What makes Pat Simmons, a retired engineer, give up his comfortable middle class living and wade across a crocodile infested river with a bicycle strapped to his back, in order to teach chess to schoolchildren at the Mission station?

Vier ouens, ‘n meisie in ‘n kortbroek en ‘n man in ‘n rok – so kan die hoofkarakters in die boek opgesom word.

Husky en sy drie vriende is na hul Graad 12 eindeksamen op pad na ‘n Karooplaas, Blouwater, vir ‘n heerlike vakansie van niksdoen en kuier. Die plaas behoort aan een van die vriende se pa, een van die rykste mense in die land. Langs die pad laai hulle ‘n pragtige, blonde ryloper op, ‘n meisie met ‘n verlede en ‘n .38-rewolwer in haar handsak. Sy aanvaar die uitnodiging om saam op Blouwater te gaan uitspan, min wetend dat sy in doodsgevaar gaan beland.

Op die plaas stuur alles egter op ‘n afgryslike bloedbad af. Onverklaarbare gebeurtenisse, ‘n waansinnige pastoor met sy lang swart gewaad, ‘n kerkie, grafstene, kraaie en ‘n bejaarde gravin met haar haelgeweer skep ‘n atmosfeer van spanning, misterie en Gotiek. Blouwater sal nooit weer dieselfde wees nie.

Jonk en oud sal hierdie spanningsverhaal geniet met ‘n ontknoping aan die einde wat die leser uitasem sal laat.

Aan die Kaapse Weskus versorg Rebecca Maas haar sterwende pa in ’n tegnologies gevorderde slimhuis, ’n huis wat praat in ’n halfbekende stem. Op die horison, ’n olietenkskip.

’n Posthuman biohacker trou met die enorme skip, en maak kuns oor die wittebroodsreis.

En in die yswildernis van Svalbard verdwyn ’n navorser se kollega en minnaar spoorloos. Hulle is daar om geheimsinnige spierwit items te ondersoek – dalk beendere, maar dan beendere wat vertak en ineensmelt soos geen bekende skepsel s’n nie.

Willem Anker se roman Buys (2014) is bekroon met die Universiteit van Johannesburg-prys, die WA Hofmeyrprys, die kykNET-Rapportprys, die Hertzogprys en die Helgaard Steyn-toekenning. In vertaling as Red Dog was dit in 2020 op die langlys vir die International Booker Prize. Anker doseer skeppende skryfkunde aan die Universiteit Stellenbosch.

Tshepo, a young student at Rhodes, has a difficult time keeping up with his own strange mind. He is absorbed in making sense of a traumatic past in a violent country and so when he finds himself at the Valkenberg mental facility it is perhaps not entirely due to “cannabis-induced psychosis”.

How is he to bring together the shattered pieces of his life? In the shady subculture of male prostitution Tshepo begins to find answers for the first time.

Discovering first his true sexuality, and then that sexuality is only a key to the greater realms of a hidden, mythical humanity, Tshepo can finally tap into the ancient powers that are his birthright.

It is 1206 AD, the year that Dini, the adopted son of Mudivi, the zivi of Mpemba Kasi, turns 12. There is joy and jubilation as Mudivi’s first wife falls pregnant, but the joy is short-lived when she gives birth to a baby girl with the same skin tone as Dini – a skin tone most abhorred in Mpemba Kasi.

Further South-East, in the Kingdom of Mapungubwe, the Lemba lived harmoniously with the Vhangona as one. The Lemba’s sacred drum, in the custody of their high priest, has been exploited by the king of the Vhangona to conquer other kingdoms. The king of Mpemba Kasi learns of the plan and intercepts the drum. Hadzhi and Mukoma, are determined to find their sacred drum and will not rest until it is returned home.

The journey is unkind, and as Hadzhi, with the same skin tone as Dini, finds himself alone in the journey, he is determined to enter the Kingdom of Mpemba Kasi to retrieve the drum. But the kingdom has not forgotten about the boy whose skin tone continues to scorn the kingdom’s divi through a girl he left behind.

As soon as Hadzhi enters the kingdom, a muddle of cheers and cries can be heard – jubilant cheers from the villagers as their whips pierce through the body tied to a pole, and a cry for help from a boy dying for the sins of the other who resembles his skin tone.

Kassie het geglo sy speurderdae is getel ná die Medusa-pedofielsaak, en sy hartaanval. Maar ses maande tuis bring perspektief – hy is ’n speurder in murg en been. Terug by die Spookeenheid word hy en kollega Rooi Els dadelik by die diep kant ingegooi: Hulle moet ’n reeksverkragter vastrek – een wat sy slagoffers met ’n brandyster merk. 'Is die skuldige die man wat beskryf word as “’n weerwolf met die sperm van ’n wildehond”? Of lê die antwoord by die spesifieke merk wat hy op sy slagoffers laat?  

