{"title":"JULY Literary Fiction","description":"","products":[{"product_id":"9781472288813","title":"Speak to Me of Home","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eFrom #1\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003ebestselling author Jeanine Cummins comes a deeply felt multigenerational family story that asks: What does it mean to call a place home?\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOn her wedding day in San Juan, Puerto Rico in 1968, Rafaela Acuña y Daubón has mild misgivings, but she marries Peter Brennan Jr. anyway, in a blaze of romantic optimism. She has no way of knowing how dramatically her life will change when she uproots her young family to start over in the American Midwest, unleashing a fleet of disappointments. Against the backdrop of her mother’s isolation in St. Louis, Missouri in the 1980s, Rafaela’s daughter, Ruth Brennan, longs only to belong. Eager to fit in, Ruth lets go of her language, habits, and childhood memories of Puerto Rico. It's not until decades later, when Ruth’s own daughter, Daisy, returns to Puerto Rico that her mother and grandmother begin to truly reflect on the choices that have come to define their lives.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen a hurricane ravages the island in 2023, leaving Daisy critically injured, Rafaela and Ruth return to the city where it all began. As they gather at Daisy’s bedside, they’re confronted by the pasts that brought them to this point. We follow them as they come of age, fall in love, take risks, and contend with all the heartbreaks, triumphs, and reversals of fortune — both good and bad — that make up a meaningful life. As old memories come to light, so do buried secrets, leaving everyone in the family wondering exactly where it is that they belong.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA striking, resonant examination of marriage, family, and identity, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eSpeak to Me of Home\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is ultimately a story of mothers and daughters that asks: how can three women who share geography and genetics have such wildly different ideas of where it is they come from? And more importantly, can they discover the common language to find their way home?\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Jeanine Cummins","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51887817589054,"sku":"9781472288813","price":440.0,"currency_code":"ZAR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4357\/7662\/files\/9781472288813.jpg?v=1750416643"},{"product_id":"9781398710887","title":"Vianne","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOn a warm July evening, Sylviane Rochas scatters her mother's ashes in New York and lets the changing wind blow her to the French seaside town of Marseille.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFor the first time in her life, Vianne holds the future in her own hands. Charming her way into a job as a waitress in a local \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003ebistrot\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, she knows that she is not here to stay - when her child is born in a few months, she must be gone.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs she discovers the joy of cooking, making recipes her own with the addition of bittersweet chocolate spices, she realises that it possesses its own magic in this town full of secrets.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYet Vianne will never forget her mother's warning: that there is danger in revealing the true desires of those around her - and she must flee these cobbled streets before it's too late...\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Joanne Harris","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51887950364990,"sku":"9781398710887","price":455.0,"currency_code":"ZAR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4357\/7662\/files\/9781398710887.jpg?v=1750417170"},{"product_id":"9781399624039","title":"The Names","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe unforgettable debut novel that became an instant global sensation,\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Names\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003easks how a name can shape the course of a life and explores the single what-if moments that can overturn a person's fate\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eTomorrow - if morning comes, if the storm stops raging - Cora will register the name of her son. Or perhaps, and this is her real concern, she'll formalise who he will become.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt is 1987, and in the aftermath of a great storm, Cora sets out with her nine-year-old daughter to register the birth of her son. Her husband intends for her to follow a long-standing family tradition and call the baby after him. But when faced with the decision, Cora hesitates. Going against his wishes is a risk that will have consequences, but is it right for her child to inherit his name from generations of domineering men? The choice she makes in this moment will shape the course of their lives.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSeven years later, her son is Bear, a name chosen by his sister, and one that will prove as cataclysmic as the storm from which it emerged. Or he is Julian, the name his mother set her heart on, believing it will enable him to become his own person. Or he is Gordon, named after his father and raised in his cruel image - but is there still a chance to break the mould?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePowerfully moving and full of hope, this is the story of three names, three versions of a life, and the infinite possibilities that a single decision can spark. It is the story of one family, and love's endless capacity to endure, no matter what fate has in store.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Florence Knapp","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51887979757886,"sku":"9781399624039","price":405.0,"currency_code":"ZAR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4357\/7662\/files\/9781399624039.jpg?v=1750418539"},{"product_id":"9781776381012","title":"The Immortalites","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cem\u003eEllie Kent longs to belong\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e \u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eAbandoned as a child and raised in the bleak confines of an asylum, Ellie is taken into service as a governess by a family bound for the distant colony of South Africa. But before reaching their destination, she is abandoned once more – cast adrift in a land as vast as it is unforgiving.