**A BBC RADIO 4 GOOD READ**'A great novel by one of the finest authors writing in the English language today' The TimesAfter years teaching Romantic poetry at the Technical University of Cape Town, David Lurie, middle-aged and twice divorced, has an impulsive affair with a student. The affair sours; he is denounced and summoned before a committee of inquiry.Willing to admit his guilt, but refusing to yield to pressure to repent publicly, he resigns and retreats to his daughter Lucy's isolated smallholding. For a time, his daughter's influence and the natural rhythms of the farm promise to harmonise his discordant life.But the balance of power in the country is shifting.He and Lucy become victims of a savage and disturbing attack which brings into relief all the faultlines in their relationship. **A BBC BETWEEN THE COVERS BIG JUBILEE READ PICK****One of the BBC's 100 Novels That Shaped Our World**