2119: The lowlands of the UK have been submerged by rising seas. Those who survive are haunted by the richness of the world that has been lost.

Tom Metcalfe, an academic at the University of the South Downs, part of Britain’s remaining island archipelagos, pores over the archives of that distant era, captivated by the freedoms and possibilities of human life at its zenith.

When he stumbles across a clue that may lead to the lost poem, a story is revealed of entangled loves and a crime that destroy his assumptions about people he thought he knew intimately well.

What We Can Know is a masterpiece, a fictional tour de force that reclaims the present from our sense of looming catastrophe, and imagines a future world where all is not quite lost.

2014: Una splendida  poesia viene letta ad alta voce e mai più ascoltata. Per generazioni, si è speculato sul suo messaggio, ma non ne è stata ancora trovata alcuna copia. 2119: Le pianure del Regno Unito sono state sommerse dall’innalzamento del livello del mare.

Chi sopravvive è ossessionato dalla ricchezza del mondo perduto. Tom Metcalfe, accademico dell’Università del South Downs, parte degli arcipelaghi insulari rimasti in Gran Bretagna, si immerge negli archivi di quell’epoca lontana, affascinato dalle libertà e dalle possibilità della vita umana al suo apice. Quando si imbatte in un indizio che potrebbe condurre alla poesia perduta, gli viene svelata una storia di amori intrecciati e di un crimine che distruggono le sue convinzioni su persone che credeva di conoscere intimamente.

What We Can Know è un capolavoro, un tour de force immaginario che rivendica il presente dal nostro senso di catastrofe imminente e immagina un mondo futuro in cui non tutto è ancora perduto.

Twenty-five years later, as the radiation from the Chernobyl disaster spreads across Europe, Roland’s wife mysteriously vanishes and he is forced to confront the reality of his rootless existence and look for answers in his family history.

From the fall of the Berlin Wall to the Covid pandemic and climate change, Roland sometimes rides with the tide of history but more often struggles against it. Haunted by lost opportunities, he seeks solace through every possible means ­- literature, travel, friendship, drugs, politics, sex and love.

His journey raises important questions. Can we take full charge of the course of our lives without damage to others? How do global events beyond our control shape us and our memories? What role do chance and contingency play in our existence? And what can we learn from the traumas of the past?

When Charlie comes into money, he buys Adam, one of the first batch of synthetic humans. With Miranda’s assistance, he co-designs Adam’s personality.

This near-perfect human is beautiful, strong and clever – and soon a love triangle forms, which leads Charlie, Miranda and Adam to a profound moral dilemma. Can you design the perfect partner? What makes us human? Our outward deeds or our inner lives?

Provocative and moving, Machines Like Me explores whether a machine can ever truly understand the human heart.