From the classical form of 'The Weight of a Feather', first published by The Huffington Post (2013), to the suggestive allegory of 'The Leopard and The Lizard', this collection of short stories by South African author Judy Croome is an ideal mix of the familiar and the startling.

These vibrant slices of life testify to the mysterious and luminous resources of the human spirit.

Whether feeling the harrowing emotion in 'The Last Sacrifice' or the jauntiness of 'Jannie Vermaak's New Bicycle', the reader will delight in a plethora of stories that cross boundaries to both challenge and entertain with their variety.

Terwyl die 17-jarige Marta se pa in haar arms sterf, vra hy haar om na haar ma om te sien. Sy vertolk hierdie belofte letterlik en verlaat die skool. Marta verwerf 'n diploma in haarkappery en begin 'n haarsalon in haar tuisdorp, sodat sy haar ma kan versorg. Mettertyd kring haar dienslewering wyer uit: na die ouetehuis in Lambertsbaai en werk by die kerk. Sy en haar Ma het 'n roetine van Bybellees en bid in die aand, maar dis net nog 'n plig en hul gebede steek vas by afgerammelde rympies. Sy neem haar kort-kort voor om haar lewe beter in te rig, maar dit gebeur nie. Eendag word dit alles te veel vir haar - die dag toe haar blinde bewondering vir Deon Swanepoel haar in groot verleentheid bring.

Dit is Marta se verhaal en hoe sy uit 'n web van pligpleging, onderdrukking, skewe waardes en onmoontlike drome bevry word.

Hierdie treffende verhaal van onvervulde drome, leë werke en liefdelose pligplegings wat geen bevrediging bring nie, maar net hartseer en verwyte, wys dat alles omgedraai kan word wanneer mense tyd maak vir Jesus. Deur sy vergifnis en sy liefde te aanvaar, kan jy met dankbaarheid die toekoms tegemoet gaan.

On a winter's afternoon Gertruida returns to Kiepersolkloof after her mother and father’s funeral in town. Her heart rejoices. They were not her mother and father. They were Abel and Susarah. People who walked with God. At the same time walking arm in arm with Satan. She was never their precious little crowned plover. When she still wished to run after dragonflies in her mummy’s garden, Abel had brutally stolen her innocence and threatened her with the fork-tongued leguan that walked by night. Child-woman who danced naked in front of the window in the moonlight while Susarah slept behind drawn curtains. Or was she awake? She closes and locks the gate to the farm-yard. In years to come she will have to pilot her own life. But she only knows how to hate; love has no meaning to her. Her boundaries were destroyed. The only place of solace and dignity that ever belonged to her was the hidden stone house she had built in a secluded kloof. In the house on the ridge Mama Thandeka sits with a sorrowful heart. For fifty three years she had watched a black blanket slowly descending upon Kiepersolkloof. At night she is deeply troubled because there are many things that she regrets. Years ago she was little Abel's black mama, and when she should have spoken up, she thula-ed. Now the time for speaking up has gone by. All that remains is to call the spirits of the papas and mamas to come closer so that she can speak to them: Sit down, listen carefully. Then, with iNkosi as her witness, the truth will flow from her tongue. And on Monday she hopes to shuffle down to the farm-yard with her notsung kierie to cherish Gertruida against her soft mama-bosom for a while. Even though Gertruida does not want to be held by anyone.

As Zakes Mda's fifth novel opens, the seaside village of Hermanus is overrun with whale-watchers--foreign tourists determined to see whales in their natural habitat. But when the tourists have gone home, the whale caller lingers at the shoreline, wooing a whale he has named Sharisha with cries from a kelp horn. When Sharisha fails to appear for weeks on end, the whale caller frets like a jealous lover--oblivious to the fact that the town drunk, Saluni, a woman who wears a silk dress and red stiletto heels, is infatuated with him.
The two misfits eventually fall in love. But each of them is ill equipped for romance, and their relationship suggests, in the words of "The Washington Post, " that "the deeper, darker concern here is not so much the fragility of love, but the fragility of life itself when one surrenders wholly to the foolish heart."

As her 21st birthday approaches, Katy Ferreira has not left her bedroom for close on two years. In fact, she has not left her bed – at 360 kilogrammes, she simply can’t.

Characterised by an indomitable spirit, Katy tries to make the best of a bad situation. She does the crossword in the Herald newspaper her mother brings home, consumes the food she craves – biscuits, pies, doughnuts, litres of fizzy drinks – and waits in hope for insulin and a solution to her plight. To pass the time she begins to compile her own crossword in one of the Croxley notebooks that have been unused since she dropped out of school. Within each cryptic clue is a message, an attempt to explain how it feels to be ‘the fat girl’, how taking comfort in sweet things as a grieving and lonely child escalated into a deadly relationship with food and a psychological and physical disease.

The process triggers splintered memories of dark family secrets and hints of culpability. As Katy finds her voice – quirky, macabre, devastatingly astute and viciously funny at times – the notebooks fill up.

