‘In the end, you could choose to say no more than this: That in the high summer of 1938, in a courtroom in the town of Gower in the Union of South Africa, a case of arson came to an abrupt and irregular end, confounding those who had followed the matter and prompting speculation that approached, but did not quite deliver, scandal...’ When an illicit affair in British Ceylon comes to light in 1902, seventeen year-old Boer prisoner-of-war Henry Vos is disgraced. Months before, a short film made his face widely recognisable, but now he is shunned by Boer and Brit alike. Three decades later, Henry is the magistrate of Gower, a small inland town in the Union of South Africa, where he makes friends with young newcomer Adaira van Brugge. Adaira’s story will start to echo Henry’s when she takes a secret lover: Ira Gevint, a Jew who fled Europe only to wind up in a town ready to experiment with its own kind of persecution. As events threaten to unravel the careful life Henry has created for himself, desire surfaces alongside nationalist fervour in Claire Roberston’s arresting new novel about the courage to choose love over fear.

Een familie, deels van Britse en deels van Boere-afkoms, ontdek dat hul lewens onlosmaaklik verstrengel raak deur die onverbiddelike gang van die geskiedenis.

Die Transvaalse politiek en die Britte se arrogante imperialisme sleur hulle mee in die Anglo-Boereoorlog van 1899-1902. Liefdes- en vriendskapsbande wat in die Trandvaalse bosveld en die sitkamers van Victoriaanse Engeland gesmee is, word op die slagvelde van Suid-Afrika getoets. Wanneer die formele fase van die oorlog oorgaan in die gruwelike beleid van die verskroeide aarde en ’n guerrillastryd, moet die familielede riskante keuses maak. Wintersrust is ’n bruisende verhaal vol hartstog en avontuur oor die individu se worsteling met magte buite sy beheer.

Sommige, wat deur wanhoop oorweldig word, oorleef nie. Ander moet ten slotte by ’n plek van vrede en vergiffenis uitkom.

(Hierdie is die Afrikaanse vertaling van The Runaway Horses)

At a prayer meeting on a cold Rotterdam night, the young clerk Aart Anthonij van der Lingen – a pale, sickly, hunchbacked ‘fish from the North’ – is held in the charismatic Reverend Johannes Kicherer’s thrall. Lured by Kicherer’s passion, he leaves his grey and loveless life to land at the Cape of Good Hope as a lay missionary in 1800.

But when the Missionary Society draws lots to determine where to send the new arrivals, Van der Lingen is sent east and Kicherer north. The hunchback missionary must make his own way in a place that, on the surface, God has forsaken – until, as the pitiless landscape and the blank faces of his would-be congregants strip Van der Lingen incrementally of his pride, he learns that he has nothing to give to the Africa that is ultimately his salvation.

Based on historical figures drawn from the Cape Town Church Archives, The Hunchback Missionary is a sweeping narrative of vanity and humility, of the sacred and the profane, of how Europe’s rampant strides across newly colonised Africa led to the abyss from which a continent still struggles, today, to retreat.

’n Land in wording, ’n oorlog wat dreig, ’n kruispad kans-ontmoeting wat alles verander.

Dit is 1899. Oorlog tussen Brittanje en die Boere Republieke lyk onafwendbaar. Magdalena se familie verlaat die Kaap Kolonie vir die Oos-Vrystaat sodat haar pa vir die Republieke kan baklei. Jacobus se familie, en sy vriend Henog, is weer op pad Kolonie toe, juis om die oorlog te probeer ontglip. Die twee trekke se paaie kruis by die Leeurivier, ’n ontmoeting wat ’n onherroeplike invloed op die res van Magdalena, Jacobus en Henog se lewens sal hê.

Van hulle vestiging op Nooitgedacht tot die eerste skote by die Slag van Stormberg, van guerrilla-oorlogvoering met die Boere kommando’s, tot die Britse verskroeide aarde beleid, van die konsentrasiekampe tot die poging om te hervestig na die oorlog; deur alles en meer sal hulle ’n pad moet oopkap om hul plek in hierdie onstuimige land te vind.

