Conversations with Myself

Conversations with Myself

by Nelson Mandela, ISBN:9780230749016, R290.00

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Due 12 October 2010

Nelson Mandela is one of the most inspiring and iconic figures of our age. Now, after a lifetime of taking pen to paper to record thoughts and events, hardships and victories, he has opened his personal archive, which offers an unprecedented insight into his remarkable life. Conversations With Myself gives readers access to the private man behind the public figure: from letters written in the darkest hours of Mandela's twenty-seven years of imprisonment to the draft of an unfinished sequel to Long Walk to Freedom. Here he is making notes and even doodling during meetings, or recording troubled dreams on the desk calendar of his cell on Robben Island; and, writing journals while on the run during the anti-apartheid struggles in the early 1960s, or conversing with friends in almost seventy hours of recorded conversations. In these pages he is neither an icon nor a saint; here he is like you and me. An intimate journey from the first stirrings of his political conscience to his galvanizing role on the world stage, Conversations With Myself is a rare chance to spend time with Nelson Mandela the man, in his own voice: direct, clear, private.

Wall of Days

Wall of days

by Alastair Bruce;ISBN:9781415201374, R180.00

due September 2010

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In a world all but drowned, a man called Bran has been living on an island for ten years. He was sent there in exile by those whose leader he was, and he tallies on the wall of his cave the days as they pass. Until the day when something happens that kindles in Bran such memories and longing that he persuades himself to return, even if it means execution. His reception is so unexpected, so mystifying that he casts about unsure of what is real and what imaginary. Only the friendship of a child consoles him as he retraces the terrible deeds for which he is answerable, and as he tries to reach back, over his biggest betrayal, to the one he loved. Wall of Days is a moving parable about guilt, loss and remembering.

About the Author - Alastair Bruce
Alastair Bruce was born in Port Elizabeth and studied at the University of Cape Town where he started in a science degree course but ended with a masters in English Literature. He has been living in the United Kingdom for over ten years where he works in electronic publishing. He is married and has a baby daughter. Titles published by Umuzi Wall of Days, 2010 ...[more about Alastair Bruce]

Bushveld Ecology and Management

Bushveld Ecology and Management

Editor: P.T.van der Walt, ISBN:9781875093946,
R219.00

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Also available in Afrikaans

17 of the country’s most prominent bush experts share there knowledge about conservation and management of the Bushveld, its geology and soil, veld and plants, timber and age-old trees, survival and usage of the veld in historical times, modern-day tourism and how one goes about buying a farm here.

In popular parlance, ‘bush’ refers to a woodiness that differs in composition, density and height. It is a place where the life cycles of some 5 700 plant species contribute to the pulsing rhythm and dynamics of sweet, sour, mixed or arid Bushveld. One and a half million visitors find enormous pleasure in this precious biotreasure every year, but it is deteriorating fast as a result of human activities and mismanagement. Its use should be approached with much more sensitivity and proficiency. To give more impetus to this ideal, 17 of the most prominent bush experts of the country share their knowledge in a clear and colourful way – wonderful reading matter for the conservator, farmer, student and every lover of the bush.
This short chronicle tells of the conservation and management of the Bushveld, its geology and soil, its veld and its plants, its timber and age-old trees, of survival and of usage of the veld in historical times, of modern-day tourism and how one goes about buying a farm here.

A special field guide to our beloved Bushveld – a must for every resident and visitor.

Hairdresser of Harare

by Tendai Huchu, ISBN:9781770099074, R125.00
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"Like very good dark chocolate this is a delicious novel, with a bitter-sweet flavour.

Vimbai is a hairdresser, the best in Mrs Khumalo's salon, and she knows she is the queen on whom they all depend. Her situation is reversed when the good-looking, smooth-talking Dumisani joins them. However, his charm and desire to please slowly erode Vimbai's rancour and when he needs somewhere to live, Vimbai becomes his landlady.

So, when Dumisani needs someone to accompany him to his brother's wedding to help smooth over a family upset, Vimbai obliges. Startled to find that this smart hairdresser is the scion of one of the wealthiest families in Harare, she is equally surprised by the warmth of their welcome; and it is their subsequent generosity which appears to foster the relationship between the two young people.

The ambiguity of this deepening friendship - used or embraced by Dumisani and Vimbai with different futures in mind - collapses in unexpected brutality when secrets and jealousies are exposed.

Written with delightful humour and a penetrating eye, The Hairdresser of Harare is a novel that you will find hard to put down."

‘A subtle and refreshing story of life in contemporary Harare … a novel of morality, prejudice and ambition told with humour and tragedy.’
- Brian Chikwava, award-winning author of Harare North.

