W. Somerset Maugham
Author
Language
English
Description
First published in 1915, the semi-autobiographical Of Human Bondage combines the values left over from the Victorian era with the prevailing irony and despair of the early twentieth century. Unsentimental yet bursting with deep feeling, Of Human Bondage remains Maughams most complete statement of the importance of physical and spiritual liberty, a theme that resounds more loudly than ever today.
Author
Language
English
Description
"The story of the beautiful but love-starved Kitty Fane. When her husband discovers her adulterous affair, he forces her to accompany him to the heart of a cholera epidemic. Stripped of the British society of her youth and the small but effective society she fought so hard to attain in Hong Kong, she is compelled by her awakening conscience to reassess her life and learn how to love"--Page 4 of cover.
Author
Language
English
Description
Don Fernando is the discursive history of a novel Somerset Maugham had been planning to write since his first visit to Spain in the 1890s. It was to be a novel about the time of Cervantes and Lope de Vega, Saint Theresa and Loyola and El Greco, and the spirit of Spain in the days of the Conquistadores. Instead of writing the book, Maugham collected impressions of Spain in this -- his one travel journal. Along with examining the Spanish way of life,...
11) Cakes and ale
Author
Language
English
Description
For Alroy Kear the task is sample: write the authorized biography of the eminently respectable Victorian novelist Edward Driffield and make it a bestseller. What he doesn't reckon on is the truth.
13) The painted veil
Language
English
Description
Set in the 1920s. A young English couple, Walter a middle class doctor and Kitty, an upper-class woman, get married for all the wrong reasons and relocate to Shanghai. Kitty falls in love with someone else. When Walter discovers her infidelity, in an act of vengeance, he accepts a job in a remote village in China that is being ravaged by a deadly epidemic. He takes his wife along and their journey brings meaning to their relationship and gives them...
14) The razor's edge
Language
English
Description
In 1918, Larry Darrell returns home from World War 1 disillusioned with his materialistic society. The quest for inner peace leads Larry to reject his rich fiancee, Isabel, and go searching for truth in the Himalayas. But, Larry learns that the path to enlightenment is as painful and narrow as treading the sharp edge of a razor.
15) The letter
Language
English
Description
Set on a rubber plantation in Malaya, this story centers on a woman's reasons for killing a man who was a close family friend.
16) The painted veil
Language
English
Description
The story unfolds in China, where Katrin's marriage to busy M.D. Walter Fane is in trouble. Lonely and neglected, Katrin falls in love with diplomatic attaché Jack Townsend. When Walter discovers the affair, he takes Katrin inland to fight a cholera epidemic, maliciously thinking the disease will kill them both. But working together helps rebuild their marriage, until Townsend resurfaces. Now Katrin must choose.