On Chesil Beach

A really moving book written by one of the most well-known authors of our day.

In July of 1962. Florence is a gifted musician who envisions herself as a concert pianist and the ideal life she would build with Edward, a sincere young University College of London history student who captured her heart by surprise. Edward and Florence, who were just married that morning and were both virgins, show up to a hotel on the Dorset shore. They find it difficult to control their anxieties over the upcoming wedding night as they eat supper in their rooms. While Edward, full of anticipation for rapture, worries about Florence's reaction to his advances and harbors a secret fear of failing, Florence's concerns are more profound: she is so repulsed by the thought of making physical contact that she fears disappointing her husband when they eventually lie down in the honeymoon suite.

At a period when marriage was seen as the external manifestation of independence and maturity, Ian McEwan has captured the innocence of Edward and Florence with empathy and understanding. Another masterpiece by McEwan is On Chesil Beach, which tells the tale of lives changed by an unsaid word or gesture.