Op 17 Desember spoel die lyk van Ernst Richter oop in die duine anderkant Parklands — dié Ernst Richter, berugte internet-entrepreneur, baas van die omstrede webwerf Alibi.co.za wat ’n maand gelede so onverklaarbaar en sensasioneel verdwyn het.

Selfs in normale omstandighede sou die Valke Bennie Griessel en Vaughn Cupido gesukkel het – by Alibi.co.za lieg almal soos tannetrekkers. Maar omstandighede is nie normaal nie. Want Griessel het weer aan die suip gegaan. En Cupido is verlief. Op een van die hoofverdagtes.

En op 24 Desember begin ’n jong wynboer bieg voor ’n advokaat in Kaapstad, wat die hele saak op sy kop keer. Kersfees sal nooit weer dieselfde wees nie.

Set in the tumultuous year of 1968 in southern Virginia, a murder case sets a duo of white and Black lawyers against a deeply unfair system as they work to defend their wrongfully-accused Black defendants in this courtroom drama from the number one bestselling author David Baldacci.

Jack Lee is a white lawyer from Freeman County, Virginia, who has never done anything to push back against racism, until he decides to represent Jerome Washington, a Black man charged with killing an elderly and wealthy white couple. Doubting his decision, Lee fears that his legal skills may not be enough to prevail in a case where the odds are already stacked against both him and his client. And he quickly finds himself out of his depth when he realizes that what is at stake is far greater than the outcome of a murder trial.

Desiree DuBose is a Black lawyer from Chicago who has devoted her life to furthering the causes of justice and equality for everyone. She comes to Freeman County and enters a fractious and unwieldy partnership with Lee in a legal battle against the best prosecutor in town. Yet DuBose is also aware that powerful outside forces are at work to blunt the victories achieved by the Civil Rights era.

Lee and DuBose could not be more dissimilar. On their own, neither one can stop the prosecution’s deliberate march towards a guilty verdict and the electric chair. But together, the pair fight for what once seemed impossible: a chance for a fair trial and true justice.

“the bird is freed”
- Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 27, 2022

When Elon Musk took over Twitter, commentators were rooting for the visionary behind Tesla and SpaceX to succeed. Here was a tough leader who could grab back power from Twitter’s entitled workforce, motivate them to get “extremely hardcore,” and supercharge Twitter’s profit and potential. And it was all out of the goodness of his own heart, rooted in his fervent belief in the necessity of making Twitter friendlier to free speech. "I didn’t do it to make more money,” Musk said. “I did it to try and help humanity, whom I love.” 

Once Musk charged into the Twitter headquarters, the command-and-control playbook Musk honed at Tesla and SpaceX went off the rails immediately. Distilling hundreds of hours of interviews with more than sixty employees, thousands of pages of internal documents, Slack messages, presentations, as well as court filings and congressional testimony, Extremely Hardcore is the true story of how Musk reshaped the world’s online public square into his own personal megaphone. 

You’ll hear from employees who witnessed the destruction of their workplace in real-time, seeing years of progress to fight disinformation and hate speech wiped out within a matter of months. There’s the machine-learning savant who went all-in on Twitter 2.0 before getting betrayed by his new CEO, the father whose need for healthcare swept him into Musk’s inner circle, the trust and safety expert who became the subject of a harassment campaign his former boss incited, and the many other employees who tried to save the company from their new boss’s worst instincts. This is the story of Twitter, but it’s also a chronicle of the post-pandemic labor movement, a war between executives and a workforce newly awakened to their rights and needs.

Riveting, character-driven, and filled with jaw-dropping revelations, Extremely Hardcore is the definitive, fly-on-the-wall story of how Elon Musk lit $44 billion on fire and burned down Twitter. It’s the next best thing to being there, and you won’t have to sleep in the Twitter office to get the scoop.

The debut novel from the global superstar actress Millie Bobby Brown, best known for playing Eleven in Netflix hit series Stranger Things.

London, 1942.

