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RABBIT SEASONRABBIT SEASON
Christelis, Paul

Cartoons and television provide therapy for a young South African coping with the traumatic loss of his parents. BNS, 229pp, SOUTH AFRICA. MAIL & GUARDIAN BOOKS.

2001 0958434050 Paperback 


Our Price:   £18.95 


RAINMAKER
Pinnock, Don

The coming-of-age journey of a youth from Bonteheuwel. Ky, a young gangster, knows that township power is in the hand that cocks a 9mm gun. But one day this power gets him into more trouble than he can handle and he is forced to flee his community and the way of life he knows. 144pp, SOUTH AFRICA. JACANA MEDIA.

2010 9781770097803 Paperback 


Our Price:   £10.95 

RAINMAKER


RANDOM VIOLENCERANDOM VIOLENCE
Mackenzie, Jassy

A dark winter's evening. A lonely smallholding outside Johannesburg. A brutal shooting. The murder of solitary divorcee Annette Botha appears to be a botched hijacking, just another senseless crime in the surge of violence sweeping South Africa. With his career at stake, newly promoted police superintendent David Patel is desperate to get results on this case. When his ex-boss's daughter Jade de Jong arrives back in South Africa after an unexplained absence, she offers to help him with the investigation. Jade soon makes some troubling discoveries. 238pp, SOUTH AFRICA. UMUZI.

2008 9781415200636 Paperback 


Our Price:   £19.99 


RED DUST
Slovo, Gillian

A disquieting tale of truth and the past in a small South African town. 'This is a beautifully written novel, with the pace and twists of a thriller and the atmosphere, scents and space of Africa.' - Victoria Brittain, The Guardian. 340pp. UK. VIRAGO.

2002 1860499155 Paperback 


Our Price:   £6.99 

RED DUST


RED INK: A NovelRED INK: A Novel
Makholwa, Angela

Who is the serial killer, and what motivates him? When public relations consultant Lucy Khambule, young, beautiful and ambitious, receives a call from Napoleon Dingiswayo - a convicted serial killer, nicknamed The Butcher by the media - she sets out to fulfil her childhood dream of writing a book by answering this question. Napoleon is an all too obliging subject, but Lucy discovers that her choice of topic is not for the faint-hearted. Soon after meeting him in Pretoria's notorious C-Max Prison her world is turned upside down by a number of violent and disturbing events. Lucy must decide what price she is willing to pay to pursue her dream. 234pp, SOUTH AFRICA. MACMILLAN SOUTH AFRICA.

2007 9781770100688 Paperback 


Our Price:   £9.95 


REVELATIONS
Serote, Mongane Wally

A narrative journey undertaken by artists and modern-day warriors, who, after the liberation of South Africa, try to understand what was fought for, and why. A South African dance troupe in Chile brings back stories of that country's trials and tribulations and a parallel is drawn with our own struggle to reconcile and to make peace when the time for war is over. 256pp, SOUTH AFRICA. JACANA.

2010 9781770098084 Paperback 


Our Price:   £12.95 

REVELATIONS


REVENGE OF KALIREVENGE OF KALI
Hassim, Aziz

Tale that dramatically renders 80 years of Indian servitude in South Africa. The story ebbs and flows through four generations, from the abhorrent conditions of indentured labour in the canefields of Natal to Durban's Duchene, and later the Casbah district, home of the infamous 'Grey Street system'. 212pp, SOUTH AFRICA. STE PUBLISHERS.

2009 9781920222376 Paperback 


Our Price:   £15.99 


THE RICH MAN OF PIETERMARITZBURG
Nyembezi, Sibusiso

First English translation of a novel, INKINNSELA YASEMGUNGUNDLOVU, that was written in Zulu, and first published in 1961, this novel tells of the rotten life of someone who adopts a 'white' lifestyle in Apartheid South Africa, and of criminal exploits in a country district. Translated by Sandile Ngidi. 200pp, UK. AFLAME BOOKS.

2008 1961 9780955233999 Paperback 


Our Price:   £8.99 

THE RICH MAN OF PIETERMARITZBURG


RINGS IN A TREERINGS IN A TREE
Kriel, Maja

The story of a Jewish family scattered across time and generations to remote corners of the world, from Poland to Cape Town. 260pp, SOUTH AFRICA. KWELA BOOKS.

2004 079570190X Paperback 


Our Price:   £10.95 


ROCK ALPHABET
Rose Innes, Henrietta

Second novel by the South African writer. Two children are found living in a cave in the Cederberg. The story follows their attempted integration into society, and the mystery hidden in the mountains. 191pp, SOUTH AFRICA. KWELA BOOKS.

2004 0795701934 Paperback 


Our Price:   £10.95 

ROCK ALPHABET


ROOM 207ROOM 207
Moele, Kgebetli

Debut novel set in and around a dilapitated building in Hillbrow. For more than ten years, six guys live in room 207 of this block of flats: they are Matome, Molamo, Zulu-boy, D'nice, Modishi and the nameless narrator. By day, they are hustlers - they hustle production companies, they have their own music company, they survive. At night, they party, and they're pushing corruption, as the narrator would say. They are conmen, and they are streetwise. By day, and by night, women flock around them. 256pp, SOUTH AFRICA. KWELA BOOKS.

