Ian McEwan

Ian McEwan is at a stage in his writing life where he could be coasting on his laurels or organizing his papers for the inevitable memoir(s). McEwan, though, is not that kind of writer—at least not yet. More than a dozen books into his career, he seems to be getting only better and more ambitious. His recent string of novels—most notably Atonement and Saturday—have displayed increasing thematic and structural complexity, as well as a warmth and compassion that was often missing from his early fiction. His latest novel is a slim piece of work, but manages to pack an epic’s worth of telling details into its examination of an often calamitous marriage.