What we can know - Iain McEwan

This is a book made of two stories that both contrast, stand alone and interweave. It is well written, sweeping you along with complex vocabulary and beautiful descriptions. You are immersed in two contrasting cultures based in the same location.

The first story is set in the future, in the UK transformed by climate change into a series of tiny islands. The small population, reduced by war, flooding and disease, lives in cramped conditions and is fed on regimented industrially produced foodstuffs. Our hero is a professor of history, considered very marginal in a world that favours science above all. He has devoted his life to the quest of find a lost poem, renowned as the best piece of nature writing ever produced.

The second story is in contrast dedicated to the topic of dementia and its effects on all who live with it, both the afflicted and their carers.

From an ERA viewpoint, the possible future was fascinating, with climate change driving changes to both the land and our place in it. Politics have played their part, but any changes will be both caused by people and the science we can’t control. The hero is obsessed with the period of 1980s to 2040. He loves our greed, our refusal to see what is happening, our knowledge of what needs to be done and then the ignoring of it. There may be truth in this!!

It was good to read, a work of fiction for a change. The book swept you along but it was hardly uplifting. There is truth in it that we know, can see and struggle to change. Highly recommended read, and on the plus side the rivers and seas are clean and clear again 😄

Veronica Carter