Of Human Bondage

This novel deals with the life of its main character Philip Carey, who, like Maugham, was orphaned and brought up by his pious uncle. Taking the form of a bildungsroman, Maugham traces the protagonist's travels to Germany, Paris, and London while exploring his intellectual and emotional development and later, in the London period, his destructive relationship with the main female character, a crude cockney waitress by the name of Mildred.