The Child of the Dawn

by A.C. Benson

A.C. Benson's allegorical fantasy about life, reincarnation, and the persistance of the human spirit.

Genres: Fantasy

152 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1911

About the author

Arthur Christopher Benson was an English essayist, poet, author and academic and the 28th Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge.

Benson was born on 24 April 1862 at Wellington College, Berkshire. He was one of six children of Edward White Benson (1829-1896; Archbishop of Canterbury 1882–96; the first headmaster of the college) and his wife Mary Sidgwick Benson, sister of the philosopher Henry Sidgwick.

Benson was born into a literary family; his brothers included E.F. Benson, best remembered for his Mapp and Lucia novels, and Robert Hugh Benson, a priest of the Church of England before converting to Roman Catholicism, who wrote many popular novels. Their sister, Margaret Benson, was an artist, author, and amateur Egyptologist.

Reviews

[Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful story about the afterlife, falling somewhere between CS Lewis' "The Great Divorce" and Richard Matheson's "What Dreams May Come." Benson's Heaven and Hell are certainly not in line with the traditional view, and reincarnation also fits into his scheme. Perhaps most encouragingly, he suggest that even the wickedest people can eventually be redeemed by suffering in the afterlife.