The following version of this book was used to create the guide: McGregor, Jon. If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things. 4th Estate, 2017.

Jon McGregor's novel If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things is written from both the first and third person points of view and employs both the past and present tenses. The novel takes many liberties with conventional structure and form. The narrative is divided into alternating sections of first and third person perspectives, past and present tense narrations. These sections are formally differentiated using white space. Though the author embraces linguistic, formal, and temporal distortions throughout, the following summary adheres to a more linear timeline and present tense.

One summer, the unnamed first person narrator is living in an undisclosed city with her friends Sarah, Jamie, Simon, Alison, and Rob. They live on a busy street that is constantly filled with sound, noise, and activity. Because they are young, the narrator and her friends make many plans for the future. They sit on their front step, drinking beer, eating donuts, and dreaming about all the things they will someday do.

Other individuals live on the same city street as well. There is an elderly man and his wife who live in one apartment. They celebrate 55 years of marriage together. Though they have loved each other for years, the old man knows that there is much his wife does not know about his life. He has told her very little about his time in the war, convinced there is no way to convey these experiences. He also has not told her that he is gravely ill and does not have long to live.

A young man lives nearby as well. He devotes the majority of his time to taking photographs of his neighbors, his street, and his city. He has also worked on an urban archiving project for years. He collects mementos and artifacts from the street, gathering them into jars and boxes. He also writes to his twin brother often. Over the course of the summer, he develops a crush on the narrator, convinced that he is in love with her. Although they have one conversation during a party, the narrator is too drunk to remember the interaction. The young man's hopes of becoming close with her thus quickly fade.

A man with burned hands also lives on the same street with his four-year-old daughter. The man is a widower. His wife died in a house fire. Though he tried to save her, he could not open the door, and severely wrecked his hands attempting to do so. He often worries about his daughter, but is glad when she tells him she can see angels.

Then one day, a little boy is riding his tricycle in the street. All of the neighbors are going about their usual business. They are hanging laundry, playing cricket, cleaning their shoes and cars, and talking. When a local man performs a stunt off the top of a crane, a driver becomes distracted and hits the little boy on the bike. The man with the urban archive tries to save him, but cannot get to him in time.

Three years later and living hundreds of miles away, the narrator cannot stop obsessing over her memory of the accident. She has recently discovered that she is pregnant and cannot understand why she keeps thinking about the little boy. She calls her friend Sarah, desperate for someone with whom she can share her news. Instead, she brings up the accident.

When she tries talking to her mother about the pregnancy, her mother is distracted and distant. Finally she interrupts her to reveal the truth, and her mother responds in an odd and detached manner.

Sarah calls the narrator to say she ran into the brother of the archive man from that summer in the city. The brother's name is Michael and he is eager to meet the narrator. He calls her and they make plans to meet up. Though the narrator is unsure why she agreed to see Michael, she soon feels at ease in his company.

Over the following days and weeks, the narrator and Michael become close. Michael reveals that his brother was in love with the narrator. Although offended that the narrator never tried to get to know him, Michael is kind and empathetic towards the narrator. He even drives her to her parents house to speak to them about the pregnancy in person. This visit is pivotal for the narrator, and helps evolve her understanding of her parents, her past, and her pregnancy.

When the narrator and Michael attend the ultrasound appointment, they discover she is having twins. She says she will name the babies after Michael and his brother. Michael then explains how deeply the accident impacted his brother psychologically.