The Fifth Child

Last updated

The Fifth Child
TheFifthChild.jpg
First edition
Author Doris Lessing
LanguageEnglish
Publisher Jonathan Cape
Publication date
1988
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
Media typePrint (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages159
ISBN 0-224-02553-8
OCLC 21411827
Followed by Ben, in the World  

The Fifth Child is a short novel by the British writer Doris Lessing, first published in the United Kingdom in 1988, and since translated into several languages. It describes the changes in the happy life of a married couple, Harriet and David Lovatt, as a consequence of the birth of Ben, their fifth child. A sequel, Ben, in the World (2000) recounts Ben's life after he has left his family. [1] [2]

Contents

Plot summary

When David Lovatt meets Harriet at a party, they both immediately fall in love. They both share the same conservative outlooks, which they perceive to be a rarity in the immoral London of the 1960s.

The two marry and purchase a large house in a small town within commuting distance of London. The couple intends to have several children—a wish frowned upon by the rest of the family. By the time they have four children–two boys and two girls–their house becomes a centre of joy not only for them but for all their relatives and friends who come and visit. This continues until Harriet has a fifth, wildly dysfunctional child, Ben. Her painful pregnancy with him marks the beginning of the misery and suffering that this child brings to the whole family. [3]

Characters

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Doris Lessing</span> British novelist (1919–2013)

Doris May Lessing was a British novelist. She was born to British parents in Iran, where she lived until 1925. Her family then moved to Southern Rhodesia, where she remained until moving in 1949 to London, England. Her novels include The Grass Is Singing (1950), the sequence of five novels collectively called Children of Violence (1952–1969), The Golden Notebook (1962), The Good Terrorist (1985), and five novels collectively known as Canopus in Argos: Archives (1979–1983).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mitford family</span> English aristocrats

The Mitford family is an aristocratic English family whose principal line had its seats at Mitford, Northumberland. Several heads of the family served as High Sheriff of Northumberland. A junior line, with seats at Newton Park, Northumberland, and Exbury House, Hampshire, descends via the historian William Mitford (1744–1827) and were twice elevated to the British peerage, in 1802 and 1902, under the title Baron Redesdale.

<i>Wives and Daughters</i> 1864–1866 novel by Elizabeth Gaskell

Wives and Daughters, An Every-Day Story is a novel by English author Elizabeth Gaskell, first published in the Cornhill Magazine as a serial from August 1864 to January 1866. It was partly written whilst Gaskell was staying with the salon hostess Mary Elizabeth Mohl at her home on the Rue de Bac in Paris. When Mrs Gaskell died suddenly in 1865, it was not quite complete, and the last section was written by Frederick Greenwood.

<i>Rabbit-Proof Fence</i> 2002 Australian film by Phillip Noyce

Rabbit-Proof Fence is a 2002 Australian epic drama film directed and produced by Phillip Noyce based on the 1996 book Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence by Doris Pilkington Garimara. It is loosely based on the author's mother Molly Craig, aunt Daisy Kadibil and cousin Gracie, who escaped from the Moore River Native Settlement, north of Perth, Western Australia, to return to their Aboriginal families. They had been removed from their families and placed there in 1931.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Princess Helen of Waldeck and Pyrmont</span> Duchess of Albany

Princess Helen of Waldeck and Pyrmont, later Duchess of Albany, was a member of the British royal family by marriage. She was the fifth daughter and child of George Victor, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont, and his first wife, Princess Helena of Nassau.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harriet Jacobs</span> African-American abolitionist and writer (d. 1897)

Harriet Jacobs was an African-American abolitionist and writer whose autobiography, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, published in 1861 under the pseudonym Linda Brent, is now considered an "American classic".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ozzie Nelson</span> American actor, band leader, television producer and director (1906-1975)

Oswald George Nelson was an American actor, filmmaker, musician, and bandleader. He originated and starred in The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, a radio and television series with his wife Harriet and two sons David and Ricky Nelson.

