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The Children's Book
The Children's Book
Aug 10, 2025 2:25 PM

Author:A. S. Byatt

The Children's Book

Famous author Olive Wellwood writes a special private book, bound in different colours, for each of her children. In their rambling house near Romney Marsh they play in a story-book world - but their lives, and those of their rich cousins and their friends, the son and daughter of a curator at the new Victoria and Albert Museum, are already inscribed with mystery. Each family carries its own secrets.

They grow up in the golden summers of Edwardian times, but as the sons rebel against their parents and the girls dream of independent futures, they are unaware that in the darkness ahead they will be betrayed unintentionally by the adults who love them. This is the children's book.

Reviews

Intricately worked and sumptuously inlaid novel...seethes and pulses with an entangled life, of the mind and the senses alike. Colour and sensation flood Byatt's writing...she is a master-potter, or magic-working puppeteer

—— Boyd Tonkin , Independent

Superlatively displays both enormous reach and tremendous grip...sizzling with ideas and alive with imaginative energy, too...this is the most stirring novel AS Byatt has written since Possession

—— Sunday Times

It's success is as a novel of ideas, forcefully and often memorably expressed, while the story follows darkening fortunes into a chastened postwar world

—— Helen Dunmore , The Times

Compelling...strenuously inclusive and also tremendously enriching - an intricate tale, energetically fashioned from sturdy strands of material, by "a spinning fairy in the attic", an indefatigable storyteller

—— Irish Times

Astonishing power and resonance

—— Jane Shilling , Sunday Telegraph

More than a novel, this is a historical primer, discursive, shimmering with colour and texture, containing stories within stories and giving walk-on parts to luminaries of the age... For fans of Byatt this is better than Possession. A truly great novel

—— Daily Express

Light and lustrous, commanding and transporting, The Children's Book is superb

—— Daily Mail

Written in a simple, readable style that leaves you free to concentrate on the weirdness of the content… There is no other writer able to give us the fix that his unique qualities provide

—— Sunday Express

In this novel, [Murakami] captures the creative process compellingly… The complex landscape that Murakami assembles in Killing Commendatore is a word portrait of the artist’s inner life

—— Times Literary Supplement

Murakami keeps the reader gripped

—— The Week

Murakami dancing along ‘the inky blackness of the Path of Metaphor’ is like Fred Astaire dancing across a floor, then up the walls and onto the ceiling... Killing Commendatore is a perfect balance of tradition and individual talent

—— Spectator

Rich, sprawling… Killing Commendatore is a… powerful, sustained meditation on how we engage with works of art

—— Daily Telegraph

Brilliant… Murakami is good company, that most precious of qualities in an author

—— Xan Brooks , Guardian

Murakami has produced a captivating novel, full of otherworldly detours and fascinating digressions

—— Jane Shilling , Daily Mail

One of the most influential novelists of his generation

—— Observer

A sex-positive and thoughtful romp with humour and heart

—— Kirkus Reviews

A bold, inclusive exploration of teen sexuality that, propelled by Jack's brazen voice, never feels preachy

—— Booklist, starred review

Rosen (The Memory Wall) creates memorable protagonists and brings a fresh, frank voice to his YA debut

—— Publishers Weekly

A book that stands out within the world of cat literature ... and it's a world worth exploring.

—— TIME MAGAZINE

I found myself sobbing ... unable, unwilling, to let this little book go.

—— NPR

The Travelling Cat Chronicles is as much a loving tribute to Japan’s obsession with and reverence for cats as it is an endearing introduction for non-Japanese readers to the country’s ever-fascinating culture and deeply rooted traditions.

—— SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

A book that speaks volumes about our need for connection - human, feline or otherwise.

—— SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

This touching novel of a brave cat and his gentle, wise human will resonate with lovers of animal tales, quiet stories of friendship, and travelogues alike.

—— PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

Gentle, soft-spoken, and full of wisdom

—— KIRKUS REVIEWS

A delight to read

—— FINANCIAL TIMES

Prepare to have your heartstrings tugged by this quirky tale

—— SUNDAY MIRROR
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