What We Can Know

by Ian McEwan

2014: A great poem is read aloud and never heard again. For generations, people speculate about its message, but no copy has yet been found.

2119: The lowlands of the UK have been submerged by rising seas. Those who survive are haunted by the richness of the world that has been lost.

Tom Metcalfe, an academic at the University of the South Downs, part of Britain’s remaining island archipelagos, pores over the archives of that distant era, captivated by the freedoms and possibilities of human life at its zenith. When he stumbles across a clue that may lead to the lost poem, a story is revealed of entangled loves and a crime that destroy his assumptions about people he thought he knew intimately well.

What We Can Know is a masterpiece, a fictional tour de force that reclaims the present from our sense of looming catastrophe, and imagines a future world where all is not quite lost.

Genres: Fiction, Science Fiction, Dystopia, Literary Fiction, Fantasy, Adult, Speculative Fiction

320 pages, Hardcover

Expected publication September 23, 2025

About the author

Ian McEwan studied at the University of Sussex, where he received a BA degree in English Literature in 1970 and later received his MA degree in English Literature at the University of East Anglia.

McEwan's works have earned him worldwide critical acclaim. He won the Somerset Maugham Award in 1976 for his first collection of short stories First Love, Last Rites; the Whitbread Novel Award (1987) and the Prix Fémina Etranger (1993) for The Child in Time; and Germany's Shakespeare Prize in 1999. He has been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize for Fiction numerous times, winning the award for Amsterdam in 1998. His novel Atonement received the WH Smith Literary Award (2002), National Book Critics' Circle Fiction Award (2003), Los Angeles Times Prize for Fiction (2003), and the Santiago Prize for the European Novel (2004). He was awarded a CBE in 2000. In 2006, he won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his novel Saturday and his novel On Chesil Beach was named Galaxy Book of the Year at the 2008 British Book Awards where McEwan was also named Reader's Digest Author of the Year.

McEwan lives in London.

Reviews

[Maxwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

A novel of ideas with a mystery at its core, Ian McEwan’s 18th novel centers around, as the title suggests, just how much we can truly ever know–of the past, of others, and of ourselves.

Thomas Metcalfe is a scholar of the humanities in 2119, obsessed with a poet, Francis Blundy, who was particularly active and successful in the late 20th and early 21st century. Blundy is particularly famous for a poem, ‘A Corona for Vivien,’ that was delivered orally one night to a small dinner party but never made it into publication, the only copy gifted to Vivien being lost to time.

At the dinner party celebrating Francis’s wife’s birthday, the poem’s titular Vivien, were his sister, Jane, her husband and Francis’s editor, Harry, and some other friends of the family. Through recorded history in the form of emails, text messages, and journals, preserved by the Nigerian internet in a post-climate catastrophe environment, Thomas has pieced together all collective knowledge and thought about the poem without ever having read the poem himself.

Though the humanities are a dying field of study in the 22nd century, losing out to science and technology while the world recovers from 100 years of environmental change and global conflict, Thomas and his academic partner and lover, Rose, are determined to continue the love and appreciation of the arts in their students’ minds.

Thomas’s relentless search for anything related to the corona (a 15 sonnet sequence in which the final line of each sonnet is the line that begins the subsequent) pushes him further and further into the past, into the lives of the members of the dinner part, particularly Vivien’s, unearthing long forgotten secrets and perhaps the answer to the central mystery of what happened to the poem and what it contained.

You are in great hands with McEwan. From the start I felt so assured that he knew exactly where this story was going, when to dispense what information, and how it all tied to the themes of memory, history, and the narratives that drive our collective understanding of the past. There is such a strong tension in the story, especially within the narrator Thomas, between the present and past, as someone who spends nearly all of his time dreaming of a world lost and fearing that it will soon be forgotten. If we do not preserve the past, we may be doomed to repeat it, or at least forget the lessons learned that can help us avoid future disaster. But is spending too much time in the past neglectful of actions that can be taken in the very real, immediate present? And how can we really know that what we think we know of the past is truly what happened?

The narrative twists and turns in exciting and interesting ways: ways I will not spoil here because it is so fun to discover on one’s own. I was constantly surprised, propelled forward by a need to know and fearful that I might never find out or trust what I discovered. In ways this reminded me a bit of Trust by Hernan Diaz, in fact. I think readers who enjoyed that will find a lot to enjoy here as well, with a speculative/cli-fi setting layered on top.

Thank you to the publisher for an early eARC from NetGalley. Publishing on 9/23/2025

[Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Please, when I die, just place a copy of this book on my grave. That’s all I ask—thank you.

The story is a brilliant meditation on how we treat history—how we glorify certain eras and idolize their people, obsessing over times we never lived through, often wishing we had. It exposes the absurdity of that longing, especially through the eyes of a narrator who marvels at our present day, which to us feels unremarkable.

From there, it delves into deeper questions: What do we really know about the past? How much has it left for us to uncover? And can we trust what remains? Is what we've inherited even the truth? How would we know?!

Alongside that, there's a quiet but piercing critique of our modern mindset—on war, on climate change. It doesn’t shout, it doesn’t preach. It’s a dystopia that creeps in rather than explodes, and it's all the more powerful because of that restraint.

Then comes Vivian’s journal in the second part—utterly wild, and it flips all those earlier questions on their head. But even then, it’s filtered through the original narrator’s edits. So what can we really trust?

Honestly, this is McEwan at his best. The way he handles these themes reminds me of On Chesil Beach. If you loved that, then run—don’t walk—when this one is released.

[Pedro]

Get ready and spend the day with me while I review Ian McEwan’s upcoming novel What We Can Know.

I jump out of bed wearing only some white underwear, do a few stretches and run straight to the bathroom for a wee followed by a quick shower. Because you can only see me from behind, you can’t see my face, but if you could you’d see the big smile this clever novel left there.

