A debut literary page-turner from a new South African voice about fatherhood and family, loyalty and betrayal, inheritance and belonging.

Daniel is a worldly and urbane journalist living in London. His relationships appear to be sexually fulfilling but sentimentally meager. A young gay man with no relationships outside of sexual ones, he can seem at once callow and, at times, cold to the point of cruel with his lovers. Emotionally distant from his elderly, senile father, Daniel nonetheless returns to South Africa to care for him during his final months. Following his father's death, Daniel learns of an unusual clause in the old man's will: he will only inherit his half of his father's considerable estate once he has spent time with Theon, a cousin whom he hasn't seen since they were boys, who lives on the old family farm in the Free State. Once there, Daniel discovers that the young son of the woman Theon lives with is seriously ill. With the conditions bearing on Daniel's inheritance shifting in real time, Theon and Daniel travel with the boy to Japan for an experimental cure and a voyage that will change their lives forever.

S.J. Naudé's masterful novel is many things at once: a literary page-turner full of vivid, unexpected characters and surprising twists; a loving and at times shockingly raw portrayal of its protagonist's complex psyche; and a devastatingly subtle look into South Africa's fraught recent history.

A rediscovered classic, and the only known novel by Black abolitionist and political exile Louis Timagène Houat, The Maroons is a fervid account of slavery and escape on nineteenth-century Réunion Island.

Frême is a young African man forced into slavery on Réunion, an island east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. Plagued by memories of his childhood sweetheart, a white woman named Marie, Frême seeks her out--but when they are persecuted for their love, the two flee into the forest. There they meet other maroons formerly enslaved people and courageous rebels who have chosen freedom at the risk of their lives.

Now available in English for the first time, The Maroons highlights slavery's abject conditions under the French empire, and attests to the widespread phenomenon of enslaved people escaping captivity to forge a new life beyond the reach of so-called civilization. Banned by colonial authorities at the time of its publication in 1844, the book fell into obscurity for over a century before its rediscovery in the 1970s. Since its first reissue, the novel has been recognized for its extraordinary historical significance and literary quality.

Presented here in a sensitive translation by Aqiil Gopee with Jeffrey Diteman, and with a keen introduction by journalist and author Shenaz Patel, The Maroons is a vital resource for rethinking the nineteenth-century canon, and a fascinating read on the struggle for freedom and social justice.

A roiling chronicle of motherhood and colonization from a writer who alternates between a dramatic, high-octane style and a terse and humorous frankness (Sheila Heti)

Recipient of the 2021 Camões Prize, the most important award for literature in the Portuguese language

A potent whirl of history, mythology, and grapevine chatter, The Joyful Song of the Partridge absorbs readers into its many hiding places and along the wandering paths of its principal characters, whose stark words will stay with you long after the journey is done.

No one knows where Maria des Dores came from. Did she ride in on the armored spines of crocodiles, was she carried many miles in the jaws of fish?

The only clear fact is that she is here, sitting naked in the river bordering a town where nothing ever happens.

The townspeople murmur restlessly that she is possessed by perverse impulses. They interpret her arrival as an omen of crop failure or, in more hopeful tones, a sign that womankind will soon seize power from the greedy hands of men.

As The Joyful Song of the Partridge unfolds, Paulina Chiziane spirals back in time to Maria's true origins: the days of Maria's mother and father when the pressure to assimilate in Portuguese-controlled Mozambique formed a distorting bond on the lives of black Mozambicans.

A seminal novel of African decolonization available for the first time in English translation.

Lisbon 1961. Aware that the secret police are watching them, four young Angolans discuss their plans for a utopian homeland free from Portuguese rule. When war breaks out, they flee to France and must decide whether they will return home to join the fight. Two remain in exile and two return to Angola to become guerilla fighters, barely escaping capture over the course of the brutal fourteen-year war. Reunited in the capital of Luanda, the old friends face independence with their confidence shaken and struggle to build a new society free of the corruption and violence of colonial rule.

Pepetela, a former revolutionary guerilla fighter and Angolan government minister, is the author of more than twenty novels that have won prizes in Africa, Europe, and South America. The Utopian Generation is widely considered in the Portuguese-speaking world an essential novel of African decolonization--and is now available in English translation for the first time.

