Staff Pick
With an ingenious plot and unique narrator, this tale of murder and treachery is told from the viewpoint of a fetus — the yet-unborn Hamlet, witness to the conversations and unsavory dealings of those around him. A cleverly imaginative take on Shakespeare’s character, this darkly humorous and skillfully crafted novel reaffirms McEwan as one of the finest writers today. Recommended By Michal D., Powells.com
What an odd content departure for Ian McEwen with this story of a fetus! The baby narrator is extremely alert, wise, and sarcastic well beyond his nine months. Horrified to discover that his mother and uncle are plotting to murder his father, the baby is suddenly very concerned about his father's future, and his own, as well. In typical McEwen style, there are a couple of twists thrown in, and a doozy of an ending. Exploring themes of greed, love gone wrong, parenting failures, literature, and infidelity, McEwan writes a quick, suspenseful read that is as quirky as they come. Recommended By Dianah H., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
New from the bestselling author of Atonement and The Children Act.
Trudy has betrayed her husband, John. She's still in the marital home—a dilapidated, priceless London townhouse—but John's not there. Instead, she's with his brother, the profoundly banal Claude, and the two of them have a plan. But there is a witness to their plot: the inquisitive, nine-month-old resident of Trudy's womb.
Told from a perspective unlike any other, Nutshell is a classic tale of murder and deceit from one of the world’s master storytellers.
Review
"McEwan has thrown in Gone Girl intrigue with The Girl on the Train suspense and given us his take on how toxic a marriage can get when spliced with a Shakespearean cast. Who knew McEwan could mix high and low literary genres to create such a bizarrely readable mash-up?" The Independent
Review
"There is far more going on in this fiercely intelligent novel than first meets the eye. At once playful and deadly serious, delightful and frustrating, it is one of McEwan's hardest to categorize works, and all the more interesting for it." The Times (London)
Review
"A creative gamble that pays off brilliantly. Witty and gently tragic, this short, bewitching novel is an ode to humanity’s beauty, selfishness and inextinguishable longing." Mail on Sunday
Review
"In Nutshell, McEwan is a pentathlete at the top of his game, doing several very different things equally well. Current literary culture rarely awards gold medals for comedy, but this is one performance—agile, muscular, swift—you should not miss." Sunday Times (London)
Review
"Nutshell is an orb, a Venetian glass paperweight of a book....It is a consciously late, deliberately elegiac masterpiece, a calling together of everything McEwan has learned and knows about his art." The Guardian
Synopsis
New from the bestselling author of Atonement and The Children Act
Trudy has betrayed her husband, John. She's still in the marital home--a dilapidated, priceless London townhouse--but John's not there. Instead, she's with his brother, the profoundly banal Claude, and the two of them have a plan. But there is a witness to their plot: the inquisitive, nine-month-old resident of Trudy's womb.
Told from a perspective unlike any other, Nutshell is a classic tale of murder and deceit from one of the world's master storytellers.
About the Author
Ian McEwan is the bestselling author of fifteen previous books, including the novels Sweet Tooth; Solar, winner of the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize; On Chesil Beach; Saturday; Atonement, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award and the W. H. Smith Literary Award; The Comfort of Strangers and Black Dogs, both short-listed for the Booker Prize; Amsterdam, winner of the Booker Prize; and The Child in Time, winner of the Whitbread Award; as well as the story collections First Love, Last Rites, winner of the Somerset Maugham Award, and In Between the Sheets.