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Books > Local Author Showcase > Fiction - adults
Following on from his bestselling novels A Year in the Wild and Back to the Bush, James Hendry returns to the setting of Sasekile Private Game Reserve for another tale that takes the reader behind the scenes with the MacNaughton brothers, Angus and Hugh. It is three and a half years since Angus’s last year in the wild when he was newly appointed to the position of head ranger at Sasekile. Much has happened in the interim. In Return to the Wild there is high drama, much hilarity and many close encounters with wildlife, fire and human incompetence as Angus unexpectedly returns to Sasekile to take on the training of a motley group of would-be game rangers with his usual stark but eloquent honesty. Alongside him, Hugh manages the lodge and its colourful staff with a varying degree of competence as events lurch from mishap to potential catastrophe. Whether you are a fan of the MacNaughtons’ previous misadventures or a reader new to their story, Return to the Wild is a highly amusing, engaging and heartfelt read.
Marike Marais is passievol oor haar werk as ontvangsdame by ‘n kliniek vir geestesgesondheid. Ná ‘n mislukte verhouding is sy vasberade om haar nooit weer aan ‘n lyntjie te laat hou nie. Louis Calitz probeer ‘n nuwe begin maak in die Boland as arbeidsterapeut by die kliniek. Hy pas gemaklik aan by die kliniek, maar op persoonlike vlak stoot hy vir Marike en hul ander kollegas van hom af weg. Boonop steek hy die rede vir sy probleme met mobiliteit vir almal weg en weier om hulp te aanvaar. Marike besef mettertyd dat Louis homself straf vir die dood van sy suster deur die pyn te verduur wat ‘n heupvervanging kan genees. Louis besluit om vir die operasie te gaan, maar sal dit genoeg wees om sy probleme op te los en sy hart vir Marike oop te maak?
Paris, 1958. A skirmish in a world-famous restaurant leaves two men dead and the restaurant staff baffled. Why did the head waiter, a man who’s been living in France for many years, lunge at his patrons with a knife? As the man awaits trial, a journalist hounds his long-time friend, hoping to expose the true story behind this unprecedented act of violence. Gradually, the extraordinary story of Pitso Motaung, a young South African who volunteered to serve with the Allies in the First World War, emerges. Through a tragic twist of fate, Pitso found himself on board the ss Mendi, a ship that sank off the Isle of Wight in February 1917. More than six hundred of his countrymen, mostly black soldiers, lost their lives in a catastrophe that official history largely forgot. One particularly cruel moment from that day will remain etched in Pitso’s mind, resurfacing decades later to devastating effect. Dancing The Death Drill recounts the life of Pitso Motaung. It is a personal and political tale that spans continents and generations, moving from the battlefields of the Boer War to the front lines in France and beyond. With a captivating blend of pathos and humour, Fred Khumalo brings to life a historical event, honouring both those who perished in the disaster and those who survived.
Met haar besige beroep as ‘n paalfiksheidsinstrukteur, stel Shaylyn nie in ‘n verhouding belang nie. Sy en Cameron, die uiters aantreklike eienaar van die vegklub oorkant haar studio, stamp nie net koppe nie, maar beland ook saam in die vegkryt. Shaylyn dra swaar aan die laste van die verlede. Sy is die voog van haar gestremde suster en het die verantwoordelikheid om haar teen hulle wrede verlede te beskerm. Sy leer egter vinnig in die oë en arms van Cameron dat nie alle mans dieselfde is nie. Die spoke van die verlede stap ook saam met Cameron. Hy besef gou dat Shaylyn sy hart met een hou verower het en sal enige iets in sy vermoë doen om haar te beskerm. Maar ‘n misverstand ruk hulle uitmekaar en moet Shaylyn kies tussen haar eie geluk en haar suster se veiligheid. Gaan sy toelaat dat die verlede en dreigende vrees ‘n toekoms saam met Cameron verwoes? Of gaan die liefde hierdie keer ‘n uitklophou slaan?
When the taxi Mandy is riding in runs out of petrol, she and her companion are stranded alongside a country road with their fellow passengers, all of whom are Zulu. While they wait for help, friendships develop as they share problems and stories and Mandy finds herself drawn to 8-year-old Jabulani, an AIDS orphan. She determines to help the boy, but what she proposes to do is not an easy road to follow; she faces legal and logistical problems, and much opposition. There is one person who supports her though, a lawyer whom she meets in Durban. Meeting him adds to her dilemma and she is torn by conflicting loyalties.
