Cæsar's Wife

In Cairo's polished diplomatic world, Sir Arthur Little's household becomes the stage for a sparkling yet dangerous comedy of manners. W. S. Maugham's Cæsar's Wife follows diplomats, visitors, and intimates as public duty collides with private desire, and every polite exchange conceals a calculation. Anne and Christina's strained conversation exposes old jealousies, unspoken love, and the quiet sacrifices each has made, while Christina begins to see how knowledge of Violet and Ronny's affair might be used to secure Henry's future. When Violet appeals to Arthur's compassion for Abdul Said, a man condemned to death, he refuses to bend the law, revealing the hard line between principle and feeling. Christina then turns that refusal toward her own ends, pressing Violet to influence Arthur on Henry's behalf, even as Ronny's departure for Paris grows uncertain. The play closes on tenderness and melancholy, with a kiss, a whispered question, and a distant Bedouin love-song. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.