William Somerset Maugham

1874–1965

9 standalone books

William Somerset Maugham was an English playwright and author who lived from 1874 to 1965. He was born at the British Embassy in Paris, where his father worked as an English lawyer. His mother died of tuberculosis when he was young, and his father died of cancer two years later. He was sent to England to live with his uncle, the Vicar of Whitstable, where he endured a difficult childhood. He later studied literature, philosophy, and German at Heidelberg University and wrote his first book, a biography of Giacomo Meyerbeer. After returning to England, he briefly worked in an accountant's office and studied medicine at King's College London, but he abandoned medicine to focus on writing. His first novel, Liza of Lambeth, was published in 1897 and made him a full-time writer. He traveled extensively and achieved great success with plays and novels. During World War I, he worked with the British Red Cross and later served as a British agent in Switzerland. He married Syrie Wellcome in 1917 and later divorced her. He lived in a villa on the French Riviera and spent his later years in the United States and England. He had a long-term relationship with Frederick Gerald Haxton, who died in 1944, and later with Alan Searle. He died in 1965.

Born

1874