Content Warning: The novel and this guide discuss sexism, sexual assault, stalking, sexual grooming, violence, and racism.

David Lurie is a 52-year-old college professor who lives and teaches in Cape Town, South Africa, in the 1990s. He is twice-divorced and unhappy at his job. Though he is an English professor, specializing in Romantic poetry, the college administrators have demoted him to an adjunct position and assigned him to teach communications classes since the English department as a whole has now become the Communications department. David dislikes the classes he teaches and struggles to forge a connection with his students; still, he fulfills his employment obligations. David is interested in the Romantic poets William Wordsworth and Lord Byron; he dreams of writing an opera based on Byron’s life.

While David used to be an attractive man, he seems to have suddenly lost his appeal to women, which disconcerts him. To satisfy his sex drive, he has been regularly visiting a sex worker named Soraya. He sees her once a week and has developed feelings for her even though “he is old enough to be her father” (1). He confides in Soraya about the challenges he faces at work, even though she is not open with him about her own life.