In 2018, Alastair McAlpine, a palliative paediatrician in Cape Town, decided to share some inspiring thoughts from the children in his care. He posted: ‘I asked some of my terminal paediatric palliative care patients what they had enjoyed in life, and what gave it meaning. Kids can be so wise, y’know. Here are some of the responses.’

Their simple yet profound answers went viral, found their way into homes across the world and touched the hearts of millions. Yet it was never McAlpine’s plan to find himself in this position. Challenged from all sides by crippling addiction, a brutal internship and a deadly HIV pandemic, McAlpine’s journey was very nearly derailed.

Prescription: Ice Cream is his engaging memoir about the highs and lows of working as a medical doctor in South Africa and how, with a little help from metal music and ice cream, he was able to struggle on, find meaning in the chaos and inspire others.

On one hand, Hunting The Dragon tells the story of the failure after failure of a brilliant but often frustrated South African entrepreneur who finally went on to hit the big time with a billion-rand company. But it is more than a memoir.

For three decades, Iain Buchan battled his competitors, his bosses, his partners and his own worst instincts as he launched one exciting but ultimately doomed business venture after another. Life was a roller coaster. The highs were addictive, the lows suicidal. With each failure, Iain’s confidence took a knock, until the doubts consumed him. Why couldn’t he crack it? Why was he constantly fighting the world? What was the fear that drove him, though never to sustainable success?

It was only after a profound personal transformation in his mid-40s that Iain could begin to work his way towards real and long-lasting success, in business and in life. Together with his three children and inspirational team, Iain has put personal growth at the front and centre of their business, The Unlimited. In doing so, they have developed a leadership system that drives one of the most successful and inspiring sales forces in the country, an empowered collection of young South Africans whose sales ability generates previously unimaginable revenues.

Hunting The Dragon isn’t just a memoir or business book. It is a truly eye-opening account of what it means to struggle and transform to achieve real success in life through leadership.

Volgens PG du Plessis het Pirow Bekker ʼn “benydenswaardig-heldere pen”. In hierdie, Bekker se 23ste publikasie sedert 1965, word die leser meegevoer deur sy herinneringsreise na plekke van herkoms en vroeëre verblyf, sowel as die verlede in sy eie gedagtes. Daar is juwele in hierdie teks.

’n Belangrike bydrae van die boek is die beligting van demensie en Alzheimer. Beurtelinge se stralende eerlikheid maak dit ʼn waardevolle werk.

The uplifting true story. A Sunday Times bestseller, shortlisted for the Wainwright Prize.

The story of the couple who lost everything and embarked on a journey, not of escape, but salvation.

Just days after Raynor learns that Moth, her husband of 32 years, is terminally ill, the couple lose their home and their livelihood. With nothing left and little time, they make the brave and impulsive decision to walk the 630 miles of the sea-swept South West Coast Path, from Somerset to Dorset via Devon and Cornwall.

They have almost no money for food or shelter and must carry only the essentials for survival on their backs as they live wild in the ancient, weathered landscape of cliffs, sea and sky. Yet through every step, every encounter, and every test along the way, their walk becomes a remarkable journey.

The Salt Path is an unflinchingly honest, inspiring and life-affirming true story of coming to terms with grief and the healing power of the natural world. Ultimately, it is a portrayal of home, and how it can be lost, rebuilt and rediscovered in the most unexpected ways.

"South Africa's most notorious female serial killer since Daisy de Melker".

In 2021, South Africa was introduced to notorious serial killer, Rosemary Ndlovu. Rosemary worked as a police sergeant in Tembisa, Ekurhuleni. Despite taking an oath to serve and protect, in court it emerged that she had arranged the murders of her lover and at least five members of her family. For some murders she hired hitmen, others she carried out herself.

Regarded as our nation's most significant female serial killer since Daisy de Melker, Rosemary killed for money.

After matriculating from a top Jewish school, Nikki Munitz finds herself in the clutches of a heroin addiction. She's sent to a remote rehab, run by a pastor who brandishes a tattoo of Satan. There she meets the handsome son of a wealthy Afrikaans family. Lured by the illusion of her ‘happy-ever-after’ she marries him. But the facade soon crumbles.

