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Saturday February 15 2003. Henry Perowne is a contented man - a successful neurosurgeon thedevoted husband of Rosalind a newspaper lawyer and proud father of two grown-up children onea promising poet the other a talented blues musician. Unusually he wakes before dawn drawnto the window of his bedroom and filled with a growing unease. What troubles him as he looksout at the night sky is the state of the world - the impending war against Iraq a gatheringpessimism since 9/11 and a fear that his city its openness and diversity and his happyfamily life are under threat. Later Perowne makes his way to his weekly squash game through London streets filled withhundreds of thousands of anti-war protestors. A minor car accident brings him into aconfrontation with Baxter a fidgety aggressive young man on the edge of violence. ToPerownes professional eye there appears to be something profoundly wrong with him. Towards the end of a day rich in incident and filled with Perownes celebrations of lifespleasures music food love the exhilarations of sport and the satisfactions of exacting work- his family gathers for a reunion. But with the sudden appearance of Baxter Perownes earlierfears seem about to be realised. Ian McEwans last novel Atonement was hailed as a masterpiece all over the world. Saturdayshares its confident graceful prose and its remarkable perceptiveness but is perhaps evenmore dramatically compelling showing how life can change in an instant for better or forworse. It is the work of a writer at the very height of his powers. Ian McEwan has written twocollections of stories First Love Last Rites and In Between
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