Ingrid Jonker, begaafde jong digter, loop op 19 Julie 1965 die see in by Drieankerbaai en verdrink. Sy laat haar familie en vriende agter met meer vrae as antwoorde. Gedurende die afgelope 50 jaar het sy ’n ikoon van die Afrikaanse en Suid- Afrikaanse letterkunde geword. In so ’n mate, dat haar lewe en veral haar dood soms haar werk en die belangrike bydrae wat sy tot die literêre beweging van die Sestigers gemaak het, oorskadu.

Haar politieke sieninge, soos uitgedruk in haar poësie en haar passie en die droefheid van haar onstuimige liefdesverhoudings met onder andere Jack Cope en André P. Brink het al tot baie besprekings gelei. Sy het weer onder die publieke oog gekom toe oudpresident Nelson Mandela in sy inhuldigingsrede in 1994 in die Parlement een van haar gedigte aangehaal het. Hy het haar gedig: “Die Kind” voorgelees en gesê: “Sy was beide ’n digter en ’n Suid-Afrikaner.”

Sedert haar dood is daar vele bespiegelings oor haar lewe en tragiese einde. Van dié vrae word beantwoord in hierdie eerste omvattende biografie. Petrovna Metelerkamp doen al jare navorsing oor Jonker. Sy neem die leser saam deur Ingrid se grootwordjare, digterslewe, liefdesverhoudings en die laaste paar jaar van haar lewe.

Metelerkamp bring nuwe inligting aan die lig wat sy neem uit onbekende nuwe briewe en dagboekinskrywings, o.m. uit die dagboeke van Jack Cope. Talle nuwe onderhoude met mense wat Jonker geken het, word in die biografie opgeneem. Sy weerlê ook die beeld van Jonker as ’n ongebalanseerde kunstenaar wat haar houvas op die werklikheid verloor het in hierdie toeganklike biografie oor een van Suid-Afrika se aangrypendste kunstenaars.

The book selects some past events and experiences, national and international, and wonders what lessons were missed, learnt, or are yet to be learnt from them.

Tragedies happen again and again because we fail to learn from the past. The past is rich with valuable lessons – rich pickings. The reader is taken back into the past in search of some of those lessons, many of which, regrettably, we failed – and continue failing – to learn. As we dig into the past for those rich pickings, there will be moments to laugh, cry or even weep; but that is exactly how lessons are learnt in life.

Other similar incidents learnt from, both abroad and at home, relate to the author’s own experiences in South Africa, including as a Judge who heard amnesty applications as a member of the Amnesty Committee of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The book hopes to show that capacity for evil is not peculiar to any nation or race; it also discusses the dangers of tribalism.

The chapter ‘Beyond the Frontiers’ takes the reader into the rest of Africa. A lot is revealed, including divisions the author witnessed – while serving as an AU judge based in Tanzania – within the AU along the languages of, ironically, colonial masters; also referenced is the sorry state of human rights in Africa. Have we seized the opportunity to learn all the valuable lessons which that great teacher, ‘The Past’, offered?

The author leaves it to readers to make their own final judgement after reading the book as to whether, at the individual and collective levels, we have learnt those lessons and taken them to heart for the good of our individual and collective destiny.

In 2021, Johannes Radebe became the first male dancer to perform in heels in Strictly Come Dancing history. Wearing black patent leather boots, Johannes danced with a red 'Pose' fan to a rendition of Blondie's Rapture. That year, Johannes was also part of only the second same-sex pair on the show, dancing with Great British Bake-Off winner, John Whaite and though the response from the UK public was overwhelmingly positive, Johannes still faced abuse that highlighted the continuing fight against homophobia and racism.

For Johannes this instantly iconic dance was about more than just a tribute to voguing: it was Johanne's coming out. After that performance, Johannes flew home to South Africa to see his mum and had a conversation about his sexuality - the first they ever had.

In this uplifting memoir that's about overcoming struggles and finding joy, Johannes will explore his upbringing in South Africa, his struggles with bullying and with shame about his sexuality. He will also write about the safety he always felt in the dance studio and, now, in the Strictly Come Dancing family where he feels he has finally found his tribe.

