THE CHILDREN'S BOOK by A.S. Byatt (fic)

A.S. Byatt won the Booker Prize for her book, "Possession." "The Children's Book" was also short-listed for the same honor.  What an interesting book this is.  Byatt loves to weave in amongst her stories other stories, sometimes fey and full of goblins and fairies and otherworldly creatures.  This is an immense book with a double plot that forges ahead and doubles back to remind the reader of dark forces and places characters can disappear into.  As I was reading I was reminded of the books of E. Nesbit who wrote for children at the the turn of the 19th century.  I loved her old fashioned books when I was a child and read them all over and over.

"The Children's Book" is a story of four families, all connected, and there are so many characters to keep track of that the plot becomes unwieldy at times.  The thing is, though, I really began to care for these characters.  I wanted to know their fate.  It takes place from 1895 through World War I.  It is hard to see these children grow and know the battlefield awaits them when they are entering adulthood.  Byatt is masterful at creating the atmosphere and setting of the Edwardian Age.  Often real people enter the story along with the fictitious characters and interact with them.  This is the age also covered by Downton Abby and I can easily imagine a similar series being made from this novel.
Everyone in the book has a secret and an imaginative and colorful inner life.  They are immersed in the history of the period and have plenty to say about it.

All of the families but one are involved in the Arts and Crafts movement and espouse Fabian socialism as an alternative to the profligacy of the Edwardian period.  The characters are portrayed with great detail and reality.  The Wellwoods live in a large home called Todefright in Kent and Olive Wellwood writes dark fairy tales.  These influence the upbringing of her 7 children, especially her beloved son, Tom.  The Fludd family barely subsist, Benedict being a ceramist with various Pre-Raphaelite beauties floating in and out of the ramshackle country house they live in. Prosper Cain and his family life in apartments in what became the Victoria and Albert Museum.  The other Wellwood clan are prosperous bankers and have no use for the liberal and sexual freedom practiced by the other families. The book is filled with historical data and the fairy stories of Olive weave their way in and out of real events as well.

This is a huge book with much to ponder.  It is too scattered with too many plots to follow.  Nevertheless, Byatt is a wonderfully imaginative, gifted writer.  I found myself fully immersed in the lives of the many characters and learned a bit of history as well. I would like to see it made into a t.v. series.