Ian McEwans’ On Chesil Beach tells the story of two young newly-weds on their wedding night and the disastrous consequence of sexual repression, naiveté and longing. Whilst very different from Atonement, I was still drawn in by the characters and at the same time frustrated and saddened by the social conventions of the time which caused their suffering. I think this is a wonderful portrait of a specific time in British history just before the sexual liberation of the late sixties and seventies really took off. It makes me glad to be born in the last quarter of the century and not before. My mother actually gave me this book from Chrsitmas, knowing I liked Atonement. She had originally bought it for my father as they had both recently visited the eponymous Chesil Beach but upon closer inspection of the subject matter, she thought it probably wasn’t for him!
I have taken a rest for the time being from Kate Mosse’s Sepulchre, which I am enjoying but from which I need a break. Instead, I am racing through Lee Child’s latest Nothing to Lose. Jack Reacher is the sexiest man in modern fiction!
