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Books > Local Author Showcase > Fiction - adults > Drama
Die Kapenaars Hester Human en haar argitekman, André, het besluit om ’n verwaarloosde huis op ’n plattelandse dorp in Frankryk te koop en te restoureer as ’n vakansiehuis. ’n Jaar in Provence sal hulle en hul twee kinders, Manon en Emile, net goed doen. Maar net voordat hul jaar in Provence aanbreek, gebeur daar iets tragies wat die Humans se lewe vir altyd verander. Die huisrestourasie gaan voort, maar die gesin spartel om te verwerk wat gebeur het.
This is indeed a story of mercy - and the redemption it offers. On the eve of his retirement, Spokes Moloi, a police officer of spotless integrity, investigates one final crime: the possible murder of Emil Coetzee, head of the sinister Organisation of Domestic Affairs, who disappears on the same day a ceasefire is declared and the country's independence beckons. In following the tangled threads of Coetzee's life, Spokes raises and resolves conundrums that have haunted him, and his country, for decades under colonial rule. In all this, he is staunchly supported by his paragon spouse, Loveness, and his unofficially adopted daughter, the unorthodox postman Dikiledi. In her most magnificent novel yet, award-winning author Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu showcases the history of a country transitioning from a colonial to a postcolonial state with a deft touch and a compassionate eye for poignant detail. Linked to The Theory of Flight and The History of Man, Ndlovu's novel nevertheless stands alone in its evocation of life in the City of Kings and surrounding villages. Dickensian in its scope, with the proverbial bustling cast of colleagues both good and bad, villagers, guerrillas, neighbours, ex-soldiers, suburban madams, shopkeepers, would-be politicians and more, The Quality of Mercy proposes that ties of kinship and affiliation can never be completely broken - and that love can heal even the most grievous of wounds.
In this haunting tale of love and learning, the existential chaos of a life ravaged by circumstance takes on a rhythm of its own, one bound by loss and loneliness, but also an intelligent awareness of self. Sometimes melancholy, sometimes brutal, occasionally funny and infuriating, a journalist-comrade-lover caught up in the shade and shadow of politics and social injustice faces treachery and betrayal on every level. Set against the backdrop of a cityscape that taunts and tantalises, this is where love fails and passion wanes, “where suffering has no meaning”, where an individual escapes death only to find himself confronted with choices wrought by remorse and retribution, by conscience and character. And yet, with all trauma, there is a distinct musicality to the lyrical unpacking that follows a string of small things …
Dit is die tweede boek in die Zeus van Wyngaardt-reeks. Hierdie keer word Zeus se buurman, Atif Dinali, se tienerdogter Tahina vermis. Zeus vermoed dat mensehandel en prostitusieringe iets met haar verdwyning te doen het. Sy ondersoek lei hom na die verleidelike Wildene du Bois, ’n courtisane wat eens op ’n tyd betrokke was by ’n mensehandelsindikaat. Zeus besef egter gou dat hierdie saak maar net een tentakel van ’n groter monster is.
"Claire is less cynical. ‘Fall in love, if you must. But do your research. And meet his people early on. They’ll give you a sense of who he is.’ Solid advice. And ultimately, this is how I found myself on a flight to Bloemfontein one Friday afternoon." An instant classic, the lies and betrayals of love and party politics are told in gorgeous prose with an ear for our time’s intimate and public language. The Comrade’s Wife follows a turbulent marriage between a rising politician and an academic, told through her life and lens.
Following on from the critical acclaim of Those Who Live in Cages, Terry-Ann Adam’s latest book is a collection of short stories set in Eldorado Park, the site of Terry-Ann’s inspiration. Her sentences positively glow as she documents the wonders and sadnesses of everyday life. These rich and powerful stories confirm Terry-Ann Adams’ place as one of the brightest stars of new South African writing. Everyday life in these stories centres can be pregnancy, death, getting the fahfee numbers from gran, what to wear to a matric ball if you are from Eldos and you want to look like Princess Diana. These stories are nothing short of miraculous and this fearless collection of stories takes the reader on an odyssey of love and grief. Terry-Ann Adam’s peerless writing brims with fire and wonder. You will be provoked and you will exult. Above all, you’ll remember where you were when you read White Chalk.
