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The Forgiven

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The Forgiven

By: Lawrence Osborne
Narrated by: Ralph Lister
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

David and Jo Henniger are on their way to a party at their old friends' home, deep in the Moroccan desert. But as a groggy David navigates the dark desert roads, two young men spring from the roadside, the car swerves and collides with one of the boys...

Meanwhile, festivities at the house are in full flow. Under the watchful eyes of their Moroccan staff, the extravagant hosts attend to the whims of their glittering, insatiable guests as the party rages on into a new day. The stage is set for a weekend in which David and Jo must come to terms with their fateful act and its shattering consequences.

'A modern Graham Greene' - Sunday Times

© Lawrence Osborne 2020 (P) Penguin Audio 2020

 Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction World Literature

Critic Reviews

Compelling…Engrossing…Gripping
Surprising and dark and excellent
A sinister story about guilt, atonement and restitution, fashioned from lean, prowling prose
A terrifically realised encounter between the clashing values of traditional Islam and the hedonistic, secular West... Beautifully written, painfully resolved. (Lionel Shriver)
More than a stylish thriller… The central plot has parallels with The Bonfire of the Vanities, while the socialites could be straight out of The Great Gatsby
A gripping read
A superbly compelling novel... As menacing and engrossing as the best McEwan
Osborne brings together all his authorial talents in this gripping and sophisticated thriller
Stylish, somehow both lavish and muscular at the same time
Utterly compelling; at the risk of trotting out a cliché, I couldn't put the book down
All stars
Most relevant
Oh my God. This book needs to be included in the list of bad writing about women. Every time the main character is doing something, she is described by what her breasts seem to be doing - as if they have a life of their own. She goes for a swim, her breasts part the water. On and on and on. Does it never occur to the author that women are not their breasts? Or how ridiculous it would be to write about men as their hairy chests? Or even have their penises go for a swim and part the water????

Enough with the breasts!

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