This short story collection is filled with memorable characters, intriguing plots and twist endings.

With his keen observations and insights into human nature, Mhlongo explores the things people do for each other, but also to each other. Injustice, corruption, love and desire are just some of the aspects of human interaction featured here.

A family refuses to leave when the bank repossesses their house; stalking has an unexpected outcome; a desensitised morgue manager is spooked; and more!

20 South African Short Stories brought to you by Short.Sharp.Stories.

A fraudster cashes out of a life of crime, a mother has a splendid affair, a brave woman never gives up, a graffiti artist spray-paints the city; a poignant friendship comes to a climax in a retirement home, a storyteller understands his true power, a friend delivers a heart-rending eulogy; a young South African searches for belonging in Hong Kong, while another takes a risk assisting a local artist; a photographer explores eroticism through the lens and the body, a group of reggae fans cross borders to seek freedom with Bob Marley, a drummer is haunted by the jazz of Sophiatown; a book on slavery offers a troubled woman a way out, a student faces an impossible choice, the blood moon shines on a forbidden passion … and so much more, as each short story captures the unique moment and meaning of ONE LIFE.

The anthology’s contributors are largely established South African authors who have a track record in the publishing industry, as well as exciting emerging writers. The writers include Stella Douglas, Carmen Gee, Karen Jennings, Joel Kelly, Werner Labuschagne, David Mann, Lerato Mahlangu, Don Makatile, Juliette Mnqeta, Tshidiso Moletsane, Nontobeko Mtshali, Vuyokazi Ngemntu, Jana van Niekerk, Thango Ntwasa, Andrew Prior, Sihle Qwabe, Srila Roy, Khensani Sayiya, Megan Tennant and Jarred Thompson.

In A Coat of Many Colours, award-winning author Fred Khumalo presents a patchwork of various vibrant stories befitting the collection’s title.

A boy plays detective, investigating the case of a goat and a coat; a woman takes revenge; an inhlabi bites off more than he can chew; teenage enmity rears its head in a prestigious school for girls; a man is cursed with an ever-growing sexual appetite; and more thoughtful stories with an entertaining zing!

The Penguin English Library edition of North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell 'How am I to dress up in my finery, and go off and away to smart parties, after the sorrow I have seen today?' Elizabeth Gaskell's compassionate, richly dramatic novel features one of the most original and fully-rounded female characters in Victorian fiction, Margaret Hale. It shows how, forced to move from the country to an industrial northern town, she develops a passionate sense of social justice, and a turbulent relationship with mill-owner John Thornton. North and South depicts a young woman discovering herself, in a nuanced portrayal of what divides people, and what brings them together. The Penguin English Library - 100 editions of the best fiction in English, from the eighteenth century and the very first novels to the beginning of the First World War.

Hierdie versameling stories en besinnings uit die immergewilde skrywer se “Woorde wat wip”-rubriek wat tweeweekliks in Rapport verskyn, sal lesers met selfs die stroefste hallelujagesigte opkikker.

In hierdie boek kry jy insae in hoe stories rondom woorde gevorm word. Herman kies telkens ’n woord en bou ’n storie om dit. Die inhoud val uiteen as ’n tipe abecedarium – speelse inskripsies volgens die letters van die alfabet, dikwels met woorde wat nie meer alledaags gebruik word nie of die gevaar loop om in onbruik te raak.

Al gewonder wat ’n huilboerboom, meelwurms, kofia, ietsjoebeentjie, sandkombers of kamdebooharpuisbos is? In hierdie boek word dié woorde, en vele meer, geaktiveer as spilpunte waarom heerlike stories verweef is. Ideaal vir proe-proe lees op enige plek waar jy jou sit of lê die lekkerste kry.

The lives of South Africans have always been interwoven in complex ways. There is a long history of division; but also of profound (and often surprising) instances of mutual recognition. Recognition is an exciting anthology of short stories in which twenty-two South African writers render these intricate connections.

