A lie told by a 13-year-old destroys two lives. McEwan's 2001 novel is about guilt, imagination, and the novelist's terrible power. The final twist reframes everything that preceded it, raising the question of whether fiction can atone for anything at all. Briony Tallis is among the most morally complicated narrators in contemporary fiction.

The case for it, the case against, and the rest of the canon open with Pro.