A compelling and agonising story.

Durban-based journalist Glynis Horning and her husband Chris woke up one Sunday morning almost two years ago to the devastating discovery of their 25-year-old son Spencer dead in his bed. Horning’s story chronicles a parent’s worst nightmare. Establishing that his death was suicide, Horning embarks on a journey of anguished self-recrimination.

Should she not have seen the signs? Could she somehow have prevented it? As she struggles with Spencer’s decision to end his life, she has to learn to understand what the depths of depression entail. We feel Horning’s pain, and learn to understand and feel Spencer’s pain, at a visceral level.

Surrounded by loving family and friends, Horning pieces together the puzzle of Spencer’s death, writing with a brutal and heart-searing intensity of grief and loss, but also of the joys of celebrating her son’s life. This book will touch anyone who has experienced a mental health journey directly or indirectly, or a searing loss. Her wisdom and insight are extraordinary.

After unknown saboteurs toppled a strategic pylon near Lethabo Power Station in the Free State in November 2021, almost causing the country to plunge into stage 6 load shedding, Eskom’s chief executive officer André de Ruyter declared: ‘This was clearly now an act of sabotage and I think we can call it as such.’ Who was behind this, and what is their ultimate goal?

Since his appointment in January 2020, De Ruyter has faced intense opposition from within the power utility as he attempts to clean up corruption and return the electricity company to a semblance of its former glory. He is not alone. Chief operating officer Jan Oberholzer and other trusted allies in Eskom have also come under intense fire. From forensic investigations and botched probes to accusations of racism, De Ruyter and Oberholzer have spent significant amounts of time fending off allegation after allegation. Amid this onslaught, it has become clear that their enemies will take any measures necessary to have them removed from office.

Based on exclusive interviews with De Ruyter, Oberholzer and other key figures, Sabotage is a story of conspiracy and subterfuge at South Africa’s ailing power utility, uncovering the power struggles that threaten the country’s very survival.

Stellenbosch is world renowned for its wine, gorgeous scenery, and beautiful people. It’s the home of students working towards their future, successful businessmen and respected professors. But don’t let the luxury and blue mountains fool you. The sleepy town hides numerous crimes that rocked this community, the country and the world.

Over the past two decades the front pages of newspapers splashed the details of the murders of Inge Lotz, Hannah Cornelius, Susan Rohde, the Van Breda family... But this book also contains the less known victims such as Felicity Cilliers, the farm worker who’s murder was forgotten by all but her family. The victims and the murderers in this book come from all walks of life and confirms that not even Stellenbosch can escape the harsh reality of crime in South Africa.

The acclaimed author and journalist Julian Jansen third book reads like a crime novel and contains never before published information on each of the crimes.

This is a unique, first-of-its-kind tree book with beautiful illustrations of the fruiting twigs of 381 South African trees.

The reason behind illustrating tree fruits is that, like so many tree-lovers, Trevor found it difficult to identify many tree species from their leaves as they are the most variable of all the plant parts. Fruits, like flowers, have much more stable shapes and sizes and, unlike flowers, are easier to identify macroscopically. Scratch around the under-canopy of trees and you may find the remains of fruit that can be useful for identification. Thus, this book was born, and it represents the culmination of some 40 years’ work by the author.

This book includes:

• Specially coded keys showing colour and size for easyidentification.
• The current botanical binomial, recent old names (due totaxonomic changes) and the “best” common name are given.
• Notes on distribution, fruiting time and habitats are also provided.
• 381 Beautiful illustrations of the fruiting twigs of South African trees

For nearly eighty years, a huge portion of coastal South Africa was closed off to the public. With many of its pits now deemed “overmined” and abandoned, American journalist Matthew Gavin Frank sets out across the infamous Diamond Coast to investigate an illicit trade that supplies a global market. Immediately, he became intrigued by the ingenious methods used in facilitating smuggling particularly, the illegal act of sneaking carrier pigeons onto mine property, affixing diamonds to their feet, and sending them into the air.

