Die Fluisteraar

ONDER EMBARGO TOT 15 MEI 2026Dis die jaar 2075. Wêreldoorloë oor natuurlike hulpbronne het lank gewoed. Party stede oor die wêreld heen is beter af as ander, te danke aan tegnologieë wat hulle ondersteun. In Suid-Afrika is die Kaapkom feitlik ‘n woestyn.Kato is 17. Te danke aan sy pa se uitvindsel vir watersuiwering is hulle gesin welaf en kan goeie skoling bekostig. Eendag by die skool gebeur iets eienaardig – daar is ‘n groen kol op die grond ná Kato sy hand daar gehou het. Sy biologie-meneer sien dit ook raak. En wanneer Kato by die huis kom, wag sy meneer hom in. Die waarheid word onthul. Kato het spesiale kragte: Hy is ‘n Fluisteraar en kan nuwe plantegroei aanmoedig. Daar is net ‘n handjievol sulke mense in die wêreld. Fluisteraars word deur ‘n spesiale program gewerf en uitgestuur op geheime missies deur die wêreld. Kato word opgekommandeer na Uganda om ‘n woud daar te probeer red. Hy wil glad nie gaan nie, maar hy het nie ‘n keuse nie. Dit grief hom die meeste – dat hy uitgelewer is aan ‘n mag buite sy beheer.Wat gaan Kato uiteindelik kies: Om te bly en die wêreld te red? Of gaan hy ontsnap?Die groter vraag is: Watter toekoms bly vir die aarde oor?EMBARGOED UNTIL 15 MAY 2026It is the year 2075. World wars over natural resources have raged. Some cities around the world are better off than others thanks to supportive technologies. In South Africa, the Cape is almost a desert.Kato is 17. Thanks to his father’s invention for water purification, their family is wealthier than most and can afford good schooling. One day at school, something strange happens – there is a green spot on the ground after Kato held his hand there. His biology teacher also notices it. And when Kato comes home, his teacher is waiting for him. The truth is revealed. Kato has special powers: He is a Whisperer and can encourage new plant growth. There are only a handful of such people in the world. Whisperers are recruited by a special program and sent on secret missions around the world. Kato is conscripted to Uganda to try to save a forest there. He really doesn’t want to go, but he has no choice. What grieves him the most is that he is at the mercy of a power beyond his control.What will Kato ultimately choose: To stay and save the world? Or will he escape?The bigger question is: What future remains for the earth?

Jacolet van den Berg studeer eers BSc. Dieetkunde aan die Universiteit van die Vrystaat en maak dan ʼn wye draai van Londen tot Johannesburg voor sy en haar gesin hul voetholte in die Paarl vind. Haar onstuitbare kleintyd liefde vir stories en Afrikaans motiveer haar om haar hand uiteindelik in 2008 aan skryf te waag. Terwyl sy, haar man en hul drie seuns hul droom in die Boland leef, skryf sy verskeie liefdesverhale, romans en jeugboeke. Vir haar is die sprong tussen volwasse- en jeugfiksie pure genot.Jacolet van den Berg first studied BSc. Dietetics at the University of the Free State before making a wide turn from Londen to Johannesburg and then finally making a home in the Paarl with her family. Her uncontainable childhood love for stories and Afrikaans motivated her to try her hand at writing in 2008. While she, her husband and their three sons live out their dream in the Boland, she writes love stories, novels and young adult fiction. She finds the leap between adult and YA fiction to be pure joy.