From the moment 26-year-old Tristan Hansen steps out of the shower and onto the roof garden of his Maboneng loft, Toyboy pulsates with eroticism. The air is hot and humid, and there’s a Joburg thunderstorm brewing on the horizon. The first flashes of lightning illuminates Tristan’s spectacular flat and the riches it contains: gifts of thanks from his many clients, tokens of their appreciation. Because Tristan is an angel of pleasure, an exclusive escort to Johannesburg’s rich and powerful women. And he is one of a kind.

At how the enigmatic Tristan were trained in the art of lovemaking his clients can only guess. He seldom speaks of those who helped him shake off the strictures of his conservative mother who had to raise him on her own when his father committed suicide. Christina, his first love, and their story set far off in a small Italian village, he also keeps to himself.

But how did Tristan end up here? Who were those women who taught him all he knows? And who is the mystery caller who keeps on phoning and whose calls are filled with menacing silence?

Twenty years ago, Leon van Nierop published his Afrikaans bestseller Plesierengel. Toyboy, published in Afrikaans and English, is its prequel.

Treasure is a naïve dreamer tossed into this unforgiving reality. Intent on supporting herself, she walks out of her dysfunctional family home in Westonaria and straight into the greedy heart of Jo’burg, disguised as the city of gold and black diamonds, to chase the illusion of fame and a happy ending.

But living a life of luxury in a society of artificial human beings comes at a hefty price. She is wooed by a wealthy man who grooms her into a power-hungry machine... but is the pleasure worth the pain and endless sacrifices? What can she offer a man who has everything but a soul? As her life crumbles around her, can Treasure alter her fate before it’s too late?

This inspirational novel is for all those who see one side to life; it's time to open your eyes to both sides of the coin.

“I am his first wife.”

Is that how low you think of me? You think I will run and rat you out to Raymond? Let me tell you something, Raymond is not my husband without you. He needs you, he inhales and exhales because of you, he adores you, Anelisa, because you are his first wife.

In hierdie bundel sal jy vergeefs soek na voorspelbaarheid. Want die liefde het vele gesigte, en nie almal is mooi nie.

Kerneels Breytenbach, Christine Barkhuizen Le-Roux, Erika Murray-Theron, Helene de Kock, Keina Swart, Jaco Jacobs en vele meer skryf oor die liefde in al sy vele gedaantes: moederliefde, onvoorwaardelike liefde, gewelddadige liefde, verbode liefde, erotiese liefde, liefde tot die dood toe ...

Want die liefde verdra alles, maar die liefde het dikwels tande.

As the head of Wits Mining, the last major mining company to do an empowerment deal, Max Sinclair has a mandate from the board and a clear directive: to sell a share of the company to a black consortium. Born and bred in the city that remains, at heart, a mining camp built on gold and the greed of men, Max is used to being a player in the high-stakes game of deals and political influence, and he keeps his cards close to his chest.

There is no shortage of takers for the deal. A shareholding spells possible riches for some – like Sifiso Lesibe, geologist and newest member of the board – and increased influence for others, such as the Pradesh family. Support for the deal from government is crucial, particularly when it comes to mining and mineral rights. Politics, power and money are an irresistible combination. Mistrust is everywhere and nothing is as it seems.

Former human rights lawyer Musa Madondo has seen the rise and fall of many a former comrade and he knows he is not immune to the tug of temptation. When Walter Berryman, a former client and friend, comes to Musa for professional advice, in fear of his life after having stumbled across evidence of large-scale industry collusion, he finds himself drawn into an underworld of intrigue and sophisticated espionage every bit as ruthless and deadly in the present day as it was during the country’s struggle for liberation. And in Johannesburg, as in politics, things change in an instant.

Bare Ground is the third book authored by Peter Harris. In a Different Time (2008; winner of the Alan Paton Non Fiction award) was about the 1980s and an extraordinary treason trial. The second book, Birth (2011), was about the extreme challenges that South Africa encountered in getting to and conducting the 1994 election. This novel, located in the cauldron of Johannesburg, is about the society we have become.

