Ian McEwan won the Booker Prize in 1998 with Amsterdam, and with six other nominations, he’s in joint second place for number of Booker nominations. Nowadays, his position is that of a statesman of contemporary English literature and is very different from the reputation he acquired in the 1970s, as an enfant terrible. If you’ve only read his recent novels, you’re missing out on some of the darkly glittering gems among his early work. He wasn’t called Ian Macabre for nothing... Tap the link in our bio for the full article. By wide agreement, if Ian McEwan has one masterpiece, it’s Atonement. Inspired by McEwan reflecting on errors that cannot be corrected – particularly the two world wars – and how far we can atone for mistakes. It’s both an original work of art and a tribute to the literary past: a country house drama, a story of the horrors of war, and a meditation on memory. The story is set in the summer of 1962 – a transitional time for English society (and the year before ‘s...