Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

  • Atonement

  • By: Ian McEwan
  • Narrated by: Carole Boyd
  • Length: 12 hrs and 26 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (854 ratings)
Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Atonement cover art

Atonement

By: Ian McEwan
Narrated by: Carole Boyd
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

The Road cover art
Gods in Alabama cover art
The Go-Between cover art
My Brilliant Friend cover art
The Count of Monte Cristo cover art
Call Me by Your Name cover art
The Long Gaze Back cover art
Doomsday Book cover art
The Complete Jaipur Trilogy cover art

Summary

Brought to you by Penguin.

ONE OF THE GUARDIAN'S 100 BEST BOOKS OF THE 21st CENTURY

Adapted into a major film starring Keira Knightley, James McAvoy and Saoirse Ronan.

'A person is, among all else, a material thing, easily torn and not easily mended'

On the hottest day of the summer of 1935, thirteen-year-old Briony Tallis sees her sister Cecilia strip off her clothes and plunge into the fountain in the garden of their country house.

Watching her too is Robbie Turner who, like Cecilia, has recently come down from Cambridge. By the end of that day, the lives of all three will have been changed for ever, as Briony commits a crime for which she will spend the rest of her life trying to atone.

©2001 Ian McEwan (P)2014 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"A magnificent novel." (Independent)

"A superb achievement." (New York Times)

"The best thing he has ever written." (Observer)

What listeners say about Atonement

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    565
  • 4 Stars
    189
  • 3 Stars
    66
  • 2 Stars
    21
  • 1 Stars
    13
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    587
  • 4 Stars
    127
  • 3 Stars
    26
  • 2 Stars
    10
  • 1 Stars
    7
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    494
  • 4 Stars
    177
  • 3 Stars
    55
  • 2 Stars
    21
  • 1 Stars
    12

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Slow start but beautifully crafted...

The reason I haven't given this five stars is because of the monotonous start. I nearly gave up. But I stuck with it and, what was a relatively minor event, in the scheme of things, was crafted into a huge web of little mysteries that I wanted resolved. The performance was outstanding and, overall, this is a beautifully written book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

17 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Amazing!

I had seen the film long before listening to this audiobook and loved it. However, the book is all the film was and much more. We are allowed access to Briony's mind and reasoning and it is not an easy story to hear. She is a character to love and hate and is written beautifully. I think the narrator does a wonderful job with an amazing story. A must read / listen.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Ms
  • 11-03-16

Beautiful Story

This is Ian McKewan at his finest. I found this heartbreaking love story totally absorbing. It is awash with emotion and thought provoking details of war, love and the divisions of social class. It is clever in its design and pulls you into the world of characters and the world they lived in. I absolutely loved it.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Stylish and deep

Narration superb. Eclipses the film. Excellent in its style and delivery. Better than I had expected for my first book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent. Really enjoyed it

Would you consider the audio edition of Atonement to be better than the print version?

I have read the book but really enjoyed hearing the story - it bought it to life for me.

What does Carole Boyd bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

Really great reading; smooth and handles the language of the book brilliantly.

Any additional comments?

Overall an excellent story with great characters; beautifully written and thoroughly absorbing.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great!

loved it, narrated very well - a great book to study for english A Level !!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Atonement

Very first novel I have listened to by this author and narrator. I enjoyed this very much, the twins were my favourite and the book which I read several years ago is just as brilliant and pleasure to enjoy again. The film is next for me.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Gripping tale

The book it's self is a gripping tale of love tested by the laws of a prewar society, and the application of a child's imagination on such damning events! Very good read, chosen for my a levels would recommend.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

An evocative tale

A beautifully told tale of the effect one lie from a child has on a family set against the backdrop of a 1930's upper class family, a war torn London and France and a passionate love that crossed the class barrier.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

An old fashioned sense of nostalgia

A fantastic piece by Ian McEwan, with clever uses of the passage of time to leave the reader in suspense, as well as the use of perspective to help gauge the consequences of certain characters actions.

I certainly know that my vocabulary benefited through his depiction of a girls life and her need to achieve atonement.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful