One Woman’s Terrifying Maternal Dilemma

Off the Shelf By M. Elizabeth Lee    |   Wednesday, August 10, 2016 I picked up Doris Lessing’s novel THE FIFTH CHILD while six months pregnant. I had long admired Lessing’s unapologetically bold fiction and was unable to resist a tale about a child who is, even before birth, a very bad baby. The novel did not disappoint—it is an exercise in vicarious chills and creepy voyeurism until a deeper truth emerges: creating life means surrendering to forces beyond our control. READ MORE