The Forgiven: A Novel
After one too many cold drinks and too many heated words, David and Jo Henninger head down a deserted Moroccan highway, bound for a hedonistic weekend at the estate owned by Richard and Dally, swanning sybarites known for their decadent, opulent parties. When two men leap into the roadway before them, David can’t stop in time. One dies by the side of the road; the other disappears into the jet-black night. Rattled, the Henningers take the corpse with them, hoping to enlist the help of their well-connected friends to placate the local police only to find that the estate’s hostile Moroccan staff have alerted the deceased’s family. David is forced to return to the young man’s desert home to atone for his actions, while Jo remains behind at the festivities, where she submits to the welcome attentions of another guest. In the desert, all life and emotions are stripped to their very core. In his elegant and incisive first novel, travel-journalist Osborne hauntingly captures this exposed essence in all its inscrutable mystery and dispassionate brutishness. --Carol Haggas