Hulle is almal in die land. Van die Chinese triades tot die Russiese mafia. Niemand is egter hier vir die land en die Kaap se natuurskoon nie. Hulle het nie sentiment oor ’n politieke bestel of ’n reënboognasie nie. Geld is die enigste god wat aanbid word.

Toe Ellie McKenna instem om hierdie wêreld te infiltreer, het sy gedink sy weet waarvoor sy haar inlaat. Maar soos haar pa altyd gesê het, die duiwel deel nie visitekaartjies uit nie.

En nou is haar pa nie meer daar nie, en moet sy self besluit wie sy kan vertrou, en waartoe sy in staat is. Haar pa het ook gesê dis ’n job waaruit iemand dikwels nie lewend wegstap nie.

Dis waar dit geëindig het, toe die trekker se wiel Klara se pa papgedruk het. Toe hulle ná haar pa se dood van Boplaas moes weg en in die wit lokasie gaan woon, toe was alles verby. En dit was nog lank voordat al agt die kinders gebore is wat die agt knope in Klara se naelstring voorspel het. Maar verby was die tyd dat Klara die dae onder die wilgerboom op die damwal langs die lusernland kon omdroom, of met rooi koeldrank en koekies voor die stoof kon sit en luister na Polla se stories oor waar die bul vir oom Slap Soois geskop het.

Boplaas het hulle afgeskud.

Of so het Klara gedink. Maar die waarheid is dat Boplaas nie klaar was met haar nie. Haar susters kon wegkom – Leen met haar oneerbiedigheid en Martie deur met ’n halwe Duitser te trou en landuit te vlug – maar nie sy nie. Iemand moes omsien na Ma wie se kop heeltemal uitgehaak het, en iemand moes help om Ma se fratskind, Henk, deur matriek te sien, en daarby moes Klara ook nog haar eie geleerdheid kry.

Eers toe die ding met Dries, Boplaas se erfgenaam, op die rotse loop, was dit asof Klara haar kon losmaak van haar verlede. Maar dit is juis toe sy uiteindelik weggaan dat sy agterkom hoe onlosmaaklik sy verstrengel is met daardie plaas en sy mense.

Klara is ’n verhaal met ’n onweerstaanbare aardsheid. Snaaks én hartverskeurend. Dis nie aldag dat ’n mens jou so kan verlustig in die vreemde draaie wat die lewe gooi nie.

Nuwe plek, nuwe skool, nuwe mense. Ek het my eenkant gehou, net in die middae pinball gespeel by die Griek se kafee op die hoek. Pinball was my ding. My nuwe klasmaats het gesien hoe ek speel.

“Kyk hoe jive die cat daar agter die pinball,” lag die een. “Ek scheme dié Randfontein cat is nie te bad nie.”

Omdat ek ’n soort van pinball wizard was, het hulle my nie so geboelie soos vir my kleinboet Johnny nie.
 
Ná ’n lewe in die skadus neem ’n man stelling in, rewolwer in die hand, om sy allerlaaste misdaad te pleeg.
 
Terwyl hy in ’n donker sitkamer wag, loop sy herinneringe wye draaie: na harde grootwordjare in Randfontein en Germiston se strate, waar selfs jou eie familie jou kon bloedmond slaan. Hy onthou die Suid-Afrika waarin hy opgegroei het: die Castle Lager en Lucky Strikes agter skoolpawiljoene, die seuns met aanvalsgewere op die grens.
 
Vir ’n hierjy soos hy was sy pad reeds vroeg uitgemeet: hoëtroustelle steel, baie Klipdrift, verbeteringskool, daarná die army. En toe sluk Sunnyside se nagklubs en onderwêreld hom in.
 
In André Krüger se aangrypende roman oor familie, verraad en wraak – geskryf in die taal van die straat en die tyd – voer een man ’n uiterste stryd teen sy lotsbestemming.