2006 9780795702341 Paperback 


Our Price:   £12.95 


SARACEN AT THE GATES
Meeran, Zinaid

Zakira, a Curry Mafia princess, is kept on a short but well-funded leash by her wealthy and conservative parents - or so they think. The meek and mild sari-wearing self that she projects for their benefit is a polar opposite to the vodka-guzzling, smoking, night-clubbing Zakira that falls in love with Sofie, the punky-gorgeous leader of Al Sacareen - a group of girls who will change her life forever. In this, his first novel, Zinaid Meeran explores the fluid nature of identity and searches for the liberation of the individual from the tyranny of what he calls groupthink. 180pp, SOUTH AFRICA. JACANA MEDIA.

2009 9781770097704 Paperback 


Our Price:   £9.95 

SARACEN AT THE GATES


SCATTER THE ASHES AND GOSCATTER THE ASHES AND GO
Serote, Mongane Wally

A new fictional work by the acclaimed poet and author which describes the human dramas of South Africans who return home and the dislocation experienced by the people who discover a country very different from the one they left behind. 364pp, SOUTH AFRICA. RAVAN PRESS.

2002 1869170040 Paperback 


Our Price:   £12.99 


A SCENT SO SWEET
Moodley, Praba

Set in Durban in the first half of the twentieth century, and steeped in the rich imagery of Indian traditional dance and mythology, this is another sensuous, vividly detailed romance from the author of 'The Heart Knows No Colour'. 2582pp, SOUTH AFRICA. KWELA BOOKS.

2006 0795702302 Paperback

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A SCENT SO SWEET

THE SEEDTHE SEED
Blumenthal, Ryan

New fiction with a South African setting. Its succulent red fruit fascinates the local elders, but, when it causes tragedy, the seed becomes prohibited and knowledge of it is fiercely defended. When modern-day forensic anthropologist, Professor Sherwood, stumbles across the seed, grasped in an ancient skeletal hand, his curiosity is roused and he starts to seek answers in forbidden places. However, when it causes tragedy, will Sherwood’s curiosity be worth the price? A story of how people mythologise what they cannot understand scientifically. 72pp, UK. ATHENA PRESS.

2007 9781847480576 Paperback 


Our Price:   £5.99 


THE SERPENT UNDER
Marsh, Rob

A gripping story of conspiracy and psychological intrigue. Mathew has been working at Thompson's Manufacturing for five years when Brenda joins the firm as a secretary. He is arrogant, conservative and wants desperately to shock the Establishment, yet lacks courage to act. She is clever, seductive and beguiling. Both of them feel cheated and want revenge. 216pp, SOUTH AFRICA. JACANA MEDIA.

2003 1919931481 Paperback 


Our Price:   £9.95 

THE SERPENT UNDER


SEVEN STEPS TO HEAVENSEVEN STEPS TO HEAVEN
Khumalo, Fred

Sis Lettie, streetwise philosopher of the shebeens and entrepreneur par excellence takes the back seat as her son Kokoroshe, street urchin turned lawyer, takes centre stage. This is a multi-layered family saga, a riveting tale of love, betrayal, and a search for identity - sexual and otherwise. 224pp, SOUTH AFRICA. JACANA MEDIA.

2009 9781770093874 Paperback 


Our Price:   £12.95 


SHADOW BIRD
Le Roux, Willemien

Stories presenting a vivid series of characters creating a portrait of the vanishing world of the San with tenderness, insight and humour. Awarded the Herman Charles Bosman Prize for English Fiction. 192pp, SOUTH AFRICA. KWELA BOOKS.

2000 079570108X Paperback

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SHADOW BIRD

THE SHADOW FOLLOWSTHE SHADOW FOLLOWS
Medalie, David

It is August on the highveld, a time of dust, wind and melancholy. Distracted only for a moment by the unremarkable person in the cinema noisily excavating his popcorn, Deanna's real concern is that she might be HIV positive, having stabbed herself in the thumb after giving an injection to a patient. 245pp, SOUTH AFRICA. PICADOR AFRICA.

2006 1770100148 Paperback 


Our Price:   £12.99 


SHAMELESS
Ntshingila, Futhi

Thandiwe lives by her own rules. She shamelessly sells her body on the streets of Yeoville and views her job as no different from those of young black graduates who take up affirmative actio posts as perpetual juniors under soul-destroying mentors.Thandiwe's searing views on the post-apartheid corporate world become public when she is approached by Kwena, a young film-maker who is interested in telling the stories of prostitutes and the shameful secrets of many. 108pp, SOUTH AFRICA. UNIVERSITY OF KWAZULU-NATAL PRESS.

