Atonement

by Ian McEwan

From this new and intimate perspective, she learned a simple, obvious thing she had always known, and everyone knew: that a person is, among all else, a material thing, easily torn, not easily mended.

'...among all else...' The subtext here is relevant to Briony's experience. What's true of the 'material thing' is also true of the mind. The damage that she has done to others and to herself, is not going to be easily mended.