Kirjahaku

A woman in post-apartheid South Africa confronts her family's troubling past in this taut and daring novel about national trauma and collective guilt--from the Booker Prize-longlisted author of An Island. "Extraordinary . . . unputdownable."--Roddy Doyle LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION - A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The Guardian, Irish Times, CrimeReads Cape Town, 2028. The land cracks from a years-long drought, the nearby mountains threaten to burn, and the queue for the water trucks grows ever longer. In her crumbling corner of a public housing complex, Deidre van Deventer receives a call from the South African police. Her family home, recently reclaimed by the government, has become the scene of a criminal investigation. The remains of several bodies have just been unearthed from her land, after decades underground. Detectives pepper Deidre with questions: Was your brother a member of a pro-apartheid group in the 1990s? Is it true that he was building bombs as part of a terrorist plot? Deidre doesn't know the answers to the detectives' questions. All she knows is that she was denied--repeatedly--the life she felt she deserved. Overshadowed by her brother, then left behind by her daughter after she emigrated, Deidre must watch over her aging mother and make do with government help and the fading generosity of her neighbors while the landscape around her grows more and more combustible. As alarming evidence from the investigation continues to surface, and detectives pressure her to share what she knows of her family's disturbing past, Deidre must finally face her own shattered memories so that something better might emerge for her and her country. In exquisitely spare prose, Karen Jennings weaves a singularly powerful novel about post-apartheid South Africa. It is an unforgettable, propulsive story of fractured families, collective guilt, the ways we become trapped in prisons of our own making, and how we can begin to break free.

Join Karen and her trusty sidekick on a fun trip around Shikoku, the smallest of Japan's main islands. Visit castles, temples and gardens. Bathe in an Imperial onsen. Take a break from every day life to smell the sakura, stroll on a sunny beach, or splash through rainy day puddles. Learn about influential figures, see unexpected artwork, try local delicacies, and entertain yourself with a translation app. You've never read a travelogue like this before. It's a manga / blog springtime sakura adventure

On the 1st December 1838, all slaves were finally freed on South Africa, four years after slavery had officially been abolished. First of December follows three people during the week of November 1838: James and Caroline Kendrick, and an unnamed runaway slave making her way to Cape Town along the coast, desperate to reach it by midnight on the 31st November. Caroline is trapped in an unhappy marriage, in a place she hates, always longing to go home; bored, lonely, without purpose or any sense of belonging. James is forever on the move, desperate for success after a lifetime of failure and humiliation, seeing South Africa as his last great hope, preparing for the climax of his work, a bank to serve the city. Each resents the other, feeling trapped and unloved, yet with a wish for it all to change. Meanwhile the slave-apprentice, fearful of being caught before the deadline, meets others living on the coast, at the edge of society, yet always remaining alone, without any clear idea of what to expect in Cape Town.

Sheikh Ra'id Ossamah Abdul Hasib has a charmed life. He comes from a loving family, he is the ruler of his country and is massively wealthy; but something is missing from his life-until the day he saw a beautiful pair of legs coming out of a construction van. Amanda Pearson had to work her way through college and graduated at the top of her engineering class. She put together a small crew of fellow students and opened her own construction company. They struggled for a few years until she saw an opportunity to bid on a job in the Middle East. Amanda isn't looking for a man and is working to build her business, and then she meets Ra'id. Something about the man made her look twice, and that is all they needed. Love is in the air, but so is obsession. Sabeera grew up with Ra'id and is determined to have him in her life. Nothing is going to stop her from having the man that she loves, and she is willing to play a dangerous game to get him.

Sheikh Ra'id Ossamah Abdul Hasib has a charmed life. He comes from a loving family, he is the ruler of his country and is massively wealthy; but something is missing from his life-until the day he saw a beautiful pair of legs coming out of a construction van. Amanda Pearson had to work her way through college and graduated at the top of her engineering class. She put together a small crew of fellow students and opened her own construction company. They struggled for a few years until she saw an opportunity to bid on a job in the Middle East. Amanda isn't looking for a man and is working to build her business, and then she meets Ra'id. Something about the man made her look twice, and that is all they needed. Love is in the air, but so is obsession. Sabeera grew up with Ra'id and is determined to have him in her life. Nothing is going to stop her from having the man that she loves, and she is willing to play a dangerous game to get him.

Deidre is a victim, of her family, her society, her history. That is how she sees herself, and so she feels free of all obligations, moral and practical. Until the police take her back to her family home... In a Cape Town where water is rationed and has to be collected from trucks each day, with the consequences of apartheid and the ending of it still evident, Deidre lives from day to day in squalor - largely created by herself - borrowing, persuading, cadging her way from the water trucks to the bar, testing the tolerance and pity of everyone she knows. Then she is contacted by the police, and taken by a respectful constable to the house where she grew up and where she lost her leg in a shattering explosion while still young. Faced with what is found there, she has to accept the truth of her past, and of her older brother, her parents' golden boy. Then she must confront herself and her responsibility, and what it truly is to be a victim.

