The Booker-winning novelist Ian McEwan explores the collision between family life, law and religion in his latest book, The Children Act.
When he came to talk about the novel at the first of a new season of Guardian reader events in London, he began by reading from the novel.
McEwan considers the synchronicity which sees the novel published just as a European arrest warrant was issued for Ashya King's parents, the literary merits of court judgments and the ability to judge others, even if your own life is falling apart.
Reading list
The Children Act by Ian McEwan (Jonathan Cape)