The magus of Fitzrovia

I meet Ian McEwan for lunch at Elena’s L’Etoile near his Fitzrovia home. He is greeted like a member of the family, and he tells me with relish that the restaurant features in The Dean’s December by one of his literary heroes, Saul Bellow.

McEwan’s last book, Saturday, was explicitly influenced by Bellow, and in many ways a homage to the American master.