"Simply as a portrait of an extraordinary family, the book probably has no equal. And what a family!
Although the larger-than-life domestic scenes may not always be pleasant to read, they are nevertheless unforgettable.
Listening to them might actually be better than reading them, since the reader might be tempted to skip Sam's
long-winded harangues and so disrupt the narrative. With tapes, the splendid writing can be fully appreciated.
M. C. Herbert reads the challenging text with skill and understanding."Library Journal

Sam and Henny Pollit have too many children, too little money, and too much loathing for one another. As Sam uses
the children's adoration to feed his own voracious ego, Henny watches in bleak despair, knowing the bitter reality that
lies just below his mad visions. A chilling novel of family life, of the relations between parents and children, husbands
and wives, The Man Who Loved Children is acknowledged as a contemporary classic.

Lillian Hellman called Christina Stead "the best woman writer alive," and Rebecca West wrote that she was "one of the
few people really original since the First World War."