What We Can Know starts with an interesting premise. Tom Metcalfe is a scholar in the year 2119. He’s researching a literary figure from the early 21st Century. In the intervening years, the world as we know it has ceased to exist. England is now a series of islands as the lowlands have been submerged by rising seas. McEwan spells out how it all came to be. Unfortunately, it actually sounds plausible - the rise of AI, climate change denial coupled with extreme weather, nuclear war between rival states such as Pakistan and India.
The objects of Tom’s study are Vivien and Francis Blundy. For her 54th birthday in 2014, Francis has written a corona of 10 sonnets and his intent is to give her the only copy at her birthday party. The poem is never seen or heard again. Yet, it goes on to have an almost mythical status. Tom ‘s hope is to find the missing poem. But what he finds is something entirely different.
I struggled to relate to any of the characters. Francis is well known and expects the world to revolve around him. He’s a complete snob, a climate change denier. Vivien has opted for a comfortable life with him. Infidelities abound. Tom was the perennial scholar, wrapped up in his own little area of expertise almost to the exclusion of his real world.
It’s a unique concept to write of our current time as if from someone in the future, looking back. It implies a remove, a coolness, while allowing McEwan to give his opinions of these times as facts, not that he’s wrong.
Vivien’s experience with her first husband’s Alzheimer’s felt very real - the claustrophobia, the banality of it all hit home.
The book is two very different halves. It defies being classified in a single genre, with elements of dystopia, mystery and literary fiction. I struggled to stay engaged with the first half. The second half, told from Vivien’s memoir written in her latter years, worked much better for me.
I’ve been watching a lot of The Great British Baking Show, so I’ll take a line from Paul Hollywood and describe McEwan’s writing as beautiful flavors but over baked and too dense.
My thanks to netgalley and Knopf for an advance copy of this book.

Wonderfully written and thought-provoking. In the first half, McEwan skillfully shifts between 2119 and 2014, introducing Thomas and Rose, renowned scholars of poet Francis Blundy. The legendary missing birthday poem Bloundy wrote for his wife Vivian has become a myth, surviving only through fragmented accounts.

As the narrative moves into its second half, Vivian’s own voice emerges, unraveling truths long obscured by time and speculation. McEwan weaves in compelling themes like climate change, AI, and perhaps most strikingly, the question of how future historians will interpret our present with only partial glimpses of who we truly were.

Richly layered and beautifully written, this novel lingers long after the final page, challenging readers to consider what knowledge endures and what is forever lost. #netgalley #whatwecanknow

This new novel from Ian McEwan tells its story in two parts. First, we follow Tom Metcalfe, a humanities professor in the 22nd century whose scholarship focuses on 21st-century British poet and the famous lost poem he wrote as a tribute to his wife, Vivien. Tom's research is made all the more difficult by the fact that climate change has led to rising seas and dangerous travel. Relying on the poet's archives, which include Vivien's journals, he is convinced that he will be the one to find the missing poem and that it will make his career, but he is so focused on his work and his obsession with the poem and Vivien that he neglects his wife and fails to notice that his students don't appreciate his fixation on the past. In the second part, we get to read the memoir Vivien left behind and learn that the story of her life, as told to us by Tom, was not entirely accurate and that the famous poem written for her might best be left in the past.

This book is billed as speculative fiction, but the only thing speculative I found in it was the creation of the world transformed by climate change -- and even that doesn't seem so uncertain these days. The prevailing message of the novel, to me, is that often what we know of history is biased based upon who is telling the story of the past and that even when we tell our own stories, we're not under any obligation to be entirely truthful.

Thank you to Knopf and NetGalley for providing me with digital ARC of this book in return for an honest review. This book will be published September 23, 2025.

Unfortunately, I just could not get into this book. I really tried. I made it to 45% before I decided I had had enough. That’s not to say the book is bad, it just really didn’t work for me.

The premise of this book was interesting. The idea of a lost poem was intriguing, but what really caught my interest was the idea of the future described in the synopsis. A researcher from a hundred years in the future after climate change and nuclear war have devastated the world looks back at what is (more or less) our present day. That concept was really intriguing and the main reason I picked up this book. The glimpses of this future world were fascinating, and something I did enjoy. I also really liked McEwan’s prose - it is beautiful if a bit dense, but also very readable. Unfortunately, those highlights were diminished by the fact that I found this book extremely boring. Almost nothing in the 100+ pages I read stuck with me or made me interested in what was going to happen next, so unfortunately, I decided to put it down.

