Atonement is a British family saga novel written by author Ian McEwan and published in 2001. It is about understanding and responding to the need for atonement. Set in three time periods, 1935 England, World War II in England and France and the present day England, it covers a young upper-class girl's half-innocent mistake that ruins lives, her adulthood in the shadow of that mistake and a reflection on the nature of writing. It is widely regarded as one of McEwan's best works. It was shortlisted for the 2001 Booker Prize for fiction. TIME magazine named Atonement in its list All-TIME 100 Greatest...