Atonement - Synopsis

Page 1

Divided in 3 parts and an epilogue

First part takes up half of book

Part 1

Set on hottest day of 1935 on English country estate of Tallis family

Tallis' mannered life depicted at length in slow-moving portrait of day

13 year old Briony Tallis trying to produce melodrama she has written

Parts performed by 3 visiting cousins

Gives up after witnessing through window incident between sister Cecelia and Robbie Turner

Robbie- Son of cleaner at house

Two have been at Cambridge uni

Have just ended degrees

Some awkwardness

Briony witnesses Cecelia strip of clothes and plunge into fountain in grounds of house

Watched by Robbie

Unaware Cecelia dived in to retrieve some pieces from valuable vase she and Robbie have broken

Briony doesn't understand what she sees

Cecelia's brother Leon returning to house with visiting friend Paul Marshall

Occasion for Briony's play

Robie realising attraction to Cecelia

Writes her a note

Adds obscene ending

Rewrites it

Puts wrong version in envelope

Meets Briony on way to house for dinner

Gives her obscene note to carry ahead to Cecelia

Briony opens and reads note

Horrified

Passes note to Cecelia

Cecelia realises Briony's read it

On way from room to dinner, Briony goes to library

Sees Cecelia and Robbie making love

She misinterprets and assumes Robbie attacking Cecelia and is a dangeri=ous madman

After awkward dinner two of cousins (twin boys) go out of room leaving note saying run away

Party breaks to look for them

Briony goes to island in lake

Finds other coousin Lola with man just leaving her

Appears Lola has been attacked

Briony quickly convinces herself Robbie is the rapist

Lola doesn't deny

When Robbie returns from hunt for twins having found both he is arrested

He is eventually imprisoned for rape

Page 2

Part 2

Set 5 years later in northern France during retreat of British army to Dunkirk

Ronnie and two corprals, Nettle and Mace making way to beach for evacuation

As pass through French countryside witnessing horrors of war and being caught in repeated German air attacks

We learn what happened in intervening years

Robbie served part of sentence

Released to join armed forces

He and Cecelia still in love

Have maintained relationship by letter as she has not been able to visit

Cecelia has severed al links with family because they would not accept Robbie's innocence

Briony at last offered to retract original statement and admit publicly Robbie is innocent

Robbie has wound in side

Infected

Becomes progressively worse during walk to Dunkirk

Mind wonders, he's sometimes delirious

Part of novel ends with Robbie sleeping in cellar of house in Dunkirk night before evacuation from beaches

Page 3

Part 3

Takes place in summer 1940

Set in England

Briony has become trainee nurse

Works in London hospial

Within few days hospital transformed

Wounded from Dunkirk begin to arrive on wards

Influx of men with horrendous injuries demands a lot from Briony

She rapidly develops skills to deal with them and handle trauma caring for them

Briony's ambition to be writer continued

Sent story based around episode at fountain to literary journal

Journal rejects story

Sends encouraging letter that gives extended critique of writinf

Story is early version of first part of novel

Briony learns in letter from family Paul Marshall and Lola are getting married

She goes to church uninvited to watch small wedding

After service she goes to Cecelia's flat

Cecelia shocked by arrival

Meeting very fraught and tense

Cecelia remains hostile and resentful towards Briony

Robbie also in flat finds it hard to keep control of fury

Cecelia and Robbie both surprised to learn from Briony she is now certain Paul committed rape

They are shocked and angered to hear of Paul and Lola's marriage

Marriage means not possible to bring Paul to justice

Lola will not speak against him

At end of meeting Robbie makes Briony promise to swear legal oath to tell parents truth and write full account of what really happened

Account will become Atonement

Page 4

Final epilogue

Written by Briony in 1999

Learn novel is culmination of series of drafts created during her life - her act of atonement

Some characters seen earlier still alive

Briony sees from distance Paul and Lola when visiting Imperial War Museum to deposit letters used in writing her book

Now Lord and Lady Marshall

Acknowledges book cannot be published until Paul and Lola dead

Will be after own death

Attends party for birthday held in old Tallis family home

Now country house where her melodrama finally performed

Briony diagnosed with form of dementia

Memory and other faculties will slowly deteriorate until she dies

Means current version of story last she can ever write

Reveals first version she has had Cecelia and Robbie alive together at end

In all previously followed true pattern of events

She suggest saw them both dead before end of 1940