The Children Act
Fiona is a High Court Judge in her 60th year who specialises in family law.
A case finds her at a difficult time in her life when her marriage is in real trouble and despite her years of impeccable judgement she is drawn into an emotionally difficult case involving a 17 year old boy who is refusing emergency medical treatment on religious grounds.
So completely was I drawn into Fiona's life and feelings that it felt like this book was over in 5 seconds!
It was so well constructed and delivered a poignant struggle between professional self vs personal self.
Fiona had never done anything outrageous since her teenage years in Newcastle! Since then Fiona has kept herself emotionally constricted but we become witness to the deconstruction of her formal self and glimpse something underneath that even she is surprised by.
This book moved me - I would have loved it to be longer and to have heard about more cases Fiona had presided over but in itself it is an excellent read.
There is n
o real action or suspence here just an absorbing slow paced story of a woman discovering herself when she thought she'd already been discovered.
PS. Beautifully narrated - audio version highly recommended (you do need to be able to concentrate though so perhaps not one for listening to when you may be distracted - every word is of the utmost importance!)
Guest 5 years ago
Thank you for the book it was very interesting
Guest 5 years ago
I wasn't sure what to expect from this book. I decided to request it on NetGalley because I read Atonement a few years ago and really liked it. I didn't feel the same about this one though. The writing felt heavy, clunky and at times was pretty dull.Fiona is a family court judge and has pretty much given her whole life to her career. She has no children of her own and her husband is on the brink of having an affair. She's so wrapped up in her heavy case load and handing down judgments that she doesn't have the time or the energy for him.
She's given the responsibility of deciding whether a 17 year-old boy with leukemia should receive a blood transfusion. It's against his family's religious beliefs, but could potentially save his life. Fiona decides to meet with him and what she finds is a bright, talented young man. One that she believes doesn't fully grasp the reality of his fate. So, she orders the blood transfusion to happen and it has ramifications that no one saw coming. They share an extremely awkward moment and it's downhill from there. I was left feeling like the story could have been so much more. The only saving grace for me, it wasn't very long.
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