Boyhood

Continuing Text's re-release of J.M. Coetzee's revered works with stylish new covers, Boyhood is a modern classic by the great Nobel Prize winner accompanied by an introduction from acclaimed author Liam Pieper.

It is up to him to somehow get beyond childhood, beyond family and school, to a new life where he will not need to pretend any more.

A young John Coetzee struggles to exert his autonomy in this perceptive evocation of his early years in the deeply divided South Africa of the 1940s.

Coetzee reflects on his formative experiences with brutal insight and clarity, laying bare the intermingled joys and tragedies of childhood against a backdrop of incongruous cruelty.

Boyhood is the first of J.M. Coetzee's masterly trio of autobiographical novels, Scenes from Provincial Life.

About the Author

John Maxwell "J. M." Coetzee is a South African novelist, essayist, linguist, translator and recipient of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Literature. He relocated to Australia in 2002 and lives in Adelaide.

He became an Australian citizen in 2006. In 2013, Richard Poplak of the Daily Maverick described Coetzee as "inarguably the most celebrated and decorated living English-language author".

Before receiving the 2003 Nobel Prize in Literature, Coetzee was awarded the Jerusalem Prize, CNA Prize (thrice), the Prix Femina Étranger, The Irish Times International Fiction Prize and the Booker Prize (twice), among other accolades.