Product Description

The setting is Berlin. Into this divided city, wrenched between East and West, between past and present; comes twenty-five-year-old Leonard Marnham, assigned to a British-American surveillance team.Though only a pawn in an international plot that is never fully revealed to him, Leonard uses his secret work to escape the bonds of his ordinary life - and to lose his unwanted innocence. The promise of his new life begins to be fulfilled as Leonard becomes a crucial part of the surveillance team, while simultaneously being initiated into a new world of love and sex by Maria, a beautiful young German woman. It is a promise that turns to horror in the course of one terrible evening - a night when Leonard Marnham learns just how much of his innocence he's willing to shed.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8824 in Books
• Published on: 1998-08-29
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

Mail on Sunday
‘The plot crackles like thin ice with dread and suspense’

London Review of Books
‘The sheer cleverness of the book is dazzling, and only fully to be appreciated as you turn the last page...'

Mail on Sunday
'The plot crackles like thin ice with dread and suspense'

Customer Reviews

a must-read!
The first time I read this I had to put it down unfinished as I could not bear to discover the foreshadowed doom of the main character. It took me a year before I could gather the courage to start again and read the whole thing. Exaggerating? If you found Enduring Love moving, it's nothing compared to The Innocent!

A cold, cold war
This is vintage McEwan. He describes the love affair with feeling and, I guess, from some experience. I liked the sharp contrast between the mechanics and bizarre logic of the Cold War and the unpredictability of human behaviour when it is allowed free reign. 50s Berlin is also beautifully evoked - Harry Lime's Vienna moved north. The novel has a neat and typically weird McEwan twist before its moving, sentimental denouement. Great reading - thoroughly recommended to fans and sceptics alike.

Undecided
I can't decide if I like this or not. I wouldn't say that I didn't enjoy it, because I did. Ian McEwan's talent with the english language is second to none. His ability to create a wholly imaginable scene is inspiring. Yet, with this book I just felt there was something missing.

I have read Saturday, Atonement and Enduring Love so far and this was my 4th and least favourite of those. Atonement being the best and a over all favourite.

It started of promising but then, I suppose I was expecting more of a conspiracy, instead it just flapped around the love story.

My main problem about this book is the main character. I can't bring myself to like him. I suppose that is subjective though.

If you have read and enjoyed McEwan before this, then I would reccomend it. If this is your first foray into the litery genius that is McEwan, I suggest you try Atonement first and then work your way upwards.