“The Painted Veil” by Somerset Maugham

Published at the same time in 1925 as "Mrs Dalloway", this is a proud example of a novel Virginia Woolf would have dismissed as being 'middlebrow', but which she meant insufficiently cerebral or experimental, Edwardian rather than Modern. Well each to their own, but for someone like me who is happy to be labelled an old fashioned, bourgeois middlebrow in his reading tastes, "The Painted Veil" is a joy.

It is largely set in Hong Kong and among British imperial officials and their wives, plus a bunch of French nuns. Their attitudes towards the native Chinese, along with some of those of the author that we can ascertain from the narrative, are clearly now dated. But they are authentic to the period and in my view make this book all the more interesting to read.

At its centre is, Kitty Fane, the young wife of a bacteriologist who has married in haste and is as the novel opens regretting it at leisure. She embarks on an affair with an older married man who she loves much more than her husband. The plot then develops from there, twisting in unexpected ways and moving out of Hong Kong to a small town where cholera is spreading among the population.

The characterisations are superb, as well as the dialogue and descriptions of place. I enjoyed it hugely and would recommend it to anyone just looking for a really well-crafted novel which is thought-provoking, as well as very satisfying to read.