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Ceremony of Innocence
When a young Muslim woman goes missing, the trail leads to a quintessentially English family's tangled and dark connections with Empire, the Shah's Tehran and modern Bahrain, in this evocative and page-turning novel for readers of Maggie O'Farrell.
Neem has been investigating the secretive business of the wealthy Wilcox Smiths in Bahrain. When she goes missing, presumed dead, those close to her unravel a trail that leads back to the 1970s in Tehran where Martin Wilcox Smith began his career as a diplomat. Phoebe, Martin's enigmatic wife, is divided between her love of Neem and protecting her husband; Fauzia, Martin's daughter-in-law, is a reporter investigating British ties to the Middle East; 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 their family's secret past.
A vivid and evocative story that travels between the Shah's Iran, modern Bahrain and the English countryside, Ceremony of Innocence explores one family's entanglement with Empire and the power wielded by the establishment, to uncover colonialism's legacy of moral compromises and corruption.
Neem has been investigating the secretive business of the wealthy Wilcox Smiths in Bahrain. When she goes missing, presumed dead, those close to her unravel a trail that leads back to the 1970s in Tehran where Martin Wilcox Smith began his career as a diplomat. Phoebe, Martin's enigmatic wife, is divided between her love of Neem and protecting her husband; Fauzia, Martin's daughter-in-law, is a reporter investigating British ties to the Middle East; 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 their family's secret past.
A vivid and evocative story that travels between the Shah's Iran, modern Bahrain and the English countryside, Ceremony of Innocence explores one family's entanglement with Empire and the power wielded by the establishment, to uncover colonialism's legacy of moral compromises and corruption.
- GenresFiction
400 pages, Hardcover
Published July 1, 2021
About the author
Madeleine Bunting
16 books31 followersMadeleine was born in North Yorkshire, one of five children of artist parents. She studied history at Corpus Christi, Cambridge and Harvard, US. She held a number positions at the Guardian including reporter, leader writer, religious affairs editor, and for twelve years, she was a columnist. She wrote about a wide range of subjects including Islam, faith, global development, politics and social change.
She directed the Guardian’s first ever festival, Open Weekend, in 2012.
From 2012-14, she led a team as Editorial Director of Strategy, working on a project around reimagining the institution of a newspaper and its relationship with readers.
She has a longstanding interest in contemplative practices and in 2013 she co-founded The Mindfulness Initiative to explore the potential of mindfulness in public policy particularly health and education. The Initiative supported the All Party Parliamentary Group in their 10 month inquiry which led to a report Mindful Nation UK, published in October 2015.
She lives in East London with her family.
She has received a number of awards and prizes including an honorary fellowship from Cardiff University in 2013, the Portico Prize for The Plot in 2010, a Lambeth MA degree in 2006, The Race in the Media award in 2005 and the Imam wa Amal Special Award in 2002. She has won several One World Media awards for her journalism on global justice.
She directed the Guardian’s first ever festival, Open Weekend, in 2012.
From 2012-14, she led a team as Editorial Director of Strategy, working on a project around reimagining the institution of a newspaper and its relationship with readers.
She has a longstanding interest in contemplative practices and in 2013 she co-founded The Mindfulness Initiative to explore the potential of mindfulness in public policy particularly health and education. The Initiative supported the All Party Parliamentary Group in their 10 month inquiry which led to a report Mindful Nation UK, published in October 2015.
She lives in East London with her family.
She has received a number of awards and prizes including an honorary fellowship from Cardiff University in 2013, the Portico Prize for The Plot in 2010, a Lambeth MA degree in 2006, The Race in the Media award in 2005 and the Imam wa Amal Special Award in 2002. She has won several One World Media awards for her journalism on global justice.
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
June 7, 2025
This novel was something of a surprise and ended up being much more interesting than I was expecting. The novel moves between the Shah’s Iran, Modern Bahrain, an English Country House and modern London. Bunting seems to move between political thriller, a Country House novel, a love story, decolonisation and the utter ruthlessness of the upper classes. At the centre of it all is the Wilcox-Smith family. Martin Wilcox-Smith in the 1960s decides that instead of working for the Foreign Office in Iran he will work independently in Bahrain, when he effectively becomes an arms dealer and general factotum for the government. He has inherited a Country House and renovates it, along with bhis rather elegant wife Pheobe.
