The fortieth anniversary edition of McEwan’s first published work, now with an introduction from the author Forty years on from first publication, these stories display McEwan’s dazzling early talent. Taut, brooding and densely atmospheric, they are stories of sex and loneliness, adolescence and incest, love and murder, and they linger in the mind long after they are finish The fortieth anniversary edition of McEwan’s first published work, now with an introduction from the author Forty years on from first publication, these stories display McEwan’s dazzling early talent. Taut, brooding and densely atmospheric, they are stories of sex and loneliness, adolescence and incest, love and murder, and they linger in the mind long after they are finished. This special edition includes a piece by the author on how he came to write First Love, Last Rites and rare archive material including manuscript pages, early publicity material and the cover of the first edition.