# Amelia Driffield — Cakes and Ale character guide

> Amelia Driffield in Cakes and Ale by W. Somerset Maugham.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Amelia, Amy Driffield, Amy

**First appearance:** 0000-i

## Snapshot

Edward Driffield's second wife, a former nurse whose fierce propriety guards the great novelist's legacy and rewrites his unruly past.

## Who they are

Amelia Driffield presides over her famous husband's late years as gatekeeper, nurse, and self-appointed curator of his reputation, keeping bohemian old friends and inconvenient memories at a careful distance. Her respectability is both armor and ambition: she wants the laureate's life to look as tidy as his prose, and she knows exactly which chapters of it must never be written. To the narrator, she is the polite obstacle standing between the official Driffield and the living, scandalous man he actually was.

## In the story

### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cakes_and_ale_se/chapters/ii)

Driffield's widow, who sent messages to the narrator and is said to be lonely after her husband's death.

### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cakes_and_ale_se/chapters/iii)

The second Mrs. Driffield, who sent a dignified letter to the press about her husband's burial, a woman the notabilities of Blackstable could not 'abide'.

### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cakes_and_ale_se/chapters/iv)

Driffield's wife, who manages the household and is devoted to her husband, but also controls the narrative of his past.

### [XXII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cakes_and_ale_se/chapters/xxii)

Mentioned as the nurse who becomes Driffield's second wife, described by Mrs. Trafford as 'not exactly pretty' but with a 'nice face'.

### [XXIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cakes_and_ale_se/chapters/xxiii)

Sends a note inviting the narrator to lunch; her husband's behavior at the Bear and Key is described by Mr. Brentford.

### [XXIV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cakes_and_ale_se/chapters/xxiv)

Hosts visitors, shows them the house, and manages the legacy of her late husband.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cakes_and_ale_se/characters/amelia_driffield
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cakes_and_ale_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cakes_and_ale_se/characters