2008 9781869141431 Paperback 


Our Price:   £15.99 

SHAMELESS


THE SHAPE OF HIMTHE SHAPE OF HIM
Schierhout, Gill

Sara Highbury, forty-eight years old, is the manageress of a boarding house. She lives her life in the past, haunted by a love affair with a diamond digger called Herbert. One day a young child arrives at Sara’s door. Apparently the girl is Herbert’s illegitimate daughter and it seems there is no one else to look after her. Having a child to care for disrupts Sara’s quiet routine. Troubled by the mystery surround-ing the girls arrival, Sara begins to excavate the past. As the truth unfolds, Sarah must re-evaluate what she holds dear and engage once more with the world around her. 224pp, UK. VINTAGE UK.

2010 9780099535775 Paperback 


Our Price:   £8.99 


SHARK'S EGG
Rose Innes, Henrietta

A debut novel set in Cape Town in 1980s and 1990s telling the story of a young woman's loss, and ultimate reclamation of a childhood sense of freedom and self. 128pp, SOUTH AFRICA. KWELA BOOKS.

2000 0795701152 Paperback 


Our Price:   £8.99 

SHARK'S EGG


SHEPHERDS AND BUTCHERSSHEPHERDS AND BUTCHERS
Marnewick, Chris

A blend of fact and fiction that explores the fine line between frailty and cruelty. South Africa in the late 1980s. A young warden is arrested after killing, in a senseless shooting spree, 7 black members of a karate team. Admitting guilt and accepting his fate, he refuses to speak about his crime. A Pro Deo attorney is appointed to defend him, who in turn secures the services of a senior counsel from Durban. In the process it turns out that the young man has been doing service on death row, supporting the condemned in their last days with care that was almost tender, before effecting their slaughter at the gallows. 416pp, SOUTH AFRICA. UMUZI.

2008 9781415200445 Paperback 


Our Price:   £20.99 


SHIVA'S DANCE
Bregin, Elana

Gerry Aarons has found out a terrible secret about the father she has never known that sends her life along a self-destructive path. She and her mother are locked in a damaging war of wills. And it is Adigar, the visiting monk from Sri Lanka, who finally helps Gerry to understand her troubled life in a different light. 176pp, SOUTH AFRICA. JACANA MEDIA.

2009 9781770097209 Paperback 


Our Price:   £14.95 

SHIVA'S DANCE


THE SILENT MINARETTHE SILENT MINARET
Shukri, Ishtiyaq

Second edition. London, the summer of 2003. Issa Shamsuddin, a South African history student living in Finsbury Park, vanishes without trace. Did Issa decide to disappear, or was he 'disappeared'? Why? Issa's friend Katinka, his 'brother' Kagiso, mother Dr Vasinthe Kumar and London neighbour Frances reconstruct their memories of the missing man, looking for clues in the past that might explain the riddle of the present. Notes, 248pp, SOUTH AFRICA. JACANA MEDIA.

2006 2005 1770092498 Paperback 


Our Price:   £10.95 


SIX FANG MARKS AND A TETANUS SHOT
De Nooy, Richard

A war correspondent sets out from Amsterdam to South Africa to piece together the fragmented history of Ace and Rem, two brothers from South Africa. Their bizarre and disturbing scrapbook recounts a suspenseful tale of trauma and heartbreak that crosses two continents and leaves a trail of shattered lives in its wake. A multi-layered novel that investigates the eviscerating effect that intense trauma can have on a young boys mind. 213pp, SOUTH AFRICA. JACANA MEDIA.

2007 9781770093041 Paperback 


Our Price:   £10.95 

SIX FANG MARKS AND A TETANUS SHOT


SKINNER'S DRIFTSKINNER'S DRIFT
Fugard, Lisa

Now in paperback. Acclaimed first novel set in the violent reality of rural South Africa and the struggle to find forgiveness for the past. 304pp, UK. PENGUIN BOOKS.

2006 2005 0141019441 Paperback 


Our Price:   £7.99 


SKYLINE
Pinnock, Patricia S

A run-down block of flats in central Cape Town becomes a young girl's gallery of self-discovery in this moving story of the emotional carnage caused by civil wars in Africa. Drug dealers from Nigeria, Zimbabwean wire-workers, immigrants from Rwanda and Sudan, a Mozambican refugee - all escaping the ruins of war in the peace of the new South Africa - bear down on her fragile world, then scoop her into theirs. Skyline is an unflinching look at one girl's coming of age in the colourful and violent streets of a city waking up to the rest of Africa. 171pp, SOUTH AFRICA. AFRICAN SUN PRESS.

2007 2000 97818754915133 Paperback  


Our Price:   £17.99 

SKYLINE


SMALL CIRCLE OF BEINGSSMALL CIRCLE OF BEINGS
Galgut, Damon

New edition of a 1988 anthology of stories by the Man Booker shortlisted writer, set in 1980s South Africa. 212pp, UK. ATLANTIC BOOKS.

