In the Heart of the Country

As Text continues the re-release of J. M. Coetzee’s revered works, this second instalment of four titles-with introductions from top emerging and established writers-will win over a new generation of Coetzee readers.

Today my father brought home his new bride.

Magda lives on an isolated farm in South Africa with her callous father and their staff, who treat her with disdain. Her psychological state, already precarious, disintegrates when her father takes a black mistress, and a tenuous feudal peace is shattered. In prose rich and vivid, Coetzee re-enacts the colonial experience in the home and in the psyche of one woman, who will not let history overlook her.