 McEwan has been open about the autobiographical elements in the book , and has called it " a muted and distorted autobiography " and " a muted , or transmuted , memoir of myself as a young writer . " There are , however , significant differences between author and character . Haley is both an academic and a writer of fiction , while McEwan has been a professional author for his entire career . The intelligence agency plot is also completely fictional ; there was never a scheme such as the one described in the book run by MI5 . As McEwan says himself , " unfortunately a beautiful woman never came into my room and offered me a stipend . " 