Spilt Milk

Spilt Milk
By Kopano Matlwa, ISBN:9781770097919, R125.00

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Summary   
Spilt Milk is the story of two passionate people who share a shameful past and a tenuous present.

Decades after a childhood love affair earns upright school principal Mohumagadi and disgraced preacher Father Bill expulsion from their communities, the two characters are brought back together under the most unlikely of circumstances.

 Mohumagadi, headmistress of the elite Sekolo sa Ditlhora school for talented black children, takes in Father Bill as a teacher much to the dismay of her students and faculty. Thus begins a battle of wills and wits for the hearts and minds of the students living in the shadow of revolution and change.

 A parable for our times, Spilt Milk is the new novel by EU Literary Award Winner Kopano Matlwa.

About the Author

The EU Literary Award-winning Kopano Matlwa is one of South Africa’s most vibrant young writers. A medical graduate, Kopano is the author of the critically acclaimed novel Coconut. She is a founding member and chairperson of Waiting Room Education by Medical Students, a non-profit organisation run by students and is a 2010 Rhodes Scholar.

Flashback Hotel

Flashback Hotel

by Ivan Vladislavic, ISBN:9781415201077, R180.00

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"Flashback Hotel combines two critically acclaimed collections of Vladislavic’s short stories."

About the Author - Ivan Vladislaviæ
Ivan Vladislaviæ is the author of the novels The Folly, The Restless Supermarket and The Exploded View. His early story collections, Missing Persons and Propaganda by Monuments, were reissued by Umuzi this year under the title Flashback Hotel. He has edited volumes on architecture and art, and written on the artist Willem Boshoff. Portrait with Keys, a book of documentary texts on Johannesburg, ap ...[more about Ivan Vladislaviæ]

Banquet at Brabazan

Banquet at Brabazan

by Patricia Schonstein, ISBN:9781770098077, R145.00

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In Banquet at Brabazan, Patricia Schonstein takes us to the heart of Cape Town's violent inner city. She weaves together a rich and consuming story of a secret love affair between a boss and his secretary who create a fantastical, theatrical life for themselves within the confines of her apartment. Their theatrical existence is intricately entangled with superb food, romance, a cappella, an angel, Shakespearean drama, reflections on South Africa's war in Angola, drug-money, a muti murder, visions of the Afterlife and various works of fine art with flashbacks to the wondrous A Time of Angels. In contrast to their contrived space, outside the apartment exists the real world of loneliness, xenophobia and crime that have come to mark post-apartheid South Africa. Patricia Schonstein deftly leads us through both worlds, allowing the lives of a small group of people, who have not met before, to intersect over a period of ten days at Brabazan Bar & Lodge, in Long Street, Cape Town. Here she reveals a poignant and beautiful patina of hope and love.

Op pad met Mandela

Op pad met Mandela: Vyfien lewensless

deur Richard Stengel, ISBN:9780795702976, R175.00

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As medeskrywer van Nelson Mandela se biografie het joernalis Richard Stengel ure in Madiba se geselskap deurgebring. Drie jaar lank het hy hom bykans oral heen vergesel – selfs onder die mees senutergende omstandighede. Op pad met Mandela: vyftien lewenslesse is sy manier om hierdie ervaring met ander te deel. Dié Afrikaanse uitgawe van Mandela’s Way bied ook aan Afrikaanse lesers ’n nadere blik op dié merkwaardige man, wat deur mense wêreldwyd as ’n lewende legende beskou word. Die lewenswysheid wat Madiba uit sy grootste uitdagings geput het, word hier in vyftien lesse oor die liefde, die lewe en leierskap vervat: waarom dit belangrik is om jou teenstanders fyn dop te hou, waarom waagmoed nie noodwendig ’n gebrek aan vrees beteken nie, en hoekom dit belangrik is om dinge in die lewe te vind waaruit jy plesier en vervulling kan put.

Die Benederyk

Die Benederyk

deur Ingrid Winterbach, ISBN:9780798151474, R195.00

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’n Nuwe roman deur hierdie skrywer is ’n belangrike gebeurtenis. En sy stel haar lesers nie teleur nie: Dis die verhaal van twee broers – Aaron en Stefaans Adendorff – die een ‘n skilder, die ander ’n eks-verslaafde. Aaron se galery-eienaar, Eddie Knuvelder, laat hom lelik in die steek (nadat Aaron gehoop het Knuvelder sal van sy jongste skilderye kies vir ’n uitstalling in Duitsland) en Bubbles Bothma, buurvrou en vriendin extraordinaire, kom met verskeie onwaarskynlike oplossings vir sy benarde situasie. Terwyl broer Stefaans deurentyd verslag lewer van sy labirintiese dwaalweë en sy soektog na die herkoms van hulle ontwykende derde oupa. Apokalipties en burlesk!

