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Intro
In 1919, Somerset Maugham travels from London to Chicago, where he meets an acquaintance, Elliott Templeton, who usually lives in Paris but is in the U.S. visiting his sister, Louisa Bradley. Through Elliott, Larry meets Elliott’s niece, Isabel, and Isabel’s fiancé, Larry. Larry has recently returned from fighting in World War I with the Canadian air corps, and people say that the war has noticeably changed Larry’s personality; one character says that Larry may suffer from “delayed shock.” Now that Larry has returned, people expect him to get a job to help support Isabel and the family they will one day have, but Larry says that he doesn’t want to work. Instead, he tells Somerset, he wants to “loaf.” After Larry declines a job offer from Henry Maturin, the father of Larry’s childhood friend Gray, Larry and Isabel have a conversation about their future together. Larry tells her that after his experiences in the war, he doesn’t want to just sell bonds for the rest of his life. Instead, he wants to find the answers to the questions he’s been asking, questions spurred by the cruelty, suffering, and death he witnessed during the war. He says that to answer those questions, he plans to go to Paris. He’s not sure how long it will take to find answers, but he thinks maybe a year or two. Isabel says she will wait for him.
In Paris, Elliott, who is well-connected to the city’s upper social classes, plans to launch Larry into society, but Larry declines all of Elliott’s invitations to meals and parties. Isabel and Mrs. Bradley come to visit the next year, and their time together ultimately leads Larry and Isabel to have another conversation about their future together. Larry says he wants to continue studying in Paris, but he doesn’t want to wait to marry Isabel; he wants to marry her now. Isabel says that her friends and life are back in Chicago. Plus, she says, she doesn’t want Larry’s lifestyle, which she thinks is threadbare, and she calls his apartment “sordid.” Isabel slides her ring off her finger and calls off the engagement.
Isabel returns to Chicago, where she marries Gray Maturin. The couple has two daughters, and Gray is promoted to partner in his father’s firm. Isabel seems to have everything she wants until the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The crash leaves Henry and Gray’s business in shambles, and Henry dies not long after of a heart attack induced by the stress of his financial woes. Gray declares bankruptcy, and the family forfeits their assets to the bank, including their houses, and Isabel must sell everything valuable she owns, including her jewelry. Mrs. Bradley also dies during this time, and Elliott goes to Chicago to help settle his sister’s affairs. In Chicago, Elliott sees Gray and Isabel’s dire financial situation firsthand and offers to let them stay indefinitely in his Paris apartment. (Elliott has recently bought a house on the French Riviera and spends most of his time there.) Gray and Isabel accept Elliott’s offer and move to Paris with their two daughters. When they arrive in Paris, Somerset is there too, and he begins spending more time with Isabel, seeing her three or four times a week.
Meanwhile, after Isabel has called off the engagement, Larry travels to northern France to work in a coal mine. He thinks that manual labor will help him clear his mind. At the mine, he meets a man named Kosti, an ex-officer in the Polish military who was kicked out when he was caught cheating at cards. After a few months working together in the mine, Kosti and Larry travel through Germany together. They find work on a farm, but after Larry has an unsettling sexual encounter with the daughter-in-law of the farm’s owner, he (Larry) leaves in the middle of the night. He then goes to Bonn, where he meets a Benedictine monk, Father Ensheim, who is a fellow boarder in the house where Larry stays. Larry and Father Ensheim talk about philosophy, and Larry ultimately travels to Father Ensheim’s monastery to study further. He stays for three months and then leaves for India. In India, he travels and eventually goes to Travancore, where he lives for two years in the ashram of Shri Ganesha. In the ashram, Larry meditates and learns from the example of Shri Ganesha, who radiates “saintliness.” After two years, Larry goes to a mountaintop cabin and experiences a moment of spiritual illumination. That illumination, he says, clarifies everything that had once been unclear to him and answers all of his questions. He then leaves the ashram and returns to Paris.
When Larry returns to Paris, he finds Gray and Isabel still living there, and Somerset is visiting as well. The four begin meeting regularly. On one of their outings together, they run into a childhood friend of Gray, Isabel, and Larry named Sophie Macdonald. Sophie suffered a profound tragedy years ago when her husband and baby were killed by a drunk driver, and she has since tried to cope with her emotions through alcohol and drugs. Larry and Sophie begin seeing each other more regularly. Sophie becomes sober, and she and Larry eventually become engaged. Around this time, Isabel confesses to Somerset that she is still in love with Larry and that while her marriage with Gray is by and large enjoyable, it is devoid of passion. Isabel befriends Sophie anew after Sophie and Larry become engaged. But one day when the two are supposed to go to a dress fitting together, Isabel fails to show up and leaves a bottle of alcohol to try and tempt Sophie out of sobriety. Sophie drinks the alcohol and then goes to find opium. Afraid that Larry will find her if she stays in Paris, Sophie gets on a train and heads to Toulon.
Six months or so later, Sophie is found dead after she washes up on the shore in Toulon with her throat slit. The police call Somerset and Larry in for questioning, but the two are quickly cleared of suspicion. Elliott also dies around this same time, and he leaves the bulk of his estate to Isabel and her family. With a newfound fortune, the Maturins plan to leave Paris to return to the U.S., where Gray has secured a job in Dallas in the oil industry. Before they leave, Somerset confronts Isabel and says that he thinks she is responsible for Sophie’s death because Isabel planted the bottle of alcohol that tempted Sophie and ultimately led to her death. Isabel confesses to intentionally leaving the bottle of alcohol behind but says that Sophie’s decision to drink it revealed that Sophie was rotten to the core and that she would have ruined Larry if the two had gotten married. Isabel also asks Somerset to promise that he’ll never tell Larry what happened, and Somerset agrees. When Somerset sees Larry, Larry tells him that he plans to return to the U.S. as well. He intends to find work as a mechanic, then a truck driver, and then a taxi driver in New York City, so he can have access to the city’s libraries.
Somerset receives a Christmas card from Isabel that year. It seems like she and Gray are doing well in Dallas. He doesn’t hear from Larry again but assumes he is in the U.S. following his plan and maybe driving a truck or a taxi somewhere.
