Atonement

McEwan, Ian. Atonement. New York: Doubleday/Talese, 2002.

 

Source: NoveList

The innocent mistake of a 13-year-old English girl changes the life of her whole family, when she accuses her sister's lover of a crime he did not commit. A leisurely paced novel with a reflective tone and a haunting plot, which also depicts very well the times that headed to the World War II. "Every lustrously rendered, commanding scene is charged with both despair and diabolical wit, and McEwan’s Jamesian prose covers the emotional spectrum from searing eroticism to toxic guilt" (Booklist review in NoveList).

An adaptation of this story to the big screen was directed by Joe Wright and released in 2007. Starring Keira Knigthley and James McAvoy, this movie was entirely filmed in the UK and won an Oscar for Original Music Score.

+ The movie in IMDB
  +  Watch an interview with Ian McEwan just after the publication of his first novel The Cement Garden in 1979.
      + Atonement in our library catalogue GO!

Sources: NoveList, PublishersWeekly, IMDB, BBC Archive, The Guardian (Australia)

 

Pride and Prejudice

Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. Melbourne : Brolga, 2010.

 

Source: http://www.abebooks.co.uk

This is the story of four young women from a low social class but respectable family who are in the age to get married. Elizabeth, one of these young women, meets Mr. Darcy, a man from a higher social level and they become involved in a relationship that will take them closer to each other environment. Through their story we see two social classes  that leave pride and prejudice aside and start to understand each other. 

An engaging and romantic story that take us to the England of the 19th Century through a critical thinking of its social conditions.

The last adaptation of this novel, released in 2005, starred Keira Knightley and was directed by Joe Wright. The film was nominated to the Oscars in four categories.

+ This year marks the 200th anniversary of the publishing of Pride and Prejudice and many events were held around the world to celebrate it.
+ Pride and Prejudice in our library catalogue GO!

Sources: Trove, Charlotte Mecklenburg Library (Reader's Club),  IMDB, NoveList