Hans het geen begeerte om ná soveel jare sonder sy geliefde Saartjie weer vrou te vat nie. Hy leef heel gemaklik alleen in Huis Madeliefie. Maar alles verander wanneer ’n nuwe inwoner, Liefiediefie, in die ouetehuis land. Met haar Marilyn Monroe-gesiggie en Jane Fonda-lyfie veroorsaak sy ’n heidense herrie onder die mans en roer sy iets in Hans se gemoed los. Nog ’n aantreklike nuwe inkommer, Janneman Vermaak, en Hans se nuwe buurman, kry egter al Liefiediefie se aandag. Hy het die ander inwoners ook gou onder sy duim met die opwindende talentkompetisies wat hy reël, waar groot prysgeld elke keer gewen kan word. ’n Verdere pen word in Hans se hart gedryf toe hy besef hierdie opperse snoeshaan het sy posisie as leidsman in die tehuis oorgeneem. Hy begin aanvaar dat ’n ou viool nie meer nuwe liedjies kan speel nie. Maar die ou Hans van Kraaienburg ontwaak gou wanneer hy aan sy broek se naat voel daar vind ’n gekonkel by die talentkompetisies plaas . . .
Die “roman” in die titel verwys na ’n spinnekop of baardskeerder, wat die teenwoordigheid van onheil, boosheid en gevaar verteenwoordig. Die Klein Karoo se berugte reeksmoordenaar, Gert Bloubaard Swanepoel het in die 1800’s op die spogplaas Rietfontein in die Attaquas tussen Oudtshoorn en Calitzdorp geboer. Swanepoel se pa was ’n siener wat glo met ’n halwe helm gebore is. Hy het groot onheil gesien voor Gert se geboorte. Sy ma was ’n wrede, ongenaakbare en sadistiese mens wat plaaswerkers se kinders se mangels uitgeskep het met ’n rooiwarm teelepel, sonder enige verdowing. Danie Gouws, akademikus van Stellenbosch, vertoef in die Klein Karoo om navorsing te doen oor kulturele gebruike en erfgoed. Waarin hy hom egter vasloop, is die spook van Gert Swanepoel: “Wat Danie Gouws nog nie weet nie, is dat Gert hom gister al sien aankom het toe hy in die pas oor die Gamka gery het.” Want, in die woorde van die oplettende, diepsinnige petroljoggie Willem Marsman: “As jy klippers in dié deel van die wêreld omrol, dan hardloop daar sommer gou gevaarlike goete soos skerpioene oor die vlaktes of ’n romans wat jou jaag om in jou skaduwee te kom”. Kan ’n mens oorlewering glo? Wie was Gert – voorslagboer, veedief, geweldenaar, moordenaar, minaar? Dit hang af met wie ’n mens gesels, want stories is plooibaar.
Darlings of Durban follows the stories of four friends and how their lives intersect and influence each other. Natasha owns a successful beauty company and is in a serious long-term relationship with the charming Sizwe. Natasha worries that his family will never truly accept her because of her mixed heritage. Does she even believe in marriage? Natasha often seeks the advice of her friend Sofia who's happily married with children. Sofia is the glue that holds the darlings together. The cousins, Farhana and Razia, both have their own complicated marriages. Farhana tries her best to support her husband in his harebrained schemes - even when it's to the detriment of her friendships. While Razia, the only darling in Johannesburg, feels stuck in her role as subservient wife to a husband whose attention is elsewhere. All four women are navigating the complexities of love and life. But whatever life throws their way, the darlings always have each other.
Mia Steyn is nog bloedjonk wanneer haar broer haar een laatmiddag by ’n losieshuis in Bloemfontein, aflaai. Dis toe sy ’n stowwerige boekwinkel instap dat Mia besef dis waar sy wil werk. Kort voor lank vind sy haar voete, én verloor sy haar hart. Die laaste kanariegeel notaboek is die jongste roman uit die pen van blitsverkoperskrywer Anchien Troskie. Niks is ooit soos dit lyk op die oppervlak nie, besef ’n mens weer met die lees van hierdie aangrypende storie binne 'n storie.