Jaco Diehl woon op Hermanus. Hy word getuie van 'n poging tot moord op sy buurvrou, en geleidelik word hy betrek by ander dade van geweld: eers op Hermanus, maar later ook op Somerset-Wes en eindelik in Kaapstad. Sy lewe is aan die disintegreer, en dit lyk nie of hy regtig omgee nie. Die hoofkarakter sleur ons al dieper mee in 'n doolhof. Wie is aanspreeklik vir die moorde, en wat is die waarheid? Of word ook die waarheid 'n storie, 'n verdoeseling wat nes Jaco nie vertrou kan word nie?  

Two sets of cousins, Boer and Brit, find their destinies inexorably intertwined in the politics and mayhem that led up to and encompassed the Anglo Boer War of 1899-1902. From Transvaal to Victorian England, the cousins form strong bonds, which are tested on the battlefields of South Africa.

Martin de Winter, nurtured to lead his country of birth, Transvaal, into the twentieth century, instead finds himself excelling as a gifted young general, fighting a desperate war to keep his nation from ruins, all the while being haunted by his love for a British woman. James Henderson, cavalry officer, is forced by his father, a military aristocrat, to marry or face expulsion from his regiment. Bound for India, the regiment is diverted to South Africa to fight the Boers. James rides to glory and honor but is at the mercy of his loyalty to his country and his compassion for his Boer family.

In the drawing rooms of Cape Town and Pretoria, Stefanie de Winter, celebrated pianist, is viewed from both sides with suspicion. Fiercely loyal to her brother Martin but in love with a British officer, she embarks on a dangerous path to keep them both. Dr. Charles Henderson tends to the slaughter on the battlefields. He is devastated by the willful destruction of his adopted country, Transvaal, and anguished by the part his brother, James, plays in this. Karel and Rudolf de Winter, twin brothers devoted to each other and their horses to the exclusion of all else, fight a battle against the bullet that might separate them forever.

Through anger, injustice, and betrayal, the family discovers that there is a force stronger than war. They only have to call on it to find that love transcends all.

From the author of Death in the New Republic comes another thrilling crime story featuring hard-bitten Johannesburg detective, Jerome Nossel.

A distress call from Nossel’s old friend, Alex, breaks into the detective’s lazy Sunday afternoon. He is propelled into the glamour and sleaze of the city’s underworld by a kidnap and a demand for an exotic ransom. Accompanied by Alex’s captivating Nigerian wife Ngozi, they scour the fleshpots of Johannesburg, from its mega-rich northern suburbs to its sordid core in the dark city. They are pursued by the crazed steroidal enforcer who answers to only one man – Yuri Kramerov, the pimpmeister of Doornfontein.

With time running out, and in their desperate quest to recover the ransom, encounters, characters and places create a Chandler-esque story, with Johannesburg as the main attraction.

Bippie se pad word onderbreek met haar onbeplande swangerskap, dus moet sy nou ’n nuwe een soek. Sy maak 'n belofte teenoor die Here - sy sal nie weer ’n man in haar lewe toelaat as hy nie met haar wil trou nie. Maar die man wat skielik al onder haar voete is, Riekert Tredoux. Hy het lankal besluit hy wil nooit trou nie. Toe hy en sy broer klein seuntjies was het sy ma hulle net so gelos en by die voordeur uitgestap. So hy het allerhande issues. Sal Bippie haar belofte gestand kan doen en Riekert wel wil trou?

When zoologist Magrieta Prinsloo is put on the wrong antidepressant, her head comes unstuck. She insults the head of her department, and impulsively resigns from her job. She accepts a position at the Bureau for Continuing Education, with the inscrutable Markus Potsdam as her boss. When he disappears one morning, matters become very complicated. Winterbach's extraordinary gift as a novelist, and uncanny understanding of the human psyche, are again as evident as ever.

Sipho is a “young blood”, a young man of the school-going generation caught up in a world of money, booze and greed.

Living in Umlazi, Durban, he is seventeen, has dropped out of school and helps out at his father’s mechanic shop during the day. But odd jobs underneath the bonnets of wrecked cars do not provide the lifestyle his friends have.

A fascinating look into the emotional landscape of car hijackers – by a vibrant new voice in South African literature.

Growing up in a Northern Transvaal town during the State of Emergency in the 1980s, Ben Aronbach doesn’t fit in anywhere. Among the predominantly Afrikaans, Christian inhabitants, he is the Jewish kid, but in the Jewish community he is the boy from the family of lapsed shul-goers. Even though he is learning Hebrew for his bar mitzvah, he feels like an outsider learning a foreign language.

Then Ben meets Leo Fein, a man who knew his father before he died. When Leo includes the boy in his schemes, Ben feels exhilarated. Little does he know the far-reaching impact that Leo will have on the Aronbach family’s life.

