The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt

The Children’s Book begins in 1895, when a young runaway is discovered in vaults below the South Kensington Museum. Author Olive Wellwood, adopts him shortly afterwards, and we follow their respective fortunes, and those of Olive’s large extended family, for over 20 years. Much happens in those years, and because Olive is a children’s writer, we get to see how it all affects her fictions, and how her fictions affect the children’s lives – and be warned now, it’s not an optimistic view. A great deal of Olive’s work is dropped into the text, and it’s very well written and resonant with the larger story. The same cannot be said for the extended lectures on various Victorian/Edwardian subjects that Byatt drops into the text for our edutainment. Some are intriguing, some less so depending on subject, but they generally outstay their welcome, and it does feel after a while that we too have been living in the vaults below a museum. Still, these sections wouldn’t be so annoying if the book’s plot wasn’t so involving, and the book, a sprawling, enthralling thing with cameos from writers aplenty, and some compelling points to make, will make its audience very happy indeed. [Jack Prince]