Staff Pick
A young girl sees her older sister and a man in a situation she doesn't understand, and subsequently makes an accusation that changes the course of all three lives. This is a study of a life-long search for forgiveness and atonement. McEwan is at his best here. An amazing and excellent book! Recommended By Dianah H., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
From the author of the Booker Prize winning Amsterdam comes Atonement, a dark coming-of-age story of 1930s English country life. On the hottest day of the summer of 1935, 13-year-old Briony Tallis sees her older sister Cecilia strip off her clothes and plunge into the fountain in the garden of their country house. Also watching Cecilia is their housekeepers son Robbie Turner, a childhood friend who, along with Brionys sister, has recently graduated from Cambridge. By the end of the day the lives of all three will be forever changed. Robbie and Cecilia will cross a boundary they never before dared to approach, becoming victims of the younger girls scheming imagination. And Briony will commit a dreadful crime, with consequences that will color her entire life. Hauls a defining part of the British literary tradition up to and into the 21st century. The Guardian