The writers whose stories have been selected use the transformative power of the imagination and the unique appeal of the short story to illuminate aspects of our past and present. Cumulatively their stories tell of a history tainted by misrecognition but not, finally, bound by it. Amongst the twenty-two contributors are some of our best-known short story writers: Pauline Smith, Herman Charles Bosman, H.I. E. Dhlomo, Can Themba, Nadine Gordimer, Alex La Guma, Dan Jacobson, Miriam Tlali, Ahmed Essop, Njabulo Ndebele, Mandla Langa, Chris van Wyk, Damon Galgut, Achmat Dangor and Zoe Wicomb. And there is also a selection of vibrant newer voices: Makhosazana Xaba, Nadia Davids, Mary Watson, Lindiwe Nkutha, Wamuwi Mbao and Kobus Moolman.

Chronologically the collection ranges from the 1920s to the twenty first century. It builds on its predecessor, Encounters, but devotes significant attention to the transitional and post-apartheid years: almost half the stories were published after 1994. The anthology includes a generous and detailed introduction, written by David Medalie. It traces the motif of recognition, discusses the general characteristics of short stories and the narrative devices used by writers, and includes a brief analysis of each short story.

Recognition will appeal to teachers and students of literature. It will be enjoyed by all those who love short stories and appreciate the craftsmanship involved in telling a memorable tale.

If You Keep Digging is a moving collection of short stories, which will resonate with a South African audience. The selection of stories highlights marginalised identities and looks at the daily lives of people who may otherwise be forgotten or dismissed.

Monkeys is a skillful commentary on domestic violence, toxic masculinity, patriarchy (and how it is racialised), power dynamics between white and black men and how children come to “know” that they are white or black. Skinned, whose protagonist is a woman with albinism, is a powerful story about learning to accept that you deserve love when the world constantly tells you otherwise. In Fourteen the author deftly demonstrates the ability to play with concepts of time and reality. It is a compelling story about potential and how one can feel unfulfilled despite having hopes and ambitions.

The collection is also deeply concerned with covering the early post democracy years in South Africa. Each of the characters deals with questions around the “new” country. The book implores one to think about diverse topics and perspectives, difficult family relationships, abandonment, social and class issues, power dynamics at school and at work, mental illness, witchcraft, sexuality, domestic abuse and the ancestral realm, among other things.

A thrilling array of African writers, including Fred Khumalo, Sibongile Fisher, Lucas Ledwaba, Vonani Bila, Lynn Joffe and Christopher Mlalazi, tell surprising and unnerving tales in this collection of commissioned stories from the master of narrative writing, Niq Mhlongo.

These stories give answers to the question: what does being haunted and hauntings mean in our southern African world, in the past, the present and the future?

Liefdeskortverhale deur 27 bekende Afrikaanse skrywers om jou naweek op ’n romantiese noot mee te begin.

Laat die week en sy gewoel agter met dié stories uit die pen van Juanita Aggenbach, Bernette Bergenthuin, Henk Breytenbach, Malene Breytenbach, Alma Carstens, Alta Cloete, Leona Conradie, Trisa Hugo, Madelie Human, Jaco Jacobs, Anzil Kulsen, Kristel Loots, Cliffordene Norton, Susan Olivier, Didi Potgieter, Gerrit Rautenbach, Felicia Snyman, Cecilia Steyn, Dibi Symington, Louise van der Merwer, Santie van der Merwe, Nanette van Rooyen, Frenette van Wyk, Antoinette Venter, Louise Viljoen, Magdaleen Walters en Elsa Winckler.

From the world's bestselling thriller writer – three pulse-pounding stories in one book!

THE FAMILY LAWYER with Robert Rotstein
Matthew Hovanes is living a parent's worst nightmare: his young daughter is accused of bullying another girl into suicide. But this loving father is also a skilled criminal defense attorney. And something here doesn't add up...

NIGHT SNIPER with Christopher Charles
Cheryl Mabern is the NYPD's most brilliant detective - and the most damaged. Now she must confront her darkest fears to stop a calculating killer committing random murders.