It is only years later, in the run-up to the 1992 Referendum, that Ben gets a chance to confront the charlatan . . . but he also has to face his own guilt over his family’s downfall.

Set during two important moments in South Africa’s history, Lucky Packet is told with humour and poignancy.

“One of the best novels of recent years, and likely the most readable.” – Imraan Coovadia

‘Those in the know claim Michael K disembarked from a diesel-smoke-spewing truck one overcast morning, looked around, and without missing a beat, chose a spot where he set down a small bucket (red, burnt and disfigured) that contained an assortment of seedlings, some fisherman’s twine and a rudimentary gardening tool – probably self-made.’

How is it that a character from literary fiction can so alter the landscapes he touches, even as he – in his self-imposed isolation – seeks to avoid them? How is it that Michael K, bewildered and bewildering, can remain so fragile yet so present, so imposing without attempting to be so? In this response to JM Coetzee’s classic masterpiece, Life & Times of Michael K, Nthikeng Mohlele dabbles in the artistic and speculative in a unique attempt to unpack the dazed and disconnected world of the title character, his solitary ways, his inventiveness, but also to show how astutely Michael K holds up a mirror to those whose paths he inadvertently crosses. Michael K explores the weight of history and of conscience, thus wrestling the character from the confines of literary creation to the frontiers of artistic timelessness.

Jock of the Bushveld is the classic and much-loved story based on the true experiences of Sir Percy Fitzpatrick and his Staffordshire bull terrier, Jock. The story begins in the 1880s, at the time of the South African gold rush, when a young Fitzpatrick worked as an ox-wagon transport rider in the old Transvaal. There he came across a man who was in the process of drowning a puppy, the runt of the litter. He saved the dog and the story of his ever-faithful and loving companion was born.

First published in 1907, Jock of the Bushveld has been reprinted many times since. Now, with a fresh and engaging cover, and in a new handy B-format, this timeless South African classic retains the charm of the original story along with the original illustrations by Edmund Caldwell.

It will no doubt continue to be enjoyed by children and adults alike.

Kapteins Griessel en Cupido wil van meet af aan nie dié docket hê nie. Die een van Johnson Johnson, oud-poliesman, sy lyk gekry langs die treinspoor anderkant Drie Susters. Want die saak is weke oud. Yskoud. Opgeneuk deur die SAPD, afgedwing op die Valke. Twee passasiers op die wêreld se luuksste trein – waaruit Johnson klaarblyklik gespring het – is spoke. En die arrogante beamptes by die BBP-Beskermingseenheid lieg soos tannetrekkers. Oor kardinale inligting.

Negeduisend kilometer noord leef Daniel Darret sy nuwe, eenvoudige lewe in Bordeaux. Tot Ronnie May opdaag, en hom vra om nog een keer te jag. Sy prooi is die staatsgekaapte president van sy tuisland. Want dít is wat Daniel in die ou dae gedoen het, toe hy ’n laksman vir die Stasi en KGB was.

Kan die Valke die gemors betyds ontrafel om die sluipmoord te keer? Kan Daniel die meedoënlose Russiese agente ontglip wat hom tot elke prys wil elimineer? En gaan Bennie dit alles oorleef om eindelik vir Alexa Barnard te vra om te trou?

Original and forceful, At Fire Hour delivers Bheki Makhathini, a South African character study for the ages.

Suspected of betraying the ANC, the young poet leaves home for exile in 1976, and until his return home after the unbannings in 1990, Bheki writes the story of a revolution – an unfinished one.

Gilder allows Bheki the freedom to deal with the big ideas of art and love, freedom and struggle in a shrewd and vivid way, the result being an unforgettable and deeply moving tale.

German South-West Africa, 1905. A time of war and upheaval. The frail Siegfried Bock comes to the protectorate as a soldier to prove his mettle. But soon he becomes disillusioned when he witnesses atrocities he cannot forget. Lisbeth Löwenstein is here to marry a man she hardly remembers, a settler who has sent money to her impoverished parents in exchange for her hand in marriage. Mordegai Guruseb escapes from a concentration camp where prisoners are dying from deprivation. But before long his freedom is threatened once again.

And then there is failed doctor Albert Pitzer who considers himself a scientist and hopes to gather data that prove his theories. However, Alvaus Luipert, a local schoolmaster, will not stand for his arrogant assumptions and demeaning methods. In the vast, majestic landscape of German South-West Africa, the fates of these five people intertwine and each one’s humanity is tested to the limit.

‘A love letter to a brutal landscape and the tale of one man’s defiance of inhumanity.’ – Harry Kalmer

It’s the eighties in Johannesburg. Adriana van der Hoon is eighteen years old. Her father, an anti-apartheid activist and Dutch citizen, smuggles money for the ANC using a non-profit trust as a front. But then things change . . . and South Africa’s notorious security police blackmails Adriana into following the money trail from Berlin to Johannesburg.

