Doris Lessing can write. The first third of this novel is awash in delicious phrasing. I enjoyed the brisk no fat pace of her story telling. I liked the idea of framing the story around a couple fighting the progressive tide of the times by creating their own conservative backwater. The title suggests and the prose hints that there is a dramatic shift coming. Part of the joy is supposed to be knowing that the tranquility will be shattered. Unfortunately, when it comes—it doesn’t work. Mystery regarding the potential malevolence of a new born is nothing new but beating that evil drum until your ears bleed might be. Handled here, when I should have been trying to find my way through mysterious grays I instead keep hitting walls of black and white. Either the entire family is evil—including extended family—or the child is evil. No subtlety—just hammers. Presented as a horror story—it fails—unless you are frightened by sadness.