Atonement
Atonement was nominated for the Booker - novels that hark back to Britain's finest hour often get the nod it seems. This masterful and expansive work is divided into three sections, each dealing with a different time period. The first takes place on a sultry summer day in pre-war England. The aristocratic Tallis family is gathered at their stately country estate. The youngest child, the dramatic, attention seeking Briony, in a fit of jealous pique tells a lie whose ramifications resonate through the rest of the novel. The second section describes in graphic detail the chaos and carnage of war both in Dunkirk and at home. Briony faces the horror of what she has done and tries to atone first through nursing in wartime and then through her writing. Finally, an aged Briony, facing her own demise, reflects on the power of her lie and the power of the novelist: "How can a novelist achieve atonement when, with her absolute power of deciding outcomes, she is also God?"
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