Despite the raging war, spirited 18-year-old Nellie Morris lives a quiet life in the tight-knit East End community of Bethnal Green. Her family and friends all tease that she will marry air raid warden Billy, the boy next door who’s always been sweet on her.

The arrival of Ray, a handsome American airman stationed nearby, causes Nellie to question everything she thought she knew about her future.

Nellie’s newfound happiness is short-lived when a tragic accident occurs during an air raid. Even the closest family can’t escape the devastation of war, and as the secrets and truth about that fateful night become clear, they threaten to tear Nellie – and those dearest to her – apart.

Inspired by the true events of her family history, Millie Bobby Brown’s dazzling debut novel is a moving tale of longing, loss and secrets, and the lengths that we will go to fight for love.

YOU'LL NEVER BE ABLE TO FIND YOURSELF IF YOU'RE LOST IN SOMEONE ELSE.

Fallon meets Ben the day before her big move to New York. Their attraction is untimely but undeniable. They spend her last day in Los Angeles together and Fallon's eventful life becomes the inspiration Ben has sought for the novel he's always wanted to write.

Over time and amidst the relationships and tribulations of their own separate lives, Ben and Fallon continue to meet on the same date every year. Until, one day, Fallon becomes unsure if Ben has been telling her the truth or fabricating a perfect reality for the sake of the ultimate plot twist.

Can Ben's relationship with Fallon - and, at the same time, with his novel - be considered a love story if it ends in heartbreak?

Niki Daly's spunky little heroine was first introduced in Jamela's Dress in 1999 and has been a firm favourite ever since; delighting young and old alike. Who can forget Gogo and Mama's little chicken from Yebo, Jamela!, destined for the cooking pot but adopted as Jamela's pet?  A girl like many others, Jamela dreams of  pretty dresses and shoes and is worried and scared when Mama announces they are moving house. Jamela is unforgettable!   

Azille Coetzee gaan studeer in Nederland, kry ’n Nederlandse lover en besluit om in Europa aan te bly. Maar iets voel nie reg nie … Daar is tog altyd die vraag: Watter herkoms hou die styfste vas, Afrika of Europa? Dié is ’n uiters leesbare verhaal van identiteit, reis en liefde: intiem, eerlik en slim.

The Zondo Commission of Inquiry was one of the most important political developments in modern South African history. The commission sat for years, hearing the evidence of 300 witnesses and gathering a vast quantity of documents.

The result is a damning and sometimes searing account of the state take over: how the Gupta family found willing acolytes in the state, and set about systematically looting the country and destroying institutions of democracy. There is little doubt that understanding South Africa’s political history, its current malaise and its political future requires an understanding of the commission’s work. The commission’s final findings, however, run to over 5 000 pages. Reading all of this material is a daunting and overwhelming task for even the most dedicated citizen.

Zondo at your Fingertips solves this problem. In straightforward and accessible language, author Paul Holden sets out the work of the commission, its findings and recommendations. Holden is well placed to do so: he gave evidence before the Zondo Commission over multiple days, tracing the ways in which the Gupta family captured and looted.

Zondo at your Fingertips summarises concisely each volume of the commission’s final findings, and communicates the commission’s sometimes complex legal discussions clearly and candidly.

But Holden does not just summarise: he also evaluates the commission’s findings, highlighting the good, the bad and the ugly of it’s work. In so doing, he points to stones left unturned, leads that must be followed and warnings to heed.

Murders are happening all over San Francisco, and the stress on the Women’s Murder Club has never been higher. How can the Club survive? ​

SFPD Sergeant Lindsay Boxer, Medical Examiner Claire Washburn, Assistant District Attorney Yuki Castellano, and crime writer Cindy Thomas gather at one of San Francisco’s finest restaurants to celebrate exciting news: Cindy is getting married. Before they can raise their glasses, there’s a disturbance in the restaurant. A woman has been assaulted.

Claire examines the victim. Lindsay makes an arrest. Yuki takes the case. Cindy covers it.

The legal strategy is complicated by gaps in the plaintiff’s memory—and the shocking reason behind her ever-changing testimony.

