Atonement, the eighth novel by celebrated British author Ian McEwan. McEwan is a masterful storyteller and his writing is absolutely sublime. I was quickly drawn into the story and spent several lazy afternoons of my summer holiday immersed in its pages.

Part One of the novel take place on the hottest day in the summer of 1935. The Tallis family, which includes the novel's protagonist Briony, host a visit from their cousins, twin boys Jackson and Pierrot, and fifteen-year-old Lola, as well as Brionys older brother Leon and his friend Paul Marshall.

Briony witnesses a moment between her sister Cecilia and her childhood friend Robbie by the fountain which stirs the young girls wild imagination. What follows is a series of misunderstandings, fuelled by Briony's 'witness' testimony to seeing things she doesn't quite understand, which result in Robbie being wrongly imprisoned for another mans crime.

Part Two of the novel is set in England and France during World War II. Robbie has spent several years in prison for the crime he didnt commit before enlisting in the army and being posted to France, and Cecilia has trained as a nurse and has cut off contact with her family. The scenes in France and the retreat to Dunkirk are particularly vivid and I dont think Ive read anything that describes it as well as in Atonement. The same goes for Part Three when Briony is working as a trainee nurse in a London hospital.

Atonement is a bittersweet novel about fantasy versus reality, love and war, guilt and forgiveness. The prose is pristine and Ian McEwan has become one of my favourite fiction writers. The film adaptation directed by Joe Wright is fantastic, but if you havent already, I highly recommend reading the book!