W. Somerset Maugham 
Painted Veil 

'An expert craftsman… His style is sharp, quick, subdued, casual’ New York Times Kitty Fane is the beautiful but shallow wife of Walter, a bacteriologist stationed in Hong Kong. Unsatisfied by her marriage, she starts an affair with charming, attractive and exciting Charles Townsend. But when Walter discovers her deception, he exacts a strange and terrible vengeance: Kitty must accompany him to his new posting in remote mainland China, where a cholera epidemic rages… First published to a storm of protest, The Painted Veil is a classic story of a woman’s spiritual awakening.