The biggest debut of 2024 and a hilarious mystery with a killer hook. Perfect for fans of Knives Out and Only Murders in the Building.

Frances always said she'd be murdered... She was right.

In 1965, seventeen-year-old Frances Adams was told by a fortune teller that one day she'd be murdered. Frances spent the next sixty years trying to prevent the crime that would be her eventual demise. Of course, no one took her seriously - until she was dead.

For Frances, being the village busybody was a form of insurance. She'd spent a lifetime compiling dirt on every person she met, just in case they might turn out to be her killer. In the heart of her sprawling country estate lies an eccentric library of detective work, where the right person could step in and use her findings to solve her murder.

When her great-niece Annie arrives from London and discovers that Frances' worst fear has come true, Annie is thrust into her great-aunt's last act of revenge against her sceptical friends and family. Frances' will stipulates that the person who solves her murder will inherit her millions.

Can Annie unravel the mystery and find justice for Frances, or will digging up the past lead her into the path of the killer?

The official autobiography of James Patterson, where he tells the story of his life and his journey to becoming a world-renowned author who continues to captivate readers across the globe.

How did a boy from small-town New York become one of the world's most successful writers?

• On the morning he was born, he nearly died.
• Growing up, he didn't love to read. That changed.
• He worked at a mental hospital in Massachusetts, where he met the singer James Taylor and the poet Robert Lowell.
• While he toiled in advertising hell, James wrote the ad jingle line "I'm a Toys 'R' Us Kid."
• He once watched James Baldwin and Norman Mailer square off to trade punches at a party.
• He's only been in love twice. Both times are amazing.
• Dolly Parton once sang "Happy Birthday" to James over the phone. She calls him J.J., for Jimmy James.
• Three American presidents have invited him to golf with them.

These are the stories of James Patterson's life: the most anticipated memoir of 2022.

A debut offering that traces the lives of women in varied contexts, women who refuse to be erased by the circumstances that render them invisible. Women who, insist that they not only want to stay alive but to do so on their own terms.

Mpondo challenges the reader to think deeply about the consequences of growing up in the other South Africa, where one is constantly met with the harsh realities caused by inequality, poverty, broken homes, and the inevitable empty promises made every fourth quarter.

With its lyrical prose, Things My Mother Left Me will break then gather the pieces of the reader’s heart. A reminder that a mother’s prayers do not go unheard nor her tears unseen…

The shocking, definitive account of the 2020 election and the first year of the Biden presidency by two New York Times reporters, exposing the deep fissures within both parties as the country approaches a political breaking point.

This is the authoritative account of an eighteen-month crisis in American democracy that will be seared into the country’s political memory for decades to come. With stunning, in-the-room detail, New York Times reporters Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns show how both our political parties confronted a series of national traumas, including the coronavirus pandemic, the January 6 attack on the Capitol, and the political brinksmanship of President Biden’s first year in the White House.

From Donald Trump’s assault on the 2020 election and his ongoing campaign of vengeance against his fellow Republicans, to the behind-the-scenes story of Biden’s selection of Kamala Harris as his running mate and his bitter struggles to unite the Democratic Party, this book exposes the degree to which the two-party system has been strained to the point of disintegration. More than at any time in recent history, the long-established traditions and institutions of American politics are under siege as a set of aging political leaders struggle to hold together a changing country.

Martin and Burns break news on most every page, drawing on hundreds of interviews and never-before-seen documents and recordings from the highest levels of government. The book asks the vitally important (and disturbing) question: can American democracy, as we know it, ever work again?