Een familie, deels van Britse en deels van Boere-afkoms, ontdek dat hul lewens onlosmaaklik verstrengel raak deur die onverbiddelike gang van die geskiedenis.

Die Transvaalse politiek en die Britte se arrogante imperialisme sleur hulle mee in die Anglo-Boereoorlog van 1899-1902. Liefdes- en vriendskapsbande wat in die Trandvaalse bosveld en die sitkamers van Victoriaanse Engeland gesmee is, word op die slagvelde van Suid-Afrika getoets. Wanneer die formele fase van die oorlog oorgaan in die gruwelike beleid van die verskroeide aarde en ’n guerrillastryd, moet die familielede riskante keuses maak. Wintersrust is ’n bruisende verhaal vol hartstog en avontuur oor die individu se worsteling met magte buite sy beheer.

Sommige, wat deur wanhoop oorweldig word, oorleef nie. Ander moet ten slotte by ’n plek van vrede en vergiffenis uitkom.

(Hierdie is die Afrikaanse vertaling van The Runaway Horses)

Hoe gemaak as jy vastrapplek moet kry tussen die Hemel en die Hel? Kliek. En jou lewe verander. Onomkeerbaar. So sal Markus Meyer en Regardt Muller, twee avontuurlustige vriende wat ná matriek by die Britse Weermag aansluit en as lede van die gerespekteerde 3 Valskermregiment in Afghanistan diens doen, weldra leer. Dit is egter eers wanneer stilte oor die slagveld neersif en die gevolge van konflik beredder moet word, dat die wáre vegters na vore sal tree. En daardie slagveld is nie noodwendig in ʼn oorlogsgeteisterde gebied waar die droë hitte iets lewendigs is nie; soms lê dit ook tussen kamerade, gesinslede en verál midde-in die liefde. Want selfs ʼn soen is by tye ʼn landmyn wat afgetrap word ...

Vegters is die merkwaardige verhaal van uitdaging, lojaliteit en deursettingsvermoë. ʼn Verhaal wat die leser deur drie valleie sal neem: van die Gamtoosvallei in die Oos-Kaap na die Sanginvallei langs die Helmandrivier in Afghanistan, tot die Vallei van ʼn Duisend Heuwels in KwaZulu-Natal waar die wêreldbekende Dusi-kanomarathon die twee vriende tot die uiterste sal beproef. Wees gereed om oorbluf te word. Hierdie boek is nie 'n Sondagmiddagpiekniek nie - dis `n ontsnappingsroete deur `n slagplaas. Vegters moet nie verwar word met 'n hedendaagse oorlogboek nie. Die kontraste tussen die drie wêrelde in die teks is hemelsbreed.

Die leser word gelawe met die idiliese Gamtoosvallei, net om weer om sy gemaksone geruk te word na die hel van 'n oorloggeteisterde Afghanistan. Nog min het twee werelde so baie verskil waar die skrywer dit regkry om beide te versoen. 'n Nuwe blik word gegee oor die oorlog in Afganistan, uit die oogpunt van twee Afrikaanse soldate in die Britse leer. Dis'n verhaal van hoop en versoening. Dis mooi. Dis bitter. Dis `n emosionele wipplankrit. Daar is oomblikke van teerheid,maar voor jy te gemaklik raak, word jy aan die bek geruk deur die twee hoofkarakters se ervarings in Afghanistan. Maar dat dit jou gaan by bly en uit jou gemaksone ruk, is gewis.

Redigeerder Louis Esterhuizen - ”Hierdie werk is by verre een van die mees indrukwekkende tekste wat ek tot nog toe die voorreg gehad het om te hanteer.”