Joburg Noir is a collection of writings about memories, legends, loss, jokes, stories, myths and experiences by twenty-two gifted and versatile authors in South Africa. It makes the reader experience present-day Johannesburg as if one were in the past. The stories seek to understand, reconstruct, reinvent and recover this city space of loss, joy, deprivation, resistance and possibility by revealing its complex dynamics. They are funny, shocking, violent, absurd, strangely tender and memorable. Their lasting resonance lies in the fact that they invoke the joys and traumas of the past and present, making the two to co-exist and interlock. After reading this uncompromising and gritty anthology, the reader is bound to feel like a time-traveller who has voyaged into a magical alternate city and a reality that was either misnamed or not named at all. The intention is to help the readers to delve into their own memories in search of pictures of their sweet childhood and fractured identities. Contributors: Sam Mathe; Fred Khumalo; Lidudumalingani; Keletso Mopai; Sibongile Fisher; Kgomotso Masemola; Styles Lucas Ledwaba; Mapule Mohulatsi; Khanyi Magubane; Sifiso Mzobe; Gloria Bosman; Nedine Moonsamy; Yewande Omotso; Mabel Mnesa; Nthikeng Mohlele; Eusebius McKaiser; Siphiwo Mahala; Nkateko Masinga; Mzuvukile Maqetuka; Sydney Mojoko; Michelle van Heerden.
It’s 1899 and Philippa’s fiancé Nduku has just broken off their engagement. She is heartbroken – after all, she has followed him from Kimberley, where they first met, to the goldfields of Johannesburg. In this bustling new city, tensions are mounting between the South African Republic and the gold-hungry British Empire. When war is declared, the mines are shut down and migrant workers ordered to leave town. But how do you get home and out of harm’s way when there are no running trains and home is hundreds of kilometres away? You walk. Over perilous terrain Nduku and Philippa and seven thousand others walk to Natal. Disguised as a mineworker’s wife, for Philippa is white, she and Nduku talk about their true histories, about their fears and hopes, and with every footfall the possibility of lasting happiness seems within reach – if only they can survive, and if only they can weather the storm of an unexpected third player in their troubled romance. Set during an incredible event in South African history, The Longest March is a tale of heady determination, and a tribute to the perseverance and courage of ordinary men and women when faced with extraordinary circumstances.
This is the future world that haunts portrait photographer and narrator, James Baldwin, as he alternates between present-day South Africa and the Frontier — an existential dystopia where women are inexplicably completely and permanently wiped from the world. This, according to him, can only mean extinctions of varying and catastrophic degrees. He is a lover of women, and there are countless things he would terribly miss: how women hold and shake rainwater from umbrellas, the musical click of stilettos on concrete or tiled floors, the way light falls on their face during cosy, candlelit dinners. He would miss the patience of female psychologists who fix the world one madman at a time, there would no longer be eye-catching and dramatic fashion statements at weddings or funerals, florists would eternally be emptied of their stock, and the rate of tunes belted out in showers would drop dramatically if not completely cease, the world would not be the same without the gossip mill of some women, their petty jealousies and catfights, their ever-evolving and varied insecurities… A lull would befall the land. Erotic, perceptive and transcendental; Breasts, etc. is a novel of double consciousness. It is an exploration of, and meditation on the existential strife and tragic comedy at the Frontier, a post-apocalyptic and desolate landscape that forms the backdrop to an examination of masculine vulnerabilities and wickedness in a world stripped of feminine presence and wisdom.
Daniel is a journalist, moving between London and Cape Town, until his elderly father passes away. There is an unusual clause in the old man’s will: Daniel will only inherit his half of the estate once he has paid his estranged cousin a visit on the family farm in the Free State. It is a visit that will result in Daniel, his cousin and a sick young boy making a hopeful trip to Tokyo – a journey that will change all of their lives. An exquisite, tender novel by the award-winning writer SJ Naudé.