Entering Die Sperrgebiet (“The Forbidden Zone”) is like entering an eerie ghost town, but Frank is surprised by the number of people willing—even eager—to talk with him. Soon he meets Msizi, a young diamond digger, and his pigeon, Bartholomew, who helps him steal diamonds. It’s a deadly game: pigeons are shot on sight by mine security, and Msizi knows of smugglers who have disappeared because of their crimes. For this, Msizi blames “Mr. Lester,” an evil tall-tale figure of mythic proportions.

From the mining towns of Alexander Bay and Port Nolloth, through the “halfway” desert, to Kleinzee’s shores littered with shipwrecks, Frank investigates a long overlooked story. Weaving interviews with local diamond miners who raise pigeons in secret with harrowing anecdotes from former heads of security, environmental managers, and vigilante pigeon hunters, Frank reveals how these feathered bandits became outlaws in every mining town.

Interwoven throughout this obsessive quest are epic legends in which pigeons and diamonds intersect, such as that of Krishna’s famed diamond Koh-i-Noor, the Mountain of Light, and that of the Cherokee serpent Uktena. In these strange connections, where truth forever tangles with the lore of centuries past, Frank is able to contextualize the personal grief that sent him, with his wife Louisa in the passenger seat, on this enlightening journey across parched lands.

Blending elements of reportage, memoir, and incantation, Flight of the Diamond Smugglers is a rare and remarkable portrait of exploitation and greed in one of the most dangerous areas of coastal South Africa.

The fourth edition of this popular title has been given a completely new look, but it remains the same practical illustrated guide that is a must-have for all gardeners. The text has been updated to incorporate more indigenous species, locally bred hybrids, and waterwise plants, in keeping with changing trends that recognize the importance of gardening in harmony with the natural environment.

The bulk of the book comprises directories that describe over 2000 plants (trees, shrubs, perennials, annuals, creepers, bulbs, grasses and roses) with each entry accompanied by symbols that depict the ideal growing conditions, such as water and sun requirements, hardiness to frost, and whether the plant is deciduous, evergreen or flowering.

A brief introduction covers garden planning and design, maintenance, and how to deal with pests and diseases. The book concludes with a handy list of plants, grouped according to their suitability for particular circumstances, such as drought-tolerance, growing in containers, in full or partial shade, or to provide flowers for the vase.

RW Johnson's bestselling book How Long Will South Africa Survive? was published at the height of the Zuma presidency. Since then, Cyril Ramaphosa has taken over as president and there have been some attempts to clean up government. But the brief period of 'Ramaphoria' is over and the threat to both the economy and the dream of a non-racial democracy is as real as ever.

As national elections loom, Johnson examines the state of the nation with pinpoint accuracy. On the one hand state-owned institutions are near collapse, municipalities are defunct and civil strife is rampant. On the other, Ramaphosa and his team have come up with a plan to curb corruption and create growth and prosperity.

But will it work?

"I'm at the start of an Olympic Distance Triathlon! A Greek, about to get all Olympic, following in the footsteps of my ancestors who created the games to celebrate human endeavour its ability to be pushed to the limits. Who would have thought that six years earlier I was in a deserted house in rural Mexico with a junkie smoking crack cocaine for the first time? The start of a downward spiral that would bring me to my knees and close to death. Although, maybe the seeds of my descent had been planted long before that."

Constantinos Carastavrakis, known to his friends as Costa, tells his story with great honesty and courage. He charts his course through a childhood of identity confusion & growing up Greek and gay in Johannesburg. He built a glamourous life of parties, business triumphs and money but crashed into the devastation of a crystal meth addiction. The gift of desperation' arrived to propel him towards a life without drugs and alcohol. He slowly dragged himself out of toxicity onto a path of recovery. With it came a new quest: to create the best version of himself. He has devoted his energy and drive to fitness; from small beginnings, he has worked his way up to becoming a marathon runner and triathlon athlete.

He brings light and humour to the darkness of addiction and shows that true body, mind and spirit recovery is possible for anyone who cares enough to heal themselves.

With its impressive tradition of left politics, South Africa was the hope of the world. At the heart of post-apartheid politics was a revolutionary nationalist ANC, the oldest Communist Party in Africa, the SACP, and one of the most militant labour union federations in the world, COSATU. Yet South Africa’s democracy-making project has gone horribly wrong.