Money is in short supply. Nikki takes on a job at a reputable law firm. Encrypted passwords are entrusted to her. She begins to siphon small, undetectable amounts from trust funds of loyal clients. The amounts increase. Caught red-handed, she's fired. By the time the law catches up with her, Nikki is clean and sober. On the advice of her lawyer who reassures her she will never go to jail, she pleads guilty to all 37 counts of fraud. After a gruelling 2-year court battle, she's found guilty.

Fraud is a powerful memoir about a young woman who is forced to face her life of deceit in a prison cell where she ultimately finds her freedom to fly.

’n Ongekende opkoms van Afrikaner-magnate het die Suid-Afrikaanse ekonomie die afgelope drie dekades gekenmerk. Dit is veral merkwaardig in die lig van die regering se omvattende program van swart ekonomiese bemagtiging.

Vandag ding talle van hulle internasionaal mee. Onder leiding van Koos Bekker het Naspers die Johannesburgse aandelebeurs begin domineer en is die mediagroep omvorm tot ’n internasionale beleggingshouergroep wat op e-handel en die internet fokus. Johann Rupert het Richemont in die naasgrootste groep in die mark vir luukse goedere gevestig, terwyl Christo Wiese en Whitey Basson onderskeidelik Pepkor en Shoprite tot Afrika se grootste kleinhandelgroepe in klerasie en voedsel uitgebou het.

Fortuine verduidelik hoe hierdie en ander sakeleiers, waaronder Jannie Mouton, Michiel le Roux, GT Ferreira, Laurie Dippenaar, Roelof Botha, Hendrik du Toit en ’n aantal megaboere, hul sakeryke tot stand gebring het. Dit beskryf hul lewens- en sakefilosofieë en wat van hulle sulke suksesvolle entrepreneurs maak.

In onlangse tye het die ineenstorting van Steinhoff Internasionaal, die meubelhandelaar met Markus Jooste aan die stuur, ’n groot hap uit sommige van hierdie fortuine geneem. Jooste is die fokus van een van die hoofstukke, terwyl dit in ’n ander op die filantropiese projekte van hierdie superrykes val.

The sequel to Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight.

In her twenties Alexandra Fuller embarked on a new journey, into a long, tempestuous marriage to Charlie Ross, the love of her life. In this frank, personal memoir, she charts their twenty years together, from the brutal beauty of the Zambezi to the mountains of Wyoming - the new adventures, the unexplored paths, the insurmountable obstacles... and the many signals that they missed along the way.

A hybrid narrative, blending memoir with social commentary and political analysis.

Always in search of "home", the book tracks Ismail Lagardien's vast experiences of a deeply lived life, always against a backdrop of "unbelonging" - first as a reporter in the turbulent 80s, to studying economics at the LSE, then achieving a doctorate at the University of Wales, to working as a speechwriter at the World Bank in Washington.

A unique and brilliant read.

Like an apparition, conjured out of the darkness, a young man with light blond hair pushed his face into the car. I immediately spotted the knife. It was a long, thin weapon, almost like a letter opener, with a tapering blade. It felt cold and spiny as he pressed it to my neck. When he spoke his voice, which was quiet and controlled, sounded as though it emanated from a distant planet. But every word thudded into my skull. “Move over or I’ll kill you,” he whispered.

And so began Alison’s nightmare journey with the two callous killers who were to rape her, stab her so many times doctors could not count the wounds, slit her throat and leave her for dead in a filthy clearing miles from the city of Port Elizabeth which was her home. But Alison defied death. And more than that, she denied her attackers the satisfaction of destroying her life.

I Have Life is the triumphant story of a woman who refused to become a victim. The courage which allowed her to move beyond severe physical and emotional trauma and to turn a devastating experience into something life-affirming and strong, is an inspiration to people everywhere.

A powerful, gripping story about an extraordinary herd of elephants, and the woman dedicated to keeping them safe.

Thula Thula game reserve in South Africa is home to a herd of elephants who have 4,000 hectares to roam. So owner Françoise was taken aback to find the herd’s matriarch Frankie – a feisty character – roaming her garden and eating her daisies. Was Frankie pointing out who was really in charge, or was there another reason for her presence?

