‘Engaging and absorbing, a tale about exploring the cold told withmuch warmth.’ – Mick Herron ‘Tender, heartfelt and lyrical.’ - Petina Gappah ‘Beautiful, thrilling, heroic and kind.’ – Claire Robertson. When Ernest Shackleton’s ship Endurance was discovered below the Antarctic ice in March 2022, 106 years after it sank, the world thrilled anew with one of the greatest survival stories of all time. Acclaimed South African writer Darrel Bristow-Bovey has a deeply personal relationship with the story of Endurance and in this lyrical journey into past and present, into humanity and the natural world, above and below the Antarctic ice, he revisits the famous story wondering why it seems to mean more today than ever before. Drawing on literature, natural history, personal memoir and the thrilling epics of polar adventure, this is a celebration of the human spirit. If this story tells us anything, it’s that in the face of self-inflicted natural disaster, we can still pull off a miracle or two. From the bottom of the Weddell Sea, Endurance still whispers that not all is lost, and not forever.

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The Near North is a vivid account of life in Johannesburg in times of crisis. From the stony ridges of Langermann Kop in Kensington to the tree-lined avenues of Houghton, we follow the writer through the city's streets, meeting its ghosts and journeying through time and (often circumscribed) space, finding meaning in the everyday and incidental.At once an echo of Ivan Vladislavić’s award-winning Portrait with Keys and an original work of intense acuity and quiet power, The Near North is both intimate and expansive, ranging from small domestic dramas to great public spectacles. Wryly playful at times, fiercely serious at others, it is certain to move and delight all who accompany the writer through its pages.

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Nearly three decades after the dawn of democracy, South Africa has remained a country of ‘two agricultures’. On the one hand we have a subsistence, primarily non-commercial, black farming segment. On the other hand, however, we have a predominantly commercial and white farming sector that is well-resourced and has access to domestic and international trade networks. These disparities can be traced back to South Africa’s painful history where, for decades, black farmers were on the margins of government support and also experienced land dispossession and livestock plunder. A Country of Two Agricultures focuses less on history and more on the present and the future, explaining why these disparities have persisted in the democratic era, and what it will take to overcome them. It aims to contribute to a better understanding of the variety of agricultural forces, taking into account both questions of domestic political economy and external factors, as well as to bring to light new risks and opportunities. Wandile Sihlobo offers insights into the role of agriculture in the South African economy from an agricultural economy perspective, and provides political economy insights that are rooted in the experiences of farming communities on the ground and right through the value chain. Beyond insights on the realities this book offers the government, the private sector, and anyone interested in the betterment of the South African economy, tools to grapple with this duality, and proposes a framework for bolstering the black farming segment for growth and competitiveness – and ultimately food security.

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Rassie Erasmus has been called a genius. He’s been called reckless. All his life, he’s done things differently. Now, with his trademark candour, Rassie talks openly about his adventures and misadventures. He reveals the turmoil of living with an alcoholic father and growing up in the conservative town of Despatch. He looks back on an exemplary career as a player, whose innate rugby instincts, ability to read a game differently, and appetite for hard work set him apart. While his teammates relaxed, he preferred to watch hours of video to devise winning strategies. When given the opportunity to lead his country as Springbok captain, he refused this honour. Rassie recalls how he became an important cog in Nick Mallett’s record-breaking Springbok team of the late 1990s. He remembers the anguish of the 1999 World Cup and the devastating injuries that cut short his playing career. He discusses his revolutionary coaching methods, which were initially laughed off and then eagerly adopted, how he fought the rugby establishment at the Stormers and earned the grudging respect of Irish fans at Munster. Rassie talks about his greatest contribution to South African rugby, appointing its first black captain, Siya Kolisi, without much fanfare or controversy, as his bold plans for effective racial transformation of the national team achieved immediate success, culminating in triumph at the 2019 Rugby World Cup. Readers will enjoy the behind-the-scenes information about interactions and controversies and previously untold stories from a truly maverick life.

