد و داستان روند ارام و مستمری را در پیش می گیرد و جلو می رود که این خود باعث کسالت خواننده می گردد.

[Ava · Rating 3 out of 5]

من فکر می کردم این کتاب از کارهای اول موامه اما انگار از آخرین هاشه. چون به نظرم شباهت زیادی به "پایبندی های انسان" داشت.

چیز زیادی ندارم که در موردش بنویسم. غیر از اینکه به نظرم بیشتر از هر چیزی در مورد روابط بین قدرت و کلیسا بود. نگاه طنز آمیزی هم داشت به هر دوی این گروه ها.

خود نویسنده هم بارها تو کتاب در ظاهر دومینیگو ظاهر می شه. یعنی این همون کاراکتریه که موام از دهانش حرف های خودش رو بازگو می کنه و کاراکتر بی بند و بار و شاعر مسلکیه.

نهایتا حس ام اینه که موام در سال های آخر کاریش، در قالب یه مرد عاقل پا به سن گذاشته، راز رستگاری رو زندگی ساده و دور از هیاهو ، قدرت طلبی، جاه طلبی و شهرت می دونه یعنی زندگی ای که مارتین ، یکی از شخصیت های اتفاقا خیلی حاشیه ای کتاب، داشته. کسی که حتا اون قدر مهم نبوده که حرف چندانی ازش زده بشه.

کتاب با چنان آرامشی تموم می شه که انگار این رستگاری ، رستگاری خود موام هم هست. رستگاری در دنیایی که جنگ ها درش شکل می گیرند، آدم ها در اون از سر غرور و تعصب تصمیمات وحشتناکی می گیرند، جار و جنجال ها به پا می کنند، خسته و فرسوده می شند، با این که به بیهودگی خودشون آگاه اند باز هم بر همه ی این ها پا فشاری می کنند و در نهایت همگی در آغوش گرم مرگ فرو می رند.


همچنان پیشنهاد من به شما از بین کتاب های بی شمار موام لبه تیغ و کتاب ماه و شش پشیزه.



آوا

خرداد ۱۴۰۱

[Shawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

It can be a difficult task to describe in all the subtle ways this book reaches towards perfection. It's like trying to feel with the tip of your finger an individual thread on luscious 1800 thread count sheets. The book itself has a very no nonsense style and reads like a fleshed out play but it has plenty of novel novel things going on with it as well, such as the use of chapters to explain back stories of major characters, visitations by holy spirits, levitation, cockblocking rain, and a special guest appearance by Don Quixote. Even the character Beatrix has a rivalry with Teresa De Jesus which I found amusing because I love Interior Castle and think it's the best self help book ever written by a nun for nuns.

(and I try never really to do this, but I did wander over to the Kirkus reviews page for this book and was really knocked about because that critic found this book "dry" and "the parts are worth more than the whole" and I'm like, "Buddy, there is palpable warmth of feeling for the characters here. The book is critical of their scheming but when given the chance they are offered a path to be saved, they take it. And for it not being "picaresque" enough, well shit, were they expecting some sort of ignorant "let's pretend the Inquisition isn't happening around us" kind of dopey love opera? I don't know man, I don't know)

I am not crazy about Maugham's other novels, I found those to be kind of dreary in their fatalistic attachments but I really do like his shorter stories. I consider this to simply be an enlarged short story or maybe two of them stitched together craftily so one can only see the seams if they squint hard enough. Every major plot point has a smooth resolution mostly arising from the volition of the characters (with the exception of the actual factual deus ex machina of The Virgin Mary being Catalina's private body guard) and left me with a pleasant feeling all around.

I'll add this to the very short list of things I could in good faith recommend to a complete stranger regardless of their taste.

[Maitê · Rating 4 out of 5]

A surprisingly funny book, Maugham always manages to bring something different in every book, we can never trust that he will follow a certain path, which is what mostly happens with other authors. While it does use religion to tell a story it's not actually criticizing catholicism, but the human condition that always finds a way to put itself above anything else. And Maugham is a master of showing us that.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intrigue and power plays amongst priests during the Inquisition with a young disabled girl at the center of their drama. Who amongst them can cure her? Excellent until the last fifty pages or so where I felt the author went a bit off the rails.

Popsugar 2023-A book where the main character's name is in the title.

[Katie Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

To be honest, the only reason that I read the book was because I collect antique books and found this one at a yard sale. After skimming the first chapter I decided to purchase the book for the high price of $1 (I then learned that I actually in possession of a first edition/first printing) and took it home to add to my collection. I started to read the book and found the beginning to be very straight-to-the-point and kicked of the story without droning on and on. However, about twenty or so pages in the plot started to slow down and I began to become bored.

