The world of the theatre was one that Maugham knew intimately. Its blend of glitter and guile provided the finest of material for his fiction. This novel - one of the author's own favourites - traces the story of Julia, an actress touched with genius, ravishingly lovely and at the peak of her career. As her son struggles into manhood and her husband lapses into middle age, Julia meets Tome, young and handsome, whose gauche, shy charm masks a callous and predatory male...