{"product_id":"2026100010239-secondhand-short-stories","title":"Short Stories","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCondition remarks:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBook: Good\u003cbr\u003eJacket: Slipcase: Worn\u003cbr\u003ePages: Good\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFew writers possessed the cool, unsentimental eye for human frailty that W. Somerset Maugham brought to the short story form, and this Folio Society collection stands as a testament to that singular gift. Selected and introduced by Sue Bradbury, the volume gathers some of Maugham's most celebrated tales, transporting readers across continents — from the rain-soaked colonial outposts of the Far East to the drawing rooms of Edwardian England — where ordinary men and women are quietly undone by passion, pride, and self-deception.\n\nMaugham's prose is a masterclass in economy and irony; he chronicles the darker currents of human nature with a detached wit that is simultaneously devastating and compassionate. His narrative voice — urbane, worldly, and faintly sardonic — gives each story an almost theatrical tension, a quality brought to vivid life by Christopher Brown's evocative line drawings throughout this edition. This handsome Folio Society volume is not merely a collection of stories — it is an invitation to reckon with a writer whose unflinching clarity about the human condition has never been surpassed.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Secondhand Stock","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50948328587483,"sku":"2026100010239-SECONDHAND","price":25.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0523\/7646\/9701\/files\/892d275c-e0dc-4d95-b62a-73bf6b27cee1.png?v=1793104834","url":"https:\/\/bookgrocer.com\/products\/2026100010239-secondhand-short-stories","provider":"Book Grocer","version":"1.0","type":"link"}