The Elephants of Thula Thula is a heart-warming, sometimes funny, often moving account of life on a game reserve dedicated to saving endangered species. As Françoise struggles with bureaucracy and with the ever-present threat from poachers she is determined to keep Thula Thula going. The search is on to get a girlfriend for rhino Thabo – and then, as his behaviour becomes increasingly aggressive, a big brother to teach him manners. She realizes a dream with the arrival of Savannah the cheetah – an endangered species not seen in the area since the 1940s. But will Thula Thula survive the pandemic, and the threat from a mining company wanting access to its land?

As tragedy strikes the herd, Françoise mourns the loss of Frankie and watches as a new matriarch steps up to lead the family. She realizes once again that with their wisdom, resilience and communal bonds, the elephants have much to teach us.

When South African Joanne Lefson took on a piglet at her animal shelter, the young sow proceeded to eat everything in her stable but a paint brush. In a flash of inspiration, Joanne attempted to introduce the pig to the art of painting - and thus Pigcasso was born.

Starting out with a humble canvas on the sanctuary wall, Pigcasso's paintings are now owned by the likes of George Clooney, she has a Swatch watch design partnership, a wine label, and has eclipsed the previous world record holder for animal art. She's been commissioned by Nissan and has had exhibitions in Cape Town, Munich and Amsterdam. More than that, Pigcasso's art funds the food and veterinary services for all the animals at the sanctuary.

Pigcasso is the story of this unique pig and of the circumstances that brought her and Joanne together to take the art world by storm and form a unique and unbreakable bond.

In this fascinating and entertaining memoir, the legendary White Bushman, Peter Stark, writes about his experiences in the former German South West Africa: first as a farm manager and lion hunter, and later as nature conservationist.

Stark's fearless personality and phenomenal knowledge of the veld, combined with an intimate knowledge of the San people and their culture make for stories and experiences that most people can only dream of. Whether it's about lions chasing San trackers, elephants trampling a campsite or the spearing of 32 scorpions with a kebab-skewer - Stark's stories are bound to awe and entertain.

With Peter Stark's unique and genial narrative voice, The White Bushman presents an important cultural-historical perspective on the country that became Namibia. The photographs, taken either by Stark himself or his fellow game wardens, contribute greatly to enhancing the images conjured up by these captivating adventures and anecdotes.

***THE FOLLOW UP TO THE AWARD-WINNING AND BESTSELLING STORIES FOR BOYS WHO DARE TO BE DIFFERENT***

Tom Daley, Oliver Sacks, the Jamaican Bobsled team, Amrou Al-Kadhi, Carlos Acosta... all dared to be different.

This is the follow-up to the much loved and hugely successful Stories for Boys Who Dare to be Different, the bestselling book that changed countless boys' lives around the world and gave them the confidence to be themselves.

What have the footballer Kylian Mbappé, the philosopher Socrates and the singer Ed Sheeran all got in common? All three of them defied expectations - going against the grain and pursuing their dreams - despite a seemingly impossible barrage of obstacles and difficulties. Their stories are incredible, as are those of the tap-dancer Evan Ruggiero, the Pokémon creator Satoshi Tajiri, and the other inspirational boys who fill the pages of this extraordinary book.

It's books like these that can make a huge difference to parents and their children's lives. In this day and age, any publication that shows how we can triumph in the face of adversity and prejudice deserves to be read over and over again.

A searing and brave memoir chronicling the author’s resilience, compassion and growth as she moves from a childhood of trauma, through the challenges of dealing with the early loss of her beloved husband and becoming a single parent as well as subsequently accompanying her child on a difficult journey of self-discovery, to a life of acceptance and forgiveness.

Thobeka Yose confronts the taboos surrounding mental health, abuse, betrayal and sexual identity with fearless honesty, kindness and understanding that will inspire countless others.

"If this were a book quiz and you were to ask me what film is most like Absolutely Jani I would answer unhesitatingly, Blue Jasmine, Woody Allen's Oscar-nominated film."

Those who remember the "Just Jani" column in the Sunday Times will be intrigued and delighted. Those who missed out on those heady times will be captivated by this universal story of betrayal, back-stabbing and life in the very fast lane. It is acerbic, witty, wry, bittersweet and exquisitely penned. She describes how she became a columnist, and reveals much of life behind the scenes at the Sunday Times.

