# What We Can Know

Canonical: https://www.bookquiver.com/ian-mcewan/what-we-can-know

JSON version (same data): https://www.bookquiver.com/ian-mcewan/what-we-can-know.json

![What We Can Know](https://quivercdn.com/covers/vintage/ian-mcewan/what-we-can-know_978-15-2995-920-8-e8e5aa01.jpg?v=2026-09-24%2004%3A20%3A06)

- Authors: [Ian McEwan](https://www.bookquiver.com/ian-mcewan)
- Language: en_GB
- Published: 2025-09-18
- Genres: Fiction: literary and general non-genre, Dystopian and utopian fiction, Science fiction, Science fiction: apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic, Fantasy

## Description

'One of the finest writers alive' Sunday Times 2014: A great poem is read aloud and never heard again. For generations, people speculate about its message, but no copy has yet been found. 2119: The lowlands of the UK have been submerged by rising seas. Those who survive are haunted by the richness of the world that has been lost. Tom Metcalfe, a scholar at the University of the South Downs, part of Britain's remaining archipelagos, pores over the archives of the early twenty-first century, captivated by the freedoms and possibilities of human life at its zenith. When he stumbles across a clue that may lead to the great lost poem, revelations of entangled love and a brutal crime emerge, destroying his assumptions about a story he thought he knew intimately. A quest, a literary thriller and a love story, What We Can Know is a masterpiece that reclaims the present from our sense of looming catastrophe, and imagines a future world where all is not quite lost. 'A true master' Daily Telegraph 'McEwan is one of the most accomplished craftsmen of plot and prose' New York Times

## Editions

### What We Can Know

- Publisher: Vintage
- ISBN: 978-15-2995-920-8
- Pages: 320
- Published: 2026-06-18
- Language: en_GB

### What We Can Know

- Publisher: Vintage
- ISBN: 979-82-1700-794-3
- Pages: 320
- Published: 2026-06-16
- Language: en_US

### What We Can Know

- Publisher: vintage_digital
- Medium: ebook
- ISBN: 978-15-2995-921-5
- Published: 2025-09-18
- Language: en_GB

### What We Can Know

- Publisher: vintage_digital
- Medium: audio
- Length: 11 h 39 min
- Narrated by: David Rintoul, Rachel Bavidge
- ISBN: 978-15-2996-158-4
- Published: 2025-09-18
- Language: en_GB

### What We Can Know

- Publisher: jonathan_cape
- ISBN: 978-17-8733-573-8
- Pages: 320
- Published: 2025-09-18
- Language: en_GB

## This book in other languages

- [Co můžeme vědět](https://www.bookquiver.com/ian-mcewan/cs/co-muzeme-vedet) (cs_CZ)
- [What We Can Know](https://www.bookquiver.com/ian-mcewan/pl/what-we-can-know) (pl_PL)
- [O Que Podemos Saber](https://www.bookquiver.com/ian-mcewan/pt/o-que-podemos-saber) (pt_PT)