About this item
This volume is part of a new series of novels, plays and stories at GCSE/Key Stage 4 level, designed to meet the needs of the National Curriculum syllabus. Each text includes an introduction, pre-reading activities, notes and coursework activities. Also provided is a section on the process of writing, often compiled by the author. This novel tells the story of Harriet. Pregnant for the fifth time, she congratulates herself and David on ensuring that everything should be just as they have always wanted it. but this is no ordinary pregnancy, and the arrival of Ben - the sinister "fifth child" - is to threaten all that she has ever held onto.
About the Author
Doris May Lessing CH (née Tayler; 22 October 1919 - 17 November 2013) was a British novelist, poet, playwright, librettist, biographer and short story writer. Her novels include The Grass is Singing (1950) , the sequence of five novels collectively called Children of Violence (1952-69) , The Golden Notebook (1962) , The Good Terrorist (1985) , and five novels collectively known as Canopus in Argos: Archives (1979-1983) .Lessing was awarded the 2007 Nobel Prize in Literature. In awarding the prize, the Swedish Academy described her as "that epicist of the female experience, who with scepticism, fire and visionary power has subjected a divided civilisation to scrutiny". Lessing was the eleventh woman and the oldest person ever to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature.In 2001, Lessing was awarded the David Cohen Prize for a lifetime's achievement in British literature. In 2008, The Times ranked her fifth on a list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945". Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Photo by Elke Wetzig (elya) (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) , CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or CC BY-SA 2.5-2.0-1.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5-2.0-1.0) ], via Wikimedia Commons.