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Locard’s Exchange Principle underpins all forensic science and holds that the perpetrator of a crime will bring something to the crime scene and leave with something from it.Forensic experts use this principle daily to catch murderers and assailants. In Risking Life for Death, South African forensic pathologist Ryan Blumenthal offers a master class in this singular forensic technique based on real-life case studies. With more than twenty years’ experience in the field, Blumenthal explains how to look for clues and traces, and how what he does not find at autopsy is often more important than what he does find. In other words, the absence of evidence can sometimes be of greater value than the presence of evidence. His account also highlights the dangers forensic pathologists are exposed to daily. As they try to unravel the puzzle of someone’s death, forensic pathologists often face life-threatening infections, toxic gases and the hazards associated with high-profile cases – in effect, risking their life to solve someone else’s death. An understanding of Locard’s Exchange Principle can help you become a medical detective in your own life, can help you be a happier person and can even provide you with a better philosophy for growing older, Blumenthal argues.

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One morning Laine wakes up to discover that the man she's been married to for 15 years has been secretively living out a monstrous lie. Her world is tilted on its axis. Now she must unstitch her existence, and peck through the pieces of her past... Just as Laine thinks she's reached the end of uncovering all the bitter truths, a child appears who demands her attention. This small, fierce person forces her to see the horror and ignites the tiniest flame of hope within. A brilliant debut novel.

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News of the sensational prison escape of the murderer and ‘Facebook rapist’ Thabo Bester, assisted by his lover, celebrity doctor Nandipha Magudumana, shocked South Africa. In this book, Marecia Damons and Daniel Steyn, the journalists who first exposed the scam, tell the full story, from Bester and Magudumana’s early lives and their unlikely love affair, his faked death and the tragedy surrounding their many victims, to a web of complicity in South Africa’s broken prison system.

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“Let us, then, set off together on a series of journeys around South Africa with an old kitbag full of books instead of maps to guide us. Let us follow meandering paths through the landscapes of literature, and celebrate how local authors, characters and readers are shaped and inspired by place …” In this gripping travelogue, Justin Fox goes on a one-of-a-kind journey. Marrying his love for travel and writing, he sets off to explore the places ofhis favourite books. From the mountainous eastern Karoo of Olive Schreiner to the big game lowveld of Sir Percy Fitzpatrick, from Deneys Reitz’s wide-open Cape interior to the bushveld of Eugène Marais’s Waterberg, Fox reveals the majestic power of place. Through the savannah of Herman Charles Bosman’s Marico, the dusty plains of JM Coetzee’sMoordenaars Karoo, the forests of Dalene Matthee’s Garden Route, the subtropical hamlets of Zakes Mda’s Wild Coast, and finally the sandstone crags of Stephen Watson’s Cederberg, he brings to life the settings we’ve only seen through characters’ eyes. Place is a moving love letter to South Africa, merging literature and landscape, and taking the reader on a breath-taking journey – into the heart of South Africa’s spectacular landscape and the inner-worlds of its most celebrated authors.

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Whenseven-year-old Jedza witnesses a tragic incident involving a train and thedeath of his close boyhood friend in his hometown Miner’s Drift, he isconvinced that his life is haunted. Now in his mid-20s, Jedza is a down-and-outelectrician, moving to Harare in the hopes that he will escape the darkness andsuperstitions of the small town. But living in the shadowy restless atmosphereof the Avenues with its mysterious pools of water rising under musasa trees, heis tormented by the disappearance of his sister and their early encounters withancestral spirits, the shapeshifting power of the njuzu and a vengeful ngozi. Tomove forward, he must stop running away and confront the trauma of his past.An eclectic, experimentalnovel, Avenues By Train is a brash and confident debut by an exciting new voice

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Sana and Meena will never meet. The two women share little beyond Akbar Manzil, the sprawling mansion they call home. When Meena fell in love with the owner of the house, it was the grandest residence on South Africa’s east coast near Durban. Eight decades later when Sana and her father move to the house, the latest of Akbar Manzil's long list of tenants, it is in near-ruins, crumbling, shabby and dark. This is a place where people come to forget. Or to be forgotten. Full of questions about her new home, Sana is drawn to the deserted east wing, home to a clutter of broken and abandoned objects – and to the locked door at its end, unopened for decades. Soon, Sana begins to discover the tangled, troubling history of the house, awakening the memories of the house itself and dredging up old and terrible secrets that will change the lives of everyone –living and dead – at Akbar Manzil.

