Elizabeth Curren is dying of cancer. She returns home to find there Mr. Vercueil, a drunken tramp. Through a strange chemistry, Mr. Vercueil becomes Elizabeth's confessor during her last days. Elizabeth adresses her narrative to her daughter, who has left her native South Africa and is now living in America. The picture that emerges is a powerful, sensitive study of a woman preparing for death. Set against the political turmoil of modern South Africa, Age of Iron is more than one woman's story, it is a moving lament for the people of a troubled land.
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