In the modern day his niece Kate, whom is a single mother starts a relationship with an asylum seeker from Bahrain, Hussain, who she has taken in to help pay the rent. Hussein is a doctor who helps other asylum seekers. The plot gradually unwinds as Kate and Hussein discover what her family have really been up to and how dangerous it is to express dissent and wok for justice. The novel starts with the disappearance of Reem, Hussein’s daughter who is doing her PhD on the activities of the company that Martin Wilcox-Smith set up.
This looks at the way empire tails off (or just re-emerges in different ways and is quietly swept under the carpet and ignored in society. Or even these days glorified by the far right. Bunting says this about her intentions:
“The issue which has fascinated me for decades is how Britain has managed to tuck empire out of sight – it’s a history hidden in plain sight, if you like. We grow up knowing a version but it is one which is so thin and crudely edited with so little understanding of the relationships of power and wealth extraction which we developed and from which we still benefit as a country. So yes, this book – along with others now emerging – is a bid to flesh out that history and bring it home, open eyes and prompt questions”
It does all this and was rather a serendipitous find.
In the modern day his niece Kate, whom is a single mother starts a relationship with an asylum seeker from Bahrain, Hussain, who she has taken in to help pay the rent. Hussein is a doctor who helps other asylum seekers. The plot gradually unwinds as Kate and Hussein discover what her family have really been up to and how dangerous it is to express dissent and wok for justice. The novel starts with the disappearance of Reem, Hussein’s daughter who is doing her PhD on the activities of the company that Martin Wilcox-Smith set up.
This looks at the way empire tails off (or just re-emerges in different ways and is quietly swept under the carpet and ignored in society. Or even these days glorified by the far right. Bunting says this about her intentions:
“The issue which has fascinated me for decades is how Britain has managed to tuck empire out of sight – it’s a history hidden in plain sight, if you like. We grow up knowing a version but it is one which is so thin and crudely edited with so little understanding of the relationships of power and wealth extraction which we developed and from which we still benefit as a country. So yes, this book – along with others now emerging – is a bid to flesh out that history and bring it home, open eyes and prompt questions”
It does all this and was rather a serendipitous find.
August 26, 2021
3.75 stars
This political thriller couldn’t be more timely as the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan explodes into the news and journalistic pundits pose questions about how this destabilisation of a Middle-Eastern country will affect the West. Amongst all of the articles decrying Biden’s abandonment of Afghanistan, there have been some more nuanced and historically informative articles about the complex history of the region. I have read that, in 20 years, the US (never mind the UK and other coalition partners) has spent two trillion dollars in the region. Partly as a result of reading Ceremony of Innocence, one of my first internalised questions is : Who has profited? The historical and political bit of this book explores that murky region between diplomacy and business; an arena which most of us will never fully understand, partly because there are plenty of interests at work that don’t want us to see or understand who profits from regime changes and conflict.
Without any statistics to support this claim, I suspect that most political thrillers feature men as characters. After all, men have dominated the corridors of power - and they have certainly dominated the dirty business of arms dealing and security contracts. This novel is unusual in the sense that women are the central players. The main characters are Phoebe Wilcox-Smith, the elegant and competent wife of Martin, the powerful head of a mysterious international security firm; Kate, the idealistic niece of Martin; Fauzia, a journalist and the ex daughter-in-law of Martin; and Reem, a young Bahraini academic whose disappearance in Cairo kicks off the plot. Martin Wilcox-Smith doesn’t play a huge role in the actual storyline, but his presence is that of a dark spider at the centre of a web. All of the women are connected through him. Martin’s counterpart is Hussain, a Bahraini refugee in London (a doctor and political exile), who is Kate’s lover and Reem’s father.
It’s a story that slowly pieces together - jumping from Tehran in 1969-70, before the Shah was deposed - to England in 2012-13 - to the modern-day. There are moments of intense drama, painfully so, mainly in the storyline involving Kate and Hussain. I don’t think the ending of the novel has as much dramatic impact as the story had initially promised, but perhaps the unfinished business that results from cover-ups and unsolved (and resolved) mysteries are realistic in the world of political thrillers.
This is not a genre I usually read, but for the most part I really enjoyed this book and found it thought-provoking, too. It has certainly made me read the news in a different way - wondering, always, about what I’m not being told.
