The Childhood of Jesus
J. M. Coetzee
From the double Booker Prize-winning author of Disgrace, 'a moving story of lost childhood' (Sunday Telegraph).
After crossing oceans, a man and a boy - both strangers to each other - arrive in a new land. David, the boy, has lost his mother and Simón vows to look after him. In this strange country they are each assigned a new name, a new birthday, a new life.
Knowing nothing of their surroundings, nor the language or customs, they are determined to find David's mother. Though the boy has no memory of her, Simón is certain he will recognise her at first sight. 'But after we find her,' David asks, 'what are we here for?'
The Childhood of Jesus is a profound, beautiful and continually surprising novel from a very great writer.
'Powerful and poetic... This book will continue to act, silently and unexpectedly, on the reader's imagination' Financial Times
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About J. M. Coetzee
Reviews for The Childhood of Jesus
Theo Tait
Guardian
As ever, JM Coetzee manages to dodge every category with mesmeric cunning... This limpid, gnomic and surprisingly witty tale will take root in your imagination’
Boyd Tonkin
Independent
There are lots of traditions and tales mixed in – along with mathematics and a wonderfully poetic use of language
Financial Times
Engaging and thoughtful
Theo Hobson
Tablet
Written with all of Coetzee’s penetrating rigour, it will be an early contender for an unprecedented third Booker prize
Tim Adams
Observer
Double Booker Prize-winner Coetzee's fable has a dream-like, Kafkaesque quality. Are we in some kind of heaven, purgatory or simply another staging post of existence? Clear answers are elusive, but this is a riveting, thought-provoking read and surely Coetzee's best novel since Disgrace more than a decade ago
John Harding
Daily Mail
A fine, haunting novel that gets under your skin and into your marrow
Jake Kerridge
Daily Express
The Childhood of Jesus represents a return to the allegorical mode that made him famous... The Childhood of Jesus does ample justice to his giant reputation: it’s richly enigmatic, with regular flashes of Coetzee’s piercing intelligence
Theo Tait
Guardian
He’s not quite the Messiah but J.M. Coeztee is a devilishly clever novelist… J.M. Coetzee fashions prose of a lapidary clarity and grace… Coetzee has returned to the (paradoxically) clear and yet opaque fable mode of master-works such as Waiting for the Barbarians. Given the title, one might expect a bleak retelling of gospel stories…but Coetzee never makes things so simple for disciples
Boyd Tonkin
Independent
This book will continue to act, silently and unexpectedly, on the reader’s imagination. It unpicks the Christian myth and braids it together with folk tales, the early novel, Pythagorean mysticism, Platonic philosophy, Buddhist epigrams, mathematics – powerful and poetic languages that underwrite our world
Hedley Twidle
Financial Times