When Wissey Jones, suave, overbearing and rich, arrived in a small New England town to purchase a child genius, the townspeople rose in arms to condemn or defend his right to do so.

This promptly provoked an investigation by the state committee on education, welfare and public morality.

"John Hersey at his best and most original, disclosing again one of our ablest, most serious and bold writers . .. a drama with electrical immediacy, broadly satirical, somewhat Shavian, THE CHILD BUYER is an exceptional novel and is essential reading." - NEW YORK HERALD TRIBUNE

"As prophetically horrible as anything in George Orwell's 1984". - THE NEW YORK TIMES