On Chesil Beach

Shortlisted: The Man Booker Prize 2007
Published by Jonathan Cape: 5 April 2007

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Ian McEwan’s devastating novel about ways in which the entire course of a life can be changed by a gesture not made or a word not spoken

What speaks louder – inaction or unspoken words? It is June, 1962. In a hotel on the Dorset coast, overlooking Chesil Beach, Edward and Florence, married that morning, are sitting down to dinner in their room. Neither is entirely able to suppress anxiety about the wedding night to come…

Ian McEwan

Ian McEwan, born in Aldershot, England, is a critically acclaimed author and winner of the Booker Prize in 1998

More about Ian McEwan

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Reading guide: On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan

Set in the borderlands of English history immediately before the liberation of the Swinging Sixties, Ian McEwan’s short novel reveals how a life can be irrevocably altered by a moment’s twist of fate

An extract from On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan

Ian McEwan’s devastating novel, about the ways in which the entire course of a life can be changed by a gesture not made or a word not spoken, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2007

Where to start with Ian McEwan: a guide to his best books

As a Booker Prize winner with multiple shortlistings, Ian McEwan stands among the most celebrated authors in modern literary history. With a career spanning over 50 years in print, we select some of his best works