NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTUREI cannot remember the last time I read a novel so beautifully written or utterly compelling from the very first page' Bill Bryson, -Sunday TimesOne windy spring day in the Chilterns, Joe Rose's calm, organized life is shattered by a ballooning accident. The afternoon, Rose reflects, could have ended in mere tragedy, but for his brief meeting with Jed Parry. Unknown to Rose, something passes between them - something that gives birth in Parry to an obsession so powerful that it will test to the limits Rose's beloved scientific rationalism, threaten the love of his wife Clarissa and drive him to the brink of murder and madness.
Ian Russell McEwan (born 21 June 1948) is a British novelist and screenwriter. He began his career writing sparse, Gothic short stories. His first two novels, *The Cement Garden* (1978) and The *Comfort of Strangers* (1981), earned him the nickname "Ian Macabre". These were followed by three novels of some success in the late 1980s and early 1990s. His 1997 novel *Enduring Love* was adapted into a film of the same name. He won the Booker Prize with *Amsterdam* (1998). He was awarded the 1999 Shakespeare Prize. His next novel, *Atonement* (2001), garnered acclaim and was adapted into an Oscar-winning film. He received the 2011 Jerusalem Prize. His later novels have included *The Children Act, Nutshell, Machines Like Me* and *What We Can Know.*