Thanks to Granta Books for asking me to review this book as part of a blog tour to kick off its release.
That’s the thing about this country - the remnants of empire are everywhere, tucked away in every corner of your country: in houses and museums, in the street names and public monuments.
‘It’s how we got into empire in the first place - private business competing with the French to sell arms to Indian maharajahs,’ said Martin.’
This political thriller couldn’t be more timely as the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan explodes into the news and journalistic pundits pose questions about how this destabilisation of a Middle-Eastern country will affect the West. Amongst all of the articles decrying Biden’s abandonment of Afghanistan, there have been some more nuanced and historically informative articles about the complex history of the region. I have read that, in 20 years, the US (never mind the UK and other coalition partners) has spent two trillion dollars in the region. Partly as a result of reading Ceremony of Innocence, one of my first internalised questions is : Who has profited? The historical and political bit of this book explores that murky region between diplomacy and business; an arena which most of us will never fully understand, partly because there are plenty of interests at work that don’t want us to see or understand who profits from regime changes and conflict.
Without any statistics to support this claim, I suspect that most political thrillers feature men as characters. After all, men have dominated the corridors of power - and they have certainly dominated the dirty business of arms dealing and security contracts. This novel is unusual in the sense that women are the central players. The main characters are Phoebe Wilcox-Smith, the elegant and competent wife of Martin, the powerful head of a mysterious international security firm; Kate, the idealistic niece of Martin; Fauzia, a journalist and the ex daughter-in-law of Martin; and Reem, a young Bahraini academic whose disappearance in Cairo kicks off the plot. Martin Wilcox-Smith doesn’t play a huge role in the actual storyline, but his presence is that of a dark spider at the centre of a web. All of the women are connected through him. Martin’s counterpart is Hussain, a Bahraini refugee in London (a doctor and political exile), who is Kate’s lover and Reem’s father.
It’s a story that slowly pieces together - jumping from Tehran in 1969-70, before the Shah was deposed - to England in 2012-13 - to the modern-day. There are moments of intense drama, painfully so, mainly in the storyline involving Kate and Hussain. I don’t think the ending of the novel has as much dramatic impact as the story had initially promised, but perhaps the unfinished business that results from cover-ups and unsolved (and resolved) mysteries are realistic in the world of political thrillers.
This is not a genre I usually read, but for the most part I really enjoyed this book and found it thought-provoking, too. It has certainly made me read the news in a different way - wondering, always, about what I’m not being told.
Thanks to Granta Books for asking me to review this book as part of a blog tour to kick off its release.
August 1, 2021
3.5 can’t decide whether to round up or down. Enjoyed the background of Iran, Bahrain and Uk. I think she captured the atmosphere but…..there is no Google Street View of Bahrain! Why do authors make such silly mistakes and why don’t editors pick them up! Okay I am a pedant, I admit.
June 29, 2023
Journalist Fauzia is appalled to learn that her friend Reem, a recent Cambridge graduate from Bahrain, has disappeared in Cairo a few days before she is due to present a paper on her PhD research. Fauzia’s fear is mixed with guilt, since she is responsible for having enabled Reem to make progress in her PhD by giving her a laptop of sensitive information which she lacked the courage to use herself. This provided evidence of the involvement of Fauzia’s ex-husband’s family, the Wilcox Smiths, in shady, very lucrative business deals with corrupt regimes in the Middle East.
The storyline then switches back to 1969, to trace the course by which Fauzia’s former father-in-law Martin made the transition from decent diplomat working for an Empire in decline to ruthless entrepreneur. Then, forty years on, we see the prosperous family through the eyes of Kate, a poor relative, as she makes ends meet by taking as a lodger Hussein, a doctor seeking asylum in the UK, having been tortured as a Shia in his native Bahrain.
The threads are gradually drawn together against the background of British “establishment” members who have lost political influence on the world stage, and seek to maintain status through the accumulation of wealth, regardless of the cost to others. It seems that a bad conscience can be quashed all too easily by conspicuous do-gooding and steering conversations through channels of vacuous politeness. Some bleak incidents are leavened for the reader with lengthy accounts of daily life in the Wilcox-Smiths idyllic country house, although at other times the incongruity of this makes the harsh realities appear more shocking.
