The Children Act

By: Ian McEwan

Narrated by: Lindsay Duncan

A brilliant, emotionally wrenching new novel from the author of Atonement and Amsterdam.

Fiona Maye is a High Court judge in London presiding over cases in family court. She is fiercely intelligent, well respected, and deeply immersed in the nuances of her particular field of law. Often the outcome of a case seems simple from the outside, the course of action to ensure a child's welfare obvious. But the law requires more rigor than mere pragmatism, and Fiona is expert in considering the sensitivities of culture and religion when handing down her verdicts. But Fiona's professional success belies domestic strife. Her husband, Jack, asks her to consider an open marriage and, after an argument, moves out of their house. His departure leaves her adrift, wondering whether it was not love she had lost so much as a modern form of respectability; whether it was not contempt and ostracism she really fears.

She decides to throw herself into her work, especially a complex case involving a 17-year-old boy whose parents will not permit a lifesaving blood transfusion because it conflicts with their beliefs as Jehovah's Witnesses. But Jack doesn't leave her thoughts, and the pressure to resolve the case - as well as her crumbling marriage - tests Fiona in ways that will keep listeners thoroughly enthralled until the last stunning page.

©2014 Ian McEwan (P)2014 Random House Audio

Far-Reaching Consequences

Fiona Maye is a British judge assigned to child welfare cases. One of her more recent cases has involved deciding against the parents of conjoined siamese twins who shared vital organs. One of the twins had chances of surviving if the twins were separated, while the other was sure to die. If they were not separated, both would have died. The parents wanted to let God and nature take their course. Fiona made the decision to let the stronger twin have a chance at life. Fiona's difficult professional life has had repercussions on her long-term marriage. Now nearing sixty, she no longer craves intimacy with her husband after all the accumulated stress. Her husband on the other hand decides what he needs is one last grand passion and wants to have his cake and eat it too, so tells Fiona he'd like to have an affair with a young woman, yet keep the marriage intact, which doesn't suit Fiona in the least.

Then another complicated case falls in her lap. A young Jehova's Witness, not yet eighteen years old, the age of medical consent in England, is urgently in need of blood transfusions. The hospital has made an appeal to the court, as without the transfusions, the leukemia he suffers from is bound to kill him in a painful way. Both the parents and Adam, the young man himself, are against the procedure on religious grounds, though the parents ultimately leave the choice in Adam's hands. For reasons she doesn't quite understand herself, Fiona feels compelled to make the trip to the hospital and meet Adam in person to see what should be done, and eventually persuades him to go through with the procedure. The consequences will have far-reaching consequences.

This was a very good book and ultimately seemed to me more about relationships and the impact individuals have upon each other than about medical and legal issues, which ultimately, was much more interesting to me. Excellent narration by Lindsay Duncan—I would gladly listen to more audiobooks read by her.

Satisfying and Compact

Fiona is in the driver's seat of both her personal and professional lives but she is also aging and world weary. She is a highly respected judge, beloved wife and accomplished musician, but is also selfish and self-absorbed, and at times not very likeable at all. Fiona skirts oblivion, however, as her husband throws down the gauntlet hoping to shake her from her malaise at the same time a young man at the center of a life or death legal judgment stirs her humanity. It is her enlightened understanding of these relationships that utimately restores the balance at the convergence of the personal and professional. The story satisfies in the end, but that end, we know, is still only a respite somewhere on a bittersweet and ambiguous road.

Ian McEwan got it right this time. The Children Act is a novella really, short and tightly structured, and introspective and private, like a good piece of chamber music. Lindsay Duncan, the narrator, does a nice, unobtrusive job.

Parts were really good

I would have given a higher rating if the story was just about the child that needed treatment, but the parents refused treatment based on religious beliefs. That part was well written and interesting. Unfortunately the rest of the story is based on the story of the judge and I found it tedious and boring. I think it is worth reading, but not the best book ever.

Two sad people, a court and a hospital

I enjoyed listening to this story, it kept my attention and was worth my time. The author tells of a remote, chilly and professional judge touched by a passionate young man's misfortunes. The narration is good and adds to the story.

Powerful, devastating, lovely

Haunting story and beautiful use of language. Lindsay Duncan's narration was perfect - she brought the story to life.