From some other reviews I’ve seen, I may be an outlier on this, so readers who like beautiful prose and are okay with minimal plot and dialogue may enjoy this book more than me.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me an e-arc in exchange for my unbiased review.

What We Can Know is poignant, thought-provoking, and haunting, forcing the reader to contemplate what the future may hold. Through Tom, a British literature academic 100 years from now, and Vivien, the subject of a lost poem penned by her famous poet husband in 2014, the meta examination of the written word versus true, factual history is incredibly well done. In Tom’s quest to locate the lost poem and find contentment himself, McEwan does a masterful job with character development, showcasing humanity’s complexity and flaws. The novel forced me to reckon with alternate realities, where the world is not American/Euro-centric, nature can wreak even greater havoc than it already does, and “personal” information, such as communication records, is available to the masses. The novel serves as a resounding call to action in addressing climate change, packaged in a compelling read I didn’t want to put down.

This was a somewhat haunting and evocative book. Beautifully written, beautifully drawn characters and the dual timeline is fascinating. I really enjoyed this book.

Much thanks to #netgalley and to #aaknopf for the opportunity to read "What We Can Know" by a favorite author - Ian McEwan - who is consistently unpredictable and thrilling to read. This newest is no exception but the scope it takes on is prodigious. Because so much was packed in (speculative fiction, climate change, literary history, crimes, affairs, and assorted mysteries) it was not the easiest of reads at times but always, and ultimately, worth it.

The basic premise follows two primary plotlines which are separate but related and inform upon one another constantly. The first centers on academics - Tom and Rose - and their pursuit of their research and off/on romantic relationship. Then the novel is broken up into a Part 2 which focuses solely on what the title ultimately "means" (with a twist) - What CAN We Know?

Ian McEwan is a tremendous writer. Though probably best known for "Atonement" (which became an acclaimed motion picture), I think he is at his very best when he's in full-on Highsmith meets Tarantino mode. He has written some incredibly dark and unforgettable plots (Amsterdam, Enduring Love, Black Dogs, Saturday, and others) and this novel reminded me of those especially darker books.

He gives readers the most layered and multifaceted characters (and he writes these characters with such specificity and places them into the grimmest of situations!). More than not he brings them to breaking points - points after which nothing will ever be the same again. And they act accordingly. Without disclosing too much, this novel has multiple examples of those moments and I was reminded just how talented he is in that respect.

This is also a novel about "extinction" on many levels. We are moved a hundred plus years into the future and our greatest fears with our planet and resources (playing out as we read this very novel) are true and tangible settings in the book.

I hope I piqued the interest of readers (especially McEwan's but others as well). This is ABSOLUTELY worth reading and it will leave you disturbed and unsettled. This is not a happy book. But it's brilliant because it's McEwan. And nobody writes quite like him. THANK YOU!!!

2119: global warming, nuclear war, and massive flooding have transformed much of the West into waterworld. But post-apocalyptic life goes on for English researcher Thomas Metcalfe, who is part of “The Literature and History Joint Programme in Postgraduate Studies, 1990-2030.” Thomas’s particular—indeed obsessive—focus is on a famous dinner party in 2014 when renowned poet Francis Blundy recited “A Corona for Vivien” for his wife’s 54th birthday. That lost poem—handwritten on vellum—is Thomas’s holy grail. In the first part of Ian McEwan’s latest, Thomas creatively recreates that gathering, drawing on archival emails/text messages (thanks to advanced decryption techniques, and the revival of the internet by scientists in former-email-scam-punchline Nigeria). What Thomas “knows,” of course, turns out to be either wildly mistaken or superficial as the true stories of Francis, Vivien, and their friends are gradually revealed from a different perspective. Despite the futuristic setting, the book starts slow—academic research (on a poem, no less) is not the most exciting of narrative threads. Still, the story does eventually pick up, incorporating many of McEwan’s familiar themes and topics, including child endangerment, infidelity, obsession, and sudden violence. Unfortunately, however, many of the characters here are unsympathetic (not necessarily a fault in itself) in not particularly interesting ways. Not one of McEwan’s best but still a worthwhile read for fans who appreciate his willingness to explore beyond the usual in contemporary literary fiction. Thanks to Net Galley for supplying an advance reader copy.