Spoorloos

Spoorloos

deur Riana Mouton, ISBN:9780799346626, R150.00

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Alex Cloete is kwaad vir die lewe. Hy het nie geld nie, nie rigting nie, en sy geliefde seun, Zander, woon by sy ma, Mercia, ver van hom af. Wanneer Mercia in baie verdagte omstandighede sterf en die kind wegraak, kry Alex lewe en rigting. Alex glo dis sy geheime lewe toe hy in die weermag was, wat hom inhaal en die rede is vir hierdie ontvoering. Of is dit? Want sy ma blyk ook 'n paar geheime te he wat vir hiervoor verantwoordelik kan wees...

Emma en Nella

Emma en Nella

deur Ekm Dido, ISBN:9781415201206, R180.00

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Die storie van Emma en Nella. Emma maak ’n lewe vir haar en haar optelkind Nella in Blackheath. Lank gelede sou sy met Gert trou, maar sy pa laat hom uit die kerk storm en die mislukte troudag maak haar hard en onverskrokke. Daar is nie keer aan haar toe sy besluit om later vir Nella aan te neem nie – ’n baba met Fetale Alkoholsindroom wat sy langs ’n snelweg kry.
Nou is Nella twaalf en met tik deurmekaar. Maar tussen Nella en die afgrond staan Emma. Ná ’n hellevaart waarin die kind vir sewe dae spoorloos verdwyn het, neem Emma en Gert haar na ’n reabilitasiesentrum in Port Elisabeth. Op pad terug kom Gert se verlede aan die lig en slaan Emma se verhaal ’n heel nuwe koers in. Die verhaal het oorspronklik as ’n baie gewilde vervolgverhaal in Die Burger verskyn.

Die Ondenkbare

Die Ondenkbare

deur Isa Konrad, ISBN:9780799345650, R145.00

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Teen sy sin kom Briel weer in Luderitz aan. Hy moet 'n moord oplos. Maar mettertyd sit hy met twee lyke. En hoe dieper hy delf hoe nader kom hy aan daardie ondenkbare somer sewentien jaar gelede.

Pluimprinse

Pluimprinse

deur Malene Breytenbach, ISBN:9780624048251, R180.00

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Wanneer Olivia Bailey in haar Muizenbergse huis aangeval en byna verkrag word, besluit sy om afstand te kry - nie net van haar werk as joernalis nie, maar ook van die Kaap. Die enigste plek waaraan sy kan dink om te gaan heel word, is haar ouma se huis op Oudtshoorn. Daar is net een probleem: Olivia het haar ouma nog nooit ontmoet nie. Want die Joodse familie in hulle pluimpaleis is trotse mense. Toe Olivia se ma met die verkeerde man wegloop, het hulle haar onterf en nooit weer gekontak nie. . .

Spilt Milk - Kopano Matlwa

Spilt Milk

by Kopano Matlwa, ISBN:9781770097919, R125.00, Order Now

Spilt Milk is the story of two passionate people who share a shameful past and a tenuous present.

Decades after a childhood love affair earns upright school principal Mohumagadi and disgraced preacher Father Bill expulsion from their communities, the two characters are brought back together under the most unlikely of circumstances.

 Mohumagadi, headmistress of the elite Sekolo sa Ditlhora school for talented black children, takes in Father Bill as a teacher much to the dismay of her students and faculty. Thus begins a battle of wills and wits for the hearts and minds of the students living in the shadow of revolution and change.

 A parable for our times, Spilt Milk is the new novel by EU Literary Award Winner Kopano Matlwa.

About the Author

The EU Literary Award-winning Kopano Matlwa is one of South Africa’s most vibrant young writers. A medical graduate, Kopano is the author of the critically acclaimed novel Coconut. She is a founding member and chairperson of Waiting Room Education by Medical Students, a non-profit organisation run by students and is a 2010 Rhodes Scholar.

The Soldier who said no

The Soldier who said no, 

by Chris Marnewick, ISBN:9781415201084, R170.00, Order Now

The Soldier Who Said No
When a Bushman arrow is used in an assassination attempt on the New Zealand Prime Minister, South African bush war veteran Pierre de Villiers, who works for the International Crimes Unit in Auckland, seems to be a logical link, but also a suspect. Suffering from cancer and suspended, disgruntled de Villiers has seen similar arrows made by !Xau, a Bushman with whom he had to flee from Angola in 1985 after refusing to follow orders during a Military Intelligence operation. Now de Villiers is forced to return to South Africa to treat his cancer, find the origin of the arrow and face his own uncertain past.

