In his debut collection of award-winning stories, Nick Mulgrew tells fourteen subtly interlinked tales set along the Southern African coastline from Cape Town to Mozambique, in which relationships, dreams and even narrators die: where fields catch fire, towers implode and the shadows of the past grow long.

But even from the most uneasy corners – tourist traps, colonial purgatories and libraries for the blind – these stories offer small mercies: glimpses of faith, beauty, and the possibility of salvation, no matter how slight.

Told with the magpie’s eye for the vivid in the ordinary, and the surreal in the everyday, Stations presents a fresh, compelling and essential new voice.

Stories featured:
1) Athlone Towers;
2) Turning;
3) Posman;
4) Ponta da Ouro;
5) Stars;
6) Daughter;
7) Gala Day;
8) Die Biblioteek vir Blindes;
9) 1-HR FOTO;
10) Appreciation;
11) Mr Dias;
12) Restaurant;
13) Marianhill, in the Gardens;
14) Stations

Jessie Jansen weet sy het haarself as vrou die afgelope tyd verwaarloos. Nee, meer nog, sy vergryp haar gruwelik aan soetgoed. Sjokolade.

Maar sjokolade, weet sy, maak daardie gat in haar toe. Die gat wat Andries gelos het toe hy met die jong dingetjie weg is. So oud soos haar kind.

Maar Bruno Baumann sien haar in die supermark raak. Dink sy pas perfek in hulle reklameveldtog vir nuwe onderklere – die gewone vrou wat ander kan laat verstaan dat hulle tog sensueel is. Mooi en maer ofte nie.

Net, Jessie is vir hom beeldskoon. Maar sy het genoeg bagasie om ’n man te laat verbyhou. Hy sal hom liewer vermaak met die jong dollas wie se foto’s hy in sy beursie hou.

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?

Meet Tannie Maria: the loveable writer of recipes in her local paper, the Klein Karoo Gazette.

One Sunday morning, as Maria stirs apricot jam, she hears her editor Harriet on the stoep. What Maria doesn't realise is that Harriet is about to deliver a whole basketful of challenges and the first ingredient in two new recipes - recipes for love and murder.

A delicious blend of intrigue, milk tart and friendship, join Tannie Maria in her first investigation. Consider your appetite whetted for a whole new series of mysteries . . .

Maria was a medical doctor graduate who took over the reins as a chief after the death of her father, Masombuka. While accepting the crown she encountered discrimination and prejudice as a woman.

At the time she became the chief of Masombuka village, traditional norms and cultural practices was against women taking part in any powerful positions in the community. Maria broke all taboo and became the chief, much to the annoyance of her uncle Gwebu who was earmarking himself for that position. When he realised that the traditional house had amended the rules to allow her to sit in the tribal court and preside over all matters pertaining the community, he decided to hunt for Amos. Amos was the son of chief Masombuka who had gone awol with his mother when he was very young. He was actually the rightful heir to take over his father but because he could not be found some of the elders decided to crown Maria.

Gwebu plans to successfully locate Amos, to wage and fuel fire between Amos and Maria.

Wanneer Donna de Villiers en haar man Divan skei, moet hulle suksesvolle juweliersonderneming sowel as hulle huis in Tamboerskloof verkoop word sodat hulle bates verdeel kan word. Haar selfbeeld is aan skerwe na Divan se verraad en die eens suksesvolle juwelier wat pryse vir haar werk losgeslaan het se skeppingsdrang is daarmee heen.

Sy wil wegkom uit die kringe waarin sy en Divan beweeg het, waar almal nou oor haar vernederende egskeiding skinder. Donna swerf van kusdorp na kusdorp waar sy ontvlugting op haar branderplank en in die arms van surfers vind. Wanneer sy na amper ’n jaar die allerlaagste punt bereik, besef Donna sy is op ’n pad van selfvernietiging.

Donna moet weer van voor af begin en sy aanvaar ’n opdrag om ’n replika van ’n antieke hangertjie te maak. Dit neem haar na Minnaarshof, ’n spogplaas in die Riebeekvallei. Hier ontmoet sy vir Toit Minnaar.

