Time of the Child
Niall Williams returns to the fictional village of Faha in the west of Ireland, the setting of This Is Happiness. It is December 1962, and Dr. Jack Troy, a reserved widower, lives a routine life with his eldest daughter Ronnie. When a twelve-year-old boy finds an abandoned newborn near the church and brings her to the doctor, Jack and Ronnie quietly take the baby in, naming her Noelle. The choice upends their careful, unspoken lives and opens up feelings neither of them has allowed for years. Williams writes with warmth and lyric patience about a village where little happens and everything matters, turning one Christmas and one baby into a tender story of love, second chances, and belonging.
What you might want to know about Time of the Child
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
In a small Irish village at Christmas 1962, a country doctor and his grown daughter take in an abandoned baby, and their quiet lives are transformed.
Yes. Ann Patchett praised it and said she is such a fan of Niall Williams.
Yes. It is set in the same village of Faha as This Is Happiness and History of the Rain, though it can be read on its own.
Time of the Child was written by Niall Williams, published in 2024 by Bloomsbury Publishing.
Time of the Child is 304 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Time of the Child takes most readers 5 to 7 hours to finish.
Time of the Child is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
