Items related to The Fifth Child (Vintage International)
Synopsis
Doris Lessing's contemporary gothic horror story--centered on the birth of a baby who seems less than human--probes society's unwillingness to recognize its own brutality.Harriet and David Lovatt, parents of four children, have created an idyll of domestic bliss in defiance of the social trends of late 1960s England. While around them crime and unrest surge, the Lovatts are certain that their old-fashioned contentment can protect them from the world outside--until the birth of their fifth baby. Gruesomely goblin-like in appearance, insatiably hungry, abnormally strong and violent, Ben has nothing innocent or infant-like about him. As he grows older and more terrifying, Harriet finds she cannot love him, David cannot bring himself to touch him, and their four older children are afraid of him. Understanding that he will never be accepted anywhere, Harriet and David are torn between their instincts as parents and their shocked reaction to this fierce and unlovable child whose existence shatters their belief in a benign world.
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Review
"A hair-raising tale...as full of twists and shocks as any page turner could desire." --Time"Terse and chilling.... A witch's brew of conflicting fears." --The New York Review of Books"A horror story of maternity and the nightmare of social collapse.... A moral fable of the genre that includes Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four." --The New York Times Book Review
From the Back Cover
’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...
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherRandom House USA Inc
- Publication date1989
- ISBN 10 0679721827
- ISBN 13 9780679721826
- BindingPaperback
- LanguageEnglish
- Number of pages144
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The Fifth Child (Vintage Inter
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The Fifth Child (Vintage Inter
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The Fifth Child
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The Fifth Child
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The Fifth Child
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The Fifth Child
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The Fifth Child
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The Fifth Child
Seller: ZBK Books, Carlstadt, NJ, U.S.A.
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The Fifth Child
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paperback. Condition: Acceptable. This is a retired library book with typical wear/markings. May or may not have library stickers attached which will not be removed. Stains on outside cover/inside the book. Cover/Case has some rubbing and edgewear. Access codes, CD's, slipcovers and other accessories may not be included. Seller Inventory # 2Y6JCI009B1V_ns
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The Fifth Child
Published by
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 1989
ISBN 10: 0679721827
ISBN 13: 9780679721826
Used
Softcover
Seller: Better World Books, Mishawaka, IN, U.S.A.
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Condition: Good. Reprint. Former library book; may include library markings. Used book that is in clean, average condition without any missing pages. Seller Inventory # 5804155-6
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