Madeleine Bunting

Madeleine Bunting was for many years a columnist for the Guardian, which she joined in 1990. Bunting read History at Cambridge and Politics at Harvard. She is the author of many non-fiction books, including 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 has also written a novel, Island Song. She lives in London.

Coming soon - July 2021

Ceremony of Innocence

Madeleine Bunting

NeemhasbeeninvestigatingthesecretivebusinessofthewealthyWilcoxSmithsinBahrain.Whenshegoesmissing,presumeddead,thoseclosetoherunravelatrailthatleadsbacktothe1970sinTehranwhereMartinWilcoxSmithbeganhiscareerasadiplomat.Phoebe,Martin’senigmaticwife,isdividedbetweenherloveofNeemandprotectingherhusband;Fauzia,Martin’sdaughter-in-law,isareporterinvestigatingBritishtiestotheMiddleEast;andKate,Martin’sniece,isinarelationshipwithaBahrainirefugeewhoopenshereyestoMartin’scorruption;togethertheyareonapathofdiscoveryintotheirfamily’ssecretpast.AvividandevocativestorythattravelsbetweentheShah’sIran,modernBahrainandtheEnglishcountryside,CeremonyofInnocenceexploresonefamily’sentanglementwithEmpireandthepowerwieldedbytheestablishment,touncovercolonialism’slegacyofmoralcompromisesandcorruption.