Sophia Joubert en haar skoonfamilie is na afloop van die Anglo-Boereoorlog weer vry om terug te keer na die verwoeste familieplaas – sonder vee en sonder kos. Geoffrey Doubell help die Jouberts om weer op hul voete te kom. Dié samaritaan is wel ’n halwe Engelsman, maar elke keer as Geoffrey na haar kyk, bruis Sophia se bloed en word haar wange warm.

Haar eerste liefde lê egter begrawe in die grond van Natal en Sophia is diep gekwes. Sy sien ook in Geoffrey se oë ’n treurigheid wat nie wyk nie. Dié man ken ook verlies. Durf sy nou hoop op ’n tweede liefde? Op geluk by ’n man wat haar kan aanvul en verstaan?

Daar heers egter onheilspellende spanning tussen die Jouberts en die inwoners van die buurplaas. Boonop wonder Sophia of Geoffrey werklik sy lewe met slegs een vrou kan deel, want sy is beslis nie die enigste een wat in hom belangstel nie.

Jare gelede het Amelia Henning haar hart gesluit vir enige vorm van die liefde. By Enigma, die wildreservaat waar sy werk, staan sy bekend as die katvrou met haar kennis en liefde vir luiperds.

Amelia vind dit moeilik om vriende te maak totdat sy vir Justin Mills ontmoet. Met sy grasgroen oë en terglustige glimlag help hy haar om uit haar dop te kruip. Hoe meer tyd hulle saam deurbring, hoe sterker word haar gevoelens vir hom. Sy veg daarteen, maar tog kan sy nie ontken dat sy begin verander nie. Sy is nie meer die kwaai, stroewe mens van voorheen nie en weet Justin is deel van die verandering.

Haar verlede bly egter in die pad staan van haar emosies. Gaan sy toelaat dat die verlede haar toekomstige geluk steel, of gaan sy haar hart oopmaak teenoor Justin?

Die kortverhale in Maansiek verken 'n wye register: die Rooms-Katolieke geloof, charismatiese aanbidding, Afrika-mistiek, erotiek en moederskap, konflik tussen ras en geslag en sosiale status, spanning tussen die hede en die historiese, die sienlike en die onsienlike.

As basis vir sommige verhale dien 'n nugter koerantberig of tydskrifartikel uit vervloe dekades wat binne die verhaalkonteks tegelyk humoristies en ontstellend is.

Ander is gegrond op minder bekende aspekte van bekende figure of vertellings van onbekende vroue met uiteenlopende agtergronde.

Ná die trauma van ʼn onstabiele verhouding bedank Laynie as onderwyseres en verkoop haar woonstel. Sy gebruik ʼn deel van die opbrengs om ʼn lang vakansie te neem op Klippiesbaai waar sy ʼn krimi wil skryf.

Met haar aankoms kruis haar paaie met haar buurman, Stefan Koeglenberg. Die stormagtige ontmoeting tussen Laynie en Stefan is nie die ideale afskop vir goeie buurmanskap nie en in Laynie se gedagtes is hy ná hierdie voorval “die willewragtig langsaan”.

ʼn Wapenstilstand en versigtige vriendskap ontwikkel tussen hulle, maar Stefan sukkel om die dood van sy vrou en hul seuntjie te verwerk en sluit sy hart vir ʼn kans op nuwe geluk. Die liefde loop egter sy eie pad en het die vermoë om selfs die diepste seer te genees.

In 1977, terwyl Henna en haar man Stone juis op soek is na ’n stukkie grond waar hulle saam kan ontspan, weg van die stadsgeraas en mensegedrang, sterf Henna se ma en word ’n familieplaas onverwags en onbepland haar erfdeel. In pleks van die plaasidille wat Stone voorgehou het, word Henna nou gekonfronteer met die harde werklikheid van volskaalse boerdery en alles wat daarmee gepaard gaan: droogte, peste, plae, veesiektes, vrektes en vrees. Stone se pligte as “befaamde ginekoloog” hou hom immers besig in die stad – en dis Henna wat vrou-alleen stoetvee koop, hanslammers grootmaak, met plaasarbeiders onderhandel en ’n tuiste probeer skep uit ’n vervalle murasie.

