The Painted Veil cover art

The Painted Veil

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
1 credit a month to buy any audiobook in our entire collection.
Access to thousands of additional audiobooks and Originals from the Plus Catalogue.
Member-only deals & discounts.
Auto-renews at $16.45/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

The Painted Veil

By: W. Somerset Maugham
Narrated by: Sophie Ward
Try Premium Plus free

Auto-renews at $16.45/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $21.99

Buy Now for $21.99

About this listen

 This is the story of Kitty Fane, the adulterous wife of a bacteriologist stationed in Hong Kong. When her husband discovers her deception, he exacts a terrible vengeance: Kitty must accompany him to the heart of a cholera epidemic in China.©2006 W. Somerset Maugham (P)2014 Audible, Inc. Classics European Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction World Literature Fiction Marriage China

Critic Reviews

"[Maugham is] the modern writer who has influenced me the most." (George Orwell)
"An expert craftsman....His style is sharp, quick, subdued, casual."( The New York Times)
" The Painted Veil, with its sadness, its moral tension, its irony and compassion, its building evocations of lust and terror and remorse, is a work of art." ( Spectator)
All stars
Most relevant
Lovely haunting story, beautifully read. Wish there were more audio books like this one. listened to it multiple times.

Brilliant, want more like this

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A beautiful and emotional story showing life and love in a different time. Life changes, society changes, but not so human nature.
Thoroughly enjoyed this novel and the narration was superb.

Beautiful

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A delicate morality tale, sensitively told and beautifully read .
A pleasure to listen to, and more than once. A favourite.

A masterpiece

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I found it really interesting to see how authors like Somerset Maugham writes during his period of history. Very revealing on how our society functioned then. Quite different attitudes to many we have now particularly on the class differences, treatment of women and how society operated without contemporary technology.

Classic literature

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Loved this book. Fabulous characters, each so distinct. Exotic settings that i can picture vividly thanks to the amazing writing. The journey and inner growth of the main character was heartbreaking and inspiring.

Beautiful and brillant

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.