Hans van Kraaienburg, verlosser van die inwoners van Huis Madeliefie (2017 se Hans steek die Rubicon oor), is óp van al hul klagtes. Noudat hul drakoniese matrone iets van die verlede is, is daar steeds etlike klein probleempies wat Hans as beheerraadslid moet oplos – en dít met gans te min geld in die kietie. Wanneer sy vriend Vasie hom dus nooi vir ’n vakansietjie op Hermanus, as huisgaste van dié se neef Herklaas, is Hans maar te gretig om sy safaripakke te pak. Op Hermanus gekom, vind die twee dat Herklaas in die sop is: sy blyplek staan net mooi op die plek wat die Overstrand se rykste skobbejak, Grond Graaffwater, geoogmerk het vir sy enorme nuwe hotel – maar Herklaas wil nié verkoop nie. Wanneer Grond en sy kriminele handlangers hardhandig raak, tree Hans tot die stryd toe – Herklaas moet ’n stel horings kry, en vir Grond trompop loop! Hans steek die Rubicon oor was ’n topverkoper, veral na voorlesing op RSG. Hans se tweede avontuur gaan lesers net so laat kraai van die lag.
When a reclusive printmaker dies, his friend inherits the thousands of etchings and drawings he has stored in his house over the years. Overwhelmed by the task of sorting and exhibiting this work, she seeks the advice of a curator. What compulsion drove the printmaker to make art for four decades, and why did he so seldom show his prints? When the curator discovers a single, sealed box addressed to a man in Zimbabwe, she feels compelled to go in search of him to present him with the package, hoping to find an answer to the enigma of the printmaker's solitary life. Bronwyn Law-Viljoen’s subtle and sophisticated novel reflects on one man’s obsessive need to make meaning through images and to find, in art, the traces of love and friendship.
Faye Mackenzie and her friends' anorexic daughter, Clare, are thrown together when a flood separates them from their hiking group in the remote, mountainous Tsitsikamma region of South Africa. With Clare critically injured, Faye is compelled to overcome her self-doubt and fear of the wild to take care of the younger woman, who opens her heart to Faye. As their new friendship takes the women on an unexpected journey of discovery, the rest of the group wrestles with the harrowing aftermath of their own near tragedy. When the hiking party is reunited, their number is reduced by one. Juxtaposing physical and psychological suspense, The Wilderness Between Us is a tale of two fragile women who unexpectedly find clarity, independence, and renewed purpose as they fight to survive. It is a vivid, moving story about family, friendship, adventure, and the healing power of nature and compassion.
Speuradjudant Storm van der Merwe en kollega Shirien Niemandt is
vroegoggend eerste op die toneel, in ’n eenslaapkamerhuis in Zwelihle
digby Hermanus. Op die oog af lyk die bejaarde Gerty Jonas se afsterwe
na natuurlike oorsake, maar hoekom het Kai nie by sy ma se lyk gewag
nie? En hoekom het hy soos mis voor die son verdwyn?
Huis Madeliefie word deur die staat se vlak 5-inperking in die gesig gestaar. Hans besef teen dié virus groei geen kruid nie, maar die drakoniese reëls van die tehuis se interne bevelsraad kry nie vatplek by Hans en kie nie. Voorts is Hans oor die hoof gesien as leier van dié raad. Altoon Ahlers, befaamde akteur van weleer, neem die leisels. Hans se plan om die inwoners met die verbode vrug se sap aan sy kant te kry, boemerang sleg. Hy sal Ahlers op ’n ander manier moet onttroon . . .