In this episodic novella, Mavima introduces Kuda, a man in his early 20s, living a banal existence shared by many of his peers in contemporary Harare. He has resigned himself to the life of mundane, inescapable drudgery. As he listlessly navigates the throes of early adulthood in urban Zimbabwe, Kuda worries that his existence may already have plateaued. When his US-based cousin Tawanda visits home for the first time in years, he provokes Kuda into seeking the escape from his entrapped life that had long eluded him. Their conversation sets in motion a series of events, memories, and encounters that leave Kuda with a new lease of life. Yet in his pursuit of greener pastures, he embarks on a surreal path where he is confronted with familial conflict, disease, dashed hopes, love and camaraderie in the strangest of places, and death.

Winner, Outstanding Fiction Book Prize, Zimbabwe National Arts Merit Awards

Shortlist, 2023 Sunday Times Literary Awards

Best African Books of 2023, African Arguments

From 2022 Windham Campbell Prize winner Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu, the breathtaking conclusion to her multiple award-winning City of Kings trilogy, including The Theory of Flight and The History of Man, Perhaps the most monumental trilogy to come out of Southern Africa.-Afrocritik

Everyone saw Emil Coetzee drive into the bush the day the ceasefire was announced. Beatrice, busy consoling her friend Kuki over the loss of her son and marriage. Dikeledi, the postwoman who refuses to lean. Tom, the drunk who makes his living impersonating Emil in backroads bars. Vida de Villiers, stuck in a coin-toss choice. Saskia, the feisty reporter determined to ruin Emil's name. Marion, the enigmatic lover he left behind. Mrs. Louisa Alcott, the lonely farm wife reading Mills & Boon romances in her best dress, waiting for her life to begin. But nobody saw him drive out of it.

So begins the investigation of Spokes Moloi, the first black chief inspector in the City of Kings, who on the eve of his retirement is handed one final crime: the possible murder of Mr. Coetzee, the notorious head of the Organization of Domestic Affairs, who disappeared on the same day the country's independence beckoned. In investigating Emil's disappearance, Spokes' path collides with an assortment of witnesses with the best and worst of intentions--including a pair of corrupt investigators with an eye towards framing the guerrilla icon Golide Gumede for Emil's murder, and the insatiable public, infatuated with Emil and unable to come to terms with the fact that the future they had so long anticipated had, at last, arrived.

With a nation in flux and his beloved wife Loveness forever present in his mind, Spokes' investigation leads him back to the very beginning-- and gives him one last chance to solve the twenty-year-old murder case that determined both the path of his life and destiny of his country.

An Own Voices story written by a Queer South African author, this coming-of-age/coming-of-queer story looks at navigating the confusion that is intimacy, sex, and identity.

In her debut novel, Dreaming in Color, Uvile Ximba explores with subtlety, humor, and probing insight the connections between the joyful reclaiming of pleasure and the healing of buried traumas.

As students at university of Makhanda, South Africa during the #RUReferenceList campaign, Langa and her lover Khwezi have a passionate and complex relationship. Puzzling gaps in her memory haunt Langa, yet her dreams are vivid with colors and symbols that hint at a nightmare of forgotten violations and losses. So many secrets--and Langa has had enough of secrets and silences. Who can she turn to? Her mother? Her grandmother? Khwezi? Or herself?

Dreaming in Color is Langa's story of coming out to herself, of discerning the history behind the closed door of conscious memory.

Across countries and decades, The Wanderers weaves a captivating tapestry of human lives, exploring the enduring--and sometimes contradictory--duties of blood and country.

Ruru's father, a South African freedom fighter, was exiled to Tanzania before she was born, leaving Ruru and her mother to fend for themselves in the township they called home. So when a fatal bus accident claims her mother's life, Ruru is adrift.

Haunted by her mother's absence, another loss sits heavy on Ruru's heart: that of her father, who never returned to the family, or country, he claimed to love. When she learns of his passing, Ruru grieves for the man she never knew, and the answers she would never find.

She seeks solace in Tanzania, where she strikes up an unlikely friendship with her father's widow, a Rwandan refugee named Efuoa. Efuoa gifts Ruru her father's journals, and as she reads, she begins to piece together the fragments of a complicated life of deep love, shifting identity, small triumphs and haunting disappointments.

From debut Zimbabwean writer Tsitsi Mapepa comes the saga of the four Taha sisters, and the indomitable matriarch who carried her daughters--and her community--through times of drought and violence in their Harare neighborhood.

From the red soil of her garden in Southgate 1, a crowded suburb of Harare, Nyeredzi watches the world. She knows not to venture beyond the grasses that fence them off from the bush, where the city's violent criminals and young lovers claim the night. But on this red soil, she is sovereign. It is here where she learns how to kill snakes, how to fight off a man, and how to take what she is due. It is here where Nyeredzi and her three older sisters are raised, and where they will each find a different destiny.

