I must admit that this wasn’t next on my ‘To Read’ list but I’d been investigating holidays on the Dorset coast and that brought the title to mind.

The front promises that it is ‘devastating’ which seemed a little dramatic for a book only 160 pages long. I wouldn’t say it is devastating but it did affect me. Ian McEwan is excellent at describing exactly what goes on inside his characters’ heads; I felt that I completely understood them. I love his precise prose. I didn’t enjoy every part of the book though, in fact I thought it sagged a little in the middle, but it perked up again towards the end. The finish itself was wonderfully poignant. It reminded me of one of the reasons why I love my husband: he would never have made the mistake that Edward made with Florence on Chesil Beach.

(21st in 2012)