AH KING, A Collection of Six Stories by Somerset Maugham

Описание: AH King, A Collection of Short Stories by W. Somerset Maugham

In the steaming ports, jungle outposts, and faded clubs of the British Empire, Maugham uncovers the fragile veneer of civilization — and the passions that fester beneath. Ah King is not merely a collection of tales from the East; it is a map of human folly, ambition, and grace drawn against a backdrop of monsoon skies and moral decay.

In Ah King, Somerset Maugham writes with the precision of a surgeon and the empathy of a confessor. Each story peels back the polished mask of empire to reveal the raw, beating heart beneath — where desire, weakness, and the faint glimmer of redemption intertwine under the Eastern sun.


💼 The Book-Bag
A traveler in Malaya opens a bag of letters that unspools a forbidden love — a young man’s devotion to his sister and the secret that drives him to ruin. Beneath the scent of frangipani lies a story of beauty, guilt, and the limits of forgiveness.

🌴 The Back of Beyond
Far up a Bornean river, a weary colonial official and his wife discover that paradise can be another form of exile. In the oppressive heat, illusions of love and purpose wilt like orchids left too long in the sun.

🐾 Footprints in the Jungle
In a small tropical settlement, gossip whispers of a perfect crime. A quiet woman, a dead husband, and footprints washed away by rain — Maugham’s masterpiece of subtle suspicion and moral ambiguity.

🚪 The Door of Opportunity
An ambitious civil servant in the East believes he deserves more — a better post, a finer life, a chance to prove himself. But when pride and integrity collide, Maugham shows how one decision can shut the door forever.

🍶 The Vessel of Wrath
On a lonely island in the Dutch East Indies, a drunken wastrel and a rigid missionary woman clash — only to find redemption where neither expected it. A story of grace, humor, and the unpredictable chemistry of the human heart.

🌒 The Buried Talent
A man of promise sinks into complacency, trading brilliance for comfort in the colonial bureaucracy. In this quietly devastating tale, Maugham delivers his verdict on wasted gifts and the slow death of the soul.