 First edition | |
| Author | A. S. Byatt |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Chatto & Windus |
Publication date | 2009 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover andPaperback) |
| Pages | 675 pp |
| ISBN | 978-0-7011-8389-9 |
The Children's Book is a 2009 novel by British writerA. S. Byatt. It follows the adventures of several inter-related families, adults and children, from 1895 throughWorld War I. Loosely based upon the life of children's writerE. Nesbit[1] there are secrets slowly revealed that show that the families are much more creatively formed than first guessed. It was shortlisted for the 2009Booker Prize.[1]
The Wellwood family (Olive, Humphry, Olive's sister Violet, and many children) areFabians, living in a world of artists, writers, and craftsmen, all moving into new ways to express art, and living an artful life, before the horrors and loss of the Great War. While the central character of Olive is a writer of children's literature, supporting her large family with her writing, the title of the book refers to the children in the book: Tom, Julian, Philip, Elsie, Dorothy, Hedda, Griselda, Florence, Charles/Karl, Phyllis, and others, following each as they approach adulthood and the terrors of war.[2]
In an interview withThe Guardian Byatt says:
I started with the idea that writing children's books isn't good for the writers' own children. There are some dreadful stories. Christopher Robin at least lived. Kenneth Grahame's son put himself across a railway line and waited for the train. Then there's J. M. Barrie. One of the boys that Barrie adopted almost certainly drowned himself. This struck me as something that needed investigating. And the second thing was, I was interested in the structure of E. Nesbit's family—how they all seemed to be Fabians and fairy-story writers.
The Children's Book centres on the fictional writer Olive Wellwood and spans from 1895 until the end of theFirst World War.[3] She is based uponE. Nesbit.[1] Another character, Herbert Methley, Byatt said, is a combination ofH. G. Wells andD. H. Lawrence.[1] The book also featuresRupert Brooke,Emma Goldman,Auguste Rodin,George Bernard Shaw,Virginia Woolf andOscar Wilde, all as themselves.[1] Byatt initially intended to title the book asThe Hedgehog, the White Goose and the Mad March Hare.[1]
The book has so many fictional and historical characters that Byatt had to create a spreadsheet in Excel to keep track of them all.[4]
The Kent Wellwoods:
The London Wellwoods:
At theVictoria and Albert Museum:
In London:
At Purchase House in Dungeness:
Neighbours in Kent:"Their guests were socialist, anarchists, Quakers, Fabians, artists, editors, freethinkers, and writers who lived, either all time, or at weekends and on holidays in converted cottages and old farmhouses, Arts and Crafts homes and workingmen's terraces, in the villages, woods and meadows around the Kentish Weald and theNorth andSouth Downs."[5]
The Germans:
The Tutors:
Upon release,The Children's Book was generally well-received. OnThe Omnivore, in an aggregation of British critic reviews, the book received an "omniscore" of 4 out of 5.[7]Culture Critic assessed critical response as an aggregated score of 78% based on British press reviews.[8] The book received a 79% fromThe Lit Review based on 39 critic reviews.[9] In the January/February 2010 issueBookmarks, the book was scored three and a half out of five stars. The magazine's critical summary reads: "Gorgeously stuffed? Or overstuffed? Critics were clearly split on Byatt's latest offering".[10] Globally, it was generally well received withComplete Review saying on the consensus "Generally positive -- but while many are impressed also note that her attention to details and facts can be overwhelming".[11]
George Eliot — along with Robert Browning — is one of the fixed stars by which Byatt navigates, and the story told of Eliot could as easily have been told of her disciple.