The fourth child : a novel

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Title:

Author:

Winter, Jessica, author.

ISBN:

9780062971555

Edition:

First edition.

Physical Description:

338 pages ; 24 cm.

Abstract:

Overcome by spiritual restlessness as her children gain independence, a devout Catholic adopts a child from Eastern Europe whose complicated needs estrange the woman from her biological children.

"Book-smart, devoutly Catholic, and painfully unsure of herself, Jane becomes pregnant in high school; by her early twenties, she is raising three children in the suburbs of western New York State. In the fall of 1991, as her children are growing older and more independent, Jane is overcome by a spiritual and intellectual restlessness that leads her to become involved with a local pro-life group. Following the tenets of her beliefs, she also adopts a little girl from Eastern Europe. But Mirela is a difficult child. Deprived of a loving caregiver in infancy, she remains unattached to her new parents, no matter how much love Jane shows her. As Jane becomes consumed with chasing therapies that might help Mirela, her relationships with her family, especially her older daughter, Lauren, begin to fray. Feeling estranged from her mother and unsettled in her new high school, Lauren begins to discover the power of her own burgeoning creativity and sexuality - a journey that both echoes and departs from her mother's own adolescent experiences. But when Lauren is confronted with the limits of her youth and independence, Jane is thrown into an emotional crisis, forced to reconcile her principles and faith with her determination to keep her daughters safe. The Fourth Child is a piercing love story and a haunting portrayal of how love can shatter - or strengthen - our beliefs."--Publisher.

Subject Term:

Mothers and daughters -- Fiction.

Catholic women -- Fiction.

Adopted children -- Fiction.

Teenage girls -- Fiction.

Format:

Books

Publication Date:

2021

Language:

English

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Library	Material Type	Item Barcode	Shelf Number	Location
Searching... Fairfield Area Library	Book	38674121837403	FICTION WINTER	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Twin Hickory Library	Book	38674121837395	FICTION WINTER	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

"A beautifully observed and thrillingly honest novel about the dark corners of family life and the long, complicated search for understanding and grace." --Jenny Offill, author of Dept. of Speculation and Weather

"The Fourth Child is keen and beautiful and heartbreaking--an exploration of private guilt and unexpected obligation, of the intimate losses of power embedded in female adolescence, and of the fraught moments of glancing divinity that come with shouldering the burden of love." --Jia Tolentino, New York Times bestselling author of Trick Mirror

"A remarkable family saga . . . The Fourth Child is a balm--a reminder that it is possible for art to provide a nuanced exploration of life itself." --Rumaan Alam, author of Leave the World Behind and Rich and Pretty

The author of Break in Case of Emergency follows up her "extraordinary debut" (The Guardian) with a moving novel about motherhood and marriage, adolescence and bodily autonomy, family and love, religion and sexuality, and the delicate balance between the purity of faith and the messy reality of life.

Book-smart, devoutly Catholic, and painfully unsure of herself, Jane becomes pregnant in high school; by her early twenties, she is raising three children in the suburbs of western New York State. In the fall of 1991, as her children are growing older and more independent, Jane is overcome by a spiritual and intellectual restlessness that leads her to become involved with a local pro-life group. Following the tenets of her beliefs, she also adopts a little girl from Eastern Europe. But Mirela is a difficult child. Deprived of a loving caregiver in infancy, she remains unattached to her new parents, no matter how much love Jane shows her. As Jane becomes consumed with chasing therapies that might help Mirela, her relationships with her family, especially her older daughter, Lauren, begin to fray.

Feeling estranged from her mother and unsettled in her new high school, Lauren begins to discover the power of her own burgeoning creativity and sexuality--a journey that both echoes and departs from her mother's own adolescent experiences. But when Lauren is confronted with the limits of her youth and independence, Jane is thrown into an emotional crisis, forced to reconcile her principles and faith with her determination to keep her daughters safe. The Fourth Child is a piercing love story and a haunting portrayal of how love can shatter--or strengthen--our beliefs.

