This first volume of Somerset Maugham's collected short stories includes the famous story 'Rain', the tragedy of the prudish missionary Mr Davidson and Sadie Thompson, the prostitute. The collection contains thirty stories that take us from the islands of the Pacific Ocean to England, France and Spain. They all reveal Maugham's acute and often sardonic observation of human foibles and his particular genius for exposing the bitter reality of human relationships. Somerset Maugham learnt his craft from Maupassant, and these stories display the remarkable talent that made him an unsurpassed storyteller.

Raw Material [1923, as The Imposters:] Mayhew [1923:] German Harry [1924:] The Happy Man [1924:] The Dream [1924:] In a Strange Land [1924:] The Luncheon [1924:] Salvatore [1924, as Salvatore the Fisherman:] Home [1924, as Home from the Sea:] Mr. Know-All [1925:] The Escape [1925, as The Widow's Might:] A Friend in Need [1925, as The Man Who Wouldn't Hurt a Fly:] The Portrait of a Gentleman [1925, as The Code of a Gentleman:] The End of the Flight [1926:] The Judgement Seat [never published in magazine**:] The Ant and the Grasshopper [1924:] French Joe [1926, as Another Man Without a Country:] The Man with the Scar [1925:] The Poet [1925, as The Great Man:] Louise [1925, as The Most Selfish Woman I Ever Knew:] The Closed Shop [1926:] The Promise [1925, as An Honest Woman:] A String of Beads [1927, as Pearls:] The Bum [1929, as A Derelict:] Straight Flush [1929:] The Verger [1929, as The Man Who Made His Mark:] The Wash Tub [1929, as In Hiding:] The Social Sense [1929, as The Extraordinary Sex:] The Four Dutchmen [1928:

Set in the bohemian café society of Paris at the turn of the nineteenth century, Maugham's exploration of hypnotism and the occult was inspired by the sinister black magician Aleister Crowley. At the start of this compulsive gothic horror story, Arthur and his beautiful, innocent fiancée Margaret look forward to an idyllic life together, until they encounter the mesmerising and repulsive Oliver Haddo...

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WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY PAUL THEROUX Somerset Maugham's success as a writer enabled him to indulge his adventurous love of travel, and he recorded the sights and sounds of his wide-ranging journeys with an urbane, wry style all his own. "The Gentleman in the Parlour" is an account of the author's trip through what was then Burma and Siam, ending in Haiphong, Vietnam. Whether by river to Mandalay, on horse through the mountains and forests of the Shan States to Bangkok, or onwards by sea, Maugham's vivid descriptions bring a lost world to life.

Kitty Fane is the beautiful but shallow wife of Walter, a bacteriologist stationed in Hong Kong. Unsatisfied by her marriage, she starts an affair with charming, attractive and exciting Charles Townsend. But when Walter discovers her deception, he exacts a strange and terrible vengeance: Kitty must accompany him to his new posting in remote mainland China, where a cholera epidemic rages... First published to a storm of protest, The Painted Veil is a classic story of a woman's spiritual awakening.

A Vintage Shorts “Short Story Month” Selection   While stranded waiting for their ship to be released from quarantine, Dr. and Mrs. Macphail must share lodging with the insufferable Davidsons—self-righteous and over-zealous missionaries who also happen to be the only polite company on the god-forsaken island near Pago-Pago. But, things take a dreadful and unexpected turn when Mr. Davidson takes it upon himself to rescue the soul of their neighbor downstairs from second cabin—the insolent, carousing, and inimitable Miss Sadie Thompson.   Harrowing and triumphant, “Rain” is indispensable reading, a foundational work for the tradition of short story writing, and one of W. Somerset Maugham’s greatest tales.   An ebook short.

Filled with keen observations, autobiographical notes, and the seeds of many of Maugham's greatest works, A Writer's Notebook is a unique and exhilarating look into a great writer's mind at work. From nearly five decades, Somerset Maugham recorded an intimate journal. In it we see the budding of his incomparable vision and his remarkable career as a writer. Covering the years from his time as a youthful medical student in London to a seasoned world traveler around the world, it is playful, sharp witted, and always revealing. Undoubtedly one of his most significant works, A Writer's Notebook is a must for Maugham fans and anyone interested in the creative process.

For Christmas, Charley Mason's father granted him a trip to Paris, all expenses paid. It should have been a lark, but on his first night Charley meets a woman whose story will forever change his life. For Lydia has seen tragedy. The Russian Revolution displaced her family, left her homeless, fatherless. And for reasons that elude Charley, Lydia pines for a man half a world away--a dope dealer and murderer whose sins Lydia seeks to absolve through her own self- destruction. Haunting, erotic, deeply effecting, Christmas Holiday explores two souls capsized by compassion--and the confusion that engulfed a generation in the days between the Great Wars.

W. Somerset Maugham (1874 – 1965) was a British playwright, novelist and short story writer. Born in the British Embassy in Paris, where his father worked, Maugham was an orphan by the age of ten. He was raised by an uncle, who tried to persuade the youngster to become an accountant or parson; Maugham instead trained as a doctor, although he never practised professionally, as his first novel, Liza of Lambeth, was published the same year he qualified. By the time of his death in 1965 Maugham was widely judged to be one of the most commercially successful and gifted writers of the twentieth century. The Times obituarist called Maugham "the most assured English writer of his time", and wrote that "no writer of his generation ... graced the world of English letters with more complete or more polished assurance" The Making of a Saint THESE are the memoirs of the Beato Giuliano, brother of the Order of St Francis of Assisi, known in his worldly life as Filippo Brandolini; of which family I, Giulo Brandolini, am the last descendant. On the death of Fra Giuliano the manuscript was given to his nephew Leonello, on whom the estates devolved; and has since been handed down from father to son, as the relic of a member of the family whose piety and good works still shed lustre on the name of Brandolini.

Looking out upon the backstreets, the suburbs and the high society haunts of Edwardian London, the delightfully witty and independent spinster Miss Ley surveys a tangled web of lives; she sympathetically observes the struggle under the pressures of convention, and the complex interplay between love and reason. Through Miss Ley's eyes we witness the brief but happy marriage of a dying poet; a woman's adulterous passion for a young rascal, and finally, an honourable man's decision to take virtue to extremes.

A definitive anthology of fiction by W. Somerset Maugham includes the complete texts of three novels--The Moon and Sixpence, The Painted Veil, and The Magician--as well as five short stories--Rain, The Letter, Alien Corn, The Pool, and Mackintosh. Original.

Maugham's studies of the lives and masterpieces of ten great novelists are outstanding examples of literary criticism at its finest. Afforded here are some of the formulae of greatness in the genre, as well as the flaws and heresies which enfeeble it. Written by a master of fiction, Ten Novels and Their Authors is a unique and invaluable guide.

Charles Strickland, a conventional stockbroker, abandons his wife and children for Paris and Tahiti, to live his life as a painter. Whilst his betrayal of family, duty and honour gives him the freedom to achieve greatness, his decision leads to an obsession which carries severe implications. Inspired by the life of Paul Gauguin, The Moon and Sixpence is at once a satiric caricature of Edwardian conventions and a vivid portrayal of the mentality of a genius.

A magnificent collection of stories from one of the 20th century’s greatest writers, presented as a beautiful ebook. Includes Up at the Villa, Cakes and Ale, The Razor’s Edge, Theatre, Of Human Bondage, The Magician, The Painted Veil, and The Moon and Sixpence.   Penguin Random House Canada is proud to bring you classic works of literature in e-book form, with the highest quality production values. Find more today and rediscover books you never knew you loved.