Ian McEwan is one of my favorite literary authors and a Booker Prize winner. His book
Atonement is due to be released soon as a major motion picture starring Keira Knightley and James McAvoy. This powerful story stayed with me a long time and led me to his other writings. A must read. His latest book is
On Chesil Beach. This novella is set in England in 1962 and deals with college graduates Florence and Edward on their wedding night. The story is set on the cusp of the sexual revolution. These newlyweds are desperately in love but each possesses unrelenting anxiety about the physical act of sex; both are virgins and relics, so to speak, of Victorian times. Their fears and their inability to discuss them openly forms the crux of the story. A brief, poignant and ultimately tragic story. The Library also owns the audio edition. McEwan does an excellent job with the narration and there is an added bonus on the CD--an interview with the author.

I used Photobucket here to create a slideshow of Chesil Beach, a breathtaking vacation spot on the English coast