The Japanese believe that until the age of three, children are gods, each one an okosama, or ''Lord Child''. On their third birthday they fall from grace and join the rest of mankind. Narrated by a child - from the age of two and a half up until her third birthday - this novel reveals how this fall from grace can be a very difficult thing indeed from which to recover.''Nothomb potently distils from the state of infancy the intensity of beginnings, the precariousness, the trailed clouds of glory - that grow indistinct as childhood approaches.'' New York Times''Amélie Nothomb, like an urchin about to pick your pocket, has frighteningly clear eyes and a disarming voice with a wicked snap.'' Luc Sante