Black Dogs

by Ian McEwan.

Quickie recap: June and Bernard, two young communists, meet and marry in 1946, but the honeymoon is soon over (literally) when June has a life-changing experience during which she finds religion, and her husband no longer knows how to live with her.

Quickie review: Set 40 years later, as the Berlin wall falls, the contrast between spirituality and rationalism is not as stark as you'd think. McEwan brilliantly weaves the plot between the two, between June's version of the events and Bernard's, always leaving us guessing. The black dogs become both literal and metaphorical as the characters explore the demons that have haunted and shaped their family.

Quickie recommendation: I think Ian McEwan is the bee's knees.