Maugham travelled up the Yangtze and across China and set down what he saw in some fifty short pieces: a city gate thronged with camels and bird-fanciers, a Mongol chief, a cabinet minister, missionaries, consuls, taipans’ wives and lonely men at remote outposts. Many of the sketches read like stories in miniature.
Small, ironic portraits that show Maugham’s eye for character at its keenest. Download the free EPUB.