In 1946, America is in-between eras. With one foot in the detritus of WWII and the other nudging the Cold War, it is also an uncertain time for women who want a higher education. Soldiers return to procreate with their waiting wives, giving rise to the Baby Boomer generation. Motherhood is a hot topic, with Benjamin Spock garnering headlines for his pioneer theories of child rearing. He advocates a very tactile approach, which includes picking up the infant every time (s)he cries. This is diametrically opposed to the former approach of instilling a strict schedule and forcing the baby to conform to it, letting the baby cry until it is "time" to pick her or him up. In this supremely inventive and provocative novel, Grunwald creates a protagonist, Henry House, an in-between baby born with one foot in the strict schedule and the other in Dr. Spock, an orphan who is raised by not one mother but many "practice mothers" and one woman who pleads for his love. Adored by many but unable to love any ONE.
Henry is the tenth orphan sent to the Wilton College of Home Economics, where female students practice mothering skills in two-year rotations, taught by the firm and stern director, Martha Gaines. Every two years, a new orphan is sent as a "practice baby" for a half-dozen female students. Not only do they practice mothering, but they also learn to fix kitchen equipment, remove stains, balance a budget, and manage a household. Ironically, the program is a subversive defender of women with ambition. They learn chemistry, physics, economics, and engineering, among other challenging subjects. When the rotation is over, the babies are sent back to the orphanage and are hopefully adopted by a loving family. The women graduate and move on to their futures.
When Martha falls in love with Henry at first sight, she is emotionally transformed. She relaxes her rigid routine and secretly champions Dr. Spock's touchy-feely approach. And, in a surprising twist of fate, Henry becomes the first and only baby to stay and be raised at the practice house, with Martha as the primary caregiver and a succession of women vying for his love and attention. Conversely, Henry thrives on their adoration, and learns guile and charm early in his life, endearing himself to his many "mothers." He doesn't attach himself to the ultra-needy Martha, or any specific caregiver or peer. He learns to manipulate and gain power by extracting differentially from each "mother" and later uses similar techniques with children his age. However, at nursery school he meets Mary Ann, a beautiful little girl that becomes a constant, although interrupted, presence in his life.
If you have been schooled in attachment theory, you know that the first few years of a baby's life are critical. That is the time when a baby needs to develop a primary relationship. If this is disrupted, like in the case of the Wilton practice baby method, the baby may form maladaptive behaviors and fail to develop healthy attachments. In Henry's case, he consistently keeps everyone at arm's length. As he matures, he is filled with rage at his parents' desertion and is unable to love or affectionately bond with Martha or anyone else.
Henry is prepossessing, yet affable, and women are naturally drawn to him--his long, lean, angular body, soft full lips, and striking green eyes. Yet, he all but sucks the spirit out of women who get involved with him. He objectifies them and accumulates them with an uncanny indifference, seemingly without any dents to his hard shell or damage to his psychic wall. He closed up that opening years ago, as a toddler. He is intermittently cruel to Mary Ann and supercilious towards Martha. Ironically, he becomes an "in-between" animator by profession. The novel examines Henry's journey to find his heart and to feel it beating. The key is for Henry to find a source that leads to a towering self-reflection.
Grunwald's buoyant prose is as bewitching as Henry. Clear and crisp, it glides effortlessly, ripe with terse paradoxes, engaging us with radiant characters. The author's ingenious insights into human behavior and her ability to keep the reader off-balance but fastened to the story is truly inspired. She captures the atmosphere of the times, as we move from poodle skirts to mini-skirts, and from Howdy Doody to Hair. I have not read another novel that captures the liminal time and essence of attachment theory with such clarity and imagination.
The author's premise for this story was stirred by research into an actual "practice baby" house that was part of a Cornell University home economics program from 1919-1969.
