ATONEMENT by Ian McEwan

Note: I am not a paid reviewer, and I have purchased this title to read for my personal enjoyment.

Unfortunate encounters at the Tallis family estate in the English countryside in 1935 change the lives of 13 year old Briony Tallis, her older sister Cecilia and Cecilia’s new love interest Robbie, the son of the Tallis family’s cleaning lady. Briony observes her sister and Robbie and a sense of foreboding builds through Briony’s malaise of righteous, jealous and power-seeking young-girl thoughts, and gloomy descriptions of the estate. Briony concocts a false accusation that Robbie was the perpetrator of a sexual assault on the estate grounds and all 3 lives change. The scene shifts to WW2 and Dunkirk, and we find ourselves in the grit and despair of the army’s evacuation and Robbie’s thoughts for his “Cee”, and about Briony and her accusations that destroyed him. The setting flashes forward to Briony working as nurse after the war, seeking atonement for the terrible injustice she set in motion, leading to a shocking twist at the end. This story is steeped with masterful internal narrative to force us to mull why—from the point of view of both the accuser and accused. Yes, the book normally beats the movie, but Atonement the movie sure measures up. Starring Keira Knightley and James McAvoy, the film portrays life at an English country house in a perfect mood for the events to follow, and eventually moves to a highly-acclaimed scene set on the beaches of Dunkirk.