Jani also shares details of the crucial interview with Eugene Terre'blanche, details that will shake the preconceptions and ruffle more than a few feathers. Jani's reputation is reduced to tatters when she takes on UK's Channel4 in a law suit that reverberated around the world and kept the public baying for blood. But in all this we are able to see the real Jani Allan behind the fabulous brittle creature that the tabloids tore to shreds and devoured and then spat out.

That the real Jani Allan, gutsy, bright beyond the telling, vulnerable and a story-teller beyond compare has chosen to share her story is a remarkable gift to the reader. It is a story that will command a great deal of respect.

Dov Fedler was a "laatlammetjie", born and bred in Johannesburg in 1940 just as Hitler was getting into his stride. A third child was not on his parents' "want-list". It was hard enough supporting two much older children and a printing business struggling to exist.

When Dov was about three his mother had a "nervous breakdown" which is when he remembers seeing his first pencil and knowing precisely what it was that he wanted to do with his life. There are no coincidences in Dov's life. He believes that a hand of destiny has steered his path towards becoming a leading South African cartoonist for more than 45 years. Many dramatic encounters (not with aliens or spirits, but with everyday people) have shaped him and he wouldn't have missed any of it.

Dov's story is intensely personal and honest, with a powerful combination of humour, emotion and community history. OUt Of Line attempts to do a few short things. It is an autobiography but it is also an attempt to capture a particular history of a specific generation; that of the Jewish baby boomers who descended from mainly Lithuanian stock.

This story of a middle-class white South African family unfolds between the years 1939 and 1964 - a transformative period in South Africa’s political landscape.

It is told through the eyes and experiences of the younger son and his rite of passage into a country of racial segregation that gradually opens his eyes to the many injustices imposed upon the majority of the country’s population, coupled with a realization that his white privileges are sustained at the brutal expense of others.

When Gail Gilbride is diagnosed with breast cancer, she experiences the full range of emotions. There’s disbelief, anger, confusion, fear, bargaining and, why, yes, indeed, of course she wants to talk to the manager! But then Gail settles on resolve. She’s ready to fight. Not only will she follow her doctor’s instructions and march with the big guns in the oncology centre, but she’ll also tip her helmet to her late mother’s inclination for alternative treatments.

Gail is ready to give her body everything it might need to conquer the disease, recover and live a long life of joy. She nourishes it, meditates, exercises, rests, and explores parts of her consciousness she’s previously pushed to the far corner and ignored. Determined not to be a passenger, Gail hops behind the wheel and embarks on a journey like no other. What she doesn’t anticipate is that she’ll have a furry, ginger wingman for company.

Archie is the irredeemably part-feral tomcat who, when it suits him, moves in the same circles as Gail – and it suits him when he decides she needs the kind of therapy only he can give. In many ways, Gail and Archie are opposites. Where she’s amiable, he can be bellicose. Where Gail is gentle, Archie has claws. Where she is considerate, he is self-serving. And yet Archie brings to Gail camaraderie and healing in the dark hours when, alone, she cannot keep the dread at bay. He’s the remedy she didn’t know she needed.

An inspirational and truly intersectional memoir from global humanitarian and social justice advocate Eddie Ndopu-a queer, Black wheelchair user and one of the UN Secretary-General's 17 Advocates for the SDGs.

A memoir, penned with one good finger, about being profoundly disabled and profoundly successful.

Global humanitarian Eddie Ndopu was born with spinal muscular atrophy, a rare degenerative motor neuron disease affecting his mobility. He was told that he wouldn't live beyond age five and yet, Ndopu thrived. He grew up loving pop music and haute couture, lip syncing to the latest hits, and was the only wheelchair user at his school, where he flourished academically. By his late teens, he had become a sought-after speaker, travelling the world to give talks on disability justice. When he is later accepted on a full scholarship into Oxford University, he soon learns that it's not just the medical community he must defy - it's the educational one too.

In Sipping Dom Perignon Through a Straw, we follow Ndopu, sporting his oversized, bejewelled sunglasses, as he scales the mountain of success, only to find exclusion, discrimination, and neglect waiting for him on the other side. As he soars professionally, sipping champagne with world leaders, he continues to feel the loneliness and pressure of being the only one in the room. Determined to carve out his place in the world, he must challenge bias at the highest echelons of power and prestige.

