We all have the wisdom of hindsight. What seemed so important, and perhaps proper, in the past is so churlish now. But the consequences of these actions are what determine our present, plus, of course, the regret that one has to live with. Ian McEwan?s protagonist in his new novel, The Children Act, is also a prey to this. But before that is a long story.
The opening scene of the book is rather dramatic. High Court judge Fiona Maye is comfortable in her London home on a Sunday evening. The fireplace is unlit but the scotch is smooth. She is fine-tuning her judgments, which are popular also for their high quality of prose. An ultimatum by her husband about an affair he is having, or intends to have, has shattered the calm. It seems Fiona exists more as a judge than as a wife. Ironically, she specialises in family law. She refuses to give in to the ultimatum. Unreasonable, she dismisses. The judge has ruled!
In the midst of this personal turmoil, she is faced with a rather tough case. A 17-year-old leukaemia patient and his parents are refusing a blood transfusion that could save the boy?s life. The argument is they are Jehovah?s Witnesses and cannot allow foreign blood to course their veins.
On the spur of the moment, Fiona decides to visit the boy in hospital,which is likened to a modern airport, but ?with altered destinations?. This is McEwan at his best, master of his prose, much like his protagonist, with not a word astray.
The visit turns out to be a pivotal point in the boy?s life, and even Fiona?s. The two talk, the boy shows his poems to her and they end up performing a poem by Yeats, the boy on the violin and Fiona singing, with a voice ?she had always been secretly proud of?.
Fiona rules in favour of love and life, with McEwan showing a rather comprehensive knowledge of family law, much like the expertise in neuroscience that he displayed in Saturday.
But things don?t end here. The boy, given a new lease of life, seems to have become too ambitious of life. He trails the 59-year-old judge, who ends up giving him a kiss that he can?t forget.
McEwan paints his canvas with great detail, going into the nuances of a relationship. How the return of an errant husband evokes not relief but a sense of disappointment; how to escape guilt, refuge is taken even in a fragile relationship. A word, a gesture…all have intense meaning. A marriage with no children, but where the couple goes for ?multi-generational holidays?, or as a professional when she is described as ?Godly distance, devilish understanding, and still beautiful??reading McEwan cannot be anything but a pleasure.
The Children Act
Ian McEwan
Random House
Rs 599
Pp 214