When Jack Pringle, the spoilt and out-of-control son of one of Cape Town’s wealthiest families is forced by his father to join Maria Alexopoulos on a road trip, he has no idea what he’s in for. Jack’s recent antics have landed him in serious trouble, and he must comply with his father’s rules or he will end up penniless, something he is not used to. Maria, the head Project Manager for an NGO called Wells for All is about to start her final journey across South Africa to close out her projects and tie up some loose ends. Maria’s recent personal loss and grief make her less than tolerant of Jack, a man twenty years her junior. Unfortunately, she must take Jack with her to appease his father, the NGO’s main donor. The journey, told with music, across the barren and beautiful countryside will test their resolve, ability to heal and connect. When they are stripped of all they believe they should be, can Maria and Jack find their truth under the African stars.
A new collection of short stories by one of South Africa’s most original writers, A Little Light is a timely and sensitive evocation of places, bodies, politics, regrets and hope, all revealed in tightly controlled and beautifully lit stories. Mohlele’s daring writing is on full display with the publication of this volume.
When Natasha, a novice writer from South Africa, is nominated for a major British literary prize, Terence, a young university lecturer, undertakes to introduce her to the sights of London. However, London and its literary cliques are a far cry from Natasha’s Karoo hometown: through no fault of her own, she is disqualified, and their affair ends in tragedy. Terence, whose best friend accuses him of suffering from a Good Samaritan complex, now takes an interest in a rough sleeper and his dog that he meets outside a tube station. This turns out to be a complex undertaking. As the ghosts of his past relationships are visited upon him, Terence is forced to reconsider the meaning of human connections – how our lives touch, and are touched by, others. Michiel Heyns’s Each Mortal Thing shows us the metropolis through fresh eyes, calculates the cost of acts of kindness, and speaks to the grace that friendship can bestow on us.
Daniël voer ’n trekvoëlbestaan tussen Londen en Kaapstad. Wanneer sy bejaarde pa sterf, bevat dié se testament ’n ongewone klousule: Daniël sal slegs sy deel van die boedel erf indien hy besoek aflê by sy neef Theon, op die ou familieplaas in die Vrystaat. Dié besoek lei tot ’n ander reis – hy en sy neef neem ’n siek seuntjie na Tokio, met die hoop dat ’n nuwe soort behandeling die kind sal genees. ’n Aangrypende roman deur die bekroonde skrywer SJ Naudé.
Die laaste voerings van oudpolisiespeurder Carl Bester se lewe torring los, en hy sluit aan by die Kaapse tak van Mercurius, ’n CIA-steunpilaar. Intussen word ’n Saoediese joernalis in ’n konsulaat in Istanbul vermoor, met ’n SA joernalis as onwillige ooggetuie. Gevolge van dié joernalis se besluite kring uit na Kaapstad, waar Carl opdrag kry om die saak te hanteer. Saoediese agente en ’n siellose mesmoordenaar is maar twee van die monster se vele tentakels wat Carl een-een moet afkap.
Liora word groot op ’n volstruisplaas in Algerië, naby die Sahara. Sy is omring deur mense wat lief is vir haar, Maman en haar tante, oom Moshe, en haar pa, wanneer hy in die rondte is. Van kleins af bring sy tyd deur in haar tante se pluimery, ’n magiese omgewing waar volstruisvere omskep word in kostuums vir die filmbedryf en die verhoë van Parys. Maar Liora loop haar telkens in grense vas wat sy moet oor. En in Algerië broei onrus. Eers verhuis sy na die oorloggeteisterde Algiers waar sy leer om dokter te word, maar dan word sy gedwing om inderhaas landuit te vlug, Parys toe. Jare later kom Liora, steeds verwonderd oor die skoonheid van volstruisvere, in die Klein-Karoo aan om oom Moshe te besoek. Hier ontmoet sy Candice, ook behep met volstruisvere, ’n priester, ’n kunstenares en ander Kannalanders. Haar lewe word opnuut omgedop, en weer eens lê daar ’n grens voor haar – en sy moet besluit of sy dit sal oorsteek.