This has been happening over three decades through deep globalisation and inordinate power given to business to prevail over everything. A criminalised market democracy, predicated on an unviable society of deepening inequality, climate disasters and eroding state capacity, is now moving further to the extreme right. These conjuncturally situated writings highlight the pushback against the neoliberal turn, Zumafication, emergent neofascism, the fraud of the National Democratic Revolution and the normalisation of the dangerous climate contradiction. This collection contributes to explaining the degeneration of national liberation politics and the polycrisis of post-apartheid democracy.

Globally and within South Africa, old left politics (revolutionary nationalist, Marxist-Leninist, Trotskyist and social democratic) has failed. The world historical defeats of Soviet socialism, social democracy and revolutionary nationalism also became South African leftism defeats. These writings, grounded in a consistent transformative intellectual praxis and against the grain of defeat, affirm the necessity of left renewal. Its praxis-centred arguments document 27 years of working with grassroots forces and the global left to reconstruct the left imaginary beyond the traditional left binary of reform versus revolution.

The experimental epistemology at work in these writings provides critical decolonial resources for a new transformative leftism politics, informed by an ethics of care, while pointing to new horizons for further elaboration.

It started with a question about the blues: what makes the music of the downtrodden black man so alluring to white middle-class ears? And that’s where it gets interesting. Because blues is more than a musical genre: it’s a cultural phenomenon that spans several centuries on both sides of the Atlantic, from slavery to Black Lives Matter, from Jan van Riebeeck to Fees Must Fall, from Robert Johnson to Abdullah Ibrahim.

In Blues for the White Man, Fred de Vries looks for answers in America’s Deep South, drawing historical parallels with South Africa’s experience of colonialism, slavery, racism, civil war, segregation and protest. Travelling to Atlanta, Memphis, Nashville, New Orleans and the Mississippi Delta, De Vries speaks to musicians, Black Lives Matter activists and Trump supporters. He continues the conversation in South Africa, interviewing student protesters, white farmers and political thought-leaders to develop an understanding of white supremacy and black anger, white fear and black pain.

A fascinating, insightful journey through time and space, Blues for the White Man is a celebration of multiculturalism and a plea for white people to do some ‘second line dancing’ for a change.

‘I share to normalise talking about those shameful, hurtful things we keep hidden. I share because shame loses its power when we find safe spaces to share our truth … and when women heal, generations heal.’

To her thousands of fans, Wisdom & Wellness founder, speaker and influencer Mpoomy Ledwaba is a symbol of strength and women empowerment. But going from university dropout to Forbes magazine’s list of 30 Under 30 wasn’t always easy – it took a lot of courage and a commitment to personal growth.

How Did We Get Here? is her coming-of-age story. Looking back on her upbringing, major milestones and the challenges she’s faced, Mpoomy takes us on her journey of self-discovery. Behind the Instagram likes and thousands of YouTube subscribers is a bright girl who sometimes bit off more than she could chew. This mother of two, who is married to an award-winning musician, didn’t always have a plan and rarely fitted the mould of ‘the good wife’.

In this frank account, Mpoomy writes openly about the hurt she’s experienced, the mistakes she’s made and some of the hard truths she’s had to learn about life, but also about how her faith has been a guiding light. As a firm believer in the power of stories, she uses her personal history to show how to live a purposeful life on all levels.

Tucked away in the southwestern corner of the Eastern Cape lies a narrow valley, flanked by the Baviaanskloof and Kouga mountain ranges. Named after the chacma baboons that long ago made this 200-km-long kloof their home, the Baviaanskloof is part of the Cape Floral Region World Heritage Site.

It is a meeting point of several different ecosystems, with almost all of South Africa’s eight biomes represented, making for an exceptional diversity of species, including many endemics. Plants of the Baviaanskloof describes well over 1,000 plant species.

It includes:

• Succinct descriptions of each plant species with full-colour photographs
• Brief family and genus descriptions, and species counts for the area
• An introduction covering the geology, climate and vegetation types of the region

Compiled over two decades, Plants of the Baviaanskloof is sure to become an enduring record of the diversity of plant life found here. The only botanical guide for this area, it is a must-have for botanists, gardeners, road-trippers, hikers, travellers and all who have a deep interest in plants.