This complacency explains the relevance of the title, which is taken from the famous line by Yeats: “The ceremony of innocence is drowned”. It seems more apt for this book than the earlier one in the same verse, “Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold”, which the African writer Chinua Achebe has used already for his novel exploring the tensions created by colonisation.
Despite an original approach to an interesting and important theme, at times this novel risks falling between the two stools of political thriller and critical study of upper class manners. Initially, I was so impressed by “Ceremony of Innocence” that I thought the favourable comparisons with John Le Carrés work, made by some reviewers, did not go far enough. The variety of characters, with a convincing mixture of redeeming features and flaws (apart from the ruthless misnamed Dotty), seem particularly well-developed and realistic. Then I began to notice a few somewhat unlikely or unclear plot twists, the uneven structure of the novel, or the point where old habits die hard, and former journalist Madeleine Bunting has Hussein recount the circumstances which have brought him to England in the kind of objective, articulate flow better suited to an article based on interviews with asylum seekers. The novel’s climax is rather abrupt, although perhaps this is deliberate to build up the tension. The inconclusive ending, still dragging a few loose ends, is arguably appropriate to the morally ambiguous events. Ensuring that everyone gets the justice they deserve would have been too far removed from real life.
Some reservations apart, this novel proves very readable and thought-provoking, a good way of inspiring us to find out more, or to be reminded about the Middle East, and Britain’s involvement and degree of culpability in recent crises and personal tragedies there.
The storyline then switches back to 1969, to trace the course by which Fauzia’s former father-in-law Martin made the transition from decent diplomat working for an Empire in decline to ruthless entrepreneur. Then, forty years on, we see the prosperous family through the eyes of Kate, a poor relative, as she makes ends meet by taking as a lodger Hussein, a doctor seeking asylum in the UK, having been tortured as a Shia in his native Bahrain.
The threads are gradually drawn together against the background of British “establishment” members who have lost political influence on the world stage, and seek to maintain status through the accumulation of wealth, regardless of the cost to others. It seems that a bad conscience can be quashed all too easily by conspicuous do-gooding and steering conversations through channels of vacuous politeness. Some bleak incidents are leavened for the reader with lengthy accounts of daily life in the Wilcox-Smiths idyllic country house, although at other times the incongruity of this makes the harsh realities appear more shocking.
This complacency explains the relevance of the title, which is taken from the famous line by Yeats: “The ceremony of innocence is drowned”. It seems more apt for this book than the earlier one in the same verse, “Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold”, which the African writer Chinua Achebe has used already for his novel exploring the tensions created by colonisation.
Despite an original approach to an interesting and important theme, at times this novel risks falling between the two stools of political thriller and critical study of upper class manners. Initially, I was so impressed by “Ceremony of Innocence” that I thought the favourable comparisons with John Le Carrés work, made by some reviewers, did not go far enough. The variety of characters, with a convincing mixture of redeeming features and flaws (apart from the ruthless misnamed Dotty), seem particularly well-developed and realistic. Then I began to notice a few somewhat unlikely or unclear plot twists, the uneven structure of the novel, or the point where old habits die hard, and former journalist Madeleine Bunting has Hussein recount the circumstances which have brought him to England in the kind of objective, articulate flow better suited to an article based on interviews with asylum seekers. The novel’s climax is rather abrupt, although perhaps this is deliberate to build up the tension. The inconclusive ending, still dragging a few loose ends, is arguably appropriate to the morally ambiguous events. Ensuring that everyone gets the justice they deserve would have been too far removed from real life.
Some reservations apart, this novel proves very readable and thought-provoking, a good way of inspiring us to find out more, or to be reminded about the Middle East, and Britain’s involvement and degree of culpability in recent crises and personal tragedies there.
November 28, 2022
I was gripped by this book (and wasnt expecting to as it hd been a reading group choice that I hadnt managed to read before the meeting - and most people there were fairly luke-warm about it ... i got the impression that it was very confusing, loads of differnt characters and no resolution to the story and questions all over the place. So I thought I might make heavy weather of it - and so i read it very carefully, making sure i worked out who everyone was!!)
So I loved the theme - arms sales to the Middle East, the oil industry, Bahrein's lack of civil rights and the toppling of the Shah in iran - and all the secret manipulations undertaken by unscrupulous British businesses. The characters were human, fallible as well as haughty - there are excellent descriptions of how 'entitled' (by wealth and powerr) people operate, versus vulnerable ones.
