Short Stories

This collection gathers Maugham's short fiction, written from the 1920s through the mid-century. Settings run from the Federated Malay States and the South Seas to London, the Riviera, and drawing rooms of people who live on money and reputation. Recurring subjects are marriage as a bargain, colonial isolation, sexual hypocrisy, and the sudden exposure of a private life. Several stories share a clubland narrator who hears a confession on a verandah or a steamer. The pieces are plotted anecdotes rather than mood sketches. The book is a body of independent tales, not a novel.

Bound in blue cloth with a wrap-around illustration. Pale blue endleaves. Pale grey or black or pale blue slipcase.