{"product_id":"2026200011483-secondhand-mrs-craddock","title":"Mrs Craddock","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCondition remarks:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBook: Good\u003cbr\u003eJacket: No dust jacket\u003cbr\u003ePages: Good\u003cbr\u003eMarkings: Previous owner\u003cbr\u003eCondition remarks: Condition as shown in image\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAt the turn of the twentieth century, a headstrong and passionate woman dares to marry beneath her station — and pays dearly for it. Mrs Craddock chronicles the turbulent life of Bertha Ley, an intelligent and romantically idealistic woman who weds Edward Craddock, a stolid, unimaginative farmer, against the wishes of her social circle. What begins as an intoxicating surrender to passion slowly curdles into disillusionment, as Bertha confronts the suffocating reality of a marriage built on incompatibility and the crushing conformity of Edwardian rural England.\n\nW. Somerset Maugham — writing with the sharp, unsentimental precision that would define his later masterworks — presents a scathing portrait of marriage, class, and the impossible position of a woman of intellect and desire in a society that refuses to accommodate her. First published in 1902, this early novel anticipates the feminist consciousness of far later decades, arguing with quiet ferocity that a woman's inner life cannot be contained by the institution of marriage. Maugham's cool, ironic prose strips away Victorian sentiment to reveal something bracingly modern — leaving the reader to wonder whether Bertha's tragedy is one of circumstance, or simply the inevitable cost of feeling too much.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Secondhand Stock","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49130845241563,"sku":"2026200011483-SECONDHAND","price":10.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0523\/7646\/9701\/files\/faa55042-0079-4e2e-bdbd-01c433c9a7a7.png?v=1786591115","url":"https:\/\/bookgrocer.com\/products\/2026200011483-secondhand-mrs-craddock","provider":"Book Grocer","version":"1.0","type":"link"}