The Painted Veil

Set in the 1920s, this novel follows Kitty Fane, a pretty and shallow young Englishwoman who marries a quiet bacteriologist to escape spinsterhood and then deceives him in Hong Kong. When he learns the truth, he takes her with him to a Chinese town struck by cholera. Amid illness, duty and the kindness of local nuns, Kitty is forced to look honestly at herself. It is a spare, sharp story of marriage, betrayal and moral awakening.