1
of
1
The Child in Time
Ratings/reviews counts are updated frequently.
Check link for latest rating. ( 14,728 ratings, 1,107 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still
learning, it may not be perfect - your
feedback is welcome!
Summary
Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
TEMPORARILY OUT OF STOCK
Please add to wishlist to be notified when back in stock
Sorry, we're currently out of stock of The Child in Time. Please add to your Wishlist and we'll send you an email as soon as it's back in stock.
Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?
Now a major BBC drama starring Benedict Cumberbatch
βOnly Ian McEwan could write about loss with such telling honestyβ Benedict Cumberbatch
On a routine trip to the supermarket with his daughter one Saturday morning, Stephen Lewis, a well-known writer of childrenβs books, turns his back momentarily.
Now a major BBC drama starring Benedict Cumberbatch
'Only Ian McEwan could write about loss with such telling honesty' Benedict Cumberbatch
Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and
still learning, it may not be perfect - your
feedback is welcome!
Description
The Child in Time opens with a harrowing event. Stephen Lewis, a successful author of children's books, takes his three-year-old daughter on a routine Saturday morning trip to the supermarket. While waiting in line, his attention is distracted and his daughter is kidnapped. Just like that.
From there, Lewis spirals into bereavement that has effects on his relationship with his wife, his psyche and time itself.
Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?
The Child in Time by Ian McEwan is lauded as an extraordinary and masterfully written novel that deeply moves readers. The narrative is praised for its ability to appal, refresh, and exhilarate, while also being described as spooky and wonderfully constructed. Critics highlight its artistic, moral, and political excellence, reinforcing its status as a significant accomplishment in general fiction.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9780099755012
Publisher: Vintage Publishing
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 05 June 1997
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Vintage
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 16.0mm
Width: 129.0mm
Height: 198.0mm
Weight: 209g
Pages: 256
Collections
About the Author
Ian McEwan is the critically acclaimed author of seventeen books. His first published work, a collection of short stories, First Love, Last Rites, won the Somerset Maugham Award. His novels include The Child in Time, which won the 1987 Whitbread Novel of the Year Award; The Cement Garden; Enduring Love; Amsterdam, which won the 1998 Booker Prize; Atonement; Saturday; On Chesil Beach; Solar; Sweet Tooth; The Children Act; and Nutshell, which was a Number One bestseller. Atonement and Enduring Love have both been turned into award-winning films, The Children Act and On Chesil Beach are in production and set for release this year, and filming is currently underway for a BBC TV adaptation of The Child in Time.
Also by Ian McEwan
View all-
What We Can Know
From 2014 to the year 2119, in a world submerged by rising seas, What We Can Know spans the past, present, and future to ask profound questions about who we are and where we are going. A masterpiece and Ian McEwan's finest novel yet. 2014 - A great poem is read aloud and never heard again. For generations, people speculate...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$3800Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Atonement
On the hottest day of the summer of 1934, thirteen-year-old Briony Tallis witnesses a series of events at her family's country estate that she doesn't fully understand. From her vantage point, she sees her older sister Cecilia strip off her clothes and plunge into the fountain in the garden, watched by their childhood friend Robbie Turner, who has recently returned...Paperback$2300Elsewhere:$2600Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Lessons
The instant Sunday Times bestseller, a mesmerising story of love, regret and a restless search for answers. While the world is still counting the cost of the Second World War and the Iron Curtain has descended, young Roland Baines's life is turned upside down. Stranded at boarding school, his vulnerability attracts his piano teacher, Miriam Cornell, leaving scars as well...Paperback$2600Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Machines Like Me
Our foremost storyteller returns with an audacious new novel, Machines Like Me. Number One Sunday Times Bestseller In an alternative 1980s London, Machines Like Me unfolds in a world where Britain has lost the Falklands War, Margaret Thatcher is clinging to power, and Alan Turing has made breakthroughs in artificial intelligence. Against this backdrop, we meet Charlie, a directionless man...Paperback$2600Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Rose Blanche
An important and unforgettable story. Rose Blanche was the name of a group of young German citizens who, at their peril, protested against the war. Like them, Rose observes all the changes going on around her which others choose to ignore. She watches as the streets of her small German town fill with soldiers. One day, she sees a little...Paperback$2100Elsewhere:$2300Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
The Children Act
