Over the past six years, Brené Brown, along with a global community of coaches and facilitators, has taken more than 150,000 leaders in 45 countries through her Dare to Lead courage-building work. In Strong Ground, Brown shares the lessons from these experiences along with wisdom from other thinkers. This is a vital playbook for everyone from senior leaders developing and executing complex strategies to Gen Z-ers entering and navigating turbulent work environments. It is also an unflinching assessment of what happens when we continue to perpetuate the falsehood that performance and wholeheartedness are mutually exclusive.

With equal amounts of optimism and caution about AI, Brown writes, 'I hear a lot of experts trying to soothe people’s anxiety about the pace of technological change by offering platitudes like, What makes us human will ensure our relevance. This is dangerous simply because, right now, we’re not especially good at what makes us human. We’re not hardwired for this level of uncertainty, and many of us feel as if the constant need to self-protect is driving the humanity right out of us. This is why organisational transformation today must foster deep connection, deep thinking and deep collaboration. We need the courage to lead people in a way that honours and protects the wisdom of the human spirit.'

Brown offers a broad assessment of the skill sets and mindsets we need moving forward, including the capacity for respectful and difficult conversations, increased productive urgency and smart prioritisation rather than reactivity, strategic risk-taking, paradoxical thinking and situational and anticipatory awareness skills. She identifies the toughest skill set as the discipline, humility and confidence to unlearn and relearn.

Brown writes, 'Individuals and organisations are building new muscles. Finding our strong ground ― that athletic stance ― is the only thing that can provide both unwavering stability in a maelstrom of uncertainty and a platform for the fast, explosive change that the world is demanding.'

Sorcha O’Donovan dreams of an exciting life beyond the West Cork coastline where she has grown up. When she encounters the town’s strikingly handsome outcast, struggling musician Con Daly, her days will never be the same.

When Con strikes gold with rock band The Fishermen in London, he and Sorcha look set for a rosy future. But their lives change beyond recognition as the dark side of fame rears its head. Death threats follow Con around, and devastating secrets from the past threaten to destroy everything he has worked for.

Twenty years later, The Fishermen agree to re-form for the massive Music for Life charity concert at Wembley Stadium. But Con Daly, heartthrob and spokesman for a generation, has been missing for over a decade.

There’s only one person who can find out what happened, who has access to the lives, loves and careers of all concerned as The Fishermen rose to worldwide fame. Only one person who knows how vital it is to uncover the truth, because should Con Daly reappear before the facts emerge, then history could repeat itself with even more tragic consequences.

Jack Reacher will make three stops today. Not all of them were planned for.

First – a Baltimore coffee shop. A seat in the corner, facing the door. Black coffee, two refills, no messing about. A minor interruption from two of the customers, but nothing he can’t deal with. As he leaves, a young guy brushes against him in the doorway. Instinctively Reacher checks his pocket. There's no problem. Nothing is missing.

Second – a store to buy a coat. Nothing fancy. Something he can ditch when he heads to warmer climes. Large enough to fit a man the size of a bank vault. As he pulls out his cash, he finds something new in his pocket. A handwritten note. A desperate plea for help.

Third – wherever this bend in the road takes him. Impressed by the guy's technique and intrigued by the message, Reacher makes it his mission to find out more . . .

In Upwards, Karen Dudley invites us on a culinary journey that transcends the ordinary, encouraging us to look up to what is true and essential – living simply and well.

In this follow-up to Onwards, Karen, with her signature warmth and insight, shares how the act of cooking can – and should be – a letting go of life’s daily preoccupations, a way to connect with ourselves and others, by paying attention to the pleasure and enjoyment of cooking something beautiful, delicious and even surprising.

Sharing recipes from a vibrant palette of flavours, Upwards lifts Karen’s loyal community towards the next level – to learn new skills, to look up to quality over quantity and to pay attention to the splendour that can come from the meditative act of cooking. Upwards is thus a call to be inspired, to create and to connect, all the time looking up, up, up, as we invite into our kitchens new dishes, new flavours and new possibilities.

It’s been three months since demigod boyfriends Nico di Angelo and Will Solace returned from Tartarus, and there hasn’t been a single quest for them in all that time. So, when Nico’s half sister Hazel asks them to come to Camp Jupiter to help with an ‘issue’, Nico shadow-jumps at the chance to do something.

