Saturday, February 15, 2003. Henry Perowne is a contented man - a successful neurosurgeon, the devoted husband of Rosalind 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 as he looks out at the night sky is the state of the world - the impending war against Iraq, a gathering pessimism since 9/11, and a fear that his city and his happy family life are under threat. Later, Perowne makes his way to his weekly squash game through London streets filled with hundreds of 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 rich in incident and filled with Perowne's celebrations of life's pleasures, his family gathers for a reunion. But with the sudden appearance of Baxter, Perowne's earlier fears seem about to be realised.

伊恩·麦克尤恩，（1an McEwan，1948-）是英国当代文坛最优秀、最具影响力的作家之一。毕业于布赖顿的萨塞克斯大学，后在东安吉利大学获得硕士学位。自其第一部短篇小说集《最初的爱情，最后的仪式》获1 975年毛姆奖以来，他多次获得布克奖提名。其作品《阿姆斯特丹》1998年布克奖折桂，《赎罪》获2002年布克奖提名，《星期六》获2005年布克奖提名。主要作品（（最初的爱情，最后的仪式》《水泥花园》《床笫之间》《陌生人的慰藉》（（时间的孩子》《无罪者》K黑犬》《白日梦者》《爱无可忍》《阿姆斯特丹》《赎罪》《星期六》。