Book description
A classic tale from Doris Lessing, Winner of the Nobel Prize for
Literature 2007, of a family torn apart by the arrival of Ben, their
feral fifth child.
'Listening to the laughter, the sounds of children playing, Harriet and
David would reach for each other's hand, and smile, and breathe happiness.'
Four children, a beautiful old house, the love of relatives and
friends, Harriet and David Lovatt's life is a glorious hymn to domestic
bliss and old-fashioned family values. But when their fifth child is
born, a sickly and implacable shadow is cast over this tender idyll.
Large and ugly, violent and uncontrollable, the infant Ben, 'full of
cold dislike', tears at Harriet's breast. Struggling to care for her
new-born child, faced with a darkness and a strange defiance she has
never known before, Harriet is deeply afraid of what, exactly, she has
brought into the world… '“The Fifth Child” has the intensity of a
nightmare, a horror story poised somewhere between a naturalistic
account of family life and an allegory that draws on science fiction.
Read it and tremble.' Clare Tomalin, Independent
'“The Fifth Child” is a book to send shivers down your spine, but one
which it is impossible to put down until it is finished. Doris Lessing's
power to captivate and convince is evident from the first, and the
effect of the odd, alien child on the family is conveyed with quiet
understatement which adds to the mounting sense of horror.' Sunday Times
'A disturbing vision, “The Fifth Child” offers a faithful if chilling
reflection of the world we live in.' Sunday Telegraph Doris Lessing
was the winner of the 2007 Nobel Prize for Literature and is one of the
most important writers of the second half of the twentieth century. Her
first novel, 'The Grass is Singing' was published in 1950, and since
then her international reputation has flourished. Among her other
celebrated novels are 'The Golden Notebook', 'The Summer Before the
Dark', and 'Memoirs of a Survivor'. Her most recent works include two
volumes of autobiography, 'Under my Skin' and 'Walking in the Shade',
her most recent novel is 'The Cleft'.