Toit treur al meer as ’n jaar oor sy vrou se dood en hy neem ’n wilsbesluit om weer sy lewe op koers te kry. Hy aanvaar ’n uitdaging om deel te neem aan ’n realiteitstelevisiereeks, Boer soek ’n vrou. Wanneer die drie dames op die plaas kom kuier saam met die TV-span, begin die poppe dans. Daar is wedywering en katgevegte en Toit begin al hoe meer aangetrokke voel tot Donna.

Donna doen egter haar bes om gevoelens wat Toit in haar wakker maak, te onderdruk. Sy wil weer haar loopbaan op dreef kry én terugkry wat ’n man by haar gesteel het.

Magaya is the unemployed graduate who lost his parents due to crime and was left with nothing else apart from a four roomed house. The community of Siyabusa adopted him. To thank them he was involved in the fight against crime and drug abuse which saw him recruited full time by crime fighting agencies. Magaya met a love of his life Nozuko, who was a shareholder and Director of Marembera store. The two tired the knot and due to family commitment decided to promote Sbongile, their friend to run the fort on their behalf who stole all the investment and savings.

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.

Nomsa is a beautiful college girl who was forced by her parents to marry a man chosen by them. He was from the economic social class as them. While at college she fell in love with Musa whom she loved dearly but her parents instructed her to break up with and follow their orders.

Die oorlog en Gordon Fraser veroorsaak ’n oënskynlik onoorbrugbare kloof tussen Catriona en Rudolf Dreyer.

Waar daar kort gelede nog liefde was, lees Catriona haat, afkeer en veragting in sy oë. Hy glo sy was vir sy twee broers se teregstelling verantwoordelik en sy kan hom nie bereik om hom van die teendeel te oortuig nie.

Hierdie is die tweede boek in ’n tweeluik na Onder 'n Sterrehemel.

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.

Vuurtoringwagter Hannes Harker word met sy vrou na ’n afgeleё eiland verplaas. Hy ontdek iets wat lank in die toring weggesteek was wat hom sy balans laat verloor, en hy val.

In die hospitaal vertel hy met rukke en stote aan verpleegsuster Rika sy lewensverhaal – van sy ma se geheimsinnige dood, van sy onbeheerbare jong vrou, Aletta, en van die verlate eiland waar net die vuurtoringwagters en ghwanowerkers woon. Dié twee groepe leef saam maar tog ook streng apart op een van die onherbergsaamste plekke op aarde. Met die aankoms van ’n karakter uit Aletta se verlede kom haar eie geheime onvermydelik aan die lig, net soos die pruttende spanning en onregte wat die ghwanowerkers so lank verduur het tot uitbarsting kom in ’n enkele, skokkende gebeurtenis.

Die Bewaker is die verhaal van twee geslagte vuurtoringwagters – mans verbete in hulle plig, en vroue wat saam met hulle in skrikwekkende afsondering leef. Dit is geskryf in die kenmerkende meevoerende styl waarvoor Marguerite Poland so bekend is, nou vir die eerste keer in Afrikaans.

’n Roman oor die krag van geheime, die krag van die liefde en die krag van stories.

"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.

At a prayer meeting on a cold Rotterdam night, the young clerk Aart Anthonij van der Lingen – a pale, sickly, hunchbacked ‘fish from the North’ – is held in the charismatic Reverend Johannes Kicherer’s thrall. Lured by Kicherer’s passion, he leaves his grey and loveless life to land at the Cape of Good Hope as a lay missionary in 1800.

But when the Missionary Society draws lots to determine where to send the new arrivals, Van der Lingen is sent east and Kicherer north. The hunchback missionary must make his own way in a place that, on the surface, God has forsaken – until, as the pitiless landscape and the blank faces of his would-be congregants strip Van der Lingen incrementally of his pride, he learns that he has nothing to give to the Africa that is ultimately his salvation.

Based on historical figures drawn from the Cape Town Church Archives, The Hunchback Missionary is a sweeping narrative of vanity and humility, of the sacred and the profane, of how Europe’s rampant strides across newly colonised Africa led to the abyss from which a continent still struggles, today, to retreat.

