Super Short Summary

Age of Iron by J.M. Coetzee is an epistolary novel set in South Africa during Apartheid, focusing on Mrs. Curren, a retired Classics professor with terminal cancer, who forms an unlikely bond with a homeless man named Vercueil. Through letters to her daughter in the United States, Mrs. Curren navigates her illness and witnesses the brutal realities of racism, police violence, and social upheaval. The book contains scenes depicting police brutality and intense racial violence.