Juliet Stevenson continues Ian McEwan's powerful and haunting new novel, The Children Act - a story about faith, love and the Law and about the welfare of children and the duty of those who care for them.

Fiona Maye is an esteemed High Court Judge presiding over cases in the Family Court and admired for her 'godly distance and devilish understanding'. But beneath her professional composure, her happy marriage of thirty years is in trouble and a recent case has caused her heartache. Now she faces a life or death decision.

For religious reasons, a beautiful seventeen-year-old boy is refusing life-saving treatment, and his devout parents support his wishes. Should the secular court overrule sincerely held faith? What really lies in the boy's best interests? Today the judge must make her ruling.

Ian McEwan is one of the UK's leading novelists, his many novels include Atonement, Enduring Love and On Chesil Beach.

The reader is Juliet Stevenson
The abridger is Sally Marmion
The producer is Di Speirs. Show less