Gebaseer op die treffer TV-reeks. Jacques Rynhard, een van die land se gewildste skrywers, verdwyn op die kruin van sy loopbaan. Joernalis Carina Human moet uitvind waar hy is, maar meer belangrik, hoekom hy verdwyn het. Sy krap 'n perdebynes oop van verraad, donker geheime, moord en mislukte verhoudings.

It is a painfully hungover Saturday morning for two incorrigible small-town scallywags. Jeremy "Spikes" Vorster and his impulsive but charismatic sidekick, Zachary Post, decide to flee their previous night's regrets in search of adventure in the rural Transkei.

A run-in with a local taxi gang sets in motion a series of events that unravels a tense and violent misadventure as the two young rebels are forced to defend themselves at all costs.

What results is a gritty, uniquely South African undertaking, complete with sex, drugs and crawling paranoia.

Kruispad is die kern van Deon Opperman se groot TV-trilogie oor die Afrikaner se pad in Suid-Afrika. Dit beeld presies uit waar die groot verandering gekom en hoe die Afrikaner daarop gereageer het.

Die roman wentel om Sophia en Mariana, die twee dogters van ’n welgestelde boer, Soois van Rooyen, en sy vrou, Mart. Sophia is met die skatryk FG van den Berg getroud en Mariana met die arm, bekrompe Andries Landman. Terwyl FG en Andries albei hul ekonomiese status ná die verkiesing van 27 April 1994 verloor, sit hul onderskeie seuns, Klein FG en Henk, met die nalatenskap van apartheid.

Kruispad belig nie net die snykant van apartheid fel nie, maar boor ook diep in die problematiek waarmee die Afrikaner in die jare negentig moes worstel en toon hoeveel inbors en karakter dit verg om die juk van die verlede af te skud.

Leke is a troubled young man living in the suburbs of Cape Town. He develops strange habits of stalking people, stealing small objects and going from doctor to doctor in search of companionship rather than cure. Through a series of letters written to him by his Nigerian father whom he has never met, Leke learns about a family curse; a curse which his father had unsuccessfully tried to remove.

Bom Boy is a well-crafted and complex narrative written with a sensitive understanding of both the smallness and magnitude of a single life. Part of the narrative is presented through letters written by Leke's father, Oscar, to Leke's mother, Elaine; other sections are comprised of letters written by Oscar to Leke - letters which tell him about Oscar's early life in Nigeria and the origins of a family curse. A curse which resulted in Oscar being imprisoned. Through these letters, a wonderful feeling of traditional Nigerian beliefs and customs are brought to both Leke and the reader.

The pages of this novel are filled with the simple difficulties of living - coming to terms with death, with ourselves, with others, with loneliness, independence, trust - these are dealt with by Omotoso in a careful and nuanced manner.

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.

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.

After his heart bypass operation, former champion-athlete Christian Lemmer needs to take stock. When a Cape Flats gang begins to target him, this becomes vitally important.

Christian commutes between Johannesburg and Stellenbosch, where he returns at weekends to his amnesiac wife Christine and his confrontational son Siebert. But he also has a hideaway that no one knows about, a flat in Sea Point where his drug dealer meets him, and a Swazi prostitute becomes his confidante.

And in Matjiesfontein the staff of the Lord Milner Hotel and the local pigeon breeders are in a state of excitement with the approach of the Southern Cross Derby - the most important event in the Karoo's pigeon racing calendar. But other things are afoot in Matjiesfontein as well, things in which the lives of the Lemmers are soon to become involved, from the arrival of the Piss-Man to the disappearance of prodigy Snaartjie Windvogel who, it is said, bewitches her father's pigeons with her violin playing.

The Lemmers come to the village to try to unravel one mystery, only to find themselves caught up in another.

Toe Elfrieda ná ʼn lang koma uiteindelik haar oë oopmaak, is haar kop leeg. Sy is in ’n Durbanse hospitaal nadat sy voor ’n motor ingehardloop het en die angs pak haar wanneer sy besef sy kan níks van haar verlede onthou nie.

