Summary

The novel Atonement by Ian McEwan begins in the summer of 1935 at the Tallis family’s estate in England. Thirteen-year-old Briony Tallis is excited to stage a play she has written for the arrival of her older brother Leon. Her cousins, fifteen-year-old Lola Quincey and the younger Quincey twins, are also staying with the Tallises while their parents go through a divorce. Briony initially wants them to be in the play. However, Briony ends up giving up on the play, because of Lola taking the lead role for herself and the twins’ lack of acting ability.

Briony’s older sister, Cecilia, is arranging flowers in a vase for the guest bedroom where Leon’s friend, Paul Marshall, will stay. While getting water from the fountain, Cecilia runs into Robbie Turner, an old family friend and her former university colleague. They are awkward and tense around each other. Robbie tries to help Cecilia fill the vase with water but ends up breaking the lip of the vase. Cecilia snaps at Robbie and begins to undress to retrieve ...