Right after the shower, you can see me wearing some fresh white underwear while I pick my outfit for the gym. Today, it has to be something colourful and vibrant to match the strong sense of place in this piece by Mr McEwan. Bravo, sir, that’s how you take the reader for a ride!!

Speaking of going for a ride, I then head towards my super clean and functional kitchen where I have some avocado on toast, freshly squeezed orange juice (of course!) and a strong and aromatic cup of organic coffee. At this point, with the caffeine kicking in, I can’t stop marvelling over the imagination and intelligence needed to come up with a timely novel like this. Just for the record, Mr McEwan is now seventy six years old, and still managed to bring all these hot topics to the table without ever showing any signs of contrivance, political preferences, propaganda, fear mongering or personal opinions. Now this is something that only great writers can achieve. Period!!

With that feeling you have, after having read some amazing writing, I leave the house and fifteen minutes later I’m at the gym. Between stretches and deadlifts all I can think of is how the slower pace of part one cleverly built things up in a way that turned the second part into a complete page turner which I devoured like very few other novels in recent years.

Time for another shower, and a few minutes later I can be seen walking to work, still with a spring in my step. After a few hours of unpacking, shelving and recommending books, it’s time to go back home. The day isn’t over before a bit of meditation practice followed by a sixteen ounce steak and ten eggs. As I get closer to bed time (9pm as I need my beauty sleep!), I realise that I can’t take these characters out of my head, and that I’d love to read it all again just so I can pick up all the bread crumbs that led to that satisfying ending.

In life, nothing seems to be exactly how it looks, and I fall happily asleep with the knowledge that good novels still exist.

[Claire Fuller]

I love how whatever McEwan writes surprises me. He hasn't settled for a genre and like that he's still playing. It's about 100 years in the future, the seas have risen and in England only islands remain. Tom, an academic, is obsessed with a lost poem from about 2014 written by a famous poet for his wife, Vivian, whom he also obsesses over. The first part of the book is Tom's search both in remaining papers and then via an actual treasure hunt (I loved this bit especially), where Tom tries to piece together where the poem might be and what it is about. The second half is the true story, which I also really enjoyed, although none of it came as a revelation (maybe it wasn't supposed to). But of course, there is throughout the brilliant McEwan writing, and the easy story-telling. I really enjoyed this. Thanks to the publishers for the proof.

[Samantha · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m clearly going to be the outlier here, and I’m perfectly fine with that.

I just finished What We Can Know and I have mixed feelings. I flew through it, not because I was captivated, but because I wanted it to be over. It stirred up a lot of emotions, some good, but mostly bad. The book is split into two parts, and my feelings shifted dramatically between them.

Part One:

This started out promising. McEwan’s prose is undeniably beautiful, even if it leans heavily toward the dense side. I was initially intrigued by Thomas and his obsession with a long lost poem. The exploration of his academic and emotional fixation had potential. That said, some of the climate and political commentary felt too on the nose. So much so that it pulled me out of the narrative.

Then came the infamous dinner scene. Finally — dialogue! I genuinely enjoyed getting a glimpse into each character. But once that scene ended, the novel took a steep dive. The text became dry, bleak, and read more like a drawn out research paper than a novel. It could’ve been edited down significantly without losing any of its point. I almost DNF’d it three times.

As for Thomas… just wow. Am I supposed to feel sorry for this man? Because I didn’t. He’s more in love with the idea of a woman who died 80 years ago than with the woman right in front of him. And he tells her this — then has the nerve to be surprised when she gets upset? Seriously? Meanwhile, Rose makes one misstep and suddenly she’s painted as the villain.

Part Two:

What the heck was that? Viv, you need help. A lot of it. I understand what McEwan was trying to do thematically, but the execution was extreme, if not absurd. The constant hammering of how awful she is became exhausting. Also let’s be honest, the men weren’t treated with nearly the same level of critical scrutiny, despite their own misdeeds.

Bottom Line:

While McEwan’s writing is undoubtedly skilled and thought provoking at times, this story didn’t land for me. The characters felt distant and unlikable, and the emotional payoff never quite arrived. There were glimmers of insight, especially early on, but overall, the book left me feeling more frustrated than fulfilled. If you're a fan of McEwan's previous work, you might still find this worth exploring.

Thank you to Netgalley for this arc

[Andrew Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

University scholar Tom Metcalfe is delving into archives, researching a lost poem. It’s a long and complex piece: two hundred and ten lines with a construction that demands that the last line of each verse (or sonnet) becomes the first line of the next, and that the final verse comprises the first line of each of those that preceded it. In this poem, known as a corona, the last verse also needs to make sense. Tom has access to reams of information and has accumulated boxes of material, but in truth, he really has no idea whether he’ll ever be able to discover this fabled piece.

The year is 2119, and the world has changed, the result of a man-made disaster. Climate change, nuclear war, and resultant tsunamis have caused massive waves to crash ashore across coastal areas of the Atlantic. In the years since the resultant chaos has caused the collapse of fossil fuel, the world’s population has halved, and many species of flora and fauna are no longer to be found. The UK is now an archipelago, and travel is difficult for Tom in this land of islands. He is frequently required to commute by ferry from his home, where he teaches, to the separate island where his records are kept and where he undertakes his research. It’s a somewhat onerous journey. Wider travel is considered to be more dangerous in this rather lawless place. Long-distance travel is virtually impossible.

The poem was written in 2014. Only one copy was made, and all records of its construction were reportedly destroyed. It was a gift from the poet, Francis Blundy, to his wife Vivien. Blundy read it aloud at Vivien’s 54th birthday party and presented the sole written copy to her. Only a small gathering of family and friends witnessed the reading. Records of this event are purely in the form of emails and personal messages exchanged subsequent to the party. No trace of the poem in written form has been found. One technological advance that might aid Tom is the fact that advances in quantum computing and mathematics have enabled access to information previously hidden due to encryption. He’s desperately hoping to find something in these messages that might at least hint that some remnant of the poem has survived.

