Expiation

The novel opens on a scene in a cabin in the remote Canadian wilderness. Two men are exiled there. One finds a newspaper which reveals that the murder which they were fleeing from was actually committed by another man. He leaves in the middle of the night.

In England, the twin children of Harold Mornington, Eva and Godfrey, orphaned at six months, have been raised by relatives. The return of their father after 20 years in exile, is a shocking development. How will they accept their father, and how will he treat them?

With many plot twists, plenty of unscrupulous behaviour, numerous minor characters, love, longing, and crime, this is a wonderful introduction to the recurrent themes of Oppenheim’s more than 150 published novels and collections.