"His excitement was close to pain and sharpened by the pressure of contradictions: she was familiar like a sister, she was exotic like a lover; he had always known her, he knew nothing about her; she was plain, she was beautiful..."
"I'll wait for you. Come back."
Briony Tallis, 13 years old and aspiring to be a writer, witnesses her older sister Cecilia in her underwear retrieving a piece of a broken vase in the fountain outside their home, while Robbie Turner, the son of the Tallises' housekeeper looks on. They all grew up together, Cecilia and Robbie also both attending Cambridge. Later on, Briony espies the two making love in the library and Briony misinterprets it as rape, on account of an earlier note, which contained lewd remakrs Robbie has written for Cecilia which Briony is supposed to have delivered to Cecilia but reads it first. Later on, Lola, one of their visiting cousins is raped, but she couldn't or wouldn't tell who attacks her. Briony tells everyone it is Robbie who did the dastardly act and that Robbie is a maniac. Robbie is sent to prison and is released only to serve in the military and to fight in the war. Cecilia leaves her family and enlists as a nurse.
-o0o-
we can put back together a broken vase or a cracked mirror, but the crack still remains, the image may not appear to be distorted but we know the crack is there. such is the effect of lies on people's lives.
*
this is the front of the little home with the nice garden from yesterday's posting.
This is sad -- I use to read all the time -- but sounds like now all I do is watch TV -- because I know this as the movie!! Heartbreaking story -- how lies and the damage they do cannot be undone... Beautiful cottage, beautiful picture.....serene and peaceful!
@danig - thank you, DG. i read this one when it first came out. i read 'amsterdam' and liked it so i got this book. difficult to read in the beginning, but all of mcewan's books are like that. but once you got into the good part, you just keep going till the end. i can't do 'amsterdam', though, as i gave away that book.
lovely photo of the home with the pretty garden...and great way to illustrate that you never know what lies behind a facade or beyond a front door until you can look beyond those barriers and find out the realities for yourself
September 18th, 2011
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@eddyj - not quite, eddy. but somewhere near around there. thank you.
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@altadc - thank you, alta.