The Painted Veil

Written by W. Somerset Maugham

Narrated by Shea Taylor

“How can I be reasonable? To me our love was everything and you were my whole life. It is not very pleasant to realize that to you it was only an episode.”

The Painted Veil is the story of Kitty Garstin, a young socialite who amuses herself with the pursuit of various men until settling into a marriage with a physician, who takes her to Hong Kong to begin his work. Shortly after they move, Kitty meets the charming, yet distasteful, Charlie Townsend, and begins a passionate affair that lasts several years without notice from her husband.

As most passionate affairs do, this one ends in a dramatic fashion, and Kitty is whisked away to mainland China with her husband as he is sent to help the cholera outbreak. While her husband works tirelessly to cure the spreading disease, Kitty discovers that she is pregnant – and that Charlie is likely the father. This discovery begins a transformation in Kitty, as she realizes that she desires to be authentic to herself and to others, rather than being deceptive any longer. This, however, is the beginning of long series of tragedies for Kitty, tragedies that will force her into maturing and living for the service of others.

The Painted Veil is an examination of the importance of authenticity – to one’s self, and to the people held dearly in one’s life. The further Kitty gets wrapped up in the lies she tells herself and others, the more lots she is – and it is only through honesty and self-reflection that she is once more able to find herself and find a path to follow.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Spotify Audiobooks
• Release date: Dec 28, 2021
• ISBN: 9781662258411

W. Somerset Maugham

W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) was an English novelist, playwright, and short story writer. Born in Paris, he was orphaned as a boy and sent to live with an emotionally distant uncle. He struggled to fit in as a student at The King’s School in Canterbury and demanded his uncle send him to Heidelberg University, where he studied philosophy and literature. In Germany, he had his first affair with an older man and embarked on a career as a professional writer. After completing his degree, Maugham moved to London to begin medical school. There, he published Liza of Lambeth (1897), his debut novel. Emboldened by its popular and critical success, he dropped his pursuit of medicine to devote himself entirely to literature. Over his 65-year career, he experimented in form and genre with such works as Lady Frederick (1907), a play, The Magician (1908), an occult novel, and Of Human Bondage (1915). The latter, an autobiographical novel, earned Maugham a reputation as one of the twentieth century’s leading authors, and continues to be recognized as his masterpiece. Although married to Syrie Wellcome, Maugham considered himself both bisexual and homosexual at different points in his life. During and after the First World War, he worked for the British Secret Intelligence Service as a spy in Switzerland and Russia, writing of his experiences in Ashenden: Or the British Agent (1927), a novel that would inspire Ian Fleming’s James Bond series. At one point the highest-paid author in the world, Maugham led a remarkably eventful life without sacrificing his literary talent.

Reviews for The Painted Veil

[Sue Houghton · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

4.5 ⭐️. I will definitely be seeking out more of W Somerset Maugham’s works in the future