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The Child in Time

by Ian McEwan · December 1997

Cover of The Child in Time
Popularity 33

Stephen Lewis, a successful writer of children's books, is confronted with the unthinkable: his only child, three-year-old Kate, is snatched from him in a supermarket. In one horrifying moment that replays itself over the years that follow, Stephen realizes his daughter is gone. With extraordinary tenderness and insight, Booker Prize-winning author Ian McEwan takes us into the dark territory of a marriage devastated by the loss of a child. Kate's absence sets Stephen and his wife, Julie, on diverging paths as they each struggle with a grief that only seems to intensify with the passage of time. Eloquent and passionate, the novel concludes in a triumphant scene of love and hope.

Missing childrenFictionLiteratureSex TrafficBritish and irish fiction (fictional works by one author)Missing persons, fictionDivorcioChildren of divorced parentsHijos de padres divorciadosDivorceFicciónNew York Times reviewed