Olive Wellwood is a famous writer, interviewed with her children gathered at her knee. For each of them she writes a separate private book, bound in different colours and placed on a shelf. In their rambling house near Romney Marsh they play in a story-book world - but their lives, and those of their rich cousins, children of a city stockbroker, and their friends, the son and daughter of a curator at the new Victoria and Albert Museum, are already inscribed with mystery. Each family carries their own secrets. Into their world comes a young stranger, a working-class boy from the potteries, drawn by the beauty of the Museum's treasures. And in midsummer a German puppeteer arrives, bringing dark dramas. The world seems full of promise but the calm is already rocked by political differences, by Fabian arguments about class and free love , by the idealism of anarchists from Russia and Germany. The sons rebel against their parents' plans; the girls dream of independent futures, becoming doctors or fighting for the vote. This vivid, rich and moving saga is played out against the great, rippling tides of the day, taking us from the Kent marshes to Paris and Munich and the trenches of the Somme. Born at the end of the Victorian era, growing up in the golden summers of Edwardian times, a whole generation grew up unaware of the darkness ahead. In their innocence, they were betrayed unintentionally by the adults who loved them. In a profound sense, this novel is indeed the children's book.

I will read this book as soon as I can and then send it on its way, according to the order:-

1. Cross-patch
2. Mafarrimond
3. Franaloe
4. EmgeeNL
5. Sternschnuppe 28
6. Sidney1
7. Katrinat <--- the book is here
8. Cross-patch

It is a hard back copy, but at least not as big as my entrant for the 2008 Booker prize I shouldn't complain with it only being 60 pages long!

I have never taken so long to read a book before...and I don't know why I had such trouble this time. I think I never really engaged with it. Occasionally I thought 'I've cracked it' and then I would only read a chapter a day (they are only short) for a while. Some characters are so well written that they breathe, some I can only guess at, and the 'time' was fascinating. A S Byatt writes beautiful prose as always, but it was just not enough. I am sorry this has caused me to make hold-ups with the others I have here, but I shall hopefully get the reading bug properly again.

I shall take The Children's Book to the post tomorrow.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Hope it gets to you before Christmas and that you enjoy it.

Book arrived safely today. Just in time for Christmas.

An interesting and enjoyable book but somehow it did not flow. I loved the characters and felt drawn into their lives & loves. I liked the way Byatt wove the events, books, plays and the characters of the period into the storyline.

I enjoyed the book but did not feel it was as good as the other short listed books that I have read so far.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Posting on to franaloe.

Nice one, the next Booker Prize RING! Will try and read it asap.

I don't know. This book did not really get me. I could not get into the story. There were too many characters, and although the book is thick, too little was told about them to be able to feel them, or to connect. Furthermore, the story itself is thin and flat, it is a mere decription of a group of people, interrupted by intentions to add more depth and background information...

Off to the next on the list as soon as I get an address.

EmgeeNL asked to be skipped, so I sent the book to Sternschnuppe28 today.

MTBR

I just got the book as a gift --- and shame on me I will finally forward it to Sidney1. Sorry for the delay. Actually I havent managed to read it yet.

Book arrived safely yesterday. Thank you Sternschnuppe28 for sending. I'm looking forward to this summer read.

arrived today, i have one book in front of it to read but its a ya book so shouldn't take long. Really looking forward to this, i seem to have a varied experience with this author.

Oops, I forgot to put in my thoughts before sending the book, so here goes:
I did enjoy the book – in small portions. It wasn’t exactly a page-turner.
In general, I like Byatt’s style, which is rich and textured and eloquent. However, I find it strange that Byatt mostly avoids dialogue, replacing it by reported, indirect speech (often starting a paragraph with „s/he said ...). This leads to a lack of pace and makes the people somewhat unreal and remote. I think this is one reason why the reader can’t really connect to the protagonists, as franaloe says.
Byatt does use direct speech, but as a monologue rather than a dialogue. This feels static.
As for the story line, it is a little rambling and spread-out. Generally, I find there are too many unwanted pregnancies in the book. If Byatt wanted to remind us of the drawbacks of free, bodily love, then one example would have been ample. Instead, Olivia, Violet, Edith and Florence all find themselves pregnant. That’s OTT.
I’m not sure I get the point of the fairy tales and excerpts of Olivia’s writing we are treated to. I don’t think they are necessary and also, they don’t ring true.
There is too much lecturing in the book, too much on which children’s author published what and when, too much on the various societies and women’s suffrage movement. And it is provided in the narrator’s voice, rather than being woven into the story. Those passages can be strenuous and simply boring.
Still, I am pleased to have finally read something by this author.

I've been reading this book for the last three weeks - I never take this long over a book but this one, its bulk, many characters and my lack of time have managed to fill many hours. I loved the various stories, many of which I would have loved to read as an individual novel. The changing times, attitudes and relationships worked well and I thouroughly enjoyed exploring. I'll get the next address and send on probably next weekend, as I don't think Ivan leave Dirk early enough this week to make the post office. Thanks for sharing .

I tried to contact Cross-Patch several times about what she wanted done with this book, but never got a response. I'm releasing at an OBCZ rather than just leaving it sat in my house, hopefully its journey will continue.

Picked up at The Purple Dog in Colchester when I met up with katrinat. I will probably take it along to the monthly meet-up at the Layer Fox.

I took this book along to the monthly meet-up at The Layer Fox in Layer de la Haye but it had no takers so I will probably take it to another OBCZ myself now.

on bookshelf