Nutshell (novel)
First UK edition | |
| Author | Ian McEwan |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Suzanne Dean (design) with detail from Five Views of a Foetus in the Womb by Leonardo da Vinci |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Jonathan Cape |
Publication date | 2016 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
| Pages | 208 pages |
| ISBN | 978-038-554207-4 |
Nutshell is the 14th novel by English author and screenwriter Ian McEwan published in 2016. It alludes to William Shakespeare’s Hamlet and re-imagines the plot from the perspective of an eight-month-old unborn foetus in London in 2015.
The novel centres around the themes of betrayal, love, hopelessness and the complexities of human relationships. Nevertheless, there is a dark humorous tone throughout the novel which is implemented through McEwan's use of playful and witty descriptions.
The allusions to Hamlet are made notable from the epigraph which quotes a line from Act II Scene II in Hamlet "Oh God, I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself a king of infinite space – were it not that I have bad dreams."