THE GOOD SISTER with Rachel Howzell Hall
Her beloved sister's cheating husband has been found dead. Now, Dani Lawrence must decide if she will help the investigation that could put her sister away... or obstruct it by any means necessary.

Nearly a decade after his last volume of short stories was published, Jeffrey Archer returns with his eagerly-awaited, brand-new collection TELL TALE, giving us a fascinating, exciting and sometimes poignant insight into the people he has met, the stories he has come across and the countries he has visited during the past ten years.

Find out what happens to the hapless young detective from Naples who travels to an Italian hillside town to find out Who Killed the Mayor? and the pretentious schoolboy in A Road to Damascus, whose discovery of the origins of his father's wealth changes his life in the most profound way.

Revel in the stories of the 1930's woman who dares to challenge the men at her Ivy League University in A Gentleman and A Scholar while another young woman who thumbs a lift gets more than she bargained for in A Wasted Hour.

These wonderfully engaging and always refreshingly original tales prove not only why Archer has been compared by the critics to Dahl and Maugham, but why he was described by The Times as probably the greatest storyteller of our age.

Joburg Noir is a collection of writings about memories, legends, loss, jokes, stories, myths and experiences by twenty-two gifted and versatile authors in South Africa. It makes the reader experience present-day Johannesburg as if one were in the past. The stories seek to understand, reconstruct, reinvent and recover this city space of loss, joy, deprivation, resistance and possibility by revealing its complex dynamics. They are funny, shocking, violent, absurd, strangely tender and memorable.

Their lasting resonance lies in the fact that they invoke the joys and traumas of the past and present, making the two to co-exist and interlock. After reading this uncompromising and gritty anthology, the reader is bound to feel like a time-traveller who has voyaged into a magical alternate city and a reality that was either misnamed or not named at all. The intention is to help the readers to delve into their own memories in search of pictures of their sweet childhood and fractured identities.

Contributors: Sam Mathe; Fred Khumalo; Lidudumalingani; Keletso Mopai; Sibongile Fisher; Kgomotso Masemola; Styles Lucas Ledwaba; Mapule Mohulatsi; Khanyi Magubane; Sifiso Mzobe; Gloria Bosman; Nedine Moonsamy; Yewande Omotso; Mabel Mnesa; Nthikeng Mohlele; Eusebius McKaiser; Siphiwo Mahala; Nkateko Masinga; Mzuvukile Maqetuka; Sydney Mojoko; Michelle van Heerden.

A fun and fearless anthology of feminist tales, by fifteen bestselling, award-winning writers:

Margaret Atwood, Susie Boyt, Eleanor Crewes, Emma Donoghue, Stella Duffy, Linda Grant, Claire Kohda, CN Lester, Kirsty Logan, Caroline O'Donoghue, Chibundu Onuzo, Helen Oyeymi, Rachel Seiffert, Kamila Shamsie and Ali Smith - introduced by Sandi Toksvig.

DRAGON. TYGRESS. SHE-DEVIL. HUSSY. SIREN. WENCH. HARRIDAN. MUCKRAKER. SPITFIRE. VITUPERATOR. CHURAIL. TERMAGANT. FURY. WARRIOR. VIRAGO.

For centuries past, and all across the world, there are words that have defined and decried us. Words that raise our hackles, fire up our blood; words that tell a story.

In this blazing cauldron of a book, fifteen bestselling, award-winning writers have taken up their pens and reclaimed these words, creating an entertaining and irresistible collection of feminist tales for our time.

'Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.'

Hidden away in the Record Department of the sprawling Ministry of Truth, Winston Smith skilfully rewrites the past to suit the needs of the Party. Yet he inwardly rebels against the totalitarian world he lives in, which demands absolute obedience and controls him through the all-seeing telescreens and the watchful eye of Big Brother, symbolic head of the Party.

In his longing for truth and liberty, Smith begins a secret love affair with a fellow-worker Julia, but soon discovers the true price of freedom is betrayal.

George Orwell's dystopian masterpiece, Nineteen Eighty-Four is perhaps the most pervasively influential book of the twentieth century.

