Read in hardback, borrowed from Granny (we gave it to her for Christmas).
Looks like I haven't read an Ian McEwan novel since Sweet Tooth in 2012.
This slim volume (more of a novella) is the story of Fiona Maye, a high court judge in the family division. She is daily called upon to make judgements on behalf of families going through divorce or other crises. Fiona and her husband, Jack, are themselves childless, and there is a very poignant paragraph explaining why it never seemed to be the right time.
Fiona is called upon to give a judgement in the case of a young man, Adam, a Jehovah's Witness, who is refusing treatment for his Leukaemia on religious grounds. Reeling from a conversation with her husband about the nature of their relationship, Fiona takes it upon herself to visit Adam in hospital - the pivotal action we've come to know and love in McEwan's novels which sets the rest of the book in motion.
Whilst it seems from the archives that I didn't enjoy Sweet Tooth, I did find myself involved with The Children Act. I had sympathy for Fiona, and the situation in which she found herself. Not a long read - I finished it in 2 days, but perhaps engaging if you were going somewhere by train?
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