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What We Can Know is an epic new novel from Ian McEwan.
Ian McEwan says of his new novel:
"What We Can Know is science fiction without the science. This is a novel about history, and what we can know of it, and of each other. We live our lives between the dead and the yet to be born. Of the dead we know a little, but not as much as we think. About the present, we disagree fiercely. People of the future, of course, are beyond our reckoning, but we’re troubled by what we’ll bequeath them. As they look back at us, what will our descendants think, when they contemplate the diminished world we left them? They might envy us.
"To catch at these thoughts, I’ve written a novel about a quest, a crime, revenge, fame, a tangled love affair, mental illness, love of nature and poetry, and how, through all natural and self-inflicted catastrophes, we have the knack of surviving somehow. In our times, we know more about the world than we ever did, and such knowledge will be hard to erase. Our great great grandchildren will scrape through and we won’t be around to count the cost or take the blame. My ambition in this novel was to let the past, present and future address each other across the barriers of time."
Select Reviews, Interviews & Podcasts
Interviews / Profiles
BBC News, Paul Glynn: "Ian McEwan on why humankind 'will scrape through'." 8 September 2025.
The Wall Street Journal, Jon Mooallem: "What Will Become of Humanity in a Century? Ian McEwan’s New Novel Has Answers." 17 September 2025.
People, Lizz Schumer: "Ian McEwan's What We Can Know Is 'Sophisticated Gossip' — and So Much More Than That (Exclusive)." 17 September 2025.
Foyles.com: "What We Can Know Cover Art Q & A." September 2025 [Discussion between Suzanne Dean and artist Louise Body. Suzanne Dean leads the design team at Vintage and has been designing Ian McEwan’s jackets for 20 years.]
Selected Reviews and Criticism
LitReactor, Jim Alkon: "What We Can Know Threads Literary Mystery Into a Dystopian Future." 31 July 2025.
The Times, John Self: "Ian McEwan is back — and he’s had fun with his strangest book yet." 10 September 2025.
The Guardian, Kevin Power: "What We Can Know by Ian McEwan review – the limits of liberalism." 16 September 2025.
New Scientist, Emily Wilson: "Ian McEwan’s new novel weaves climate change into literary mystery." 17 September 2025.
Boston Globe, Hamilton Cain: "What We Can Know Ponders the Present Day and the Literary Future." 17 September 2025.
The Spectator, Adam Begley: "On the trail of a missing masterpiece. September 2025.
The Washington Post, Ron Charles: "In Ian McEwan’s ‘What We Can Know,’ the past is an irresistible riddle." 18 September 2025.