November 2011 Guest Editor Victoria Hislop selects On Chesil Beach...
On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan is a favourite McEwan novel, though I have loved them all. I admire the spareness of his writing - it always seems as if he has written the whole story in his head before he commits it to the page. Nothing is left to chance. The characters are always vivid and memorable - and the plots utterly original and every novel is a surprise. Perhaps I admire this novel most of all his works because of its brevity. It is a huge story in a tiny volume. I admire that skill enormously, to say so much in so few words is a great gift.
Winner of the Book of the Year and Author of the Year at the Galaxy British Book Awards 2008. A heartbreaking novel that is beautifully written. So much can be undone by what is left unsaid and McEwan is a master at conveying this.
Please note that this title is also available in a Large Print edition. Click here to find out more.
Ian McEwan's celebrated novel, now an unmissable film starring Oscar nominee Saoirse Ronan (Atonement, Brooklyn) It is July 1962. Edward and Florence, young innocents married that morning, arrive at a hotel on the Dorset coast. At dinner in their rooms they struggle to suppress their private fears of the wedding night to come and, unbeknownst to them both, the events of the evening will haunt them for the rest of their lives.
