The Innocent (novel)

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The Innocent
Author	Ian McEwan
Country	England
Language	English
Publisher	Jonathan Cape
Publication date	1990
Media type	Hardcover
Pages	231
ISBN	0224027832

The Innocent is a 1990 novel by British writer Ian McEwan. The novel takes place in 1950s Berlin at the height of the Cold War and centres on the joint CIA/MI6 operation to build a tunnel from the American sector of Berlin into the Russian sector to tap the phone lines of the Soviet High Command.

Leonard Marnham is a 25-year-old Englishman who sets up and repairs the tape recorders used in the tunnel. He falls in love with Maria Eckdorf, a 30-year-old divorced German. The story revolves around their relationship and Leonard's role in the operation.

McEwan also wrote the screenplay for the 1993 movie.

v • d • e Works by Ian McEwan Novels: The Cement Garden (1978) • The Comfort of Strangers (1981) • The Child in Time (1987) • The Innocent (1990) • Black Dogs (1992) • Enduring Love (1997) • Amsterdam (1998) • Atonement (2001) • Saturday (2005) • On Chesil Beach (2007) Story collections: First Love, Last Rites (1975) • In Between the Sheets (1978) Children's novels: Rose Blanche (1985) • The Daydreamer (1994) Screenplays: The Ploughman's Lunch (1985) • Sour Sweet (1989) • The Good Son (1993) Plays: The Imitation Game (1981) Opera libretto: Or Shall We Die? (1986) For You (2008 forthcoming)