W. Somerset Maugham

'An expert craftsman... His style is sharp, quick, subdued, casual' New York Times 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.

The Painted Veil

you couldn't help being conscious of the devastating passion which was in his heart.

she had felt an aloofness which oppressed her. They were friendly and even cordial, but at the same time they held something back, she knew not what, so that she was conscious that she was nothing but a casual stranger. There was a barrier between her and them. They spoke a different language not only of the tongue but of the heart.

She rose and with the easy dignity which her voluminous habit could not conceal left the room.

Like a rich melody on a harp that rang in exultant arpeggios through the complicated harmonies of a symphony, one thought beat in her heart insistently.

The Painted Veil quotes

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