I forgive you.

Three simple words behind which sits an intriguing and complex concept. These words can be used to absolve a meaningless squabble, or said to someone who has caused you great harm. They can liberate you from guilt, or consciously place blame on your shoulders.

Forgiveness can often be perceived as saccharine and overtly religious, something just for the spiritually superior or mentally strong. But really it is a gritty, risky concept that is so often relevant to our ordinary everyday lives. Forgiveness explores the subject from every angle, coming from a place of enquiry rather than persuasion, presenting it as an offering, never a prescription.

Marina Cantacuzino seeks to investigate, unpick and debate the limits and possibilities of forgiveness – in our relationships, for our physical and mental wellbeing, how it plays out in international politics and within the criminal justice system, and where it intersects with religious faith. Cantacuzino speaks to people across the globe who have considered forgiveness in different forms and circumstances. She talks to a survivor of Auschwitz; to someone who accidentally killed a friend; to people who have lost loved ones in acts of violence; to a former combatant in The Troubles as well as to the daughter of someone he murdered.

Through these real stories, expert opinion and the author’s experience from two decades working in this field, the reader gets to better understand what forgiveness is and what it most definitely isn’t, how it can be an important element in breaking the cycle of suffering, and ultimately how it might help transform fractured relationships and mend broken hearts.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Marina Cantacuzino is an author, broadcaster and award-winning journalist who has written for most British mainstream publications including the Guardian, the DailyTelegraph and Marie Claire. In 2003, in response to the invasion of Iraq, she embarked on a personal project collecting stories of people who had lived through trauma and injustice, and yet sought forgiveness rather than revenge. As a result Cantacuzino founded The ForgivenessProject and started speaking widely about forgiveness and restorative storytelling. The Forgiveness Project continues to work with both victims/survivors and former perpetrators to better understand how individuals and communities can rebuild their lives and create a more compassionate world following hurt and trauma.

'Forgiveness: An Inspiration' is published by Jonathan Ball Publishers