The childhood of jesus is a 2013 novel by south african born nobel laureate j m coetzee the book was published on 7 march 2013 by jonathan cape the us edition was published on 3 september 2013 by viking synopsis the book follows a man and a boy who immigrate to a new land. The childhood of jesus is a very different novel that requires a serious involvement by the reader the story is superficially a simple one david a 5 year child and simon his middle aged guardian arrive in the city of novella and receive food and accommodation as new settlers simon finds work on the docks. The first of coetzees australian novels elizabeth costello featured a broad correspondence between philosophers in the childhood of jesus the author ups the ante the philosophical musings and quotations are integrated into the narrative. In the childhood of jesus the south african eschews the baroque only to tend to the banal david and simon arrive by boat in an unmanned hispanophone country they come to the city of novilla