Ceremony of Innocence
Published on 1. July 2021
Book
Hardback
400 pages
978-1-78378-749-4 (ISBN)
Description
A Cambridge PhD student called Reem has gone missing in Egypt. Those close to her fear that her investigation into her family''s history in the Gulf has put her in danger. The trail leads back to Tehran in 1969, when diplomat Martin Wilcox Smith, frustrated by his career at the Foreign Office, looked for more lucrative opportunities in the region.
Decades later, decisions taken by Martin and his charismatic wife Phoebe unexpectedly come home to roost: their niece takes in a Bahraini lodger who has reasons to question the immense wealth of the Wilcox Smiths, a quest shared with their daughter-in-law, a journalist who is determined to piece together what has happened to Reem.
An evocative and engrossing story that travels between the Shah's Iran, modern Bahrain, London and the English countryside, Ceremony of Innocence explores one family''s ambition in the aftermath of empire and the establishment''s ruthless pursuit of power in the new world order.
Decades later, decisions taken by Martin and his charismatic wife Phoebe unexpectedly come home to roost: their niece takes in a Bahraini lodger who has reasons to question the immense wealth of the Wilcox Smiths, a quest shared with their daughter-in-law, a journalist who is determined to piece together what has happened to Reem.
An evocative and engrossing story that travels between the Shah's Iran, modern Bahrain, London and the English countryside, Ceremony of Innocence explores one family''s ambition in the aftermath of empire and the establishment''s ruthless pursuit of power in the new world order.
Reviews / Votes
[A] blend of English country house novel and international intrigue * Daily Mail * Pulls you in from the first page... Wonderfully original and compelling * Observer *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Dimensions
Height: 222 mm
Width: 141 mm
Thickness: 37 mm
Weight
512 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-78378-749-4 (9781783787494)
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Person
Madeleine Bunting was for many years a columnist for the Guardian, which she joined in 1990. Her first novel, Island Song, won the Waverton Good Read Award and was shortlisted for the London Magazine Debut Fiction Prize. She is also the author of many non-fiction books, including Labours of Love: The Crisis of Care, which was longlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize and the Orwell Prize for Political Writing, The Plot: A Biography of My Father''s English Acre, which won the Portico Prize, and Love of Country: A Hebridean Journey, which was shortlisted for the Wainwright Golden Beer Book Prize and the Saltire Non-Fiction Book of the Year. She is a Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics'' International Inequalities Institute.