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Diary of a Bad Year
Diary of a Bad Year
Jan 11, 2026 3:40 PM

Author:J M Coetzee

Diary of a Bad Year

An eminent, ageing Australian writer is invited to contribute to a book entitled Strong Opinions. For him, troubled by Australia's complicity in the wars in the Middle East, it is a chance to air some urgent concerns: how should a citizen of a modern democracy react to their state's involvement in an immoral war on terror, a war that involves the use of torture?

Then in the laundry room of his apartment block he encounters an alluring young woman. He offers her work typing up his manuscript. Anya is not interested in politics, but the job will be a welcome distraction, as will the writer's evident attraction towards her. Her boyfriend, Alan, is an investment consultant who understands the world in harsh economic terms. Suspicious of his trophy girlfriend's new pastime, Alan begins to formulate a plan...

Reviews

The work of a master

—— Daily Telegraph

You must read this book

—— Independent on Sunday

Coetzee is redrawing the contours of the novel and taking it places that it has rarely been before... Exhilarating

—— The Times

Complex and ultimately moving

—— Sunday Telegraph

Mesmerising

—— New Statesman

Mordant, funny and wise

—— New York Times

A masterpiece

—— Financial Times

Never less than an uncompromisingly cerebral delight, this book offers manifold exaltations...the quietly melancholic meditation on ageing and mortality could break your heart

—— The Times

Do not miss this book

—— Sunday Times

This is a novel for our times, in content

—— Irish Times

An international bestseller, this quirky, offbeat novel about books, with its wry humour and wonderful characters, is a delicious read

—— Choice Magazine

Charmingly original....sweet, quirky

—— Washington Post

This is a charming novel for book lovers from all walks of life… As you journey through the pages, weaving Little Women, Harry Potter, Jodi Picoult, Jane Austen, Steig Larsson and Proust around the storyline, you’ll find yourself rooting for the beautifully drawn characters, smiling at the wry humour and applauding the ending

—— Candis Magazine

Charming and relatable

—— Mel Mitchell , Nudge

You’ll love it

—— Catherine Small , Irish News

A wonderful tale.

—— Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan , Daily Express

Funny, fashionable, fabulous - my beach read pick for the summer!

—— Jane Green

This Years The Devil Wears Prada

—— Vanity Fair

Lethally funny with sass to spare

—— Daily Mail

[a] brilliant and claustrophobic novel

—— VICE

one to watch out for

—— The Independent

A very impressive, must read for fans of STATION ELEVEN, so unsettling but subtle too. I loved FIND ME…

—— Eva Dolan

a moving, and frequently funny, exploration of character and of trauma

—— Independent

so compelling ... an unforgettable debut

—— Irish Independent

a wonderful read

—— Nina Allan , Interzone

Like Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale or Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go, van den Berg’s debut novel presents a frighteningly plausible near-future dystopia grounded in human elements… heartbreakingly real and compellingly wrought

—— Library Journal

Find Me, her transfixing first novel, is in keeping with her short stories thematically, and yet, in its deep soundings, it’s a commanding departure. . . Van den Berg’s enveloping novel of a plague and a seeker in an endangered world reveals what it feels like to grow up unwanted and unknown in a civilization hell-bent on self-destruction. It is also a beautifully strange, sad, and provocative inquiry into our failure to love, cherish, and protect. But ultimately, Find Me is a delving story of courage, persistence, and hope

—— Booklist

In Find Me, van den Berg depicts a life slowly coming into focus—it’s blurry and impressionistic at times, sometimes deliriously scattered. But out of the fog of memory and the haze of drugs emerges a sense of clarity that’s deep and moving and real

—— The Boston Globe

From this memorable novel's eerie first paragraph to its enigmatic ending, Laura van den Berg has invented something beautiful indeed

—— LA Times

This is one of my favorite novels of 2015, and we’re not even IN 2015 yet . . .The language is beautiful, spare, and carefully crafted, and the characters are fully realized and unforgettable. There is tension and redemption and insight and even humor in these pages, and they make for a really incredible read

—— Bookriot

Surreal adventures blend with a reflective and sad sensibility in van den Berg’s lyrical debut novel

—— Library Journal

Both novels offer precision of language and metaphor and scene even as what is being constructed feels messy, chaotic, sad, hopeless... Both orphaned and alone in the world, both so completely real, both telling a story that feels important and exciting to read. I feel lucky to have stumbled upon these books this year, and challenged by them to be better

—— The Millions

This debut novel by acclaimed short story writer van den Berg tends to lean much closer to the realms of literary fiction with its complex psychology. . . Van den Berg's writing is curiously beautiful

—— Kirkus

a strange beauty in this apocalyptic tale

—— Psychologies
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