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A hauntingly beautiful read
Jane Rosenthal reviews <i>The Wasted Vigil</i> by Nadeem Aslam.
Jane Rosenthal
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Cowboys and cupcakes
Jane Rosenthal reviews <i> The Legend of Colton H. Bryant</i>, by Alexandra Fuller.
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Okapi and unicorn: Fact to fiction
Jane Rosenthal reviews <i>Equatoria</i> by Tom Dreyer.
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Is it true and how did they get that way?
Jane Rosenthal reviews <i>The Club</i> by Edyth Bulbring.
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Digging deep into the heart of the plattelande
<i>Heartfruit</i> is a highly readable farm saga set in the fruit farming area of the Western Cape and extends through three generations.
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Beckett’s rollicking trek through Jozi
Magenta is a biting and hilarious South African social satire, writes Jane Rosenthal.
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Well-drawn portrait of the Muslim community
Jane Rosenthal reviews <i>The Fall of the black-eyed night</i>, the debut novel of Sean Badal.
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Stinging ‘klaps’ at colonialism
Wicomb’s latest short-story collection is an indispensable addition to the bookshelves of serious lovers of South African fiction.
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A truthfully clueless memoir
A review of <i>Stealing Water </i>by Tim Ecott, ‘the greatest memoir to come out of white Africa since Rian Malan’s <i>My traitor’s Heart</i>…’
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Green medicine guide
Mix scientific medicine with herbs and a dash of ecological savvy, say Susan Newham and Elsibe Loubser McGuffog.
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Room with a view on Jo’burg
Jane Rosenthal argues the virtues of <i>Room 207</i> by Kgebetli Moele (Kwela Books).
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Right up there with timeless literature
Jane Rosenthal reviews <i>Beethoven was One-Sixteenth Black</i> by Nadine Gordimer.
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A satisfying silence
Unexpected good fortune might yet result from the Eskom shenanigans, debacle or tragedy (you choose). One might even think publishers knew what was coming as more than 50 novels, in English, by local authors were published last year. Jane Rosenthal takes a closer look.
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From Byron to Bond
Jane Rosenthal reviews <i>Cham</i> by Jonathan Trigell, a novel written in three strands.
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South African fiction
The MD of Struik, Steve Connelly, was quoted by Celean Jacobs in her very
interesting article (No woman, no cry, Sunday Times, June 11 2006) as
saying that their new imprint of Oshun, "wanted to access the book-club market, which is mainly women". And, he continued, "… trying to create an environment where authors who happen to be women are writing for readers who largely happen to be women".
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Fiction reviews
Jane Rosenthal reviews Clive Algar’s <i>Journeys to the End of the World</i> and Kelly Fletcher reviews Kathy Reichs’s <i>Bones to Ashes</i>.
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Loving the locals
Jane Rosenthal sings the praises of two recently released works of fiction.
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Straying into her mind
Male novelists represent the internal lives of women, writes Jane Rosenthal.
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M-Net Prize: Spoilt for choice
Jane Rosenthal reports on the winners of the M-Net Literary Awards for 2007.
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Pretty normal
David Mitchell’s previous novels have been characterised by elegantly complex plots and wildly zany imaginative writing, but <i>Black Swan Green</i> is a straight story, writes Jane Rosenthal.
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Stranger phenomena of post-colonial Africa
Michael Raeburn’s unusual and mainly credible novel, <i>Night of the Fireflies</i>, shows life as far more than everyday humdrum reality and politics, writes Jane Rosenthal.
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Reality checks
Jane Rosenthal reviews <i>What Kind of Child</i> by Ken Barris and Tom Eaton’s latest offering <i>Texas </i>.
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Communion and compromise
Jane Rosenthal reviews Andrew O’Hagan’s <i>Be Near Me</i> which is an exploration of an entirely believable life in a beautifully realised corner of Scotland.
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Painfully acute analysis
Zoë Wicomb’s new novel proves most engaging in its ordinariness, writes Jane Rosenthal.
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Death and consequence
Publishers have recently found many new novels to publish, some of them unpretentious but close to the bone of ordinary lives, writes Jane Rosenthal.
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Conscientiously conscious
Jane Rosenthal reviews Margaret Atwood’s collection of oblique and bizarre essays.
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Pick of the new books
Jane Rosenthal reviews Emmaleen Kriel’s new novel, <i>Close the Door Safely Behind You</i>, as well as <i>Nothing to be Afraid Of</i> by Will Eaves.
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A finely textured life story
For all its apparent frankness and passion, the late, acclaimed poet Tatamkhulu Afrika’s autobiography tells an oblique tale, writes Jane Rosenthal.
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A wonderful personae
With a touch that is both light and clean, and deeply serious, Sarah Johnson addresses some age old concerns, which is a wonderful addition to South African literature, writes Jane Rosenthal.
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More memoir than novel
While examining the dynamics of marriages and parent-child relationships, Maja Kriel skilfully evokes the lives of three generations of a South African Jewish family. Jane Rosenthal reviews.
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Scribbling the Rhodesian past
While lacking the economy and constant freshness of <i>Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight</i>, Alexander Fuller manages to tell a good yarn. Jane Rosenthal reviews <i>Scribbling the Cat</i>.
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HIV/Aids slips from our screens
<i>Dancing in the Dust</i> provides the reader with a fresh, insightful view of township life in the turbulent ’80s. For the post-1994 generation this novel will help to recreate those times that could so easily fade from memory, writes Jane Rosenthal.