Searing, vulnerable and inspiring, Ndopu's remarkable journey to reach beyond ableism, reminds us never to let anyone else define our limits.

Hack With A Grenade: An Editor's Backstories of SA News is a newspaper editor's perspective on the characters that shape South Africa's psyche.

The author, Gasant Abarder, is a journalist who worked in print, radio and television newsrooms in both Cape Town and Johannesburg for 21 years. Along the way, he encountered homeless people, reformed prison gangsters, struggle heroes, artists and sports personalities. In Hack With A Grenade, Abarder uses the stories of these characters to provide social commentary on issues like religion, prejudice and injustice - all with a healthy dose of humour.

It is a book about journalism but also about South African life. It is also a social commentary that begins to strip away our prejudices as South Africans and to shine a light on our common humanity.

From the prize-winning, New York Times bestselling author of Say Nothing and Empire of Pain, twelve enthralling stories of skulduggery and intrigue by one of the most decorated journalists of our time.

Patrick Radden Keefe’s work has been recognized by prizes including the Orwell Prize and the Baillie Gifford for his meticulously reported and engaging work on the many ways people behave badly. Rogues brings together a dozen of his most celebrated articles from the New Yorker. As Keefe observes in his preface: ‘They reflect on some of my abiding preoccupations: crime and corruption, secrets and lies'.

Keefe explores the intricacies of forging $150,000 vintage wines; examines whether a whistleblower who dared to expose money laundering at a Swiss bank is a hero or a liar; spends time in Vietnam with Anthony Bourdain; chronicles the quest to bring down a cheerful international black-market arms merchant; and profiles a passionate death-penalty attorney who represents the ‘worst of the worst’, among other works of literary journalism.

The appearance of his byline in the New Yorker is always an event; collected here for the first time readers can see how his work forms an always enthralling yet also deeply human portrait of criminals and rascals, as well as those who stand up to them.

Op skool was ôs gelee met patrone om cursive te skryf. En gelee tel sône om ôs vinges te gebryk. En kyk nou vi ôs, ôs met ôs nommes en somme wat meer veloorit as wat ôs ooit kan tel, ôs met ôs mooi handskrifte en nieman om voo te skryfie.

In haar verrykende memoir skryf Charmaine Africa op narratiewe wyse, en in Kaaps, oor haar grootwordjare in Bishop Lavis. Haar lewensverhaal, wat verras met humoristiese oomblikke, sentreer op die alledaagse bestaan van haar familie vanaf die 1960’s: haar ma, Amma, wat spartel om haar werk en gesin bymekaar te hou; haar alkoholis-pa; haar susters wat ook ’n verbete stryd in hul eie huwelike voer; haar broers wat uiteindelik voor die drankduiwel swig; en haar eie ontwikkeling as kind tot ’n jong vrou wat ’n onvermydelike siklus probeer veg.

Amma gee ’n stem aan die oorlewingstryd op die Kaapse Vlakte en ’n eerlike blik op die kringloop van kru armoede. Die vertelling is onopgesmuk, hartverskeurend en meesterlik.

Franschhoek Literary Festival co-founder Jenny Hobbs' new memoir Through A Dragonfly Eye is a moving account of growing up and coming of age in mid-twentieth century South Africa, full of insight, humour, and tenderness for family and country.

When Rael Levitt stepped onto the podium at Quoin Rock Wine Estate in December 2011, he was CEO of the industry-pioneering Auction Alliance and at the pinnacle of a glittering 20-year career. But then disaster struck. After being accused by a powerful billionaire of using a ghost bidder to inflate the bid price, Levitt’s reputation was obliterated.

In an echo of the Boxing Day tsunami that he survived in 2004, the self-made entrepreneur was overwhelmed by a media-driven scandal that came at him like a train of killer waves. Once the face of South African auctions, he seemingly sank without a trace. But he was not beaten.

A decade later Levitt has a thrilling rise-and-fall-and-rise-again story to tell. The lessons he learnt from suffering catastrophe and finding the tenacity to survive have laid the foundations for new success. At once candid and controversial, Levitt’s story is ultimately an uplifting one, revealing that the greater the tsunami, the greater the lesson.