Following on from the critical acclaim of Those Who Live in Cages, Terry-Ann Adam’s latest book is a collection of short stories set in Eldorado Park, the site of Terry-Ann’s inspiration. Her sentences positively glow as she documents the wonders and sadnesses of everyday life. These rich and powerful stories confirm Terry-Ann Adams’ place as one of the brightest stars of new South African writing.

Everyday life in these stories centres can be pregnancy, death, getting the fahfee numbers from gran, what to wear to a matric ball if you are from Eldos and you want to look like Princess Diana. These stories are nothing short of miraculous and this fearless collection of stories takes the reader on an odyssey of love and grief.

Terry-Ann Adam’s peerless writing brims with fire and wonder. You will be provoked and you will exult. Above all, you’ll remember where you were when you read White Chalk.

'What will we find in the uncut grass?'
'It depends on what we’re looking for.'

From Trevor Noah, the author of the #1 bestselling memoir Born a Crime, comes a gorgeously illustrated fable in the tradition of The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse about a young child’s journey into the world beyond the shadow of home, a magical landscape where he discovers the secrets of solidarity, connection, and finding peace with the people we love.

Infused with Trevor’s signature wit and imagination, in collaboration with visionary artist Sabina Hahn, it's a tale for readers of all ages – to be read aloud or read alone.

This collection consists of 29 stories – 5 in English, 24 in Afrikaans. Several of the stories have been adapted from stage productions over a period of three years: BUTTERFLY, LOVESICK TIM, MOSCOW, SIX IN A BOAT, DIE SMITSTRAAT SUITE, ROME ’62 and PASSI PASSIO.

Hierdie jongste versameling van Nataniël bevat 29 stories – 5 in Engels, 24 in Afrikaans. Verskeie van die stukke is verwerk uit Nataniël-produksies oor ’n periode van drie jaar: BUTTERFLY, LOVESICK TIM, MOSCOW, SIX IN A BOAT, DIE SMITSTRAAT SUITE, ROME ’62 en PASSI PASSIO.

Kortverhale met liefde as tema: Die wonderbaarlike gewaarwording wat iewers tussen verstand, psige en liggaam vatplek kry en ’n menselewe rig.

Soms trap dit met oshoewe deur die fynste ruimte. En maak wreedaardig seer. Sodat die slagoffer wil vergeld.

Of dit liefde vir die omgewing, ’n voorwerp of tussen mense is, in elke teks loop die liefde ’n pad wat sy meelopers by ’n tuiste bring, soms met ’n traan, meesal met ’n lag, maar altyd met nuwe insig.

All I saw was Humanity is a compilation of short stories that depicts everyday human realities and details the experiences of various characters.

It speaks to their challenges and struggles, thoughts, feelings and aspirations, failures and internal conflict. It paints different pictures from children grappling with the divorce of their parents, young adults attempting to navigate adulthood amid trauma, to the complexities of dealing with loss and disappointment.

The stories are enlightening about battles often fought in private and how human perspectives over the same matter can often be different. The stories aim to incite an understanding of the vast and various backgrounds people come from and encourage compassion in everyday life as we are often unaware of what that background is.

A book of hope for uncertain times.

The conversations between the four characters in this book - the boy, the mole, the fox and the horse - have been shared thousands of times online, recreated in school art classes, turned into tattoos, they inspire parents and grandparents, comfort children, cheer people who feel lonely, are grieving, need courage, or a reminder that they are not alone and to keep going when life is hard.

Enter the world of Charlie Mackesy's creations, these four unlikely friends, discover their story and their most poignant and universal life lessons. The book includes Charlie's most loved illustrations and new ones too.

'The world needs Charlie’s work right now.' Miranda Hart

‘My hope is that the book goes some way to helping people live more courageously, more honestly and with more love for themselves and others.’ Charlie Mackesy

Dazzling stories of love, magic and betrayal . . .

A sensational collection from internationally bestselling author Olivie Blake.

