The Child in Time
E487091
The Child in Time is a 1987 novel by Ian McEwan that explores the psychological and emotional aftermath of a child's abduction, blending themes of grief, time, and the fragility of family life.
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| The Child in Time canonical | 8 |
| The Child in Time (2017 film) | 2 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T5008128 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: The Child in Time Context triple: [Ian McEwan, notableWork, The Child in Time]
-
A.
Nick of Time
"Nick of Time" is a classic episode of the original The Twilight Zone series in which a superstitious man becomes obsessed with a fortune-telling machine in a small-town diner.
-
B.
The Refusal of Time
The Refusal of Time is a multimedia installation by South African artist William Kentridge that combines film, sculpture, sound, and performance to explore the nature and perception of time.
-
C.
A Time on Earth
A Time on Earth is a novel by Swedish author Vilhelm Moberg that portrays the struggles and inner life of an aging man reflecting on his past and the meaning of his existence.
-
D.
Voyage in Time
Voyage in Time is a 1983 documentary film that follows director Andrei Tarkovsky and screenwriter Tonino Guerra as they travel through Italy discussing cinema, art, and Tarkovsky’s creative philosophy.
-
E.
The Invasion of Time
The Invasion of Time is a 1978 Doctor Who serial featuring the Fourth Doctor returning to Gallifrey and seizing control of the Time Lords’ Citadel amid a complex alien invasion plot.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: The Child in Time Target entity description: The Child in Time is a 1987 novel by Ian McEwan that explores the psychological and emotional aftermath of a child's abduction, blending themes of grief, time, and the fragility of family life.
-
A.
Nick of Time
"Nick of Time" is a classic episode of the original The Twilight Zone series in which a superstitious man becomes obsessed with a fortune-telling machine in a small-town diner.
-
B.
The Refusal of Time
The Refusal of Time is a multimedia installation by South African artist William Kentridge that combines film, sculpture, sound, and performance to explore the nature and perception of time.
-
C.
A Time on Earth
A Time on Earth is a novel by Swedish author Vilhelm Moberg that portrays the struggles and inner life of an aging man reflecting on his past and the meaning of his existence.
-
D.
Voyage in Time
Voyage in Time is a 1983 documentary film that follows director Andrei Tarkovsky and screenwriter Tonino Guerra as they travel through Italy discussing cinema, art, and Tarkovsky’s creative philosophy.
-
E.
The Invasion of Time
The Invasion of Time is a 1978 Doctor Who serial featuring the Fourth Doctor returning to Gallifrey and seizing control of the Time Lords’ Citadel amid a complex alien invasion plot.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (46)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
novel
ⓘ
television film ⓘ |
| author | Ian McEwan ⓘ |
| awarded | Whitbread Novel Award ⓘ |
| awardYear | 1987 ⓘ |
| basedOn | The Child in Time ⓘ |
| character |
Charles Darke
ⓘ
Julie Lewis ⓘ Kate Lewis ⓘ Stephen Lewis ⓘ Thelma Darke ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin | United Kingdom ⓘ |
| director | Julian Farino ⓘ |
| followedBy | The Innocent ⓘ |
| genre |
literary fiction
ⓘ
philosophical fiction ⓘ psychological novel ⓘ |
| hasAdaptation |
The Child in Time (2017 film)
ⓘ
linked to:
The Child in Time
|
| leadActor |
Benedict Cumberbatch
ⓘ
Kelly Macdonald ⓘ |
| mainTheme |
family breakdown
ⓘ
grief ⓘ loss ⓘ parenthood ⓘ psychological trauma ⓘ the fragility of family life ⓘ the nature of time ⓘ time ⓘ |
| narrativePerspective | third-person ⓘ |
| notableFor |
exploration of the psychological effects of a child’s disappearance
ⓘ
integration of political and personal themes ⓘ |
| originalLanguage | English ⓘ |
| partOf | Ian McEwan bibliography ⓘ |
| placeOfPublication |
London
ⓘ
linked to:
London, England
|
| plotSummary | A children’s author struggles with the abduction and presumed loss of his young daughter and its impact on his marriage and sense of time. ⓘ |
| precededBy | The Comfort of Strangers ⓘ |
| producer |
BBC
ⓘ
Masterpiece ⓘ |
| protagonist | Stephen Lewis ⓘ |
| publicationYear | 1987 ⓘ |
| publisher | Jonathan Cape ⓘ |
| releaseYear | 2017 ⓘ |
| screenwriter | Stephen Butchard ⓘ |
| setting |
London
ⓘ
linked to:
London, England
|
| subjectOf |
The Child in Time (2017 film)
ⓘ
linked to:
The Child in Time
|
| timePeriodOfSetting | late 20th century United Kingdom ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: The Child in Time Description of subject: The Child in Time is a 1987 novel by Ian McEwan that explores the psychological and emotional aftermath of a child's abduction, blending themes of grief, time, and the fragility of family life.
Referenced by (10)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.