This book of short stories by the prominent English writer W. Somerset Maugham touches upon the events and experiences of different ordinary people who were caught in unordinary circumstances. He tells stories about love between people of different cultures, tragic obsession with the other person, or people trying to understand what is really important in life. All of the stories in the book were inspired by Maugham's vacation at the South Seas, where he traveled to regain his health. His experiences there became the bedrock for the stories represented here.