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.

’n Verslag van Henry van Eeden se weeklange besoek aan die Silbersteins se groot landgoed om Salome, sy toekomstige bruid, te ontmoet. Elke dag lewer bisarre ervarings op en dit word vir Henry ’n inisiasieproses: hy moet sy onskuld verloor en kennismaak met die verweefdheid van die goeie en die bose.

In die loop van 1876 kom verskeie groepe Transvalers by die samevloei van die Krokodil- en Maricoriviere aan met die idee om na Damaraland te trek. Om daar te kom, moet hulle ’n stuk waterlose Kalahari, bekend as die Dors, oorsteek. Maar die magstryd tussen die voormanne van elke groep om die hoofleier van die trek te wees laat die trek op 'n ramp afstuur, lank voor hulle die Dorsland binnegaan.

Februarie, 1861. ’n Groepie trekboere maak naby die Gamagara-rivier in die Kalahari staning. Nie ver daarvandaan nie, le Stilbos – ’n misterieuse bos sonder voels, maar ook die skuilplek van die Doodsroeper, ’n onaardse wese wat uitroep voordat iemand sterf. Kort voor lank word die geskende lyk van een van die boere in die bos gevind. Dit is ongetwyfeld moord en Soois Bruwer, ’n verloopte wetsman, word versoek om ondersoek in te stel. Hoe dieper hy delf, hoe ingewikkelder word die saak en hoe meer besef hy dat hy eintlik maar bitter min van die mense om hom weet. Op hul hulp kan hy ook nie juis reken nie. Daar is nou wel oom Albert Siener met sy vreemde visioene, maar daarvan verstaan Soois g’n snars nie. Dan is daar Nella Uys, ’n onkonvensionele, geheimsinnige vrou wat baie weet, maar min se. En klein Krisjan Harmse wat die oplossing vir die raaisel ken, verraai niks. Net toe Soois dink hy is op die regte spoor, roep die Doodsroeper weer en sit hy met ’n tweede lyk op hande. Nou moet hy alles inspan om die moordenaar vas te trek, maar ’n hele klompie verrassings wag nog op hom ...

In die stormagtige jare voor en tydens die Groot Trek raak drie vroue se lewe vervleg in ’n stryd om voortbestaan. Lojaliteit word getoets en inbors word beproef.

Katrien is ’n sensitiewe waterverfskilder. Sy en haar man, Stefaans, wou vir hulle ’n lewe op ’n plaas op die Oosgrens maak. Maar toe teëspoed hulle tref, word hulle deel van Hendrik Potgieter se trek na die binneland.

Dina, ’n slavin, is Katrien se grootste vertroueling. Sy trek saam, haar liefde vir Stefaans ’n geheim wat sy ten alle koste moet bewaak.

Thabisa is deur haar man verwerp. Ook sý is deel van Katrien se kring.

Wanneer Stefaans by Piet Retief se noodlottige afvaardiging na Dingaan aansluit, onthou sy opnuut die onreg wat sy voorganger, Shaka, haar familie aangedoen het. In die loop van die geskiedenis laat hierdie drie vroue diep spore.

Set in the early 1830s, The Slave Book recounts the last five years of slavery at the Cape of Good Hope.

The novel opens with Sangora van Java on the block, a 'Mohametan' slave who is being sold for preaching his belief to others. Andries de Villiers, a hard-nosed wine farmer, purchases Sangora, despite his suspicion that the tall slave could spell trouble. On impulse, he also bids for Sangora's 16-year-old stepdaughter, Somiela, but not for the girl's mother - thereby separating the family.

The first days on Zoetewater are traumatic, but both father and stepdaughter survive and find comfort in the unity amongst the slaves on the farm. It is when Harman Kloot, an Afrikaner of mixed blood, arrives from the interior that a second, major crisis develops - Harman is torn between duty to his group and the love of a girl who belongs to a different culture and faith.