Uit briewe aan haar jarelange vriendin Ida leer ken die leser ’n belese en berese “ek” wat skielik ’n totale ommeswaai in haar netjiese bestaan beleef. Só word die teks ook ’n boeiende karakterstudie oor ’n ouerwordende vrou wat stoei met haar komplekse familiegeskiedenis (haar ma was eksentriek en afwesig, haar pa het met sy kop in boeke geleef) en die onopgeloste geheime wat ná haar ma se dood op die lappe kom. Die Henna wat enersyds kan brande blus, kalwe versorg en vendusies bywoon openbaar haarself al skrywende as fyngevoelige, intellektuele en filosofiese “ek” wat vlymskerp kan spot met haar eie swakhede, maar ook pynlik akkurate waarnemings maak oor die wêreld waarin sy leef. Benewens interessante wetenswaardighede oor boerdery wat na vore kom, is dit ook ’n veelseggende teks wat betref rasverhoudings op plase, die rol en posisie van vroue in die gemeenskap, die ewige waarhede in die letterkunde en die mens se afhanklikheid van die natuur.

THANDO Weber is a half South African and half Swiss nerdy girl with hopes of going to the best university in Switzerland like her father did. She is also the last surviving descendant of the Watchers of Realms, a powerful race of light beings who watch over the Milky Way galaxy. Her mission is to find her lower-self, and her higher-self to complete her triad, so that she may bond with them and be the next Dreamer – an interdimensional traveller and protector of the Earth Realm.

Tortured by the transformation of moving from human to Dreamer, THANDO hallucinates, sleepwalks, and suffers sleep deprivation, which destroys her dreams of tertiary education. On one mundane high school day, she loses consciousness and plunges into a coma, not from exhaustion but because she encounters her lower-self and higher-self simultaneously.

She starts her training to be a Dreamer, experiences challenges and travels through South Africa to find ways to release her latent superpowers. As she trains, the Kryona terrorises people around her to get to her. On her journeys through South Africa, she meets powerful creatures of old, ancient water spirits and primordial dragons who help her with her training. She is guided to traditional healers to assist her and comes across other traditional healers who betray her due to influence from the Kryona. Through her adventures, she learns about her mother’s Zulu culture and inches closer to her goal, but will it be enough?

When Captain Kassie Kasselman of Newlands SAPD starts investigating a missing ex-colleague, it’s quickly clear that more is going on than a simple drug-related disappearance. It somehow seems linked to the kidnapping that has struck his colleague Rooi Els’ wife’s place of work, a curio shop. From the Cape ganglands to Kruger’s rhino poachers, from a grisly smallholding to the glitz of the diplomatic world, Kassie has to feel his way quickly but carefully – or Rooi Els’ wife is fish food. Afrikaans readers have grown to love anti-hero Captain Kassie Kasselman since Rudie van Rensburg’s first crime novel, Slagyster (2013). His unique style of detective story, with a strong focus not only on the investigation but also on the criminals in question, creating a complex and satisfying web of motives and plot, is now available in English for the first time.

Time out is an interesting thematic development in the novels of Marita van der Vyver. She had previously investigated the themes of love and being together (eros), and then she worked with the death of a mother-in-the-text. Now she describes the devastating effect of the death of a little daughter on the mother-in-the-text. She delves further into death's reach (thanatos). And though the Hester Human of the title exists in the spell of her child's death the whole time - in a way she is her child too - it is not a sombre title.

From Afghanistan to Johannesburg, from Libya to London, a team of highly trained undercover operatives is engaged in a race against time as terrorists plan an attack on the US Embassy in South Africa.

Martin Stevens, Eleanor Watts, Nombeko Tshivhase and Lukas Shabalala work for the underground agency IA3 under the command of Sid Blackman, Thabo Madonsela and Julius Mafere.

When a child-trafficking ring is exposed this team must enlist the aid of the CIA and the local police services in a dangerous mission to unearth the ring-leaders. But the tentacles of this evil gang extend far beyond the borders of South Africa and the team’s investigations lead them deeper and further than they ever believed they would go.