In tracking Tom’s quest, a number of themes are explored, including:

The causes and longer term impacts of what is termed the Derangement (in essence the wilful choice to ignore the obvious signs that something had to be done to ensure the survival of the world as we know it).

The relationship between Francis Bundy and his wife, Vivien. Also, to a lesser extent, the relationship between Tom and his partner Rose.

Poetry, in general, it’s constructs and its relationship to written fiction and non-fiction.

The cast here is kept relatively small, and I liked that. In essence, other than the characters I’ve named above, the only other people of interest are the various attendees at the 2014 birthday party. In time, all are to feature in one way or another and what an interesting lot they are. Their interactions are an intricate web of conflict, ambition, desire, and duplicity.

As the story progresses, a dark side to the tale develops. There are lines here on life’s brevity, on pain and suffering - some of which stopped me in my tracks. But truly, all shades are here. The narrative is, on the face of it, a simple one. But there are hidden complexities, all masterfully controlled by McEwan. The writing truly is superb. It’s a book to immerse yourself in, to enjoy, and to learn from, with characters you’ll enjoy and remember. I doubt I’ll read anything to match it in a long while.

My thanks to Random House UK, Vintage for supplying a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Stephen the Bookworm · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Memory is a sponge. It soaks up materials from other time, other places and leaks it all over the moment in question. Its unreliability was one of the discoveries of twentieth century psychology.That did not stop people from relying on their own or from believing in the recollections of others, if it suited."

Reviewing an Ian McEwan novel never feels easy- a sense of in trepidation towards commenting on the work of a literary master .

First thing to say is that why this did not at least make the Booker Longlist is an utter mystery!!

What We Can Know is a book that will thematically be labelled in many different ways; but from this reader's perspective this a story about the power and falsehood of memory- how the illusion of success can lead to 'legendary status" ; the potency and intensity of being recognised as a master in your profession ( in this case a poet of the early 200s) and the higher self belief and wider recognition… but what is the truth ?

This is novel in two parts- the first part focuses on a 2014 event that becomes known as The Second Immortal Dinner - an evening where renowned poet, Francis Blundy, is said to have presented his wife Vivien with an extended piece of poetry known as A Corona for Vivien. This prose was read one time only to a small group of friends whose lives are entwined.

A century later in 2119- in a world decimated by war and climate change, Tom Metcalfe - a struggling academic - embarks upon a quest to find the elusive poem. In a world where, the lives of all in the past are explored through their emails, social media , digital footprint , Tom begins to piece together the lives of the attendees and supposed events of the night of the poem's recital. but what happened to the poem?

The second part of the novel is presented from the perspective of Vivien Blundy- her life through the 2000s leading to her eventual marriage to Francis. Vivien is the sole keeper of the truth as to what happened to the poem.

Combining philosophical questions , an adventure quest, the hidden secrets of lives and revelations that would change perceptions and history, Ian McEwan challenges us all to question where we are now as a species- what we could become - and can we ever know the real truth behind legacies and the illusory world of communication in our current age.

A book that needs to be discussed. A book that raises questions. A book that is also a brilliant story. Your emotions will be be pushed in all directions- the possible outcomes of human activity( fear for younger generations will emerge) the exploration of the lives of others resulting in deep empathy, compassion, dislike and possibly disgust.

You cannot rush this novel - deep immersion is needed.

A modern masterpiece- part one does push us into reflecting upon the world we live in today and the future( and it's hard reading)but it's part two that really propels this great novel into something special.

Highly recommended

[Chrissie Whitley · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

"A poem has served history well by remaining a blank sheet."

In 2014, a remarkable poem was read aloud but never heard again. Only one copy existed. For generations, people speculated about its profound message, yet it has never been discovered.

In the year 2119, the lowlands of the United Kingdom have been submerged by rising seas — due to both climate change and as a result of a brief nuclear conflict. Some of those who survive are haunted by the richness of the world that has been lost beneath the waves.

"Sustained historical research is a dance with strangers I have come to love."

Tom Metcalfe, an academic at the University of the South Downs, a part of Britain’s remaining island archipelagos, delves into the archives of that distant era, captivated by the freedoms and possibilities of human life at its peak. Tom, like so many historians who've come before him, struggles to balance his vision of the past and reconciling how much he may be romanticizing it. His own focus of study are the years 1990 through 2030, and his fixation is on the missing poem, a corona — a sequence of sonnets, typically addressed to one person, and following a single theme or idea.

"I used to imagine that the past existed somewhere other than in people's heads. All that happiness and sorrow, those jokes, battles, holidays and people could not simply disappear. Surely, the past lingered in a hidden dimension by its place of origin."

His assumptions about the people he believed he knew intimately shatter only when he is delivered a clue that may lead to the lost poem.

McEwan is hit and miss for me — but this was definitely a hit.

The writing is dense — word-level dense, but in a way that’s interesting. Set in 2119 and beyond, does McEwan imagine our language coagulates into a thicker syntax? Because this is a creamy soup, rather than the watery broth base we’re used to nowadays, and I quite like this idea. Rather than language becoming truncated and torn up by social media and texting, in the devastated future it congeals and complicates itself beautifully.

The second part is the actual voice of the people from the past. Initially, I was almost irritated to be thrust into it. However, once it revealed its purpose of transforming everyone into a real person, rather than a romanticized vision of the past, the tension — wholly unexpected at that point — began to gradually increase.

McEwan's construction of the future and deconstruction of the past are only small components of this incredible novel — its density exists in a swirling eddy of ideas and examinations of how we look at the past, live in the present, and ignore the future.

I received this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This affected neither my opinion of the book nor the content of my review.

