The Fifth Child Summary

The Fifth Child, written in the 1980s and published in 1988, is a Gothic novel set in a small town within commuting distance of London. Belonging to the feminist literary period, the novel follows Harriet and her family as they struggle with the disruptive presence of their fifth child, Ben, who serves as the antagonist. The story reaches its climax when Harriet rescues Ben from the institution where he has been abandoned, shattering the family’s fragile contentment. Told through a third-person omniscient perspective with free indirect discourse, the novel explores themes of motherhood, societal expectations, and the limits of familial love.

The story kicks off in such a way that David and Harriet are an old-fashioned couple who meet at their office Christmas party. They fall in love and decide to get married. They start looking for a house outside of London where they can settle down and build the large family they both want. They dream of having as many as ten children. The house they find is very big and perfect for their plans, but it is also expensive. To afford it, they decide to wait a few years before having children. This way, they can both keep working until David earns enough money in his architecture firm to pay the mortgage on his own.

However, soon after moving in, Harriet becomes pregnant. She gives birth to their first child, Luke, in 1966. Since they need more money, they ask David’s wealthy father, James, for financial help. They also ask Harriet’s mother, Dorothy, to help take care of the baby.

Their house quickly becomes the center of family life. Many visitors come and go, including David’s father and David’s mother, Molly, who visits with her husband, Frederick. Harriet’s sisters, Angela and Sarah, also visit often with their families. That same year, Harriet gets pregnant again. The family gathers at their house to celebrate Christmas together. Soon after, their second child, Helen, is born.

The extended family continues to visit frequently. Meanwhile, Harriet’s sister, Sarah, has problems with her husband, William. They argue a lot, but they cannot get a divorce because Sarah is pregnant with their fourth child. Later, she gives birth to a baby girl, Amy, who is born with Down syndrome.

The family celebrations continue as usual, and in the meantime, Harriet and David welcome their third and fourth children, Jane and Paul. During Easter, William speaks up and says what many in the family have been thinking—that Harriet and David should stop having more children. Harriet responds that they plan to wait three years before having another baby.

Harriet’s sister Sarah becomes frustrated with the amount of help Harriet is getting. She asks their mother, Dorothy, to come assist her instead. Dorothy agrees and leaves Harriet’s house. Without her mother’s support, Harriet tries hiring three different nannies, but none of them work out.

Soon, Harriet finds out she is pregnant with their fifth child. This pregnancy feels much harder on her body than the others. When she and David tell Dorothy, she scolds them for being irresponsible. She complains that they treat her like a servant, but despite her frustration, she agrees to return to help. This time, she brings Alice, one of Frederick’s cousins, to assist her.

A few months into the pregnancy, the baby inside Harriet moves around forcefully, almost as if trying “to tear its way out of her stomach.” Worried, she goes to see Dr. Brett, but he tells her there is nothing unusual. He prescribes her a sedative to help her relax. Still anxious, Harriet also asks her friends for more tranquilizers and secretly takes them without telling David.

Feeling exhausted and overwhelmed, Harriet says they cannot host Easter this year. But the family insists on coming anyway. Tension builds in the house as the stress of the upcoming birth weighs on everyone, making the atmosphere more difficult and unpleasant.

At eight months pregnant, Harriet begins feeling labor pains and gives birth to a baby boy who weighs eleven pounds. He looks unusual, almost like a caveman, and is surprisingly strong. They name him Ben. From the start, he is rough in everything he does, even breastfeeding. Unlike her other children, Harriet does not feel the same love for Ben. The family begins to whisper among themselves, wondering what he is. They call him names like goblin, dwarf, troll, changeling, and gnome. Harriet and David stop having sex, afraid they might have another child like Ben.