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‘Why can you not be friends anymore?’It was the story of his country, he supposed. Perhaps they could have been friends. Perhaps they were once. The reasons were complex, full of feeling, disappointment, resentment. And, of course, betrayal. This was the Middle East after all.Avi Dahan, a retired detective mourning his beloved wife in Tel Aviv, and Khalid Mansour, a Palestinian doctor confronting the precarious reality of living in Gaza City, are still reeling from the political fallout that jeopardised their delicate friendship. When a mysterious corpse scarred by history and forbidden love shows up in Khalid’s emergency room, he reaches out to Avi for help. Though the detective is the only one who might be able to assist, he is the last person on earth to agree …The stage is set for Andrew Brown’s unforgettable new novel, The Bitterness of Olives.Did it really matter? In the face of chaos, was it important how she had died? That was the guidance he needed from Avi now. He needed to understand that question: did it matter anymore? Was it of any significance, how you died in a war?

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A vicious attack. Hidden perpetrators. An ordinary family. Aalia In the aftermath of the worst terrorist attack on US soil since 9/11, FBI Special Agent in Charge Aalia Knox and her team come under intense pressure to locate and arrest the ringleaders. But their targets are survivalists, skilled at melting into the forests of the Pacific Northwest, where they recognise no outside authority, state or federal. Becca Becca Abrahamson is a woman with a secret. She might look like just another suburban Monterey mother, but her ties to the survivalist community run deep. The FBI will go to any lengths to incriminate her in the terrorist attack, while she will stop at nothing to protect her family. As the country shudders in the wake of the brutal attack on a business park, long-buried secrets emerge as the FBI seeks justice for the lives lost.

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‘By the early evening, the irresolute and weakened Ramaphosa slate left no one unscathed – not Mabuyane, not Lamola, not the Mkhize camp. The Ramaphosa caucus was tarnished by infighting. The Mkhize camp was initially none the wiser as to whether Mashatile, who saw an opportunity to mop up votes in the Ramaphosa camp, would contest the position on its list. The situation left a power vacuum in its wake. The bigger picture remained unresolved. There was no obvious successor to David Mabuza. ’For the first time in South African literature comes not just an insider book, but from someone who had ringside seats as political power changed hands at the all-important ANC NASREC 2022 where Cyril Ramaphosa was either going to consolidate his power or be ejected. Van Heerden’s book is not mere reportage, he does not simply give us the numbers, the money, the delegates, the switching, the promises and the backstabbing, but importantly, Oscar himself is part of the story, and he has to personally contend with the modern ANC. Ramaphosa’s fortunes have been in decline since he first came to power, having to deal with the RET group, COVID, the July 2021 civil unrest, and the brutal energy crisis. Over each crisis he has had to stand by his party’s glorious history and against its rapid decline into inner-party feuds, corruption and bureaucratic ineptitude. What legacy then has Ramaphosa left? How has he contended with a country coming apart at the seams? Will 2024 be the end of his presidency, and will the party be over for the ANC? Fast-paced and unputdownable, Is the Party Over? is a must read anytime, but in 2024, if you want to know what the politicians are up to in the backrooms, you must read this book!

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What is your stake in the upcoming 2024 election in South Africa – the most crucial election since 1994? Are you optimistic or pessimistic about the outcome? As a businessperson, consumer, worker or farmer, you will be affected by the election results and the significant changes that are likely to appear in South Africa’s political economy. The 2024 election gives South Africans the opportunity to decide what the country and its political leadership will look like in the future. Tipping Point – Turmoil or reform? South Africa’s political economy after 2024, examines some critical questions about the country’s political and socioeconomic landscape today and whether the 2024 election outcome is likely to signal more gloom or will it rather pave the way for positive and enduring reforms. Edited by prominent economist Raymond Parsons, the book comprises pieces by some of South Africa’s leading intellectuals and thought leaders, all of whom have seriously considered South Africa’s post-election future. Among the major themes emerging from the different chapters, which will help to steer the national agenda in the months and years ahead, are: South Africa’s political prospects after 2024; the future role of coalition politics in South Africa; the dynamics between business and the economy; what South Africa’s geopolitical leanings mean for the country’s trade competitiveness; how to make local government work; need for greater community engagement and why doing business in South Africa is challenging. Tipping Point – Turmoil or reform? is as absorbing as it is frank, informing readers (and, importantly, voters) about the harsh reality of where South Africa is today but also offering them hope of a much better tomorrow – which will largely depend on the critical choices they make during this watershed election year for South Africa.

