2007 Audie® Award Finalist - Classics

The Painted Veil is a beautifully written affirmation of the human capacity to grow, to change, and to forgive.

Set in England and Hong Kong in the 1920s, The Painted Veil is the story of the beautiful but love-starved Kitty Fane. When her husband discovers her adulterous affair, he forces her to accompany him to the heart of a cholera epidemic. Stripped of the British society of her youth and the small but effective society she fought so hard to attain in Hong Kong, she is compelled by her awakening conscience to reassess her life and learn how to love.

William Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) was born in Paris, the son of a British embassy official, and grew up in England. He studied medicine and officially qualified as a doctor before turning to writing. One of the twentieth century’s most popular novelists, as well as a celebrated playwright, critic, and short-story writer, he also served as a secret agent for the British during World War I.