Saturday

Summary: Saturday, February 15, 2003. Henry Perowne is a contented man -- successful neurosurgeon, the devoted husband of Rosalind, a newspaper lawyer, and proud father of two grown-up chidren, one a promising poet, the other a talented blues musician. Unusually, he wakes before dawn, drawn to the window of his bedrrom and filled with 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, its openness and diversity, 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 confrontation with Baxter, a fidgety, agressive 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 the day rich in incident and filled with Perowne's celebrations of life's pleasures -- music, food, love, the exhilarations of sport and the satisfactions of exacting work -- his family gathers for a reunion. And suddenly, Perowne's earlier fears seem about to be realised.

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