Although the theory is based on material used in the USA and other overseas universities, South African students will be able to identify with the local examples, TV programmes and other mass media, and the political and social experiences referred to in this title, many of which have been localised to reflect the South African context. Beginner students majoring in communication studies as well as those who are studying towards various degrees or qualifications where communication is a prerequisite, will find this title useful. In addition to interpersonal, group and mass communication, there is an extensive chapter on public speaking, which takes into account that many professionals today have to address their colleagues and business associates in order to succeed in their profession. Public speaking in this sense is a skill required by most graduates in any job or profession, and the chapter is pitched at these requirements as well as at speaking to larger audiences. The title is divided into two parts. The first provides students with a strong foundation of communication, while the second focuses on the areas of specialisation within communication studies. In addition, each chapter starts with the learning outcomes and a short overview of the chapter. Students may monitor their learning with the summaries and 'test yourself' questions at the end of every chapter. Scenarios provide examples of how the theory can be applied in practice.

Their love story was one of the greatest of our times.

Ruth Williams was a middle-class Londoner who loved ballroom dancing and ice skating when she met Seretse Khama. He was chief designate of the most powerful tribe in Bechuanaland, today Botswana, on the borders of apartheid South Africa. Their union sparked outrage, fear and anger. Ruth’s father barred her from their family home, she was hounded by the global media and shunned by white people in Seretse’s village of Serowe. The couple was humiliated, tricked and eventually exiled to England. But, despite all these tribulations, their love triumphed over the politics and prejudice of the time.

This is the story Ruth Khama told well-known journalist and author Sue Grant-Marshall ‒ the story of an extraordinary woman, who had the courage of her convictions in marrying the man she loved and accepting his country and people as her own.

Employment relations, traditionally known as industrial or labour relations, forms an integral part of the activities of labour, employers and the government in business. It centres on balancing, integrating and reconciling the partly common and partly divergent interests of these parties. South African employment relations has reached the milestone of having been available for more than a quarter of a century and is the longest running book in this field in South Africa. This 8th edition of South African employment relations redefines the various role players in employment relations management and broadens the field to incorporate them. It brings the direction the labour market is going in terms of collective bargaining into sharper focus and proposes ways in which fair workplace relations can be established. It furthermore deals with the latest legislative developments, union activities and other contemporary issues. Besides the case studies and a comprehensive glossary, this edition now includes short inserts entitled "ER in practice" to highlight the challenges posed by industry and the business community, and to empower readers and practitioners to utilise the insights gained from these examples with confidence in their daily business activities. Lecturer support material is also available. South African employment relations is aimed at both students and practitioners in this field.

Allegations of treason, real or imagined, always rankle. So much more when a life and death struggle of a nation is perceived to be at stake. Yet treason is common in warfare and accusations of sedition abound in any war.

While this book focuses specifically on the intricacies of alleged Afrikaner treason during a particularly volatile period, the analysis is also informed by an awareness of treason in the wider context.

Do you find it difficult to turn to prayer when you need it most? Do you have trouble finding the words to capture exactly how you’re feeling? Start with Prayer, by pastor and New York Times bestselling author Max Lucado, will give you the tools you need to feel more comfortable when you communicate with God.

When struggles and anxieties come up in our lives, we invite God into our world, watching our fears surface and then depart. But how do we help prayer become a tried-and-true practice in our daily lives? Finding the right words to pray can be challenging, but Max is here to help.

Whether you’re learning to pray for the first time or you’re hoping to reinvigorate your prayer life, Start with Prayer will change the way you think about your relationship with God. Pairing timeless scripture with thoughtful prayers, Start with Prayer is a special collection of 250 prayers that will help you develop the strength and hope you need to turn to prayer first in any situation you're facing.

Adapted from Max’s series of Pocket Prayers with brand new prayers added, Start with Prayer is divided into categories designed to foster prayers that impact every aspect of life, including prayers centered around:

• Clarity and creativity
• Healing and safety
• Inspiration and encouragement
• Preservation and endurance
• Wisdom and leadership

Start with Prayer is a trustworthy resource that you can turn to no matter what season of life you’re in right now, reminding you that starting with prayer is always the right answer.