Not to Mention is part diary, part memoir, part love-hate letter to the mother who fuelled her daughter’s addiction as steadily as the world ostracised her.

The destructive power of shame and society’s harsh judgement of people who are ‘different’ is matched by the immense courage of a young woman who is determined to be heard.

Willem Prins bewandel die strate van Parys. Eens was hy op koers om ’n gerekende skrywer in Suid-Afrika te word, maar na jare se probeer wink die koue water van die Seine – miskien sal sy verdrinking sy boekverkope bietjie opstoot, dink ’n swartgallige Willem.

Tot sy skaamte is dit die erotika wat hy onder ’n skuilnaam skryf wat hom na Frankryk gebring het. Terug na die stad waar een van sy drie eksvroue saam met sy oudste seun woon, ’n jong man wat sy pa skaars ken.

Vir Willem is Parys nie juis die stad van liefde nie, maar dit is hier waar hy vir Jackie ontmoet, ’n jong Suid-Afrikaner wat as au pair werk. Dit is ook sy wat saam met hom is dié Vrydagaand die dertiende toe terreur in Parys losbars.

Misverstand is die dertiende roman van een van Suid-Afrika se gewildste skrywers. ’n Roman oor die ontnugtering van die middeljare, die lewe se onweerswolke wat dikwels dreig, en oor bande tussen mense wat beskut.

Travels with My Father is a beautifully written autobiographical novel.

Written from the point of view of a young woman, daughter and writer, it is a frank, yet delicate and moving, account of her relationship with her father and his influence on her own life.In the footsteps of her father, the author travels the world. Yet, key scenes are set in Plumstead, a suburb of Cape Town, where her father lived most of his life.

The relationships and divisions between members of a family that does not wear its heart on its sleeve, and some of whom are real eccentrics, are sensitively recorded.

It all adds to an intricate picture of a changing South African society.

"A dark and terrifying novel presenting a mythical account of the development of evil through the history of Southern Africa."--Seattle Times. This ferocious new novel by one of South Africa's visionary writers is a post-colonial reimagining of the Book of Revelation--an unholy epic that reenvisions the catastrophic violence of European "civilization" as a hooded rider who spreads slaughter across the African continent--a work that is as unnerving as it is intellectually provocative.

Elaine vlug weg van haar verloofde, Alex sonder enige verduideliking.

Haar geheim bly haar eie want as Alex ooit moet uitvind sal dit sy lewe ruïneer, of so glo sy. Sy het geen ander keuse as om met Ben van Staden, die rykmanseun van Bloemfontein, te trou nie.

Die jare wat volg is verwonde jare gevul met vrees en verwyt. Elaine verloor haar geloof in ‘n liefdevolle God en dit is net wyn wat haar help om soms te vergeet. Maar haar liefde vir Alex bly ’n brandende vuur in haar binneste wat nie geblus kan word nie.

Skielik, ná sewe jaar, staan Alex weer voor haar en sy besef dat God tog alles ten goede kan laat meewerk vir die wat Hom liefhet. Maar, sal Alex haar ooit kan vergewe vir die onreg wat sy aan hom gedoen het?

Dit is 1950 en Pasgatyd in Oudtshoorn. Leah Abrams, ’n jong entoesiastiese navorser in antieke tale, kuier by haar Joodse rabbi pa en sy tweede vrou, Daniela. Hulle is albei navorsers oor, onder andere, die geskiedenis van Israel. Maar daar heers konflik in die huis want Leah wil gesels oor die Messias wie sy leer ken het in haar studies, en haar Joodse gesin is nie ontvanklik daarvoor nie.

Diverse kultuur- en geloofsgroepe en na-oorlogse politieke kwessies skep ook probleme vir die Abrams-gesin en hul tuisdorp. ’n Sluipmoordaanval krap wonde en geheime in die dorp en Leah se gesin oop en die plaaslike polisie se vooroordele help nie die ondersoek na die skuldige aan nie …

Leah is oorweldig deur seer en onsekerheid. Maar sy begin stadig maar seker by mense wie sy nooit sou verwag het leer dat vergifnis, verhoudings en liefde die dinge is wat mense bymekaar bring, ongeag van hulle stand of kultuur. Sy besef ook met die hulp van ander dat God nie tussen die blaaie van ’n boek leef nie, maar in jou hart. Dalk het die Here nog heeltyd ’n ander plan gehad vir die mense in Die huis op die hoek.

Lester Walbrugh is from Grabouw in the Western Cape. His acclaimed short stories have been published in, among others, Short.Sharp.Stories’s Die Laughing, Short Story Day Africa’s anthologies, New Contrast and most recently, Hair: Weaving and Unpicking Stories of Identity. He has lived in the UK and Japan and is currently back in his hometown, working on his first novel.

Let It Fall Where It Will is Lester Walbrugh’s debut collection of stories. Set in the Cape and Japan, the stories showcase the stunning versatility of the author. Ranging from witty to poignant, they capture a fascinating diversity of voices and fearlessly explore contemporary topics of identity and sexuality as well as South Africa’s deeply troubled past. A few employ magic realism to great effect.

