"The Conservationist" by Nadine Gordimer, a Nobel Prize-winning South African author, is a complex and richly layered novel that delves into themes of land ownership, identity, and the socio-political tensions of apartheid-era South Africa. The story is set in the early 1970s and revolves around Mehring, a wealthy, white industrialist who owns a farm outside Johannesburg. Mehring is a deeply conflicted character, embodying the contradictions and moral ambiguities of the apartheid system.