What We Can Know
Hardback Published on: 18/09/2025
RRP Recommended Retail Price: £22.00
Price: £18.99Save £3.01 (14%)
Bookseller Reviews
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Speculative fiction with a literary twist
Reading an Ian McEwan novel guarantees you a quality read with plenty of thought-provoking themes. This, his latest, is no exception. I very much enjoy h... READ MORE
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 throu... READ MORE
Classic and Imaginative McEwan
A dual narrative exploring a contemporary and distant Britain, a lost manuscript and imagining how a future people might imagine our world, our habits and ... READ MORE
A fascinating literary mystery
Ian McEwan looks to the recent past and a speculated future to ask insightful questions about the power and fallibility of personal memory and cultural rem... READ MORE
4 stars only because of the writing style, not because I enjoyed the book
Although McEwan has important themes to explore in this book about climate change and politics, it felt leaden.
In 2014 the poet Blundy read his epic ne... READ MORE
Pretty Darn Good
A quiet, contemplative book examining the perils and pitfalls of history.
The latest masterwork from a titan of contemporary literature is a many layered novel. Set between the present day and a subtly dystopian 22nd century, McEwan explores language, love, poetry, academia, the climate crisis and—most importantly—time.
Shortlisted for Foyles Book of the Year 2025
Synopsis
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.
Publisher information
- Publisher: Vintage Publishing
- ISBN: 9781787335738
- Number of pages: 320
- Dimensions: 243 x 166 x 30 mm
- Weight: 530g
- Languages: English
Customer Reviews
View allA complex novel that deserves attention - a master at the top of his game
"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 dis... READ MORE
Good read
Thank you to the publishers for this early review copy.
We all know that Ian McEwan is an excellent writer so this was a delight to receive early.
I sett... READ MORE
McEwan at his finest
The novel begins in 2119 – the first party narrator is Tom Metcalfe, a literature/history of literature teacher based at the University of the South Downs ... READ MORE
Nearly perfect
I first fell in love with Ian McEwan's writing when I was 18 years old, sitting in an A-Level literature class discussing Atonement.
This is the 7th nov... READ MORE
Unique, challenging and thought-provoking
What We Can Know was my first Ian McEwan book, and I don’t think it will be my last! It’s unique and challenging but thought-provoking. I think this book i... READ MORE
A book to immerse yourself in
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 construc... READ MORE
Classic macabre McEwan
There's always a hammer blow of a moment in a McEwan, and this one doesn't disappoint. The fact that everybody's emails, texts, pictures and browsing histo... READ MORE
Verified Purchase
Interesting take on a future UK
While i found this a very interesting and exciting story, it is the small glimpses into the future that really made the story for me. The heart of the st... READ MORE
Verified Purchase
What We Can Know - Good Read
McEwan uses the premise to probe deeper questions: What is the value of memory, especially when what remains of the past is fragmentary? What can we really... READ MORE
Another thoughtful read from McEwan
I’ve been reading Ian McEwan for years, and one thing you can always count on is that no two of his books are the same. This one is no exception. It’s not ... READ MORE
A thought-provoking and enjoyable read
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read an advance copy of this book.
McEwan’s latest blends detective-style mystery, climate dystopi... READ MORE
What we can expect from Ian McEwan
In the case of his latest novel what is provided by Ian McEwan is the usual enjoyable mixture of the personal, literary and political. What We Can Know giv... READ MORE
Verified Purchase
A Novel that should make us all sit up
If Ian McEwan’s previous novel Lessons was “a chronicle of our times” What We Can Know opens over a century later in 2119 in a world wrecked by climate cha... READ MORE
An accomplished novel
It is difficult to review this novel withoit giving too much away.
The first part is written about 100 years in the future looking back on now. The com... READ MORE
McEwan done it
Read in two days when I really needed a literary diversion.
Cli-fi Who Done It.
Like the author of old, and I can recall him being grilled on TV abou... READ MORE
Verified Purchase
A thought-provoking read, I will be thinking about this book for a long time!
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 ma... READ MORE
Five stars!
What We Can Know by Ian McEwan is a thought-provoking and beautifully crafted exploration of memory, loss and the stories that survive us.
Moving betwee... READ MORE
Peak McEwan
The premise of this novel appears straightforward, an academic in 2119 is going through archives from 1990 to 2030 attempting to locate more information on... READ MORE
Not what I expected
Not what I expected
I am used to Ian McEwan's books being straight forward with sympathetic characters. I found this one to be confusing about changes in ... READ MORE
Extraordinary
An extraordinary slice of speculative fiction.
Hard work, limited reward.
I found this novel rather hard work - the hardest I’ve ever found an Ian McEwan novel over the last 30 years. The first half is a real slog - set in 2119, ... READ MORE
slightly ponderous
Ive enjoyed most of Ian McEwan's books and was looking forward to reading this one. However I have to admit I feel.quite ambivalent about it, his writing ... READ MORE
Good read
Ian McEwan’s What We Can Know is set a hundred odd years from now, in a Britain reshaped by climate change—Scotland is practically unreachable, and everyth... READ MORE
Absorbing read
I really loved this book. There are two interconnected parts which I thought worked well together. I found the main characters intriguing and adored the ... READ MORE
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