The Painted Veil characters

Appears from the start

A socially trained but emotionally immature Englishwoman living in Hong Kong. She married without love and now seeks excitement and reassurance in an affair with Charles Townsend. Her fear of discovery opens a crisis that forces her to reconsider her marriage and the values with which she was raised.

Appears from the start

Kitty's husband, a reserved bacteriologist posted to Hong Kong. Intelligent, awkward, and deeply in love with a wife who does not return his feeling, he appears cold because he cannot express himself easily. His possible discovery of Kitty's affair gives him a frightening new authority over her.

Appears from the start

The charming assistant colonial secretary in Hong Kong and Kitty's lover. Handsome, confident, and skilled at making people feel valued, he treats the affair as a pleasurable part of a life whose public stability and advancement remain important to him.

First appears in chapter 7

Kitty's forceful, status-conscious mother. She directs her daughters' social lives with marriage as the chief measure of success and is disappointed when Kitty remains unmarried through several London seasons.

First appears in chapter 7

Kitty's younger sister, whose quick engagement to a desirable match humiliates Kitty and helps drive her hasty acceptance of Walter Fane. Doris's conventional success exposes how thoroughly their mother has taught both daughters to treat marriage as competition.

First appears in chapter 8

Kitty's mild, overworked father, a barrister whose career and domestic preferences have long been subordinated to his wife's ambitions. Kitty has taken his patience for granted and knows little of his inner life.

First appears in chapter 22

Charles Townsend's friendly and trusting wife. Her plain appearance contrasts with Charles's social glamour, but she is devoted to him and confident in the marriage that protects his family life and career.

First appears in chapter 31

A British customs official stationed near the cholera-stricken city of Mei-tan-fu. Shrewd, sociable, and deliberately detached from colonial respectability, he becomes Kitty's guide to the local community and to the French nuns working there.

First appears in chapter 40

The composed French superior of the convent in Mei-tan-fu. She directs the nuns' care of sick and orphaned children with discipline, courage, and a religious certainty that Kitty finds both formidable and attractive.

First appears in chapter 45

A cheerful French nun at the Mei-tan-fu convent who shows Kitty its crowded wards, practical routines, and children. Her warmth makes it easier for Kitty to move from passive observation toward useful daily work.