What is the connection to the gangs of Soweto and how is the nefarious and powerful Imam Abed Al Kumein involved? What is one of the largest investment banks in South Africa’s role and who is the mysterious hacker, Vladimir Al-Masri?

What is the most you would do to halt the malevolent actions of powerful people? How many dots would you join, when they led you into unspeakable horrors and danger?

The Five Firm Friends – Edith, Cordelia, Amanda, Doris and Beauty – are five sassy career women who confront life head- on. But when Beauty suddenly becomes ill and, after six short weeks, passes away, their world is thrown into confusion. On her deathbed Beauty begs Amanda to promise her one thing – that she and the rest of the FFF will not waste their lives as she has done. All because of an unfaithful husband ... ‘Ukhule,’ she begs of Amanda. May you live a long life, and may you become old.

Beauty’s Gift is a moving tale of how four women decide to change their own fate as well as the lives of those closest to them. This is Sindiwe Magona at her very best – writing about social issues, and not keeping quiet. Speak up, she says to women in Africa. Stand up, and take control of your own lives.

Die drama speel af in die Karoodorpie Willowmore. Die rol van die kerk, verkragting, verlies en familie is van die temas wat aangeraak word.

Lekas kyk na 'n kind se weerloosheid en na die familie se verantwoordelikheid om na haar om te sien. Die watermeid (waternimf of meermin) is die mitiese figuur wat tot die dorpie se redding moet kom en drie kinders in die stuk hoop sy sal hulle kom red.

Dit raak egter gekompliseerd wanneer die skuldige persoon 'n belangrike figuur in die gemeenskap is - die dominee.

Lourens Schoeman veroorsaak 'n beroering met sy aankoms op 'n dorpie in Botswana. Die gemeenskap wonder hoekom die aantreklike jong man 'n pak klere dra ten spyte van geweldige hitte en waarom daar soveel hartseer in sy oë skuil. Maar hy swyg soos die graf oor sy verlede. Toe Elzaan Jonker dit regkry om Lourens effens beter te leer ken, besluit sy om ondersoek in te stel. Sy is vasbeslote om uit te vind wat hom jaag en hoekom 'n plaaslike inwoner glo dat hy die doodsengel is.

Novel set in the Cape before the arrival of the colonists.

Kanu, a young man from the Ofuru tribe, leaves his newly pregnant wife Afua, his hut and his tribe and goes into the mountains in search of his identity and to listen for the name of his son.

For Kanu, the quest for his child's name can only begin through the ritual of first understanding who he is. As he journeys in a search for his own identity and his child's future, he must reexamine his place in the world and the implications for those around him.

Set in precolonial Africa, Kanu must navigate the questions of meaning and identity for the individual, the relationships between individuals, the conflicting interests between groups, and the tensions between individuals and the group. He does so by using his understanding of the history and culture of his people built on the foundations of duty and compassion.

Die dag toe Pappie die kaleidoskoop stukkend gekap het, het ’n paar van die gekleurde skywe ver weggespat en in die lang gras gaan skuil. Later, nadat die ouman weg was poskantoor toe, het hy die stukkies gaan bymekaar maak – ’n paar geles, ’n mooi groene en ’n klompie bloues en perses. Die res was gewone spieëltjies en hy het net ’n paar daarvan opgetel. Maar daar was bitter min van sy droom oor.

Hy voel die hitte van daardie dag se woede deur hom spoel. Sien weer die arend teen die lug draai en die skelm blink van die paar stukkies glas in die lang gras. Dan ontspan hy. Sy lewe was nooit heel nie. Altyd in stukke. Tronk was sy voorland – soos Pa voorspel het …

NOU gaan Schoeman huis toe.

MAAR sal hy nou die liefde en aanvaarding kry waarna hy smag, of sal hy steeds nie goed genoeg wees nie …?

KALEIDOSKOOP is ‘n historiese roman wat die verhaal van Schoeman en sy familielede vertel. Die besonderse verhaal van lief en leed sal jou as kieskeurige leser enduit boei.

