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    Liza of Lambeth
    Liza of Lambeth
    Liza of Lambeth
    Audiobook3 hours

    Liza of Lambeth

    Written by W. Somerset Maugham

    Narrated by Davina Porter

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    An extraordinarily popular author during his lifetime, W. Somerset Maugham created a literary legacy that includes such classics as The Moon and Sixpence and The Razor' s Edge. Maugham' s first novel, Liza of Lambeth is the story of 18-year-old Liza Kemp, a London factory worker near the beginning of the 20th century who falls deeply in love with a 40-year-old father of nine children. As the affair escalates, Liza pays little mind to the damage her reputation is suffering. But society becomes increasingly troubled by the relationship.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateMar 6, 2008
    ISBN9781449803698
    Author

    W. Somerset Maugham

    W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) was an English novelist, playwright, and short story writer. Born in Paris, he was orphaned as a boy and sent to live with an emotionally distant uncle. He struggled to fit in as a student at The King’s School in Canterbury and demanded his uncle send him to Heidelberg University, where he studied philosophy and literature. In Germany, he had his first affair with an older man and embarked on a career as a professional writer. After completing his degree, Maugham moved to London to begin medical school. There, he published Liza of Lambeth (1897), his debut novel. Emboldened by its popular and critical success, he dropped his pursuit of medicine to devote himself entirely to literature. Over his 65-year career, he experimented in form and genre with such works as Lady Frederick (1907), a play, The Magician (1908), an occult novel, and Of Human Bondage (1915). The latter, an autobiographical novel, earned Maugham a reputation as one of the twentieth century’s leading authors, and continues to be recognized as his masterpiece. Although married to Syrie Wellcome, Maugham considered himself both bisexual and homosexual at different points in his life. During and after the First World War, he worked for the British Secret Intelligence Service as a spy in Switzerland and Russia, writing of his experiences in Ashenden: Or the British Agent (1927), a novel that would inspire Ian Fleming’s James Bond series. At one point the highest-paid author in the world, Maugham led a remarkably eventful life without sacrificing his literary talent.

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    Reviews for Liza of Lambeth

    3.5/5

    9 ratings2 reviews

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    • 4/5
      This book kept my attention, and the excellent reading and accents by Davina Porter were a big part of the enjoyment.

      I enjoy stories that depict the lives and attitudes of a different era. I don’t know how accurate Maugham’s Characters are in their behavior and speech, but I imagine fairly so.

      The story itself is a bit simplistic, sometimes unlikely and at times melodramatic. I found myself frustrated and horrified at times. Still, it was very engaging and at the end I wished I knew what happened to a couple of characters whose storylines were not resolved.
    • 4/5
      An interesting but patchy first novel, with a mix of cliche and talent.

      The narration is superb, making the dialect much more accessible than if one were to read it on a page.