Rejacketed in a stunning new series style for 2023, The Child in Time is the extraordinary novel behind the major BBC drama starring Benedict Cumberbatch

Now a major BBC drama starring Benedict Cumberbatch

'Only Ian McEwan could write about loss with such telling honesty' Benedict Cumberbatch

On a routine trip to the supermarket with his daughter one Saturday morning, Stephen Lewis, a well-known writer of children's books, turns his back momentarily. When he looks around again, his child is gone. In a single moment, everything is changed. The kidnapping has a devastating effect on Stephen's life and marriage. Memories and the present become inseparable - as Stephen gets lost in daydreams of the past - and time bends back on itself, dragging Stephen's own childhood back into the present.