Eve should never have married Don Hathaway. Yes, he gave her two beautiful children - Olly and Tabitha - but he is a bully. Worse than that, he hurts her. But, after one drunken rage too many, she has the courage to leave him. Eve is warned that it's a difficult path, yet she needs to give her children hope for the future.

Don, however, is bitter. And getting away entirely from him proves impossible. Until the day, Eve tries to teach him a lesson - and it all goes horribly wrong.

Eve loves her children but now she carries a terrible burden that she dares not share. Has she betrayed her and her children's futures?

Betrayal is Lesley Pearse's brilliant new pageturner.

The Covid-19 pandemic has had an immeasurable effect on the world and redefined for us what is truly important. We’re witnessing a reversion to the basics of Maslow’s hierarchy as we find ourselves seeking to safeguard our physical, emotional, mental and spiritual wellbeing. Why? Because we no longer have the luxury of certainty.

For generations, we’ve grown up believing that studying for a defined career and securing a job would guarantee our future. This 'essential' and predictable sequence marked us as productive members of society. But is our society even a healthy one? Are we heading in the right direction or have we been blinded by collective greed and delusion? How can we justify such inequality and environmental degradation in the world? These were questions being asked even before Covid struck – and now the pandemic has accelerated a desire for change. For all the stress and disruption Covid has caused, we now have a gilt-edged opportunity to change things for the better. Now is the time for each of us to cultivate new skills, qualities and characteristics to bring about the collective future we want.

FutureNEXT plots a new way forward by combining the accessible thinking of future strategist John Sanei with the deeply thought economic and philosophical principles of Dr Iraj Abedian. The result is a book about the things we need to rethink so that we may step confidently into the future. About the new roles and responsibilities we will each have as consumers, employees, employers, entrepreneurs and executives. And ultimately about reimagining a more harmonious, systemically fair and sustainable, yet prosperous world.

A heart-wrenching story from the international bestselling author of The Kite Runner, brought to life by Dan Williams's beautiful illustrations

On a moonlit beach a father cradles his sleeping son as they wait for dawn to break and a boat to arrive. He speaks to his boy of the long summers of his childhood, recalling his grandfather's house in Syria, the stirring of olive trees in the breeze, the bleating of his grandmother's goat, the clanking of her cooking pots. And he remembers, too, the bustling city of Homs with its crowded lanes, its mosque and grand souk, in the days before the sky spat bombs and they had to flee.

When the sun rises they and those around them will gather their possessions and embark on a perilous sea journey in search of a new home.

It should come as no surprise that Van Morrison has made an album inspired by skiffle. Van Morrison's love of skiffle dates back to his childhood. He would hang out at the famed Belfast record store Atlantic Records, where he'd hear early 20th century folk, blues and jazz from the likes of Lead Belly and Jelly Roll Morton.

'Moving On Skiffle' finds him taking a homemade style that exploded across Britain in the mid-1950s and infusing it with a level of sophistication and soulfulness that it didn't always possess the first time around. The 23-track album goes to the heart of the music Van Morrison has inhabited ever since he was six years old, hanging out in the smoky confines of Belfast's Atlantic Records.

It also contains songs that underline, in their messages on the importance of freedom and living on your own terms, his lifetime philosophy.

This is indeed a story of mercy - and the redemption it offers.

On the eve of his retirement, Spokes Moloi, a police officer of spotless integrity, investigates one final crime: the possible murder of Emil Coetzee, head of the sinister Organisation of Domestic Affairs, who disappears on the same day a ceasefire is declared and the country's independence beckons. In following the tangled threads of Coetzee's life, Spokes raises and resolves conundrums that have haunted him, and his country, for decades under colonial rule. In all this, he is staunchly supported by his paragon spouse, Loveness, and his unofficially adopted daughter, the unorthodox postman Dikiledi.

