Atonement: Part One, Chapters 9–14

by Ian McEwan
When 13-year-old Briony Tallis accuses a family friend of a terrible crime, she sets off a chain of events that will irrevocably alter the lives of everyone involved.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Part One, Chapters 1–3; Part One, Chapters 4–8; Part One, Chapters 9–14; Part Two; Part Three; London, 1999
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. austere
    of a stern or strict bearing or demeanor
    But the public gaze of the stairway mirror as she hurried toward it revealed a woman on her way to a funeral, an austere, joyless woman moreover, whose black carapace had affinities with some form of matchbox-dwelling insect.
  2. carapace
    hard outer covering or case of certain organisms
    But the public gaze of the stairway mirror as she hurried toward it revealed a woman on her way to a funeral, an austere, joyless woman moreover, whose black carapace had affinities with some form of matchbox-dwelling insect.
  3. deliverance
    recovery or preservation from loss or danger
    They were obedient to the letter, but they were quiet and hunched as they went about the work, as though it were retribution rather than deliverance, a scolding rather than kindness, she intended.
  4. chasten
    correct by punishment or discipline
    Chastened, she resumed the tones of adult conversation.
  5. nominally
    in name only
    Nominally, it would pass to Mrs. Tallis, but ultimately the success of the evening would be in Cecilia’s care.
  6. filigree
    delicate and intricate ornamentation
    The undersides held a stickier yellow glow, and here and there a gleaming edge was picked out in nacreous brown, and the occasional filigree lacework that blossomed around a ruptured skin.
  7. faction
    a dissenting clique
    Also, Cecilia had resolved afresh to be with her brother on the terrace; it was therefore important to be with the winning faction and push to a quick conclusion.
  8. heady
    extremely exciting as if by alcohol or a narcotic
    As she made her way across the room she heard the tinkle of ice cubes against his glass, and as she stepped out she smelled the pennyroyal, chamomile and feverfew crushed underfoot, and headier now than in the morning.
  9. solicitous
    full of anxiety and concern
    Solicitously, she prompted him to give her his news.
  10. equanimity
    steadiness of mind under stress
    It was hard to imagine him ever lonely, or bored or despondent; his equanimity was bottomless, as was his lack of ambition, and he assumed that everyone else was much like him.
  11. churlish
    rude and boorish
    He thought it would be churlish not to go.
  12. farcical
    broadly or extravagantly humorous
    She gave a farcical hue to her weeks of boredom and solitude, of how she had come to be with the family, and make amends for being away, and had found her parents and sister absent in their different ways.
  13. indulgent
    tolerant or lenient
    When they stepped into the room, into the light of several lamps, Briony was still there, still barefoot and in her filthy white dress, and her mother was standing by the door on the far side of the room, smiling indulgently.
  14. viscous
    having a relatively high resistance to flow
    In one hand he held a silver tray on which stood five cocktail glasses, each one half filled with a viscous brown substance.
  15. dissembling
    pretending with intention to deceive
    The very complexity of her feelings confirmed Briony in her view that she was entering an arena of adult emotion and dissembling from which her writing was bound to benefit.
  16. straitlaced
    exaggeratedly proper or morally strict
    The orderly troupe of farm animals lined along the windowsill and the straitlaced dolls poised in the various rooms of their open-sided mansion waited for the gem of her first sentence.
  17. petulant
    easily irritated or annoyed
    Lola was immediately petulant, and Briony assumed that these rapid changes of mood were part of her recent upset.
  18. affable
    diffusing warmth and friendliness
    When he took his place at the dining table, calm, affable, utterly certain, a crisis in the kitchen became no more than a humorous sketch; without him, it was a drama that clutched the heart.
  19. lithe
    moving and bending with ease
    The silk dress she wore seemed to worship every curve and dip of her lithe body, but the small sensual mouth was held tight in disapproval, or perhaps even disgust.
  20. mitigation
    an attempt to represent an offense as less serious
    But this new element—the innocent child—put his lapse beyond mitigation.
  21. broach
    bring up a topic for discussion
    He thought she was about to broach an impossible obstacle and he meant, of course, someone, but she didn't understand.
