The Children Act

by Ian Mcewan

  Acknowledgments

  This novel would not exist without Sir Alan Ward, lately of the Court of Appeal, a judge of great wisdom, wit and humanity. My story has its origins in a case he presided over in the High Court in 1990, and another in the Court of Appeal in 2000. However, my characters, their views, personalities and circumstances, bear no relation to any of the parties in either of those cases. I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Sir Alan for advising me on various legal technicalities as well the everyday existence of a High Court judge. I’m grateful to him also for taking time to read a draft and make comments. I lay claim to any inaccuracies.

  Similarly, I have drawn on a superbly written judgment by Sir James Munby in 2012 and, again, my characters are entirely fictional and bear no resemblance to the participants in that case.

  I am grateful for the advice of Bruce Barker-Benfield of the Bodleian Library, and of James Wood of Doughty Street Chambers. I am also grateful to have read Managing Without Blood, a thoughtful and wide-ranging thesis by the barrister and Jehovah’s Witness Richard Daniel. Once again, I am indebted to Annalena McAfee, Tim Garton Ash and Alex Bowler for their close readings and helpful suggestions.

  IAN MCEWAN

  A NOTE ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Ian McEwan is the bestselling author of fifteen books, including the novels Sweet Tooth; Solar, winner of the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize; On Chesil Beach; Saturday; Atonement, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award and the W. H. Smith Literary Award; The Comfort of Strangers and Black Dogs, both shortlisted for the Booker Prize; Amsterdam, winner of the Booker Prize; and The Child in Time, winner of the Whitbread Award; as well as the story collections First Love, Last Rites, winner of the Somerset Maugham Award, and In Between the Sheets. He lives in Gloucestershire.