A young English biographer is working on a book about the late writer, John Coetzee. He plans to focus on a period in the seventies when, the biographer senses, Coetzee was 'finding his feet as a writer'. He embarks on a series of interviews with people who were important to Coetzee - a married woman with whom he had an affair, his favourite cousin Margot, a Brazilian dancer whose daughter had English lessons with him, former friends and colleagues. Thus emerges a portrait of the young Coetzee as an awkward, bookish individual, regarded as an outsider within the family. His insistence on doing manual work, his long hair and beard, and rumours that he writes poetry evoke nothing but suspicion in the South Africa of the time.

'n Afgetrede navorser raak betrokke in ’n vete met die bure na hulle twee reusagtige bome op sy erf afkap. Terwyl hy probeer wraak neem (met komiese gevolge!), kom sy joernalis-dogter op die spoor van ’n geheimsinnige graffiti-kunstenaar wat Da Vinci se Vetruviaanse Man op stadsmure in Johannesburg aanbring. Die verhaal speel af in die voorstede van Johannesburg en die distopiese ruimtes van Hillbrow. ’n Slim, humoristiese roman cum speurverhaal deur ’n bekroonde dramaturg.

Dis 1933 – ses jaar voor die Tweede Wêreldoorlog. Kate Woodroffe was nog die heeltyd in watte toegedraai en soos ’n porseleinpoppie opgepas totdat sy besef dat daar ’n ander wêreld bestaan as die herehuis in Parktown Ridge. Haar studierigting bring haar in aanraking met die verwoestende armoede van Vrededorp, skaars tien kilometer van waar sy woon, en sy besluit om ’n verskil te maak in die stukkende wêreld om haar. Maar die man wat haar pa aanstel om haar op te pas terwyl sy navorsing doen in die agterbuurte, krap haar netjiese planne deurmekaar. Want hy leer haar hart vlieg, laat ’n vreugde diep binne-in haar oopbreek. Maar hy ketting haar ook vas. “In die regte lewe is daar nie ’n óns nie, Kate …” Kate weet dit. Sy is ryk John Woodroffe se dogter, midde-in die wurgende depressie, die armblankes oral, die woedende myners diep in haar pa se goudmyne. En Bernard Neethling is ’n mynwerker. Hul wêrelde is onversoenbaar. En dis ononderhandelbaar. Albei weet dit. Maar hy skulp haar toe met sy krag, sy warmte. Hy wil die Suiderkruis vir haar pluk. En dit, weet Kate, sal makliker wees as om hul liefde te laat blom.

Shay, a seemingly shy and innocent journalism student, is sent to a female prison to cover a story on an inmate, but falls in love instead. Two months later, Sippy, Shay’s love interest, is out of prison and they move in together.

On the outside, Sippy is the haunted one in the relationship, but as their love story unfolds, it turns out that Shay has her own secrets.

This immersive and interesting story – written with no small amount of flair and intensity – is sexually charged and filled with moments of lacerating violence, both emotional and physical. At heart, it is the story of a woman’s inability to let go of that which both nourishes and destroys her.

Die hel is los in Johannesburg se strate. Iemand is besig om jong meisies wreed af te maai en die bloedspoor wat hy agterlaat, sê: “Reeksmoorde”. Die stapel slagoffers raak kaptein David Majola en adjudant Jason Basson se gemors.

Kaptein Majola: ’n man deurmekaar met wit lyne en opgerolde geldnote wie se ma en suster steeds in die township sit en krepeer. Adjudant Basson: die tipe polisieman wat veel eerder die Mag jare gelede vaarwel moes roep.

Terwyl koerante en politici blaf en die taxibase met ’n verwoestende staking dreig, moet Majola en Basson duiwels in ’n malse stad trotseer.

“We must do something to pass the time, I thought. Two women in a room, hands and feet tied.”

Kidnapped in Nigeria by a group not unlike Boko Haram, two women, Nwabulu and Julie, relate the stories of the very different lives fate has meted out for them.

When Nwabulu’s father dies, her stepmother sends her off to become a housemaid. For years, she suffers the abuse of employers, a love affair with an employer’s son offering little comfort. Out of their union a son is born, but the young Nwabulu has to give him up, and is bound to suffer in her stepmother’s home again until she can flee, establishing herself as a fashion designer, finally able to inhabit Julie’s world.

