Fifth Child

A classic tale from Doris Lessing, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, 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.’

Harriet and David Lovatt’s life is a glorious hymn to domestic bliss and old-fashioned family values. With four children, a beautiful old house, and the love of relatives and friends, their world seems perfect.

However, everything changes when their fifth child is born.

The Arrival of Ben:

• Large and ugly, violent and uncontrollable, the infant Ben is described as being ‘full of cold dislike.’
• From the moment of his birth, he casts a sickly and implacable shadow over their once tender idyll.
• Harriet struggles to care for him, facing a darkness and strange defiance she has never encountered before.

As Ben tears at Harriet’s breast, she becomes deeply afraid of what, exactly, she has brought into the world…