Ceremony of Innocence

An unforgettable novel about a missing young woman, a tragic love affair and the dark secrets of a wealthy British family.

Reem has been investigating the secretive business of the wealthy Wilcox Smiths in Bahrain. When she goes missing in Egypt, those close to her unravel a trail that leads back to 1970s Tehran, where Martin Wilcox Smith began his career as a diplomat.

Phoebe, Martin’s elegant wife, is divided between her love of Reem and protecting her husband; Fauzia, Martin’s daughter-in-law, and a reporter investigating British ties to the Middle East, must keep a terrible secret; and Kate, Martin’s niece, is in a relationship with a Bahraini refugee who opens her eyes to Martin’s corruption; together they are on a path of discovery into the Wilcox Smith’s secret past.

An evocative and engrossing story that travels between the Shah’s Iran, modern Bahrain and the quintessential English countryside, Ceremony of Innocence explores one family's entanglement with the aftermath of empire and the establishment’s ruthless pursuit of power in the new world order.