Cover of Of Human Bondage

Of Human Bondage

W Somerset Maugham, 1915

French and British novelist, 1874–1965.

Of Human Bondage is a 1915 novel by W Somerset Maugham.

In coming of age

On 4 of the 15 lists it was eligible for.

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At a glance

Author
W Somerset Maugham
First published
1915
Length
688 pages (UK paperback)
Genre
Literary fiction, Coming of age, Autobiographical

Is Of Human Bondage worth reading?

4 of the 15 best-of lists it could have made include it, among them 100 Best Novels (board's list) (Modern Library) and Readers' top 100 novels (The Guardian).

ListPlaceOriginal
100 Best Novels (board's list) (Modern Library, 1998)No. 66See the list
Readers' top 100 novels (The Guardian, 2026)No. 93See the list
The 100 best novels written in English (The Guardian / Observer, 2015)ListedSee the list
The 100 greatest British novels (BBC Culture, 2015)No. 77See the list

Best edition of Of Human Bondage

The edition we link to is the Vintage paperback (2024), 688 pages.

Publisher
Vintage (paperback, 2024)
Pages
688
ISBN
9780593687680

How critics and readers rate Of Human Bondage

Critics rate it most highly: it earned 25% of the points available on critics' lists, against 15% on readers' and booksellers' lists.

Critics
25%
Prizes
Not eligible for any of these lists yet
Readers and booksellers
15%

Share of the available points it earned on each kind of list it was eligible for. How the scores work

Books like Of Human Bondage

If you liked Of Human Bondage, try Middlemarch, To Kill a Mockingbird or Ulysses.

Lists used on this page