Alex Bait Bait itibaren Birbhan chak, Bihar, Hindistan itibaren Birbhan chak, Bihar, Hindistan

This is a lovely novel, as acerbic as it is true, perhaps unfortunately for all of us. The first sentence: "I have noticed that when someone asks for you on the telephone and, finding you out, leaves a message begging you to call him up the moment you come in, and it's important, the matter is more often important to him than to you." I'd never read anything by Maugham, and I'd definitely go back for more.