I anticipated beginning Ian
McEwan’s new novel, The Children Act,
with some anxiety. I am a huge fan of much of McEwan’s work, especially Atonement and Saturday, both of which I’ve read twice, and some of his shorter
novels, like Enduring Love.
But
some of his more recent novels have disappointed me: Sweet Tooth and On Chesil
Beach didn’t seem worthy of his talent.
So,
the new book?
Whew!
Loud sigh of relief. Here is the McEwan I have admired, back in form, tackling
an important social issue, rendering it compulsively readable through his
inimitable style.
The Children
Act echoes a theme of Atonement
and Saturday: one unintended act
leads to a cascade of consequences, altering the lives of the players in a
profound way. Like the protagonists in those earlier novels, Fiona Maye is a
basically moral person; she is intelligent, well meaning, blessed with
professional and creative gifts. As a British High Court judge overseeing
complex family law cases, she dispenses judgment with care and compassion. Her
peers admire her crisply written opinions, and she handles controversial cases
with aplomb, not wavering in the face of pressure from the media or public. Her
life seems perfectly orderly and serene.
Except,
except….An unexpected domestic crisis rattles her confidence and threatens to
unravel her comfortable existence. At the same time, she is facing one of her
most gut-wrenching cases ever: a dispute over the right of a young man to
refuse a life-saving blood transfusion because of his deeply held faith as a
Jehovah’s witness. At 17, Adam Henry is
not an adult, hence cannot legally choose to reject treatment. His case comes
before the court, and Fiona must render a decision, keeping in mind the
Children Act of 1989, which emphasizes the primacy of a child’s welfare. But
what is in this child’s best
interest? A chance of survival? Or honoring his religious beliefs?
Fiona visits Adam
in hospital to try to gauge his true interests. What ensues affects both child
and judge in unexpected ways. How their story plays out is a marvel of
narrative suspense in a compact (221 pages) novel. The story is both expansive
and compressed, as Fiona’s understanding of “the best interests of the child”
changes over time.
McEwan has given
us a gem of a tale, set in and among the venerable London Royal Courts of Law,
and has given us an unforgettable character in Fiona—a judge and a woman who
is, after all, only human.
