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The Colonel's Lady

W. Somerset Maugham

First published February 1954
Type Short Fiction
Length Short Story

The Colonel completely discounts his childless wife Evie until he finds, upon reading a book of passionate poems that she's published to critical acclaim, that ten years earlier she had an affair with a younger man. He's left wondering why he never caught on until now and why he never sees the passionate and attractive side of his wife.

- First published in magazine, Good Housekeeping, March 1946.
- Reprinted in Creatures of Circumstance (1947), Maugham's last short story collection.
- Reprinted in The Complete Short Stories (1951, Heinemann, 3 vols.).
- Also reprinted in Quartet (1948), together with a screenplay based on it (but not written by Maugham).
- Source for all above: Raymond Toole Stott: Bibliography of the Works of W. Somerset Maugham (Second Revised Edition, 1973).

Date Publication Publisher Type Page
February 1954 Cover Argosy, February 1954 The Amalgamated Press MAGAZINE 35
1988 Cover New Tales of the Unexpected Penguin Books Anthology 53