W. Somerset Maugham

W. Somerset Maugham was an English playwright, novelist and short story writer, born in Paris in 1874 and died in 1965. Orphaned young, he was raised in England by an uncle, trained as a doctor in London, and then turned to writing. His plays made him a fashionable success in the Edwardian theatre, and his novels and stories brought him lasting fame. He travelled widely, especially in Asia and the Pacific, and drew on those journeys for many tales of colonial life. During the First World War he worked in intelligence, an experience that fed his spy stories. His style is clear, dry and unshowy, and he is admired for his sharp eye for human weakness, hypocrisy and self-deception. He became one of the best-paid and most widely read authors of his time, and his work is still enjoyed for its storytelling and its worldly, unsentimental wisdom.