Far from resting on her laurels, Lessing goes from strength to
strength. Ben's half-human ignorance, paranoia, and rage are
magnificently imagined and vividly present on every page. The condition
of the outsider has hardly ever before in fiction been portrayed with
such raw power and righteous anger. Few, if any, living writers can have
explored so many forbidding fictional worlds with such passion and
conviction. -- Kirkus Reviews
The poignant and tragic sequel to Doris Lessing's bestselling novel,
THE FIFTH CHILD.
At eighteen, Ben is in the world, but not of it. He is too large, too
awkward, too inhumanly made. Now estranged from his family, he must find
his own path in life. From London and the south of France to Brazil and
the mountains of the Andes. Ben is tossed about in a tumultuous search
for his people, a reason for his being. How the world receives him, and,
he fares in it will horrify and captivate until the novel's dramatic
finale.