Re-jacketed in stunning new series style for 2023, The Children Act is a brilliant, emotionally wrenching novel from the Booker Prize-winning, multi-million copy bestselling Ian McEwan. A brilliant, emotionally wrenching new novel from the author of Atonement and Amsterdam. Fiona Maye, a leading High Court judge renowned for her fierce intelligence and sensitivity, is called on to try an urgent...Paperback$2400Elsewhere:$2600Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Sweet Tooth
Re-jacketed in a stunning new series style for 2023, Sweet Tooth is a story of love and espionage in 1970s Britain from Booker prize-winning, Sunday Times-bestselling Ian McEwan. 'A web of spying, subterfuge, deceit and betrayal... Acute, witty...winningly cunning' Sunday Times The year is 1972, the Cold War is far from over, and Serena Frome, in her final year at...Paperback$2400Elsewhere:$2600Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Atonement
Atonement, a Booker Shortlisted bestseller, is now available in a beautiful hardback edition with a silk ribbon and sewn bindingβan ideal gift. On the hottest day of the summer of 1934, thirteen-year-old Briony Tallis witnesses an unsettling scene: her sister Cecilia stripping off her clothes and plunging into the fountain in the garden of their country house. Watching her is...Hardback$2700Elsewhere:$2999Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Enduring Love
Re-jacketed in stunning new series style for 2023, Enduring Love is a tragic masterpiece from Booker prize-winning, multi-million copy bestselling Ian McEwan. AS FEATURED ON BBC2'S BETWEEN THE COVERS Discover the tragic masterpiece from Booker prize-winning, Sunday Times bestselling Ian McEwan. One windy spring day in the Chilterns Joe Rose's calm, organised life is shattered by a ballooning accident. The...Paperback$2400Elsewhere:$2600Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
On Chesil Beach
Re-jacketed in stunning new series style for 2023, On Chesil Beach is a compact and devastating novel from the Booker Prize-winning, Sunday Times-bestselling Ian McEwan. SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE AND NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE A warm treat of a read for the cold winter nights. It is July 1962. Edward and Florence, young innocents married that morning, arrive...Paperback$2400Elsewhere:$2600Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Saturday
Re-jacketed in a stunning new series style for 2023, Saturday is a gripping novel centring around the London anti-war protest in 2003 from the Booker prize-winning, Sunday Times-bestselling author Ian McEwan. 'Dazzling... Profound and urgent' Observer 'A book of great maturity, beautifully alive to the fragility of happiness and all forms of violence... Everyone should read Saturday' Financial Times Saturday,...Paperback$2400Elsewhere:$2600Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Amsterdam
On a chilly February day, two old friends meet in the throng outside a crematorium to pay their last respects to Molly Lane. Both Clive Linley and Vernon Halliday had been Molly's lovers in the days before they reached their current eminenceβClive as Britain's most successful modern composer, Vernon as the editor of the quality broadsheet, The Judge. Gorgeous, feisty...Paperback$2400Elsewhere:$2600Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks
More from General Fiction
View all-
The Wedding People
'BEST READ OF THE YEAR SO FAR' THE TIMES 'BOOKS AS FUN AS THIS ONE ARE FEW AND FAR BETWEEN' GUARDIAN Phoebe Stone arrives at a grand beachside hotel in Rhode Island wearing her best dress and least comfortable shoes. Immediately she is mistaken for one of the wedding people β but she's actually the only guest at the Cornwall...Paperback$2399Elsewhere:$2799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Throne of Glass Box Set (Paperback)
Enter the realm. Unleash the darkness. Live the legend. Discover the worldwide phenomenon of the #1 New York Times-bestselling Throne of Glass series in this gorgeous 8-book box set! In a land without magic, an assassin is summoned to the castle. She has no love for the vicious king who rules from his throne of glass, but she has not...Set$12400Elsewhere:$15500Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
The Goal
Welcome to Briar U!Get ready for your newest obsession . . . Discover the addictive world of the Off-Campus series from The Queen of Hockey Romance, Elle Kennedy!Read The Goal now for the perfect forced proximity romance! She's good at achieving her goals . . . College senior Sabrina James has her whole future planned out: graduate from college, kick...Paperback$2499Elsewhere:$2799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
The Score
Welcome to Briar U! Get ready for your newest obsession... Discover the addictive world of the Off-Campus series from The Queen of Hockey Romance, Elle Kennedy! Read The Score now for the perfect friends with benefits romance! He knows how to score, on and off the ice... Allie Hayes is in crisis mode. With graduation looming, she still doesn't have...Paperback$2499Elsewhere:$2799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
New ReleaseThe Ballad of Falling Dragons [Special Deluxe edition]
The No.1 Sunday Times bestselling sensation When the Moon Hatched continues with the second book in The Moonfall Series, The Ballad of Falling Dragonsβ¦ Raeveβs thirst for vengeance continues to burn, as does her love for Kaan Vaegor β a staunch beacon from a past sheβs yet to face. With Rekkβs blood still fresh on her hands, she learns the...Hardback$5999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Theo of Golden
THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLING PHENOMENON'For anything to be truly good, there must be love in it. Nothing is what it's supposed to be if love is not at the core.' One morning, a stranger arrives in the town of Golden. No one knows who he is or where he came fromβ¦His name is Theo and he's arrived there by chance β...Paperback$2899Elsewhere:$3499Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
The Mistake
Welcome to Briar U! Get ready for your newest obsession . . . Discover the addictive world of the Off-Campus series from The Queen of Hockey Romance, Elle Kennedy! Read The Mistake now for the perfect second chance romance! He's a player in more ways than one . . . College junior John Logan can get any girl he wants....Paperback$2499Elsewhere:$2799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Project Hail Mary
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir, the SUNDAY TIMES and NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author of The Martian, offers a gripping new adventure in hard science fiction. With endorsement from notable figures such as Barack Obama and a slew of five-star reviews, this novel promises a thrilling and intellectually stimulating journey. Ryland Grace, a lone astronaut, finds himself on a...Paperback$2399Elsewhere:$2400Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
New ReleaseOn Mystic Lake
One of the greatest storytellers of our time - Delia Owens, author of Where the Crawdads Sing Annie Colwater's only child has just left home for school in England. On that same day, her husband of twenty years confesses that he's in love with a younger woman. Left alone in the beautiful California house which was once a home, Annie...Paperback$3100Elsewhere:$3800Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
The Legacy
Welcome to Briar U! Get ready for your newest obsession . . . Discover the addictive world of the Off-Campus series from the Queen of Hockey Romance, Elle Kennedy! Read The Legacy now for the much-anticipated answer to the question: Where are they now? Four stories. Four couples. Three years of real life after graduation . . . A wedding....Paperback$2499Elsewhere:$2799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
The Deal
Welcome to Briar U! Get ready for your newest obsession . . . Discover the addictive world of the Off-Campus series from The Queen of Hockey Romance, Elle Kennedy! Read The Deal now for the perfect fake-dating romance! She's about to make a deal with the college bad boy . . . Hannah Wells has finally found someone who turns...Paperback$2499Elsewhere:$2799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
New ReleaseLand
Inspired by the mapping of Ireland in the mid nineteenth century, Land, theΒ new novel from the author of Hamnet, is at once intimate and epic: a portrait of a family navigating a legacy of upheaval and loss with love and hope. On a windswept peninsula stretching out into the Atlantic, TomΓ‘s and his reluctant son,Β Liam, are working for the great...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$3799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today
Why buy from us?
Book Hero is not a chain store or big box retailer. We're an independent 100% NZ-owned business on a mission to help more Kiwis rediscover a love of books and reading!
Service & Delivery
Our warehouse in Auckland holds over 100,000 books, toys, board games and puzzles in-stock so you're not waiting for your order to arrive from overseas.
Auckland Bookstore
We're primarily an online store, but for your convenience you can pick up your order for free from our bookstore, which is right next door to our warehouse in Hobsonville.
Our Gifting Service
Books make wonderful thoughtful gifts and we're here to help with gift-wrapping and cards. We can even send your gift directly to your loved one.
General Fiction lists from the team
Explore our curated lists from our heroes to find your next read!
-
![]()
![]()
![]()
Hannah's listGeneral Fiction
Gothic Reads for Dark Nights
With the advent of movie adaptations like Wuthering Heights and Frankenstein, it looks like pop culture is seeing a revival of the...View the list -
![]()
![]()
![]()
Shirl's listGeneral Fiction
Shirl's Top 10 Most Recommended Books
These are my Top 10 books that I always recommend to my friends and whΔnau when they ask for recommendations for getting...View the list -
![]()
![]()
![]()
Lizzy's listGeneral Fiction
Books to Escape a Reading Slump
A reading slump can be a frustrating feeling and hard to break out of, but we've gathered together a list of crowd...View the list -
![]()
![]()
![Star Shipped]()
Lizzy's listGeneral Fiction
Lizzy's Pride Fiction Picks!
June marks Global Pride Month so in case you're looking for your next great fiction read, here's a list of some of...View the list -
![]()
![]()
![]()
Lizzy's listGeneral Fiction
Readersβ Top 100 Novels of All Time - from The Guardian
There was some controversy when The Guardian released their critics and authors list of the top 100 novels of all time, but...View the list -
![]()
![]()
![]()
Shirl's listGeneral Fiction
Shirl's Favourite Books of 2026
The first half of 2026 has been packed with brilliant books, making it hard to choose favourites but here are a few...View the list
