In this mesmerising allegorical tale, J.M. Coetzee deftly grapples with the big questions of growing up, and what it means to be a ‘parent’
Life and Times of Michael K
Written by J.M. Coetzee
- Winner
- The Booker Prize 1983
- Published by Secker & Warburg
Buy the book
In his first Booker Prize-winning novel, J.M. Coetzee sets his main character on an arduous physical journey, which becomes a quest for inner freedom
In a South Africa torn by civil war, Michael K sets out to take his ailing mother back to her rural home. On the way there she dies, leaving him alone in an anarchic world of brutal roving armies. Imprisoned, Michael is unable to bear confinement and escapes, determined to live with dignity. This life-affirming novel illuminates the human experience: the need for an interior, spiritual life; for meaningful connections to the world in which we live; and for purity of vision.
J.M. Coetzee
J.M. Coetzee is a multi-award-winning author, and was awarded the 2003 Nobel Prize in Literature
More about J.M. Coetzee Other nominated books by J.M. Coetzee
Sometimes heart-breaking, often funny, Summertime completes J.M. Coetzee’s majestic trilogy of fictionalised memoir, begun with Boyhood and Youth
A calamitous accident irrevocably changes one man’s life, in J.M. Coetzee’s unflinching portrayal of suffering and tenderness
Despite her fame, a celebrated author continues the struggle to articulate her vision, in J.M. Coetzee’s exploration of the creative mind
J.M. Coetzee became the first author to win the Booker twice with this tale set in post-apartheid South Africa, where a professor’s complacency contributes to his utter downfall
