Daniel is a journalist, moving between London and Cape Town, until his elderly father passes away.

There is an unusual clause in the old man’s will: Daniel will only inherit his half of the estate once he has paid his estranged cousin a visit on the family farm in the Free State. It is a visit that will result in Daniel, his cousin and a sick young boy making a hopeful trip to Tokyo – a journey that will change all of their lives.

An exquisite, tender novel by the award-winning writer SJ Naudé.

Daniël voer ’n trekvoëlbestaan tussen Londen en Kaapstad.

Wanneer sy bejaarde pa sterf, bevat dié se testament ’n ongewone klousule: Daniël sal slegs sy deel van die boedel erf indien hy besoek aflê by sy neef Theon, op die ou familieplaas in die Vrystaat. Dié besoek lei tot ’n ander reis – hy en sy neef neem ’n siek seuntjie na Tokio, met die hoop dat ’n nuwe soort behandeling die kind sal genees.

’n Aangrypende roman deur die bekroonde skrywer SJ Naudé.

Wenner van die Hertzogprys vir Fiksie vanaf die Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns.

Etienne is twee-en-twintig en studeer filmkuns in London nadat hy uit Suid- Afrika gevlug het om diensplig te vermy. Dit is 1986, die tyd van Thatcher, optogte teen apartheid, en Vigs, maar ook van eksperimentele kuns, postpunk en die Royal Vauxhall Tavern. Etienne raak verlief op ’n Duitse kunstenaar in hierdie skadustad waar mense in bouvallige kunstenaarskommunes woon.

In Londen kom Etienne af op die eerste van drie filmspoele wat tydens die dertigerjare in Duitsland verfilm is. Etienne begin na die verlore spoele soek, ’n soektog wat ’n obsessie word wanneer sy geliefde vermis raak in Berlyn. Terwyl Etienne die gevaarlike ruimtes weerskante van die Muur navigeer, begin die verhaal van ’n groepie Joodse filmmakers in Nazi-Duitsland vorm aanneem.

Etienne word egter teruggeruk na die hede en na Suid-Afrika, maar sy soektog na die vermiste film duur voort.

Argitektuur, kinematografie, seks, musiek, siekte, verlies en liefde deurweek SJ Naudé se kosmopolitaanse en roerende Die Derde Spoel, waarmee hy nuwe grond vir die roman in Afrikaans breek.

Die verhale in Dol heuning kring soos breedtegrade om ’n aardbol uit – van Suid-Afrika na Ysland, die Belgiese platteland en die Italiaanse Alpe.

In ’n boomryke Johannesburgse woonbuurt koester ’n paar hul seuntjie terwyl hul skoonmaker se kind in volle aangesig van die land se ongeregtighede moet staan.

In die yslandskap van Reykjavic neem ’n vrou dol heuning saam met die man wat haar vir ’n ander verruil het en bring hulle ’n angswekkende laaste aand saam met ’n gewelddadige Rus en sy metgesel deur.

Terwyl twee minnaars in New England aan die wreedheid van hul gasheer uitgelewer word toe sy menslikheid hom verlaat, ontferm ’n ma haar oor ’n straatkind op Park-stasie.

Die verhaalsiklus wat die kroon span, vertel hoe ’n jong Namibiër en sy Japannese vriendin – ’n jong wiskundige vir wie elektroniese musiek ’n meditasie is – saam ’n tragedie in die berge en ’n nag in ’n beklemmende chateau met ’n donker poel vol glimmende palings beleef.

Ná die veelbekroonde Alfabet van die voëls, publiseer SJ Naudé ’n tweede bundel kortverhale wat ontstel, verras, en boweal bekoor

From South Africa to Iceland, rural Belgium and the Alps, the stories in Mad Honey radiate out to encompass the globe.

In Johannesburg a couple raise their son in leafy suburbia, while their cleaner’s child must face the inequities of their country head on.

Amid Reykjavik’s arctic landscape, a woman takes mad honey with the man who has left her for another, and spends a chilling night with a violent Russian and his companion.

And in New England two lovers face the cruelty of a host whose humanity has left him, while a mother takes pity on a street child she finds on a platform at Park Station.

Crowning this collection is a story cycle featuring a young Namibian and his Japanese friend, who spend a claustrophobic night in a chateau with a dark pool of glimmering eels – this after being pulled into a tragedy on the ski slopes of Italy.

Following on from his multi award-winning first collection, published in English as The Alphabet of Birds, SJ Naudé’s second collection of short stories disturbs, surprises and enthrals.

Scott Pack: Books of the Year 2018 Shortlisted for The Sunday Times Literary Awards (South Africa) Twenty-two-year-old Etienne is studying film in London, having fled conscription in his native South Africa. It is 1986, the time of Thatcher, anti-apartheid campaigns and Aids, but also of postmodern art, post-punk rock, and the Royal Vauxhall Tavern. Adrift in a city cast in shadow, he falls in love with a German artist while living in derelict artists' communes. When Etienne finds the first of three reels of a German film from the 1930s, he begins searching for the missing reels, a project that turns into an obsession when his lover disappears in Berlin. It is while navigating this city divided by the Wall that Etienne gradually pieces together the history of a small group of Jewish film makers in Nazi Germany. It is a desperate quest amid complications that pull him back to the present and to South Africa. However, his search for the missing film continues. Ambitious and cosmopolitan, the material of S. J. Naude's The Third Reel is as disparate as the cities in which the book is set. Architecture, cinematography, sex, music, illness, loss and love all collide in this exquisitely wrought, deeply affecting novel.

Andre P Brink se: "Die verbysterende verskeidenheid verhale in SJ Naude se merkwaardige bundel Alfabet van die voels tel onder die bestes in Afrikaans ... Vir enige leser wat wil bybly by wat op die voorpunt van Afrikaanse literatuur gebeur, is hierdie bundel werklik onmisbaar." Dit is 'n boek oor ontheemding, terugkeer, die saamleef met verlies. In die storie "Die mobile" raak 'n vrou, self sterwend aan kanker, obsessief betrokke by die lot van vigslyers, verwaarloos alle verhoudings met geliefdes, en skaar haar, in haar verbete stryd teen korrupte en ellendige amptenare, by die geledere van die dooies. "Die lawaaimasjien" en "VNLS" is albei verhale oor die saamleef met die verlies aan bande met 'n kultuur en 'n kinderverlede. Dikwels word daar in hierdie verhale 'n spanningsveld geskep tussen die bevryding van die verlede en die terughunkering daarna. Die verhale is wyd leesbaar met prikkelende stories, ideeryk met nuwe ruimtes, gebeure en karakters.

"The astonishingly diverse stories in SJ Naude remarkable collection "The Alphabet of Birds" count among the best in Afrikaans. . . . This collection is truly unmissable."--Andre Brink

If death comes to a loved one, can we grieve alone? When all around is in ruins, can we confine our lives to one beautiful room constructed out of art, or love, or family ties? What is behind emotions and words? Is it something in the language that birds use?

A mother dying of cancer neglects her family and herself on a desperate mission to help AIDS sufferers; a musician travels to America, England, and Dubai to see her stranded siblings before returning to her plundered home in Johannesburg; a man trails his gay lover through Berlin's party scene looking for an antidote. Almost crushed by loss, everyone in these stories is searching for answers.

SJ Naude grew up in South Africa, where he studied law. After practicing law in New York and London for many years, he returned to South Africa. The Afrikaans version of "The Alphabet of Birds" was awarded several prizes, including a South African Literary Award. Naude currently lives in Cape Town, South Africa.