Dream Children

A.N. Wilson’s novel Dream Children (1988) follows the story of the brilliant writer and philosopher Oliver Gold, a man who has an affinity for young children. In spite of this, Oliver lives a mostly asexual existence that contrasts sharply with his actions in pursuit of his true desires. Throughout the novel, Oliver exhibits a certain power over women, causing them to fall in love with him. This occurs several times throughout the book, including a widow who allows him to move into her home in North London, as well as with a pair of lesbian lovers, and finally, with a little girl named Bobs.

The novel starts out in the mid-1980s. Oliver lives in a large house in North London. The house is owned by an aging widow, Janet Rose, who was once a renowned writer and personality in the literary community. Along with Oliver and Janet, several other women live in the house. These include Janet’s daughter, Michal, who moved back in with her mother after her divorce and seems to be mentally disturbed, and with her lesbian lover, Catherine. Michal has a daughter, Roberta, but everyone calls her Bobs. Finally, there is Lotte, who was once a nanny but now functions as the housekeeper.

Oliver was invited to join the household by Catherine, his former pupil. At the center of the group of women, he seems to have a calming effect on the household. The women love him, and he acts as a father figure to Bobs, whose own mother is too caught up in her own world to provide her daughter with the care she needs.



As the novel unfolds, more details are revealed about Oliver’s history that explain why he is the way he is. Although he has women fawning over him, he seems to maintain a distance from them, which is attributed to many of his early sexual experiences, first with his stepmother, and later in school, as he attempted to explore his homosexual urges to little avail. After much rejection and failure within the realm of sex and love, Oliver begins to focus his attention on young girls, as he views them as a symbol of innocence, incapable of causing him pain.

When he meets Bobs, he is instantly attracted to her, believing that she is the manifestation of all his hopes and dreams about love and children, the little girl he has always fantasized about. He feels sexual desire towards Bobs but also a tender affection, and over time, he learns that the feelings are reciprocal. Oliver keeps written accounts of their relationship in notebooks, filling them with details of their passionate love. He believes that one day their love story will be celebrated among the greatest of all time.

However, Oliver soon starts to have second thoughts as the rational part of his brain takes over and he considers the level of risk involved in maintaining his relationship with Bobs. As the novel spans a few years, his interest in Bobs is highest when she is youngest, but as she is about to enter puberty, Oliver reconsiders his devotion to the girl, deciding that he should commit himself to another woman to quash the flames of his love for Bobs and prevent himself from ruining both their lives.



The women are upset when they learn that Oliver has met a woman whom he plans to marry. Camilla is American, and the women of the house are sure that she is plotting to convince Oliver to move to America with her, taking him far away from them. They are all distraught by the prospect, except for Bobs who seems excited for Oliver.

Throughout the course of the novel, it becomes clear that Oliver has fostered some kind of romantic relationship with each of the women in the house, and they are all in love with him. Catherine seems to regard Oliver as her master, and although she is not sexually attracted to him, she gravitates toward him with a kind of love, and he certainly seems to hold some power over her. Each of the women, in turn, exhibits her devotion to Oliver, though the novel mainly centers on the relationship between him and Bobs; as the novel progresses, it becomes increasingly clear that fifty-year-old Oliver and twelve-year-old Bobs have been engaged in a sexual relationship for a long while.

The novel is as a character study, primarily focusing on Oliver. Wilson attempts to craft a compelling and sympathetic portrait of a pedophile through the characterization of Oliver, demonstrating the man to be vulnerable in his own right, and forcing readers to reconsider their preconceived notions about such taboos, and the people like Oliver who live in the shadows of society.