This is a huge, sprawling saga taking us through the Edwardian Age up into the First World War and its end. I have a particular fondness for the Edwardians and so was very intrigued by the first intimations of the theme of this novel. I can't really do this justice in a short review; there is too much in its 617 pages to summarize. If you have the patience to wade through quite a lot of social history and have an interest in Art Nouveau and textile arts, I think it is worth reading. If you're a Byatt fan you will also like it; there's no violent alteration in her style or subject matter to object to here. The jacket designer did a fantastic job as well; the cover is gorgeous and comes straight out of the novel. This is a novel full of the magic and mystery of the decorative arts, of writing and storytelling, of the struggles of family relationships and the finally unknowable secrets within each person.

Slooooooow and over-stressed, even though I'm a buff on this era. Maybe that's why I didn't like it. I kept thinking about the Edwardian authors I would rather be reading (Shaw, Wilde, Barrie, Beerbohm, Morris, Wells, Bennett...) Seriously, use the six months it will take to read The Children's Book, and read them instead. Most of TCB is stolen from them, anyway.

I gave up in the middle of Chapter 4 when there was still no plot to be found. The book seems like a vehicle to expound on the virtues of enlightened English intellectuals. This is fine, but it lacks tension. It probably gets better, but I lacked the patience to find out. Write a review and let me know if it picks up further on!

I really liked this book because it was about an ara that I knew little about and I found the dymanics of the charaters quite facinating.

One for the butterfly mind brigade. I loved it because I got the feeling I was learning things in a relatively painless way but it was about things I was already interested in, like the Victoria and Albert museum, the fight for women's suffrage,the First World War, puppets, pottery and fairy tales. A book list of titles about some of the subjects Byatt covers would be useful.

This is a long book (over 600 pages) and it took me quite a while to get "into" it. The book follows a large number of characters, beginning with Olive Wellwood, an author of fairytales, and her family, and continuing on with relations, friends (both English and German), and the children resulting from all of these people. The book begins in 1895 and ends with the end of World War One. While there is a strong focus on the children of the different families and their development and interaction, we also see how this development affects the adults. There is a lot of information around fairy tales, both German and English and their history and their popularity during this time period that I found very interesting. Another theme that came out related to the fairy tales was puppetry, particularly that of German puppet traditions. Pottery was another strong theme that arose here with two characters being gifted in this area. There were also other writers and producers of plays that had lesser roles in the book. With all these creative characters, a strong them for me was the genius of the artist, both physical and mental. The temperment of the artist to engross themselves in their work at the expense of those around them and the public success they valued less than their own feelings of accomplishment. Another strong theme here was one of politics. There was a lot going on politically during this time period, including the Fabians, women's suffrage, labour union actions, anarchists, and socialism. We get glimpses into all of these within this novel and see how politics can fill the needs of some individuals. While the events of World War One are only a small section of this novel, I felt that they were done very well, and I liked how the ending brought some interesting outcomes for the characters. As I said, it took a while to enjoy this novel and get drawn in, but by the end I was thoroughly enjoying it and I learned so much besides. After reading I noted a great interview with the author by one of the Dewey Divas: http://deweydivas.blogspot.com/2009/05/interview-with-s-byatt-on-her-new-novel.html I really found this interesting after reading the novel.

I cannot stop thinking about this book. The thesis on generational change and legacy, self indulgence and the prices paid by those that follow kept me thinking long after I had put this down. Brilliant.

One of the most interesting and thought provoking novels I have read in a long time

"Masterpiece Theater" fodder.

Same superb historical detail as her 'Possession' without the page-turning plot. More like her quartet beginning 'Virgin in the garden' but I enjoyed it more because of rich insight into the life and mores of Edwardian English progressive upper middle class before World War One tore their world apart.