W Somerset Maugham : The Moon and Sixpence

The Moon and Sixpence is a novel inspired by the French post-impressionist painter Paul Gauguin. Charles Strickland (Gauguin) is a wealthy man with a high paying job and a very social wife and children. He belongs to the prosperous crowd in London, and his life is enviable for many. One day, however, out of nowhere, he leaves a letter to his wife and tells him that he left her and will never return. After that, Strickland’s life will never be the same, and a genius will appear.

Maugham presents the pressures of society on men, women and families and also the development of a genius in beautiful prose. The book is filled with wonderfully detailed observations about changing and becoming.