A quest is never what you expect it to be.

Elizabeth Madeline Martin spends her days in a retirement home in Cape Town, watching the pigeons and squirrels on the branch of a tree outside her window. Bedridden, her memory fading, she can recall her early childhood spent in a small wood-and-iron house in Blackridge on the outskirts of Pietermaritzburg. Though she remembers the place in detail – dogs, a mango tree, a stream – she has no idea of where exactly it is. ‘My memory is full of blotches,’ she tells her daughter Julia, ‘like ink left about and knocked over.’

Julia resolves to find the Blackridge house: with her mother lonely and confused, would this, perhaps, bring some measure of closure? A journey begins that traverses family history, forgotten documents, old photographs, and the maps that stake out a country’s troubled past – maps whose boundaries nature remains determined to resist. Kind strangers, willing to assist in the search, lead to unexpected discoveries of ancestors and wars and lullabies. Folded into this quest are the tender conversations between a daughter and a mother who does not have long to live.

Taken as one, The Blackridge House is a meditation on belonging, of the stories we tell of home and family, of the precarious footprint of life.

THE MILLION-COPY BESTSELLER Do you ever feel worried, miserable or unfulfilled - yet put on a happy face and pretend everything's fine? You are not alone. Stress, anxiety, depression and low self-esteem are all around. Research suggests that many of us get caught in a psychological trap, a vicious circle in which the more we strive for happiness, the more it eludes us. Fortunately, there is a way to escape from the 'Happiness Trap' in this updated and expanded second edition which unlocks the secrets to a truly fulfilling life. This empowering book presents the insights and techniques of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), covering more topics and providing more practical tools than ever before. Learn how to clarify your values, develop self-compassion and find true satisfaction with this bigger and better guide to: * Reducing stress and worry * Handling painful thoughts and feelings more effectively * Breaking self-defeating habits * Overcoming insecurity and self-doubt * Building better relationships * Improving performance and finding fulfilment at work The Happiness Trap is for everyone. Whether you're lacking confidence, facing illness, coping with loss, working in a high-stress job, or suffering from anxiety or depression, this book will show you how to build authentic happiness, from the inside out.

This is a book about how to optimise your mental health. Written with kindness and sympathy, it is a practical guide to emotional well-being, calm and psychological maturity.

Alain de Botton explores how we can cope with a variety of mental challenges, from the mild to the severe. It considers how and why we can get overly anxious or low; how we can best understand our pasts and how they shape us; and how we can build resilience, so as to live wisely alongside certain difficulties.

At heart this is a book about psychological happiness – about discovering equilibrium and meaning, and finding our way to connection and joy.

Introducing the Collins Modern Classics, a series featuring some of the most significant books of recent times, books that shed light on the human experience – classics which will endure for generations to come.

A single person is missing for you, and the whole world is empty.

John Gregory Dunne and Joan Didion saw their daughter fall ill. At first they thought it was flu, then she was placed on life support. Days later, the Dunnes were sitting down to dinner when John suffered a massive and fatal coronary.

This powerful book is Didion’s ‘attempt to make sense of the weeks and then months that cut loose any fixed idea I ever had about death, about illness’. The result is a personal yet universal portrait of marriage and life, in good times and bad, from one of the defining voices of American literature.

Millions of us are living in the shadow of cancer. Some are hoping to beat the odds and become cancer-free, while others know they are facing cancer for the long haul. And even more of us are standing by someone with a cancer diagnosis and feeling helpless as we grapple with the uncertainty it brings.

Whether the cancer is considered “in remission,” “cured,” or “chronic,” it is possible to find peace as we face it.

In Peace in the Face of Cancer, cancer patient advocate Lynn Eib shares how to live well from the moment of diagnosis through the rest of life. She weaves the story of her own experience as a long-time cancer survivor and those of others around the world into these hope-filled pages. You’ll discover how to bring God’s peace into your own home and heart—regardless of your or your loved one’s medical prognosis.

Die tweede, hersiene uitgawe van Genesing vir Trauma is ’n diepgaande, omvattende handleiding wat steun op dekade lange eerstehandse ervaring in berading. Die tweede uitgawe is nie net volledig opgedateer en bygewerk nie, maar bevat ook nuwe hoofstukke, soos die hoofstuk oor die impak van Covid-19.