Born on the cusp of democracy, the crew of young friends in Born Freeloaders navigates a life of drinking, wild parties and other recklessness. The siblings at the centre of the novel, Nthabiseng and Xolani, have been raised in an upper middle-class family with connections to the political elite. Nthabiseng is lauded by her peers as she whimsically goes through life, unable to form her own identity in a world that expects her to pick a side in the fractured classifications of race.

Xolani, not having known his late father, longs for acceptance from an uncle who sees him and his generation as the bitter fruit borne of a freedom he and countless others fought for. As the story moves across multiple spaces in the nation’s capital over a weekend, Born Freeloaders captures a political and cultural moment in the city’s and South Africa’s history. Interwoven is an analogous tale of the country’s colonisation and the consequences that follow.

And alongside the friends’ uneasy awareness of their privilege is a heightened sense of discomfort at their inability to change the world they were born into.

In ʼn afgeleë Kalahari-woestyndorpie ontdek ʼn jong Franse non, Léonie Duvernois, dat haar lewe lyflik en aards is; en om lief te hê onkeerbaar soos ʼn fontein in jou opborrel.

Sy leer ken die jong Vader Simon, die kaalvoet priester wat die klein woestynkatedraal eiehandig gebou het en wie se biblioteek vol verbode boeke is. Ook die vreemde hondkind wat hande-viervoet deur die dorpie se strate hardloop en die geheimsinnige, streng Suster Agnes. By die wyse ouma Pop leer sy: “… hier op die aarde het ons net ons lywe en ons moet lewe en glo met ons lywe.”

Wanneer Léonie in die skemerlig kaal swem in die Grootrivier, raak sy met verwondering aan haar borste en heupe en voel hoe die water al langs haar rug streel as sy haar oorgee aan die sorgelose vryheid van ligter word en wegdryf.

Hierdie is die universeel, eg-menslike verhaal van ʼn klein gemeenskap met eie wegsteekdinge, mense vir wie God in die worsteling van hul bestaan soms net ʼn skrale wete is.

In Haar grootste offer ontvang Marlene, wat vier maande swanger is, die skoknuus dat haar man wil skei. In Skaduwees van gister veroorsaak nuwe maatreëls dat matrone Anmar Cloete se pos oorbodig raak. Boonop word haar gewese verloofde as ’n nuwe dokter aangestel. Karen Viljoen is melaats verklaar. Dié oordeel dryf haar uit haar huis – tot in Genadendal, inrigting vir melaatses. Kan Otto se liefde dié vuurproef deurstaan in Plekkie in die son?

When you are accustomed to the finer things in life -designer shoes, champagne, VIP lounges, exotic holidays abroad, a luxury penthouse, expensive wheels -what independent young woman in her right mind would want to let them go? Certainly not the beautiful, ambitious and super-streetsmart Bontle Tau, the girl who has used her good looks and winning charm all her life to get exactly what she wants.

The lifestyle doesn't come cheap, though, nor does maintaining the body that allows it (just ask Dr Heinz at the beauty clinic). Luckily, Bontle has a degree in MENcology, and there is no shortage of blessers at her penthouse door, eager to give her all the love and (financial) support she needs. Papa Jeff might be overweight and getting on a bit, and receiving some unwanted attention from the Hawks; and Teddy might not have fully come through for her on that messed-up tender business; but Mr Emmanuel, the Nigerian businessman with deep pockets and the possibility of conferring second wife statu could that be love?

Keeping all her boyfriends happy and living a fabulous life is not without its challenges. With so many people clamouring for Bontle's attention -from her shebeen queen mother Gladys in Mamelodi, who is taking strain bringing up her teenaged brother, Golokile, on her own; to her girlfriends, Iris and Tsholo; not to mention her soon-to-be ex-husband, the ever-patient, ever-loving Ntokozo, Bontle barely has time to post on Instagram these days. Sooner or later something's got to give.

Nandi Nxumalo and Femi Adewoye are in love. But although the ladies at Nandi’s favourite hair salon drool over her tall, dark and super handsome boyfriend who has his own auto repair shop, there are others in her community who are less pleased that she, a Zulu woman, has fallen for a ‘foreigner’.

