[1] In it, he paints a picture of social and political tragedy unfolding in a country ravaged by racism and violence.

This story is narrated in a letter from Mrs. Curren, the main character and a retired Classics professor, to her daughter who has previously left South Africa and migrated to the United States to make a clear stand against apartheid.

Mrs. Curren's housekeeper, Florence, returns from a trip and brings her two daughters and her son Bheki with her.

Around this time, policemen start hanging out near the house, apparently keeping tabs on Bheki and his friends.

When Vercueil returns, he brings home a woman and they both pass out drunk in the living room.

Overwhelmed with people, Mrs. Curren starts to feel that everyone is conspiring against her to take over her property before she even dies.

One day Mrs. Curren witnesses the same cops who previously talked to her disrespectfully, force Bheki and his friend, John, who are on bikes, to run into a truck.

Previously insulated from racial hatred, Mrs. Cullen starts to realize that her neat little white world doesn't match the reality of police brutality against black people.

She wants to demand justice from the authorities for John's injury, but Florence won't let her because she's afraid to be involved with the police.

They all go to the hospital to visit Bheki's friend, but Vercueil and Mrs. Curren wait in the car because she's in too much pain.

They drive to a part of town in chaos - fire, screaming people, and dead bodies.

Faced with so much destruction and fear, Mrs. Curren essentially throws a fit and is put to shame about her privileged sensibility by Mr. Thabane who lectures her about the true meaning of comradeship.

He and four other black men have been murdered and left lying against a wall, their eyes and mouths full of sand.

The next day, some women come by to pick up Florence's things, as she won't return.

However, she does underline that just like every other era in history, this time of brutality and racism will eventually come to an end.

Coetzee brings together important themes in this book: aging, death, the confessor as hero, narrative representation, the meaning of freedom, the unity of man, familial relationships and the position of the white liberal in Apartheid South Africa.