NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER - A NEW YORKER ESSENTIAL READ - From
the best-selling author of Atonement and Saturday comes the epic and
intimate story of one man's life across generations and historical
upheavals. From the Suez Crisis to the Cuban Missile Crisis, the fall of
the Berlin Wall to the current pandemic, Roland Baines sometimes rides
with the tide of history, but more often struggles against it.
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: Vogue - The New Yorker
"Masterful.... McEwan is a storyteller at the peak of his powers.... One
of the joys of the novel is the way it weaves history into Roland's
biography.... The pleasure in reading this novel is letting it wash over
you." --Associated Press
When the world is still counting the cost of the Second World War and
the Iron Curtain has closed, eleven-year-old Roland Baines's life is
turned upside down. Two thousand miles from his mother's protective
love, stranded at an unusual boarding school, his vulnerability attracts
piano teacher Miss Miriam Cornell, leaving scars as well as a memory of
love that will never fade.
Now, when his wife vanishes, leaving him alone with his tiny son, Roland
is forced to confront the reality of his restless existence. As the
radiation from Chernobyl spreads across Europe, he begins a search for
answers that looks deep into his family history and will last for the
rest of his life.
Haunted by lost opportunities, Roland seeks solace through every
possible means--music, literature, friends, sex, politics, and, finally,
love cut tragically short, then love ultimately redeemed. His journey
raises important questions for us all. Can we take full charge of the
course of our lives without causing damage to others? How do global
events beyond our control shape our lives and our memories? And what can
we really learn from the traumas of the past?
Epic, mesmerizing, and deeply humane, Lessons is a chronicle for our
times--a powerful meditation on history and humanity through the prism
of one man's lifetime.
