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Portrait image of W. Somerset Maugham Photo: 1929 Bassano/Camera Press / TT

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Maugham, W. Somerset

William Somerset Maugham was a British author born in Paris. His father was a lawyer at the British Embassy there. When Maugham was eight years old, his mother died of tuberculosis, two years later his father died of cancer and the boy was sent to live with his uncle, the Vicar of Whitstable in Kent. Maugham suffered from a serious stammer, he was shy and avoided speaking in public; unlike his...

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Portrait image of Israel Zangwill

Sample of authors

Zangwill, Israel

Israel Zangwill was a British Jewish author. His father had emigrated from Lithuania and his mother was a Polish refugee. He grew up in London’s East End where he attended the Jew’s Free School. His talents soon came to the attention of his teachers, and when he was fourteen he began to teach younger pupils. When he was eighteen, after he had won a best comic story competition in a magazine, he go...

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