Man, Woman, and Child by Erich Segal

Man, Woman And Child is a stunning novel that revolves around the life of Robert, his wife, and their children, and a child he had with another woman in France.

Summary Of The Book

Robert and his family are a prime example of a perfect family. However, Robert was unfaithful to his wife on one occasion, and had a brief affair with another woman during his business trip to France. Robert was unaware that his affair resulted in the birth of a baby boy. One day, Robert is contacted by his friend in France, who gave him shocking news about the passing away of the woman he had an affair with. Things get complicated when he is told about Jean-Claude, who is his son from that woman, and is now an orphan.

Robert finds himself in a mess, but somehow manages to confide in his wife Sheila, who takes the matter in her stride, and is willing to have Jean-Claude over for the summer. The couple agree to keep the true identity of the boy a secret. Sheila, who is a journalist, finds herself in a spot where she is tempted to have an affair with an author she was interviewing. In the meantime, their two daughters get to know the truth about Jean-Claude from Robert’s friends’ son, and don’t want to speak to their parents.

When the family decide to send Jean-Claude back to France by flight, he falls ill suddenly and is hospitalized. How will the family react to this? Will they still be at loggerheads with each other or will they accept Jean-Claude for who he is? This book answers these questions and more.
Man, Woman And Child has been adapted into a movie thrice. The first adaptation was released in 1983 by Erich Segal himself. In 1983, Shekhar Kapur directed the second adaptation of this novel, entitled Masoom. In 1984, Sophan Sophiaan released the third adaptation of this novel, which was in Indonesian.

About Erich Segal

Erich Segal was an author, educator, and screenwriter.

Apart from this book, Segal has written The Class, Roman Laughter: The Comedy Of Plautus, Oxford Readings In Menander, Plautus, And Terence, Oliver’s Story, and The Death Of Comedy.

Segal completed his schooling from Midwood High School, Brooklyn. He later completed his Bachelor’s degree from Harvard College, and went on to finish his Master’s, and doctoral degree, both in Comparative Literature from Harvard University. Through the course of his career as an educator, Segal worked at Yale University, Harvard University, and Princeton University. He was also an Honorary Fellow of Wolfson College. He was married to Karen Marianne James since 1975 to his death, and they had two daughters together. Segal passed away due to a heart attack on the 17th of January, 2010.