The three novels in this collection, Liza of Lambeth (1897), Mrs Craddock (1902), and The Magician (1908), had a lasting influence on the literary world. Their settings are various—ranging from the South London slums through the Kentish countryside to the British expatriate community in early twentieth-century Paris—and yet they have common qualities. In each, the protagonist is isolated from a traditional community and unable to create new personal relationships that might enable survival in a changing society. The three novels thus dramatize a dilemma Maugham faced in his own life and one that is the central theme of much modern literature.