Awaken curiosity. Cultivate wisdom. Discover the abundant future.

In a data-laden, disrupted, dread-inducing world, how can we see clearly into the future? How can we navigate through the data, become the disruptors and replace our sense of dread for the future with a clear-thinking, positive vision of things to come?

Following his first two ground-breaking books, What’s Your Moonshot? and Magnetiize, John Sanei turns his endless curiosity to the perspectives, perceptions and prejudices that prepare us for our illogical future. He breaks down the four types of seeing – HINDsight, PLAINsight, INsight and FOREsight – we humans use to guide us through the world and into the future. Then, with 20 shots of vivid, eye-opening FOREsight, he gives readers the opportunity to peer into what that future could be.

> What can the history of the first autonomous vehicle, the elevator, teach us about autonomous cars and their effect on real estate and city planning?

> Why will the gold in our smartphones change the way we mine gold from the ground?

> How can you connect the invisible dots between the confusion of today and the grand potential of tomorrow?

This book reads like a war-time thriller.

We hear for the first time from internationalists who secretly worked for the ANC’s armed wing, Umkhonto We Sizwe (MK), in the struggle to liberate South Africa from apartheid rule. They acted as couriers, provided safe houses in the neighbouring states and within South Africa, helped infiltrate combatants across borders, and smuggled tonnes of weapons into the country in the most creative of ways. Driven by a spirit of international solidarity, they were prepared to take huge risks and face danger which dogged them at every turn. At least three were captured and served long terms of imprisonment, while others were arrested and, following international pressure, deported. They reveal what motivated them as volunteers, not mercenaries, who gained nothing for their endeavours save for the self-esteem in serving a just cause.

Against such clandestine involvement, the book includes contributions from key role players in the international Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM) and its public mobilisation to isolate the apartheid regime. These include worldwide campaigns like Stop the Sports Tours, boycotting South African products, and black American solidarity.

The Cuban, East German and Russian contributions outline those countries’ support for the ANC and MK. The public, global AAM campaigns provide the dimension from which internationalists who secretly served MK emerged.

This is an invaluable historic resource, explaining in highly readable style the significance of international solidarity for today’s youth in challenging times.

Bibby’s – More Good Food embraces approachable food made with thoughtful consideration. Devoid of intimidating complexities, the recipes are for the most part appealingly simple, versatile and straightforward. Many of the recipes are plant-centric without being exclusively vegetarian. Expect an abundance of textural contrast and funky flavour enhancers.

The book is divided into nine vibrantly fresh chapters, influenced largely by Middle Eastern and Mediterranean flavours. The author advises on what constitutes a well-stocked pantry and how to maximize its potential to the fullest. The busyness of weekdays is balanced with slower weekends, when a few gentler hours in the kitchen are just what’s needed. The doors are thrown open to hospitality, marrying food and creative tablescapes, setting the tone for intimate at-home gatherings. Meticulously crafted menus ensure a seamless transition from start to finish, with classy cocktails, traditional breads, resplendent mains and swoon-worthy desserts.

​All the recipes are beautifully styled and photographed by the author herself. If you’re after food less ordinary, this is the book for you.

With this great new book, The South African Air Fryer Cookbook 2, you can delight friends and family at breakfast, lunch, supper or any special occasion with delicious takes on classic South African dishes.

Best-selling author Louisa Holst knows what the air-fryer market wants and has brought local flavours to the fore once again! Recipes include springbokkie cheesecake, brandy-and-coke chicken wings, snoek and apricot filo samosas, and a fish-finger Gatsby for the hungry kids that they can whip up themselves. Chicken peri-peri pie, gammon (yes – it can be done in the air fryer), roast lamb, buttermilk rusks, pavlova and mini fruit cakes are yet more of the mouthwatering dishes in the book.

Sparks fly when a competitive figure skater and hockey team captain are forced to share a rink.

Anastasia Allen has worked her entire life for a shot at Team USA. It looks like everything is going according to plan when she gets a full scholarship to the University of California, Maple Hills and lands a place on their competitive figure skating team. Nothing will stand in her way, not even the captain of the hockey team, Nate Hawkins.

