On Chesil Beach

Author Name: Ian McEwan

“The way he would look away and then remain silent, those prolonged expectations of her giving him more, and when she didn’t, it turned into disappointment because it slowed everything down. No matter how many new boundaries she managed to cross, there was always another one waiting for her. Every concession she made made demands increase, and then disappointment. Even in their happiest moments, the specter of accusation continued, the barely concealed misery of loss hovering like a towering mountain between them, a kind of eternal sadness that both accepted as existing because of her. She wanted to love and be herself, but to be herself she would have to refuse all the time, and then she wouldn’t be herself.” * It was Edward and Florence’s wedding night, which went perfectly until they went to dinner and spent the night at a quiet beach hotel, each feeling the weight of what the other expected of them tonight, summoning up memories that sometimes helped them feel excited, sometimes terrified. Without them fully realizing it, what they do tonight, every word they speak, every gesture they make, will set the foundations for their lifelong relationship. This is a novel about perfect, deep love, about the waves of romance crashing against the rocks of reality, and about society being radically changed by things people experience alone, in their rooms, far from the wide streets and the loud screams.