What Hazel didn’t tell the boys is that she’s providing a haven for a group of monsters who’ve escaped the Underworld! Apparently, during Nico and Will’s trip to the Underworld, they showed the monsters that they don’t have to be evil – that the monsters have options.

But then the monsters start disappearing from the camp and it’s clear a dark force is at work – and Nico, Will and Hazel are shocked to find that they’re connected to it . . .

NO ONE IS SAFE FROM THE SERIAL KILLER
 
NOT EVEN SCARPETTA…
 
During the early hours of Christmas morning, chief medical examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta receives a chilling call. The Phantom Slasher has struck again.

The serial killer has terrorized Northern Virginia for months. His pattern is to stalk with a sophisticated technology that enables him to invade his victims' homes and watch their every move. They wake up to a ghost-like hologram before being murdered in their beds.
 
Scarpetta is summoned to Mercy Island, the site of a notorious psychiatric hospital where two people have been brutalized, one of them from Scarpetta’s past. It soon becomes apparent that she could be next…

She gave you a life. Now she wants yours.

Abby wants a baby more than anything.

But after years of failed infertility treatments and adoptions that have fallen through, it seems like motherhood is not in her future. That is, until her personal assistant Monica makes a generous offer that will make all of Abby's dreams come true.

But it turns out Monica isn't who she says she is. The woman now carrying Abby's child has an unspeakable secret.

And she will stop at nothing to get what she wants.

In Timeless South African, renowned cook and food writer Ilse van der Merwe has compiled a list of the top 101 iconic South African dishes – meals not only seen as ‘heritage food’, but dishes that are still relevant, recognisable, loved and prepared in many South African communities today. Well-researched and based on formal and informal discussions with chefs, members of the public and food lovers of different backgrounds, this book celebrates the country’s diverse cultures and culinary traditions, highlighting the history of each recipe as well as the modern ways in which they have been reinvented. The dishes in this book – whether humble or celebratory – are paired with classically styled and vibrant photos. Do you know your vetkoek from your amagwinya? Or your koeksisters from your koesisters? And do you know the interesting histories of bobotie, the gatsby, hertzoggies and Durban naan? The more we share our food and our stories, the more we’ll be able to celebrate what unites us: being South African.

In 1998 was hulle onskuldige tieners. In 2025 is hulle verdagtes.
Sersant Sollie Mthembu se nuwe ondersoek lei hom terug na ’n onopgeloste dossier van die negentigs. Om die moordenaar te stuit, en tegelyk iemand na aan hom se lewe te red, moet Sollie agter die kap van die byl kom: Is dit wraak? Of word mense stilgemaak?
Roulette is die bekroonde skrywer Sidney Gilroy se vyfde roman – ’n onthutsende krimi wat die gevolge van familiegeheime en gevaarlike speletjies onder die vergrootglas plaas.

Washington DC, 1917. When the President sends Isaac Bell to Europe as a fact-finding observer, it seems a safer mission than most.

But when his plane is shot down behind enemy lines, Bell is captured and thrown into a medieval fortress.

Escaping with fellow prisoners will take every ounce of cunning - and the latest battlefield technology.

Yet freedom reveals an even greater danger: a secret anarchist plot to unleash the horrors of war on American soil.

Now Bell must race across the Atlantic to stop a ruthless enemy before the fight reaches home.

Jesse is 15. She loves her friends, her little brother and her parents - even when they're arguing, which feels like constantly these days. But most of all, she loves playing video games. Even from her hospital bed.

Alex is 29. He doesn't love a lot of things. To be honest, he's not really sure he knows how to. His desk at work, as VR games designer, is empty, much like his life feels sometimes.

Then Jesse makes a wish. A simple one: a video experience made of her life, something to be there, just in case she isn't.

One loving teenager.
One lonely adult.

Which one will get the happy ending?

Alex Cross thought serial killer Gary Soneji was dead and buried.

But when a hidden cabin reveals a stash of gruesome trophies and diaries, Cross realises the Spider's evil influence has spread wider than he ever thought possible.

The chilling truth soon becomes clear: Cross imprisoned the wrong man.

As he studies the clues, Cross becomes enmeshed in a web of evil designed to ensnare him all along.

Now he must retrace the steps of a long-ago investigation and face…the Return of the Spider.