The characters are a mix of white British and people of colour (Bahreini and Indian), whom circumstances have brought together - at a smart country house in Hampshire. The tension is palpable concerning how much danger the Bahreini guy is in (and his partner and her son), so I couldnt put the book down at times.
I wonder how much my real interest in the politics of the situation made the difference for me from my fellow reading group mates; and how much it was that I was expecting not to enjoy it!
But I completely understood the author's motivation - 'it is fiction but i want to tell as close to the truth as I can"
So I loved the theme - arms sales to the Middle East, the oil industry, Bahrein's lack of civil rights and the toppling of the Shah in iran - and all the secret manipulations undertaken by unscrupulous British businesses. The characters were human, fallible as well as haughty - there are excellent descriptions of how 'entitled' (by wealth and powerr) people operate, versus vulnerable ones.
The characters are a mix of white British and people of colour (Bahreini and Indian), whom circumstances have brought together - at a smart country house in Hampshire. The tension is palpable concerning how much danger the Bahreini guy is in (and his partner and her son), so I couldnt put the book down at times.
I wonder how much my real interest in the politics of the situation made the difference for me from my fellow reading group mates; and how much it was that I was expecting not to enjoy it!
But I completely understood the author's motivation - 'it is fiction but i want to tell as close to the truth as I can"
July 25, 2022
Uncharacteristically for me, I didn't review this book as soon as I had finished it, some 10 days ago. And now I find I can't remember it very well. Which is surprising, because I did find the whole thing a page-turner. This saga which starts in the (almost) present day, but quickly leaps back to the 1970s before dipping in and out and establishing a dual timeline was bound to pique my interest. I've read a fair bit this year about empires such as the British Empire, and the less than savoury ways in which peoples and resources were exploited in those countries over which their imperial rulers had jurisdiction.
The contrasts between the Shah's Iran, modern Bahrain and an England of faded rural gentility are pointed up throughout the book, and help explore Empire, the power of the Establishment and expose colonialism's legacy of moral compromises and corruption.
The characters never really became fully-formed in my mind, with the possible exception of Phoebe. Fauzia, Reem, Kate somehow never came alive as characters for me. This may not matter too much, as it's the fast-paced narrative that carried me long. This is a thoughtful and fast-moving thriller that leaves me with plenty to think about.
The contrasts between the Shah's Iran, modern Bahrain and an England of faded rural gentility are pointed up throughout the book, and help explore Empire, the power of the Establishment and expose colonialism's legacy of moral compromises and corruption.
The characters never really became fully-formed in my mind, with the possible exception of Phoebe. Fauzia, Reem, Kate somehow never came alive as characters for me. This may not matter too much, as it's the fast-paced narrative that carried me long. This is a thoughtful and fast-moving thriller that leaves me with plenty to think about.
April 13, 2022
3.75.
To say I enjoyed this book isn’t quite accurate. It’s good, there’s no question about that, but I don’t know if I can describe the sad and infuriating story as enjoyable.
It’s important for people to understand that while this is fiction, it’s very very real. From the highest level of arms trafficking to the utterly unfair system and hideous treatment of asylum seekers.
It’s very well written, I feel like I know these people now, and I’m left righteously angry at the state of the world.
*another reviewer mentioned that there isn’t street view in Bahrain. When this book was published in July 2021 there was one section - the highway next to the airport. Now there’s a little more. And like that reviewer I’m a bit of a pedant. There’s no way that detail got added in the 4 weeks before publication. I wish all research was treated equally - they looked into the history fairly deeply from what I can tell, but assuming everywhere has street view coverage like London? Not quite a yikes, but certainly an ugh.
To say I enjoyed this book isn’t quite accurate. It’s good, there’s no question about that, but I don’t know if I can describe the sad and infuriating story as enjoyable.
It’s important for people to understand that while this is fiction, it’s very very real. From the highest level of arms trafficking to the utterly unfair system and hideous treatment of asylum seekers.
It’s very well written, I feel like I know these people now, and I’m left righteously angry at the state of the world.
