Characters

The main character of Ian McEwan’s novel Atonement is Briony Tallis. She is the youngest child of the Tallis family and wishes to become a writer. Briony’s fanciful imagination and desire to be the center of attention are her defining traits, but they also cause her to make a serious mistake that she ends up regretting her entire life. 

Robbie Turner is the son of the Tallises’ cleaning lady and a close friend of the Tallis children. He is smart and ambitious and develops a passion for Cecilia, Briony’s older sister. Their secret romance is discovered by Briony, who misunderstands the dynamic between them. 

Lola Quincey is Briony’s older cousin who comes to stay with the Tallises for the summer while her parents are going through a divorce. She attracts the attention of Paul Marshall, a millionaire and friend of Leon Tallis, Cecilia and Briony’s older brother. Paul Marshall assaults and rapes Lola but he gets away with his crime. 

Emily Tallis, the mother of Briony, Cecilia, and Leon, is also an important character. She seems to dislike Lola because of a childhood resentment toward her sister Hermione, who is Lola’s mother. 

Other notable characters include Pierrot and Jackson Quincey, who are Lola’s younger brothers, Jack Tallis, and Robbie’s mother Grace. Danny Hardman, a servant of the Tallis family, and Corporals Mace and Nettle, whom Robbie meets during the war are also worth mentioning. The relationships between Briony, Robbie, and Cecilia are central to the narrative. 

You can read full characterizations and detailed analyses of character relationships in the following pages.