Nate's focus as team captain is on keeping his team on the ice. Which is tricky when a facilities mishap means they are forced to share a rink with the figure skating team-including Anastasia, who clearly can't stand him. But when Anastasia's skating partner faces an uncertain future, she may have to look to Nate to take her shot.

Sparks fly, but Anastasia isn't worried... because she could never like a hockey player, right?

For 250 years the Bryan Rostron’s family spread across the globe, helping to expand the British Empire and paint the map red. This is a personal reckoning with that dubious legacy, echoing down to the present in South Africa.

It begins with the ‘discovery’ of Tahiti in 1767 by an ancestor, from whose log book Rostron reveals that his sailors were exchanging the ship’s nails for sex with Tahitian maidens so that HMS Dolphin began, literally, to fall apart.

After the Anglo-Boer war, having emigrated to South Africa, one grandfather became editor of the Sunday Times, voicing racist opinions, and later of the Rand Daily Mail, at that time a voice of the Randlords. Ironically, his other grandfather worked for the Communist Party and printed revolutionary pamphlets for the violent 1922 Rand Revolt. In a bizarre twist, Rostron’s father managed the 1936 South African boxing team at the Berlin Olympics, where from under his nose their star boxer was recruited by the Nazis.

Uncovering family secrets and mistaken myths, Rostron offers a unique insight into modern-day South Africa’s colonial past.

Francois van Coke span met die skryf van hierdie biografie saam met Annie Klopper om in sy eie stem die gebeure te vertel wat hom as mens en musikant gevorm het. Sy perspektief word gebied op als van Fokofpolisiekar tot Van Coke Kartel, die sukses van “Toe vind ek jou” en sy rol as afrigter op The Voice. Minder bekende en onbekende verhale word ook vertel oor wilde partytjies, vuisgevegte, dwelms, nagte in tronkselle, liefde, soberheid en pa-wees. Dít is sy stories, hoe hý dit onthou.

The air fryer is a versatile kitchen gadget that has grown in popularity over the last few years. Essentially it is a small countertop convection oven that cooks food quickly and efficiently. While many people only use their air fryers to cook pre-prepared food like crumbed chicken, or frozen fish or chips, it can actually be used to prepare many tasty dishes, even for baking!

In The South African Air Fryer Cookbook, we focus on all things local, with favourites such as malva pudding, bobotie, apricot snoek with sweet potato, milk tart, and boerewors with chakalaka, all prepared in the air fryer.

You’re sure to find your most cherished South African dish in this fabulous collection of recipes.

Topverkoperskrywer Louisa Holst weet wat die lugbraaiermark wil hê en het weer plaaslike geure na vore gebring!

Resepte sluit in springbokkie-kaaskoek, brandewyn-en-coke-hoendervlerkies, snoek- en appelkoosfilo-samosas, en 'n visvinger-Gatsby vir die honger kinders wat hulle self kan opslaan. Peri-peri-hoenderpastei, gammon (ja – dit kan in die lugbraaier gedoen word), gebraaide lam, karringmelkbeskuit, pavlova en mini-vrugtekoeke is nog meer van die watertand geregte in die boek.

Melinda Ferguson is the bestselling author of her addiction trilogy: Smacked, Hooked and Crashed. She is also an award-winning publisher.

To escape the pandemic, Ferguson finds her dream house on a private nature reserve, secluded in the otherworldly Cedarberg. A week before it's registered, a beautiful high-powered exec is brutally murdered next door. How could heaven have transformed into hell in an instant?

Written in her no-holds-barred signature style, Bamboozled is set in an age of fear, on a dystopian planet floundering in a maze of deception. In her search for sanity, Ferguson tries to untangle herself from a masked world gone mad, in which the media are controlled by the Invisible, Big Tech are mining our lives, where truth-tellers are mercilessly hunted and where, in certain countries, there are now Ministries of Loneliness.

Driven by an ancient human yearning to connect, the author must go on a deep journey into the unknown if she is to find her garden of songbirds and her torch of freedom and joy. The book is also about losing money and finding magic, while trying to work out who killed the woman next door.

