The drastic consequences of a life-saving treatment force a man to question everything he knows, in Nadine Gordimer’s absorbing novel.

When an ecologist in Africa is diagnosed with cancer and prescribed treatment that makes him radioactive, his suddenly fragile existence makes him question his life for the first time. He is especially struck by the contradictions between his work as a conservationist and that of his wife, an advertising agency executive. When Paul moves in with his parents to protect his wife and young son from radiation, the strange nature of his condition leads his mother to face her own past.
Longlisted
The Man Booker Prize 2006
Published by
Bloomsbury
Publication date

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Nadine Gordimer

Nadine Gordimer

About the Author

Nadine Gordimer was born in Springs, South Africa. She was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1991.
More about Nadine Gordimer

Other nominated books by Nadine Gordimer

The Pickup
The Conservationist
Prize winner