Julie: privileged, educated, and adored by her parents. She has the opportunity to become whomever she desires. But sometimes too much choice can be a dangerous thing, and in Julie’s case it is. At thirty-four she is still unmarried and, for the first time, there is pressure: a burden that will only be lifted with the birth of a son. So determined is Julie for release that she goes as far as a polygamous marriage.

While the two women wait for the ransom to be paid, fate will once again decide the course of their lives.

Die vrou van die klippesee vertel hoe die lewe vir Hendrik tot nou toe gerol het soos ’n stormsee. Hy is ’n visserman van ’n klein dorpie aan die Weskus wat jou aan Paternoster laat dink en in sy lewe het hy reeds sy broer aan die dood afgestaan. Maar dit is die verdwyning van sy vrou wat hom bitter maak en na die papsak wyn laat reik. Só staan hy dronk en droewig in die koue see, reg om homself te verdrink terwyl sy hond op die strand vir hom wag wanneer die roman begin. Hendrik se lewe begin handomkeer verander wanneer hy ’n gewonde gedierte, miskien iets soos ’n meermin, huis toe bring. Die vrou van die klippesee wys hoe goed fiksie sosiale en politieke kwessies kan ondersoek wanneer die skrywer lig werp op die lewe van ’n karakter wat aanvanklik niksseggend en nietig blyk te wees.

As ’n reël sien Krista Bishop se sekuriteitsagentskap net na vroue om. Behalwe toe regeringsluipers haar ’n aanbod maak wat sy nie van die hand kan wys nie: verseker die veiligheid van twee besoekende Chinese grootkoppe.

Wat hulle haar nie sê nie is dat die Chinese agter die onwettige perlemoenbesighede in die Kaap aan is. En hulle soek alles: van wat uit die see geoes word, tot wat op etenstafels verskyn. Hulle beplan ’n oorname wat drie bendeleiers van Kaapstad – die Untouchables – se bedrywighede en blink leefstyl sal verbrysel.

Saam met perlemoen kom spierkrag, tjieng, snuifgoed en skietgoed. Wanneer die eens onaantasbare bendebaas Titus Anders die strop nouer voel trek, kry hy vir Krista Bishop om sy dogter te beveilig en haar te beskerm teen die waansin van die bendeoorlog wat om hom uitbreek.

Krista is ’n yster. Sy is jonk, taai, en ver weg van die geweld op straat. Of dalk nie. Dié oorlog slaan orals uit – tot in haar agterplaas. Dan wag ’n geheime agent haar in, skietding in die hand.

All his life, Kabelo Mosala has been the perfect child to his doting absent parents, who show him off every chance they get. Both his parents and his small community look forward to him coming back after medical school and joining his father's practice. They also plan to give him the perfect township wedding. But Kabelo's one wish has always been to get as far away from the township as he possibly can and never come back.

A few weeks before he leaves for university, however, he forms a close bond with Sediba, one of his childhood friends, confirming his long-held suspicion that he is gay. Their relationship is thrown into turmoil by social pressures and conflicting desires, and it starts to look as if they can't be together. But against all odds the two young men make their way back to each other, risking scorn from the community that raised them.

In her characteristic, beautifully modulated voice, with razor-sharp clarity, Kagiso Lesego Molope tackles an urgent issue in her country of birth.

Die roman wat by uitstek met die naam van Van Melle geassosieer word, is Bart Nel, de opstandeling (1951), wat eers in Nederlands met Afrikaanse dialoë gepubliseer is, in 1942 volledig verafrikaans is tot En ek is nog hy en in 1951 vir ’n herdruk sy finale titel, Bart Nel, gekry het.

Die essensie van die roman is ook nie die historiese Rebellie van 1914 waaromheen die gebeure van hierdie roman gebou is nie. Bart Nel is trouens nie ’n historiese roman nie. Dis eerder ’n sielkundige of karakterroman wat handel oor ’n komplekse vereensamingsproses.

Daarmee was die werk verrassend modern in Afrikaans, soseer dat niemand dit aanvanklik besef het nie. Aan die hand van ’n nugter, maar darem nie gevoellose verteller nie word die leser binnegelei in die sel van Bart en Fransina se leef- en dinkwêreld, wat onvermydelik en dus tragies in twee vyandige selle splits en vanweë trots en onbegrip nie meer tot eenwording in staat is nie.

