In an alternative 1982 London, Britain has lost the Falklands War, Margaret Thatcher battles Tony Benn for power, and Alan Turing achieves a breakthrough in artificial intelligence. In this novel by the author of Atonement, aimless Charlie is in love with Miranda, a bright student who lives with a terrible secret. When Charlie comes into money, he buys Adam—one of the first generation of synthetic humans—and together they co-design Adam's personality. As a love triangle forms, they must grapple with unprecedented questions: What makes us human—our outward deeds or our inner lives? Could a machine understand the human heart?