[Seawitch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ian McEwan is always a pleasure to read. His writing is deceptively simple and often heads in a direction that lulls the reader into thinking not much is happening beyond a visit to the inner workings of somewhat typical characters and then suddenly there is a very sharp turn.

What We Can Know portrays a parallel set of academics from two different time periods (one in a dystopian future - 2120) and their scholarship, their jealousies and their many sexual affairs. Both sets are rather incestuous in that they are often fishing for sexual partners in the same very small pond.

There is a bit of an obsessive quest for a lost poem by a renowned poet who is a key figure in the 21st century set… And much is influenced by climate change.

Midway through the book, the sharp turn comes and the narrator switches from an academic in the future to one in 2020 who is a key figure in the scholarship of the first narrator.

My apologies if I’ve confused you! It’s not at all confusing when you’re reading it, and I say that as someone who is not a fan of time travel or dystopian fiction.

As much as I was quite drawn into this story, and found the setting quite atmospheric, it was hard to like the characters in the book. There is no “hero” in this story. Percy, Rachel and Peter are the most sympathetic, but otherwise these are people with rather wonky moral compasses.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

[Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was so pleased to have an opportunity to read a pre-publication copy of Ian McEwan’s new novel; however, my feelings upon reading it were mixed. The novel is told in two parts. The first takes place in 2130 in an England, which has suffered from great flooding and destruction caused by climate change, nuclear war and nuclear bombs exploding in the ocean. A great deal of England now consists only of a series of islands, some of which are uninhabited. Life, of course, is very different, although humanity and some species have survived. The main character in the first (dystopian) part of the novel is an academic (Michael) whose sole interest is the poet, Frances Bundy, who wrote during the 2010 – 2030 period. Michael is particularly interested in a complex poem written by Brundy for his wife, Vivien on her birthday. Michael has discovered that Bundy read the poem at a birthday dinner party, and then the poem disappeared. Michael is determined to find the poem, and he does extensive research on Bundy, his family and his friends, as well as many aspects of the 2010 – 2030 period. McEwan’s description of the world in 2130 are very interesting. However, I could not become sympathetic with the lengthy descriptions of academic life in 2130 or Michael’s intense focus on poetry. Perhaps this was because I am not a student of poetry, but the focus on poetry itself and academics did not draw me in.
The second half of the novel is narrated by Vivien and is set in the 2020 era. In this part the “real story” of Vivien’s life, her interaction with the other characters (including her husband) and the poem are revealed. For me, this part was very well done. I was fully drawn in to Vivien, and I enjoyed the fact that she was not a wholly likeable person. The plot moved more rapidly and a number of topics, including the devastation of Alzheimer’s on patient and care taker were discussed. Guilt (or lack thereof) was also an important topic.
Of course the writing was wonderful. McEwan’s prose is simple and beautiful. I just wish the focus on the poem had been more appealing to me.

[Kasa Cotugno · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is Ian McEwan's second book on climate change that I've read, but Solar, written over ten years ago, was not as alarmist, had a lighter touch. In this latest novel, he taps into all the fears present in the world today from nuclear misfirings to tsunami, and comes up with a masterpiece. Told in two timeframes, about 100 years apart, and the McGuffin here is a gift of a poem written by a premiere poet to his wife, read only once at her 54th birthday in 2014, then vanishes. A scholar in 2119 makes it his life's work to locate and publish this poem, a sonnet corona form that has gained legendary status. McEwan examines connections, obsessions, erudition and humanity. It gives me hope that even after the world has changed incontrovertibly, universities still exist and thought is still held in high regard.

[Shereadbookblog · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the next century, due to climate and nuclear disasters, Britain is a series of archipelagos. Humanities academic Tom Metcalfe is obsessed with finding a lost poem from 2014, a supposed masterpiece. When he finds a clue as to the possible location of the only copy that was ever made, he sets off to locate it. In the second part of the book, the reader learns the true events surrounding the poem.

I don’t typically choose futuristic or dystopian novels. But I like Ian McEwan’s writing, and when I read the synopsis about the apocalyptic future and with what is going on right now in the world, it didn’t seem so science fiction to me.

There is such depth to this story. There were many passages that I saved (I read ebooks, so I screen shoot) to go back to revisit and savor. There is a wealth of thought-provoking ideas. Most germane for me are the astute and unsettling observations of the present political situation and climate denial and the dystopian consequences it could bring. The novel also explores themes of legacy, the persistence of myths (or shadows of truth), guilt, relationships, and the encroachment of technology on our privacy.

The novel poses an important question: How much do we truly know about the past? Despite the enduring legacy of what lives on in the digital realm, what can we know?

The tempo shifts in the second part of the book. Some readers will prefer the first section, others the second.

Thanks to #NetGalley and @aaknopf for the DRC.

[Billie's Not So Secret Diary · Rating 1 out of 5]

What We Can Know
by Ian McEwan
Fiction Autobiography Biography
NetGalley eARC
Pub Date: Sept 23, 2025
Knopf
Ages: ?
DNF: 23%

A story about a man researching a missing poem that was read once, then disappeared. A poet wrote the poem for his wife, and she is the main focus of this narrator's narration.


This started right off reading like a biography/autobiography. The narrator, this is in first person, talks about himself and his research into this missing poem, thus writing a biography about the woman and her life with her poet husband.

At three percent, I stopped and moved on to something else. Tried again a few days later, skimming/jumping a page here and there, and nope. This is a 'telling' story about the fictional narrator and his subjects.

The blurb is very misleading! Not even a hint of fantasy that the blurb led me to believe, so there was no hook whatsoever within the first few pages. I was bored, I don't like to read 'nonfiction', and that is how this reads.


