{"product_id":"2026100009487-secondhand-the-man-who-loved-children","title":"The Man Who Loved Children","description":"\u003cp\u003eEdition: 1st uk ed.,\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCondition remarks:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBook: Good\u003cbr\u003eJacket: Wear and tear with damage\u003cbr\u003ePages: Yellowed\u003cbr\u003eCondition remarks: price clipped dj. minor stains on page 236. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFew novels in the twentieth century have dissected the anatomy of a dysfunctional family with such ferocious precision as The Man Who Loved Children. Set against the domestic battlegrounds of an American household, the novel chronicles the Pollit family's slow unravelling, caught between the tyrannical idealism of Sam Pollit — a government naturalist whose relentless self-absorption disguises itself as paternal love — and the bitter, despairing intelligence of his wife Henny. Through the eyes of their eldest daughter, Louisa, the reader witnesses a childhood defined by psychological warfare, crushing poverty, and the desperate yearning for escape.\n\nChristina Stead writes with a savage, operatic intensity that places her among the great literary architects of the modern era. Her prose crackles with savage wit and an unflinching commitment to psychological realism, rendering even the most monstrous characters with uncomfortable humanity. Celebrated by Randall Jarrell — whose landmark introduction to this edition helped resurrect the novel from undeserved obscurity — The Man Who Loved Children stands as a towering achievement in world literature, a book that rewards its reader with the unsettling recognition that the family home can be the most dangerous place of all.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Secondhand Stock","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49203123978459,"sku":"2026100009487-SECONDHAND","price":50.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0523\/7646\/9701\/files\/ce515327-6515-4635-aaa8-f650903318cd.png?v=1788144653","url":"https:\/\/bookgrocer.com\/products\/2026100009487-secondhand-the-man-who-loved-children","provider":"Book Grocer","version":"1.0","type":"link"}