It's not often that you get to read a book that manages to be heartwarming, amusing, annoying and heartbreaking all at once. Gail Schimmel cleverly encapsulates all of these elements in perfect balance. The story centres around Catherine, Julia, Claire and Daniel, and is told from their alternating perspectives. Claire and Daniel are married, Julia... Continue Reading →
He, he, he … Paige Nick is very, very clever! I would rate this book eleventy one out of ten, if I could!! Unpresidented is a tongue-in-cheek parody, set in the not too distant future (2020 to be precise) about ex-president Jeremiah unpronounceable-middle-name Muza who finds himself in extremely dire straits. Having been released from... Continue Reading →
Imagine being in one of the most remote places on the planet … alone … but inexplicably, not alone, which is somehow worse! That’s what Fiona Snyckers presents us with in SPIRE, set in the South Pole International Research Establishment. Dr Caroline Burchell has been selected as part of a team to ‘Winter over’ at... Continue Reading →
Emma and Rick seem like a typical upper middle-class Joburg couple, until the night that they’re attending a social event and Emma tries unsuccessfully to contact her mother. Feeling unsettled, she begs Rick to take her home and discovers that her mom’s been brutally murdered. Sadly, it’s a common event in crime-stricken Johannesburg and police... Continue Reading →
Grey Magic began as a short story that featured in JT Lawrence’s anthology ‘Sticky Fingers’. But, as things generally go with witches, they tend to weave a particular type of spell and before you know it, you’re writing a whole book all about them … just them! And that’s exactly what happened with Raven Kane,... Continue Reading →
Hortensia James and Marion Agostino are neighbours in the affluent (fictitious) Cape Town suburb of Katterjan Estates. They’re both getting on in years, struggling to deal with their past successful careers that they can no longer use to define who they are, and using the Estate committee meetings as the battleground for their intense dislike... Continue Reading →
Adam Rabinowitz presents us with a raw, gutsy and thoroughly entertaining caper, carried out by the most unlikely protagonist. Lanthus Trilby, our hero, represents Everyman: every man (and of course, when I say man, I mean woman too) who has ever been put down, belittled, demeaned, ignored and unappreciated. Over the last 17 years, Trilby... Continue Reading →
Jan's Book Buzz 