Atonement

Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, Ian McEwan's 2001 novel remains one of his most celebrated works. At a country house on a sweltering summer day in 1935, precocious thirteen-year-old Briony Tallis is shocked to see her older sister Cecilia strip off her clothes and plunge into the garden fountain in the presence of her childhood friend Robbie Turner, the housekeeper's son. When her cousin Lola is assaulted that night, Briony accuses Robbie—and spends the rest of her life making amends for her devastating mistake, first as a wartime nurse and then as a novelist, seeking to understand the fragility of life and the nature of forgiveness.

"It is rare for a critic to feel justified in using the word 'masterpiece.'... Atonement is a work of astonishing depth and humanity."—Economist (London)