The History of Man

Book 2 in the City of Kings trilogy, includingher multiple award-winning debut novel The Theory of Flight

Set in a southern African country that is never named, this powerful tale of human fallibility—told with empathy, generosity, and a light touch—is an excursion into the interiority of the colonizer.

Emil Coetzee, a civil servant in his fifties, is washing blood off his hands when the ceasefire is announced. Like everyone else...