Cakes and Ale

Listen to Cakes and Ale, one of W. Somerset Maugham's most beloved and subtly provocative novels. First published in 1930, this classic explores love, marriage, art, hypocrisy, and the cost of respectability in English society.

Told with Maugham's trademark wit and clarity, the novel reflects on memory, morality, and the tension between social conformity and personal freedom. Inspired in part by real literary figures, Cakes and Ale is both a sharp social satire and a deeply human story.

This ...