The Children Act

Book Description This book is a brilliant, emotionally wrenching new novel from the author of Atonement and Amsterdam. Fiona Maye, a leading High Court judge, renowned for her fierce intelligence and sensitivity is called on to try an urgent case. For religious reasons, a seventeen-year-old boy is refusing the medical treatment that could save his life. Time is running out. She visits the boy in hospital - an encounter which stirs long-buried feelings in her and powerful new emotions in the boy. But it is Fiona who must ultimately decide whether he lives or dies and her judgement will have momentous consequences for them both.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Compulsively readable... McEwan's prose keeps its cutting edge and his books are the ones the reading public still crave... A masterly balance between research and imagination... One feels an immediate pleasure in returning to prose of uncommon clarity, unshowiness and control" The Times "Classic McEwan... It's a pleasure from start to finish, one not to be interrupted" Guardian "A powerful, humane novel" Evening Standard "One of the finest writers alive" Sunday Times "McEwan writes as beautifully and elegantly as ever, his prose quintessentially English in its restraint, one meticulously chosen word hinting at depths of emotion" Washington Post "A finely written, engaging read... Poignant, challenging and lyrical" Sunday Express "A class act by one of our finest novelists." -- Viv Groskop Red "A compelling moral dilemma [with] a moving and heartfelt denouement." Tatler "Shows McEwan as a master of fiction." -- Olivia Cole GQ "It is one most extraordinary, powerful, moving reading experiences of my life. It is an utterly remarkable novel, delicately balanced, perfectly crafted, beautifully written." -- Alberto Manguel

About the Author

Ian McEwan is a critically acclaimed author of short stories and novels for adults, as well as The Daydreamer, a children's novel illustrated by Anthony Browne. His first published work, a collection of short stories, First Love, Last Rites, won the Somerset Maugham Award. His novels include The Child in Time, which won the 1987 Whitbread Novel of the Year Award, The Cement Garden, Enduring Love, Amsterdam, which won the 1998 Booker Prize, Atonement, Saturday, On Chesil Beach, Solar, Sweet Tooth and The Children Act. See all Editorial Reviews