Ian McEwan, one of Britain's most celebrated and provocative literary voices, has had his formidable body of work definitively ranked. From his early, chilling short stories to the audacious novel narrated by a foetus, we count down his ten most essential reads.
10. First Love, Last Rites (1975)
McEwan's debut collection announced a unique and unsettling talent. These short stories, steeped in transgression and the macabre, immediately marked him as a master of psychological discomfort and a formidable new voice in British fiction.
9. The Child in Time (1987)
A profound departure, this novel explores the devastating aftermath of a child's abduction. It merges a gripping personal tragedy with a sharp critique of Thatcherite Britain, showcasing McEwan's ability to weave the political with the deeply personal.
8. Amsterdam (1998)
The novel that clinched the Booker Prize is a sleek, darkly comic tale of a euthanasia pact between two friends. A moral thriller that examines ambition, envy, and hypocrisy with McEwan's characteristically precise and lethal prose.
7. The Cement Garden (1978)
McEwan's first novel is a claustrophobic and brilliant gothic tale. Following children who hide their mother's body in cement, it remains a shocking and powerful exploration of feral innocence and familial isolation.
6. Enduring Love (1997)
Famous for its terrifying opening accident involving a hot-air balloon, this is a masterclass in suspense. It delves into obsession and the fragility of rational thought, beginning with a jolt and sustaining its tension to the very last page.
5. Saturday (2005)
Set against the backdrop of the 2003 Iraq War protests, this is a high-wire act of real-time narration. Taking place over a single day, it follows neurosurgeon Henry Perowne, exploring the precariousness of modern civilisation and the threats that besiege it.
4. On Chesil Beach (2007)
A devastating novella of exquisite tenderness and tragedy. It captures the sexual ignorance and stifling social mores of early 1960s England through the story of two newlyweds on their wedding night, where a single moment alters the course of their lives forever.
3. The Innocent (1990)
A gripping Cold War thriller set in 1950s Berlin, based on a true story. It combines a tender coming-of-age romance with a brutally graphic scene of dismemberment, showcasing McEwan's unparalleled range from the violent to the vulnerable.
2. Nutshell (2016)
A breathtaking feat of literary audacity. McEwan brilliantly tells a story of murder and betrayal from the perspective of a witty, opinionated, and utterly helpless foetus. A modern-day Hamlet that is as clever as it is compelling.
1. Atonement (2001)
Widely regarded as McEwan's magnum opus. This sweeping, heartbreaking novel about a young girl's catastrophic false accusation and its lifelong consequences is a perfect masterpiece of narrative construction, emotional depth, and devastating payoff.
