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’.

Simón and Inés take care of David, a small boy who is always asking questions. But he is nearly seven, he should be at school. So David is enrolled in the Academy of Dance. It’s here, in his new golden dancing slippers, that he learns how to call down the numbers from the sky. But it’s here, too, that he will make troubling discoveries about what grown-ups are capable of.

Longlisted
The Man Booker Prize 2016
Published by
Harvill Secker
Publication date
J.M. Coetzee

J.M. Coetzee

About the Author

J. M. Coetzee was born in Cape Town, South Africa. He 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

Summertime
Slow Man
Elizabeth Costello
Disgrace
Prize winner
Life & Times of Michael K
Prize winner