Februarie, 1861. ’n Groepie trekboere maak naby die Gamagara-rivier in die Kalahari staning. Nie ver daarvandaan nie, le Stilbos – ’n misterieuse bos sonder voels, maar ook die skuilplek van die Doodsroeper, ’n onaardse wese wat uitroep voordat iemand sterf. Kort voor lank word die geskende lyk van een van die boere in die bos gevind. Dit is ongetwyfeld moord en Soois Bruwer, ’n verloopte wetsman, word versoek om ondersoek in te stel. Hoe dieper hy delf, hoe ingewikkelder word die saak en hoe meer besef hy dat hy eintlik maar bitter min van die mense om hom weet. Op hul hulp kan hy ook nie juis reken nie. Daar is nou wel oom Albert Siener met sy vreemde visioene, maar daarvan verstaan Soois g’n snars nie. Dan is daar Nella Uys, ’n onkonvensionele, geheimsinnige vrou wat baie weet, maar min se. En klein Krisjan Harmse wat die oplossing vir die raaisel ken, verraai niks. Net toe Soois dink hy is op die regte spoor, roep die Doodsroeper weer en sit hy met ’n tweede lyk op hande. Nou moet hy alles inspan om die moordenaar vas te trek, maar ’n hele klompie verrassings wag nog op hom ...

Op Pelgrimshoop, 'n weggesteekte dorpie in die voue van die Laeveld, waar die vlaktes wemel van skaap, gras en die oudste klipformasies in Suid-Afrika, daar vind Hannah de Witt haar voete weer na 'n verbryselende verhouding wat sy agterlaat in Pretoria. Ongeag die feit dat haar student, Elias Bart, die knorrige boer van Bartelheim, die man wat 'die ding het met die perde', aanvanklik nie wil saamwerk met waarvoor hy haar laat kom het nie: Om hom verder te kom leer. Die legendariese fete tussen Vliet Vorster, sy 4-manbende, en Bart dreig boonop om in 'n volskaalse konflik te ontaard want Vorster haat die 'bontspul' op Bartelheim. Vliet Vorster, voorste boer en burgemeester, wat elke Saterdagaand Die Oog leegdrink en Sondag voor in die kerkgestoeltes sit. Ondanks die dorp se opstand oor Hannah en haar skrywerbroer Abram se teenwoordigheid in die omgewing, die atmosfeer op die plaas wat maar styf is en Hannah se onwillige student groei die waarheid, teerheid en nederigheid - en Hannah leer 'n ander Elias ken.

After his father’s violent death on a hot November day in the droughtstricken Free State, a young man leaves the derelict family farm with no plan, and with no way of knowing that his life will soon be changed for ever by two strangers he encounters on his journey south: a mute little girl who bears a striking resemblance to his late niece, and a troubled lawyer who detests the Cape wine estate she’s inherited from a father she despised.

Set in South Africa against the backdrop of a country in flux, The Safest Place You Know is a powerful story, rendered in meticulously crafted, lyrical prose, about redemption and recovery, and what it means to carry the past with you.

Professor Raymond Bogatsu is a determined man, hell-bent to trap her in. He wins her heart, he wins her love, then traps her in the shackles of a two is better than one setup. The trio covenant of not ME, HIM or HER but WE till the end of time.

As a daughter of Israel, Yehudit has always loved and trusted in Yahweh, the God of her people. But personal tragedy and the threat of a mighty enemy pose challenges to her faith. God is with her and will use her in her weakness to deliver an entire nation from evil. Accompany Yehudit on her journey from being a young girl defeated by tragedy to becoming a mighty warrior. Along the way, you will discover how the same God who strengthened her can heal your own wounds and shape your destiny.

After 602 days dry, Captain Benny Griessel of the South African police services can't take any more tragedy. So when Benny is called in to investigate a multiple homicide, it pushes him close to breaking point - a former friend and detective colleague has shot his wife and two daughters, then killed himself. Benny wants out - out of his job, his home and his relationship with his singer girlfriend, Alexa.