In Junie 2070 skenk die 27-jarige Jenesis Baron geboorte aan ’n tweeling in haar woonstel in Xin Xianggang, voorheen bekend as Bloemfontein. Maar swangerskap sonder ’n genetiese toestemmingspermit van die owerhede is taboe, en die pasgeborenes word deur generaal Ben Wagner uitgesnuffel en aan die MediBot oorhandig, ’n robot wat ontwerp is om ongewenste lewens te beëindig. Genadedood noem hulle dit. Want, sê die regering, daar is nie genoeg kos, water en blyplek vir almal nie. Jenesis is hartgebroke. Met haar hele hart smag sy daarna om vir Adam te vertel van die twee seuntjies wat nes hý lyk. Maar Adam is weg. Haar halsstarrige siening oor die huidige bewind en haar onvermoë om in te sien dat slegs die elite in die slimstede floreer, het hom verdryf. Vir haar bestaan gewone burgers nie, diegene wat na die buitewyke van die oorloggeteisterde ou stede uitgewerp word om van honger te sterf. Moederland bied ’n fassinerende blik op die toekoms. ’n Puik nagevorsde, aksiebelaaide riller.
Liela Oloffson se ouers is in ’n huisbrand oorlede toe sy tien jaar oud was, maar vandag het sy alles wat meeste mense begeer. Skoonheid, roem, en ’n blink loopbaan as aktrise. Maar dan verdwyn sy een Vrydagnag spoorloos en kaptein Kgomotso vra gesoute misdaadjoernalis Ami Prinsloo se hulp. Soos ’n bloedhond volg Ami Liela se spoor van waar sy laas by ’n Engen-garage in Johannesburg gesien is. Maar waarom lyk dit op die CCTV-kamera of Liela alleen van die garage wegry? Kruip Liela weg of is sy gekaap? Of dalk ontvoer? En waaroor het sy en haar verloofde so hewig baklei net voor sy verdwyn het? Die Verkeerde Vrou is die tweede boek in Irma Venter se nuwe reeks met misdaadjoernalis Ami Prinsloo as hoofkarakter. Die Verkeerde Vrou volg op Minder As Niks, maar kan ook alleen gelees word.
Dat Yentl Beylstra as tweejarige 'n tante geword het was destyds voorbladnuus in die kontreikoerant. Met 'n volksvreemde naam soos hare, is sy as graadagt leerling in 'n nuwe skool deur die hoofseun, Wicus Willers, van 'n klomp koggelende matrieks gered. Hy sorg vir die bynaam Gentle-Yentl, minwetende dat hy die oorsaak was vir haar eerste, en mees geheime drome, oor die liefde. Jare later, na 'n mislukte verlowing, oorreed haar neef, Bertus, haar om as locum vir hom in 'n tandartspraktyk in Engeland in te staan. Daar ontmoet sy in vreemde omstandighede Bertus se huismaat, Wicus - die einste hoofseun van haar tienerliefde. Sy ontdek dat haar gevoelens net latent gewag het om soos sjampanje weer na die oppervlak te borrel. Tussen die eeue-oue geboue ontdek sy uiteindelik die oerwete van dit wat tussen 'n man en vrou gebeur wanneer twee siele vervleg.
Serina Bothma kom pas uit 'n lang verhouding wat sleg geeïndig het en wil niks van mans weet nie. Maar Tiaan, een van haar leerders in haar graad een klas, het egter besluit dat sy die perfekte pasmaat sal wees vir sy enkellopende pa, Hugo. Serina daag toevallig by dieselfde vakansieplek as Tiaan en Hugo op. Hugo vermoed dat sy hom agtervolg het soontoe, maar is nie van plan om by haar betrokke te raak nie, al bekoor haar sagte stem en mooi oë hom. Serina wil self nie haar nuutgevonde vryheid prysgee nie en beplan om te begin skryf. Die enigste probleem is dat geen man haar al ooit so aangeraak het soos Hugo nie. Serina en Hugo probeer mekaar vermy, maar klein Tiaan het ander idees. Hy smee allerhande planne dat die twee gedurig in mekaar se geselskap beland. Hy hét mos vir Kersvader gevra dat sy pappa met sy juffrou moet trou. En vir Kersvader is niks onmoontlik nie… Hierdie is 'n kersverhaal vol liefde, deernis en familiewaardes. Madelie gebruik godsdiens en Christenskap sonder dat dit die romantiek van die liefdesverhaal bederf.
