Atonement
British novelist, born 1948. Won the Booker Prize in 1998 and the Costa Novel Award in 1987.
Atonement is a 2001 novel by Ian McEwan. It was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2001.
On 10 of the 19 lists it was eligible for.
The Novel Index earns a small commission if you buy through our links, at no extra cost to you. It never affects our rankings. More about how we earn.
At a glance
- Author
- Ian McEwan
- First published
- 2001
- Length
- 384 pages (UK paperback)
- Awards
- Booker Prize shortlist, 2001
- Costa Novel Award shortlist, 2001
- Genre
- Literary fiction, War and conflict, Psychological
Is Atonement worth reading?
10 of the 19 best-of lists it could have made include it, among them 100 novels everyone should read (The Telegraph) and Readers' top 100 novels (The Guardian).
| List | Place | Original |
|---|---|---|
| 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime (Amazon.co.uk, 2014) | Listed | See the list |
| 100 novels everyone should read (The Telegraph, 2009) | No. 30 | See the list |
| All-Time 100 Novels (Time, 2005) | Listed | See the list |
| Booker Prize (winners and shortlists) (Booker Prize Foundation, 2001) | Shortlist | See the list |
| Costa (Whitbread) Novel Award (winners and shortlists) (Costa, 2001) | Shortlist | See the list |
| Readers' top 100 novels (The Guardian, 2026) | No. 49 | See the list |
| The 100 best books of the 21st century (The Guardian, 2019) | No. 41 | See the list |
| The 100 best books of the 21st century (The New York Times, 2024) | No. 26 | See the list |
| The 100 greatest British novels (BBC Culture, 2015) | No. 15 | See the list |
| The 100 greatest novels of all time (The Observer, 2003) | Listed | See the list |
Best edition of Atonement
The edition we link to is the Vintage paperback (2002), 384 pages.
- Publisher
- Vintage (paperback, 2002)
- Pages
- 384
- ISBN
- 9780099429791
How critics, prizes and readers rate Atonement
Critics rate it most highly: it earned 58% of the points available on critics' lists, against 44% on prize lists and 29% on readers' and booksellers' lists.
Share of the available points it earned on each kind of list it was eligible for. How the scores work
Books like Atonement
If you liked Atonement, try Lolita, The Golden Notebook or The Tin Drum.
