Of Human Bondage/W. Somerset Maugham

'Of Human Bondage' is the first and most autobiographical of Maugham's masterpieces.
It is the story of Philip Carey, an orphan eager for life, love and adventure. After
a few months studying in Heidelberg, and a brief spell in Paris as would-be artist,
Philip settles in London to train as a doctor.

And that is where he meets Mildred, the loud but irresistible waitress
with whom he plunges into a formative, tortured and masochistic affair which very
nearly ruins him.