The Children's Book |  | Author: A.S. Byatt
Publisher: Knopf
List Price: $26.95
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Rating:  39 reviews
Sales Rank: 583
Format: Deckle Edge
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Pages: 688
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.2
Dimensions (in): 9.5 x 6.6 x 1.8
ISBN: 0307272095
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN: 9780307272096
ASIN: 0307272095
Publication Date: October 6, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Shortlisted
for the Man Booker Prize
A spellbinding novel, at once sweeping and intimate, from the Booker Prize–winning author of Possession, that spans the Victorian era through the World War I years, and centers around a famous children’s book author and the passions, betrayals, and secrets that tear apart the people she loves.
When Olive Wellwood’s oldest son discovers a runaway named Philip sketching in the basement of the new Victoria and Albert Museum—a talented working-class boy who could be a character out of one of Olive’s magical tales—she takes him into the storybook world of her family and friends.
But the joyful bacchanals Olive hosts at her rambling country house—and the separate, private books she writes for each of her seven children—conceal more treachery and darkness than Philip has ever imagined. As these lives—of adults and children alike—unfold, lies are revealed, hearts are broken, and the damaging truth about the Wellwoods slowly emerges. But their personal struggles, their hidden desires, will soon be eclipsed by far greater forces, as the tides turn across Europe and a golden era comes to an end.
Taking us from the cliff-lined shores of England to Paris, Munich, and the trenches of the Somme, The Children’s Book is a deeply affecting story of a singular family, played out against the great, rippling tides of the day. It is a masterly literary achievement by one of our most essential writers.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 39
 Possession Redux November 22, 2009
Patrick Odaniel (Austin, TX)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Temporally, at least, The Children's Book is a sequel to Possession, picking up in the 1880s. It has a couple of A. S. Byatt's newly-minted Edwardian fairy stories as well as Great War poetry. It has puppets and a learned discussion of the craft of puppetry. And there are pots. Lots and lots of pots. Big pots with red, licking flames under ice-green seas and pots shaped to accommodate the lascivious poses of naked nymphs. There is the contraction and expansion of time and Marcel Proust's madeleine. Oh, and the howl, howl, howl of King Lear bearing the dead body of Cordelia. There's a treehouse and Peter Pan with Tom Underground and his lost shadow. And a naked procession of youths along with a fancy dress re-enactment in Todefright House of Midsummer's Night's Dream. There's a messing about with boats, too. In other words, this book is a feast--and should be gobbled down with both fists and a gallon of serviceable port.
 Uh, no, not for me November 21, 2009
David Field (Merrimac, MA USA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book reminds me of how I think it must have been on a big sailing ship of the time. When the ship cast off, there would have been a huge amount of activity. The captain was at his wheel, sailors up in the rigging, and people casting off the ropes.
Then you look over the side and discover you are only a few feet from the quay. There has been massive activity, but little to show for it. And that's how this book is. A. S. Byatt is a great and well-known writer, and it's a tribute to her that you never notice how complicated each scene is as you read. But when you rest and think of what you'll put into a review, these thoughts come to mind.
If you've read Byatt's work before, you might well be happy. But it's not the best introduction to her style. A friend of mine describes Byatt's 1990 novel Possession as "marvelous," and re-reads it every year. Perhaps a better place to start?
Finding family November 21, 2009
Jan Stites (Oakland, CA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I didn't want to finish this long but engrossing book because I felt I would miss the sense of family it created. I was caught up in the stories of these characters, tho in a somewhat detached way. I didn't grieve especially for those who met sad endings. Throughout the book, though, I never thought about stopping. I enjoyed following the mostly leisurely spinning of their many stories. Parts of this novel such as the fairytales one of the characters creates enchanted me. It's a densely layered novel with many pages devoted to the political, cultural, literary and feminist struggles of the day. (I knew our country's struggles for women's sovereignty were extreme, but I had no idea British women were blowing up homes.) This book wove quite a spell for me. I highly recommend it, though it's not a book for readers who favor strong plot. This is a very character-driven and idea-driven novel, a feast for readers who enjoy those qualities.
Byatt is Amazing! November 20, 2009
A Hesitant Housewife
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I can think of one word to describe this book.... epic. This is an epic story. The story of WWI children spans Europe from France to Germany to England. There are many different narratives in the story so you get to see the story from many different viewpoints. I have read some reviews that found this distracting, but I enjoyed it. The plot was easy to follow and although the book is huge, it was a relatively quick read. I would recommend it to anyone who loves a great historical fiction novel. The ending was heartbreaking but the story was amazing!
Not Possession November 20, 2009
Charlus (New York, NY USA)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
The burden this book has had to bear in being compared to Byatt's Possession is unfair, unnecessary and misleading. Whereas the earlier novel was a masterpiece of mimicry of high Victorian poetry and a witty expose of academia, this is a piece apart. True it is a historical novel about literature and writers but beyond that there are limited similarities.
"The Children's Book" is a multigenerational novel of the Edwardian Age, that golden era of British children's literature. Byatt presents a large handful of characters who she follows over time and the reader's involvement in the story requires caring about the fates of these characters. But total readerly involvement is inhibited by narrative pauses where Byatt steps out of the role of omniscent Narrator to become essayist on the transitional period of Edwardian to Modern and the traumatic break of World War I. One is reminded of the "history chapters" of "War and Peace" or, less skillfully, the history lessons of the novels of James Michner and Herman Wouk.
For this reader she was mostly successful and I read the novel with great interest, willing to pause when Byatt had something interesting to tell that went beyond the fictional parameters of her story. The Edwardian Age holds a special interest for me and so I was predisposed to forgive her any narrative raggedness. So while not as seamless as the earlier novel, I actually found it more involving, in the same way I prefer Forster's "The Longest Journey" to "Howard's End", the latter being a far more polished book but the former having more passionate urgency that hews closer to the writer's heart.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 39
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