The First Photo of the Fifth Child

In my opinion, the fourth cover is the best fit for this story. It may not physically show what a horror Ben is, but this cover lets you read the book with an open mind. The other covers portray him as a monster and nothing more; I am not belittling the idea that Ben truly is a demon, but you need to look at him with a less biased view. His mother, Harriet, gives the reader the impression that he is evil and not human; you need to have another perspective, Ben's. He is merely a child who lacked tender love and care from his mother. She has treated him like a monster since he was in the womb, it's no wonder he acts like one. The family isolates him from the rest of the world, including themselves, as this cover shows. They treat him like an outsider and that is not love. At one point, Harriet refers to him as a "Neanderthal baby." (Lessing 53). Ben never had a fighting chance to be normal.