As Yuki leads the prosecution, Lindsay chases down a high-society killer whose target practice may leave the Women’s Murder Club short a bridesmaid … or two.

Squid Game meets Wilder Girls in this debut sapphic supernatural thriller set in the glittering, cut-throat world of K-pop rivalry as a disgraced idol comes face-to-face with the demons of her past when the competition she enters turns out to be a deadly trap.

After a shocking career-ending scandal, eighteen-year-old Sunny Lee spends her days longing for her former popstar life and cyberstalking ex-groupmate Candie. They were inseparable - before leaving tragedy and heartache in their wake. Now Candie is chasing stardom in a new K-pop competition, and Sunny can't resist joining her. Finally, they can confront their past, like what happened that horrible night their third groupmate jumped to her death. And whether the dark, otherworldly secrets they keep had something to do with it . . .

But when Sunny is haunted by terrifying visions, gory injuries start happening to competitors - followed by even stranger mutilations. It's a race to survive the deadly carnage in this spellbinding sapphic thriller that will have you screaming and swooning for more.

When two young rival journalists find love through a magical connection, they must face the depths of hell to seal their fate forever.

All eighteen-year-old Iris Winnow wants to do is hold her family together. With a brother on the frontline forced to fight on behalf of the Gods now missing, and a mother drowning her sorrows, Iris's best bet is winning the columnist promotion at the Oath Gazette. But when Iris's letters to her brother fall into the wrong hands - that of the handsome but cold Roman Kitt, her rival at the paper - an unlikely magical connection forms.

Expelled into the middle of a mystical war, magical typewriters in tow, can their bond withstand the fight for the fate of mankind and most importantly, love?

An epic enemies-to-lovers fantasy novel filled with hope and heartbreak, and the unparalleled power of love.

President Cyril Ramaphosa, Nelson Mandela’s preferred successor, faces new problems and new choices since he won his own electoral mandate in May 2019.

In the next five years, South Africa will be changed radically by the climate crisis, the Fourth Industrial Revolution, economic stagnation and political unrest among some of its southern African neighbours, and the rising African influence of Russia and China while the West is distracted by the insurgent populism of US President Donald Trump and Brexit.

As jy gedink het dit is maar net normaal om met toksiese gedagtes, depressie en angs saam te leef, dink weer. Die pad na ’n gesonde gedagtewêreld en ware geluk is dalk baie korter as wat jy dink.

In Kry jou kop skoon gee dr. Caroline Leaf ’n 5-stap-plan wat jou sal lei om negatiewe gedagtes en emosies te identifiseer en te oorkom. Die plan, wat wetenskaplik bewys is, word ondersteun deur aangrypende gevallestudies. Enigiemand wat hierdie 5 stappe volg, sal ’n dramatiese verskil in hul fisieke en emosionele gesondheid ervaar.

Ontdek in Kry jou kop skoon hoe jy in net 3 siklusse van 21 dae beheer kan neem oor jou chaotiese gedagtewêreld sodat jy volkome emosionele en liggaamlike gesondheid, vrede en geluk kan ervaar.

The Kitchen is a focal point for creativity where people from all walks of life come to feed their appetites as well as their ingenuity. Every day sees an array of mouth-watering dishes prepared by a team of remarkable and dedicated chefs whose personalised approach and pride in their artistry ensures that every visit or event catered for will be a memorable one. Here is the opportunity to bring Karen's Kitchen to yours!

This gorgeous book gives everyone a glimpse into one week of The Kitchen, where menus change daily and South African twists on Mediterranean and Oriental tastes promise clean, natural flavours undisguised by rich sauces.

Step on in to Karen's Kitchen, and find out what it is that has publications such as The New York Times and personalities like Michelle Obama relishing their experience.

Mila se nuwe maat moet skool toe gaan. Maar sal sy weet hoe om haar soos ’n regte dogtertjie te gedra?

Juffrou Kadawer jaag Annabel sommer dadelik uit die klas oor haar vreemde kat-maniere. Maar waar kom hierdie nuwe juffrou vandaan, en hoekom is sy op Rottes se spoor?