2005 1988 184354461X Paperback 


Our Price:   £7.99 


THE SMELL OF APPLES
Behr, Mark

Multi award-winning debut novel, capturing apartheid era Afrikaner family life in South Africa. 200pp, UK. ABACUS.

1996 1993 0349107564 Paperback 


Our Price:   £6.99 

THE SMELL OF APPLES


SNAKESNAKE
Farren, Tracey

When the luminous stranger arrives on the farm, twelve year old Stella is convinced that Jerry has come to heal her family. Now she tells the terrible trouble to a tabloid journalist in an effort to save the little that is left. The stage contains a metal wash tub, a traumatised child and a hard-hearted journalist. The script veers between love and violence, shining a naked bulb on psychosis and the preposterous ways in which people express their shame. This is a tale told in a young girl's voice; sincere, anxious and human. 274pp, SOUTH AFRICA. MODJAJI BOOKS.

2011 9781920397388 Paperback 


Our Price:   £18.95 


SOLILOQUY
Finn, Stephen

"I'm sixteen years old and I killed a boy of seventeen. Yes, I admit it. I stabbed him. I stabbed him in the heart with a knife which happened to have been in my pocket." These words are recorded by Errol Stevens in his diary, which he writes in the aftermath of committing a terrible crime. Errol is a 16-year-old schoolboy growing up in 1960s South Africa. He is intellectually streets ahead of his peers, but physically and emotionally he is backward and underdeveloped. The life of this strange and courageous boy unfolds as he tells the story of his childhood, and describes events in his young life that go some way to explaining the tragedy that unfolds in an ordinary school in an ordinary town in South Africa. A disturbing novel about the turmoil and torments experienced by a teenager who is being tried for the murder of another boy. 144pp, SOUTH AFRICA. DAVID PHILIP.

2008 9780864867223 Paperback 


Our Price:   £12.95 

SOLILOQUY


SONG OF THE ATMANSONG OF THE ATMAN
Govender, Ronnie

Chin Govender, the favoured son of Cato Manor, returns home to his estranged family in the late 1940s after years away, bringing with him an astounding tale that spans the physical and political landscape of South Africa. It chronicles his exploits from a penniless wine steward in East London to become a successful hotel owner in District Six, Cape Town. A fictional tour de force that paints an evocative portrait of five generations of descendants of former indentured Indian labourers and their struggle to build an identity in an emerging South Africa. 326pp, SOUTH AFRICA. JACANA MEDIA.

2006 1770091866 Paperback 


Our Price:   £10.95 


SPILT MILK
Matlwa, Kopano

From the author of bestselling novel, Coconut, comes a story of two passionate people who share a shameful past and a tenuous present. Headmistress of the elite Sekolo sa Ditlhora school for talented black children, Mohumagadi and disgraced preacher, Father Bill are brought together again decades after a childhood love affair that expelled them from their communities. Much to the dismay of her students, Mohumagadi takes Father Bill in as a teacher, resulting in a battle of wills and wits for the hearts and minds of the students living in the shadow of revolution and change. 200pp, SOUTH AFRICA. JACANA MEDIA.

2010 9781770097919 Paperback 


Our Price:   £9.95 

SPILT MILK


STAR OF THE SOUTHSTAR OF THE SOUTH
Verne, Jules

An adventure story first published in 1884 in response to the diamond rush in Kimberley. This new translation, by Stephen Gray, reintroduces characters critical of British expansionism, omitted from the first English language edition. Illustrated with engraving from the original edition. 252pp, SOUTH AFRICA. PROTEA BOOK HOUSE.

2003 1884 186919022X Hardback 


Our Price:   £25.00 


THE STONE COUNTRY
La Guma, Alex

His fourth novel about life under apartheid in Cape Town. 168pp, UK. HEINEMANN AFRICAN WRITERS SERIES.

1974 1967 0435901524 Paperback

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THE STONE COUNTRY

STORY OF AN AFRICAN FARMSTORY OF AN AFRICAN FARM
Schreiner, Olive

A landmark novel set in the rural Karoo towards the end of the nineteenth century. Schreiner tells the story of two cousins brought up on a lonely bible dominated farm in the mountain veld of South Africa and who dream of a better reality and self fulfilment. This edition includes an introduction by Cherry Clayton. 281pp, SOUTH AFRICA. AD DONKER.

2004 1986 1975 1883 0868520721 Paperback 


Our Price:   £8.99 


THE STORY OF LUCKY SIMELANE: A Novel
Malan, Robin

Lucky has been brought up in a small rural black community. But is he really black? The others tease him because of his light brown eyes and blond hair. He has vague notions of having been abducted from his white family, and there are remnants of Afrikaans words somewhere in his head. What is it to be African? What does a family mean to a growing child? Does it matter what language you speak or think in? What if you're not even sure of your name? 125pp, SOUTH AFRICA . JACANA MEDIA.

