The collection of short stories First Love, Last Anointing is the author's first ever published book. The work, for which McEwan received the Somerset Maugham Award in 1976, lyrically deals with a number of taboo topics, such as sexual abuse and incest, and shows the world in its often cruel and tragic form. McEwan's heroes are people on the fringes of human society. The author's first work thus resembles a kind of guide who guides us through an area belonging to the opposite side of human existence.