The secret lives of Somerset Maugham : a biography / Selina Hastings.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [555]-602) and index.

"This work was originally published in the United Kingdom by John Murray Publishers, London, in 2009, in a slightly different form"--T.p. verso.

A Blackstable boyhood -- At St. Thomas's Hospital -- A writer by instinct -- Le chat blanc -- England's dramatist -- Syrie -- Code name "Somerville" -- Behind The painted veil -- A world of veranda and prahu -- Separation -- The Villa Mauresque -- Master Hacky -- The teller of tales -- An exercise in propaganda -- The Bronzino boy -- Betrayal.

He was a brilliant teller of tales, one of the most widely read authors of the twentieth century, and at one time the most famous writer in the world, yet W. Somerset Maugham's own true story has never been fully told. At last, the fascinating truth is revealed in a landmark biography by the award-winning writer Selina Hastings. Granted unprecedented access to Maugham's personal correspondence and to newly uncovered interviews with his only child, Hastings portrays the secret loves, betrayals, integrity, and passion that inspired Maugham to create such classics as The Razor's Edge and Of Human Bondage.