As political change sweeps across Europe and South Africa, Adriana acquires a new skills set, a lover and an enemy.

More than 25 years later, Adriana is safe and sound, back in Johannesburg. Together with her friend Zenani they run a restaurant called Crow’s Feet. But the past is finally catching up with her, and this time round there is no place to hide.

Circus is the first of Venter’s series to be translated into English. However, each book is a stand-alone novel. The series shares a character cast, with a different character becoming the central storyline in each book.

“Irma Venter is world class.” – Deon Meyer

Dr Lily De Angelo is counting down the final weeks before her wedding to Owen Fisher, making sure everything is perfect. The seating arrangements, for one. Owen’s dad from Elsies River on the Cape Flats will have to be seated far away from Lily’s snobbish parents who keep insinuating that Owen is not good enough for their trust fund baby. Owen might look like a young Robert de Niro, but it seems they are all too aware that he is of mixed Capetonian rather than Italian stock. As if that matters!

But Lily’s seating arrangement woes are nothing compared to the shock she gets when Owen’s ex Courtney Hay shows up with her fifteen-year-old mini me, Chiara. With silver bullet suitcases in tow they have come to break the news that Owen might be Chiara’s dad. Suddenly everything goes pear-shaped for Lily, including her ass – and that's despite the incentive bonus to her personal trainer.

Courtney and Chiara move in with Lily and Owen and not only is the ex from hell making eyes at him, but Owen seems a bit too happy at the thought of potentially being a dad. Lily and Owen had decided long ago to commit to love and marraige, but without the baby carriage, thank you very much. Is he changing his mind about children, about her?

Being Lily is a story with equal amounts of humour and depth, exploring what it means to live, love, and commit in the changing times of happy-(n)ever-after.

Qabila’s marriage is falling apart – it has been for years. If she had not fallen pregnant she and Rashid might not have married in the first place. After all, he was seeing Thandi at the time. And now Qabila wonders if he ever stopped seeing her. Does that explain why Qabila has never felt the full measure of his love? At least he is not abusive, her mother would say, unlike Qabila’s father.

But with her mother’s passing, Qabila’s world is coming undone. She is dreaming of strange songs and making lists to stay sane. When she finds out Rashid is living a double life, she demands a divorce. Why does he still resist? Why not go to Thandi?

As she tries to pick up the pieces of her life, Qabila rails against the persistent legacy of discrimination in South Africa. Not least of which is the racism in her own community towards fellow black people. But she also rediscovers the joy of family, and her Muslim faith, and meets a group of musicians who might be the answer to her puzzling dreams.

Yellow Means Stay is a collection of enthralling, sad, humorous, and heart-touching love stories from across Africa and the black diaspora. It features new and award-winning writers from across the African continent and beyond.

The stories are a dynamic blend of the poetic and narrative, the spousal and familial, the suggestive and explicit, the dramatic and measured, the straight and queer, the sad and humorous, the past and future, life and afterlife. Through its pages, readers enter the world of African literature, love, and romance

Bloemfonteinse speurder Sollie Mthembu en sy vrou, Nyandi, verwag hul tweede baba. Nes baba Naledi in haar buik, groei Nyandi se inkopielys van dag tot dag. Terwyl dié sersant planne beraam om naweekuitstappies na Mimosa Mall met sy kredietkaart te ontduik, sluip daar snags ’n psigopaat deur die strate van Harrismith wat kleuters met roomyse uit hul ouerhuise weglok en ontvoer.

Wanneer die oorskot van ’n verminkte vierjarige in ’n Fruitti Tutti-roomyskarretjie in die vroeë oggendure aan die voet van Platberg ontdek word, besluit kaptein Maartin Brummels om Parkweg se bulhond saam te sleep vir die ondersoek. Sollie lyk dalk na ’n bedeesde ou wat op die vreemdste tye oor sy eie woorde struikel, maar as hy iets beetkry, laat los hy nie.

Sidney Gilroy se debuutroman, Klikbek, is 2019 met groot lof deur resensente en krimi-lesers ontvang. Almal stem saam dat beide skrywer en speurder Sollie ’n groot aanwins tot die Afrikaanse krimikorpus is.

Joernalis Cecile se humeur is net so warm soos haar vlamrooi hare en kaptein Ruan de Wet laat dit elke keer opvlam. Cecile is nuut by die plaaslike koerant en niks gaan haar keer om die scoop te kry oor die diefstal van die blou diamante nie.

Dit plaas haar egter direk in die spervuur. En dan dreig haar hart boonop om sag te word om Ruan.

Gaan hy haar hart kan vasboei of gaan sy weereens eerder vlug as veg?