*another reviewer mentioned that there isn’t street view in Bahrain. When this book was published in July 2021 there was one section - the highway next to the airport. Now there’s a little more. And like that reviewer I’m a bit of a pedant. There’s no way that detail got added in the 4 weeks before publication. I wish all research was treated equally - they looked into the history fairly deeply from what I can tell, but assuming everywhere has street view coverage like London? Not quite a yikes, but certainly an ugh.
January 21, 2025
“Life which clung fiercely to itself, to its own determined survival.” Ceremony of Innocence is Madeleine Bunting’s new novel, a rare socio-political thriller, bringing together three distinct focal characters — Fauzia, Phoebe and Kate — in a story that spans decades as well as locations, from Tehran to London to Istanbul. The story is simple — in 2018 Reem, a young research student, goes missing in Cairo, and her friend Fauzia, a journalist, must unravel an increasingly tangled mystery involving the wealthy, powerful, established Wilcox-Smith family. This is a story of power and money, of the endless stranglehold that empire has over countless lives, across continents — how those from afar are still dealing with its fallout, those at home still in denial it ever happened. This story is intensely compelling, even though at times it feels like it’s all too knotty to ever be made clear. A novel as heavy in dialogue and exposition as it is in psychology and depth of character, and despite the several shifts both in time and perspective, Bunting has done something so accomplished with Ceremony of Innocence, and its a novel that is unsettling yet rallying, believing in a future where truth comes to light thanks to the young — a world of retribution for those wronged by history.
June 29, 2021
When a young Muslim woman goes missing, the trail leads to a quintessentially English family’s tangled and dark connections with Empire, the Shah’s Tehran and modern Bahrain, in this evocative and page-turning novel.
I was lucky enough to be asked by @grantabooks to join the blog tour for this book. I’m so grateful as it was a fantastic read.
The book is set across 3 time periods which were all done fantastically. I was worried that it would feel confusing but it never did. I was gripped after the first chapter and could not stop reading and thinking about this!
I learnt a lot about the effects of the end of the British Empire and about the history of Iran and Bahrain which I knew little about. The book wore this history lightly and it never felt like a history lesson. This made a great backdrop for such a thriller-esque storyline.
I massively enjoyed the book and would definitely recommend it. There were a few problematic relationship issues about 50% into the book which didn’t feel in keeping with the characters or story however it did resolve well (no spoilers!).
Ceremony of Inocence is out on 1st July from @grantabooks and is a great read!
I was lucky enough to be asked by @grantabooks to join the blog tour for this book. I’m so grateful as it was a fantastic read.
The book is set across 3 time periods which were all done fantastically. I was worried that it would feel confusing but it never did. I was gripped after the first chapter and could not stop reading and thinking about this!
I learnt a lot about the effects of the end of the British Empire and about the history of Iran and Bahrain which I knew little about. The book wore this history lightly and it never felt like a history lesson. This made a great backdrop for such a thriller-esque storyline.
I massively enjoyed the book and would definitely recommend it. There were a few problematic relationship issues about 50% into the book which didn’t feel in keeping with the characters or story however it did resolve well (no spoilers!).
Ceremony of Inocence is out on 1st July from @grantabooks and is a great read!
March 28, 2023
I immediately gave this book 5/5 as I could not put it down. Reflecting on it though, I realised there were a few issues I had with it.
Firstly, that the characters you get the greatest sense of are Phoebe, Kate, and Hussein, and whilst you learn about Reem and the type of young woman she is, you dont necessarily feel a connection in the same way as you do with Kate and Hussein, making what happens to the former have less of an impact on the reader as what happens to the latter.
I'm also not a fan of unanswered questions - I'm not saying everything has to be solved but I feel some things do, particularly when they form such a large part of the story (more info on the Edith connection, further detail on the arrest, when Reem's mother was arrested and put in prison etc).
That being said, I did really enjoy reading it, and wasn't able to put it down so it's a 4.5 from me.
Firstly, that the characters you get the greatest sense of are Phoebe, Kate, and Hussein, and whilst you learn about Reem and the type of young woman she is, you dont necessarily feel a connection in the same way as you do with Kate and Hussein, making what happens to the former have less of an impact on the reader as what happens to the latter.
I'm also not a fan of unanswered questions - I'm not saying everything has to be solved but I feel some things do, particularly when they form such a large part of the story (more info on the Edith connection, further detail on the arrest, when Reem's mother was arrested and put in prison etc).