DNF 23%

1 Star

[Ryan Davison · Rating 5 out of 5]

A hundred years in the future the people of What We Can Know are obsessed with A POEM from 2014. Seriously, a poem! Stop gagging with laughter and enjoy McEwan shoving all conventions of the novel aside and pruning a wild vine of an idea into the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree.

It takes a bit to ease in, the book begins with the “future” section, but once the brilliantly outlandish premise is established the power of the writing and story never waver for a moment. Parallels to Nabakov’s Pale Fire are hard to miss. McEwan fits so comfortably at a small table of the great living writers of our time.

His fans will explode with joy from this and many new ones will be gained.

Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for a review copy.

[RavenCantRead · Rating 2 out of 5]

What We Can Know

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf for providing me with an eARC in exchange for my honest opinion…

Everyone’s horrible and now I have anxiety.

This book was…something! That’s for sure…

The first 50% read like an academic paper, which given the context makes sense but it was tedious and boring and void of much emotion. The only times I felt engaged were the parts where Thomas ruminated on how he felt about the past while studying it, his attachment to it, his longing for it.

Second half was brutal. Vivian displays all the signs of a classic narcissist. Her compulsive serial adultery did nothing but anger and frustrate me. Her feelings surrounding her first husbands illness were understandable, and since we learn of them BEFORE we learn about who she truly is, it humanizes her a bit but her inability to care about her sister WHO HAS CANCER was actually the last straw that made me hate her.

This book was weird to read because it just read like someone who hates women and modern society put all their feelings down on paper and tried to turn it into a narrative.

The murder in the book is weird and just not really explored. It’s not a mystery. Nor is its perpetrator ever truly villainized? Only its enabler is, which like okay good riddance (cause she truly is a horrible person and contributed to the death of her infant daughter) but also what? Francis is almost painted as…misunderstood? Kind? Maybe not quite, but he’s definitely not really depicted as a LITERAL MURDERER. Huh????

This book skyrocketed my anxiety re: climate change, wars, Israel etc etc which normally I wouldn’t mind if I felt it was telling a compelling and necessary story but this just felt like I was being lectured AT (not even lectured to cause I definitely didn’t sign up for that)

Also, Thomas (the main lecturer) wasn’t exactly a great guy but he was painted as a much better person than his lover/wife Rose…and for what? It lended nothing to the plot. Literally nothing. It was almost overlooked but it DID happen just to highlight what…? Another woman being unfaithful? Being horrible?

This book was just frustrating and took me far too long to read without offering me anything to contemplate or think on outside of…everything I already contemplate and think on every time I watch/read the news.

[Daniel Sevitt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another late career banger from McEwan. A literary mystery about a lost poem from 100 years ago... in 2014. The narrative looks back from a future where Britain has been turned into a series of archipelagos and the global population reduced to 4 billion. A literary scholar is determined to track down a sonnet cycle from an important poet that was read aloud once as a birthday gift and never heard of again. We visit the early 21st century through a series of diary entries and archived emails held in academic collections like the Bodleian Library relocated to the top of somewhere to avoid the flooded lowlands. The past (our present) is invested with significance because it represents a lost time right before everything turned to shit. It's possible the author may be trying to tell us something.

The perspective changes in the second half of the book where secrets unrecorded in emails or preserved on postcards are revealed. Some are shocking, some are as mundane as sex. It gets pretty dark in ways that McEwan probably pioneered but, crucially, as a key character states at a climactic moment, "It's going to be all right."

A marvelous novel with gorgeous writing and at least one set piece kicking off the second half narration that is as breathtaking and as terrifying as the opening of "Enduring Love". Glorious.

Thank you to the publicity team at Jonathan Cape for generously sending me a copy of the book to read ahead of publication.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a story in two parts.

The part readers are presented with first takes place one hundred years in the future (which is chronologically after the second part). A university history professor is researching a "lost" poem from 2014 (I think; thereabouts, at least). The poet wrote it for his wife, recited it at a dinner party for her birthday, and then gifted her the only copy of it in writing. It was never published, but became famous by word of mouth and by dint of the air of mystery created by its absence, and the rumors created thereby. Going through all the primary records from the time period before the cataclysmic climate crisis has the historian reading all of the emails and text messages of the poet and everyone in his circle. He also reads the journals of the poet's wife, Vivien. He believes he has come to know this woman as intimately as a close friend. But then the second part of the story is a sort of memoir of Vivien's, and it goes to show just how limited one's understanding of another person can really be when going only by the material evidence left in their wake.

Honestly, the first half of book was pretty rough. I was enjoying the story and the narrative conceit, but the style it was written in was a bit of a challenge to get through. It was pretty dry at times, with long blocks of text of information that had my eyes glazing over. Several times during this part of the story I found my mind had wandered and I was just skimming the words - sometimes I bothered to go back and reread what I missed, sometimes I didn't.

But the payoff of the second half, and what it does to the first, was worth it. Seeing Vivien's truth juxtaposed to the interpretation of an academic a century later was a nice touch. In light of that, I think I would wind up calling this a 4.5 star read.

Note: You may want to skip this one if you have a loved one with dementia! Also if you require likeable characters (the first part had these, the second did not other than the one with Alzheimers, and that is a ROUGH storyline)

[Quill&Queer]

the UK cover of this (not the one I have tagged to this) is one of the worst covers I've ever seen

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was excited to see a new book by Ian McEwan as I've been a fan since Black Dogs [1992]. That said, my admiration waxes and wanes. AND, if I had read the blurb more carefully [distracted by the thought of another McEwan book], I might have skipped as I do not like dystopian reads and this takes place in 2119 [and the 21st century]. I do like a dual timeline and thankfully this spent less time in the not so distant future. where climate change and the global political order have run amok.

The setting: 2119, when "Tom Metcalfe, an academic at the University of the South Downs, part of Britain’s remaining island archipelagos, pores over the archives of that distant era, captivated by the freedoms and possibilities of human life at its zenith. When he stumbles across a clue that may lead to the lost poem [a corona, written in 2014], a story is revealed of entangled loves and a crime that destroy his assumptions about people he thought he knew intimately well."