2005 1770090916 Paperback 


Our Price:   £7.50 

THE STORY OF LUCKY SIMELANE: A Novel


TAUNG WELLSTAUNG WELLS
Koboekae, Martin

Set in rural South Africa at a time when cattle were wealth and a king's word was law, this novel tells the story of Ramoipone Mathe, a preacher with revolutionary ideas and a habit of stirring up old jealousies and passions. 151pp, SOUTH AFRICA. KWELA BOOKS.

2004 079570187X Paperback 


Our Price:   £10.95 


THE THIRD PROPHECY
Essop, Ahmed

A novel set in post apartheid South Africa as a fictional party wins the second democratic elections. Dr Salman Khan, a cabinet minister, has his eye on the presidency. 156pp, SOUTH AFRICA. PICADOR AFRICA.

2004 0958470863 Paperback 


Our Price:   £7.99 

THE THIRD PROPHECY


THIRTEEN CENTSTHIRTEEN CENTS
Duiker, K Sello

The unsparing story of the coming of age of a young street child called Azure trying to make ends meet in Cape Town. 164pp, SOUTH AFRICA. DAVID PHILIP.

2003 2000 0864863578 Paperback 


Our Price:   £9.99 


THE 30TH CANDLE
Makholwa, Angela

Thirtieth birthdays loom… Skeletons come creeping out of closets… How will this birthday end?

Linda has just cast off yet another lover, while Dikeledi can't seem to pin her fast-talking lawyer down to talk about marriage. Nolwazi has a secret – one she can't share even with her closest friends, while Sade has found the perfect man, and a new life that will shut out the horrors of her past forever. Or will it...? Linda, Dikeledi, Nolwazi and Sade are about to discover more with the wisdom that comes with being a year older. After all, they’re young, gifted and black in a booming new South Africa. 328pp, SOUTH AFRICA. MACMILLAN SOUTH AFRICA.

2009 9781770101586 Paperback 


Our Price:   £10.95 

THE 30TH CANDLE


THIRTEEN HOURSTHIRTEEN HOURS
Meyer, Deon

New in paperback. Some would call Detective Benny Griessel a legend. Others would call him a drunk. Either way, he has trodden on too many toes over the years ever to reach the top of the promotion ladder, and now he concentrates on staying sober and mentoring the new generation of crime fighters. But when an American backpacker disappears in Cape Town, panicked politicians know who to call: Benny has just thirteen hours to save the girl, save his career and crack open a conspiracy which threatens the whole country. 416pp, UK. HODDER HEADLINE.

2011 2010 9780340953617 Paperback 


Our Price:   £6.99 


THIS LIFE
Schoeman, Karel

Fictional account of the life of a woman who lived in the Roggeveld in the latter part of the nineteenth century. On her deathbed she recalls a life of isolation and loneliness, her role that of a witness. Witness to the events in her family - the effect of her mother's increasingly overbear-ing behaviour; the relationship between her two brothers and the young woman they both loved. The woman's hesitant, faltering reminiscing is an attempt to understand the various injustices suffered and to unravel the secrets behind the events which led to the death of one of her brothers. 224pp, SOUTH AFRICA. HUMAN & ROUSSEAU.

2005 0798145528 Paperback 


Our Price:   £19.99 

THIS LIFE


TILL WE CAN KEEP AN ANIMALTILL WE CAN KEEP AN ANIMAL
Voysey-Braig, Megan

Story of a middle-aged woman who was attacked, raped and murdered in her home by armed robbers. Voysey-Briag writes: I keep her alive so that her story continues. I invite her family members, those who are alive and dead, to tell their stories through her. She is the main protagonist and the narrator... I wanted to pose questions. We love our grandmothers and grandfathers, our families, but what did they perpetuate the system, to make apartheid work and flourish? That's what I explore in the manuscript, the cruelty that has always existed in South Africa, the violence over 400 years. Winner of the EU Literary Award 2007/08. 230pp, SOUTH AFRICA. JACANA MEDIA.

2008 9781770096394 Paperback 


Our Price:   £8.95 


TIME OF THE BUTCHERBIRD
La Guma, Alex

La Guma's fifth novel explores the violence of forced removals. 119pp, UK. HEINEMANN AFRICAN WRITERS SERIES.

1979 0435902121 Paperback

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TIME OF THE BUTCHERBIRD

THE TIN CHURCHTHE TIN CHURCH
Haden, Rosamund

More than twenty years after making an important promise to her friend Maria, Catherine returns to Hebron, the highveld farm where she was born. There, she finds Maria working for Tom, the new owner of the farm. The secrets and shadows from their pasts threaten their intertwined relationships. 226pp, SOUTH AFRICA. DAVID PHILIP.

2004 0864866356 Paperback 


Our Price:   £12.95 


TO EVERY BIRTH ITS BLOOD
Serote, Mongane Wally

A new edition of the author's first novel, originally published in 1981. Written over a period of six years, it is set in the South African township of Alexandra during the time of Apartheid. Serote explores the interior lives of a range of characters who change and develop as their political and social context sharpen. 299pp, SOUTH AFRICA. PICADOR AFRICA.