About the Author - Chris Marnewick
Grew up in the Limpopo bushveld – Koedoesrand area. Military Service in the Navy in 1967 B Juris – Potchefstroom 1970 LLB – Unisa 1973 LLM – Natal 1990 PhD – Natal 1996 Legal career: Clerk of the Court, Prosecutor, Magistrate, Attorney, Advocate. Admitted to practice in New Zealand and New South Wales. Spent 5 years in New Zealand teaching litigation skills to law graduates.

Die Benederyk - Ingrid Winterbach

Die Benederyk

by Ingrid Winterbach, ISBN:9780798151474, R195.00, Order

’n Nuwe roman deur hierdie skrywer is ’n belangrike gebeurtenis. En sy stel haar lesers nie teleur nie: Dis die verhaal van twee broers – Aaron en Stefaans Adendorff – die een ‘n skilder, die ander ’n eks-verslaafde. Aaron se galery-eienaar, Eddie Knuvelder, laat hom lelik in die steek (nadat Aaron gehoop het Knuvelder sal van sy jongste skilderye kies vir ’n uitstalling in Duitsland) en Bubbles Bothma, buurvrou en vriendin extraordinaire, kom met verskeie onwaarskynlike oplossings vir sy benarde situasie. Terwyl broer Stefaans deurentyd verslag lewer van sy labirintiese dwaalweë en sy soektog na die herkoms van hulle ontwykende derde oupa. Apokalipties en burlesk!

“Klassiek Winterbach: veelvlakkig, ongelooflik diggeweefd, vervreemdend, ironies, visioenêr, misterieus.” – Henning Pieterse

The Impostor - Damon Galgut

The Impostor

by Damon Galgut, ISBN:9780143026303, R135.00, place your order

When Adam moves into the abandoned house on the dusty edge of town, he is hoping to recover from the loss of his job and his home in the city. But when he meets Canning - a shadowy figure from his childhood - and Canning's enigmatic and beautiful wife, a sinister new chapter in his life begins.

The Angina Monologues - Rosamund Kendal

The Angina Monologues

Rosamund Kendal, ISBN:9781770098121, R145.00

In The Angina Monologues three female medical interns from vastly different backgrounds are sent to a rural KZN hospital where gang assassinations and rogue snakes are facts of life and AIDS simply does not exist.

Pampered, spoilt Rachel struggles to establish her independence and learns to love across the cultural divide. Conservative, beautiful Seema struggles to end a relationship that has become increasingly abusive. And street-savvy Nomsa finally learns to accept a past she has spent a lifetime denying.

This is the story of three women finding courage, love and compassion in the most unlikely places. Like its bestselling predecessor, The Karma Suture, The Angina Monologues brings readers face to face with what it takes to be woman doctor in the New South Africa without losing your soul.

About the Author

After studying medicine for six years and then working as a doctor for another five, Rosamund decided that the creative side of her brain needed some stimulation and enrolled for the Masters degree in creative writing at UCT. She hasn’t been able to decide whether she prefers being a freelance writer or a general practitioner, so she’s come to a compromise and does both part-time.

Kryt en Kordaat - Die avonture van twee Kalaharikinders

Kryt en Kordaat - Die avonture van twee Kalaharikinders

Pieter Greeff, ISBN:9781869193362, R150.00

Binding: Sagteband
Illustrasies: Nee
ISBN: 9781869193362
Publikasiejaar: 2010
Bladsye: 278

Een koue wintersoggend verskyn ’n Boesmanseun en sy pa op die Kalahariplaas Halt op soek na werk. Kryt, die witkopseun van die plaas, sien dadelik die seun se fier houding, doop hom “Kordaat” en verheug hom dat hy uiteindelik ‘n maat bygekry het.
Kryt en Kordaat word boesemvriende. Saam deurkruis hulle die uitgestrekte Kalahari op hul perde, Kryt met sy leemetford en Kordaat met sy boog en pyle. Hulle voer ‘n oorlewingstryd teen olifante, leeus en malaria en leer mekaar vertrou: met hul lewens en harte; ook met die dodelike geheim van Slagtand Smit se seun.
Kryt en Kordaat is die besonderse verhaal van ’n hegte vriendskap tussen twee seuns in die dertigerjare van die vorige eeu wat taal- en kultuurgrense oorskry.