William Somerset Maugham was an English author and playwright.
Born in the British Embassy in Paris, France (legally considered British soil) in 1874, Maugham endured a traumatic childhood, orphaned at ten when his mother died from tuberculosis and his father died from cancer. He was raised by his aunt and uncle, and bullied by children at school.
Maugham studied medicine at St. Thomas' Hospital, and apprenticed as a midwife in London's Lambeth slum area. He published his first novel, Liza of Lambeth, in 1897; the book depicted the life and death of Liza Kent, a working-class woman. The popular and controversial novel launched Maugham's impressive writing career.
One of the highest-paid...
