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An orphan brought up by a pious uncle and an ineffectual aunt, Philip Carey is eager for adventure when he launches himself into the world at the age of eighteen. After some months spent studying in Heidelberg, a failed experiment in accountancy, and a spell in Paris as a would-be artist, he returns to London to train as a doctor. It is here that he encounters Mildred, the doomed but formidable object of an obsessive love affair that provides the pivot of this marvelous novel. maugham has no rival in the portrayal of human emotion, and he creates an almost unbearable tension for his readers as Phillip suffers, despairs, and pays the price for passion - a price that is almost too high.
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