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The Collected Works of
W. Somerset Maugham

Gripping tales from the master story-teller.

Why is Maugham now hailed as a literary genius when so many critics once considered his novels too earthy, too sordid? He may shock you, even outrage you – but he will always hold you spellbound with the sheer power of his stories.

Particularly compelling are his ‘Ashenden’ stories of a First World War Secret Service Agent, which is based on his own experiences.

In ‘Rain’, one of the marvellous stories in ‘The Trembling Of A Leaf’, he dared to build his story on a ‘reformed’ tart who is corrupted by a young missionary.

In ‘The Moon And Sixpence’, inspired by the life of the painter Gauguin, he further outraged society by making his hero reject his wife and Western values for primitive life in Tahiti where, as a cynical privilege of his rank, he took a woman as second wife as casually as one would buy a loaf of bread. How the critics howled! But how the public loved his earthy realism.

As a craftsman binding the Maugham Collection ranks as one of the greatest golden-embellished Kidron Editions ever created. The bindings are elegantly two-tone with the richness of the black spines delightfully counter-pointing the deep red covers.

FREE INTRODUCTORY OFFER

The Trembling Of A Leaf FREE with The Moon And Sixpence at the subscriber’s price plus p&p

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