2004 1981 0958470847 Paperback 


Our Price:   £8.99 

TO EVERY BIRTH ITS BLOOD


TREKKING TO TEEMATREKKING TO TEEMA
Uys, Peter-Dirk

The story of a South African man who returns home and finds the one woman who remembers his past: his nanny. Together they travel through the nation, redis-covering the child he once was and meeting the country he had denied. He meets up with old school friends and discovers unexpected new friends as his travels reinvigorate his love for his country and its peoples. 308pp, SOUTH AFRICA. comPRESS.

2001 1919833102 Paperback 


Our Price:   £8.99 


TRINITY RISING
Snyckers, Fiona

Trinity Luhabe is so OVER the whole Robben Island thing. Sure, her dad was one of the last activists to be imprisoned there, but he's now a billionaire mining magnate. We all have to move on, right? And Trinity is moving on with a vengeance. She's just passed Matric at an exclusive private school, and is all set to take Rhodes University by storm. She's got the looks. She's got the brains (sort of). She's a girl with a plan. Okay, it's not a plan she's prepared to share with just anyone - especially not her feminist, do-gooder mother. 296pp, SOUTH AFRICA. JONATHAN BALL.

2009 9781868423170 Paperback 


Our Price:   £9.95 

TRINITY RISING


TRIOMFTRIOMF
Winner of the 1995 Noma Award. A novel probing Afrikaaner history and politics, revealing the bizarre and tragic effect of apartheid on the white underclass who were supposed to benefit most. Gloss, 582pp, UK. ABACUS.

1999 1994 0349112347 Paperback 


Our Price:   £11.99 


TSOTSI
Fugard, Athol

Reissued to coincide with a major feature film adaptation, which was the winner of the 2006 Academy Award for Best Foreign Film. This is a deeply affecting novel by one of South Africa's greatest contemporary writers. Set amidst the sprawling Johannesburg township of Soweto, where survival is the primary objective, Tsotsi traces six days in the life of a ruthless young gang leader. Tsotsi has repressed his past and forgotten his true name; he exists only to stage and execute vicious crimes. After beating one of his own gang almost to death in an argument, Tsotsi attempts to rape a woman in a grove of bluegum trees. She manages to escape but not before thrusting a parcel into his hands. It contains a baby with 'a face that was small and black and older than anything he had ever seen in his life', a child that will mark the first stage of his long, reluctant path to redemption. 240pp, UK. CANONGATE.

2009 2006 1999 1980 9781847673312 Paperback 


Our Price:   £7.99 

TSOTSI


UBUNTUUBUNTU
Loftus, Siobhan

Novel about the terrible history of violence in southern Africa and about the common humanity of all races. 304pp, UK. QUARTET.

2002 0704381664 Paperback 


Our Price:   £12.95 


UNCONFESSED
Christianse, Yvette

Driven by the horrors of slavery to commit an unspeakable crime, Sila van den Kaap, a slave woman in eighteenth-century South Africa, narrowly escapes the gallows to be confined to the notorious prison on Robben Island. 360pp, USA. HANDSEL BOOKS.

2007 2006 9781590512814 Paperback 


Our Price:   £11.99 

UNCONFESSED


UNDER THE LIONUNDER THE LION
Jacobs , Steve

A lawyer reluctantly decides to defend an assassin, and so puts his own life in danger. Set in an unnamed republic, this novel was born out of the turmoil in South Africa. 230pp, UK. HEINEMANN AFRICAN WRITERS SERIES.

1993 0435905880 Paperback

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UNDERGROUND PEOPLE
Nkosi, Lewis

First UK edition of this acclaimed novel. Cornelius Molapo urban dandy, poet, dancer, fiery but fickle political orator is not the first person you'd choose to lead the revolution. And no one is more surprised than Corny when he's approached by the National Liberation Movement and ordered to lead a peasant uprising in remote Tabanyane right now. Little does Cornelius suspect that he is a pawn in a much bigger political game: the NLM has its own reasons for deploying this reluctant revolutionary. Glossary. 308pp, UK. AYEBIA.

2005 2002 0954702328 Paperback 


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UNDERGROUND PEOPLE


USELESSLYUSELESSLY
Kaganof, Aryan

Epistolary comic novel by South Africa's soi-disant foremost counter-culture revolutionary and director of the first feature length film shot entirely on a mobile 'phone, SMS SUGAR MAN. 191pp, SOUTH AFRICA. JACANA MEDIA.

2006 1770091009 Paperback 


Our Price:   £10.50 


THE VALLEY: A Trilogy
Leipoldt, C. Louis

These historical novels, set in the beloved countryside of Leipoldt's youth, heighten the experience of visitors to the Cedarberg, and recall the history of the Clanwilliam district with an immediacy that renders the past clearly and endearingly recognisable in the present. It was C Louis Leipoldt's vision that his trilogy of novels, Gallows Gecko, Stormwrack and The Mask, should be published under the title The Valley. This is the first publication of Leipoldt's entire original text. Maps, Photos, 677pp, SOUTH AFRICA. STORMBERG PUBLISHERS.

