The Emperor's Children

The Emperor’s Children is a contemporary literary novel by Claire Messud. First published in 2006, the book follows three twenty-somethings whose dysfunctional lives all intersect in New York City. The book received mixed reviews from critics following its publication, but it featured in many award longlists and it won the 2007 Massachusetts Book Award for Fiction. Messud is a novelist and creative writing professor. She attended Milton Academy, Yale University, and Cambridge University, and she briefly studied for an MFA at Syracuse University. She writes across various genres, but The Emperor’s Children is one of her best received works.

The Emperor’s Children is set in a wealthy part of Manhattan, New York. The events take place shortly before the September 11 bombings in 2001. The three central characters all come from wealthy, privileged backgrounds, but they each struggle with the expectations placed upon them by their families and society.

The first protagonist is Danielle Minkoff. She travels around the world making television documentaries. She prides herself on being the only one of the three protagonists to hold down a steady job. She’s determined to show people that she can earn her own money without relying on connections.



The second protagonist is a writer called Marina Thwaite. Her father is Murray Thwaite, a highly successful literary critic and novelist. Marina wants to be just like her father, but she doesn’t have any discipline. Although she already has a book contract, she spent her advance money and there’s no way the novel will be ready by the deadline.

The final protagonist is Julius Clarke. He is a talented critic and writer. Although he writes for a local publication, his salary isn’t enough to pay the rent and so he must take on extra side jobs to support himself. He hates these menial jobs, and he promises himself that he’ll one day make enough money to write full-time.

Marina soon realizes that she can’t support herself any longer. She returns to the family home and vows to finish her book. Her father is angry because, if she loses this book contract, it’s unlikely that she’ll secure a new contract with anyone else. His influence in the book world only extends so far and he refuses to look after her forever.



Meanwhile, Julius takes on yet another boring side job. Here, he meets a man called David Cohen. Although David is younger than Julius, he’s successful and rich. Julius sets about seducing David so that he can move into David’s fancy apartment. David doesn’t want him working at temp jobs anymore, and he lets him write full-time. Julius doesn’t love David, but David is so besotted with Julius that he doesn’t see it.

In the meantime, Danielle receives an email from Murray. He asks her if she can help Marina out with a writing job. Danielle doesn’t want Marina working for her, but she fancies Murray and so she agrees to help. Working with Marina gives Danielle an excuse to see Murray. She’s already sleeping with an editor called Ludovic, and she wonders how she’ll keep the two men apart since they move in the same circles.

Everything changes when Marina’s cousin, Bootie, arrives in New York City. He dropped out of university because he didn’t find it intellectually stimulating. He needs somewhere to stay, and Murray offers him a room. Marina doesn’t like Bootie because he’s always kissing up to her father. Marina feels right to be annoyed because Murray soon offers Bootie a job as his private secretary.



Meanwhile, Ludovic meets Marina at a party and he thinks she’s very talented and attractive. He wants her to work with him at his magazine. Danielle can only watch as the pair hook up and she’s left on the sidelines. She regrets ever helping Marina with anything, but now, she feels no remorse about sleeping with Murray. She feels even less guilty when Marina announces her engagement to Ludovic.

In the background, Bootie watches Danielle’s elicit relationship with Murray unfold. He plans on writing about it and selling it to gossip sites. He knows he should feel guilty because Murray is his uncle, but he soon discovers that Murray is a plagiarizer and steals people’s work. Such a man, Bootie believes, deserves punishment.

To make matters worse, Murray reads Marina’s latest book and tells her it’s terrible. She can’t publish it or else she’ll ruin her career. Marina decides that her father doesn’t know what he’s talking about and plans on publishing it anyway. Bootie sits back and watches the drama unfold.



Finally, Bootie shows Marina and her mother his dirt on Murray. They are horrified and promise to disown him if he sells it. He plans on selling it anyway because he needs the money, and so he moves out and rents a slum apartment. Marina promises to never speak to him again.

On September 10th, Danielle spends the night with Murray, and he tells her all his problems. He warns her about Bootie’s work, and she braces herself for any reputation damage coming her way. This is the last night they spend together because, after 9/11, Murray decides to stop treating his wife so poorly.