Martina Dahlmanns, the daughter of parents who grew up in the shadow of post-war Germany, an adoptive mother of children who are black, and a member of a dialogue group of black and white women, urgently questions the very depths of what it means to be white in South Africa today. Her deeply personal memoir is unsettling because of what it reveals simultaneously about the enduring impact of inherited privilege and the repercussions of disadvantage

Her book is unsettling, precisely because of what it reveals simultaneously about the enduring impact of inherited privilege and the repercussions of disadvantage. But it is Dahlmanns’ dialogue with Tumi Jonas—whose own reflections appear in the last section of the book—that reveals so much of what’s possible, yet potentially destructive, in relationships between black and white South Africans today.

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Becoming by Michelle Obama.

In a life filled with meaning and accomplishment, Michelle Obama has emerged as one of the most iconic and compelling women of our era. As First Lady of the United States of America - the first African-American to serve in that role - she helped create the most welcoming and inclusive White House in history, while also establishing herself as a powerful advocate for women and girls in the U.S. and around the world, dramatically changing the ways that families pursue healthier and more active lives, and standing with her husband as he led America through some of its most harrowing moments. Along the way, she showed us a few dance moves, crushed Carpool Karaoke, and raised two down-to-earth daughters under an unforgiving media glare.

In her memoir, a work of deep reflection and mesmerizing storytelling, Michelle Obama invites readers into her world, chronicling the experiences that have shaped her - from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work, to her time spent at the world's most famous address. With unerring honesty and lively wit, she describes her triumphs and her disappointments, both public and private, telling her full story as she has lived it - in her own words and on her own terms. Warm, wise, and revelatory, Becoming is the deeply personal reckoning of a woman of soul and substance who has steadily defied expectations - and whose story inspires us to do the same.

Notes on Grief is an exquisite work of meditation, remembrance, and hope, written in the wake of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s beloved father’s death in the summer of 2020. As the COVID-19 pandemic raged around the world, and kept Adichie and her family members separated from one another, her father succumbed unexpectedly to complications of kidney failure.

Expanding on her original New Yorker piece, Adichie shares how this loss shook her to her core. She writes about being one of the millions of people grieving this year; about the familial and cultural dimensions of grief and also about the loneliness and anger that are unavoidable in it. With signature precision of language, and glittering, devastating detail on the page—and never without touches of rich, honest humor—Adichie weaves together her own experience of her father’s death with threads of his life story, from his remarkable survival during the Biafran war, through a long career as a statistics professor, into the days of the pandemic in which he’d stay connected with his children and grandchildren over video chat from the family home in Abba, Nigeria.

In the compact format of We Should All Be Feminists and Dear Ijeawele, Adichie delivers a gem of a book—a book that fundamentally connects us to one another as it probes one of the most universal human experiences. Notes on Grief is a book for this moment—a work readers will treasure and share now more than ever—and yet will prove durable and timeless, an indispensable addition to Adichie’s canon.

From the start of his glittering career in 1992, to his official retirement from all formats of the game in 2013, Shane Warne has long desired to tell his incredible story without compromise. No Spin is that very story. It will offer a compelling intimate voice, true insight and a pitch-side seat to one of cricket’s finest eras, making this one of the ultimate must-have sports autobiographies.

Shane is not only one of the greatest living cricket legends: he is as close as the game has had since Botham to a maverick genius on the field and a true rebel spirit off it, who always gives audiences what they want. Despite being the talismanic thorn in England’s side for nearly two decades of regular Ashes defeats, he was also much loved in the UK where he played cricket for Hampshire. He’s also a much-admired figure in India and South Africa.

Alongside his mesmerising genius as a bowler, Shane has often been a controversial figure, and in this book he's talk with brutal honesty about some of the most challenging times in his life as a player. Honest, thoughtful, fearless and loved by millions, Shane is always his own man and this book is a testament to his brilliant career.

His truth. His story. In his words.

There have been many comments made and books written about Siya Kolisi, captain of the Springboks, and the first black man to lead his country in over 128 years of South African rugby.

But now, for the very first time, Siya Kolisi shares his story in an extraordinarily intimate memoir, charting his journey from being born into the impoverished Zwide township, to leading his proud nation to an astonishing victory at the Rugby World Cup in 2019.

However, Rise is not simply a chronology of matches played and games won; it is an exploration of a man’s race and his faith, a masterclass in attaining a positive mindset, and an inspirational reminder that it is possible to defy the odds, no matter how they are stacked against you.

In 2020, partly in response to the pandemic, Siya and his wife, Rachel, launched The Kolisi Foundation, providing personal protective equipment to healthcare workers and delivering food parcels throughout South Africa.

