--- description: Where to start with the author, who has died at 90 title: Nadine Gordimer: Books to Read image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9a541ffc87df15f6/69869babf983e7326704ece0/gordimer.jpeg?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Books](/tag/books/) ## Books Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Nadine Gordimer: 5 Essential Reads from the Award-Winning Author  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jul 14, 2014 6:42 PM CUT  Nadine Gordimer on June 12, 1983 in Paris Nadine Gordimer on June 12, 1983 in ParisUlf Andersen—Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jul 14, 2014 6:42 PM CUT Over the course of more than six decades, the Nobel-winning South Africa author Nadine Gordimer, who [died on Sunday at 90](http://time.com/2981529/nobel-prize-winning-author-nadine-gordimer-dies/ "undefined"), wrote more than a dozen novels and many more short stories. It’s a daunting oeuvre, throughout which she often returned to themes related to apartheid. For those daunted by her extensive bibliography, here’s where to start: **_Face to Face_** **Year:** 1949 Gordimer’s first novel was still a few years away, but _Face to Face_ — a collection of short stories — was the young author’s first book. **_Telling Times_** **:** **_Writing and Living_** **, 1954-2008** **Year:** 2010 _Telling Times_ wasn’t Gordimer’s last book (in 2012, her novel _No Time Like the Present_ was published) but it’s the place to look for Gordimer’s nonfiction. The compendium of a half-century of work ranges from autobiography and travelogue to reflections on South African history and the great leaders of her time. The New York _Times_[ review of the book](http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/01/books/review/Kirsch-t.html?module=Search&mabReward=relbias%3Aw%2C{%221%22%3A%22RI%3A8%22} "undefined") said that, even though a collection so vast is bound to have ups and downs, the work “reveals the power of ‘engagement,’ in the broad and humane sense.” **_Burger’s Daughter_** **Year:** 1979 One of her best-known works, _Burger’s Daughter_ concerns the life of a young daughter of South African anti-apartheid activists and how politics affects the personal. Along with _A World of Strangers_ and _The Late Bourgeois World_, it’s one of the three Gordimer works banned by the South African government; _Burger’s Daughter_ was the subject of a 1980 book about that nation’s censorship practices. Gordimer[ later said ](http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/gor1int-1 "undefined")that she wasn’t surprised the book was banned, but that “if you are a writer you must write what you see.” **_The Conservationist:_** **Year:** 1974 Gordimer won the Booker Prize — one of literature’s most prestigious — for this novel, about a rich South African man who buys a farm in order to find meaning in his life. The work was later [shortlisted](http://www.themanbookerprize.com/best-booker "undefined") for the extra-prestigious “Best of the Booker” prize. **_Loot_** **Year:** 2003 for the collection of the same name; the story is copyright 1999. For those who want to read her work right away, this is the way to go: the short story “Loot” is available [for free on the Nobel website](http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel%5Fprizes/literature/laureates/1991/gordimer-prose-e.html "undefined"). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2981753/nadine-gordimer-5-essential-reads-from-the-award-winning-author/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2981753/nadine-gordimer-5-essential-reads-from-the-award-winning-author/"},"headline":"Nadine Gordimer: 5 Essential Reads from the Award-Winning Author","datePublished":"2014-07-14T18:42:27.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T09:07:57.824Z","description":"Where to start with the author, who has died at 90","url":"https://time.com/2981753/nadine-gordimer-5-essential-reads-from-the-award-winning-author/","keywords":["Books","South Africa","remembrance"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9a541ffc87df15f6/69869babf983e7326704ece0/gordimer.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9a541ffc87df15f6/69869babf983e7326704ece0/gordimer.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Nadine Gordimer","caption":"Nadine Gordimer","creditText":"Ulf Andersen—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/books/","name":"Books"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2981753/nadine-gordimer-5-essential-reads-from-the-award-winning-author/","name":"Nadine Gordimer: 5 Essential Reads from the Award-Winning Author"}}]}] ```