Deidre is a victim, of her family, her society, her history. That is how she sees herself, and so she feels free of all obligations, moral and practical. Until the police take her back to her family home... In a Cape Town where water is rationed and has to be collected from trucks each day, with the consequences of apartheid and the ending of it still evident, Deidre lives from day to day in squalor - largely created by herself - borrowing, persuading, cadging her way from the water trucks to the bar, testing the tolerance and pity of everyone she knows. Then she is contacted by the police, and taken by a respectful constable to the house where she grew up and where she lost her leg in a shattering explosion while still young. Faced with what is found there, she has to accept the truth of her past, and of her older brother, her parents' golden boy. Then she must confront herself and her responsibility, and what it truly is to be a victim.

Annie and Katie met in college, and started working in their respective fields of endeavor. They met two men who would change not only their lives, but they would all learn the importance of communication. Annie and Katie came very close to losing not only their true loves, but their lives.

Annie and Katie met in college, and started working in their respective fields of endeavor. They met two men who would change not only their lives, but they would all learn the importance of communication. Annie and Katie came very close to losing not only their true loves, but their lives.

The focal point of the novel is the small town of Soutbek. Its troubles, hardships and corruption, but also its kindness, strong community and friendships, are introduced to us in a series of stories about intriguingly interlinked relationships. Contemporary Soutbek is still a divided town - the upper town destitute, and the lower town rich, largely ignorant - and through a series of vivid scenes, the troubled relationship between Pieter Fortuin, the town's first coloured mayor, and his wife Anna is revealed. In so many ways the past casts a long shadow over the present, not in the least through the unreliable diaries of Pieter Meerman promoted by Pieter Fortuin and Professor Pearson, a retired white historian. They give us a unique insight into the lives of the seventeenth-century Dutch explorers, and hint at a utopian society, suggesting that Soutbek is the birthplace of assimilation and integration. The blossoming friendship between Anna, Sara, a foundling, and Willem, Pieter Fortuin's nephew, is unsettled by David, Anna's and Pieter's son. His father has bought David a bright future, but when he comes back from boarding school David appears alienated from his father and from his old friend, the former gardener Charles Geduld, just as Anna starts to accept him as her son. Is there hope, or are we left with Willem's conclusion that 'he would spend the rest of his life working off the debt of his family's poverty'? A moving story that paints a thought-provoking picture of life in contemporary South Africa.

In the title story Away From the Dead we meet Isaac Witbooi, a farm worker, who has to come to grips with losing everything including the graves of his entire deceased family. In After Spring a couple takes a holiday but we're drawn into the issue of identity: Even if they hadn't heard us speaking English earlier, they would have known our foreignness simply by sight. It is visible to them in our facial features, the way we wear our clothes, our hair. The fact that we are third and fifth generation South Africans respectively matters little to them. Making Challah is a touching picture of an ageing woman, and it uses the baking of challah as a wonderful metaphor of passing time. Ridwaan and Chadley are On the Train, a seemingly routine journey but somehow a dog has been acquired and it's been Chadley's first time to kill. Find out how it felt to be Andries Tatane who, on 13 April 2012, died during a service delivery protest in Ficksburg, South Africa. In the Narrative of Emily Louw, a true story, a young woman regrets not having given something to old Emily after listening to her sad story: At the second, a policeman had looked at the blanketed child, her worn face and bleeding feet and he had smirked, as though to indicate that her husband had left by choice and couldn't be blamed for his departure. Next is a thoughtful reflection on being called Muzungu when a white South African woman visits Uganda. From Dark is a rallying call to remember that illegal mining causes the deaths of hundreds every year. Zama-zamas (Zulu for 'chancers') live underground for months at a time, dying in police raids, fires, cave-ins and poor conditions. A young couple's outing goes horribly wrong in At the Seaside. Grandmother's great big wicker picnic basket, which was supposed to be a treat, takes the blame. An 'informal settlement' of zinc shacks on the flatlands sets the scene in Allotment. Warda Meintjes and her husband struggle to survive. A great stadium for the World Cup is being built but Warda's unborn child stops moving. The homeless were being rounded up by police, placed in trucks, driven out into the countryside and dumped. 'Thank God we're spared that,' one woman said. 'Don't fool yourself,' another replied. 'That is us. It has already happened to us.' In The Shark Mia's very sense of being gets overtaken by events. A dark story leading on to Development, darker still, but thought-provoking, and about what it is to be human. The Wall is almost surreal and deals with growing old on the street. Alletjie lives with her husband Jan Bakker and Solly, her disabled brother, next to an old mine built by Cornish miners in the 1880s. Their circumstances are a cut above those of Warda and her husband, yet, 'living on the old goats and chickens and a disability grant was never enough', and Alletjie who 'does everything' thinks it isn't fair, 'the mine owned her this future for herself'. Resurrecting again exerts a certain surreal appeal. A father takes to his bed because of a crushed pigeon or is it a metaphor for a crushed soul in the office? His son is told to pray but is there going to be a resurrection?

