On a chilly February day two old friends meet in the throng outside a crematorium to pay their last respects to Molly Lane. Both Clive Linley and Vernon Halliday had been Molly's lovers in the days before they reached their current eminence, Clive as Britain's most successful modern composer, Vernon as editor of the quality broadsheet, The Judge. Gorgeous, feisty Molly had had other lovers too, notably Julian Garmony, Foreign Secretary, a notorious right-winger tipped to be the next prime minister.
In the days that follow Molly's funeral Clive and Vernon will make a pact that will have consequences neither has foreseen. Each will make a disastrous moral decision, their friendship will be tested to its limits and Julian Garmony will be fighting for his political life.
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[TWO FORMER LOVERS of Molly Lane stood waiting outside the crematorium chapel with their backs to the February chill]***
(CCV Digital, 11 March 2010, first published 1 December 1998, 192 pages, ebook, #popsugarreadingchallenge 2020, a book set in a city that has hosted the Olympics, bought from @AmazonKindle)
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I've read a few of McEwan's works and am quite a fan. I bought this book because I'd heard good things about it. Also, it's very short and every now and again I like to read novellas and change the pace a little. Amsterdam is not the book I expected at all. I thought it was some kind of spy / political espionage story. I'm not really sure where I got this idea but there you have it. I was very wrong so enjoyed the book a lot more because of it. Clive and Vernon are great characters, complete opposites bound by an old flame they both shared at some point. Vernon is the editor for a newspaper The Judge and takes steps to publish scandalous photographs of the deceased old flame Molly and Julian Garmony. Clive thinks this is below the belt and is very against it. The consequences of publishing the pictures will change Clive, Vernon and Julian forever. I was left with a lot of questions at the end and felt things should have been a bit clearer. Still, I enjoyed this.