Hierdie gebeure van ’n genadelose afstropingsproses, waarby geliefdes en besittings in die slag bly, was in dié stadium uniek in die Afrikaanse prosa. Volgens Olivier (1981:55) wat op Spangenberg (1980) gereageer het, is daar min romans “waarin die onmag en die beperktheid van mense, en die onmoontlikheid om selfs naasbestaandes en geliefdes te begryp, op so ’n beklemmende en oortuigende manier uitgebeeld word”.

Esther Gelderblom has been waiting for a house for twenty years. In the bitter Oudtshoorn winter she and her friend Katjie queue to ask when their names will finally appear on the government’s list of housing recipients. Esther dreams of a home for her daughter Liedjie, who plays the keyboard for the Bless Me Jesus church, and for her husband, Neville, who will then get his life in order.

But corruption is rife as housing officials manipulate the list for favours. When Katjie’s shack burns down, the two women take matters into their own hands, occupying two empty houses and setting in motion events that will compromise everything they hold dear.

Esther’s House is a story of greed, power, and the fight for what is right when good people are pushed too far.

Life wasn't always this hard for fourteen-year-old Mvelo, who lives with her mother, Zola in the shacks on the margins of Mkhumbane township.

There were good times when they lived with Sipho, Zola's lawyer boyfriend. But when the beautiful and mysterious Nonceba Hlathi arrives, Zola has to make a choice. She also has her pride. Now their social grants have been discontinued: the one for Mvelo being underage reared by a 31-year-old single mother, and the other for Zola because of her status. And there is also an elephant growing in their shack as the terrible thing that happened that night in the revival tent remains unspoken.

In her second novel, Futhi Ntshingila once again introduces us to a cast of strong women who have little, but are determined to shape their own destinies.

This African fiction book reflects a positive narrative towards African success – relates to aspiring entrepreneurs and those that aspire to be successful in life despite previously disadvantaged backgrounds.

The reader is invited to join Don Mthethwa on a journey through the interesting life of an African child who aspires to be a successful entrepreneur but faces obstacles as a result of succumbing to society pressures prevalent in African societies today. Readers learn about the journey of an entrepreneur from dusty ashes and the endurance that emanates from persevering to make it successful despite challenges.

The story features a real-life scenery on the type of relationships that influence an individual’s character in their pursuit of following a career path and envisaged success. It includes historic philosophies and myths that have over the times resonated with the ordinary African child on this phenomenon.

Jodi: As a young girl, Jodi Daniels has just one silver lining to her turbulent relationship with her mother – her best friend and secret crush, Ryan James. Until her cousin Kimberly drives a wedge between Ryan and Jodi. Jodi is shattered when Ryan has to move to New York, and tries to mend their broken bond by staying in touch as Kimberly.

Ryan: Outwardly, Ryan seems to lead the perfect life – rich parents and great looks. Only Jodi has ever known the real upheaval of his life, always being the shining star on his bleak days. But it’s Kimberly who keeps in contact with him when he is in New York.

As the years pass he becomes a strikingly handsome hotshot lawyer, and makes the decision to come back home to claim the woman behind the emails – Kimberly surely? Will Ryan and Jodi’s motto, “My heart and soul will recognise you the instant I see you,” prove to be true or will Jodi turn out to be Ryan’s dearest deception?

Special Agent Hunter McCallum of the US State Department's Diplomatic Security Service anticipated his three-year assignment in South Africa would be a breeze compared to the chaos of his previous post. He envisioned trips exploring the Western Cape Winelands, savoring fine wines, and thrilling safaris in the Northern Bushveld, where the biggest threat would be a curious lion.

But from the moment his boots hit South African soil, the reality was starkly different. The serene landscapes he'd imagined were quickly overshadowed by a relentless wave of danger—high-stakes diplomatic crises, shadowy figures lurking in the embassy's underbelly, acts of ruthless revenge and a tangled web of espionage that threatened to unravel everything he thought he knew.

