aCakes and Ale

First, this novel is a satire, a "e;slanderous book "e;, the objects it mocks are the bad habits in present British literature represented by Delvphier (insinuating Hardy-though Maugham had publicly denied it) and Roy Kiel (insinuating Hugh Theo) and so on, as if a British The Scholars. At the same time, Cakes and Ale is a paean, the object of praise is the ex-wife of Delvphier and the heroine in the book Lucy: this charming female image can be said as the most charming female role written by Maugham, this image was always in the writer's heart for dozens of years, he thought for a long time and had no chance to write it in his work, until he started to write Cakes and Ale, the chance he expected for long time had realized; Maugham admitted to say that it was the most charming female image he had created.