In early 1985, Michael J. Fox was one of the biggest stars on television. His world was about to get even bigger, but only if he could survive the kind of double duty unheard of in Hollywood. Fox's days were already dedicated to rehearsing and taping the hit sitcom Family Ties, but then the chance of a lifetime came his way. Soon, he committed his nights to a new time-travel adventure film being directed by Robert Zemeckis and produced by Steven Spielberg, Back to the Future. Sitcom during the day, movie at night - day after day, for months.

Fox's nightly commute from a soundstage at Paramount to the back lot at Universal Studios, from one dream job to another, would become his own space-time continuum. It was in this time portal that Alex P. Keaton handed the baton to Marty McFly while Michael J. Fox tried to catch a few minutes of sleep. Alex's bravado, Marty's flair, and Fox's comedic virtuosity all swirled together to create something truly special.

In Future Boy, Fox tells the remarkable story of playing two landmark roles at the same time - a slice of entertainment history that's never been told. Using new interviews with the cast and crew of both projects, the result is a vividly drawn and eye-opening story of creative achievement by a beloved icon.

‘One day you’ll look back and realise how hard it was, and just how well you did’

Charlie Mackesy’s four unlikely friends are wandering through the wilds again. They’re not sure what they are looking for. They do know that life can be difficult, but that they love each other, and cake is often the answer.

When the dark clouds come, can the boy remember what he needs to get through the storm?

The hugely anticipated new book from Charlie Mackesy, revisiting the much-loved world of The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse – the bestselling adult non-fiction book of all time, with over ten million readers around the world.

Greg Heffley verpes verrassings – veral op sy verjaardag. Maar hy sou hom nooit die skokkende planne kon verbeel wat sy gesin hierdie jaar vir hom in gedagte het nie.

Wanneer Greg se partytjieplanne begin uitrafel, hoop hy nog sy verjaardagwens word waar – ’n gesogte ruilkaart wat ’n fortuin werd is. Die probleem is dat hy nie alleen is wat daarvan droom nie. Die kanse is skraal dat hy dit gaan opraap.

Gaan Greg se verjaardagdrome waar word? Of gaan hy leer om versigtig te wees waarvoor hy wens?

Part celebration, part secret-weapon manual, Dressed & Seasoned is the debut cookbook from Colette Maclennan – chef-owner of The General Store, a small but mighty café at the bottom of Bree Street in Cape Town that’s been feeding locals since 2015.

With recipes built on simplicity and flavour, this is unfussy food done well. From learning the secrets to making the juiciest grilled chicken to The General Store’s iconic chocolate brownies, this book promises café favourites and midweek winners alike. Delivered with the signature General Store flair: veg-forward, herb-heavy, seasonally inspired and deceptively simple but impressive.

Home cooks will learn the art of cooking the humble chicken breast to perfection (with half a dozen different flavours), how to make a salad you can’t wait to eat, and how to use an arsenal of sauces and dressings to turn everyday ingredients into crave-worthy meals. Whether you’re cooking for one, feeding your family or hosting friends, Dressed & Seasoned gives you the blueprint for good food – no overthinking required.

• Over 60 easy recipes, from weekday staples to crowd-pleasers
• Café-style food with bold, bright, veg-forward flavour
• The ultimate guide to sauces, dressings and finishing flourishes
• Baked goods, sweet treats and the famous TGS chocolate brownies
• All the pantry favourites, from granola and rusks to preserved lemons and dukkah
• Tips and formulas for salad-building, baking and meat-cooking basics
• Everyday food that’s easy to cook, beautiful to serve, and delicious to eat

She needs a lawyer. He needs a payday.

Simon Latch is a small-town lawyer struggling with debt, gambling issues and an impending divorce. But when Eleanor Barnett, an 85-year-old widow, visits his office to secure a new will, it seems his luck has finally changed: she claims she's sitting on a $20 million fortune and no one else knows about it.

She could be the ticket to his fortune.

Once he's hooked the richest client of his career, Simon works quietly to keep her wealth under the radar, even from his own assistant. But there are complications: other lawyers are circling his client like vultures.

But when she is hospitalised after a car accident, Eleanor's story begins to crack. Simon realises that nothing is as it seems. And as events spiral out of control, he finds himself on trial for a crime he swears he didn't commit: murder.

