J M Coetzee comes out with final book of Jesus trilogy

Nobel laureate J M Coetzee has completed his Jesus trilogy with the final book, exploring the meaning of a world empty of memory but brimming with questions. 

In the first book The Childhood of Jesus , published in 2014, a refugee named Simon found an orphan boy David and they began life in a new land, together with a woman named Ines. He got separated from his mother as a passenger on a boat bound for a new land. Simon was a fellow passenger and vowed to look after David. In The Schooldays of Jesus , written four years later, the small family searched for a home in which David could thrive. Simon and Ines take care of David in their new town, Estrella. 

In The Death of Jesus , David, now a tall 10-year-old, shows unusual talent in football. He asks Simon and Ines many questions. In dancing class at the Academy of Music he dances as he chooses. He refuses to do sums and will not read any books except Don Quixote. In fact he knows Don Quixote by heart, in an abbreviated version for children; he treats it not as a made-up story but as a veritable history. One day David is spotted by Julio Fabricante, director of a local orphanage Las Manos, playing football with his friends in the street.

David, with the ball at his feet, feints left and goes right, making the move so fluidly that the defender is left stranded. He passes the ball to a teammate and watches as the teammate lobs the ball tamely into the goalkeeper's arms. Julio is impressed by David's skills and he tells his father, who was also watching his son play, He is very good, your son. A natural. Simon tells Julio that because David takes dancing lessons, he has good balance and an advantage over his friends.

Julio invites David and his friends to form a proper soccer team. When David announces that he wants to go and live with Julio and the children in his care, Simon and Ines are stunned. David leaves with Julio, but before long he succumbs to a mysterious illness. All the books in the trilogy have been published by Penguin Random House.