Published: 15 April 2014
ISBN: 9780099578932
Imprint: Vintage
Format: Paperback
Pages: 336
RRP: $22.99

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The Forgiven

Lawrence Osborne

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Boomerang

East meets West with shattering conclusions in this stylish, taut and brilliant piece of cinematic storytelling from Lawrence Osborne, soon to be a major film adaptation starring Jessica Chastain and Ralph Fiennes

'Utterly compelling...I couldn't put the book down' Observer
'Surprising and dark and excellent' New York Times
'A gripping and sophisticated thriller' Independent

Soon to be a major film adaptation starring Jessica Chastain and Ralph Fiennes

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.

'As menacing and engrossing as the best McEwan' Sunday Times

Published: 15 April 2014
ISBN: 9780099578932
Imprint: Vintage
Format: Paperback
Pages: 336
RRP: $22.99

Categories:

About the author

Lawrence Osborne

Born in England, Lawrence Osborne is the author of the critically acclaimed novels The Forgiven, The Ballad of a Small Player, Hunters in the Dark, Beautiful Animals, Only to Sleep: A Philip Marlowe novel (commissioned by the Raymond Chandler estate) and The Glass Kingdom. His non-fiction ranges from memoir through travelogue to essays, including Bangkok Days, The Naked Tourist and The Wet and the Dry. His short story 'Volcano' was selected for Best American Short Stories 2012.

The Forgiven, starring Ralph Fiennes, Matt Smith and Jessica Chastain, is due to be released in summer 2022; Hunters in the Dark will shoot in Cambodia with Aneurin Barnard, Adam Pettyfer and Tzi Ma; and Beautiful Animals is now in production with Amazon. Osborne lives in Bangkok.

www.lawrenceosborne.net

Also by Lawrence Osborne

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Praise for The Forgiven

Compelling…Engrossing…Gripping
Sunday Times

Surprising and dark and excellent
New York Times

A sinister story about guilt, atonement and restitution, fashioned from lean, prowling prose
Herald

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
Stylist

A gripping read
Kirkus

A superbly compelling novel... As menacing and engrossing as the best McEwan
Robert Collins, Sunday Times

Osborne brings together all his authorial talents in this gripping and sophisticated thriller
Emma Hagestadt, Independent

Stylish, somehow both lavish and muscular at the same time
David Evans, Independent on Sunday

Utterly compelling; at the risk of trotting out a cliché, I couldn't put the book down
Justin Cartwright, Observer

A terrifically realised encounter between the clashing values of traditional Islam and the hedonistic, secular West... Beautifully written, painfully resolved.
Lionel Shriver, The Times

A brilliantly observed tale of class and hedonism
The Times, *Summer Reads of 2023*

No mere imitation but a contribution to the shelf on which The Sheltering Sky and The Bonfire of the Vanities also sit, The Forgiven explores the clash of two cultures, each of which feels superior to the other. Osborne's writing is uncomfortably well observed; his story is sickeningly, addictively headlong.
Lionel Shriver

With nods to Paul Bowles and Evelyn Waugh, Osborne portrays the vacuity of high society as gorgeously and incisively as he does the unease of cultures thrust together in the unforgiving desert
US Publishers Weekly, starred review

A gripping read
Kirkus, starred review

The prose has a very particular, knowing luminosity, much like the tarnished world it describes. A beautiful, compelling book to savour line by line
Nikita Lalwani, author of Gifted

The Forgiven shines darkly with a rich and mordant fatalism. Obsorne's characters emerge like people in a dream -- diamond-sharp but fascinatingly askew. His prose is gorgeous and precise; the story slices keenly through the exotic haze of its setting… an absolutely brilliant novel.
Kate Christensen, author of The Epicure's Lament and The Astral

A sinister and streamlined entertainment in the tradition of Paul Bowles, Evelyn Waugh and the early Ian McEwan… Surprising and dark and excellent.
New York Times

A genuinely exciting thriller that maintains its hold until the final horrifying twist
Reader's Digest

Alarming and liberating in equal measure… Written with an untimely elegance…
Adrian Turpin, Literary Review

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
Mollie McGuigan, Stylist

Engrossing and elegantly handled drama
Robert Collins, Sunday Times

Gripping fictional morality tale
Sunday Times Culture

A sinister story about guilt, atonement and restitution, fashioned from lean, prowling prose
Siobhan Murphy, Herald

Both thought provoking and thoroughly absorbing
Susan Osborne, Nudge