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The Fifth Child
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The Fifth Child Paperback - 1989

by Doris Lessing

Harriet and David Lovatt face a frightening dilemma: how to love a monstrosity they have brought into the world--hideous in appearance, insatiably hungry, abnormally strong and brutal. A horror story comparable to Rosemary's Baby by the internationally acclaimed author.


From the publisher

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.

From the jacket flap

A self-satisfied couple intent on raising a happy family is shocked by the birth of an abnormal and brutal fifth child.

Details

  • Title The Fifth Child
  • Author Doris Lessing
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition [ Edition: Repri
  • Pages 144
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Vintage, New York
  • Date 1989-05-14
  • ISBN 9780679721826 / 0679721827
  • Weight 0.37 lbs (0.17 kg)
  • Dimensions 7.98 x 5.16 x 0.43 in (20.27 x 13.11 x 1.09 cm)
  • Themes
    • Topical: Family
  • Library of Congress subjects England, Horror fiction
  • Library of Congress Catalog Number 88040379
  • Dewey Decimal Code FIC

Media reviews

“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

Citations

  • Commonweal, 06/20/2008, Page 23
  • Entertainment Weekly, 03/21/2014, Page 41
  • Publishers Weekly, 03/24/1989, Page 0

About the author

Doris Lessing was born of British parents in Persia, in 1919, and moved with her family to Southern Rhodesia when she was five years old. She went to England in 1949 and has lived there ever since. She is the author of more than thirty books--novels, stories, reportage, poems, and plays. In 2007, she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.
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The Fifth Child
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different

The Fifth Child

by Lessing, Doris

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ISBN 13
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ISBN 10
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The Fifth Child
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The Fifth Child

by Lessing, Doris

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ISBN 13
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The Fifth Child
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The Fifth Child

by Lessing, Doris

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ISBN 13
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ISBN 10
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The Fifth Child
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The Fifth Child

by Lessing, Doris

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ISBN 13
9780679721826
ISBN 10
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The Fifth Child
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The Fifth Child

by Lessing, Doris

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ISBN 13
9780679721826
ISBN 10
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The Fifth Child
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The Fifth Child

by Lessing, Doris

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ISBN 13
9780679721826
ISBN 10
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The Fifth Child

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by Doris Lessing

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The Fifth Child
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different

The Fifth Child

by Lessing, Doris

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  • Paperback
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Paperback
ISBN 13
9780679721826
ISBN 10
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The Fifth Child

The Fifth Child

by Doris Lessing

  • Used
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  • Paperback
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Paperback
ISBN 13
9780679721826
ISBN 10
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Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 1989. Paperback. Good. Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less.Dust jacket quality is not guaranteed.
Item Price
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FREE shipping to USA
The Fifth Child

The Fifth Child

by Doris Lessing

  • Used
  • good
  • Paperback
Condition
Used - Good
Binding
Paperback
ISBN 13
9780679721826
ISBN 10
0679721827
Quantity Available
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Seller
Seattle, Washington, United States
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 4 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
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Show Details

Description:
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 1989. Paperback. Good. Former library book; Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less.Dust jacket quality is not guaranteed.
Item Price
A$9.54
FREE shipping to USA