Description

Book Synopsis

**Number One Sunday Times Bestseller**

Charlie, drifting through life and dodging full-time employment, is in love with Miranda, a bright student who lives with a terrible secret.

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.

'Funny, thought-provoking and politically acute...' Sunday Times

'Dazzling' Guardian

'An unsettling examination of the human condition. Bold, clever' Sunday Telegraph



Trade Review
Machines Like Me reminds us that McEwan is once-in-a-generation talent, offering readerly pleasure, cerebral incisiveness and an enticing imagination. * Spectator *
[Machines Like Me] is right up there with his very best [novels]. Machines Like Me manages to combine the dark acidity of McEwan’s great early stories with the crowd-pleasing readability of his more recent work. A novel this smart oughtn’t to be such fun, but it is. * Observer *
Ian McEwan’s Machines Like Me is a dazzling account of our interaction with technology… He marries a gripping plot, handled with rarefied skill and dexterity, to a deep excavation of the narrowing gap between the canny and the uncanny, leaving the reader pleasurably dizzied, and marvelling at human existence. * Independent *
Compelling… unforgettably strange… there are many pleasures and many moments of profound disquiet in this book, which reminds you of its author’s mastery of the underrated craft of storytelling… [Machines Like Me] is morally complex and very disturbing, animated by a spirit of sinister and intelligent mischief that feels unique to its author. * Guardian *
[McEwan's] fierce intelligence [crackles] like a Jumping Jack on Bonfire Night… Arguably the finest English writer of his generation, the ideas he explores are important, now more that ever. * Daily Express *

Machines Like Me: From the Sunday Times

    Product form

    £9.49

    Includes FREE delivery

    RRP £9.99 – you save £0.50 (5%)

    Order before 4pm tomorrow for delivery by Wed 17 Jun 2026.

    A Paperback / softback by Ian McEwan

      Trusted by thousands of customers. See 2,385+ Customer Reviews

      View other formats and editions of Machines Like Me: From the Sunday Times by Ian McEwan

      Publisher: Vintage Publishing
      Publication Date: 05/03/2020
      ISBN13: 9781529111255, 978-1529111255
      ISBN10: 1529111250

      Description

      Book Synopsis

      **Number One Sunday Times Bestseller**

      Charlie, drifting through life and dodging full-time employment, is in love with Miranda, a bright student who lives with a terrible secret.

      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.

      'Funny, thought-provoking and politically acute...' Sunday Times

      'Dazzling' Guardian

      'An unsettling examination of the human condition. Bold, clever' Sunday Telegraph



      Trade Review
      Machines Like Me reminds us that McEwan is once-in-a-generation talent, offering readerly pleasure, cerebral incisiveness and an enticing imagination. * Spectator *
      [Machines Like Me] is right up there with his very best [novels]. Machines Like Me manages to combine the dark acidity of McEwan’s great early stories with the crowd-pleasing readability of his more recent work. A novel this smart oughtn’t to be such fun, but it is. * Observer *
      Ian McEwan’s Machines Like Me is a dazzling account of our interaction with technology… He marries a gripping plot, handled with rarefied skill and dexterity, to a deep excavation of the narrowing gap between the canny and the uncanny, leaving the reader pleasurably dizzied, and marvelling at human existence. * Independent *
      Compelling… unforgettably strange… there are many pleasures and many moments of profound disquiet in this book, which reminds you of its author’s mastery of the underrated craft of storytelling… [Machines Like Me] is morally complex and very disturbing, animated by a spirit of sinister and intelligent mischief that feels unique to its author. * Guardian *
      [McEwan's] fierce intelligence [crackles] like a Jumping Jack on Bonfire Night… Arguably the finest English writer of his generation, the ideas he explores are important, now more that ever. * Daily Express *

      Recently viewed products

      © 2026 Book Curl

        • American Express
        • Apple Pay
        • Diners Club
        • Discover
        • Google Pay
        • Maestro
        • Mastercard
        • PayPal
        • Shop Pay
        • Union Pay
        • Visa

        Login

        Forgot your password?

        Don't have an account yet?
        Create account