BOOK REVIEW: 'The Children Act' by Ian McEwan

Ian McEwan’s newest novel, “The Children Act,” examines Judge Fiona Maye as she presides over the High Court’s family division, navigates her own crumbling marriage and considers the case of Adam Henry, a Jehovah’s Witness and a minor, who has refused lifesaving treatment for leukemia. “The Children Act” is thoroughly researched, thought-provoking and subtly suspenseful.

In the novel’s opening pages, Fiona attempts to review a judgment she has drafted in one of her cases, but she is unable to focus. Instead, her mind replays the fight she has just had with her husband. Jack Maye, Fiona’s husband of 35 years, has announced his intention to have an affair with a 28-year-old statistician. He maintains that he loves Fiona, but he sees this liaison as his “last shot,” and he wants Fiona’s blessing … or at least her acquiescence. Fiona demurs.

The following day, as Fiona endeavors to compartmentalize her own marital discord, she hears argument in a case that precipitates much of the action in the novel. Adam Henry, a Jehovah’s Witness who is less than three months shy of his 18th birthday, has leukemia. On religious grounds, however, Adam and his parents have refused medical treatment, without which he will almost certainly die. Specifically, Adam has refused to accept a blood transfusion. In response, the hospital seeks a leave of court to treat Adam despite his objections.

After hearing arguments by all parties, Fiona makes the unorthodox decision to adjourn and visit Adam in the hospital, ostensibly to gauge his comprehension of the ordeal he faces should treatment be withheld.
She finds Adam a plainly ill but beautiful boy, an aspiring poet and violinist and a youth of keen intellect and insight. Immediately following the visit, Fiona pronounces her decision in open court.

In “The Children Act,” McEwan deftly mingles Fiona’s personal struggles and her professional endeavors.
He sympathetically portrays Fiona’s struggle to keep the loss, regret and betrayal she feels about her marriage buttoned-up, while subtly revealing how Fiona’s emotional turmoil impacts her thinking and affects her decisions. The effect is intriguing and not a little unsettling.

“The Children Act” is available at Bookstore1Sarasota, 1359 Main St., Sarasota. Call 365-7900 for more information.

Top 10 fiction titles at Bookstore1 this month:
“Orphan Train” by Christina Baker Kline
“Personal” by Lee Child
“Edge of Eternity” by Ken Follett
“All the Light We Cannot See” by Anthony Doerr
“An Italian Wife” by Ann Hood
“The Goldfinch” by Donna Tartt
“The Alchemist” by Paul Coelho
“The Paying Guests” by Sarah Waters
“Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki” by Haruki Murakami
 “Kill My Mother” by Jules Feiffer