Loss and grief
The main theme explored in the novel is grief and dealing with the loss of a loved one. Stephen's daughter suddenly disappears, and he has to accept that there is no way he can bring her back. The novel follows his emotional demise and the demise of his marriage all through to giving up hope that his daughter will come back and finally accepting that fate. In his inability to face the shock and grief Stephen tries to find ways to keep himself occupied with the search, while his wife silently suffers and eventually decides to leave. This avoidance of accepting the loss takes on a psychotic turn with him buying the half of a toy store for his daughter's birthday and mistaking her for another girl at school and insisting that it's his daughter. At the end, with his wife Julie, he realizes that communication is the key for acceptance and healing and that continuation of life after their daughter doesn't equal them loving her less.
The innocence of childhood
Another story parallel to Stephen's is the story of his friend Charles Darke. Charles is a smart and charismatic man who involves himself in politics and gets as far as being in run for a Prime Minister. But, Charles decides to take on a completely different path at the peak of his career. He decides to isolate himself completely from society together with his wife. The reason for this is so Charles can leave like a child again. It is completely contradictory and out of his character portrayed in society. Reasoning behind it is that Charles couldn't handle the pressure of adulthood any longer, the obligations and decisions. This theme of childhood is importantly explored in the novel as well with excerpts from the handbook for children at the beginning of each chapter, where the behavior of children and the right approach to them is explored. The main factor of childhood is the innocence with which come traits like selfishness, cruelty and total dependence on an adult figure. To say that Charles is a child trapped in an adult's body is wrong because of the awareness he portrays of his actions. It is more appropriate to describe him as an adult seeing childhood as a safe haven, the benefits of which he decided to explore literally.
