Published in 2014, Ian McEwan’s thirteenth novel,
The Children Act, places centre-stage the principles of justice by examining the character of a judge through the interrelatedness of private life and public function. Through its title the novel references the 1989 Children Act, the legislation which ensures that the practises of the judicial system regarding minors will consider their well-being above parental ideologies. The novel’s epigraph is the opening sentence of the Act: “when a court determines any question with respect to . . . the upbringing of a child . . . the child’s welfare shall be the court’s paramount consideration”. McEwan’s protagonist, the High Court judge Fiona Maye, presides over fictional versions of controversial Family Division court cases which…
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Citation: Logotheti, Anastasia. "The Children Act". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 16 January 2017 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=35505, accessed 25 November 2024.]
