Atonement (2001) by Ian McEwan is a novel of guilt, love, and unreliable narration set across 1930s England, World War II, and the present. It examines how a child's misinterpretation shatters lives, with Briony Tallis seeking redemption through writing.
Main Characters
·
Briony Tallis: Imaginative 13-year-old aspiring
writer whose vivid misreading of adult desire leads to a false accusation;
matures into a remorseful nurse and author crafting atonement.
·
Cecilia Tallis: Independent Oxford graduate and
Briony's elegant older sister; falls deeply in love with Robbie but loses
everything due to the accusation.
·
Robbie Turner: Charismatic son of the Tallis
housekeeper, educated by Cecilia's father; intelligent and principled, his life
derails after prison and war service.
Minor Characters
·
Lola Quincey: 15-year-old cousin of the Tallis
girls, actually raped by Paul Marshall; identifies Robbie as the attacker under
Briony's influence.
·
Paul Marshall: Sleazy chocolate magnate guest; the
true rapist who later marries Lola to silence her.
·
Jackson and Pierrot Quincey: Lola's mischievous
younger twin brothers who run away, sparking the night's chaos.
·
Grace Turner: Robbie's loyal mother and the Tallis
family housekeeper.
Plot Summary
In 1935 at the Tallis estate, Briony
misinterprets flirtations between Cecilia and Robbie—including a fountain scene
and explicit letter—as predatory; she then wrongly accuses him of raping Lola
during a search for the twins.
Imprisoned then conscripted into WWII, wounded Robbie retreats to Dunkirk while
nursing Cecilia severs family ties; Briony, realizing her error as a nurse,
seeks to recant but finds them dead.
Elderly Briony reveals her novel grants fictional reunion and happy ending to
Robbie and Cecilia—her ultimate atonement, as reality offered none.
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