Ian McEwan pits religion against the law in new novel
In Ian McEwan's law-versus-religion scenario, religious edicts taken too far wreck lives, writes Desmond O'Grady
The Children Act
by Ian McEwan
Jonathan Cape
4 stars
Readers should expect the unexpected with any Ian McEwan novel. Suspense is a given, as is the odd stunning reversal. His stock in trade includes an ability in novel after novel to portray professionals at highly skilled work, and their elementary stumbles. He has a knack for getting under the skin of his women too, most notably in .
In , the professional is Fiona Maye, a 59-year-old High Court judge in London. She is entirely credible as we watch her at work in her chambers, in court and at home in her nearby flat. She loves the legal life: the rigour of the law, the banter and irony of her colleagues - their defence against the often dry details they wrangle with interminably - and their Christmas concerts in the Great Hall at Gray's Inn, where she performs classical songs.
She is as married to the law as some women become brides of Christ. Unlike them, however, she has a husband she takes for granted after 35 years of marriage; they don't have children.
McEwan is meticulous in presenting the legal cases, but there is some tiresome repetition when in court scenes he goes back over issues he has already explained
Some cases have had a special impact on her: that of the conjoined twins of a Catholic couple who, in obedience to what they take to be God's will, do not want surgery although both twins are certain to die. In accordance with the act of the title, which lays down that the best interests of minors prevail over the wishes of parents or guardians, she determines that they be separated, at the expense of the unviable one, to save the other's life.