Harriet keeps Ben alone in his room because he is dangerous. Even then, he grabs his older brother Paul’s arm through the crib bars and sprains it. Soon after, the family dog and cat are found dead, and they suspect Ben is responsible. People stop visiting their home because they are afraid of Ben. When he is eighteen months old, Harriet’s mother-in-law, Dorothy, offers to take care of Ben for a week so the rest of the family can go on vacation. They go to France and feel a huge sense of relief. When they return, Dorothy gives them a difficult suggestion: Ben should be sent to an institution. Harriet and David refuse, but from then on, Harriet focuses all her attention on Ben.

Ben starts speaking in short sentences, copying his siblings' speech and actions, but he does not seem to understand what he is doing. When he turns three, the family gathers for Christmas. They see him stalking Amy’s dog, which is meant to protect her. Seeing this, Harriet’s father-in-law, Frederick, also suggests putting Ben in an institution. David questions how they would pay for it without a diagnosis, and both sets of parents agree to help financially. Though Harriet and David do not want to, they realize they have no other choice. David takes charge of the process, believing it is necessary. Harriet is heartbroken, but David even goes as far as saying that Ben is not really his son. When Ben is taken away in a van to the institution, the family feels a wave of relief. But Harriet cannot stop thinking about him and insists on visiting.

When she arrives at the institution, she is horrified. The place is full of drugged and neglected children. Ben is tied up in a straightjacket, unconscious, lying on a cot soaked in urine. Seeing this, Harriet knows she must take him back home. The orderlies are worried about how she will handle him, so they give her sedatives for the journey back.

At home, the family is shocked to see Ben again. Harriet quickly realizes that the only way to control him is to threaten to send him back to the institution. This makes him behave better. David, however, remains distant from him. A young man named John works in their yard, and Ben takes a liking to him. Harriet suggests that John act as Ben’s nanny, letting Ben follow him around. John agrees.

Harriet and David take a weekend trip to reconnect. Harriet suggests having another child, but David refuses. That summer, the family gathers again, but Molly and Frederick do not come. They are angry with Harriet for bringing Ben back home.

Ben is too big to be locked in his room now. Instead, his siblings lock themselves in their rooms at night, not allowing Harriet to check on them. When Ben turns five, Luke and Helen ask to be sent to boarding school. Their grandparents agree to pay for it because they dislike Ben. Paul, meanwhile, is struggling emotionally from years of neglect. Ben starts school, and Harriet expects bad news from the teachers. Surprisingly, they say that although he does not understand the lessons, he tries very hard. However, by the end of the second term, Ben misbehaves. He knocks down a girl, bites her, and breaks her arm. Harriet threatens to send him back to the institution, and John also talks to him about why he must not hurt others.

Harriet asks Dr. Brett to arrange an appointment with a specialist. She is worried that the doctor will blame her instead of Ben, and she is right to be concerned. The specialist, Dr. Gilly, insists that the real problem is that Harriet does not like Ben. Harriet tries to explain that Ben seems different from normal children. She even asks if he is fully human. The doctor does not dismiss this idea outright but says she is not qualified to make such a judgment. Harriet leaves with a prescription for sedatives to use in emergencies.

At Christmas, the older children refuse to come home. Instead, they spend the holidays with their grandparents. Dorothy takes Jane to live with her permanently. Paul is sent to a psychiatrist. David works more to cover these extra expenses.

John announces that he is leaving town for school. Ben begs to go with him, but John cannot take him. Ben still does not understand social rules, stories, or games. The family worries about how he will handle adolescence. In the summer of 1986, the whole family gathers again. Paul asks to be sent to boarding school like his siblings.

After the summer, Ben moves on to secondary school. He makes friends: Derek, Billy, Elvis, and Vic. Harriet wonders if they pity Ben, but he seems to be their leader. His group is well-known at school. They disappear for days at a time, and Harriet notices that crime in the area is increasing. She wonders if Ben and his gang are involved.

David and Harriet decide to move. David suggests they leave without telling Ben where they are going. But Harriet secretly gives Ben their new address. Ben, however, does not seem to care much. One night, Harriet watches Ben with his friends. She wonders what will happen to him. Has he finally found a group where he belongs, or will he always be searching for someone like him?