Decades prior, a young woman abandons a position of great power to seek justice in the second Chimurenga War, only to return to find her world in shambles. So Zuva Mutongi sets off to build a world of her own, raising four daughters--Nyeredzi, Hannah, Abigail, and Ruth--and defending them from the evils beyond their small Harare home. But when a letter from her long-estranged brother calls her back to a past life, Zuva must reconcile with her duty and heal the broken community she left behind.

Tsitsi Mapepa's vibrant debut is the history of a new Zimbabwe, with resilient women and men who raised a nation from its ashes. It is the chronicle of an L-shaped house, long awaited and much beloved, and the guests, welcome and unwelcome, who cross its threshold. It is the coming-of-age of four sisters, who will discover the secrets of womanhood on the volatile streets of Harare. But above all, it is a love song to one woman--a soldier, healer, chief, and mother--whose fierce devotion to her people is a testament to the bonds of blood that bind us all.

At the same time intimate and sweeping, Born of the Sun tells the story of a young man from a Namibian village whose life is forever changed by global forces swirling around him. Muronga, a new father, must first navigate the changes that foreign missionaries press on his community's traditional lives. Then, as the new colonial administration taxes the people beyond their abilities to pay, he leaves his family for South Africa where work in the bustling gold mines promises great income but exposes him to racism, abuse, and ultimately a vision for Africa's liberation.

A fast-flowing novel with a compelling protagonist, Born of the Sun calls the colonial world to account and offers a hopeful new future.

Mlilo, a young isangoma, is forced to call on his friend Dan, a Druid apprentice, to help him retrieve his sacred amathambo (bones) from the clutches of evil. Taking us on an unprecedented journey through the magical realms of his ancestry and traditional beliefs, Mlilo's emerging skills are tested in life or death encounters with beings from the realm of Abaphansi. Amira, a close friend of Dans, has her own independent path to forge but will soon find that her personal quests are inextricably linked to the two men. The three young adults, finding their way in the world, still have much to learn about themselves, their conflicting approaches, and their true callings. They must work together, combine their skills and find the talismans that make up Mlilos bag of bones, the key ingredient to an isangomas abilities and powers in this and the other worlds around us. While the gods, demigods, deities and shapeshifters, all with their own agendas, make navigating Abaphansi a deathly challenge. The solitary isangoma, self-reliant to the extreme, will learn the importance of friendships, alliances and the meaning of living life in the real.

Ichi chitabo chilelanda palufyengo nomutitikisha waba muno chalo. Umwana uwali mwifumo lyakwa namayo balanshanya nechitumbi chamukote uo abantu baile mukushika. Umukote aeba umwana ukuti ekayefyalwa pachalo pantu tapaba cisuma nangu chimo. Umwana uwali mwifumo akana ati bamuleke akaye imwena. Panuma umukote nomwana ashilafyalwa basuminishanya ukuti pakuti umwana akeyemwenekesha ulufyengo lwaba muchalo, akayefyalwa chibulu. Pakulekelesha, amashiwi yamukote yafikilishiwa ilyo umwana aimwena ulufyengo lwaba muchalo...

Written in magic realism, the novella exposes the absurdities of life, its injustices and hypocrisy. A corpse of an old man being taken for burial converses with an unborn child trying to persuade him not to be born in a cruel world. The child refuses to heed the advice and the two agree that the child should be born dumb and see for himself the folly of living. The old man's words prove to be true in a development of dramatic events.

A chance meeting in South Africa, in the middle of nowhere, changes everything for American Peace Corp worker Mandy Walker. When the taxi she is riding in runs out of petrol, she and her companion are stranded alongside a country road with their fellow passengers, all of whom are Zulu. While they wait for help, friendships develop as they share problems and stories--and Mandy finds herself drawn to 8-year-old Jabulani, an AIDS orphan. She determines to help the boy, but what she proposes to do is not an easy road to follow; she faces legal and logistical problems, and much opposition. There is one person who supports her though--a lawyer whom she meets in Durban. Meeting him adds to her dilemma and she is torn by conflicting loyalties.

Experience the rhythm of life within an elephant family. Journey with Lua as she leads her family along the interwoven paths that she shares with humans and other animals as they confront a land on the brink of collapse. Both fiction and nonfiction, Knowing Wonder: An Elephant Story invites you to explore the world of elephants within the context of real behavior and events connected with scientific insight into their inner lives. Know the family's intimacy in birth and death, joy and sorrow. As Lua navigates the seasons of her life, she will challenge you to change the way you see her and the world. You will never look at elephants the same.

