Progress is slow until the evening comes and then accelerates just enough to tip you unwillingly towards the novel’s apex. The story flits, like a summer firefly, from one character to another, giving the reader access to their inner monologue and private preoccupations. The first section of the book is set on a single, stiflingly hot, summer’s day in 1935. The real genius that McEwan demonstrates is his ability to vary the pace and tenor of his writing to suit the events or feelings he describes. Suffice to say the action takes place in the middle of the last century and concentrates on the troubled Tallis family - Leon, Cecilia and Briony - and their housekeeper’s son Robbie. Just in case anyone else has, like me, managed to hitherto avoid its charms I won’t spoil the story. I can understand why it occupies such a prime spot in McEwan’s oeuvre. All that changed this week and I’m very glad that it did.
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