  22. flummox
    be a mystery or bewildering to
    She didn’t know how to answer and she looked at him, quite flummoxed.
  23. bemused
    perplexed by many conflicting situations or statements
    They felt watched by their bemused childhood selves.
  24. reconnoiter
    explore, often with a goal of finding something or somebody
    He was in an unhurried, reconnoitering mood, with time to go to a rocky edge and take a glimpse of the near-vertical scree down which he would shortly have to throw himself.
  25. admonish
    scold or reprimand; take to task
    She had come looking for her sister—no doubt with the exhilarated notion of protecting her, or admonishing her, and had heard a noise from behind the closed library door.
  26. homely
    cozy and comfortable
    Noise from outside the house was excluded completely, and even homelier indoor sounds were muffled, and sometimes even eliminated somehow.
  27. garrulous
    full of trivial conversation
    Vockins, she would first have to talk to his wife, a garrulous woman who liked to chat about eggs and related matters—the price of chicken feed, the foxes, the frailty of the modern paper bag.
  28. deference
    courteous regard for people's feelings
    Her husband refused to display the deference one might expect from a policeman.
  29. platitude
    a trite or obvious remark
    He had a sincere way with a platitude which he made resonate like hard-won wisdom in his tight-buttoned chest: it never rained but it poured, the devil made work for idle hands, one rotten apple spoiled the barrel.
  30. histrionics
    a deliberate display of emotion for effect
    It was her sister Hermione she was soothing—Hermione, stealer of scenes, little mistress of histrionics, whom she pressed against her breasts.
  31. sophistry
    a deliberately invalid argument in the hope of deceiving
    It sounded to her like sophistry, or an explanation for its own sake.
  32. intersperse
    place between or among
    A series of arithmetical calculations was interspersed by blocks of text.
  33. indemnify
    secure against future loss, damage, or liability
    And yes, there were precautions administrators took to indemnify themselves against all eventualities.
  34. pergola
    a framework that supports climbing plants
    Robbie was wanting to persuade her to erect a pergola and train along it a slow-growing wisteria whose flower and scent he liked.
  35. sinuous
    curved or curving in and out
    There was nothing she could not describe: the gentle pad of a maniac's tread moving sinuously along the drive, keeping to the verge to muffle his approach.
  36. capricious
    changeable
    Children hated generously, capriciously.
  37. protege
    a person who receives support from an influential patron
    They would have to confront and convert their father, and comfort him in his rage and disappointment. That his protege should turn out to be a maniac!
  38. fervor
    the state of being emotionally aroused and worked up
    That his victim could easily have been her increased Briony’s outrage and fervor.
  39. qualm
    uneasiness about the fitness of an action
    She was like a bride-to-be who begins to feel her sickening qualms as the day approaches, and dares not speak her mind because so many preparations have been made on her behalf.
  40. disquiet
    a feeling of mild anxiety about possible developments
    These are fleeting moments of private disquiet, only dispelled by abandoning herself to the joy and excitement of those around her.
  41. brusque
    rudely abrupt or blunt in speech or manner
    There lay nothing in between; they did not say as much, but their brusqueness implied it.
  42. ardor
    a feeling of strong eagerness
    It was in those moments, when she felt their coolness, that she reached back to revive her first ardor and said it again.
  43. smoldering
    showing scarcely suppressed anger
    There were times when Briony, called on again to give her account, or some detail of it, saw her sister approach within earshot and look on with a smoldering impenetrable gaze.
  44. rapture
    a state of being carried away by overwhelming emotion
    And though Briony felt vindicated by the reaction of the adults, and was experiencing the onset of a sweet and inward rapture, she was also pleased to be down on the sofa with her mother, partially screened by the standing men from her sister’s red-eyed contempt.
  45. cabal
    a clique that seeks power usually through intrigue
    They would turn their backs on her, her mother, the policemen, her brother, and go off with Robbie Turner to indulge some adult cabal.
Created on Tue Jan 15 14:38:18 EST 2019 (updated Wed Jan 16 10:16:53 EST 2019)

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