The Painted Veil

Synopsis

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 charming, attractive and exciting charles townsend. But when walter discovers her deception, he exacts a strange and 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.