
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 & David would reach for each other's hand & smile & breathe happiness' Four children a beautiful old house the love of relatives & friends
- Harriet & David Lovatt's life is a glorious hymn to domestic bliss & old-fashioned family values But when their fifth child is born a sickly & implacable shadow is cast over this tender idyll Large & ugly violent & 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 & a strange defiance she has never known before Harriet is deeply afraid of what exactly she has brought into the world