Travels with My Father is a beautifully written autobiographical novel. Written from the point of view of a young woman, daughter and writer, it is a frank, yet delicate and moving, account of her relationship with her father and his influence on her own life.In the footsteps of her father, the author travels the world. Yet, key scenes are set in Plumstead, a suburb of Cape Town, where her father lived most of his life.The relationships and divisions between members of a family that does not wear its heart on its sleeve, and some of whom are real eccentrics, are sensitively recorded. It all adds to an intricate picture of a changing South African society.

LONGLISTED FOR THE 2021 BOOKER PRIZE 'An Island concerns itself with lives lived on the margins, through the story of a man who has exiled himself from the known world only to find himself called to the service of others, themselves exiled from the world by cruelty and circumstance. It is on these grounds that this writer deftly constructs a moving, transfixing novel of loss, political upheaval, history, identity, all rendered in majestic and extraordinary prose.' Booker Prize Judges panel. "A gripping, terrifying and unforgettable story." Elleke Boehmer Samuel has lived alone for a long time; one morning he finds the sea has brought someone to offer companionship and to threaten his solitude... A young refugee washes up unconscious on the beach of a small island inhabited by no one but Samuel, an old lighthouse keeper. Unsettled, Samuel is soon swept up in memories of his former life on the mainland: a life that saw his country suffer under colonisers, then fight for independence, only to fall under the rule of a cruel dictator; and he recalls his own part in its history. In this new man's presence he begins to consider, as he did in his youth, what is meant by land and to whom it should belong. To what lengths will a person go in order to ensure that what is theirs will not be taken from them? A novel about guilt and fear, friendship and rejection; about the meaning of home.

So you're thinking about going to Tokyo? That's a great idea. And you're planning on seeing it all in a week? That's not such a great idea...Tokyo is HUGE But One Week in Tokyo will help you work out where to go and what to see. With over 200 black and white photos (you'll see Japan in full colour when you get there), links to useful websites and maps, and lots of advice from a fellow tourist, this guide will enable you to make the most of your time in this interesting, sometimes frustrating, mega-city. When you're in need of a break from big-city life One Week in Tokyo will help you find rest and relaxation in lakeside resorts, or explore shrines, temples and historic buildings in nearby towns. There's practical advice on issues such as where to stay, when to go, how to use the train and subway lines, and how to find delicious food (even if you're vegan). There's also cultural advice on a range of topics from onsen etiquette to getting help if you're sick.

Are you tired of cookbooks which promise quick and easy vegan recipes but seem to have nothing but muffins, cookies, energy bars, complicated salads and smoothies? Or perhaps even worse - meals with so many different components that they're more like art than food? Are you looking for real meals - the sort of thing you can eat on the sofa while watching your favourite show after a long day (or night) of doing whatever it is you do? If so, this book is for you It's full of no-fuss, eat-the-left-overs-for-lunch, main-meal-of-the-day recipes, all with photos No high-speed blenders, food processors or instant pots required You can cook something different every night for a couple of months, but - let's be honest - you're probably going to find a few favourites and cook them over and over again. Whatever makes you happy The recipes in this book (which usually serve 2 people) are all gluten-free, but if you don't have a problem with gluten feel free to use wheat pasta and wholegrain bread instead of gluten-free brands - the wheat ones are usually a lot cheaper Please note that the paperback edition is printed in grey-scale, making it super-affordable Colour printing is really expensive, and you don't want to pay over $30 for a cookbook, right? The e-book edition, however, IS in full colour - assuming your device has a colour screen.

Are you tired of missing out on desserts because you're vegan or intolerant to gluten? Or do you want to make sweet treats for friends or family members who eat a plant-based diet? If so, this book is for you Plant Power Volume II has something for everyone, including traditional classics like upside-down pineapple cake, fruity treats such as mango with coconut rice, no-bake vegan balls and blobs, plus cakes, cookies, hot puddings and more Everything is egg-free, dairy-free and gluten-free The recipes in this book (all with photos) usually serve 2 people, but it's easy to make double if there's more mouths to feed. Cakes and cookies make more than 2 servings, but can be frozen until needed. Please note that the paperback edition is printed in grey-scale, making it super-affordable Colour printing is really expensive, and you don't want to pay over $30 for a cookbook, right? The e-book edition, however, IS in full colour - assuming your device has a colour screen.