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e \u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eLeft with no choice but to join a caravan of settlers, Ellie finds herself in the company of a questionable trader, a mysterious opera singer, and a young Afrikaner, Gysbert de Boer, tasked with delivering her safely to an uncertain future. As war brews on the horizon and the settlers struggle for survival in a land that offers little mercy, Ellie must carve out a home – or be lost to the wilderness forever.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e \u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eA sweeping frontier fable, The\u003cem\u003e Immortalites\u003c\/em\u003e  is a masterfully crafted tale of survival, sacrifice, and the search for belonging.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e \u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Claire Robertson","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51888061382974,"sku":"9781776381012","price":330.0,"currency_code":"ZAR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4357\/7662\/files\/9781776381012.jpg?v=1750420595"},{"product_id":"9780241678121","title":"The Girl with the Suitcase","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWhen Mary meets a glamorous stranger named Elizabeth she realises their lives couldn’t be more different. Elizbeth is beautiful and charming, about to set off on a dazzling adventure to Ireland where she’s inherited a grand house. Mary, shy and meek, has nothing to look forward to but the dreary life of a maid in Hampstead.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBut when an air raid forces them to take shelter underground Mary’s life is suddenly changed forever. After waking up in hospital, injured but alive, the nurse mistakes her for Elizabeth and hands over her suitcase with Elizabeth’s money and tickets to Ireland inside.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThis is Mary’s chance to escape the hardship of her life and start afresh.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Lesley Pearse","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51888088514878,"sku":"9780241678121","price":390.0,"currency_code":"ZAR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4357\/7662\/files\/9780241678121.jpg?v=1750425755"},{"product_id":"9781529942217","title":"When the Cranes Fly South","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBo is running out of time. Yet time is one of the few things he’s got left; his body is failing him and his quiet existence is only broken up by the daily visits from his home care team. His hands soon too weak to open the precious jar housing the scarf of his Alzheimer-stricken wife Frederika, which still bears her scent. Fortunately he still has his beloved elkhound Sixten for company, only now his son insists upon taking the dog away. The very same son that Bo is wanting to mend his relationship with before his time is up. The threat of losing Sixten stirs up a whirlwind of emotions that make him look back at his life, his fatherhood and the way he expresses his love.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eWhen the Cranes Fly South\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is a profoundly moving debut about an ageing man’s fight to keep the power over his own life.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Lisa Ridzén","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51895198941502,"sku":"9781529942217","price":390.0,"currency_code":"ZAR","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4357\/7662\/files\/9781529942217.jpg?v=1750668126"},{"product_id":"9781400347445","title":"A Bookseller in Madrid","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eHow can the words of the past help heal the horror of the present?\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFor as long as she can remember, Barbara Spiel has always found solace in books. Born in Germany and having come of age in a tumultuous era, she flees her home country as the Nazis rise to power in the early 1930s. Her destination? Madrid. There she's determined to realize her long-held dream of opening a bookshop and creating a safe haven for young idealists and independent thinkers to come together to transform the world.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eYet Spain isn't immune from its own troubles. The winds of change are blowing through both city and countryside, and it's impossible to predict what will happen. When the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War puts Barbara and everyone around her in peril--including the Spanish Socialist parliamentarian she's fallen deeply in love with--the terror and hatred seem all too familiar. It's like Germany all over again, only with its own cast of extremist characters.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHounded simultaneously by Stalinist checas, Francoist Facists, and the German Gestapo, Barbara fights to keep her bookstore the safe haven that she's always imagined it would be. But with war brewing both inside Spain and outside its borders throughout the entirety of Europe--and beyond--Barbara isn't sure who exactly she can trust, or if people really are who they claim to be.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eA story told with tremendous heart and astonishing historical accuracy,\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eA Bookseller in Madrid\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eis ultimately a story about dreams--dreaming with courage when nothing seems to make sense and dreaming with hope when words printed on a page are all you can hold on to.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Mario Escobar","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51895244882238,"sku":"9781400347445","price":395.0,"currency_code":"ZAR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4357\/7662\/files\/9781400347445.jpg?v=1750669170"}],"url":"https:\/\/exclusivebooks.co.za\/collections\/july-literary-fiction\/products.oembed","provider":"Exclusive Books Online","version":"1.0","type":"link"}