The story follows Catalina, a crippled 15 year old Spanish girl who is the subject of a miracle in 16th century Spain. The whole book is actually about the miracle being performed and who it will be performed by. The Virgin Mary says that it is one of three brothers and Catalina assumes that she is referring to the brother that is the bishop. So the story continues to revolve around the "when/how/who/where's" of the miracle.

In terms of recommending the book, I would say that you have to be a very specific type of person to enjoy the book. You need to have an interest in literature that is based in medieval times and also need to have an understanding of the religious aspects of the book. I will say that if you are not familiar with the structure of the Catholic church you may have a hard time following the importance of the different church members that come up throughout the book. Overall, I think the book was okay but wasn't really my taste.

[elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

More like 3.5.

I so badly wanted this to end with the Spanish Inquisition just killing everyone, because then I could make endless jokes about how nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition--not even the Virgin Mary! Alas, like most of Maugham's books, there is little untimely death involved.

Overall, it's not his best, but it's not his worst. It's interesting and fun to read, even with the whole Spanish Inquisition thing happening. It's highly predictable for the most part, but the characters are interesting and fairly well-developed. Worth the read if you're into Maugham and/or enjoy having Monty Python's Spanish Inquisition sketch stuck in your head.

[Felisa Rosa · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is absolutely terrible. It hasn't even a shadow of the wit one finds in his great works. Maugham must have been broke.

[Vassa · Rating 5 out of 5]

– Как ты посмел ослушаться отца? Его слова должны быть для тебя законом. Назови мне хоть одну причину, только одну, почему ты, презрев приличия, унизил себя, став пекарем?

– Голод, – коротко ответил Мартин.

Очень понравилась! Пока что лучшая у Моэма. До следующего его произведения, естественно. Но эта – по-настоящему особенная.

[Laurel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an odd little story. Not Maugham's best work, but I always enjoy his writing, and Davina Porter's narration was a delight to listen to.

[yana shkrebtii ౨ৎ · Rating 2 out of 5]

this book was neither good nor bad. took me some time to get into the story and i felt the urge to put it off or drop it, but eventually decided to finish. it feels like i missed something or just didn’t understand everything about this story, so i don’t know!

[Smitha Murthy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A strange, strange book by Maugham. This was the last book he wrote before his death, and although it does have his sparkling wit, it lacks the dramatic immediacy and urgency of his earlier works. It was a readable book - could speed through it, but left me a little deflated.

[Stefani · Rating 2 out of 5]

Intrigued at first, then bored then whatever..so going with 2 stars overall.

[Nathan Albright · Rating 5 out of 5]

Admittedly, the writing of W. Somerset Maugham was probably not the most obvious thing to appreciate when it came out in the early 20th century in the face of many disciples of various decadent moral and political worldviews.  Reading his writing today, his characterization and sense of plot come off as being old-fashioned in the best way, and it is like reading an enjoyable and improbable romp through a historical scene that is often viewed in a romantic light.  This particular book felt late Victorian to me, and that is a good feeling.  The fact that this book is still in print even now suggests that at least a few people feel the same way as I do, even about the author's lesser known works like this one.  It should be emphasized that this book is indeed one of the author's less well-known books, but it is no less enjoyable for that.  If you like books that explore the genre of romance in ways that include the exotic horrors of the Spanish inquisition, then this book will have a lot to offer, in that most characters end up better off than they deserve.

In order to fully appreciate this book, the reader must keep in mind that this book is a romance in at least two senses.  On the one hand, this book does have a romance in terms of a boy and a girl who have all kinds of adventures before they end up happily ever after.  But the boy is not introduced as a character until the novel is nearly halfway done.  He is not merely a cipher, but one gets the feeling that his importance is in being loved by Catalina, who comes off as a very sober and rational sort of woman, rather than in being intrinsically important because he is some kind of hero.  So not only is this book a romance, in which the unwillingness of the heroine to engage in sex before marriage leads to a miracle in a small country church, but it is a romance in the sense of involving Catholic life in Spain.  The novelist portrays a Spain where the Inquisition is in full force and where powerful heads of abbeys try to trap young women into being nuns to increase their own glory and power.  Not everyone likes reading this sort of novel, but for those who do, there are a lot of humorous scenes to enjoy.

