Atonement is a 2001 British metafictional novel written by Ian McEwan. Set in three time periods, 1935 England, Second World War England and France, and present-day England, it covers an upper-class … See more

Part one
Briony Tallis, a 13-year-old English girl with a talent for writing, lives at her family's country estate with … See more

• Briony Tallis – The younger sister of Leon and Cecilia Tallis, Briony is an aspiring writer. She is a thirteen-year-old at the beginning of the novel and takes part in sending Robbie … See more

Atonement contains intertextual references to a number of other literary works, including Gray's Anatomy, Virginia Woolf's The Waves See more

Upon release, Atonement was generally well-received among the British press. The Guardian gave the novel an average rating of 7.4 out of 10 based on reviews from multiple British … See more

The novel was initially named An Atonement. Historian Tim Garton-Ash, to whom McEwan often shows his book drafts, persuaded McEwan to change the title at the last minute.
It was first published by then publishing director Dan Franklin, See more

In late 2006, the agent for the late romance and historical author Lucilla Andrews accused McEwan of failing to give Andrews sufficient … See more