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.
