What is Lessons about?
Both epic and intimate, the story of one man’s life across generations and historical upheavals: a deeply affecting novel about love, loss, ambition, and resolution—from #1 bestselling author Ian McEwan.
When the world is still counting the cost of the Second World War and the Iron Curtain has closed, eleven-year-old Roland Baines’s life is turned upside down. 2,000 miles from his mother’s protective love, stranded at an unusual boarding school, his vulnerability attracts piano teacher Miss Miriam Cornell, leaving scars as well as a memory of love that will never fade.
Now, when his wife vanishes, leaving him alone with his tiny son, Roland is forced to confront the reality of his restless existence. As the radiation from Chernobyl spreads across Europe, he begins a search for answers that looks deep into his family history and will last for the rest of his life.
From the Suez Crisis to the Cuban Missile Crisis, the fall of the Berlin Wall to the current pandemic and climate change, Roland sometimes rides with the tide of history, but more often struggles against it. Haunted by lost opportunities, he seeks solace through every possible means—music, literature, friends, sex, politics and, finally, love cut tragically short, then love ultimately redeemed. His journey raises important questions for us all. Can we take full charge of the course of our lives without damage to others? How do global events beyond our control shape our lives and our memories? And what can we really learn from the traumas of the past?
Epic, mesmerising, and deeply humane, Lessons is a chronicle for our times—a powerful meditation on history and humanity through the prism of one man’s lifetime.
What are the ISBN numbers for the physical and digital editions?
Lessons is available as hardcover(ISBN 9780593535202) and hardcover(ISBN 9781039004689) and paperback(ISBN 9780593468630) and paperback(ISBN 9781039004702) and paperback(ISBN 9780593663998) and ebook(ISBN 9780593535219) and ebook(ISBN 9781039004696) and audiostreaming(ISBN 9781039004719) and audiostreaming(ISBN 9781039004726)