The second of four volumes of short stories which reflect Somerset Maughams wry perception of human foibles and gift for evoking drama from a sense of time and place. Set in Malaya, America and England, they include "Flotsam and Jetsam", "The Man With the Scar" and "The Vessel of Wrath". The stories in this collection move from Malaya to America and England, and include some of Maughams most famous tales; Flotsam and Jetsam, the story of an old woman trapped for years in a loveless marriage in the remote rubber plantations; The Man with the Scar, and notably the opening story The Vessel of Wrath, a tale of the unexpected love that grows between a devout missionary nurse and a drunken reprobate. In this second volume of his collected stories, Maugham illustrates his characteristic wry perception of human foibles and his genius for evoking compelling drama from an acute sense of time and place.