Saturday

doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7487.368

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John Quin, consultant physician (John.Quin@bsuh.nhs.uk)

Royal Sussex County Hospital, Brighton

Hey, Saturday—get up late and it's okay, but not for Henry Perowne, consultant neurosurgeon. Although he is usually “thoughtlessly content” at the weekend, today just happens to coincide with the anti-war demonstration on 15 February 2003. His day starts and ends with a bang.

Ian McEwan

Jonathan Cape, £17.99, pp 279

ISBN 0 224 07299 4

Rating: Embedded Image

Perowne is a rationalist, with a boyish enthusiasm for modern science and at odds with the cynicism of these “baffled and fearful” days. Reflecting on trans-sphenoidal hypophysectomy, he considers the procedure “humane and daring—the spirit of benevolence enlivened by the boldness of a high-wire circus act.” A true …