In her most magnificent novel yet, award-winning author Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu showcases the history of a country transitioning from a colonial to a postcolonial state with a deft touch and a compassionate eye for poignant detail. Linked to The Theory of Flight and The History of Man, Ndlovu's novel nevertheless stands alone in its evocation of life in the City of Kings and surrounding villages. Dickensian in its scope, with the proverbial bustling cast of colleagues both good and bad, villagers, guerrillas, neighbours, ex-soldiers, suburban madams, shopkeepers, would-be politicians and more, The Quality of Mercy proposes that ties of kinship and affiliation can never be completely broken - and that love can heal even the most grievous of wounds.

The gripping new novel from Kiran Millwood Hargrave, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Mercies.

Strasbourg, 1518. In the midst of a blisteringly hot summer, a lone woman begins to dance in the city square. She dances for days without pause or rest, and as she is joined by hundreds of others, the authorities declare an emergency. Musicians will be brought in to play the Devil out of these women.

Just beyond the city’s limits, pregnant Lisbet lives with her mother-in-law and husband, tending the bees that are their livelihood. And then, as the dancing plague gathers momentum, Lisbet’s sister-in-law Nethe returns from seven years’ penance in the mountains for a crime no one will name.

It is a secret that Lisbet is determined to uncover. As the city buckles under the beat of a thousand feet, she finds herself thrust into a dangerous web of deceit and clandestine passion, but she is dancing to a dangerous tune . . .

Set in an era of superstition, hysteria, and extraordinary change, and inspired by the true events of a doomed summer, The Dance Tree is an impassioned story of family secrets, forbidden love, and women pushed to the edge.

In Don't Drop the Mic, Bishop Jakes speaks to readers about communication and how the ways we speak and interact with others can be part of our everyday ministries. Drawing lessons from Scripture and his own life, Jakes gives career advice for those who have or want to grow into a speaking career, but he also provides clear direction and insight for everyone who gives presentations, writes emails, or talks to other people in their job or home life. There will be practical advice about how to craft insightful and meaningful communications, but the heart of this book is really about how we can communicate more clearly to build community and share the hope of Christ in our everyday lives.

Introducing internationally bestselling author Bolu Babalola’s dazzling debut novel, full of passion, humor, and heart, that centers on a young Black British woman who has no interest in love and unexpectedly finds herself caught up in a fake relationship with the man she warned her girls about.

Sharp-tongued (and secretly soft-hearted) Kiki Banjo has just made a huge mistake. As an expert in relationship-evasion and the host of the popular student radio show Brown Sugar, she’s made it her mission to make sure the women of the African-Caribbean Society at Whitewell University do not fall into the mess of “situationships”, players, and heartbreak. But when the Queen of the Unbothered kisses Malakai Korede, the guy she just publicly denounced as “The Wastemen of Whitewell,” in front of every Blackwellian on campus, she finds her show on the brink.

They’re soon embroiled in a fake relationship to try and salvage their reputations and save their futures. Kiki has never surrendered her heart before, and a player like Malakai won’t be the one to change that, no matter how charming he is or how electric their connection feels. But surprisingly entertaining study sessions and intimate, late-night talks at old-fashioned diners force Kiki to look beyond her own presumptions. Is she ready to open herself up to something deeper?

A gloriously funny and sparkling debut novel, Honey and Spice is full of delicious tension and romantic intrigue that will make you weak at the knees.

A powerful portrait of war and retribution. A beautiful story of love and forgiveness.

Paris 1944. Elise Chevalier knows what it is to love . . . and to hate. Her fiancé, a young French soldier, was killed by the German army at the Maginot Line. Living amongst the enemy, Elise must keep her rage buried deep within.

Sebastian Kleinhaus no longer recognizes himself. Forced to join the Third Reich and wear a uniform he despises, he longs for a way out. For someone, anyone, to be his salvation.

Brittany 1963. Reaching for the suitcase under her mother’s bed, eighteen-year-old Josephine Chevalier uncovers a secret that shakes her to the core. Determined to find the truth, she travels to Paris where she learns the story of a forbidden love as a city fought for its freedom. Of the last stolen hours before the first light of liberation. And of a betrayal so deep that it would irrevocably change the course of two young lives life forever.