Die toorpolisie keer die maats vas, en dan laat val Jannus ’n vuurhoutjie op die verkeerde plek ...

Die bure het ’n nuwe dogter. Waar kom sy vandaan, en hoekom lyk sy so baie na Annabel, die kat wat weggeraak het? Boonop is hierdie buurmeisie se naam óók Annabel ...

Mila besluit om ondersoek in te stel. Maar haar boetie Jannus spring haar voor en steel Annabel se mens-word-middel. Hy voer dit vir sy aaklige troeteldier, Rottes, net om te kyk wat gebeur.

Katastrofe!

The stunning third book in the sexy, action-packed Crescent City series, following the global bestsellers House of Earth and Blood and House of Sky and Breath.

Bryce Quinlan never expected to see a world other than Midgard, but now that she has, all she wants is to get back. Everything she loves is in Midgard: her family, her friends, her mate. Stranded in a strange new world, she's going to need all her wits about her to get home again. And that's no easy feat when she has no idea who to trust.

Hunt Athalar has found himself in some deep holes in his life, but this one might be the deepest of all. After a few brief months with everything he ever wanted, he's in the Asteri's dungeons again, stripped of his freedom and without a clue as to Bryce's fate. He's desperate to help her, but until he can escape the Asteri's leash, his hands are quite literally tied.

In this sexy, breathtaking sequel to the #1 bestsellers House of Earth and Blood and House of Sky and Breath, Sarah J. Maas's Crescent City series reaches new heights as Bryce and Hunt's world is brought to the brink of collapse-with its future resting on their shoulders.

Find out where it all began for Pip in this prequel novella to the bestselling, award-winning A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder,Good Girl, Bad Blood and As Good As Dead. Previously published in 2021 as a World Book Day title.

Pippa Fitz-Amobi is not in the mood for her friend’s murder mystery party. Especially one that involves 1920’s fancy dress and pretending that their town, Little Kilton, is an island called Joy. But when the game begins, Pip finds herself drawn into the make-believe world of intrigue, deception and murder.

But as Pip plays detective, teasing out the identity of the killer clue-by-clue, the murder of the fictional Reginald Remy isn’t the only case on her mind …

New York bookseller Cassie Andrews is not sure what she’s doing with her life. She lives quietly, sharing an apartment with her best friend, Izzy. Then a favourite customer gives her an old book. Full of strange writing and mysterious drawings, at the very front there is a handwritten message:

This is the Book of Doors. Hold it in your hand, and any door is every door.

Cassie is about to discover that the Book of Doors is a special book – a magic book. A book that bestows extraordinary abilities on whoever possesses it. And she is about to learn that there are other magic books out there that can also do wondrous – or dreadful and terrifying – things.

Suddenly Cassie and Izzy are confronted by violence and danger, and the only person who can help them is Drummond Fox who has a secret library of magical books hidden in the shadows for safekeeping, a man fleeing his own demons. Because there is a nameless evil out there that is hunting them all . . .

Because this book is worth killing for.

Addictive, brilliantly written and utterly irresistible, The Book of Doors is the spell-binding, mind-bending, heart-pounding new adventure that is perfect for fans of The Binding, The Midnight Library and A Discovery of Witches . . .

HEROES AND UNICORNS AS YOU’VE NEVER SEEN THEM BEFORE. The epic adventure continues . . .

Don’t miss this sequel to Waterstones Children’s Book of the Year 2022 Skandar and the Unicorn Thief. Skandar and the Phantom Rider is the second book in the international bestselling SKANDAR series, an unmissable adventure for listeners age 9 to 99 and fans of Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Eragon and Fireborn.

The Island shall have its revenge . . .

Skandar Smith has achieved his dream to train as a unicorn rider.

But as Skandar and his friends enter their second year at the Eyrie, a new threat arises. Immortal wild unicorns are somehow being killed, a prophecy warns of terrible danger, and elemental destruction begins to ravage the Island.

