LoveReading Says
November 2011 Guest Editor Victoria Hislop selects On Chesil Beach...
On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan is a favourite McEwan novel, though I have loved them all. I admire the spareness of his writing - it always seems as if he has written the whole story in his head before he commits it to the page. Nothing is left to chance. The characters are always vivid and memorable - and the plots utterly original and every novel is a surprise. Perhaps I admire this novel most of all his works because of its brevity. It is a huge story in a tiny volume. I admire that skill enormously, to say so much in so few words is a great gift.
Winner of the Book of the Year and Author of the Year at the Galaxy British Book Awards 2008.
A heartbreaking novel that is beautifully written. So much can be undone by what is left unsaid and McEwan is a master at conveying this.
Please note that this title is also available in a Large Print edition. Click here to find out more.
LoveReading
Find This Book In
On Chesil Beach Synopsis
The #1 bestselling author of Saturday and Atonement brilliantly illuminates the collision of sexual longing, deep-seated fears and romantic fantasy in his unforgettable, emotionally engaging new novel.The year is 1962. Florence, the daughter of a successful businessman and an aloof Oxford academic, is a talented violinist. She dreams of a career on the concert stage and of the perfect life she will create with Edward, the earnest young history student she met by chance and who unexpectedly wooed her and won her heart. Edward grew up in the country on the outskirts of Oxford where his father, the headmaster of the local school, struggled to keep the household together and his mother, brain-damaged from an accident, drifted in a world of her own. Edwards native intelligence, coupled with a longing to experience the excitement and intellectual fervour of the city, had taken him to University College in London. Falling in love with the accomplished, shy and sensitive Florence and having his affections returned with equal intensity has utterly changed his life. Their marriage, they believe, will bring them happiness, the confidence and the freedom to fulfill their true destinies. The glowing promise of the future, however, cannot totally mask their worries about the wedding night. Edward, who has had little experience with women, frets about his sexual prowess. Florences anxieties run deeper: she is overcome by conflicting emotions and a fear of the moment she will surrender herself.From the precise and intimate depiction of two young lovers eager to rise above the hurts and confusion of the past, to the touching story of how their unexpressed misunderstandings and fears shape the rest of their lives, On Chesil Beach is an extraordinary novel that brilliantly, movingly shows us how the entire course of a life can be changed by a gesture not made or a word not spoken.From the Hardcover edition.
About This Edition
-127x200.jpg)
