Atonement by Ian McEwan
Atonement is set in 1935, when 13-year-old Briony Tallis is a girl on the cusp of womanhood. Based on events she sees but doesn't quite understand, she becomes the reason an innocent man, (Robbie, her older sister's beau) is convicted of a crime that occurred on her family's estate. Years later during World War II, Briony is trying to atone for her guilt by working as a nurse tending to the mountainous piles of wounded that are arriving from Dunkirk, where Robbie himself is fighting. This is the faint outline of a novel about childhood, love, and war by acclaimed British novelist Ian McEwan that has garnered high praise from all quarters. The New York Times calls Atonement "his most complete and compassionate work to date."