Whatever decision he makes will be seen as betrayal, either of his own people or of the slave community with whom he has found common ground.

The background is the notorious 1971 case in which nineteen citizens of Excelsior in the Free State were charged with breaking apartheid's Immorality Act, which forbade sex between black and white. In an extraordinary alchemy of words into art, Mda tells the story of a family at the heart of the scandal ? of Niki, the fallen madonna, Popi, her daughter by an eminent white citizen of the town, and Viliki, the betrayed son, and of how they come to terms with the repercussions and find resolution in surprising ways.

By turns earthy, witty and tragic, this energetic novel deftly handles issues of racial identity, rape and revenge. It is also a brilliantly observed study of the inner workings of small-town South Africa, and the changes rural communities have undergone.

1782: In the bustling settlement at the Cape of Good Hope, traders, politicians, farmers and fortune-seekers compete for goods, land and power. It is here that Geert Baardwijk, a wealthy Dutch heir, finds himself drawn to Lena, a young slave he has inherited from his father.

Bartered and sold into slavery as a child, Lena pines for the Madagascan highlands from within the cloistered confines of her master’s townhouse. When Geert marries a woman from the upper strata of Cape society to preserve his wealth and status, he is forced to confront his own responsibilities and failings, as well as the true meaning of love and fatherhood.

Spanning more than eighty years, Softness Of The Lime tells of traditions old and emerging, at a time in the Cape when competition for ownership of everything – including people – was at its peak. Drawing on the history of her own ancestors, Maxine Case mesmerises with this compelling story of passion and integrity, love and betrayal.

Upturned Earth is set in Namaqualand, the copper mining district of the Cape Colony, during the winter of 1886. William Hull arrives at the town to take up the position of magistrate, a position that no one else wanted to accept because of the bleak and depressing locale. He finds that the town is run by the Cape Copper Mining Company and the despotic mine superintendent, Townsend. Meanwhile, Molefi Noki, a Xhosa mining labourer, is intent on finding his brother who was sent to jail for drunkenness and has yet to be released. Set against the background of a diverse community, made up of white immigrants, indigenous people and descendants of Dutch men and native women, we are given insight into the daily life of a mining town and the exploitation of workers, harsh working conditions and deep-seated corruption that began with the start of commercial mining in South Africa in the 1850s and which continue until now. While Upturned Earth is a novel about the past, its concerns are very much founded in the present.

Angelique van Olgen het op veertien al ’n onverskrokke gees. Nie eens ’n wilde seerower verskrik haar nie. Sy is net so ontembaar soos haar vlamrooi hare en sy laat geen man haar hiet en gebied nie. Maar dis moeilik om nie die knie voor die ewe formidabele aristokraat Graaf Dante de Péronne te buig nie. Hy bekoor haar, maak vreemde wilde begeertes in haar wakker en toets haar onskuld. Selfs toe hulle deur omstandighede verplig word om te trou behou Dante sy afstand. Hy gaan die Kaap sonder haar verlaat. Hy is op ’n missie en dit sluit haar nie in nie.

From the bestselling author of The Girl From the Train, comes another compelling coming of age story of delayed love, loss, and reconciliation in WWII-era South Africa.

Lettie has always felt different from and overshadowed by the women around her– this friend is richer, that friend is more beautiful, those friends are closer. Still, she doesn’t let this hold her back. She works hard to apply her mind, trying to compensate for her perceived lack of beauty with diligent academic work and a successful career as a doctor. She learns to treasure her friendships, but she still wonders if any man will ever return her interest.

Marco’s experience in the second world war have robbed him of love and health. When winters in his native Italy prove dangerous to his health even after the war has ended, he moves to South Africa to be with his brother, husband to one of Lettie’s best friends. Marco is Lettie’s first patient, and their relationship grows as she aids him on the road back to restored health.

In the company of beloved characters from The Child of the River, Marco and Lettie find a happiness that neither of them thought possible. With that joy comes pain and loss, but Lettie learns that life—while perhaps a crooked path—is always a journey worth taking.