The Glass Kingdom

Showing Osborne at the height of his powers, The Glass Kingdom upends the Western reader’s most basic assumptions about the human world … stylish and disquieting – John Gray * New Statesman *
Bangkok is the star of this accomplished novel. Its denizens are aliens to themselves, glittering on the horizon of their own lives, moving - restless and rootless and afraid - though a cityscape that has more stories than they know – Hilary Mantel
The author’s exceptional descriptive skills fuel an overwhelming sense of menace … the next day you will still be thinking of Sarah’s fate with horror – Louise Doughty * New York Times *
Osborne’s novels are lavishly filmic … The setting is luxurious, the lifestyle hedonistic, the climate oppressively hot. Prodigious amounts of alcohol are consumed. As events accelerate towards a violent finale, the reader is kept guessing. How severe will the consequences be for the interloper? Which will prevail, revenge or forgiveness? – Blake Morrison * London Review of Books *
Lawrence Osborne goes from strength to strength. In The Glass Kingdom he once again displays a feel for the Westerner abroad in an alien culture, where misunderstandings can prove deadly. The author has lived for years in Bangkok, whose seediness runs deeper than the superficially icky red light district most foreign writers take on. Great characters, plenty of suspense, and a killer ending – Lionel Shriver * Evening Standard, Books of the Year *
An atmospheric, gripping novel … a horror-satire of globalised capital in which money might buy you idle time or the semblance of power, but it also makes you a target. The Kingdom’s residents are blind to its fragility until it is almost too late: as apt a metaphor for 2020 as a novel could hope to provide – Ed Cumming * i *
Bewitching – Geoffrey Wheatcroft * Daily Mail *
Osborne, who specialises in stories about hapless Westerners coming a cropper in foreign lands, has another hit on his hands with this sinister, sensuous and wonderfully evocative tale – Katie Law * Evening Standard *
Oozing menace, Osborne’s compelling novel is wonderfully atmospheric and deeply macabre – Anthony Gardner * Mail on Sunday *
Lawrence Osborne did not disappoint in his atmospheric thriller The Glass Kingdom – Lionel Shriver * Observer, Books of the Year *

Lawrence Osborne is a critically acclaimed novelist, journalist, and screenwriter based in Bangkok. He is the author of eight novels, including Ballad of a Small Player, Beautiful Animals, and The Forgiven. His non-fiction ranges from memoir through travelogue to essays, including Bangkok Days, The Naked Tourist, and The Wet and the Dry.

His novels have been chosen as Books of the Year by the Guardian, the Observer, the Daily Telegraph, the New Statesman, the Daily Mail, The Economist, the New Yorker, and The New York Times.

The Forgiven was made into a film in 2022 starring Jessica Chastain and Ralph Fiennes. Ballad of a Small Player starring Colin Farrell and Tilda Swinton was released on Netflix in 2025.

This item is eligible for free returns within 30 days of delivery. See our returns policy for further details.