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A revelatory exploration of climate change from the perspective of wild species and natural ecosystems - an homage to the miraculous, vibrant entity that is life on Earth. The stories we usually tell ourselves about climate change tend to focus on the damage inflicted on human societies by big storms, severe droughts, and rising sea levels. But the most powerful impacts are being and will be felt by the natural world and its myriad species, which are already in the midst of the sixth great extinction. Rising temperatures are fracturing ecosystems that took millions of years to evolve, disrupting the life forms they sustain - and in many cases driving them towards extinction. The natural Eden that humanity inherited is quickly slipping away. Although we can never really know what a creature thinks or feels, The End of Eden invites the reader to meet wild species on their own terms in a range of ecosystems that span the globe. Combining classic natural history, firsthand reportage, and insights from cutting-edge research, Adam Welz brings us close to creatures like moose in northern Maine, parrots in Puerto Rico, cheetahs in Namibia, and rare fish in Australia as they struggle to survive. The stories are intimate yet expansive and always dramatic. An exquisitely written and deeply researched exploration of wild species reacting to climate breakdown, The End of Eden offers a radical new kind of environmental journalism that connects humans to nature in a more empathetic way than ever before and galvanizes us to act in defense of the natural world before it's too late.

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'We know you know. Talk and you’re next.'Bishop Jeremiah Dawodu, pastor of a Nigerian megachurch, has been arrested and charged with the murder of his wife, Folasade, the 'First Lady' of the church. The arrest was public, humiliating and sensational - sending shockwaves through Lagos - but throughout it all, Bishop Dawodu maintains his innocence.Philip Taiwo, an acclaimed investigative psychologist, is asked by his sister, a member of the church's congregation, to clear the pastor’s name. With no actual body, it looks to be a simple case and despite Philip’s dislike of organised religion, he agrees to take it on as a favour to his sister. Then the First Lady's body is found in a nearby lake just as Philip’s beloved family come under attack from someone warning him off the case, and he realises that nothing to do with this investigation will be straightforward.Was it murder or suicide? Is someone framing the Bishop or the First Lady?Gaslight is the sensational follow up to Femi Kayode's acclaimed debut, Lightseekers, picked as a Book of the Month by the Times, Sunday Times, Independent, Guardian, Observer, Financial Times and Irish Times

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Based on interviews in schools, workplaces and homes, this book tells the story of an epidemic of unkindness, uncovering the stories of bullies all around us. The online environment has given bullies a much wider range of tools to use to abuse their targets. Marion Scher tracks the links between bullying and mental health issues. As Marion says: ‘I had to brace myself to hear the often heartbreaking and vicious stories from those who encountered torturous relationships. The big question I kept asking myself was, “How could you get involved with such a person?” But just who is that kind of person, and is it even possible to spot them?’ She calls on the advice of a range of experts to help make sense of the bullies and their victims, with a range of advice to help manage the bully boss, the bully in school and the bully in a relationship. The book has stories, statistics, advice and lots of help to understand how bullies work. It is time for victims to call bullies to account and for schools, workplaces and society as a whole to put a stop to the tormentors.

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The name ‘Heavy Chef’ comes from the saying never trust a skinny chef...Heavy Chef is an organisation dedicated to creating learning experiences for entrepreneurs. Brought to you by Heavy Chef and Xero, the Heavy Chef Guide is a recipe book outlining all the ingredients you need to get cracking with your world-changing idea. Author Fred Roed is CEO of Heavy Chef (Pty) Ltd. He has started several businesses, as well as mentored dozens of successful startup entrepreneurs. Packed with loads of insights from other Heavy Chefs, this is a funny, accessible and brutally authentic guide.

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