Beide beraders en slagoffers sal kan baat vind by die verstaanbare, relevante inhoud propvol algemene wysheid en geestelike begeleiding. Elke hoofstuk bevat waardevolle riglyne oor hoe om mense wat 'n spesifieke vorm van trauma beleef het by te staan, en wel binne die Suid-Afrikaanse konteks.

Hierdie opgedateerde uitgawe spreek tot alle groepe binne die Suid-Afrikaanse samelewing. Hoewel die boek vanuit 'n Christelike perspektief geskryf is, is die beradingstegnieke wetenskaplik-gefundeerd en kan dit deur 'n wyer mark gebruik word. Individuele genesing het ’n genesende uitkringeffek op die gemeenskap wat vir almal van belang is. Yvonne Retief se sentrale boodskap is dat daar genesing en hoop vir slagoffers van trauma is.

"The word "love" is most often defined as a noun, yet...we would all love to better if we used it as a verb," writes bell hooks as she comes out fighting and on fire in All About Love. Here, at her most provacative and intensely personel, the renowned scholar, cultural critic, and feminist skewers our view of love as romance. In its place she offers a proactive new ethic for a people and a society bereft with lovelessness.

As bell hooks uses her incisive mind and razor-sharp pen to explode th question "What is love?" her answers strike at both the mind and heart. In thirteen concise chapters, hooks examines her own search for emotional connection and society's failure to provide a model for learning to love. Razing the cultural paradigm that the ideal love is infused with sex and desire, she provides a new path to love that is sacred, redemptive, and healing for the individuals and for a nation. The Utne Reader declared bell hooks one of the "100 Visionaries Who Can Change Your Life." All About Love is a powerful affirmation of just how profoundly she can.

Die skrywer se eerste boek, Vandag se sekretaresse (Human & Rousseau, 1988), was gebaseer op ontelbare kantore, kollegas en werkgewers waarmee sy tydens 'n elektroniese revolusie te doen gekry het. Daar was wêreldwye bekommernis oor of die sekretaresse met moderne kantoortoerusting vervang sou kon word. Nou is daar weer wêreldwye onsekerheid tydens 'n pandemie waar vetsug lewensgevaarlik is. My laaste dieet is die memoires van 'n smullende skaalslaaf. Ná 'n lewenslange stryd en ervaring van vraatsug, gepaard met kennis en ondervinding van 'n magdom diëte, beskou die skrywer haarself as die Koningin van Diëte.

If you have seasonal affective disorder (SAD), take heart. A range of effective treatments and preventive measures can help you feel healthy and productive, even on the darkest days. Yet when depression kicks in, it's tough to mobilize yourself to find and use the information you need to feel better. That's where this skillfully crafted workbook comes in. Leading SAD expert Dr. Norman E. Rosenthal guides you step by step to: *Record your symptoms, such as low moods, fatigue, sleep problems, and food cravings. *Gain awareness of your seasonal patterns--to anticipate problems before they arise. *Determine which remedies to try, including light therapy, meditation, lifestyle changes, antidepressants, and psychotherapy. *Keep track of what works and how long it takes for symptoms to improve. *Spend your high-energy months equipping yourself for the times when energy is low. By working through the book's simple checklists and fill-in-the-blank forms (you can download and print additional copies as needed), you'll create your own blueprint for greater well-being all year long. Let there be light! See also Dr. Rosenthal's Winter Blues, Fourth Edition, which provides a comprehensive overview of SAD and its treatment.

Die dood van ’n geliefde bring intense hartseer mee. Dr. Henk Gous deel in Wanneer ’n geliefde sterf uit sy jare lange ervaring as berader asook sy persoonlike ervaring met die verlies van sy dogter. Hy is daarom ideaal toegerus om jou met wysheid en empatie op hierdie moeilike pad van rousmart te begelei. Elkeen van die 40 dagstukkies het plek om jou eie emosies, vrae aan God, ondraaglike pyn, selfs woede, en enige ander gedagtes neer te skryf. So sal hierdie boekie ’n joernaal wees van jou uniek persoonlike reis na aanvaarding, vertroosting, vrede en vreugde.

Ervaar God se troos en liefde sodat jy uiteindelik weer met vreugde kan leef totdat jy jou geliefdes eendag weer sien.