This book thrusts you into a world of relentless action, intense heat-of-battle scenes, raw emotions of desire, grief, and tragedy. Inspired by real events and true stories from special agents, it's a visceral experience where danger lurks at every turn. Journey with Special Agent Hunter McCallum as he navigates treacherous terrain, high-stakes espionage, and ruthless retribution.

Fact or fiction? The line blurs in a story that will leave you riveted.

This is the story of Shumikazi, the only surviving child of Jojo and Miseka. She grows up in a small village in the remote Eastern Cape during the days of white rule – from the outside, an apparently unremarkable life. And yet Shumi is marked for extraordinary things from the moment of her birth.

Wry, tragic, funny, scathing, with a Greek chorus of villagers’ voices, this rich novel from one of South Africa’s most beloved storytellers underscores the dignity of those often rendered invisible – poor, rural women, their families and communities. These marginal characters crackle with life and verve as they step into the centre of the national narrative in Magona’s skilled hands.

A powerful meditation on the vulnerability of rural women, it is also a series of overlapping love stories – above all, the love a father has for his daughter.

Stifled by the torpor of colonial South Africa and trapped in a web of reciprocal oppression, a lonely sheep farmer seeks comfort in the arms of a black concubine. But when his embittered spinster daughter Magda feels shamed, this lurch across the racial divide marks the end of a tenuous feudal peace. As she dreams madly of bloody revenge, Magda's consciousness starts to drift and the line between fact and the workings of her excited imagination becomes blurred. What follows is the fable of a woman's passionate, obsessed and violent response to an Africa that will not heed her.

Wat hét met Anna gebeur die oomblik ná sy die sneller getrek het? Ná sy haar stiefpa wat haar soveel jare lank fisies en emosioneel verrinneweer het, vroeg een oggend in Bloemfontein in die oë gekyk, en toe geskiet het?

Agt jaar ná die verskyning van Dis ek, Anna neem Anchien Troskie aldus Elbie Lötter weer haar pen op, en skryf die opvolg. Hoe vra ’n mens vergifnis, en wanneer mag jy wraak neem? Dit is die vrae waarmee Anna – en ook die skrywer – worstel . . .

’n Skreiend eerlike roman oor Anna Bruwer se lewe ná die moord op haar stiefpa – ’n boek gevul met deernis, en eindelik ook hoop.

Trencherman is the story of Marlouw's life-changing return to a post-apocalyptic South Africa - but it is also a voyage into the self.

One stormy nignt in Australia, Marlouw receives a call from his sister to save her son from 'that bloody country'. Handicapped by a clubfoot and a prudent spirit, Marlouw nevertheless answers what he perceives to be the call of destiny. In a journey recalling that of Marlow in Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, he departs for Africa. Marlouw's quest is to find his adventurer nephew, Koert, and to return him to the safety of Melbourne. There are rumours that Koert has ended up on the old family farm, now owned by the former workers, and that he has built himself an empire as the King of Meat.

Venter portrays a turbulent, ruined South Africa where the socio-political landscape is riven by factions, and the infrastructure is in ruins after a massive explosion in the south of the country. As the Journey progresses, the primal fear that haunts Marlouw and has devastated his people is relentlessly exposed.

Sy voel uiteindelik veilig...

Madie van Tonder was lief vir die charismatiese James van Vuuren en het vas geglo dat hy dieselfde voel. Ná die traumatiese afloop van hulle verhouding, besluit sy om in die vervolg haar hart toe te sluit, vrolik soos 'n vlinder rond te fladder en dieper verhoudings te vermy soos die pes.

Totdat sy die jong veearts, Lourens de Villiers, ontmoet. Sy helderbruin oë glimlag saam wanneer hy lag en hy laat haar veilig voel. Maar kan sy haar hart hierdie keer vertrou, of is Lourens ook besig om met haar te speel?

Die kwessie van seksuele teisering word aangespreek met baie deernis en sensitiwiteit in hierdie verhaal.

Innocent and inexperienced Abigail (Abby), a sheer teetotaller, has a long list of the attributes of the man she wants to fall in love with. She stumbles upon a rich and educated man who meets all the features on her list. However, this makes her irrational and impetuous, and she’s about to make the biggest mistake of her life.