For a man who loves the order and structure of institutions, Shaun ‘Fush’ Fuchs is hard to pigeonhole. A school rugby star, a soldier, a provincial powerlifter, a renowned waterpolo coach, a lifelong entrepreneur, a dynamic teacher, and a beloved headmaster.

In his memoir, Fush, Shaun tells the story of a life dedicated to changing the lives of others. From his school days at Jeppe High School for Boys and his activism heading up the SRC of the South African Student Teachers Union, to his time as an army infantry officer and his memorable teaching career, Shaun has always had an irrepressible instinct to succeed and to lead no matter what happens and no matter what the challenges. Because he has had to leap hurdles and overcome adversity almost every step of the way, Shaun has sought to leave the institutions he has been a part of as better, more diverse, more inclusive environments, where children feel safe and everyone has a space to be themselves.

Covering love and loss, pageants and coups, false accusations of terrorism, and the love of hundreds of students who have passed through schools Shaun has been part of, Fush will make you laugh, cry and reconsider what it truly means to educate and lead by example.

From Enron to the opioid scandal, an explosive, deeply-reported exposé that shows how McKinsey's has made the world more unequal, more corrupt and more dangerous over the last sixty years

McKinsey & Co. earns billions of dollars in fees from major corporations and governments who turn to them to maximize their profits and enhance efficiency. Their vaunted statement of values asserts their role is to make the world a better place, and their reputation for excellence and discretion attracts top talent from universities around the world. McKinsey's network is immense: almost 80% of the Fortune 500 and every government, as well as countless militaries, institutions and charities, including the NHS, have paid for and implemented their top secret and world-shaping advice. So what is that advice? And what effect has it actually had?

In When McKinsey Comes To Town, two prize-winning investigative journalists reveal the truth behind the public image. Often McKinsey's advice boils down to major cost-cutting, including layoffs and maintenance reductions, to drive up short term profits, thereby boosting the stock price and the wealth of the executives who hire them, at the expense of workers, and safety measures. They frequently recommend steering contracts from governments to their own clients, and just as frequently advise companies in the same industries.

Shielded by NDAs, McKinsey has escaped public scrutiny despite their role in advising tobacco companies, purveyors of opioids, repressive governments and oil companies. McKinsey helped insurance companies boost their profits by essentially making it impossible for accident victims to get payments; worked their U.S. government contacts to let Wall Street firms evade scrutiny; enabled massive theft in developing countries such as South Africa; reshaped the NHS. Their work has helped destabilize the global economy and divided society, and has been at the heart of some of the worst corporate scandals in history: from Enron to the Opioid Crisis.

Bognadich and Forsythe have managed to penetrate the veil of secrecy McKinsey by conducting hundreds of interviews, obtaining tens of thousands of revelatory documents, and following rule #1 of investigative reporting: Follow the money. When McKinsey Comes To Town is a landmark work of investigative reporting that amounts to a devastating portrait of a firm whose work has made the world more unequal, more corrupt, and more dangerous.

A gripping narrative of secrecy, greed and corruption, this is the story of where and how business went wrong in the modern era.

Speuradjudant Storm van der Merwe is terug vir die grootste uitdaging van haar loopbaan. Al is sy steeds besig om haar pa se dood twee jaar tevore te verwerk.

Intussen hou Hermanus ’n eerste skrywersfees. Deel van Storm se afgesaagde verpligtinge is om by die gemeenskapsaal kywie te hou voor die laaste Covid-regulasies uiteindelik opgehef word. Maar toe daag Isa du Bois, die sterskrywer van die dorp, nie op vir haar sessie nie. Haar liggaam word dieselfde oggend nog in Kwaaiwater se Mosselrivier gevind. Vier en twintig uur later kom ’n visterman af op nóg ’n lyk – weer ’n vrou, dié keer jonk en swart. En dan is daar ’n derde slagoffer, ’n belangrike kulturele rolspeler op die dorp. Drie dae, drie vroue. Hoekom drie, hoekom hierdie drie?

Storm is so toegegooi onder werk, sy is skoon bly oor oudkollega Andreas Moerdyk se knaende aanbod om haar te help. En al sukkel sy om dit aan haarself te erken, is dit nogals lekker om ’n slag weer spanmaats te wees . . .