The Bishops Apron

The Bishop’s Apron is one of W. Somerset Maugham’s early novels. It has a curious history of being transferred from one genre to another. The skeleton of the story is already present in the story “Cupid and the Vicar of Swale”. Then it was written as a novel called Loaves and Fishes. When it failed to find a publisher Maugham rewrote it into a play of the same name. However its fortunes didn’t improve and it had to wait for three years until Maugham as he declared needed money to entertain the extravagance of a certain young person. He consequently rewrote the play into a novel which became The Bishop’s Apron.