Making sure the end of the world never happens again – that is Enver Eleven’s task. A spy for the Historical Agency, Enver is based in Johannesburg, the only city to survive – thanks to its mining tunnels – when a supernova hit. In Enver’s Joburg, time-travelling agents jump between the past and future, searching for an elusive enemy plotting against the Agency. Enver’s mission starts off on shaky ground: when his mentor Shanumi Six disappears, Enver must prove that he is no double agent, an allegation as frightening as a white skin in a world where it has become vanishingly rare. But if you could go back and change the past, would the future turn out the way you want it to? Imraan Coovadia’s dazzlingly original A Spy In Time is an extraordinary tale for extraordinary times.
Leilah meets Frankie, and the two misfits become the closest of friends at their new school – until secrets, betrayal, and sexuality drive them apart… It’s 1997, three years after the official end of Apartheid in South Africa. Two girls from very different backgrounds, Leilah, who is mixed race, and Frankie, who is white, are drawn together when they start at a new school, one that remains racially divided despite the country’s new laws. Their friendship deepens and intensifies before suddenly falling apart when each tells the other a secret. The girls must grapple with young womanhood alone, leaving Leila with only her troubled family to fall back on. Glass Tower is a powerful, beautiful story of two young people on a journey of sexual hurt and personal discovery which asks questions of who we are and why we love, set against a new and confusing social order.
Wanneer die lewe jou omwentel is die wéét binne-in jou. Vir Mel is haar eie melkweg skitterend. Sy het wat sy wil hê, sy is wie sy wil wees. Sy maak die reëls en sy dra nie maskers nie, want sy is in beheer. Maar skielik maak ’n veel groter ster haar verskyning: Isabella, ʼn ongevraagde toevoeging tot die gesin. En boonop besef Mel dat haar beroepskeuse as mediese suster ʼn ode was aan haar oorlede ma. Susterwees was dalk haar ma se passie, maar is dit regtig hare? Mel maak gereed om uit haar einste, skitterende melkweg te verskiet. Dit is ʼn waagstuk, iets wat só nie haar ding is nie. Die ontdekkingsreis vat haar na ʼn wêreld wat sy nog altyd vermy het, tussen mense wat nie haar dam se ganse is nie. By die flats van Belhar kom sy tot die besef dat die dam dalk nie hare is nie, maar dat sy tog, teen haar verwagting, inpas by die ganse. Sy ontmoet ’n jeugwerker met tatoes en ʼn skaatsplank wat baanbrekerswerk onder die jeug doen. Sy leer Llewellyn, haar stiefsuster se grootste aanhanger, beter ken en wys hom sy is nie so upstairs soos hy gedink het nie. Mel ontdek haarself en ʼn wêreld buite haar eie reëls. Moet sy kies tussen wie sy was en wie sy kan wees? Of is daar plek vir Mel die skateboarder, die biker en die kelner in haar melkweg?
WINNER OF THE DINAANE DEBUT FICTION AWARD 2020. The novel is set over a hundred years ago, and chronicles a tale of migrancy very different to what we have come to expect in African literature. It incorporates myth and ritual, and the stories of extraordinary, ordinary women. What Scatterlings illustrates is that it is possible to write what you know without limiting yourself to your own actual, physical, lived experience.
Hans loop op 90 nié met ’n loopring nie. Sy orige kinders maneuvreer hom vanuit hul tuistes oorsee uit sy lekker ou huis en in Huis Madeliefie in, maar Hans skop nog kliphard, en gou lei hy ’n ouetehuisopstand teen die onhoudbaar drakoniese matrone. Dis daggakoekies, ontkleedansers en vet sports net waar jy kyk in hierdie hoogs komiese roman oor oudword op eie terme.
Bendes in die Kaap is weer op mevrou Smit se spoor. Sy sal self moet
ingryp as sy haar doodgewone lewe wil behou.