Maggie McCabe is teetering on the brink. A highly skilled and renowned Army combat surgeon, she has always lived life at the edge, where she could make the most impact. And it was all going to plan…until it wasn’t.

Upside down after a devastating series of tragedies leads to her medical license being revoked, Maggie has lost her purpose, but not her nerve or her passion. At her lowest point, she is thrown a lifeline by a former colleague, an elite plastic surgeon whose anonymous clientele demand the best care money can buy, as well as absolute discretion.

Halfway across the globe, sequestered in the lap of luxury and cutting-edge technology, one of the world’s most mysterious men requires unconventional medical assistance. Desperate, and one of the few surgeons in the world skilled enough to take this job, Maggie enters his realm of unspeakable opulence and fulfills her end of the agreement. But when the patient suddenly disappears while still under her care, Maggie must become a fugitive herself – or she will be the next one who is…

When a violent storm descends upon Orkney, the body of Archie Stout is left in its wake. An unusual murder weapon, a Neolithic stone bearing ancient inscriptions, is found discarded nearby. Archie was a popular, larger-than-life character, and his death is a shocking blow to the community.

Detective Jimmy Perez, no stranger to the complexity of human nature and the darkness it can harbour, is soon on the scene. He counted Archie as a childhood friend, so this case is more personal than most. Now living in Orkney with his partner, Willow, and their son, Perez is soon drawn into the lives of the islanders, many of whom hold secrets. Dark secrets, which could have led to the man’s murder.

Here, in these ancient lands where history runs deep, Perez must discern the truth from legend before a desperate killer strikes again . . .

A thrilling and long-awaited new novel from globally bestselling author Dan Brown

Accompanying celebrated academic, Katherine Solomon, to a lecture she’s been invited to give in Prague, Robert Langdon’s world spirals out of control when she disappears without trace from their hotel room. Far from home and well out of his comfort zone, Langdon must pit his wits against forces unknown to recover the woman he loves.

But Prague is an old and dangerous city, steeped in folklore and mystery. For over two thousand years, the tides of history have washed back and forth over it, leaving behind echoes of everything that has gone before. Little can Langdon know that he is being stalked by a spectre from that dark past. He must use all of his arcane knowledge to decipher the world around him before he too is consumed by the rings of treachery and deception that have swallowed Katherine.

Against a backdrop of vast castles, towering churches, graveyards buried twelve deep and labyrinthine underground passages, Langdon must navigate a shadow city hiding in plain sight, a city which has successfully kept its secrets for centuries and will not readily deliver them. This is a battlefield unlike any he has previously experienced, one on which he must fight not for his only life, but for the future of humanity itself.

The Secret Of Secrets is Dan Brown’s first novel for over eight years and sees the stunning return of Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon, this time pitting his wits against a conspiracy which will test even his considerable brainpower and take him to the edge of losing all that he holds dear…

Wat skuil agter die Sheldon-fortuin?

Zabeth Meyer beland op Kronkelrivier om navorsing vir die krimiskrywer Wilbur Sheldon te doen. In sy skatryk familie se Victoriaanse herehuis, Sheldon Manor, kom sy al hul vreemde tragedies en intriges teë: Eers verdrink die oudste Sheldonkleinkind, en ’n paar jaar later sterf sewe Sheldons op een dag.

Net een erfgenaam van die Sheldon-fortuin bly oor: Die onbekwame Keith. En Ethel, die familiematriarg, is al in haar tagtigs.

Kort ná Zabeth se aankoms gebeur daar nog ’n ongeluk by Sheldon Manor en skielik lyk gebeure van vyf en twintig jaar gelede heel anders ...

Tussen Zabeth, Wilbur en die aantreklike Liam Sheldon moet hulle die dinastie se donker geheime en hul elkeen se eie verlede ontrafel voordat nog iemand seerkry.

As a highly sought-after portrait artist, Devon Darcy seems to have the ability to peer into the souls of her subjects and then capture them on canvas. The world doesn’t know about the devastating losses she has endured, first as an orphan, then as a far-too-young widow.

Entrepreneur Charles Mackenzie Taylor has given up on love, resigning himself to a loveless marriage to avoid the inconvenience of divorce. But, when Charlie meets Devon at a New York gallery event, he is haunted by her beauty and her talent. He approaches her to paint his portrait and she in turn is intrigued by Charlie, the electricity between them palpable.