What We Can Know
by Ian McEwan
Pub Date: Sep 23 2025

2014: At a dinner for close friends and colleagues, renowned poet Francis Blundy honors his wife’s birthday by reading aloud a new poem dedicated to her, ‘A Corona for Vivien’. Much wine is drunk as the guests listen, and a delicious meal consumed. Little does anyone gathered around the candlelit table know that for generations to come people will speculate about the message of this poem, a copy of which has never been found, and which remains an enduring mystery.

2119: Just over one hundred years in the future, much of the western world has been submerged by rising seas following a catastrophic nuclear accident. Those who survive are haunted by the richness of the world that has been lost. In the water-logged south of what used to be England, Thomas Metcalfe, a lonely scholar and researcher, longs for the early twenty-first century as he chases the ghost of one poem, ‘A Corona for Vivian’. How wild and full of risk their lives were, thinks Thomas, as he 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 elusive poem’s discovery, a story is revealed of entangled loves and a brutal 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, a love story about both people and the words they leave behind, a literary detective story which reclaims the present from our sense of looming catastrophe and imagines a future world where all is not quite lost.

Tom Metcalfe, a professor after the great disaster that flooded half the world, has dedicated much of his professional life to finding out what happened to a long lost poem by Francis Blundy, that was recited in 2014, over 100 years ago, and had never been published. His luck changes when he finds a hidden and mysterious clue.

I almost gave up on this book about half-way through, because it was dragging. When I read past the half-way mark, I was glad I had stuck with it and persevered. The book took off! It became the well-crafted story that I have always associated with Ian McEwen. In retrospect, the slow beginning was necessary to the story. The characters, like in all of Mr. McEwen’s books are well-developed, and his plots always take on unusual twists with lots of psychological aspects. This one was no different!

Set far into the future, when many places on Earth have become submerged under water, a professor mulls over the freedoms of the past and a lost poem, and at one point comes across a clue for the poem that upends his perception of history and those around him.

I loved that this author captured what so many of us do in the present day - think and learn about the long ago past with longing, as if it were simpler or better. But the book goes deeper than this; it questions what we really know about the past, delves into what might have been withheld from the annals of the history books. Interspersed in there is a great critique of our current problems, in the form of a dystopian setting. This was just a great book overall for engaging storytelling, but a great read for questioning how we really determine the truth.

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really wanted to like this book. The concept was so intriguing, and I was so excited to dive into the world that McEwan created. The book opens with Tom, an academic who is researching a poem that was recited over a hundred years ago. "A Corona for Vivien" was recited at the infamous Second Immortal Dinner, where it was then lost for a century. This is a dual timeline where half of the book takes place in 2119 and the other half is from Viven's point of view in the 2000s.

The good: This book takes on a dystopian lens while looking into the future of our society. It touches on the negative effects of climate change and capitalism, which I really enjoyed reading about. I was intrigued by the mentions of fictional natural disasters and wars. It was quite sobering to read about what could happen if we just keep ignoring climate change and the ongoing political tension. McEwan does a great job keeping the audience drawn into Tom's ongoing search for the poem. I was hooked during Tom's search for the corona. Vivien's journals were also quite entertaining to read. We learn about the true nature of the poem and the dark secret behind it.

The bad: I found it quite difficult to get into this book. The writing is quite academic, and I almost felt like not much was happening in the first 25% of the book. I also found the characters to be extremely unlikable. Tom is extremely obsessed with finding a poem that may or may not exist anymore, to the point where he is sacrificing important relationships just to find it. Not only is he obsessed with the poem, but he is also obsessed with Vivien, a woman who lived over a hundred years before his search for the corona. She makes a lot of questionable decisions that are quite frustrating for me to read.