This authoritative, best-selling text presents the latest skills and techniques for handling crisis situations.

The authors' task model clearly illustrates and elucidates the process of dealing with people in crisis, from defining the problem to obtaining commitment. Using this model, the authors build specific strategies for handling a myriad of different crisis situations, accompanied in many cases with the dialogue that a practitioner might use when working with the individual in crisis.

This book puts you on the front lines with the crisis worker throughout the chapters, and then illuminates the techniques and strategies the worker used.

Robert Schapiro always wanted to fly. Challenging anti-Semitic bullying, mockery and fierce rivalry, he realised his dream by earning his wings in the South African Air Force and going on to command C-47 Dakotas in the Border War.

He joined South African Airways (SAA) in 1979, soon learning it was a time when SAA crews were dominated by the ‘Royal Family’ – captains who thought themselves above the rules and who spent time overseas on drinking binges or coaxing air hostesses to be their ‘airline wives’.

When sanctions forced SAA to cut back on its routes, he was seconded to Japan’s Nippon Cargo Airlines, routinely flying between New York and Tokyo, and grappling with often-hilarious cultural misunderstandings as he adapted to a Japanese style of operations.

Schapiro is disarmingly frank about life as an international pilot. He divulges near misses, emergency landings, navigation errors, passenger shenanigans (seat sex, anyone?), how pilots control rowdy travellers and absorbing detail about the technique of flying different aircraft types. Uplifting and humorous, his memoir offers a rare slice of aviation history.

Project Management in Perspective (second edition) introduces the fundamentals of project management.

The approach is interdisciplinary and ensures that the essential processes are thoroughly covered and relevant to various business contexts. The title is written for undergraduate courses offered by departments of Business Management and Logistics Management at universities and universities of technology.

Features:

• Keywords and concepts are cleary defined.
• 'Food for thought' boxes illustrate the theory and engage the reader.
• Exercises in each chapter provide opportunities to gain practical experience.
• Case studies have been updated.
• Includes new perspectives and ideas regarding Project Management.
• Reflection boxes provide opportunity for students to assess the knowledge they've gained.

This textbook is suitable as the main study reference for Financial Management courses, or the financial management-part of Management Accounting courses, ranging from second-year undergraduate courses (registered at NQF6, level six of the National Qualifications Framework) up to and including postgraduate courses (at NQF8).

The more advanced sections of this book are clearly labelled as such.

Theo Silva. Rowdy bull rider, notorious ladies' man, scorching hot trouble wrapped up in a drool-worthy package. And he's looking at me like I might be his next meal.

I'm almost free of my toxic marriage and have sworn off men entirely. So all I see when I look at Theo is temptation served up with a heaping side of heartbreak. The man is hard to trust-and even harder to resist. Make that impossible. Because Theo is persistent. And no matter how hard I try to freeze him out, he melts my icy exterior and pulls apart all my defences.

Then I spend the singular hottest night of my life with him.

It was supposed to be a one-time thing.

A secret.

But that little plus sign is going to make this secret impossible to keep.

The year is 1963, and the midwives find themselves tested both personally and professionally as never before. Together, they face challenging issues including leprosy, stroke and Huntingdon’s disease, all while fighting their own personal battles.

Nurse Crane finds her authority questioned from an unexpected quarter, Sister Monica Joan is forced to accept her failing faculties, and the much-loved characters are joined by West Indian midwife Lucille Anderson – a compassionate and clever nurse who brings a fresh burst of energy to life at Nonnatus House.

Includes the 2017 Christmas Special where the midwives battle snow, ice, power cuts and frozen pipes to provide patient care during the coldest winter in 300 years. Valerie helps a young couple who experience a traumatic birth and Sister Julienne tries to reunite a family.