That being said, I did really enjoy reading it, and wasn't able to put it down so it's a 4.5 from me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 16, 2021
Madeleine Bunting does for corruption in the heart of the establishment of post-imperial Britain what she did for Nazi-occupied Guernsey in her debut, Island Song. Personally, I found the structure odd – to me, it’s Kate’s story, yet we begin with a potential news story about a Cambridge overseas student going missing in Cairo – but I’d rather that than a smooth narrative arc that perpetuates the delusion that British capitalists don’t have blood on their hands.
Full review https://annegoodwin.weebly.com/1/post...
Full review https://annegoodwin.weebly.com/1/post...
August 11, 2021
I found the book hard to get into initially but once I got going I quite enjoyed it. The insight into political corruption and the links between the British establishment, arms dealers and human rights issues in England and the Middle East is fascinating- bearing in mind of course this is a work of fiction.
July 7, 2021
Excellent book. A young postgrad student goes missing while researching the links of a British company and Bahrain, this links back to Iran and the end of the Shah’s reign, end of empire and the Wilcox Smith family.
August 31, 2021
Like others it's a 3.5 and in end rounded up because I appreciate the subject and the writing is evocative but the story felt a bit flaky in parts. Some good characters though and I felt like I was in the various geographical places described.
March 6, 2023
I learned alot about Bahrain and Iran and the hostile environment.
Bunting writes fluently and beautifully.
A little confusing when it jumped back and forth between time periods at the beginning but not for long.
Bunting writes fluently and beautifully.
A little confusing when it jumped back and forth between time periods at the beginning but not for long.
June 15, 2025
Corruption, colonialism, repression and the weapons industry all rolled together in a human story.
Very powerful and very upsetting that they get away with it and that we are complicit in our society’s failure to call it all to account.
Very powerful and very upsetting that they get away with it and that we are complicit in our society’s failure to call it all to account.
July 25, 2025
It took me a while to get the characters sorted out: but I found this a very credible - and therefore depressing - story about post colonial relationships, and the insouciance of both Middle Eastern regimes and their discreet western helpers.
July 7, 2026
Well done, even if the blurb is a little misleading. This is a more literary examination about the reinvention of empire and the human cost of it. Clearly well researched and executed, just not what I was in the mood for at the moment.
July 21, 2021
Very enjoyable descriptive read. A page turner. Recommended.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 21, 2021
This book was OK. Well rounded characters and some real emotional depth. At times, though, I did feel like I was wading through treacle and just wanted the author to move the story forward.
June 20, 2022
I really enjoyed this book and the three time lines, I thought the characters were well written and the plot kept me engaged
February 18, 2026
Although in places this is quite a slow-moving book, it is absolutely brilliant in uncovering the rotten evil at the core of Britain's arms trade and the ruthlessness of entitled wealthy families and governments in disposing of anybody who gets in the way. It should be more widely-read, especially by people who are choosing "not to know" about Britain's enthusiasm for selling death.
July 12, 2022
I was intrigued by this book, it shocked me several times, it broke my heart many times and it left me with lots to consider.
A story of a family like no other. Ceremony of Innocence is a dual time line story that delves in the history of the Wilson Smith family and how they acquired their vast wealth. The story focuses on several women connected to the family; two of which question the family’s involvement in Middle Eastern arms deals and its political agenda - the other oblivious to the treachery; blinded by the privilege of a vast fortune.
The story itself was interesting and really played with my emotions. The writing certainly helped ignite the varied emotional responses. As for the pace, for me, it seems to have ebbs and flows; some of which I struggled with at the time. I was eager to finish so it did not deter my reading.
Overall I recommend Ceremony of Innocence because of its enlightening and controversial content, its engaging characters, and the story telling. I also recommend this book if you a family saga and historical fiction.
A story of a family like no other. Ceremony of Innocence is a dual time line story that delves in the history of the Wilson Smith family and how they acquired their vast wealth. The story focuses on several women connected to the family; two of which question the family’s involvement in Middle Eastern arms deals and its political agenda - the other oblivious to the treachery; blinded by the privilege of a vast fortune.
The story itself was interesting and really played with my emotions. The writing certainly helped ignite the varied emotional responses. As for the pace, for me, it seems to have ebbs and flows; some of which I struggled with at the time. I was eager to finish so it did not deter my reading.
