The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham is an absolutely wonderful book set in 1920's Europe and China.
Kitty Fane, the central character is a beautiful, but frivolous young woman. Growing up in middle-class London, Kitty is geared up from childhood to 'marry well'. Although she has very many admirers Kitty is too busy enjoying the social life to accept any marriage proposals until she suddenly realizes that she is already 23 (OLD by the day's standards) and her younger and much less attractive sister is about to get married before her. In a panic, Kitty agrees to marry Walter, a painfully shy man who adores her, but whom she doesn't love.
Soon after they marry, Walter takes Kitty away to Hong Kong where he is the colony's bacteriologist. Love-starved, Kitty has an affair with a local official. This is where the deep story actually begins. When Walter learns of Kitty's infidelity, he forces her to leave Hong Kong and accompany him to a small city in China's interior that is suffering from a murderous Cholera epidemic.
The Painted Veil is beautifully written. Maugham is a writer who does not idealize his characters, he presents them as very real people with many conflicting sides. His style is brisk and he doesn't get lost in over-romanticized descriptions. At the same time, as you travel together with Kitty, you feel immersed in China's exotic landscape.
Ultimately, this story is about learning to love, learning compassion and changing and growing.
Liza's Rating: 
*** As an extra - The Painted Veil will soon be released as a movie starring Naomi Watts and (my favorite!) Edward Norton
Evans
Fantasie
Forzieri
Sounds like a good book. I'll take a look at it next time I'm in Borders.
1Looks like this is another one I'll have to add to my holiday reading list!
Am I the only one who prefers to read the book before they see the film? Or do you prefer the other way around? I always feel like I need to create an image in my mind of the novel beforehand. But then when I see the film it either completely surpasses what I'd originally imagined, or doesn't meet my expectations! More often than not I'll choose to either see the film or read the book, but not both.
2purple - i ALWAYS try to read the book first... i like to have my own images of the characters and what everything looks like
3Want it! I thought the cover looked familiar; I thought maybe Nicole Kidman was filming this, but then when you said Naomi Watts, I remembered. God, I love books....
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