The main characters, Francis and Vivien Blundy--but also her former husband, Percy, Francis' ex-wife, Jane, and a cast of other characters--friends and relatives, academics, tradesmen and more, enter the narrative.

I found the distant future a tedious read; the story of Francis and Vivien et al, and their various affairs, more readable--and then skip to 2020 when the narrative thankfully speeds up.

What do we really know about the past? Who tells the truth and/or embellishes the present? Who holds secrets?

BUT... Often dense, I found my self turning the pages and hoping for more engagement. No humor.

Phrase I did like: "impoverished emotional range"

So, giving it a 3.5 for originalitiy, but not rounding up.

[looneybooks79 · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://looneybooks79.blog/2025/09/06/...

De beste manier om objectief maar met alle (of toch zoveel mogelijk) feiten naar de geschiedenis te kijken is vanuit de toekomst. Maar is dat verleden met de gegevens die je ter beschikking hebt wel compleet? Heb je wel alle feiten en is alles wel zo gegaan als het in de geschriften staat? Wat kunnen we echt weten over het verleden?

Tom Metcalfe, verbonden aan de University of the South Downs in 2119, is in de ban van een gedicht dat maar één keer ooit is voorgedragen bij een verjaardagsfeestje in 2014, voor vrienden en zijn geliefde Vivien Blundy. Het gedicht zelf is nooit teruggevonden. Aan de hand van e-mails, brieven en dagboeken van zowel Vivien, de dichter Francis Blundy en de aanwezigen op het feest probeert Tom de locatie te achterhalen van de sonnettenkrans. (Een sonnettenkrans is een reeks van vijftien sonnetten met enkele strenge eisen, onder andere de rijmvorm maar ook de laatste zin van één sonnet moet de beginzin vormen van het volgende sonnet).

Tom vermoedt dat het gedicht zich nog ergens bevindt in dat deel van Engeland dat niet overstroomd is, na de Grote Overstroming en de oorlogen die vooraf zijn gegaan. Nadat hij een spoor terugvindt waar het gedicht zich mogelijks zou bevinden gaat hij, samen met zijn vrouw Rose, aan boord van een boot op weg naar de locatie waar ooit De Hofstede stond, het huis van de Blundy's. Maar die tocht is op zich ook al niet zonder gevaren en zullen ze daar vinden waar hij al zijn ganse leven naar op zoek is?

Ik moet met het schaamrood op mijn kaken toegeven dat 'Wat we kunnen weten' het eerste boek van McEwan is dat ik ooit las. Maar na dit boek te hebben verslonden heb ik zin in veel meer van deze auteur. (Atonement ligt al klaar!). Het boek kreeg ook zijn primeur in de Nederlandse vertaling, want de oorspronkelijke Engelse versie verschijnt pas later in september 2025. Dus het is een grote eer dat ik dit boek nu al mocht lezen.

McEwan laat zijn lezers heel lang meedrijven op de fascinatie en passie die Tom heeft voor dat ene mysterieuze gedicht waarvan hij bewijzen heeft dat het heeft bestaan maar niet waar het uiteindelijk is gebleven en of het nog bestaat of niet. Hij geraakt er zodanig door geobsedeerd dat zijn eigen leven en zijn relatie met Rose heel stormachtig wordt, waarbij zij de fascinatie niet altijd snapt. Op de achtergrond vertelt McEwan ook een zowel apocalyptisch als een hoopvol toekomstbeeld waarin de mensen heel wat strijden hebben gestreden. Maar vanuit zijn toekomstbeeld wordt een grote liefde voor het verleden (ons heden) geschetst. (vergelijkbaar met hoe wij vaak met nostalgie terugkijken naar een tijd waar we zelf niet in hebben geleefd en dus enkel de positieve kanten van die tijd willen zien)

Het verhaal verandert ook plots in een soort avonturenroman waarbij Tom en Rose naar een deel van Engeland reizen waar ze met moeite aan raken en waar ze op een schattenjacht gaan, wat dan weer bewijst dat dit boek enorm gelaagd is en heel wat genres omvat. Maar het is pas bij het tweede deel in deze roman dat het echt interessant wordt... maar dat moet je vooral zelf gaan ontdekken!

McEwans talent is het construeren van een ingewikkeld verhaal met zoveel verschillende lagen gaande van een roman, waarin hij ingewikkelde relaties ontleedt, een mentale ziekte en een mysterie verwerkt en van een misdaad- en avonturenverhaal waarbij klimaatopwarming, een toekomstbeeld en een liefde voor poëzie de hoofdrol mogen spelen. En dit door zijn personages heel intens hun leven te laten (be)leven.

Ik vermoed dat er ook lezers zullen zijn dat dit boek te traag zullen vinden en niet allemaal even aangenaam zullen ervaren. Maar laat je zeker niet afschrikken door de vele omschrijvingen en herhalingen en het soms trage tempo van zijn schrijfkunst want McEwan bouwt een intensief opgebouwd verhaal dat het waard is je tijd aan te spenderen. Dit is een meesterwerkje en ik ben alvast benieuwd naar meer van deze auteur.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had some trouble with this at first, as I was wondering how to sell this to the customers in the bookstore I work in. It was maybe a bit too intellectual? Once the story got going I found myself fully immersed though. I really liked the idea of the two stories set in different periods and whether we can possibly find out the truth about history from letters, diaries etc. Another great novel by McEwan.
Thank you Jonathan Cape and Netgalley UK for the ARC.

[Rachel Louise Atkin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Omg that was actually sick, I am in a state of shock rn. Full review to come!!!