2001 0620278161 Paperback 


Our Price:   £25.00 

THE VALLEY: A Trilogy


WAITING FOR THE MOONWAITING FOR THE MOON
Keegan, Tim

Novel that begins with the arrival in South Africa of Roland Carey, who is trying to establish what happened to his great uncle who, in spite of his public school and Oxbridge background, came to Africa to find himself as an adventurer. On his way to Kimberley, he meets John Gumede, who had spent some time in England, and they develop a close bond. A relationship between a white and black person was exceptional in British-controlled colonial Africa at that time and leads to all sorts of conflicts, particularly after Roland fathered a son with the daughter of an African priest whom he had met through Gumede. A fictional representation of the attitudes and assumptions of racial superiority that played so dramatic a part in South Africa's history. Gloss, 350pp, SOUTH AFRICA. JONATHAN BALL PUBLISHERS.

2005 9781868422258 Paperback 


Our Price:   £15.95 


WAITING TO LIVE
Ramgobin, Mewa

The story of a family's struggle against oppression. 240pp, SOUTH AFRICA. DAVID PHILIP.

1986 0864860749 Paperback 


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WAITING TO LIVE


THE WAY OF THE WOMENTHE WAY OF THE WOMEN
Van Niekerk, Marlene

New edition. Milla, trapped in silence by a deadly paralysing illness, confined to her bed, struggles to make herself heard by her maidservant and now nurse, Agaat. Contrary, controlling, proud, secretly affectionate, the two women, servant and mistress, are more than matched. Life for white farmers like Milla in the South Africa of the 1950s was full of promise. Forty years later, the world Milla knew is as if seen in a mirror, and all she has left are memories and diaries. As death draws near, she looks back on good intentions and soured dreams, on a brutal marriage and a longed-for only son scarred by his parents' battles, and on a lifetime's tug-of-war with Agaat. Translated by Michiel Heyns. Gloss, 625pp, UK. ABACUS.

2008 2007 9780349120799 Paperback 


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WELCOME TO OUR HILLBROW
Mpe, Phaswane

Sensational debut novel set in Hillbrow, microcosm of all the contradictions, horrors and dark attractions in the South African psyche. Packed with AIDS, xenophobia, suicide, violence and the afterlife. 124pp, SOUTH AFRICA. UNIVERSITY OF KWAZULU-NATAL PRESS.

2001 0869809954 Paperback 


Our Price:   £12.99 

WELCOME TO OUR HILLBROW


WE'RE NOT ALL LIKE THATWE'RE NOT ALL LIKE THAT
Goosen, Jeanne

Translated from the Afrikaans ONS IS NIE ALMAL SO NIE by Andre Brink. What does a pretty 1950s Afrikaans housewife do when the walls start closing in? When her husband is an embittered Ben Schoeman-supporter who struggles with an asthma pump, and her father sees communists and Catholics behind every bush. When the only relief is the annual ATKV concert in Hartenbos? And when her salt-of-the-earth neighbours are suddenly forced to pack up and move away? Through the eyes of a child, Jeanne Goosen tells the story of how Doris van Greunen tries to break out of her world. 148pp, SOUTH AFRICA. KWELA BOOKS.

2007 9780795702594 Paperback 


Our Price:   £11.95 


WE SHALL NOT WEEP
Masilela, Johnny

Whilst the traditional African society is undergoing change, two important forces render this community unstable. Firstly and visibly, a drought, and secondly and less visibly, the forces of modernity and political change. This tale of a rural family forced to move to a township addresses the pull of the land and tradition on people who need to survive in a modern South Africa. 131pp, SOUTH AFRICA. KWELA BOOKS.

2002 0795701470 Paperback 


Our Price:   £7.95 

WE SHALL NOT WEEP


THE WEST RAND JIVE CATS BOXING CLUBTHE WEST RAND JIVE CATS BOXING CLUB
Liebenberg, Lauren

For all of us there comes a fall, a loss of innocence - a time after which we are never again the same. For twelve-year-old Tommy and Chris, growing up on the mines of Johannesburg, that time came in 1958. Goaded by the pulse of Elvis, Little Richard and the kwela kwela rhythms of the black ghettos, these young jive cats of the West Rand Cons Mine look to prove their grit on the slum yard dance floors and in the sweat-soaked ring of the boxing club, run by the enigmatic and wise Jock McGinty. But Tommy has a little sister Cecilia, sweet, whimsical and vulnerable. Unwittingly, she will make the friends face a choice between courage and cowardice, between loyalty and betrayal, This is a poignant, compelling story about the endurance of friendship, and about coming of age in South Africa at a time that was at once charmed and cruel. 274pp, UK. VIRAGO.

