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Literary Fiction · Dark

Two old friends make a pact after the funeral of a woman they both loved

Amsterdam

by Ian McEwan

1998Easy readFast pace
★ Booker Prize, 1998

Two friends and a dangerous pact

After the funeral of Molly Lane, two of her former lovers, the composer Clive Linley and the newspaper editor Vernon Halliday, make an agreement about each other's future. Their decisions in the months that follow test their friendship. It won the 1998 Booker Prize.

More about this book

Who

Clive Linley, a composer, and Vernon Halliday, a newspaper editor.

World

London and the Lake District in the late 1990s.

What makes it different

It is a short, tightly plotted comedy of manners with a dark turn.

Feel

Sharp and chilly.

See it on Amazon

Page count and cover shown for: Selected edition

Further reading

About the author

Ian McEwan1 book on Tori Books