The title Rise is inspired by Siya’s mother – Phakama – which translates to the book’s name, as well as a celebration of his Xhosa heritage.

Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink is the long-awaited memoir from Elvis Costello, one of rock and roll's most iconic stars.

Born Declan Patrick MacManus, Elvis Costello was raised in London and Liverpool, grandson of a trumpet player on the White Star Line and son of a jazz musician who became a successful radio dance band vocalist. Costello went into the family business and had taken the popular music world by storm before he was twenty-four. Costello continues to add to one of the most intriguing and extensive songbooks of the day. His performances have taken him from a cardboard guitar in his front room to fronting a rock and roll band on your television screen and performing in the world's greatest concert halls in a wild variety of company.

Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink describes how Costello's career has somehow endured for almost four decades through a combination of dumb luck and animal cunning, even managing the occasional absurd episode of pop stardom. This memoir, written with the same inimitable touch as his lyrics, and including dozens of images from his personal archive, offers his unique view of his unlikely and sometimes comical rise to international success, with diversions through the previously undocumented emotional foundations of some of his best known songs and the hits of tomorrow. The book contains many stories and observations about his renowned co-writers and co-conspirators, though Costello also pauses along the way for considerations on the less appealing side of infamy.

Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink is destined to be a classic, idiosyncratic memoir of a singular man.

What is it like to be born dirt-poor in South Africa? Clinton Chauke knows, having been raised alongside his two sisters in a remote village bordering the Kruger National Park and a squatter camp outside Pretoria. Clinton is a young village boy when awareness dawns of how poor his family really is: there’s no theft in the village because there’s absolutely nothing to steal. But fire destroys the family hut, and they decide to move back to the city. There he is forced to confront the rough-and-tumble of urban life as a ‘bumpkin’.

He is Venda, whereas most of his classmates speak Zulu or Tswana and he has to face their ridicule while trying to pick up two or more languages as fast as possible. With great self-awareness, Clinton negotiates the pitfalls and lifelines of a young life: crime and drugs, football, religion, friendship, school, circumcision and, ultimately, becoming a man. Throughout it all, he displays determination as well as a self-deprecating humour that will keep you turning the pages till the end.

Clinton’s story is one that will give you hope that even in a sea of poverty there are those that refuse to give up and, ultimately, succeed.

On a freezing winter’s night, a few hours before dawn on 12 May 1969, security police stormed the Soweto home of Winnie Mandela and detained her in the presence of her two young daughters, then aged eight and ten.

Rounded up in a group of other anti-apartheid activists under Section 6 of the Terrorism Act, designed for the security police to hold and interrogate people for as long as they wanted, she was taken away. This was the start for Winnie Mandela of a 491-day period of detention and two trials.

Forty-one years after her release on 14 September 1970, Greta Soggot, the widow of David Soggot, one of Winnie Mandela’s advocates during the 1969/1970 trials, handed her a stack of papers that included a journal and notes that she had written in detention.

491 Days: Prisoner number 1323/69 shares with the world Winnie Mandela’s moving and compelling journal as well as some of the letters written between affected parties at the time. Readers gain insight into the brutality she experienced, her depths of despair as well as her resilience and defiance under extreme pressure.

This book was co-edited by Swati Dlamini and Sahm Venter with the support of the Nelson Mandela Foundation.

Sol Plaatje’s Mhudi is one of South Africa’s most famous novels.

First published in 1930, it is the first full-length novel by a black South African writer, and is widely read and studied in South African schools, colleges and universities. It has been translated into a number of different languages. Written over 30 years before Chinua Achebe’s famous Things Fall Apart, Mhudi is a pioneering African novel too, anticipating many of the themes with which Achebe and other writers from the African continent were concerned.

Mhudi has had a complicated history. Critics have been divided in their views, and there was a delay of ten years between the time Plaatje wrote the book and when it was published. A century on from when it was written, the time is now right to both celebrate its composition and to assess its meanings and legacy.

In this book, a distinguished cast of contributors explore the circumstances in which Mhudi was both written and published, what the critics have made of it, why it remains so relevant today. Chapters look at the eponymous feminist heroine of the novel and what she symbolizes, the role of history and oral tradition, the contentious question of language, the linguistic and stylistic choices that Plaatje made. In keeping with Mhudi’s capacity to inspire, this book also includes a poem and short story, specially written in order to pay tribute to both the book and its author.

