Description: A calamitous cycling accident results in the amputation of Paul Rayment's leg. His feelings for his nurse, and for her handsome teenage son, are complicated by the sudden arrival on his doorstep of the celebrated Australian novelist Elizabeth Costello, who threatens to take over the direction of his life and the affairs of his heart.
Review Quotes: [Coetzee] has found a new access of warmth and humor, and displays a vivifying fondness for his characters. --John Banville, The New Republic