Nandi has to hide her relationship with her Nigerian boyfriend from her xenophobic father who would never allow them to date. But Femi is serious about her and wants to meet her parents. She is afraid of what her father might do when she introduces them. On the other hand, she doesn’t want to lose Femi. His ex-girlfriend Chichi is already trying to come between them.

When xenophobic attacks break out all over the country, Nandi and Femi do not escape unaffected. Nandi feels she has to do something – she can no longer be silent.

Die wêreld is nie vir sissies nie. Dít weet Fransi Fouché alte goed. Sy moet immers daagliks haar man staan terwyl sy allerhande rekwisiete vir filmstelle bou.

Fransi het nie tyd vir tydmors of enige ander nonsens nie. En in haar kop is dit presies wat verhoudings is – nonsens.

Sal die bekende Hollywood-hartebreker Matt Delmayer haar van plan laat verander? Matt laat haar egter vanuit die staanspoor goed verstaan: Hy sien nie kans vir ’n ernstige verhouding nie. Aanvanklik dink Fransi ook dis ’n uitstekende reëling – pret en plesier sonder enige verwagtinge. Die man doen immers allerhande lekker dinge aan haar lyf.

Daar bestaan egter voortdurend die gevaar dat iemand se hart gaan breek. Fransi wonder ook heeltyd: Hoekom tree Matt so geheimsinnig op?

Jono is a lonely fisherman who must work hard to pay the debt he owes. Uncle Mike is a factory owner trying desperately to stay above water. The Baai is a tiny town, peopled with those who have fished the same way for generations. And now there are no fish.

When a race of foreigners arrive with ships that stagger the ways of the Baai's simple folk, it seems the village will be washed away by the tide of the turning world. But for one boy with an uncommon talent: he can hear the thoughts of fishes.

For in the deep a secret lies buried, and through Jono’s line it must come tumbling out.

In Ploeg die wolke moet Brenda Rabie onverwags na Johannesburg gaan om haar pas geskeide suster te ondersteun. Daar begewe Brenda haar op ’n pad van persoonlike intrige wat sy nie vooraf kon voorsien nie.

Ansje Korber word eensklaps haar gewese skoonsuster, Joan, se vertroueling in Sirkelbaan. Hoe gemaak wanneer ’n man en vrou elkeen op hul beurt gebroke op Ansje se drumpel staan? Boonop wonder sy of die teenwoordigheid van Joan se nuwe swaer nie juis die probleem is nie.

In Die stille roep maak die leser op boeiende wyse kennis met die lief en leed van die Defórs-gesin. Regina Defórs moet as weduwee die fort hou. Haar drie kinders – wat elk met hul eie liefdeslewe worstel – is egter gekant teen die man by wie sy veel steun vind.

Lucy Lurie is deeply sunk in PTSD following a gang rape at her father’s farmhouse in the Western Cape. She soon becomes obsessed with the author John Coetzee, who has made a name for himself by writing Disgrace, a celebrated novel that revolves around the attack on her.

Lucy lives the life of a celibate hermit, making periodic forays into the outside world in her attempts to find and confront Coetzee. The Lucy of Coetzee’s fictional imaginings is a passive, peaceful creature, almost entirely lacking in agency. She is the lacuna in Coetzee’s novel – the missing piece of the puzzle.

But Lucy Lurie is no one’s lacuna. Her attempts to claw back her life, her voice and her agency may be messy and misguided, but she won’t be silenced. Her rape is not a metaphor. This is her story.

When Adam’s wife Wendy is murdered, he executes a series of vigilante killings and as a result is invited to join an organised covert operations unit, IA3, rather than face life in prison.

Given a new name and a new identity (and a faked death to boot) Adan adopts the identity of Bataleur and commences his new life as a trained and lethal crime fighter and assassin, working directly for the government. Alongside his new colleagues, he works to take down prominent political players when requested, targeting corrupt businessmen and politicians alike to maintain national security and restore apparent order.

Taking place in South Africa, Inside Out explores crime, corruption, gang culture and politics using multiple narratives and various newspaper clippings to paint a vivid and action-packed story of lawbreaking and violence that is well-concealed from society.