Life & Times of Michael K

Four modern classics by the great South African writer, J. M. Coetzee, re-released with stylish new covers and accompanied by introductions from some of Australia's brightest writing talents.

There was a cord of tenderness that stretched from him to the patch of earth beside that dam and must be cut. It seemed to him that one could cut a cord like that only so many times before it would not grow again.

Life & Times of Michael K follows Michael K as he returns his elderly mother to her rural birthplace, only for her to die, leaving him at the mercy of roving armies in a South Africa gripped by war. Locked up, he escapes, determined to live life on his own terms.

This compassionate and life-affirming novel speaks to the human need for connection—to each other and to the world—and an interior life.