He moves into a hotel and starts drinking. Again. But Benny's unique talent is urgently required to help investigate another crime - the high profile murder of Ernst Richter, MD of a new tech startup, Alibi, whose body is discovered buried in the sand dunes north of Cape Town. Alibi is a service that creates false appointments, documents and phone calls to enable people to cheat on their partners. It has made Richter one of the most notorious people in South Africa.

Can Benny pull together the strands of his life in time to catch the killer?

After an unexpected and diabolical farewell breakfast conversation with his father, Spud Milton returns to boarding school for his 1993 Matric year, his last as a schoolboy. Armed with a prefects’ tie and a raging libido, Spud soon discovers that being a large(ish) fish in a small pond has its fair share of challenges.

He finds himself embroiled in fighting for his own room, directing a house play where both lead actors refuse to learn their lines, and assisting in Vern Blackadder’s dramatic return from the dead with nothing more than a drip cord and a pair of oven gloves.

Amidst mounting pressure in the classroom and on the cricket field, Spud prepares to face down the most feared and dreaded challenge of them all – finding a date for the Matric dance.

In this hilarious final instalment of the Spud series John van de Ruit brings to a close his savagely funny blow by blow account of the agonies of growing up. The embarrassments, the thrills, the defeats, and the sheer -absurdity of daily life are wittily recorded in Spud’s unique voice as he prepares to make his own exit, pursued by a bear.

Hoekom sal ’n ou soos Juan van Wyk aan die TV-program Boer soek ’n vrou deelneem? Hy is nou wel nie getroud nie, maar dit beteken vir geen oomblik dat hy nie ’n vrou het nie. Om die waarheid te sê het hy omtrent elke vrou op die dorp presies net waar hy haar wil hê. Tussen die lakens. Volkome uitgelewer aan sy buitengewone lyflike vermoëns. Ja, daardie Bosveldplaas van hom ken die snak van ’n ekstatiese vrou.

Maar die ding is dat Juan nou al ’n ruk lank voel sy bedavonture moet rigting kry. En dalk help die TV-program. Dis in elk geval wat sy suster sê. En Marissa, die dominee se dogter, sê ook so. Dis dié dat hy nou wag dat die filmspan opdaag, want hy het tien meisies wat hom gaan help om agter te kom wat dit is wat hy wil hê. En dan lê sy lewe voor.

Nog nooit was Afrikaanse fiksie só warm nie. Nog nooit is daar so lekker op papier gevry nie.

Nathan Lucius has a problem. Every time he thinks he’s got life by the scruff of the neck it just wriggles free. There are so many rules. So many things that should be said and done to keep everyone happy. And no one is happy.

But Nathan is a problem solver. And if he just tries hard enough, he will maybe, somehow, make someone, just one person happy. And then his friend Madge is diagnosed with cancer. She is dying. And she wants him to help her end it all.

Wasted is a pop culture Crime and Punishment set in a dark and twisted version of Cape Town – a novel that takes the reader into the very heart of what it is to be human.

In some ways, it all begins with a very bad day for Jethro. First, he’s attacked by an angry man who takes his good intentions the wrong way, then he’s robbed in the middle of the night by two men who try to iron out of him – literally – where he keeps his valuables. The problem is that Jethro’s valuables consist of a box of photos and other keepsakes – which only aggravates his assailants.

Traumatised, he seeks counselling. With Dr Chatwin, Jethro traces his bond with his best friend, Sam, the loss of his girlfriend, his encounters with the enigmatic artist Matsotso Cecilia Dumisa, and why he carries a hat, a shoe and a painting around with him everywhere.

Set in the turbulence of South Africa right now, The Space Between The Space Between tells the story of a young man trying to stay afloat as he’s assaulted by life’s cross-currents. The novel honestly and humanely portrays South Africa today without reverting to moral or political grandstanding. As Jethro ricochets through life, a story of loss, the gaining of wisdom and a little healing emerges.