As they encounter each other over the course of a summer in the Hamptons, their connection deepens as they each release years of pent-up emotions and unfulfilled longing. But the ghosts of their pasts are not easily put to rest. Charlie wrestles with his fear of real intimacy, while Devon struggles with her fear of abandonment. And after an accident endangers Devon’s career, they must decide together what their future will hold . . .

Academy Award-winning actor Sir Anthony Hopkins delves into his illustrious film and theatre career, difficult childhood and path to sobriety in his honest, moving and long-awaited memoir.

Born and raised in Port Talbot – a small Welsh steelworks town – amid war and depression, Sir Anthony Hopkins grew up around men who were tough, to say the least, and eschewed all forms of emotional vulnerability in favor of alcoholism and brutality. A struggling student in school, he was deemed by his peers, his parents and other adults as a failure with no future ahead of him. But, on a fateful Saturday night, the disregarded Welsh boy watched the 1948 adaptation of Hamlet, sparking a passion for acting that would lead him on a path that no one could have predicted.

With candour and a voice that is both arresting and vulnerable, Sir Anthony recounts his various career milestones and provides a once-in-a-lifetime look into the brilliance behind some of his most iconic roles. His performance as Iago gets him admitted into the prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and places him under the wing of Laurence Olivier. He meets Richard Burton by chance as a young boy in his art teacher’s apartment, and later, backstage before a performance of Equus as an established actor meeting his hero. His iconic portrayal of Hannibal Lecter was informed by the creepy performance of Bela Lugosi in Dracula and the razor-sharp precision of his acting teacher. He pulls raw emotion from the stoicism of his father and grandfather for an unforgettable performance in King Lear.

Sir Anthony also takes a deeply honest look at the low points in his personal life. His addiction cost him his first marriage, his relationship with his only child, and nearly his life – the latter ultimately propelling him toward sobriety, a commitment he has maintained for nearly half a century. He constantly battles against the desire to move through life alone and avoid connection for fear of getting hurt – much like the men in his family – and as the years go by, he deals with questions of mortality, getting ready to discover what his father called The Big Secret.

Featuring a special collection of personal photographs throughout, We Did OK, Kid is a raw and passionate memoir from a complex, iconic man who has inspired audiences with remarkable performances for over sixty years.

Uncooperative animals, underperforming crops, and rather less than best-laid plans pursued with unbridled enthusiasm. Clarkson’s farm is the gift that keeps on giving.

But, as one overseas visitor* admitted, he only came to Diddly Squat because he just didn’t believe that Jeremy could be so incompetent.

Not one to be discouraged, however, our hero decides to bring his misunderstood entrepreneurial flair to bear on a new venture: a pub. And just a few short weeks later, the doors open on The Farmer’s Dog.

All British produce, Hawkstone beer on tap, a private bar for farmers and a vintage tractor hanging from the ceiling. The perfect country pub. A welcome distraction from sustainable farming initiatives, psychedelic wheat, angry protests in central London and a headbutting goat.

What, you may be asking, could possibly go wrong?

On top of the lavatories packing up and the electricity running out, you mean? As the Cotwolds’ newest publican quickly discovers, there’s a lot more to landlording than pulling pints.

Just as well, then, that he still has Lisa, Kaleb, Cheerful Charlie and Gerald to help him through. Especially now his doctor’s told him he’s got to become a vegetablist …

*along with the whole of the rest of China, apparently

The incredible first memoir from the Booker-winning radical icon Arundhati Roy, author of The God of Small Things

Arundhati Roy’s first work of memoir, this is a soaring account, both intimate and inspiring, of how the author became the person and the writer she is, shaped by circumstance, but above all by her relationship to her extraordinary, singular mother Mary, who she describes as ‘my shelter and my storm’.

Distraught and even a “little ashamed” at the intensity of her response to the death of the mother she ran from at age eighteen, Arundhati began to write Mother Mary Comes to Me. The result is this astonishing, disconcerting, surprisingly funny chronicle—unique and simultaneously universal, of the author’s life, from childhood to the present, from Kerala to Delhi.

With the scale, sweep, and depth of her novels and the passion, political clarity, and warmth of her essays, Mother Mary Comes to Me is an ode to freedom, a tribute to thorny love and savage grace—a memoir like no other.