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·麥剋尤恩，（1an McEwan，1948-）是英國當代文壇最優秀、最具影響力的作傢之一。畢業於布賴頓的薩塞剋斯大學，後在東安吉利大學獲得碩士學位。自其第一部短篇小說集《最初的愛情，最後的儀式》獲1 975年毛姆奬以來，他多次獲得布剋奬提名。其作品《阿姆斯特丹》1998年布剋奬摺桂，《贖罪》獲2002年布剋奬提名，《星期六》獲2005年布剋奬提名。主要作品（（最初的愛情，最後的儀式》《水泥花園》《床笫之間》《陌生人的慰藉》（（時間的孩子》《無罪者》K黑犬》《白日夢者》《愛無可忍》《阿姆斯特丹》《贖罪》《星期六》。