Wonderful sense of time and place - 5 star

A beautiful historic work of fiction with a great sense of time and place. Lesley and Robert live in the Malayan districe of Panang, Lesley , a society hostess, entertains whilst Robert is a high powered lawyer. Into their lives one day comes William Somerset Maughan, effectionately known as Willie. Willie is greatly troubled by his sham marriage, and Lesley proves a wonderful listener but equally as her world collapses she finds comfort from the great writer. She discloses her admiration for a revolutionary and admits to a clandestine love affair that lasted many years but was ultimately doomed, and equally scandalously discloses her relationship to a woman accused of rape many years ago. The writing is sublime using events and historical figures to create a work of fiction that I devoured in 2 sittings..."the sea that was eternal yet ceaselessly changing, from wave to wave, swell to swell"...."All of us will be forgotten eventually. Like a wave on the ocean, leaving no trace that it had once existed"....."I lay in bed for a while, listening to the drowsy waves as the light outside changed, the ink of night diluting to dawn."........"While we are living, the air sustains us, but the very instant we stop breathing, that same air immediately sinks its teeth into us. What keeps us alive will also, in the end consume us."....... Highly recommend and many thanks to NG for a gratis copy in exchange for an honest review and that is what I have written.