# @thebookerprizes on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DcbVrBqgnUQ
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/69511804-thebookerprizes-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/24ec6bb22f.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-08-24T15:02:36.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** The Booker Prizes (@thebookerprizes) — https://gondola.cc/thebookerprizes

## Caption

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 ‘sexual intercourse began’, as Philip Larkin put it). Set in the summer of 1962, it follows newlyweds Edward and Florence into the bedroom on the first night of their honeymoon, innocent, virginal and nervous. So far, so sweet, but there is a shadow beneath the skin which is revealed only on careful reading. 

Near the beginning of his career, McEwan was nicknamed Ian Macabre by Private Eye magazine, and his early books show you why. The Comfort of Strangers, which earned him his first Booker shortlisting in 1981, is the pinnacle of this phase. The story is a bleak little jewel where the author never flinches – even as the reader is torn between looking away and reading on

Saturday is Ian McEwan’s most overtly political novel, set on one day: 15 February 2003, the day of Britain’s largest ever political demonstration, when more than a million people protested against the imminent invasion of Iraq. McEwan wrote Saturday, intended to be a digressive and meditative novel, as a reaction against the (unexpected to him) success of Atonement. But his skill with immersive action made it another bestseller.

Nutshell is McEwan’s most lighthearted novel – though, McEwan being McEwan, that’s a

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## Credits

| Name | Username | Profile | Role |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| The Booker Prizes | @thebookerprizes | https://gondola.cc/thebookerprizes | Awards Organization |

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