Match Book
The fifth child
Doris Lessing
1988 · Literary fiction
How it reads
The fifth child is literary fiction (domestic gothic, specifically), and its dominant mood is dark. It goes to difficult places and doesn't look away. The pace is moderate — neither a page-turner nor a slow burn — so it holds up whether you read it in long sittings or short ones.
It's set in a suburban setting, in the present day, told in the third person, staying close to one character. Its central concerns are family, identity and secrets. In weight it's heavy and literary — denser, more serious, and more demanding of you.
It stands alone, so there's nothing else you need to read first or after. The ending is dark — no rescue, no neat bow. It's a short book. It's well known, the kind of book most keen readers have heard of.
Pick it up if…
- you're in the mood for something dark
- you want something to chew on
- you want a complete story in one book
Maybe not if…
- you need something cosy, heartwarming or funny
- you need a happy ending
All 15 dimensions
- Genre
- literary fiction
- Author gender
- female
- Author experience
- prolific veteran
- Setting: place
- suburban
- Setting: time
- contemporary
- Mood / feeling
- dark
- Pace
- moderate
- Tone / weight
- heavy and literary
- Length
- short
- Narrative style
- third person, one viewpoint
- Publication era
- modern classic
- Popularity
- well known
- Series vs standalone
- standalone
- Ending style
- dark
What these mean: the 15 dimensions of a book.
Books with a similar reading
The closest books in Match Book's catalogue across the same dimensions, and what they share.
Before Women Had WingsConnie May FowlerShares: literary fiction, dark mood, heavy and literary tone, moderate pace- The Speed QueenStewart O'NanShares: literary fiction, dark mood, heavy and literary tone, moderate pace
- My Absolute DarlingGabriel TallentShares: literary fiction, dark mood, heavy and literary tone, dark ending
The WhispersAshley AudrainShares: literary fiction, dark mood, heavy and literary tone, set in suburban
The driver's seatMuriel SparkShares: literary fiction, heavy and literary tone, dark ending, contemporary setting- The Gap of TimeJeanette WintersonShares: literary fiction, heavy and literary tone, moderate pace, contemporary setting
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