Amsterdam by Ian McEwan

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A beautifully written book which opens with the funeral of a woman named Molly. She was a food critic who had several lovers over her lifetime who were mutual friends and they reconvene at the funeral. The group of friends are all upper middle class Londoners. Clive is a composer who has been commissioned to write a symphany to commemorate the beginning of the third millenium. Vernon is the editor of a struggling London newspaper. Garmony is a Minister in the Tory government. And George is Molly's husband who took care of Molly as she decended into dementia before she died. T

he funeral has the other characters questioning their mortality and Clive and Vernon make a pact to "help" one another if ever they suffer a similar mental decline which plagued Molly. A conflict develops as George provides Vernon with compromising photos which were taken by Molly of Garmony. Vernon, publishes the photos to expose the hipocracy of Garmony's policies against the advice of Clive who thinks that publishing the photos would have gone against Molly's wishes. Clive finishes his symphany and Vernon meets him in Amsterdam to celebrate.

There is a twist at the end that I will leave out for those who might want to read the novel. A thuroughly enjoyable read. I will be reading more of McEwan's novels soon.