This story takes place during the 1970s, in England. Serena Frome, the protagonist, is a Cambridge student who has an affair with an older married man, Tony, who has been working for MI5, UK's intelligence agency.

Serena is a mathematician, not through her own choice, but due to her mother's pushing, as Serena was always interested in stories and literature. Unbeknownst to her, Tony becomes ill and breaks off with her, but not before making sure that Serena is employed by the Intelligence Agency MI5.

As an undercover agent, because of an operation code-named "Sweet Tooth," Serena becomes involved with a writer named Tom Healy as the result of MI5's propaganda machine, which Tom is unaware of, and neither does he know Serena is an intelligence agent. At first Serena loves Tom's stories; then she falls in love with him.

Will this relationship last and does MI5 have other cards in the game, such as Max, Serena's unprincipled boss who is also in love with her?

The novel explores the relationship between artistic integrity and government intervention, together with conflicting approaches to fiction.

Although the story has cold war espionage as its background, no violence exists in the plot. There are stories within stories, which make the book a delight to read, and the plot is a brainy one with a happy ending that uncovers its major twist.

I have been reading Ian McEwan for a while now, and I think he is a great writer, a master of the English language, and a clever plotter. He never disappoints.

enjoyment and learning how to write by reading a master's work.

the twists in the plot and the author's use of the language.

is Ian McEwan, born in 1948, winner of Somerset Maugham Award. Some of his stories are made into movies. His other works are: On Chesil Beach, Atonement, Enduring Love, The Cement Garden, The Comfort of Strangers, The Innocent, Amsterdam, Saturday, Rose Blanche, The Daydreamer.

I enjoyed it as a story, and also, the discussions in it and the several significant areas of life it deals with appealed to me.

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Created Jun 12, 2014 at 6:38pm • Submit your own review...