The book’s epigraph and title were inspired by Adam Small’s poem, ‘Die Here het gaskommel’.

1001 nagte, 1001 wonders, 1001 gevare.

Wanneer Herman Swart se tweelingsuster Herma onverwags sterf, val ’n deel van hom weg. Hy raak toenemend eensaam en onttrek in ’n wêreld van ou films. Hy sien haar in sy eie spieëlbeeld en hoor haar op ongeleë tye. ’n Bykomende traumatiese ervaring versplinter sy wêreld finaal en Herman verval in ’n diep koma. Hy bevind homself binne-in ’n avontuur, ’n nagmerrie, ’n wêreld waarin droom, fantasie, film, vervolgverhale, musiek en die gotiese ineenvleg. In hierdie vreemde, magiese realisme beweeg hy tussen plekke, ontmoet verskeie karakters en word weggelok deur die prinses, ’n meisie wat baie aan Herma herinner.

François Bloemhof het al plaaslik en wêreldwyd vir talle literêre eerstes gesorg, maar met hierdie unieke lees-luister-en-kyk-ervaring oortref hy homself. Die duisend en eerste nag het geen geduld met ou, veilige storiegrense nie.

What is the cost of giving a gift? What is the cost of receiving one?

At eleven years old, Julian Flint prefers to remain invisible, safe inside the architecture of adults provided by his mother, his uncle and his aunt.But when his mother, Emma, a celebrated sculptor, takes them all on a family holiday to a hotel by the sea, he meets the captivating and irreverent Clare and everything he thought he knew begins to shift – setting off a chain of events that will determine each of their fates.

From the author of The Dream House and The White Room comes Craig Higginson’s most gripping and nuanced novel to date. Moving from the lush beaches of uMhlanga Rocks to the stark midwinter wastes of Johannesburg and the rich and strange coral reefs of Mauritius, this masterfully plotted novel explores the fault lines between loyalty and betrayal, innocence and accountability, blindness and perception, entrapment and flight.

The Book of Gifts dives into the deepest and most hazardous reaches of human consciousness in order to catch the brightest fish.

Isabella voel nie soos die tradisionele beeldskone heldin wat jy op ’n silwerskerm gaan raaksien nie, want sy is ietwat sag om die kante en haar hare het ’n onbuigbare wil van hul eie. Sy besluit die tyd het aangebreek vir opwinding en avontuur, want sy wil nie meer stry teen die knaende begeerte in haar om skaamteloos aan die ontvangkant van ’n man se hartstogtelike liefde te wees nie.

Sy vlug uit die stad om van haar oorbeskermende ouers weg te kom en asem te skep in die oop ruimtes waar niemand vir haar voorskryf wat om te doen nie. Isabella soek ’n man wat haar voete onder haar gaan uitslaan en sy is vasbeslote om hom te kry. Iemand wat haar gaan liefhê vir wie sy in al haar volrondheid is. Tydens haar soektog ontmoet sy ’n hele paar mans wat nou nie almal eintlik as goeie mans met suiwer intensies beskou kan word nie. En wie is die geheimsinnige man wat oral onverwags opduik en pal op haar spoor bly?

Maar toe gebeur die ondenkbare tydens ’n gesinskrisis wat opduik. Al die geraamtes wat uit die kas begin tuimel dwing Isabella om tot stilstand te kom en die waarheid in die oë te staar. Sommige antwoorde kan ’n vrou net op haar knieë by die Here kry. Hulle sê die waarheid maak vry en die liefde bedek ’n menigte van sondes. Miskien sal die kronkelpaaie van Isabella se lewe haar ook na liefde en vryheid lei sodat selfs ’n verlore woestynblom soos sy kan blom.

The Broken River Tent is a novel that marries imagination with history.

It is about the life and times of Maqoma, the Xhosa chief who was at the forefront of fighting British colonialism in the Eastern Cape during the nineteenth century. The story is told through the eyes of a young South African, Phila, who suffers from what he calls triple ‘N’ condition – neurasthenia, narcolepsy and cultural ne plus ultra. This makes him feel far removed from events happening around him but gives him access to the analeptic memory of his people.

After being under immense mental pressure, he crosses the mental divide between the living and the dead and is visited by Maqoma. They engage in different conversations about cultural history, literature, religion, the past and contemporary South African life.

Skye is looking for normal. She grew up different and it rankles. Home isn't normal; her mom isn't normal. Her brother, beloved as he is, isn't quite normal, either. Her marriage was kind of normal (Cam is a wealthy, handsome man who's nice enough) and now it's a dumpster fire. And look at South Africa—entirely NOT normal.

She's got PTSD and she's in mourning. She doesn't know who she is or what she wants.

She tries to anchor herself to tangible things: to her cooking, to her neighbour's children, to sex. But as she relives her past and tries to plan her future, she feels increasingly dislocated. Skye escapes when things get overwhelming, and realises almost too late that she's about to make everything worse.