[Laurel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Literary fiction with a Cli-Fi backdrop that imagines the world of history and literature after our technology and culture are transformed by a changing planet - from the author of Atonement.

The evening may have once been a private affair, but it no longer was. The issue was not a lost birthday poem read after dinner, it was what the poem by its non- existence had become: a repository of dreams, of tortured nostalgia, futile retrospective anger and a focus of unhinged reverence…

All in all, the imagined/predicted conditions of the planet were more fascinating to me than the long and dragging story. The plot moves slowly, could definitely cut out 100 pages. With gems sprinkled throughout about how and why the planet has transformed ecologically, and the technical and geopolitical fallout.

We showed colourful animations, simple to understand. Twentieth and twenty- first centuries, sea- level rise two millimetres a year, mostly driven by anthropogenic (we explained the term) warming. Warmer water expands, adding to the rise. Freshwater lakes drained by human overuse, the water recycled as rain and snow back into the oceans – more rise. Melting ice, albedo effect explained – more warmth, more rise. But more significant, the nuclear politics of the mid- twenty- first century and the fatal concept of limited nuclear war, then a poorly engineered Russian intercontinental missile aimed at the southern United States exploding in the mid- Atlantic ocean, catastrophic tsunamis devastating Europe, West Africa and coastal North America, the suspicion that the mighty explosion was planned, the political pressure for revenge, further catastrophe before a panicked peace was arranged.

The impact of this global reorganization is that this era we are currently living in of mass proliferation of content, has ended and is somewhat of a curiosity to historians of the future:

…our biographers, historians and critics, whose subjects were active from about 2000 onwards, are heirs to more than a century of what the Blundy era airily called ‘the cloud’, ever expanding like a giant summer cumulus, though, of course, it simply consisted of data- storage machines. We have inherited almost two centuries of still photography and film. Hundreds of Francis Blundy lectures, interviews and readings were recorded and remain available by way of the Nigerian internet. All his newspaper and magazine reviews and profiles exist in digital form. In 2004, when the Blundy phones became cameras, pictures of the Barn, its interior and the surrounding countryside proliferated.

Thanks to NetGalley for an opportunity to read this advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Caitlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

My thanks to NetGalley and Vintage publishing for the eARC. I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to read this book before its publication.

As ever, McEwan’s prose is smooth and enjoyable to read throughout, however, I did find part one dragged a little for me.

The themes of this book are made clear from the very start. The main ones being whether biographies/historical accounts of people are a true reflection of the individual (this theme giving rise to the title of the book) and warning of impending climate and nuclear disasters ahead. Although the future setting is 100 years in the future from now, the questions it raises are very current.

I love dystopian fiction, particularly related to climate change as it reflects worries I have about the future. I was therefore very interested in understanding and learning more about the future world presented in this book, but the delivery of this world building felt awkward. Most of the information is delivered through long lists of climate or political events, or perhaps disasters would be a better word, that detail how this future world came to be rather than allowing the reader to discovery these pieces gradually. This is largely because the narrator of part one, Tom Metcalfe, is isolated (and thus experience things that would drip-feed us this information more naturally) and a historian, so these lists are perhaps the only way he would present these details to us. I suppose this is just not my favourite method of building a world. Regardless, I was interested to read about the predictions McEwan made about the direction our world could take in the near future. There was a lot to think about here and it made me freshly motivated to try to prevent this future. I will say that reading about these predictions made me feel rather bleak because of how possible it all seems. The low mood it provoked likely contributed to why I felt the first part of the book felt slower.

Aside from the rather on-the-nose dumps of information, I enjoyed learning about the academic landscape of this future setting (which was conveyed through following Tom’s daily life which was a much more compelling thing to follow). Tom was an interesting and flawed character. I felt his obsession with the past reflected the reader’s interest in the future. Just as Tom looked at the bridge where people of the past could not cross into his world, I felt like I was on the other side of that bridge trying to look across at him. But I didn’t find myself fully invested in his life, or that of his colleague and lover Rose.

Even if the writing/characters in the first section was not my favourite, thinking about the themes it explored while reading kept me engaged. I journal semi-regularly, and often struggle to decide what to write about as I am so aware of all the information I would miss. Even when you try to detail everything you remember about an event, there will be information you do not correctly recall / miss out (intentionally or otherwise). Often I feel like the very act of committing a memory to the page is a lie - nothing can capture everything - and I liked how this book looked at that idea.

Part two (which begins at ~60%) felt stronger, in my opinion, and I struggled to put the book down once I reached it. I really liked following Vivien and enjoyed picking out the differences between her account and what Tom believed he knew about the same period of her life. *Big spoilers ahead! Please don’t view if you want to read this book.* I felt rather gratified when my suspicion that she murdered Percy was confirmed (I was immediately suspicious when I read in part one that “fell down the stairs”, who actually falls down stairs by accident in a novel?) but I was pleased to be surprised about the details of how this happened.

To describe the murder of Percy, or any of the other information we discover about Vivien, as twists doesn’t quite feel right (although I admittedly don’t know how else to describe them). I found the mood McEwan is able to provoke in the reader in part one, which act in concert with the hints he drops, signal rather clearly about what is to come. And I mean that in the best way! The best “twists” are those which you can see coming, in my opinion, as I think it feels all the more satisfying to pick up on hints/moods and then see the “reveal” unfurl later in the book.

Not only was Vivien a more vivid and compelling character to follow than Tom, but my favourite scenes in this book occurred in her section. (That is not to say she is not flawed, she is incredibly flawed and quite awful at moments.) Namely Vivien’s encounter with the boy at the station, Vivien recounting Diana’s death to Percy, and Vivien’s first evening with Francis. These felt like the most emotionally charged scenes of the book.

Overall, I had a great time reading this book and I know that I will be thinking about it for a long time to come.

[Cari Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is something very enigmatic about Ian McEwans's writing that the stories stay with you long after you've finished the book and that is a rare feat for an author to achieve.

