The most obvious flaw is the ardent young man, Tom Fennel, an Englishman in Maugham's book but now an American played, perfunctorily, by an English actor named Shaun Evans.

WSJ: All About Annette

"If you're an Indian reading this book in English, it's probably because of Thomas Macaulay, " says the front cover blurb on a new biography of a man who foisted the Queen's language on India.

BBC: Recalling Thomas Macaulay's English legacy

Although few details of the book's creation are known, it is generally believed to have been the work of an English bookseller, publisher, journalist, and staunch antipapist named Benjamin Harris, who fled London for Boston in 1686 following the ascent of King James II to the British throne.

NPR: Excerpt: 'Minders of Make-Believe'