Atonement

Anne:

**ONE OF THE GUARDIAN’S 100 BEST BOOKS OF THE 21st CENTURY**

Atonement is one of McEwan’s more serious novels that brings to mind those of H. E. Bates.

It has an old English Stylishness about it. The characters are old fashioned in their ways and yet the whole thing never ceases to be gripping.

The three main characters are children, and the action takes place over one day, a day, for which at least one of them, will spend her life trying to atone.

Other Reviews:

‘The best thing he has ever written’ Observer

"Smoulders with slow-burning menace" * The Times of London *

A complex, thought-provoking novel. -- Fanny Blake * Woman and Home *

Brilliantly explores the currents of guilt, shame and anger... Utterly satisfying, complete * Scotsman *

An evocative depiction of the dangers of innocence and ignorance in the face of uncomfortable reality. * Herald *

Atonement is a masterpiece...it is also an elegy to a time which, however volatile, still had certainties * The Times of London *

 A beautiful and majestic fictional panorama -- John Updike McEwan's best novel so far, his masterpiece * Evening Standard *