The painted veil

Originally published in 1925, The Painted Veil is a testament to the human ability to evolve, transform, and forgive. Set in England and Hong Kong during the 1920s, it tells the tale of the beautiful yet superficial young Kitty Fane. When her husband uncovers her affair, he compels her to join him in a remote area of China afflicted by a cholera outbreak. Removed from the British society of her youth and overwhelmed by the surrounding devastation, she is driven by her awakening conscience to reevaluate her life. She begins working with children at a convent, but after her husband's death, she is forced to return to England to live with her father, her only surviving relative, to raise her unborn child. Although it comes too late for her marriage, she has gained humility, independence, and the ability to love.