Liefde vra soms van jou om onmoontlik dapper te wees. Teen haar beterwete nooi Mieke vir Boeta in haar huis en haar lewe. Sy het nie geweet van haar man se vorige verhouding of sy kind nie. Hoe kan sy Boeta kwalik neem vir sy pa se vergrype as jongman? Buitendien, Boeta hou almal se harte in die holte van sy hand. Mieke leer dat die mense wat jy liefhet soms van jou vra om onmoontlik dapper te wees. Dat seerkry en heelword verskillende kante van 'n munt is. En dat almal uiteindelik die koestering van huis en huismense nodig het.

"As ek terugkom sal ek weer voorbeeldige Lize wees. Almal se staatmaker. Ek glo dat U my die bietjie vryheid gun." Met hierdie gebed roep Lize Lategan haar goeie Christelike opvoeding vaarwel. Sy is op 'n vliegtuig onderweg na Engeland vir die werksgeleentheid van haar lewe. Skaars een uur in die vreemde raak sy, jonk en onervare, egter hals oor kop verlief op haar gasheer, die nimlike Conrad Buckle. Sy het geen weerstand teen sy aanraking nie. Lize kies 'n afdraaipad en swenk met elke nuwe ondeurdagte besluit verder en verder weg van God en van die Lize wat sy eenmaal was. In die euforiese maalkolk van begeerte sien sy nie die waarskuwingstekens raak nie: Conrad bestel haar kos, kies haar klere en neem beheer van elke aspek van haar lewe. Maar sy laat hom begaan. Sy het hom mos lief. Totdat Conrad een aand sy hand vir haar lig en Lize se lewe onherroepelik verander...Afdraaipad is Elaine Marais se derde roman. Dit volg op haar debuutroman, Liefde vir Lienke, en haar tweede roman, Koesterkind. Elaine Marais kan beskou word as Suid-Afrika se eie Francine Rivers. Haar boeke is gemik op vroue wat al die veersagte tinteling van die liefde ervaar het, maar ook die wanhoop ken van onbeantwoorde liefde.

Billy se draaktatoe sal skewe kyke lok op die Karoodorpie waarheen sy gesin verhuis. Dis moeilik om in te pas as jou pa die nuwe polisiekolonel is en jou ma haar pille saam met wyn sluk.

Voordat Billy vir Sue ontmoet, wat hom laat droom in ’n aweregse wêreld, bied die gangster Ou Joe se bordeel ’n vreemde troos vir trokdrywers én nuuskierige seuns. Ou Joe beplan om iets hier na te laat voordat hy sy finale geveg met die groeiende kanker in sy maag het.

Ná ’n bloedige nag is Ou Joe se plek in die kolonel se visier en moet Billy stelling inneem terwyl goed en kwaad nog kant kies.

In die styl van ’n moderne western is Johan Vlok Louw se roman vol driftige jonges, motors en gewere. Die boek is ’n vuishou in die maag; die styl so evokatief soos die Karoolandskap waar die verhaal afspeel.

Out of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing was ever made. Maja Jellema is in Cape Town to do what she does best steal. Her new employer wants a certain item from a building in Long Street, and the only thing that stands between Maja and her prize is Hershel Bloch, the bumbling building manager. But what seems like the easiest job Maja has ever seen is about to get a whole lot more complicated . . . Will Maja be able to finish the job in time to save her no-good brother from large Dutch men with no sense of humour? Can Hersh turn his topsy-turvy world around before he gets fired from Black Enterprises for being the worst estate agent in the history of the universe? Will Surita finally make peace with her father and stop using her judo skills on people who just want to hug her? Can the rage-filled waitresses at The Peoples Republic the greatest socialist coffee shop in all of Cape Town produce even one cup of coffee without backchat? Only time will tell. And its running out. Fast-paced and slickly-written, Paradise is both an uproarious comedy about lawlessness and a serious allegory about bondage. Greg Lazarus once again presents a cast of engaging, believable characters, not least of whom is the adorable klutz, Hershel Bloch. Finuala Dowling

Sy het gedink dit was verby; ’n hoofstuk van haar lewe wat afgesluit is, maar toe sien sy uit die hoek van haar oog die gestalte by die begrafnisdiens inloop: ’n lang, benerige man met ’n effens ongekoördineerde manier van beweeg. Lana raak oombliklik naar en lighoofdig van die skrik. Dit is asof sy in ʼn yskoue stilte inplons, tuimel deur die afsondering en bo-aardse stilte van water, en vir altyd net daar wil bly.

