Items related to The Fifth Child
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
The married couple in this novel pull off a remarkable achievement: They purchase a three-story house with oodles of bedrooms, and, on a middle-class income, in the '70s, fill it to the brim with happy children and visiting relatives. Their holiday gatherings are sumptuous celebrations of life and togetherness. And then the fifth child arrives. He's just a child--he's not supernatural. But is he really human? This is an elegantly written tale that the New York Times called "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 1984."
From the Inside Flap
A self-satisfied couple intent on raising a happy family is shocked by the birth of an abnormal and brutal fifth child.
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- PublisherVintage
- Publication date1989
- ISBN 10 0679721827
- ISBN 13 9780679721826
- BindingPaperback
- LanguageEnglish
- Number of pages144
- Rating
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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
Seller: ZBK Books, Carlstadt, NJ, U.S.A.
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Condition: acceptable. Used book - May contain writing, notes, highlighting, bends or folds. Text is readable, book is clean, and pages and cover mostly intact. May show normal wear and tear. Item may be missing CD. May include library marks. Fast Shipping. Seller Inventory # ZWM.FZW0
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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
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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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