’n Terloopse opmerking deur Michael, die neuropsigiater wat na haar omsien, bring ’n flits herinnering: Voor haar sien sy ’n vaalgroen boekie oor die lewe van die ontdekkingsreisiger David Livingstone se vrou, Mary. Met behulp van Michael begin Elfrieda stadig die legkaartstukkies van haar geheue aanmekaar sit.

Maar soos haar grootwordjare voor haar begin oopspoel, bring die onthou ook hartseer: soos die herlewing van die tragedie van haar pa se ongeluk tydens ʼn vakansie by die see en haar ma se kille verwyt en woede daarna.

Terwyl Elfrieda ’n pad stap – verby die verskrikking van vergeet en die ontsetting van onthou – neem die verhaal van Mary Livingstone vorm aan: van haar grootwordjare op Kuruman in die Noord-Kaap, tot kinders grootmaak in die wildernis van Betsjoeanaland. En deur dit als: David se oorrompelende reisdrif wat hom ’n koers laat inslaan het na ’n plek waarheen sy gesin hom eindelik nie kon volg nie.

Een plaas. Een familie. Een bloedlyn. Sewe geslagte.

In 1838 vlug Pieter de Witt uit die Oos-Kaap na Natal om ná maande van uiterste ontbering op die walle van die Tugelarivier ’n hoekpaal in te kap en sy plaas af te tree. Hy noem die plaas Donkerland. Dit is hier waar sewe geslagte De Witts die wel en wee van ’n ontluikende volk beleef: die Groot Trek, die stryd teen die Zoeloes, die Anglo-Boereoorlog, Groot Depressie, 1948-verkiesing, Grensoorlog, Soweto-opstande en die oorgang tot ’n demokratiese Suid-Afrika. Vir honderd agt-en-vyftig jaar leef die De Witts die triomf en die smaad van die geskiedenis op ’n enkele stuk grond uit; ná sewe geslagte begin dit deurskemer wat dit beteken om in hierdie aarde ’n hoekpaal in te slaan en ’n plaas af te tree.

Donkerland is die eerste aflewering in Deon Opperman se Afrikaner-trilogie.

Ignatius Smit sterf by geboorte op Woensdag, 3 Maart 1982 op Katima Mulilo in Namibie se Kaprivistrook. Omdat Ignatius se ouers die sendingpaar is, word hy begrawe op 'n afgelee plek in 'n bos, naby die graf van magistraat Trollop wat aan koors in Barotsiland gesterf het.

Sy ma sukkel om sy dood te verwerk, omdat sy as geestelike leier verantwoordelik voel vir die vertroosting van die dorpsmense, wat net so platgeslaan is deur sy onverwagte dood. Jare later haal sy onverwekte dood haar in. Hierdie is haar, Leonette, se verhaal. Dis 'n verhaal van verlies en die verwerking daarvan, wat grootliks afspeel binne die militêre milieu - waarvan grenslewe 'n groot komponent is.

Baie jare later kry sy vertroosting deur berading en musiekterapie van 'n orrelsimfonie van Saint-Saens. Dit gee vir haar 'n visualisering van Ignatius se lewe na die dood. So kry sy volkome bevryding vir haar pynlike smart.

In ’n arm gemeenskap waar tik toenemend verwoesting en hartseer veroorsaak, vra drie ma’s al hoe meer wanhopig: wie is skuldig en wie staan dan vir geregtigheid? Maria verloor eers haar man en daarna haar seun. Ook haar suster, Stienie, en hul buurvrou Bettie moet magteloos toekyk hoe hierdie nuwe plaag hul lewens en huise indring, hulle vasketting aan hul uitsiglose omstandighede.

Teenoor die sukkelende bestaan en swaarkry van dié drie gesinne word die luukse en gewetenlose bestaan gestel van die bendeleier Dolf Pistoors, die Groot Beer. Maar daar is wel een man wat hom beywer om die euwel te beveg en hom skaar aan die kant van die vroue, kaptein Wielieboy Mathabola.

’n Onthutsende roman oor die mens se uitgelewerdheid aan magte buite homself en sy stryd om geregtigheid. Wat in die media slegs koerantberigte is, kry onrusbarende gestalte in Phillips se outentieke uitbeelding.