The Painted Veil (1925) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

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Characters edit see section history

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• Kitty Fane: The hero's wife who grows from shallow and vain to caring and selfless.
• Mr. Waddington: Deputy Commissioner of Customs in Mei-tan-fu.
• Dr. Walter Fane: The government bacteriologist in Hong Kong. Passionately in love with Kitty.
• Charles Townsend: Assistant Colonial Secretary of Hong Kong. Has an affair with Kitty. He's a charming and selfish man who '... is always ready to do a service that isn't any trouble to himself, and even if he doesn't do what you want he manages to give the impression that it's only because it's not humanly possible''.
• Dorothy Townsend: Charlie's wife.
• Doris Dennison: Kitty's younger sister who marries Geoffrey.
• Bernard Garstin: Kitty's father living in South Kensington.
• Mother Superior: Nun in charge of the convent at Mei-tan-fu. Gives Kitty wise advice but makes it not look obvious.
• Mr. Simmons: British Colonial Secretary to Hong Kong.
• Mrs. Garstin: Wife to Bernard and mother of Kitty and Doris.
• Geoffrey Dennison: Successful surgeon who marries Doris.
• Ku-Chou: Owner of the Curio Shop.
• Mr. Arbuthnot: Add a description of this character.
• Dr. Hayward: A doctor in Hong Kong.
• Watson: The deceased missionary doctor who was working in Mei-tan-fu.
• Colonel Yü: Walter Fane's superior in Mei-tan-fu.
• Soeur St. Joseph: One of the nuns in the convent at Mei-tan-fu.
• Soeur St. Francis Xavier: One of the nuns in Mei-tan-fu.
• Madame de Viernot
• Soeur St. Martin: One of the nuns in Mei-tan-fu.

Quotes edit see section history

• “I have an idea that the only thing which makes it possible to regard this world we live in without disgust is the beauty which now and then men create out of the chaos. The pictures they paint, the music they compose, the books they write, and the lives they lead. Of all these the richest in beauty is the beautiful life. That is the perfect work of art.”

  Waddington

• “She wished to despise him, because so long as she only hated him she knew that she was very near loving him”

  Kitty Fane

• “I always find it more difficult to say the things I mean than the things I don't.”

  kitty Fane

• “If nobody spoke unless he had something to say, the human race would very soon lose the use of speech.”

  Kitty Fane

• Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers

• “You know, my dear child, that one cannot find peace in work or in pleasure, in the world or in a convent, but only in one’s soul.”

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• “Remember that it is nothing to do your duty, that is demanded of you and is no more meritorious than to wash your hands when they are dirty; the only thing that counts is the love of duty; when love and duty are one, then grace is in you and you will enjoy a happiness which passes all understanding.”

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• Beauty is also a gift of God, one of the most rare and precious, and we should be thankful if we are happy enough to possess it and thankful, if we are not, that others possess it for our pleasure.”

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• “It’s the last line of Goldsmith’s Elegy.”

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• “Tao. Some of us look for the Way in opium and some in God, some of us in whiskey and some in love. It is all the same Way and it leads nowhither.”

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• “I wonder. I wonder if it matters that what they have aimed at is illusion. Their lives are in themselves beautiful. I have an idea that the only thing which makes it possible to regard this world we live in without disgust is the beauty which now and then men create out of the chaos. The pictures they paint, the music they compose, the books they write, and the lives they lead. Of all these the richest in beauty is the beautiful life. That is the perfect work of art.”

  Highlighted by 15 Kindle customers

• “Well, you know, women are often under the impression that men are much more madly in love with them than they really are.”

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• When all things lasted so short a time and nothing mattered very much, it seemed pitiful that men, attaching an absurd importance to trivial objects, should make themselves and one another so unhappy.

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• Was it not pitiful that men, tarrying so short a space in a world where there was so much pain, should thus torture themselves?

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• “There is only one way to win hearts and that is to make oneself like unto those of whom one would be loved.”

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Setting & Locations edit see section history

• Hong Kong: The British controlled state of Hong Kong in the 1920's.
• Mei-tan-fu: A small town suffering from a cholera epidemic.
• St. Joseph
• China
• France
• Tching-yen
• England
• London
• Marseilles

First Sentence edit see section history

Series & Lists edit see section history

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. W. Somerset Maugham (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: 75025362
• Dewey: 823.912

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Literature & Fiction › World Literature › British
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Genre Fiction › Historical
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Classics
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Contemporary
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Classics

Movie Connections edit see section history

• The Painted Veil (IMDb): 2006 film directed by John Curran
• The Painted Veil (IMDb): 1934 film directed by Richard Boleslawski

Books with Additional Background Information edit see section history

Books That Influenced This Book edit see section history