Written in the last weeks of peace in 1941, and first published in an American magazine, this profound novel centres round a beautiful villa, high in the hills above Florence. In this haven of tranquillity the fierce emotions of the past are momentarily eclipsed, and Mary Panton can view with equanimity the prospect of a second marriage to Sir Edgar Swift, based not on love, but on admiration and respect. A single act of compassion, the desire to give beauty to a young and desolate refugee, begins a nightmare of violence which destroy's Mary's tenuous serenity. Yet she relies intuitively on the help and understanding of Rowley Flint, a reputed degenerate. Through him she comes to realise that to deny love, with all its manifold risks, is to deny life itself. Written with a taut and vivid economy, UP AT THE VILLA is yet another illustration of Somerset Maugham's superb artistry and craftsmanship.