Dit is byna vier dekades ná Toorberg. Met ’n onverwagte trein kom Magistraat Imker Goedeman (wat destyds as jong man die afarmmagistraat van Toorberg, Abraham van der Ligt, in die gange van Bellville se landdroshof raakgeloop het) aan op Gebeente, ’n klein dorpie op die Vergete Grootpad noord van Sutherland. Die omgewing is geruk deur ’n opspraakwekkende plaasmoord, maar ’n nog komplekser saak moet ondersoek word: die diefstal van die melkweg... Ons is hier in die buurt van onwaarskynlikhede en eindelik word die ganse regstelsel uitgedaag. Historie, mite en allegorie word sjarmant verweef in dié meeleurende, fassinerende roman, en eindelik voer Etienne van Heerden sy kenmerkende magiese realisme die verste in sy hele oeuvre.
Caroline Herschel has always lived in the shadows. Beholden to her wildly popular older brother, William, who rescued her from servitude, she's worked hard to build a life for herself – one where she can go unnoticed and repay the debt she believes she owes him. But when her brother becomes obsessed with sweeping the stars, everything changes. Newly appointed as the King's Astronomer, William is rushed away from the bustling streets of Bath to the quiet countryside of Windsor. When Caroline makes a discovery that could send her right back to the people she was rescued from, she has no choice but to leave her carefully constructed life and follow her brother. Taking up the position as William's assistant, Caroline resolves to learn everything she can about astronomy. But the more she understands, the more she falls in love with her telescope, and soon, she discovers that she might be good at the science, great, even, and that the stars could offer her the freedom she's always secretly wanted. When it’s clear that Caroline is just as much the astronomer as her brother, she realizes she must break free from the life she has lived and find her own place in the night sky. Based on the true story of Caroline Herschel, The Woman and Her Stars shines a light on a woman who was raised to believe she was worth nothing more than to serve others, but whose genius and resolve made her one of the world’s leading astronomers. An awe-inspiring story set within the societal boundaries of the Georgian era, it’s a hopeful journey of self-discovery, familial bonds, and passion.
Berdine se ma en ouma kom saam tot die gevolgtrekking dat hulle hul eie drome deur Berdine, hul dogter en kleindogter wou uitleef. Berdine word groot met die idee dat sy gebore is om ander tevrede te stel. Sy beland in ’n verhouding waar sy ten spyte van haar professionele rol as dokter tuis onderdanig moet wees en deur haar lewensmaat gemanipuleer word. Ná jare van sielkundige teistering begin sy besef dat dit nie die soort lewe is waaroor sy gedroom het nie. Haar ma en ouma Bertha sit koppe bymekaar om Berdine terug te lok na die goeie waardes waarmee hulle haar wou opvoed. Die geleentheid kom gouer as wat hulle beplan het. Daar wag nie net vreugdevolle weersiens nie, maar ook verrassings wat haar lewe drasties verander en haar voor moeilike keuses stel. Berdine is onseker, maar sy kry helderheid nadat haar ouma haar die waarheid oor haar grootouma en dié se niggie Emma vertel – en die eintlike lewe wat ouma Breggie haar gee.
Patriarg Tjaart van der Walt se verlede haal sy kleindogters in ná sy dood toe ’n gas onverwags by sy kleindogter, Lenore van der Walt, se bruilof opdaag. Die bewaringstatus van Bateleur Reservaat en Khulula Renosterskuiling word daardeur bedreig. Die gas wil met ’n mynbaas saamspan om ’n steenkoolmyn in die Laeveld te vestig. Sikloon Dineo tref die reservaat langs die Mosambiek-grens en derduisende klimaatvlugtelinge word blootgestel aan mensehandel en ontvoerings. Die toenemende stel van slagysters vir bosslaghuisvleis lei ook tot ernstige vergrype teen diere. Die drie Van der Walt-niggies – Lenore, Tarien en Bella – word meegesleur in die gety van ontheemding en dierevergrype. Ook op geestelike vlak is daar ’n vervreemding tussen die niggies en hul Skepper wanneer seer uit die verlede hul inhaal en hul binne-vrede moet vind om weer tuis by God te voel. Romanse en nuwe vriendskappe te midde van natuurrampe en aanvalle deur insypelaars word ’n toevlug toe ’n bonkige huursoldaat en die Olifantbekoorder van die Laeveld tot die niggies se lewens toetree. |
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