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

Sample of authors

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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Literary figures

Handsome (Bonifacius) Kusak

Gender: Male

He is tall and broad-shouldered, and looks like a film star – which is what he dreams of becoming. But Bonifacius ‘Handsome’ Kusak – his surname is sometimes written as Kuzak, and in Swedish translations he is called ‘Snyggis’ – is a photographer with little money who travels around with his colleague ‘Bingo’ Riggs and is forever getting into difficulties which force them to be detectives in books...

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