Overall I recommend Ceremony of Innocence because of its enlightening and controversial content, its engaging characters, and the story telling. I also recommend this book if you a family saga and historical fiction.
August 22, 2022
Another book that I would never have considered picking up if it wasn’t for the lovely people at @tandemcollectiveuk, who allowed me to be on the readalong for this with lots of other fellow bookish people.
When a young Muslim woman goes missing, the trail leads to a quintessentially English family's tangled and dark connections with Empire, the Shah's Tehran, and modern Bahrain, in this evocative and page-turning novel. Neem has been investigating the secretive business of the wealthy Wilcox Smiths in Bahrain. When she goes missing, presumed dead, those close to her unravel a trail that leads back to the 1970s in Tehran where Martin Wilcox Smith began his career as a diplomat. Phoebe, Martin's enigmatic wife, is divided between her love of Neem and protecting her husband; Fauzia, Martin's daughter-in-law, is a reporter investigating British ties to the Middle East; 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 their family's secret past. A vivid and evocative story that travels between the Shah's Iran, modern Bahrain and the English countryside, Ceremony of Innocence explores one family's entanglement with Empire and the power wielded by the establishment, to uncover colonialism's legacy of moral compromises and corruption.
I was completely taken in by this book, by its characters, the setting, and the sheer force of this book. It is one of my top books this year, and I have some amazing titles in that list!
It’s a story that slowly pieces together, it’s a triple (!) timeline book that jumps from Tehran in 1969-70, before the Shah was deposed, onto England in 2012-13 and then to now. There are moments of intense drama, painfully so, mainly in the storyline involving Kate and Hussain.
If I’m completely honest, I’m just not sure about the ending. I think I was expecting more as I think my expectation of the ending were slowly built up during the book. Although on reflection, maybe the unfinished business that results from cover-ups and unsolved (and resolved) mysteries are realistic in the world of political thrillers.
Even though this is primarily a political thriller, I highly recommend this as it tackles so much more than just a missing woman.
When a young Muslim woman goes missing, the trail leads to a quintessentially English family's tangled and dark connections with Empire, the Shah's Tehran, and modern Bahrain, in this evocative and page-turning novel. Neem has been investigating the secretive business of the wealthy Wilcox Smiths in Bahrain. When she goes missing, presumed dead, those close to her unravel a trail that leads back to the 1970s in Tehran where Martin Wilcox Smith began his career as a diplomat. Phoebe, Martin's enigmatic wife, is divided between her love of Neem and protecting her husband; Fauzia, Martin's daughter-in-law, is a reporter investigating British ties to the Middle East; 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 their family's secret past. A vivid and evocative story that travels between the Shah's Iran, modern Bahrain and the English countryside, Ceremony of Innocence explores one family's entanglement with Empire and the power wielded by the establishment, to uncover colonialism's legacy of moral compromises and corruption.
I was completely taken in by this book, by its characters, the setting, and the sheer force of this book. It is one of my top books this year, and I have some amazing titles in that list!
It’s a story that slowly pieces together, it’s a triple (!) timeline book that jumps from Tehran in 1969-70, before the Shah was deposed, onto England in 2012-13 and then to now. There are moments of intense drama, painfully so, mainly in the storyline involving Kate and Hussain.
If I’m completely honest, I’m just not sure about the ending. I think I was expecting more as I think my expectation of the ending were slowly built up during the book. Although on reflection, maybe the unfinished business that results from cover-ups and unsolved (and resolved) mysteries are realistic in the world of political thrillers.
Even though this is primarily a political thriller, I highly recommend this as it tackles so much more than just a missing woman.
December 25, 2022
I was very interested in the issues of security and reputation management and of course the appalling arms dealing, dressed up as support and development.
I was less taken by the love affair between Kate and Hussein as a way to bring Hussein, and then his daughter, into the dark web of the Wilcox Smith family.
I really appreciated that the book was written from the perspective of women. I have read more than enough books where women are the bit players.
I was less taken by the love affair between Kate and Hussein as a way to bring Hussein, and then his daughter, into the dark web of the Wilcox Smith family.
I really appreciated that the book was written from the perspective of women. I have read more than enough books where women are the bit players.
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