welcome to book notes this week is the plot summary of atonement a novel written by Ian McEwan spoilers ahead atonement is a novel written in three parts part one tells the story during the day's last night at the Tallis family estate it focuses on the protagonist thirteen-year-old Briony Tallis who aspires to be a novelist she has written a play called the trousers of Arabella which is to be performed at a dinner for the homecoming of her brother Leon and other guests the firmly is expecting a visit from their maternal cousins the young twins Jackson and Pierrot and 15 year old Louisville no Quincy all of whom have been temporarily cast adrift by their parents divorce and the chocolate magnates Paul Marshall we also learned that the father Jack Tallis is off in London at his government job while the mother Emily Tallis is at home with a migraine in the middle of all this hustle and bustle Robbie Turner the son of the housekeeper realizes that he has fallen hopelessly and passionately in love with his childhood friend Cecilia Tallis briney witnesses a scene between her older sister and act that is gravely misunderstood by the by her young imagination and this sets off a series of events which has eternal consequences for the three of them during the fountain scene briny intercepts a letter from Robbie to Cecilia and reads it in it she discovers his perverse desires and sets out to protect her sister from the sex crave manic Robbie Turner which she believes he is before she can do that she witnesses the couple making love in the library and mistakes her for assault further confirming her son Jen that Robbie is out to harm Cecilia for the night history her twin cousins run away from the home triggering the rest of the dinner party to search for them in the dark briny who was searching alone witnesses a rape taking place of her older cousin Lola Quincey not one to miss the opportunity briny convinces everyone at the scene including new authorities that the assault was done by Robbie Turner he is later taken away to jail part two of the novel follows Robbie Tanner as he retreats through France as a soldier during the world war separated from his battalion Robbie is marching through the countryside with two of the corporals trying to get to the air vacua ssin town of Dunkirk during his march Robbie experiences the atrocities of war and has plenty of time to consider his situation as a soldier a criminal and a victim of bronies false accusations Robbie's severely wounded but is determined to make it home to Cecelia who was waiting for him Patri picks up the eighteen-year-old Briony Tallis who has signed up as a nurse in London suffering from the guilt of her crime as a girl brandy hopes Nursing will act as penance for her sins briny is also still writing she submits a story to a London journal which is rejected but in the rejection she is encouraged to develop the story further as it is quite good when the soldiers returned from Dunkirk briny experiences the horror of war firsthand and is humiliated at her failure to perform her daily duty as a nurse during that period she also attends the wedding of poor Marshall - Lola Quincey brownie does nothing to stop the marriage of those two later on brownie visitors her sister Anytus discovered that Robbie is still alive and living with Cecilia she does not so much ask for forgiveness from those two lovers as simply admits her guilt and seeks counsel on what she can do to make it better Robbie and Cecilia give briny a list of instructions to follow that will help her clear Robbie's name briny agrees to do each one of them and heads back to work in London the last we see of Robbie and Cecilia are on the to station platform the final section of the novel is written in president de London 1999 and as a letter from the author to the reader it is revealed here that the author is briny herself she explains that she was able to write the war part of the book written in the aid of the letters from the museum arc and pen pal relationships with one of the corporals with whom Robbie marched with but is also revealed that briny is dying in the final twist of the novel briny informs her reader that she has made up the part about visiting Cecilia and Robbie in London and how both people actually died during the war for the reason that briny wanted their love to last forever in the pages of her book thus being her final atonement to her crime this novel ends up not being a novel by Ian McEwan rather a novel written by briny all alone thus being fourth wall breaking