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Catalina
Catalina
Jan 11, 2026 4:15 AM

Author:W. Somerset Maugham

Catalina

Crippled sixteen-year-old Catalina is the one person unable to join in the festivities of the Feast of the Assumption. But then she has a vision of the Virgin, and is miraculously cured. In the dark days of the Spanish Inquisition, such a claim to blessedness has serious consequences, especially when Catalina seems more inclined to obey her heart than the demands of the Church.

The last of Maugham's novels, Catalina is a romantic celebration of Spain and a delightfully mischievous satire on absolutism.

Reviews

One of my favourite writers

—— Gabriel Garcia Marquez

The modern writer who has influenced me the most

—— George Orwell

In his prime, he evolved a clear and effective prose style that achieved a quality possessed only by master story-tellers, making the reader greedy for more....From an era that produced George Bernard Shaw, H.G. Wells and John Galsworthy, Maugham is the great survivor

—— Economist

An impressive addition to the works of a master storyteller

—— Independent

This fragrant, fond and faintly otherworldly novel, with its final, poignant twist, is a memorable read

—— The Lady

Written with aplomb and canniness

—— Ursula K Le Guin , Guardian

Panos Karnezis writes with assurance of a world which must, perforce, be closed to him

—— Daily Mail

He has wit, style, and panache, in a world where those qualities are in permanently short supply

—— The New York Review of Books

A masterful stylist and a wise, often hilarious observer of human nature and his times, Anthony Powell is an under-appreciated literary gem. The pleasures and dramas of the "Dance" continue to illuminate daily life.

—— Claire Messud

[A] comic masterpiece

—— Irish Times

Comic, satisfying, thought-provoking, addictive

—— The Telegraph

It's his supreme skill in mastering a lengthily interwoven chronicle, the evolution of such a range and variety of pin-point characters, the wit and the cultural ambition that give the novel a unique place in English literature.

—— Melvyn Bragg

It's his supreme skill in mastering a lengthily interwoven chronicle, the evolution of such a range and variety of pin-point characters, the wit and the cultural ambition that give the novel a unique place in English Literature.

—— Melvyn Bragg

The London Train is an intelligent and gently manipulative story of human weakness and lies... Wicked but delightful

—— Lesley McDowell , Independent on Sunday

Hadley offers first-class views on the psychological scenery of 21st-century Britain

—— Daily Telegraph

A passionate, hilarious look at mid-twentieth-century Britain.

—— Jeremy Paxman , Gentleman's Journal

Something I know I love ... Anthony Powell's A Dance to the Music of Time, which I could read endlessly.

—— Tracey Thorn , Daily Mail

I’m bowled over, hooked and, hurrah, there are 11 more volumes to go as Jenkins grows up. Terrific.

—— Daily Mail

A highly accomplished debut, this is a chilling portrait of racial tension, social immorality, betrayal and love, and also an atmospheric examination of the end of innocence.

—— The Lady Magazine

The writing is strong and though the sections featuring Gay's earlier life lose momentum, the story picks up pace when the girls' paths become entwined and the conclusion is compelling and thrillingly macabre.

—— Telegraph

This fictional account of a true story gives a darkly shocking version of the events surrounding this tragic case.

—— Good Book Guide

Brilliantly melds a factual post-war murder into a dark fictional tale

—— Telegraph
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