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, the spirit tethered to a magical bridge rapidly approaches burnout – and craves her freedom. Elsewhere, Congress enacts a complex auditing system designed to un-waste your youth. We also follow a banished fairy, as she answers a Craigslist ad. And we meet a Victorian orphan, who gains literacy for her occult situationship. In another time and place, a multiverse assassin contemplates the one who got away.

Escape the slow trudge of mortality with these magical ruminations on life, death and the love (or revenge) that outlasts both. This collection also features modified fairy tales, contemporary heists, absurdist poetry and at least one set of actual wedding vows.

Januaries is collection of new and existing short stories from the internationally bestselling author Olivie Blake.

Kainsmerk is ’n versameling stories wat meestal as kortverhale en vervolgverhale in tyd- skrifte verskyn het. In hierdie verhale vertel Annelie Botes van mense wat as brose wesens dikwels ’n teken van vervloeking (Kainsmerk) in hul siele ronddra wat hulle vir die wêreld wil verberg. Lesers maak kennis met verskeie karakters wat telkens op die Damaskuspad beland as gevolg van die seerkry wat hulle ervaar.

’n Boervrou se ouderlingman verrinneweer haar en sy begin drink, en droom van die dag dat sy haar man se lyk in die put op die werf afgooi. ’n Ander boervrou bou ’n padstal en werk haar tot eelte, terwyl sy haar man afskeep. Totdat sy op ’n dag tydens ’n vloed op die dak van die padstal vasgekeer word.

Nog ’n plaasvrou het geen behae in haar huwelik nie. Een nag beleef sy en haar man ’n plaasaanval en is hulle nét op mekaar aangewese. ’n Vrou wat tronkstraf uitgedien het vir diefstal, beland as huishoudster by ’n hoogaangeskrewe man met ’n rare obsessie. ’n Mevrou- dominee gaan soek rus en heling in ’n grot op haar geboorteplaas.

Hierdie is maar enkele van die karakters waarmee Botes Suid-Afrikaanse tydskriflesers deur die jare meegevoer het. Nou word dié juwele vir die eerste keer byeengebring in een band. As spesiale bonus is die immergewilde “Duiwelsbrood”, wat geruime tyd reeds uit druk is, ook in Kainsmerk opgeneem.

Shortlisted for The Booker Prize 2024

Enthralling and ferociously funny, James by Percival Everett is a profound meditation on identity, belonging and the sacrifices we make to protect the ones we love. It is also a bold reimagining of Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, as the enslaved Jim emerges to reclaim his voice and defy the conventions that have consigned him to the margins.

The Mississippi River, 1861. When the enslaved Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a new owner in New Orleans and separated from his wife and daughter forever, he decides to hide on nearby Jackson’s Island until he can formulate a plan.

Meanwhile, Huck Finn has faked his own death to escape his violent father who recently returned to town. Thus begins a dangerous and transcendent journey by raft along the Mississippi River, towards the elusive promise of the free states and beyond. As James and Huck navigate the treacherous waters, each bend in the river holds the promise of both salvation and demise.

With rumours of a brewing war, James must face the burden he carries: the family he is desperate to protect and the constant lie he must live. And together, the unlikely pair embark on the most dangerous, and life-changing, odyssey of them all . . .

An evil man is reincarnated as a terrible smell and over time falls in love with a woman. A stranger arrives at the door of a heavenly house, but unlike everyone else there, she will only live once. A person dies and goes to a place where all living things go – a menagerie of animals roaming an endless meadow – and he finds love in familiar faces. A mother and a son reunite in a heaven that is also a hell – depending on how you see it. Two people die on the moon and live undead through eons, moving through the phases of love while watching the lights on Earth flicker out.

The first story collection from Kate Atkinson in twenty years, Normal Rules Don't Apply is a dazzling array of eleven interconnected tales from the bestselling author of Shrines of Gaiety and Life After Life

In this first full collection since Not the End of the World, we meet a queen who makes a bargain she cannot keep; a secretary who watches over the life she has just left; a man whose luck changes when a horse speaks to him.

With clockwork intricacy, inventiveness and sharp social observation, Kate Atkinson conjures a feast for the imagination, a constantly changing multiverse in which nothing is quite as it seems.