Louisa Zondo’s work has helped to shape the new South Africa, but she has also faced intense grief and trauma, which came from the underside of the emerging nation’s complex social fabric.

As mother of much-loved music star Riky Rick, who tragically took his own life in 2022, Louisa Zondo’s loss was shared by millions, but it was also a uniquely deep, lonely and lifeshattering grief. The loss of her beloved MaRiky also brought to the surface cataclysmic trauma from her past.

As Louisa Zondo takes her first small steps to facing her grief, she finds herself speaking to her son in a series of letters, gradually finding the words to express her love for him, and the pain of losing him. In expressing that love, she tells the story of her own life and the experiences that shaped her.

This brave journey brings Louisa to a deeper understanding of her life’s path, and closer to healing.

Step back in time to the thrilling year of 1912, where rugby forged its indomitable spirit, and a legendary team emerged to win all five of the international matches they played. "The Forgotten Springboks" takes you on a voyage with this iconic South African national rugby team, as they embark on an extraordinary tour of England, France, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.

Led by Billy Millar, the tour captain, the Springboks embarked on a quest that would forever change the course of rugby's narrative. As they set foot on foreign soil, they were met with a mix of curiosity and skepticism, but these determined men were ready to showcase the strength of their spirit and the finesse of their game. Yet this remained unrecorded, until now.

The book delves into the heart-stopping moments on the field, where every try, every scrum, and every tackle took the spectators' breath away. With unparalleled unity and skill, the Springboks defeated their opponents, carving a path of triumph wherever they went. Each match was a test of their mettle, and each victory became a testament to their unwavering determination.

Beyond the rugby pitches, the book offers an intimate glimpse into the lives of these remarkable individuals who went on to become soldiers, farmers, miners, and doctors who faced major adversity.

For seventy years, Queen Elizabeth has ruled over an institution and a family. She has been constant in her desire to provide a steady presence and to be a trustworthy steward of the British people and the Commonwealth. In the face of her uncle's abdication, in the uncertainty of the Blitz, and in the tentative exposure of her family and private life to the public via the press, Elizabeth has become synonymous with the crown.

But times change. Recent years have brought grief and turmoil to the House of Windsor, and even as England prepares to celebrate the Queen's Platinum Jubilee, there are calls for a changing of the guard.

In The New Royals, journalist Katie Nicholl provides a nuanced look at Elizabeth's remarkable and unrivalled reign, with new stories from Palace courtiers and aides, documentarians, and family members. She examines Charles and Camilla's decades in waiting and beyond-where "The Firm" is headed as William and Kate present the modern faces of an ancient institution. In the wake of Harry and Meghan leaving the Royal Family and Andrew's spectacular fall from grace, the royal family must reckon with its history, the light and the dark, in order to chart a course for Britain beyond its Queen and to show that it is an institution capable of leadership in an ever changing modern world.

Advocate Thuli Madonsela has achieved in her seven years as Public Protector what few accomplish in a lifetime; her legacy and contribution cannot be over-stated. In her final days in office she compiled the explosive State Capture report and, before that, the report on President Jacob Zuma’s Nkandla residence. Praised and vilified in equal measures, Madonsela has frequently found herself at centre stage in the increasingly fractious South African political scene.

No Longer Whispering To Power is about Thuli Madonsela’s tenure as Public Protector, during which the whisper grew into a cry. It is the story of the South African people’s attempt to hold power to account through the Office of the Public Protector. More significantly, this important book stands as a record of the crucial work Madonsela has done, always acting without fear or favour.

The extraordinarily open and honest autobiography of acclaimed Friends star Matthew Perry.

There are few shows in our lifetime that have garnered over a billion views, that have reached a global audience of 220 countries, that elicits an emotional reaction from a theme song, or that defined a period of time more for its viewers. That is simply because there is no show that is more iconic or beloved than Friends. It didn't matter that their apartment was unrealistic by New York City's standards or that they always had enough free time to hang out in a coffee shop, they were our friends, they were us. And over the last twenty-seven years, it has yet to lose its title of the greatest sitcom of all time. Yet, the nostalgia and the truth about their relationships is a story that only Matthew Perry could tell, especially as his addiction soared faster than his career.

