Lessons
by Ian McEwan
A reflection of history and humanity that follows the dramatic life of one man from the dividing power of the iron curtain to the recent pandemic. Booker Prize winner Ian McEwan knows how to weave a thought provoking, gripping story so we’re sure this will delight his fans.
A sweeping (even sprawling) account of a single man’s life as it intertwines with the major political events of the 20th and early 21st centuries. It opens in the wake of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986, as Roland Baines’ wife leaves him and his infant son to fend for themselves. Flashing back and forth through time, we take in the Cuban Missile Crisis, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as Baines’ personal history—notably a damaging sexual relationship with a piano teacher in early adolescence and its emotional repercussions throughout the rest of his life. Over a period of decades, Baines grows, matures, and ultimately takes stock of the world and his role in it. An ambitious social novel.
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