Robbie's Retreat to Dunkirk

Part Two of the novel follows Robbie Turner as a soldier in the British Expeditionary Force during the disastrous retreat to Dunkirk. He is wounded, exhausted, and haunted by the horrors of war. He travels with two corporals, Mace and Nettle, who provide a grimly comic counterpoint to the surrounding devastation. The narrative is a stream of consciousness, blending Robbie's physical suffering with his memories of Cecilia and his hopes for a future with her. He clings to her last letter, in which she mentions that Briony may be willing to recant her testimony. The retreat is a brutal ordeal that tests Robbie's will to survive, and it serves as a parallel to his earlier imprisonment, another form of hell from which he must escape.