If you liked Christopher Hampton...
... and want to ponder the complexities of adapting books for the screen, why not go back to the originals of two of the novels Christopher’s been discussing:
Ian McEwan: Atonement
Shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2001 and regarded by many as McEwan’s finest novel to date, Atonement opens on a hot summer day in 1934 England when 13-year-old Briony Tallis sees her sister Cecilia strip off her clothes and plunge into the fountain in their garden. Also watching is Robbie Turner, son of the housekeeper and Cecilia’s childhood friend. By the endo fhte day, the lives of all three will have changed forever when Robbie and Cecilia become the victims of Briony’s imagination, as she commits a crime she’ll spend the rest of her life trying to atone for.
Joseph O’Neill: Netherland
Published to rave reviews last year and with fans including Barack Obama, Netherland by Joseph O’Neill has been described as a post 9/11 masterpiece. Set in Manhattan, the novel revolves around Hans, a lonely Dutch stockbroker who finds a new identity among the rough diamonds of a Staten Island cricket club. He strikes up a friendship with a Trinidadian entrepreneur only to learn ten years later that his friend has died under mysterious circumstances.