Set 150 years in the future against the backdrop of climate change that has ravaged most of the world, but yet civilization continues on its merry old journey, we're introduced to a historian and professor who is obsessed with locating a lost poem that has become a sort of holy grail in terms of modern poetry even though only one copy was said to ever exist and a handful of people only ever heard its words spoken.

The title of the book, What We Can Know explores that idea that we only know what we know from history with the information left behind, be it journals, photographs, emails, etc. However, journals can lie either outright or through admission, emails can be scrubbed of information that someone does not want found. Archives can be curated so only the best intentions of whomever leaves it behind are highlighted while the more damning information is destroyed or buried. Even though I could not stand most of the characters in this novel, for one reason or another, the themes throughout resonated with me. I think back to how often we delete poor photographs of ourselves on our digital cameras or use filters to show us in the best possible light. How when I write journal entries, I make sure to omit how I am really feeling because I don't want my family in the future to see themselves in a poor light in my eyes or judge any questionable decisions I may have made. We all create an image for future generations to venerate, but the reality of our lives is usually much darker and colder.

A few of the problems I had with the main characters was the fact that everyone seemed to have affairs without a care in the world - everyone. These are not just hidden love affairs, but just simply affairs for sexual sake. When I mean every character has an affair. Every. Single. Character has an affair if not more. I also took issue when some of the extensive vocabulary that Vivian uses in her casual emails. I come from a very educated, erudite family and no one talks like that outside of a formal essay. To me, the elitist sounding correspondence just did not seem realistic, even for a couple that quotes poetry to one another every other sentence (which, again - seems exaggerated beyond belief).

The beauty of McEwans's writing, however is that you don't have to love his characters to love the novel, as clearly is the case here. I would highly recommend this one for anyone who loves his previous works, but also those who love a good piece of literary fiction. Do not let the fact that it is set in the future make you think that it is a science fiction book, because it most certainly is not. McEwan uses it as a literary technique to show how future historians will research people living today and how things don't really change that much in 150 years. Humans are still going to human.

Thank you to NetGalley, Ian McEwan, and Knopf for an advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

What We Can Know is a novel of two halves. The first half is presented from the perspective of an early 22nd century academic specialising in the literature of the early 21st century, looking back at our own times from a world fundamentally altered by climate change and war. This academic is interested in a lost poetic masterpiece: a 'corona', or 'crown of sonnets' performed once at a dinner party in the Cotswolds in the 2010s, and never seen or read again. The second half - well, to reveal too much would spoil it all...

Indeed, much like the poetic form of the corona itself, this is a novel which really only comes together when the end is reached and the technical mastery and skill of the author is revealed in full. The effect is quite extraordinary, and it's well worth pushing through the somewhat baggy opening for the much tauter and more satisfying second half. It's a very clever novel, probing how historians (mis)understand the past, and how the stories and material evidence left behind in the wake of someone's life can be entirely misinterpreted.

[Ben Dutton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ian McEwan returns to the speculative fiction genre after 2019's Machines Like Me. That previous novel took us to an alternative 1980s, whereas What We Can Know opens in 2119. Climate change has impacted the works and changed it - huge swathes of the UK are underwater and the Bodleian Library is on a mountaintop in Wales. Academic Tom has come here to solve a literary mystery.

Back in 2014, celebrated poet Francis Blundy, is presenting his wife Vivien a poem, a corona, for her birthday. This poem was never published but for all those who heard it at the party, it is a masterpiece.

How these two disparate elements connect is the joy of McEwan's latest. I don't need to tell you how superbly written this - as ever McEwan knows how to grab the reader and take them on a literary ride. I loved every inch of this book - a total change from his last novel Lessons which looked to the past - and I will be recommending this wholeheartedly to all.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC.

[chichi · Rating 5 out of 5]

First Ian McEwan and certainly won’t be the last. What an intro to his works. This book follows two timelines, 2014 and 2119 and at its centre explores what future generations will come to know about us by the mass amounts of information that we will leave behind, the version of our stories we want people to see, and the state of the world that we will leave behind too. This was (surprisingly?) gripping, a literary thriller like no other. There is a quest, there is scandal, there is a plot twist that peers over the horizon. There is also an epic poem by John Fuller that Ian McEwan was inspired by that I’m now very keen to read.

[Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.0. Although woven together this story really involves two separate stories, one of a more dystopian setting in the distant future (2100s) where climate change and devastating global wars have dramatically changed the global environment, the other in the current times played out through the musings of Vivien Blundy, the wife of a renowned poet in the 21st century , Francis Blundy. The first and second parts are tied together through a poem Francis Blundy wrote for his wife “in honor of” her birthday. A Corona for Vivien, a lost poem that people only knew about but was never found An academic researcher in 2119, Tom Metcalfe, whose research is focused on locating the poem and understanding its meaning, is the thrust of the first part, while the second part is Vivien’s perspective on her life, loves, career, and perspective on the poem and its meaning to her. As others have noted, I thought the first part was difficult to plow through and I found it a bit tedious, while the second part flowed much more easily. McEwan is a great writer and I really loved Atonement, which to me was a masterpiece. His later novels have been more convoluted though definitely looking to the issues confronting us in the future as in Machines like Me and this one. The writing is lovely. His themes of relationships, love, secrecy, and infidelity flow through both parts, but the dystopian aspect is troubling for what can be anticipated in the future and makes one think what our legacy is or could be. Thank you to Netgalley for providing me an advance copy in exchange for an honest and candid review.

[Autumn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well I’ll put it simply this wasn’t was I was expecting. It was harder to get into because the first half was written much like an academic paper. The rest I just couldn’t connect with. I don’t have anything negative to say about it, but this was just not the book for me.

Thank you NetGalley and Knopf for the arc in exchange for my opinion.