Meanwhile, Skandar’s sister, Kenna, longs to join him – and Skandar is determined to help her, no matter what. As the storm gathers, can Skandar discover how to stop the Island tearing itself apart – before it’s too late for them all?

Ericas come in an astonishing array of sizes, shapes and colours. Some 760 species, many of them found nowhere else, occur in the Cape Floristic region – a centre of unparalleled diversity for the genus and home to one of the world’s richest floras.

Even when in bloom, telling these delicate flowers apart is extremely challenging. In Ericas of the Fynbos, 170 of the region’s most common plants are described in detail, with key ID features highlighted for quick reference. In addition, information is given on distribution, flowering times, subspecies and similar species – providing more tools to aid accurate identification. Vivid full-colour photographs of each species showcase the astonishing variety and stunning beauty of the flowers. An informative introduction unpacks biology, pollination and distribution of erica species.

Enriched by a lively design, this innovative guide will give all flower enthusiasts, gardeners and hikers, the confidence to accurately identify ericas in the wild.

A heart-wrenching story of courage and hope set in wartime Berlin, from the billion-copy bestseller Danielle Steel.

In 1930s Berlin, dark days dawn under Hitler’s Third Reich. For nineteen-year-old Sophia Alexander, life will never be the same. The daughter of a respected doctor, Sophia has always believed that her destiny is to look after others, and as the persecution of Jewish families begins, she joins a group of dissidents who are committed to helping them to safety.

As war is declared, Sophia answers her religious calling and enters a convent, where she continues to fight bravely against the Nazi regime. That is until the fateful day she is arrested and taken to Ravensbrück concentration camp, where her only hope of survival is to escape and successfully make the dangerous journey to the border.

Sophia’s situation is further complicated when she meets a US airman, shot down nearby. As she nurses him back to health, they grow close, but she is still resolute that her destiny is with the Church.

As Sophia looks for a sign of which path to follow, will she have the strength to question what she has committed her whole life to?

Jack Reacher plans to follow the autumn sun on an epic road trip across America, from Maine to California. He doesn't get far. On a country road deep in the New England woods, he sees a sign to a place he has never been - the town where his father was born. He thinks, what's one extra day? He takes the detour. At the very same moment, close by, a car breaks down. Two young Canadians are trying to get to New York City to sell a treasure. They're stranded at a lonely motel in the middle of nowhere. It's a strange place ... but it's all there is.

The next morning in the city clerk's office, Reacher asks about the old family home. He's told no one named Reacher ever lived in that town. He knows his father never went back. Now he wonders, was he ever there in the first place?

So begins another nailbiting, adrenaline-fuelled adventure for Reacher. The present can be tense, but the past can be worse...

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of It Ends with Us delivers a tour de force novel about a troubled marriage and the one old forgotten promise that might be able to save it.

Quinn and Graham's perfect love is threatened by their imperfect marriage. The memories, mistakes, and secrets that they have built up over the years are now tearing them apart. The one thing that could save them might also be the very thing that pushes their marriage beyond the point of repair.

All Your Perfects is a profound novel about a damaged couple whose potential future hinges on promises made in the past. This is a heartbreaking page-turner that asks: Can a resounding love with a perfect beginning survive a lifetime between two imperfect people?

Moving, passionate, and unforgettable, this novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Colleen Hoover follows two young adults from completely different backgrounds embarking on a tentative romance, unaware of what the future holds.

After a childhood filled with poverty and neglect, Beyah Grim finally has her hard-earned ticket out of Kentucky with a full ride to Penn State. But two months before she's finally free to change her life for the better, an unexpected death leaves her homeless and forced to spend the remainder of her summer in Texas with a father she barely knows.

Devastated and anxious for the summer to go by quickly, Beyah has no time or patience for Samson, the wealthy, brooding guy next door. Yet, the connection between them is too intense to ignore. But with their upcoming futures sending them to opposite ends of the country, the two decide to maintain only a casual summer fling.

Too bad neither has any idea that a rip current is about to drag both their hearts out to sea.