<i>Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl</i> 1861 autobiography by Harriet Jacobs

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, written by herself is an autobiography by Harriet Jacobs, a mother and fugitive slave, published in 1861 by L. Maria Child, who edited the book for its author. Jacobs used the pseudonym Linda Brent. The book documents Jacobs's life as a slave and how she gained freedom for herself and for her children. Jacobs contributed to the genre of slave narrative by using the techniques of sentimental novels "to address race and gender issues." She explores the struggles and sexual abuse that female slaves faced as well as their efforts to practice motherhood and protect their children when their children might be sold away.

Life with the Lyons was a British radio and television sitcom franchise that ran between 1950 and 1961.

Joseph Adam Swash is an English actor and television presenter, best known for his role of Mickey Miller in the BBC One soap opera EastEnders and various presenting roles with ITV2. He won the eighth series of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! in 2008 and the twelfth series of Dancing on Ice in 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Molly Lamont</span> British actress (1910–2001)

Molly Lamont was a South African-British film actress.

Oldtown Folks is an 1869 novel written by Harriet Beecher Stowe. It is written from the first-person perspective of a young man named Horace Holyoke, who describes his youth in fictional Oldtown, Massachusetts - including humorous depictions of daily life, behavior of local towns folk, and the adoption of Harry and Eglantine Percival.

<i>Molly: An American Girl on the Home Front</i> 2006 American television film

Molly: An American Girl on the Home Front is a 2006 American made-for-television comedy-drama film. It is the third movie in the American Girl film series, and is based on the Molly: An American Girl book series written by American children's author Valerie Tripp. The first two movies in the series, Samantha: An American Girl Holiday and Felicity: An American Girl Adventure, were broadcast on The WB Television Network. However, following the WB/UPN merger, the series moved to the Disney Channel. The film premiered on the Disney Channel and on DVD from Warner Home Video on November 26, 2006. The film stars Maya Ritter in the titular role, with Molly Ringwald, David Aaron Baker, Tory Green and Genevieve Farrell in supporting roles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Helen Storrow</span> American philanthropist and Girl Scout leader (1864–1944)

Helen Osborne Storrow was a prominent American philanthropist, early Girl Scout leader, and chair of the World Committee of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) for eight years. She founded the First National Girl Scout Leaders' Training in Long Pond, Massachusetts; headed the leaders' training camp at Foxlease, UK; and donated the first of the WAGGGS World centres, Our Chalet.

<i>The Little White Bird</i> 1902 novel by J. M. Barrie

The Little White Bird is a novel by the Scottish writer J. M. Barrie, ranging in tone from fantasy and whimsy to social comedy with dark, aggressive undertones. It was published in November 1902, by Hodder & Stoughton in the UK and Scribner's in the US. The book attained prominence and longevity thanks to several chapters written in a softer tone than the rest of the book, which introduced the character and mythology of Peter Pan. In 1906, those chapters were published separately as a children's book, Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens.

The Lehman family is a prominent family of Jewish German-Americans who founded the financial firm Lehman Brothers. Some were also involved in American politics. Members have married into the prominent Morgenthau, Loeb, and Bronfman families.

<i>Hetty Feather</i> 2009 novel by Jacqueline Wilson

Hetty Feather is a book by English author Jacqueline Wilson. It is about a young red-haired girl who was left by her mother at the Foundling Hospital as a baby and follows her story as she lives in a foster home before returning to the Foundling Hospital as a curious and bad-tempered five-year-old. There are more books to the "series" of Hetty Feather, which are recommended for ages 9–11 according to the author. CBBC created a TV series based on the book, with Isabel Clifton portraying Hetty. The programme was first aired in 2015. In the United States BYUtv has the US broadcast rights and began airing it in March 2018.

<i>Ben, in the World</i> Novel by Doris Lessing

Ben, in the World is a novel written by Doris Lessing, published in 2000, in which she stages a parody of the 'objectivity' of the narrator's voice. The story delves into the life of Ben Lovatt following the events of the first book dedicated to this character, The Fifth Child.

References

  1. Helen T. Verongos (17 November 2013). "Doris Lessing, Author Who Swept Aside Convention, Is Dead at 94". The New York Times . Retrieved 2 November 2015.
  2. Alex Clark (17 June 2000). "Ben, In the World". The Guardian . Retrieved 2 November 2015.
  3. The information has been checked against the UK 2007 Harper Perennial Modern Classics edition. ISBN   978-0-586-08903-3