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...
Photo: Yann Gamblin/Paris Match via Getty Images (1996)
Sample of authors
Puzo, Mario
Mario Gianluigi Puzo was an American author born in a slum known as Hell’s Kitchen on Manhattan, New York. His parents were both immigrants from Pietradefusi in the Avellino province, Italy. He had a difficult upbringing, especially after his father abandoned the family at the beginning of the 1930s and left his wife to care for their seven children on her own. Puzo won grants so he could attend C...