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Ian McEwan (b1948)
Who?
The master of shocking, dark tales of paranoia, violence and sex. The influences on his work can be seen in other angry literature, such as William Golding's Lord of the Flies. His writing is frequently informed by reading scientific tracts.
Must reads
First Loves, Last Rites (1975), The Cement Garden (1978), In Between the Sheets and Other Stories (1978), The Comfort of Strangers (1981), The Child in Time (1978), The Innocent (1990), Black Dogs (1992), The Daydreamer (1994), Enduring Love (1997), Amsterdam (1998) and Atonement (2001).
Darkest hour
McEwan's ex-wife Penny Allen kidnapped their 13-year-old son and took him to France in 1999. The boy was later returned.
Greatest triumph
Winning the Booker Prize in 1998 for Amsterdam.
Essential quotes
'The eyes that held mine were small and dry, not reddened by grief, but sunk, and glazed by weariness. She looked a long way off, out on her own in unspeakable weather, like a lone Arctic explorer.' (Joe about Mrs Logan in Enduring Love)
'He looked around at his fellow mourners now, many of them his own age, Molly's age, to within a year or two. How prosperous, how influential, how they had flourished under a government they had despised for almost seventeen years.' (Amsterdam)
'A taste for the miniature was one aspect of an orderly spirit.' (Atonement)
Gossip
In 1997 McEwan married journalist Annalena McAfee.
Film versions
Charlotte Gainsbourg and Sinead Cusack starred in a 1993 release of The Cement Garden.
What to say
His stories have often turned on the conflict between rational and irrational, sinister sides of human nature, but with Amsterdam he became more concerned with social satire and claims to have been influenced by Evelyn Waugh (1903-1966), the highly influential author who many called a fascist.
Don't say
Would he be able to give me some pointers for a weekend break in Amsterdam?
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