Overall, this book kept me entertained. I really enjoyed the concept, but I didn't enjoy the execution of it. However, I thought McEwan's writing was beautiful and captivating. His description of a dystopian future was thought-provoking, and I really enjoyed that. I just wish the characters were less frustrating and there was more action in this book to really hook the reader in.

Thanks, NetGalley for this ARC!

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.

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.

What a riveting, powerful literary puzzle!
I have always enjoyed academic protagonists and literary mysteries and Ian McEwan has written a barn-burner of a novel.

It is both political and literary; contemporary and futuristic; and suspenseful and satisfying.

In some ways the novel reminds me of another literary favorite, POSSESSION. But instead of reaching back to the previous century for its academic mystery, the mystery is contemporary to us now and the researcher is 100 years in our future.

I really enjoyed this book. There were a few chapters where I was a bit bogged down by the discussions of the environment, and how it was affected by our generations, but I was able to set that aside in my admiration for the novel . Highly recommended.

I found this to be a very interesting read. Especially when you pick a read off a whim. I at times could not put this book down.

The year is 2119, and Great Britain as we know it has sunk beneath rising oceans after nuclear fallout and devastating climate change. Only scattered pieces of the land remain, and with them, a dying academic world in which professor Thomas Metcalfe is attempting to locate a famous poem from the year 2014: "A Corona for Vivien."

Metcalfe's near-obsessive, philosophical search for the poem transcends time and history, revealing glimmers of a world one hundred years before that feels as distant as a ghost. Vibrant dinner parties with wine and rich dishes seasoned with exotic spices; discussions of the arts without the weight of the collapsing world hanging on their words. The world of Viven and her husband, the poet Francis Blundy, is a world Metcalfe longs to know.

"What Can We Know" is a richly-layered, gorgeous novel that weaves dual timelines together in a smart, seamless way that only Ian McEwan can. Without a doubt, this novel will feel like work at times, especially through the first third. But its quiet, lyrical writing and reflections on themes like truth, historical preservation, and identity speak volumes and deliver a work of fiction that perhaps above all else feels deeply relevant, and deeply important in the face of today's world.

As I started this book, I wasn’t finding myself latching on to much of the story. The premise of a lost poem didn’t give me a sense of enticement, and several times I wanted to quit the book. However, I am so happy I followed through. Part 2 was much more captivating and I thoroughly enjoyed Vivien’s point of view. I appreciated the honesty of struggles Vivien went through and was satisfied with the resolution. I would recommend this book to others.

🌅As I grow older, I often wonder about my past, what my family will remember of me, and what I will remember of events in my life. Even today, I realize that many of those memories are just interpretations—versions that have been passed down, distorted, and reimagined over time. Ian McEwan’s What We Can Know explores that question through a dual-timeline literary mystery built around a dystopian future.

In 2119, Britain has been reduced to scattered archipelagos after climate collapse and nuclear fallout. Thomas Metcalfe, a humanities professor in a fading academic world, becomes obsessed with locating a lost poem, “A Corona for Vivian,” written by 21st-century poet Francis Blundy. The search draws him into the romanticized past—one that may not be as noble as he imagines. In the 2014 timeline, Vivian Blundy’s journal offers a counterpoint, slowly exposing personal truths and unraveling the myth of her marriage to Francis.

The novel is rich in themes: legacy, truth, privacy, the fragility of memory, and the ethics of historical preservation. As is typical with his stories, McEwan’s writing is subtle and lyrical, full of quiet revelations. The contrast between the timelines adds emotional weight, especially as Vivian’s voice sharpens the story’s moral ambiguity. I found the characters hard to root for, and Vivian’s experience with cognitive decline and emotional trauma dragged slightly in pacing. Still, it deepens the emotional core of the story.

What We Can Know isn’t a page-turner in the traditional sense—it’s a slow, piercing examination of how we remember, what we choose to forget, and whether we can ever truly know the past. I appreciate Knopf and NetGalley for the opportunity to review the story in exchange for my honest review. 3.5 stars that I rounded up to 4 because of the pacing.

Thank you NetGalley for an arc copy.
Unfortunately I just couldn't get into this book. I wanted to however the layout and the type of writing I unfortunately DNF.
I will try again to push through at a later date as I do not like to stop a book until its done. The story sounded wonderful and that cover is beautiful.