I love how whatever Ian McEwan writes surprises me. He hasn’t settled for a genre and I like that it feels as though he’s still playing and enjoying himself.
In What We Can Know, which will be published in September, it’s about 100 years in the future from now, 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 Tom also obsesses over to the detriment of his own relationship with Rose.
The first part of the book is Tom’s search, both in surviving papers and then via an actual treasure hunt (I love this bit especially), where Tom tries to piece together where the poem might be and what it is about. The second of the novel 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.
Does this sound appealing? Are you going to be reading it?