AtonementAuthor Ian McEwan to Publish ‘Immersive and Exhilarating’ New NovelWhat We Can Know

Mar. 15, 2025

Ian McEwan and the cover of ‘What We Can Know’.Photo:Alfred A. Knopf; Urszula Soltys8

Alfred A. Knopf; Urszula Soltys8

Alfred A. Knopf

“Ian McEwan is one of our finest writers andWhat We Can Knowdelivers one of the most immersive and exhilarating reading experiences in recent memory,” says Knopf executive vice president, publisher and editor-in-chief Jordan Pavlin in a statement shared with PEOPLE. “It’s a literary love story, a murder mystery with a thrilling twist and a gorgeously written novel about time and memory. The plot pivots on a legendary dinner party and the recitation of a poem that is heard once and then lost for all time.”

“As the title suggests, the book calls into question the limits of our knowledge about our most intimate companions, and about history itself,” Pavlin continues. “How many irrecoverable secrets and stories are lost to the past? McEwan’s genius in this novel is to recover, in an exquisite feat of a storytelling, a long-lost secret. The effect is electrifying.”

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.McEwan has published 17 books and two short story collections. His novelAmsterdamwon the 1988 Booker Prize, and many of his books have been adapted for the screen, includingAtonement, starringKeira Knightley, as well as the novelsEnduring Love,On Chesil BeachandThe Children Act.

Ian McEwan.Urszula Soltys

Urszula Soltys

Of his latest release, McEwan notes that he was inspired to write about history as a way to enable different time periods to be in conversation with one another.

The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now!“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,” McEwan continues.

“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.”What We Can Knowwill be published on Sept. 16 and is now available for preorder, wherever books are sold.

source: people.com