SATURDAY by Ian McEwan

Saturday, February 15, 2003. Henry Perowne is a contented man - a successful neurosurgeon, the devoted husband of Rosalind, a newspaper lawyer, and proud father of two grown-up children. Unusually, he wakes before dawn, drawn to the window of his bedroom and filled with a growing unease. What troubles him is the state of the world - the impending war against Iraq, a gathering pessimism since 9/11, and a fear that his city, its openness and diversity, and his happy family life are under threat.

Later, he makes his way to his weekly squash game through London streets filled with thousands of anti-war protestors. A minor car accident brings him into a confrontation with Baxter, a fidgety, aggressive young man on the edge of violence. To Perowne's professional eye, there appears to be something profoundly wrong with him. 

Towards the end of a day filled with incident and Perowne's celebrations of life's pleasures - music, food, love, the exhilarations of sport and the satisfaction of exacting work - his family gathers for a reunion. But with the sudden appearance of Baxter, his earlier fears seem about to be realised.

Soft cover, good condition.