And that is probably what I appreciated the most about this book, its sense of humor.  The author is aware he's not writing a serious novel, and the result is something that is quite remarkable, namely that the author is able to capture a view of history that people have of Spain and its life during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.  We see wandering groups of players making money and dealing with the inevitable drama that occurs between actors and singers and other creative people.  We see the rivalries that exist between different branches of the Carmelite sisters, and the way that someone can be a loyal servant of the church but struggle with a lack of personal faith.  Although this is a lighthearted novel, it demonstrates that the author has done his research well and knows a lot about conditions in that era.  The fact that the author has done a great deal of study and still wrote a lighthearted novel that would not seek to impress people as being a scholarly one is all the more impressive.  To know a lot and to keep a light touch is no easy thing, and pulling it off is an impressive task.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

When W. Somerset Maugham began to write Catalina, he knew it was going to be his last novel. When it was published in 1948, the critics were not kind to the respected author. They claimed that he had played it safe, that he had not taken any risks, that he had not been very creative, that the book’s structure was 101-simplicity, that he had, in fact, drifted into clichéd melodrama instead of the usual literary heft readers expected of him.

While this reviewer goes along with the melodrama comment, the book is still flawless in structure. The somewhat predictable plot is unfolded with almost perfect pace, and readers will find the stereotypical characters comforting more than anything else. But beyond all that, Maugham has written a cracking good yarn. It has good guys and bad guys, it has hot romance and tender love, it has double-cross and undying loyalty…it has everything a fast-paced, well-written novel should have.

The story is set in 16th-century Spain at the time of the Spanish Inquisition. Catalina, the heroine, suffers an accident in adolescence that leaves her an invalid on crutches. Her steadfast suitor proves to be not so steadfast after all. However, in a miraculous visitation, Catalina sees the Blessed Virgin Mary who gives her a clue to being healed, but in something of a riddle. One of three brothers—the one who has served God the best—has the power to heal Catalina.

How the right brother is found and what happens to Catalina and her lover, Diego, afterwards is Maugham at his melodramatic best, but even after that, there are skeptics. Maugham weaves a great story that has all kinds of players fighting and hoodwinking each other in the game: royalty, nobility, the church, the government, and any number of random interested individuals.

At 73, while writing this novel, Maugham already had an astounding body of work to draw on. Accordingly, he pulls out all the stops of his talent. He effortlessly adapts his written narrative to the language of the day; he introduces a bevy of original and credible characters; and he has enough cliff-hanger moments to keep the readers turning the pages faster and faster.

Despite critics’ comments about literary safety, stereotyping, predictable plotting, and melodrama, Catalina is a highly entertaining story well worth reading! And if readers develop a liking for Maugham’s historical fiction, they may want to try out Then and Now by the same author, a novel of 16th-century Italy featuring the historically renowned Niccolo Machiavelli…and for which book this reviewer has also posted a Goodreads review.

[Lewis Woolston · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm yet to read a Maugham novel that i didn't enjoy. The man was a natural story teller with a gift for seeing the humanity in all of us.
This novel is set in Spain around the time of the Inquisition. It starts off like a Catholic morality tale and ends up as a very humanist and warm story.
Honestly i feel like i could quite happily read nothing but Maugham books the rest of my life. To me his is the undisputed king of writers.

[Valley Cottage Library · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spain, 17th Century, dry humor. Virgin Mary promises a crippled girl can be cured but it's clear by whom. Three men try, surprising results.

[Robert Pereno · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such controlled, simple brilliant writing. Just started and already a 'can not put down' read.

[Anita · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting historical novel, a departure for Maugham but very well.

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

I must admit, I was unaware of this book until seeing it at the library and it was Maugham’s last novel. It was fantastic. The story of a crippled teenager healed by the Virgin Mary and her life afterwards. I loved the journey she goes on and how her healing impacts the town and two of the town’s most famous residents, two brothers, one a high rank priest and the other a war hero. Of course, I also like the fact that Don Quixote – though not named – makes an appearance at about 2/3rds of the way through the book. Just fantastic – great job Somerset!

[Murray · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did not start reading Maugham until I was in my mid-40s, but have been eating up many of his books. I stumbled upon this hard to find copy, from 1962, at the wonderful Wonder Books in Frederick, MD. It's very different than Maugham's other works, light at times but very textured and deep at others. In some senses, it even reminded me of "The Princess Bride" and would probably make a very good movie one day.

[Maddie Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bit weird? Picked this up because Waterstones had labelled it as "a love letter to Spain" which is an absolute LIE. Nevertheless, it was an ok read but I feel like we lost the plot a bit with the travelling actors... What was all that about? Some good bits, but probably wouldn't recommend it.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little off Maugham's beaten path but a good read anyway.

[✘✘ Sarah ✘✘ (former Nefarious Breeder of Murderous Crustaceans) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Le style de Maugham est incomparable.

[Colin · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was OK. Not a great book but interesting enough. I knew nothing about it and read it because of the author.