Heartbreaking and funny, Matthew's honesty is explosive and unrivaled. Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing is an unforgettable memoir that shares the most intimate details of the love he lost, his darkest days, and his greatest friends.

“Op die kombuisvloer sit-lê my man met sy rug na my toe. Sy ledemate hang slap, soos ’n marionet wat pas sy toutjies verloor het. Op die toonbank lê sy haelgeweer. Ek weet dadelik hy is dood.”

Die geskenk is die bekende skrywer Riette Rust se ontroerende ware verhaal, onthutsend eerlik, vol menslikheid en soms selfs skreeusnaaks. Van haar kinderjare in die Paarl, waar haar pa whiskey-bottels in die gangkas wegsteek, haar huwelik met JD, die onbeplande swangerskap en gelukkige gesinsjare, tot dié oggend, toe Riette se hele wêreld aan skerwe spat.

Te midde van die diepste verskrikking gaan soek Riette na kennis. Sy studeer sielkunde en lees wyd oor trauma en rou, en met dié boek deel sy wat sy uitvind. Hierdie is nie net die memoir van ʼn merkwaardige vrou aan wie die lewe groot uitdagings gestel het nie. Dit sal ook van groot nut wees vir elkeen wat deur trauma geraak word, met die nuutste wetenskaplike inligting oor selfdood en die nadraai daarvan, van die waarskuwingstekens tot die skaamte en skuldgevoelens, en ʼn hoofstuk oor die verskillende soorte rou.

Riette, nou skielik “ʼn weduwee”, is blootgestel aan skindertonge, geniepsige pastore, en ʼn huis wat herstel moet word. Met Die geskenk bied sy ons die deurleefde wysheid van iemand wat self daar was. Iemand wat weet dit is moontlik om weer voluit te leef, selfs al het die ondenkbare gebeur.

Hierdie dapper, inspirerende boek sal jou uitkyk op die lewe vir altyd verander.

In the spirit of Amy Poehler’s Yes Please, Lena Dunham’s Not That Kind of Girl, and Roxane Gay's Bad Feminist, a powerful collection of essays about gender, sexuality, race, beauty, Hollywood, and what it means to be a modern woman.

One month before the release of the highly anticipated film The Birth of a Nation, actress Gabrielle Union shook the world with a vulnerable and impassioned editorial in which she urged our society to have compassion for victims of sexual violence. In the wake of rape allegations made against director and actor Nate Parker, Union—a forty-four-year-old actress who launched her career with roles in iconic ’90s movies—instantly became the insightful, outspoken actress that Hollywood has been desperately awaiting. With honesty and heartbreaking wisdom, she revealed her own trauma as a victim of sexual assault: "It is for you that I am speaking. This is real. We are real."

In this moving collection of thought provoking essays infused with her unique wisdom and deep humor, Union uses that same fearlessness to tell astonishingly personal and true stories about power, color, gender, feminism, and fame. Union tackles a range of experiences, including bullying, beauty standards, and competition between women in Hollywood, growing up in white California suburbia and then spending summers with her black relatives in Nebraska, coping with crushes, puberty, and the divorce of her parents. Genuine and perceptive, Union bravely lays herself bare, uncovering a complex and courageous life of self-doubt and self-discovery with incredible poise and brutal honesty. Throughout, she compels us to be ethical and empathetic, and reminds us of the importance of confidence, self-awareness, and the power of sharing truth, laughter, and support.

Too much of South Africa’s history has been lost and suppressed, leaving a void for many South Africans. Sylvia Vollenhoven brings together her life and that of a long-ago ancestor, Kabbo, a respected Khoisan storyteller.

She writes of her experience as being “too black” for her coloured schoolmates, working as one of the early female journalists in the misogynistic environment of the 70s, and of the constant impact on her life of her background – including her ancestors.

Ian: ‘You’re going to run how far?’
Ryan: ‘250 kilometres. But it’s over seven days, though.’
Ian: ‘And the furthest you’ve ever run is …?’
Ryan: ‘42.2 kilometres … on the road. And on trail … 35 kilometres.’
Ian: ‘Ryan, I think you need to reassess this …’

What does it take to run a six-day race through the world’s harshest deserts? Or 100 miles in a single day at altitudes that would leave you breathless just walking? More than that, though: what is it like to win these races? South Africa’s ultra-trail-running superstar Ryan Sandes has done just that.