Big-hearted, kaleidoscopic, and honest, The Enumerations explores the far-reaching legacies of mental illness and trauma, and the children left to pick up the pieces of their parents' emotional lives.

Noah Groome counts to five. At seventeen, he can do more than that, but counting everything in fives-from the steps he takes to the minutes in the day--keeps his raging anxiety at bay. The voice in his head, which he calls The Dark, controls everything he does. And it's getting worse.

His increasingly severe OCD impacts every member of Noah's family: his mother Kate, desperate for comfort as her home life falls apart; his father Dominic, who retreats emotionally as old demons rise to the surface; his protective little sister Maddie, forced to be the happy child; and most of all Noah, a troubled teenager trying to protect his loved ones from himself.

Following a violent incident at school, Noah is sent to rehab in Cape Town, where he meets Juliet, a rebellious girl with a sex addiction who isn't afraid of the voice in Noah's head. As bonds are made and long-held secrets are revealed, Noah is not the only one who will find healing.

'A thought-provoking and unusual first novel which reflects

a real concern for the victims of a harsh rule.'

- The Times Literary Supplement -

'The reaction of Candy's family and friends to the growing

tie between the girls is treated with something of Becky's

sardonic humour, and a sympathetic understanding

of the multifarious conflicts involved.'

- The Guardian -

'Toeckey Jones' book could be an extremely helpful

introduction to further reading about South Africa

for readers of any age.'

- The Friend -

Meeting by chance in a public park in Johannesburg in 1976, Candy and Becky immediately know they want to be friends. But from the start, their friendship is challenged by external forces. For the two teenagers are living in Apartheid South Africa, and Candy is White and Becky is Black. Not only do they have to contend with the racist laws of the country that restrict how and where they can meet; they also have to cope with the prejudiced attitudes of family and other people around them.

Can their friendship survive? Is it even possible for them to relate as friends on an equal basis when everything between them is so unequal? It seems increasingly unlikely. But when Soweto, the Black shanty township where Becky lives, erupts in huge riots against Apartheid and Becky's life is endangered, both Candy and Becky are forced to re-evaluate their feelings for each other and to what lengths they are prepared to go to continue their friendship.

Although 'Go Well, Stay Well' is set in South Africa, its exploration of the true meaning of friendship transcends time and place.

'Go Well, Stay Well' was first published by The Bodley Head in 1979 to international acclaim. It was translated into half a dozen languages, and won The Silver Pencil Award in Holland, the Meilleur Livre Loisirs Jeunes Award in France, and The Juveniles Book Award in Germany. The American edition, published by Harper and Row, also became a bestseller. This is a new edition.

When Nelson Mandela came to power and the policy of apartheid ended, Afrikaner peoples in South Africa took fright. Maghiel Grobelaar, head of Mines and about to lose his job, had an idea. The story tracks the movement of lost krugerrands, after a complex theft from the Mint in Pretoria.

Years later David Johnston, a high powered computer man in one of London's largest companies, and his colleagues, are brought into the search. They are challenged, amongst others, by a highly trained ex-Stasi senior officer who now heads the thuggish international Daggers organisation, based in Geneva, and his associates.

Several major deceptions lead to a nail-biting finale in which the winner, most certainly, does not take all.

I Vuyo Joboda solemnly swear that I will forgive my past.

I look forward to my future.

I promise myself that I will be the best version of myself at all times.

I will dream big.

I will work hard to reach all my dreams.

I will not give up on my dreams even if it seems hard.

I will be patient with my dreams

I will surround myself with people who will positively impact my dream. I will laugh, love and find happiness.

I will rise, unafraid.

I will shine, unapologetically.

I am a winner.

I am beautiful, bright and brave.

I am legendary.

I am light, ignited in Africa.

I Vuyo Joboda will change the world

A day before Emma's 10th birthday, her life changes irrevocably and she finds herself ripped away from everything she holds dear - family, home and homeland. It takes her 30 years to summon the courage to return, finally ready to put together the puzzle pieces of her past. Her quest for answers is backdropped by a country in turmoil and a history which, once so blurry, comes into painful focus as the ghosts of her childhood take shape.

Set in the racially and radically different communities of pre- and post-war Bulawayo, Mulberry Dreams explores the different facets of Zimbabwean society through the lens of multiple protagonists over two generations, scarred by history, bound by circumstance, and forced to make choices for love, for family and for themselves. The reactions of a society on the brink, and the elegiac consequences of their interlocking decisions, will drive them to an inevitable and compelling conclusion.