Vimbai, a final-year law student at the University of Zimbabwe, is determined not to join the long line of unemployed graduates. She'd would rather trade sexual favours to get a job than go back to living with her aunt-turned-stepmother. Unlike her roommate, Nosihle, she prides herself on being pragmatic. Nosihle is the good girl who mistakenly falls in love with the wrong man and then there’s Ruby, the spoilt socialite who is leading a double life. Through their messy choices, their lives become intertwined. Vimbai is looking for someone who can offer her the opulence and grandeur of the Sunshine City. Even if it means sleeping with Cheropa, the former first son and Ruby’s boyfriend. It’s a dog-eat-dog world after all. But Vimbai soon learns that every action has a consequence and some of our wishes come to haunt us when we are at our happiest. Her carefully orchestrated life takes a nosedive when her secrets are held against her by a mysterious well-connected man.
Dat die dokter wat mynbaas Hans-Peter Kranz aangestel het al die tyd ’n vrou is, het die dorpenaars op Kolmanskop vroeg in die twintigste eeu heeltemal oorhoops. Dokter Alexandra Stackelberg kom om die x-straalmasjien by die diamantmyn te bedryf – nie bloot om mediese redes nie, maar ook om diamantdiewe vas te trek. Haar werk raak ’n morele dilemma en twee mans ding mee om haar aandag, terwyl oorlogswolke op die horison saampak... Soos Kolmanskop se mense deur die sand sif na diamante, so sif een van hulle later jare deur herinneringe, op soek na sekerheid en die waarheid agter een van hulle se dood. Hemel en aarde en ons is ’n whodunit met ’n konsepsuele kinkel, ’n verkenning van identiteit, bewussyn, verwording en vergetelheid.
‘Why can you not be friends anymore?’ It was the story of his country, he supposed. Perhaps they could have been friends. Perhaps they were once. The reasons were complex, full of feeling, disappointment, resentment. And, of course, betrayal. This was the Middle East after all. Avi Dahan, a retired detective mourning his beloved wife in Tel Aviv, and Khalid Mansour, a Palestinian doctor confronting the precarious reality of living in Gaza City, are still reeling from the political fallout that jeopardised their delicate friendship. When a mysterious corpse scarred by history and forbidden love shows up in Khalid’s emergency room, he reaches out to Avi for help. Though the detective is the only one who might be able to assist, he is the last person on earth to agree … The stage is set for Andrew Brown’s unforgettable new novel, The Bitterness of Olives. Did it really matter? In the face of chaos, was it important how she had died? That was the guidance he needed from Avi now. He needed to understand that question: did it matter anymore? Was it of any significance, how you died in a war?
Een aand in 1914 word Koos de la Rey op pad na ’n rebellie noodlottig gewond. Die teiken was die bendelid William Foster. Dat De la Rey in die spervuur beland het, was pure toeval. Of was dit? Die roman is 'n verweefde tapisserie waarin die verhale van vele vertel word: die storie van o.a. Billy Foster se dogter, Helena; die trawalle van die hensopper Segrys Heyns en sy agterryer Tappies Mahlangu; die speurtog van poliesman Isak Heyns. ’n Merkwaardige, hoogs leesbare geskiedkundige roman.
A week before her wedding Janien Steyn is found dead, grotesquely arranged on a bike in her wedding dress, with a long red bridal train in her wake, as if in mid flight. Retired policeman Jaap Reyneke asks Sarah Fourie, a hacker with a criminal record and zero social skills, to help solve the case. Janien was a successful artist and business woman, and on the point of marrying her university sweetheart. Was it suicide or murder? Why was her body arranged so carefully, almost artfully? And why did she wipe her computer’s memory so thoroughly before her death?
There is nothing unusual or remarkable about the Swart family, oh no, they resemble the family from the next farm and the one beyond that, just an ordinary bunch of white South Africans, and if you don’t believe it then listen to us speak ... The many voices of The Promise tell a story in four snapshots, each one centered on a family funeral, each one happening in a different decade. In the background, a different president is in power, and a different spirit hangs over the country, while in the foreground the family fights over what they call their farm, on a worthless piece of land outside Pretoria. Over large jumps in time, people get older, faces and laws and lives all change, while a brother and sister circle around a promise made long ago, and never kept ... |
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