Based on real events, Tan Twan Eng's new novel of love and betrayal under the shadow of Empire.

Penang, 1921: Lesley Hamlyn and her husband Robert are visited by Willie, an old friend of Robert's, known to the world as the great novelist Somerset Maugham.

Willie is in an unhappy marriage, suddenly penniless and now struggling to write. But before he leaves to face his demons, Lesley finds herself confessing to him her innermost secrets, concerning a Chinese revolutionary and an Englishwoman accused of murder. What she tells him, could blow her marriage apart.

Today: as Lesley's story of murder and adultery unfolds, Willie is certain she's holding something back about the Chines revolutionary...

Writer: Tan Twan Eng
Readers: Hattie Morahan and Julian Rhind-Tutt
Abridger: Richard Hamilton
Producer: Justine Willett Show less