The relationship between writers and their children has always been a troubling one, and it sits right at the heart of AS Byatt's new novel. Set largely in Kent around the turn of the 20th century, The Children's Book centres on a community of artists and writers whose experiments in bohemian living take a terrible toll on their families.
In a reading from the first chapter, Byatt introduces the three boys at the centre of her story. She discusses the power of fairytales, the challenges of weaving history and fiction, and explains why the offspring of children's writers often have the worst time of all.
