La infancia de Jesús

Nobel Prize winner J. M. Coetzee's new novel is a beautiful story about identity, friendship, and the strength of family ties.

After crossing the ocean, a man and a boy arrive in a new country where they are given names and ages, and encouraged to forget their past. Strangers in a strange land, they learn Spanish, the local language, while waiting to be transferred to the city of Novilla, where they hope to find the boy's mother.

Now with their new names, Simón and David arrive at the city's relocation center. There, the officials treat them politely, but are not very helpful. After much confusion, Simón manages to find accommodation for both, and finds a job at the port. The tasks of a stevedore are tremendously exhausting, but he quickly earns the appreciation of his colleagues, who during breaks engage in philosophical dialogues about the dignity of labor.

In this country, no one seems particularly happy or unhappy. Everyone performs their duties, but they don't go beyond that and don't seem to expect or want more than what they have. Amidst the strangeness this attitude causes him, Simón decides to resume the mission of finding the boy's mother, with an added difficulty: everyone who arrives in the new country seems to have left their memories behind.

Critics have said...
«This book lives up to the author's great reputation.»
The Guardian

«One of the greatest living novelists.»
The Sunday Times

«A supreme artist of nuance and fable.»
The Independent

«One of the most outstanding writers in the English language.»
The Times

«A consummate writer.»
Observer

«The quality of Coetzee's writing lies in his inner vision: dark, passionately compassionate, concerned with human nature.»
Financial Times