Lana sal mettertyd agterkom dat herlewing en die dood dikwels dieselfde skokeffek het, en dat dit dan bitter moeilik is om vas te stel wat die begin en wat die einde is.

Erika Murray-Theron stuur haar karakters met soveel intelligensie en subtiliteit op hul lewensweë dat Stippellyn die gewaarwording bring van ’n ontdekking van die lewe self.

It is 1993. South Africa is on the brink of total transformation and in Walmer Estate, a busy suburb on the slopes of Devil’s Peak, fourteen-year-old Alia Dawood is about to undergo a transformation of her own.

She watches with fascination and fear as the national drama unfolds, longing to be a part of what she knows to be history in the making. As her revolutionary aspirations strengthen in the months before the elections, her intense, radical Uncle Waleed reappears, forcing her parents and sister Nasreen to confront his subversive and dangerous past.

Nadia David’s first novel moves across generations and communities, through the suburbs to the city centre, from the lush gardens of private schools to the dingy bars of Observatory, from landmark mosques and churches to the manic procession of the Cape Carnival, through evictions, rebellions, political assassinations and first loves. The book places one family’s story at the heart of a country’s rebirth and interrogates issues of faith, race, belonging and freedom.

An Imperfect Blessing is a vibrant, funny and moving debut.

Haar tyd op Winburg raak ’n ontdekkingstog deur die dorp se verlede en haar eie verbintenisse daarmee. Sy verken bywonerstentedorpe ná die Anglo-Boereoorlog, kyk saam met die vroue van 1901 in die naghemel op na die Groot Komeet, hoor van die vloek wat Christiaan de Wet oor Winburg uitgespreek het. Daar is die monument wat haar ma se buurvrou en dié se seuns ná ʼn plaasmoord begin bou het – die mees onwaarskynlike monument ooit. En haar ma se oppasster, wie se grootjie in die swart konsentrasiekamp was, praat ook saam.

Wanneer Yachin, Margo se Israeliese geliefde, op besoek kom om haar terug te vat na hul tuiste in Israel, is die besluit – waar hoort ek? – nie meer so eenvoudig nie. Monument is die verhaal van die Vrouemonument in Bloemfontein, en van ander monumente: dié van klip en marmer, maar ook die monumente wat Suid-Afrikaners – die vroue in die eerste plek – in mekaar se menswees gebou het.

’n Dekade of wat gelede het Marita van der Vyver soos ’n wafferse prinses van ’n verre land deur Frankryk gereis en ’n vreeslik verleidelike padda leer ken. Omdat sy so graag in sprokies wil glo, het sy gehoop dat as sy hierdie slim padda soen, hy in ’n prins gaan verander. Dis mos hoe sprokies werk.

En wat gebeur toe?

Saam met haar prins sit sy huis op in ’n Franse dorpie. Hulle gaan woon in ’n ou kliphuis in Rue de l’église – Kerkstraat. Dáároor skryf sy in In die hart van ons huis.

En wat gebeur nou?

Hulle trek. En nie waarheen nie . . . Na ’n plek wat bekend staan as Plek van die Paddas.

’n Fontein Voor Ons Deur is ’n reeks stories oor ’n verhuising – ’n Franse verhuising! Maar dit is dan eintlik stories oor dit wat die hart vasmaak aan ’n huis en sy mense; ook dit waarvan jy jou moet losmaak as jy verhuis. En daardie dinge wat altyd met jou saamtrek.

Een ding is seker: Of dit nou in Kerkstraat of Paddastraat is, soos Marita van der Vyver dit sien, bly die lewe ’n fontein bruisend met verrassings.