James Parsons, wounded in war and decorated with honors, returns to his hometown. Who is he—a hero? Or a man who can no longer “fit” into peaceful life? His family and the woman he loves stop understanding him. And James himself seems to speak in another language— the language of war, so deeply changed him. What should he do? Try to break himself and become the way he used to be? Or is there another way out?.. For the first time in Russian, one of Somerset Maugham’s most exciting early novels!