Slow Man

If none is left who will pronounce judgment on such a life, if the Great Judge of All has given up judging and withdrawn to pare his nails, then he will pronounce it himself: a wasted chance.


When a bicycle accident causes photographer Paul Rayment to lose a leg, he must reexamine his life so far, and what remains of it. He falls in love with the nurse who tends to his needs—but the arrival of famed novelist Elizabeth Costello upends everything. Slow Man is an intricate novel about identity, memory and desire, from a contemporary master.

J. M. Coetzee was the first author to win the Booker Prize twice and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2003. His work includes Waiting for the Barbarians, Life & Times of Michael K, The Master of Petersburg, Disgrace and Diary of a Bad Year. He lives in Adelaide.

‘Further witness to J. M. Coetzee’s achievement as one of the most intelligent and important writers writing today.’ Washington Post

‘Beautifully composed, deeply thought, wonderfully written.’ New York Times