Top 5 W. Somerset Maugham Books That You Must Read
List of 5 best books written by W. Somerset Maugham. William Somerset Maugham CH was an English playwright, novelist, and short-story writer. Check out our list.
1. The W. Somerset Maugham Collection
W. Somerset Maugham was a British playwright, novelist, and short-story writer. He was among the most popular writers of his era and reputedly the highest-paid author during the 1930s. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest English writers ever.
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2. The Moon and Sixpence is a novel by W. Somerset Maugham
The Moon and Sixpence is a novel by W. Somerset Maugham, first published on April 15, 1919. It is told in episodic form by a first-person narrator in a series of glimpses into the mind and soul of the central character, Charles Strickland, a middle-aged English stockbroker who abandons his wife and children abruptly to pursue his desire to become an artist. The story is in part based on the life of the painter Paul Gauguin.
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3. The Moon And Sixpence Paperback
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 honor give him the freedom to achieve greatness, his decision leads to an obsession that 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.
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4. Collected Short Stories Volume 4
This final classic collection of stories reveals Somerset Maugham’s unique talent for exposing and exploring the bitter realities of human relationships. Brilliant tales of love, infidelity, passion, and prejudice, the stories range from ‘The Lotus Eater’ in which a man has a vision of a life of bliss in the Mediterranean, to the astringent tales of ‘The Outstation’ and ‘The Back of Beyond’ in Malaya and South East Asia. Largely set in favorite Maugham country, this colorful collection brilliantly evokes the numbered days of the British Empire.
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5. The Razor’s Edge
Larry Darrell is a young American in search of the absolute. The progress of this spiritual odyssey involves him with some of Maugham’s most brilliant characters – his fiancee Isabel, whose choice between love and wealth have lifelong repercussions, and Elliot Templeton, her uncle, a classic expatriate American snob. The most ambitious of Maugham’s novels, this is also one in which Maugham himself plays a considerable part as he wanders in and out of the story, to observe his characters struggling with their fates.