Reviews (4)

Publisher's Weekly Review

In Winter's smart second novel (after Break in Case of Emergency), a Catholic mother of three seeks greater fulfillment, first by volunteering for a pro-life group, then by adopting a new child. Stirred by a segment on 20/20 about the awful conditions of Romanian orphanages, Jane Brennan flies to Europe and adopts three-year-old Mirela, upsetting the dynamics between her; her husband, Pat; and their biological children. As the mischievous, overactive Mirela demands all of Jane's attention, 15-year-old Lauren, Jane and Pat's oldest, struggles with boredom like a "low-grade illness" and falls under the sway of her charismatic, manipulative drama teacher, Ted Smith. Meanwhile, Jane begins participating in demonstrations outside an abortion clinic and finds herself in the limelight for her role in an altercation during a blockade--and for her difficulty with Mirela, who wanders off during the pandemonium. Meanwhile, Ted and Lauren become increasingly intimate, and Jane intervenes in surprising ways. Jane's narration can be a bit slow and tedious, but the novel takes off when it switches to Lauren's point of view, building tension as Lauren finds her way through a difficult situation. Though the novel feels a bit schematic at times, Winter's surprisingly complex characters make it worthwhile. Agent: Claudia Ballard, WME. (Mar.)

Kirkus Review

Teen pregnancy, Christian faith, international adoption, and the abortion wars shape the story of a mother and daughter in Buffalo, New York. After an acclaimed debut (Break in Case of Emergency, 2016), New Yorker editor Winter tells the slowly unfurling story of Jane, a bookish and devout teenager with a mean mother and anorexic tendencies. Her tortured 1970s adolescence is cut short when she gets pregnant and ends up married to Pat and raising their daughter instead of following her friends to the University of Buffalo. One of the loveliest parts of this novel is Jane's early motherhood experience with her daughter Lauren--a sweet and sensual romance shaped by Jane's reading of D.W. Winnicott. She has a couple more kids, then the novel skips ahead to Lauren's adolescence in the early 1990s, also very closely observed: There's Drama Club, an inappropriate young teacher, Nirvana, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers….Winter's gifts for dialogue and characterization are evident in Lauren's best friend's analysis of her favorite musicians: " 'John is so depressed,' Paula said. 'He can't handle the fame.' Paula talked about all her rock stars like this, like they were her friends who confided in her….She talked about Kurt Cobain's mysterious stomach condition like she was his personal physician." Jane gets involved in the Christian pro-life movement and surprises her family by adopting a deeply disturbed 3-year-old from Romania. For a long time, there is one leisurely episode after another with very little narrative momentum established. Is anything ever going to happen? Then, about two-thirds of the way through, you see exactly where it's heading, and it's so ripped-from-the-headlines that one hopes for a surprise. But Winter doesn't seem to care about plot; the quick series of climactic events at the end are the flattest parts of the book. On the other hand, if you have the patience, there is much--including snarky riffs on Buffalo and the Buffalo accent!--to enjoy. Excellent writing and well-developed characters contend with uneven pacing and a predictable plot. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Booklist Review

Jane, her parents' fourth child, is a pensive girl, misunderstood by her mother. Her Catholic faith takes deep root; she delights in the gory plights of the saints and her own pain (self-inflicted and accidental), and wonders if or how she will attain sainthood. She gets pregnant by an emotionally abusive boy and marries him, eliminating the possibility of attending college as her friends scatter to larger futures. Still, she becomes a dutiful wife and adoring mother to a daughter and two sons. An unexpected pregnancy ends in miscarriage, pushing her foundation of faith off-center. As her children reach adolescence, she joins a radical pro-life group. When she adopts a deeply traumatized toddler, family equilibrium is thrown into upheaval. Alternating chapters between Jane and her daughter, Winter (Break in Case of Emergency, 2016) draws readers into depths of familial love that sometimes misses the mark, despite best intentions. She deftly depicts an all-too-human inconsistency: we may hold deep convictions until reality hits close to home. Every page is absorbing; book clubs will love discussing this.

Library Journal Review

Having debuted with the well-regarded Break in Case of Emergency, New Yorker editor Winter returns with the story of Jane, committedly Catholic but pregnant in high school and raising three children by her early twenties. Eventually, she becomes involved with a local pro-life group, then adopts a difficult Eastern European child, which disrupts life with her family. With a 40,000-copy first printing.