Product Description

'She did not know what to say. She was undecided whether indignantly to assert her innocence or to break out into angry reproaches. He seemed to read her thoughts. "I've got all the proof necessary" '. Kitty Fane is the beautiful but shallow wife of Walter, a bacteriologist stationed in Hong Kong. Unsatisfied by her marriage, she starts an affair with Charles Townsend, a man whom she finds charming, attractive and exciting. But when Walter discovers her deception, he exacts a strange but terrible vengeance: Kitty must accompany him to his new posting in remote mainland China, where a cholera epidemic rages. First published to a storm of protest, "The Painted Veil" is a classic story of a woman's spiritual awakening.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10573 in Books
• Published on: 2007-03-08
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

Synopsis
'She did not know what to say. She was undecided whether indignantly to assert her innocence or to break out into angry reproaches. He seemed to read her thoughts. "I've got all the proof necessary" '. Kitty Fane is the beautiful but shallow wife of Walter, a bacteriologist stationed in Hong Kong. Unsatisfied by her marriage, she starts an affair with Charles Townsend, a man whom she finds charming, attractive and exciting. But when Walter discovers her deception, he exacts a strange but terrible vengeance: Kitty must accompany him to his new posting in remote mainland China, where a cholera epidemic rages. First published to a storm of protest, "The Painted Veil" is a classic story of a woman's spiritual awakening.

From the Publisher
Film-tie in edition

About the Author
William Somerset Maugham, famous as novelist, playwright and short-story writer, was born in 1874, and lived in Paris until he was ten. He was educated at King's School, Canterbury, and at Heidelberg University. He spent some time at St. Thomas' Hospital with a view to practising medicine, but left to focus exclusively on writing. In 1927, he settled in the south of France, and lived there until his death in 1965.

Customer Reviews

A good old-fashioned story
A delightful and well-constructed story of an unhappy marriage. Kitty Fane is shallow and vain while her husband is stiff and socially inept. They travel out to Hong Kong where Walter works as a bacteriologist. Here Kitty meets and is besotted with Charles Townsend. When Walter hears of her affair he gives her several alternatives and in the end she feels her only choice is to travel with him to the interior of China to work in a cholera-ravaged community. Kitty's honesty about her own feelings and weaknesses endear her to the reader - but we are equally drawn to sad cuckolded Walter.

At Mei-tan-fu Kitty begins to work in the Catholic convent and gradually comes to recognise good qualities in her husband while finding spiritual solace through hard work. Maugham introduces some great characters - Waddington the Customs Officer (living with a Manchu woman) and the wise Mother Superior.

Some of Kitty's shortcomings can be explained by her loveless family background. We do not get an insight into how Walter became the man he is.

The Painted Veil is a good old-fashioned story beautifully told.

Vintage Maugham
The Painted Veil pits amiable but unscrupulous fools against tormented souls, has a duly sarcastic starting-point, and is set in far-away, warlord-era China; in short, it has the ingredients for vintage Maugham.

The book begins in Hong Kong, with an adultery scene. Kitty Fane is beautiful, shallow, and calculating. She soon finds her match in Charles Townsend, a vain and cynical but popular colonial official - and in her own husband, the lover's very photo-negative, who drags her through plague-ridden country in revenge. The story is that of her spiritual transformation. It can even be read to show women's superior ability for moral elevation.

The Painted Veil is full of Maugham's innumerable human insights, and it is filled with danger, physical and psychological. This is an easy to read, absorbing novel. Readers expecting lush visions of warlord-era China to jump from the page, though, will need to look in another place. The "native" country is distant, dream-like and morbid, seen through the eyes of the heroine, whose preoccupations are elsewhere. It is only peered at from the height of a curtained palanquin. Indeed, the novel paints the superficial and self-centred expatriate community of Hong-Kong much more than it does labouring China; as such, it probably remained true to life until very recent times.

A beautiful masterpiece describing real emotions
As previous reviewers have described, this story is one of adultery, forgiveness, disease, regret and personal growth. Kitty is an extremely flawed character whom you can't help but sympathise with - especially near the end of the novel (which I must say left me wanting more of an ending to this wonderful love story). I enjoyed the book so much I purchased the DVD, which displayed the novels descriptions of the Chinese scenery beautifully, however it had a different ending to the novel, and did not convey the characters thoughts and feelings as well as the book. A must read!