The Childhood of Jesus by J.M. Coetzee Alongside brutal depictions of violence

Alongside brutal depictions of violence and justice are jokes and deceptively slight

In the forty years since its original publication

this is a witty

he was also pathologically reticent

one of the greatest sources of healing from trauma is all around us—nature

The Childhood of Jesus by J.M. Coetzee Alongside brutal depictions of violenceAfter crossing oceans, a man and a boy arrive in a new land. Here they are each assigned a name and an age, and held in a camp in the desert while they learn Spanish, the language of their new country. As Simn and David they make their way to the relocation centre in the city of Novilla, where officialdom treats them politely but not necessarily helpfully. Simn finds a job in a grain wharf. The work is unfamiliar and backbreaking, but he soon warms to