2011 9781844084890 Hardback 


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WHAT KIND OF CHILD
Barris, Ken

Three fictional lives collide in Cape Town. Bernal Díaz del Castillo is a tattoo artist who believes he is five hundred years old. Dying, he feels the need to chronicle his remarkable experiences. Luke Turner is a freelance journalist with three obsessions: cooking, women, and the art of tattoo. His ironic style masks the emptiness of his identity. Obsessed with becoming an illustrated man, and so becomes the perfect canvas for Díaz. Malibongwe Kwetani is a child from Khayalitsha, on the outskirts of Cape Town. Born on the margins, living without means or hope, he is driven to the streets, traversing the city like a ghost in its architecture. Unlike Luke, he does not have time or opportunity for questions of identity. 256pp, SOUTH AFRICA . KWELA.

2006 9780795702334 Paperback 


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WHAT KIND OF CHILD


WHEN A MAN CRIESWHEN A MAN CRIES
Mahala, Siphiwo

Themba Limba is a family man who is caught between his flourishing career as a teacher and municipal councillor in the township of Sekunjalo, and his overriding sexual interests. Despite his attempts to maintain his status in the community, his actions eventually lead to his downfall. What follows is an account - sometimes tragic, occasionally humorous, and always compelling - of Themba's efforts to regain his dignity and pride in the eyes of his family and community. A novel about the challenges of manhood in contemporary South African society. It interrogates the dynamics of township life and the human and socio-economic realities of the most impoverished communities in post-apartheid South Africa. 162pp, SOUTH AFRICA. UNIVERSITY OF KWAZULU-NATAL PRESS.

2007 9781869141318 Paperback 


Our Price:   £21.99 


WHIPLASH
Farren, Tracey

"I'm gonna tell you all about it, Mom. I'm gonna tell it like I'm on the end of your bed, talking to you. I'm not gonna cover up, cause there's no need. You'll see how its all a flippin miracle. The whole weird year. Its only one year in my life, Ma, but its all the stuff you slept through when I was a kid. All the stuff you fished through when you got up. I'm warning you, Ma, this is the truth." A gritty, hopeful, funny novel about a prostitute in Muizenberg, Cape Town, who through a series of miracles and accidents finds her way back into life. 320pp, SOUTH AFRICA. MODJAJI BOOKS.

2009 9780980272925 Paperback 


Our Price:   £16.95 

WHIPLASH


WHITE BOYS DON'T CRYWHITE BOYS DON'T CRY
Fullerton, John

Espionage thriller set in South Africa. Gloss, 310pp, UK. PAN MACMILLAN.

2007 9780330452700 Paperback 


Our Price:   £6.99 


WHITE LIGHTNING
Cartwright, Justin

Now available in paperback. A novel in which a former soft porn star returns to South Africa for his dying mother. In recounting his life and the haunting death of his son, he looks for spiritual redemption. 248pp, UK. HODDER HEADLINE.

2002 0340821752 Paperback 


Our Price:   £6.99 

WHITE LIGHTNING


THE WHITE LIONESSTHE WHITE LIONESS
Mankell, Henning

Now available in paperback. When a woman goes missing from a peaceful town in Southern Sweden, Inspector Kurt Wallander's instinct tells him that she will never be found alive. However, the investigation into her murder will lead him into the murky political waters of South Africa as it makes its transition from an Apartheid government and he will become entangle with the murderous terrorism of people who are intent on halting the course of history by any means. Maps, 440pp, UK. HARVILL.

2003 1860469604 Paperback 


Our Price:   £6.99 


THE WILL TO DIE
Themba, Can

A collection of stories about black Johannesburg in the late 1950s which was banned in South Africa until 1982. Stories and reports include Crepuscule, Kwashior-kor, The Urchin, The Suit, Ten to Ten, The Dube Train, Terror in the Trains, Boozers Beware of Barberton! Brothers in Christ, Nude Pass Parade, Let the People Drink, Political Offenders Banned to the Bush, Henry Nxumalo, The Boy with the Tennis Racket, Requiem for Sophiatown and the Bottom of the Bottle. 115pp, SOUTH AFRICA. DAVID PHILIP.

1985 0908396872 Paperback 


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THE WILL TO DIE


ZULU HARTZULU HART
David, Saul

New in paperback. Bullied at school for his suspiciously dark skin and lack of a father, Hart soon learns to fight and win. At eighteen, his world is shaken by his mothers revelation that his anonymous father is willing to give him a vast inheritance provided he can prove himself worthy of the prize as an officer in the Kings Dragoon Guards. At a time when racism and prejudice are rife in Victorian society, Hart struggles to come to terms with his identity. Forced to leave the army, he decides to head to South Africa, and a fresh start. But George Hart has soldiering in his blood, and once in Africa the urge to serve again is strong. Yet now he is caught between two fierce and unyielding forces as Britain drives towards war with the Zulus. Hart must make a choice and fight for his life. 480pp, UK. HODDER HEADLINE.

2009 9780340953648 Paperback 


Our Price:   £6.99