The Man Who Loved Children
Christina Stead
 The novel tells the story of a highly dysfunctional family, the Pollits. The story centers on the father Sam, an idealistic buffoon who can't provide for his family, the situation made worse by the mother Henny's snobbish inability to budget for the household. Stead details the parents' marital battles and the various accounts of the blended family's affections and alliances. The character Sam is largely based on Stead's own father, marine biologist David Stead. The Man Who Loved Children was originally set in Sydney but the setting was altered to suit an American audience, to Washington, D.C., somewhat unconvincingly due to linguistic nuances. Unsparing and penetrating, Stead reveals, among other things, the danger of unchecked sentimentality in relationships and in political thought.