Since bursting onto the international trail-running scene by winning the first multistage race he ever entered – the brutal Gobi March – Ryan has gone on to win various other multistage and single-day races around the globe. Written with bestselling author and journalist Steve Smith, Trail Blazer – My Life as an Ultra-distance Trail Runner recounts the life story of this intrepid sportsman, from his experiences as a rudderless party animal to becoming a world-class athlete, and includes details on his training regimes, race strategies and aspirations for future sporting endeavours. Sports enthusiasts will enjoy the adrenaline-inducing trials and tribulations of one of South Africa’s most awe-inspiring athletes, while endurance-sport participants – from beginners to aspirant pros – will benefit from his insights and advice.

As Professor Tim Noakes says in the Foreword to this book: ‘However much we might think we know and understand, there are some phenomena which now, and perhaps forever, we will never fully comprehend. We call such happenings “enigmas”. Or even miracles. Ryan Sandes is one such.’

Just add rice is about Taiwanese cuisine, which seeks balance and harmony in taste, texture and nutritional value. But it’s also about home cooking, about familiarity and comfort and celebrating culture – recipes that connect the author to her parents when they lived in another city and in a distant country.

- Delicious, nutritious food on a budget.

- Comprehensive list of need-to-have pantry items for cooking Taiwanese and Chinese food.

- East Asian ingredients that are available to the South African market, with suggested substitutions.

- Essential information on traditional Chinese dining etiquette, customs and traditions.

- Simple recipes for home cooks.

- East Asians can enjoy their first locally produced cookbook with stories that reflect relatable culture and culinary heritage.

- Anyone who is interested in Chinese home cooking, food and South African food heritage.

A self-portrait in 154 songs, by our greatest living songwriter.

In this extraordinary book, with unparalleled candour, Paul McCartney recounts his life and art through the prism of 154 songs from all stages of his career - from his earliest boyhood compositions through the legendary decade of The Beatles, to Wings and his solo albums to the present. Arranged alphabetically to provide a kaleidoscopic rather than chronological account, it establishes definitive texts of the songs' lyrics for the first time and describes the circumstances in which they were written, the people and places that inspired them, and what he thinks of them now.

Presented with this is a treasure trove of material from McCartney's personal archive - drafts, letters, photographs - never seen before, which make this also a unique visual record of one of the greatest songwriters of all time. We learn intimately about the man, the creative process, the working out of melodies, the moments of inspiration. The voice and personality of Paul McCartney sings off every page.

There has never been a book about a great musician like it.

Kimi Räikkönen is the Finnish superstar Formula One driver with a reputation for being fast on the track and silent off it – until now!

In this superb and authorised portrait of Räikkönen, Kari Hotakainen gets to reveal the side of the man that few beyond his close family and friends have ever seen. Enigmatic and private, Ferrari’s former world champion driver rarely opens up to outsiders, but he granted Hotakainen exclusive access to his world and to his way of thinking. It ensures that this will be a book that will delight all fans of motorsport, who have long revered the Finn.

Including never-previously-seen photographs from his own collection, The Unknown Kimi Räikkönen takes the reader into the heart of the action at grands prix around the world, behind the scenes as race strategies are planned, and opens up the private side of his life that he normally guards so carefully.

With all the cult appeal of I Am Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the raw excitement of Formula One and the insight of the best biographies, this is a book every sports fan will want to treasure.

Ter viering van Dolf van Niekerk se negentigste verjaarsdag verskyn hier ’n versameling filosofiese, bepeinsende en besinnende essays uit die pen van een van Afrikaans se meesterskrywers.

Vanaf sy vroegste gewaarwordinge tot sy kennismaking met groot filosowe soos Nietzsche, Kant en Hegel op universiteit en in sy daaglikse handel en wandel daarna: altyd maar bly die bewustheid van ’n onsigbare “iets” by hierdie aristokratiese gees – en ’n soeke na ’n beter verstaan van dít wat “die sterretyd en die menstyd aan mekaar verbind”.

In 48 essays wat die biografiese tydperk tussen ongeveer sy vyfde en twintigste lewensjaar dek, skryf ’n deurleefde, wyse Van Niekerk oor sy vroegste herinnerings aan sy geboortedorp, sy gesin en sy helderste herinnerings aan die plekke en mense wat hom gevorm het tot die mens wat hy geword het. Want, soos wat hy in die verhaal “Die skinkbord” skryf: Jy kan net wees wie jy is, en jy is wat jy word.