What We Can Know
- Author Ian McEwan
- Narrator David Rintoul, Rachel Bavidge
- Publisher Random House
- Publish Date 18 September 2025
- Run Time 11 hours and 39 minutes
- Format Audio
- Genre Climate change, Fiction: dual or multiple timelines, Modern and contemporary fiction, Narrative theme: Environmental issues, Science fiction: apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic, Speculative fiction.
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Listen to a sample
What to expect
In a world submerged by rising seas, can the secrets of the past be discovered? The breathtaking Sunday Times bestseller.
2014: A great poem is read aloud and never heard again. For generations, people speculate about its message.
2119: With the UK’s lowlands submerged by rising seas, those who survive are haunted by all that has been lost.
Tom Metcalfe, a university scholar, pores over the archives of the early twenty-first century. When he stumbles across a clue that may lead to the lost poem, he reveals a story of entangled love and a brutal crime that challenges everything he thought he knew about the past.
‘Full of wisdom and heart. I loved it’ Elif Shafak
‘A gripping page-turner’ Observer
‘It gave me so much pleasure’ New York Times
‘A dazzling novel’ Independent
‘Haunting, playful and ultimately hopeful… A wonderful book’ Kaliane Bradley
‘A poignant love letter to the vanishing past’ Guardian
*A BOOK OF THE YEAR for the Sunday Times, Guardian, New York Times, New Statesman, Spectator, New Yorker, i Paper and Barack Obama*
© Ian McEwan 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025
Critics Review
User Reviews
| Author | Ian McEwan |
|---|---|
| Narrator | David Rintoul, Rachel Bavidge |
| Duration | 11 hours and 39 minutes |
| Release Date | |
| ISBN | 9781529961584 |
| Format | Audiobook |
| Publisher | Random House |
| Genre | Climate change, Fiction: dual or multiple timelines, Modern and contemporary fiction, Narrative theme: Environmental issues, Science fiction: apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic, Speculative fiction |
| Availability | AU, GB, IE |
| Rating |
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| Narration |
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