The Painted Veil Author: [British] William Somerset Maugham Publisher: China Federation of Literary and Art Circles Press

The Painted Veil was written by W. Somerset Maugham.

The Veil tells the story of Kitty, a beautiful but vain Englishwoman, who accepts the marriage proposal of Walter Fane, a lonely doctor, in order to avoid becoming an old maid. She leaves the flashy and empty social circle of London in the 1920s and follows Walter to the mysterious oriental colony - Hong Kong.

Dissatisfied and bored with her marriage, Kitty secretly began to have an affair with Charlie Townsend, the Assistant Chief Secretary of Hong Kong, who moved her heart. After Walter discovered his wife's infidelity, he made a desperate move and began his strange and terrible revenge plan: Kitty must go with him to the distant mainland of China to quell a cholera epidemic. In the beautiful but dangerous environment of a foreign country, they experienced emotional ups and downs that they could not imagine and experience in their comfortable life in their hometown in England... Kitty, who struggled in the whirlpool of love, betrayal and death, experienced the disillusionment and separation of life and death, and finally gradually lifted the veil of life from her eyes, and embarked on a path of unrepentant spiritual growth.

W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) was a famous British novelist, playwright and essayist. He studied at King's School in Canterbury and Heidelberg University in Germany, and then studied medicine at St. Thomas' Hospital in London and obtained a surgical qualification. His first novel, Lisa of Lambeth, was published in 1897. In 1915, his masterpiece "Of Human Bondage" was published, and the publication of "The Moon and Sixpence" in 1919 established his status as a novelist. His other works include the novels "The Razor's Edge" and "The Veil", the travel notes "On the Chinese Screen", and various essays and short story collections. During the period of 1903-1933, he wrote nearly 30 plays, which were well received by the audience. Maugham is recognized as one of the most popular and popular British writers in the world in the 20th century, and is known as "the best storyteller". His novels are witty and humorous, often concealing compassion and sympathy for human nature in his satire. In 1952, Oxford University awarded him an honorary doctorate. In 1954, the King of England awarded him the title of "Honorary Chamberlain".