Winner of the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year Award
PUBLISHER: BLOOMSBURY
A compassionate, life-affirming novel about the Christmas season that transforms the small Irish town of Faha. TIME OF THE CHILD, is about Doctor Jack Troy, born and raised in Faha, but his responsibilities for the sick and his care for the dying mean he has always been set apart from the town. A visit from the doctor is a sign of bad things to come. His eldest daughter, Ronnie, has grown up in her father’s shadow, and remains there, having missed one chance at real love – and passed up another offer of marriage from an unsuitable man.
But in the advent season of 1962, as the town readies itself for Christmas, Ronnie and Doctor Troy’s lives are turned upside down when a baby is left in their care. As the winter passes, father and daughter’s lives, the understanding of their family, and their role in their community are changed forever.
Set over the course of one December in the same village as Niall’s beloved THIS IS HAPPINESS, TIME OF THE CHILD is a tender return to Faha for readers who know its charms, and a heartwarming welcome to new readers entering for the very first time.
TIME OF THE CHILD is coming out in paperback in the autumn '25
Listen to the wonderful conversation between Miriam O’Callahan and Niall Williams on TIME OF THE CHILD on RTE Radio 1
ABC Radio National - The Book Show | Niall Williams and Nick Harkaway on Christmas miracles and special fathers
Christine and Niall joined The Bookcase Podcast hosts Kate and Charlie Gibson on Good Morning America to share their story
Reviews
Moving ... Heartwarming ... When I cried, it was because, with his careful and compassionate depictions of people, place and time, Williams reminds us of the humanity in all, of the vitality of a community that comes together, and of the power in revealing our vulnerabilities to others.
— Jen Doll, The New York Times Book Review
A slow-burning, finely crafted novel about second chances, humanity and familial love, Time of the Child rewards close reading. While outwardly everything remains the same, interior lives are profoundly altered. Williams’s descriptive language is extraordinary – his use of understatement and irony artfully deployed, his characterisation sublime. I find it astonishing that, despite his global success, he has yet to win a big award.
— Lucy Popescu, The Observer
Dazzles as both Christmas tale and erudite novel ... The author’s affection for his characters buoys each chapter ... Williams packs his paragraphs with lush imagery and piercing psychological insight. Line by line, it may be the most beautifully written novel I’ve read this year.
— Hamilton Cain, The Washington Post
Poignant ... This novel is steeped in Catholicism, myth, goodness, mercy and love. It is also — lest you worry that it might be sentimental or twee — harshly realistic ... Beautifully crafted sentences whipped with humor ... Williams portrays his characters fully and with humor ... An engrossing read, the dark and the rain and the shabby but hopeful holiday decorations blending with the peat smoke and the love, all coming fully alive on the page. And that is something of a miracle itself.
— Laurie Hertzel, The Boston Globe
Warm and life-affirming… stained by these wise lines on nearly every page and by certain set-piece scenes that show the breadth of Wiliams’ skill.’
— Sarah Gilmartin, The Irish Times
