At a talk in Oxford yesterday, Ian McEwan told his audience that his new novel Saturday is "set on a single day in February 2003, when London was seized by its biggest-ever peace demonstration. More than a million people took to the streets to protest the looming war in Iraq and British participation as America's main ally."
According to the NY Times' report of the event (free registration required), McEwan "perched on a dais, sitting in an armchair, sipping a glass of red wine" and told his assembled fans that the book revolves around a "British neurosurgeon, Henry Perowne,". who, "leaves his central London house to pick up his car - a sleek, silver Mercedes 500 - to drive to his regular game of squash.".
Just another tale of normal, everyday Londoners then Ian?
The book is due to be published by Jonathan Cape in February next year.
