Arrow of God
R160.00
Ezeulu, headstrong chief priest of the god Ulu, is worshipped by the six villages of Umuaro. But he is beginning to find his authority increasingly under threat – from his rivals in the tribe, from those in the white government and even from his own family. Yet he still feels he must be untouchable – surely he is an arrow in the bow of his God? Armed with this belief, he is prepared to lead his people, even if it means destruction and annihilation. Yet the people will not be so easily dominated. Spare and powerful, Arrow of God is an unforgettable portrayal of the loss of faith, and the struggle between tradition and change. Continuing the epic saga of the community in Things Fall Apart, it is the second volume of Achebe’s African trilogy, and is followed by No Longer at Ease.
Author(s): Chinua Achebe
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Dying in New York is a haunting story of Lerato Malema, a young and irrepressible South African whose wit and resilience shine through despite the abuse she has endured from before the age of twelve at the hands of her father, Thabo.
The narrative opens in a psychiatrist’s office overlooking the Hudson river. Against a backdrop of the magnificent Manhattan skyline, Lerato paints an absorbing picture of her decade long journey from Johannesburg to the united States. Her story transitions seamlessly from the sessions with Dr Evelyn Webber, her psychiatrist, to her escape from an abusive home and her experience of the underbelly of modern South Africa.
At its heart, Dying in New York is a story of hope and deep longing, made all the poignant by Lerato’s startling candour from the first page until the book’s surprising conclusion.
Author: Ekow Duker
He is speaking in a hushed tone, as if this is a forbidden subject. ‘He said there were twins here, boys. He said their father died on the day they were born.’ He stops and squints as if trying to remember something. ‘I’m not sure if I’m getting the story right, but there were other twins before, but they all died. The father must have done something because these two lived, only them, and then he died. They were good children, that’s what my father said, but then one day they must have been 14 years old…’ He stops when he hears a gasp.
‘What happened? What did they do?’ Qhawe asks. ‘They killed a priest. He was one of those that were recruiting people o join a church, and most people here believed him and followed him. He built a school and stuff. The twins went to that school. But he must have made them very angry because…’ ‘How did they kill him?’-Mqhele
The man shrugs before he speaks. ‘From what I was told, they slit his throat and left him sitting on a chair, bleeding to death.’ There’s silence. The man is telling the story like its an urban legend, but they know, it is a familiar one. ‘Is that what you wanted to know?’ the man asks, looking at Sisekelo. He doesn’t answer. ‘So, what happened to the twins’ mother?’ Qhawe asks. The man sighs deeply. ‘They burnt her alive.’
Author: Dudu Busani-Dube
Maxine escapes an abusive polygamous marriage to a man much older than her to make a new life in Harare, Zimbabwe. The story follows the five madams she works for. Through them, we see the struggles of women trying to hold down careers and relationships in a big city where tradition, patriarchy, domestic abuse and unhealthy societal behaviours form a backdrop. While Maxine bears witness to the women’s lives, she also tries to work through her own issues, finding a way to free herself of the cruel man she married and experience meaningful relationships.
The book explores women learning about and seeking the love they feel they deserve. Whether self-love or romantic love, each woman must find the courage to believe in and hold onto that love. Through Maxine’s narration, the intricacies of the relationship women share with their helpers are uncovered. These relationships reveal the truth that women can discover themselves via their friendships with other women.
Author(s): Makanaka Mavengere-Munsaka
Sweet Medicine takes place in Harare at the height of Zimbabwe’s economic woes in 2008. Tsitsi, a young woman, raised by her strict, devout Catholic mother, believes that hard work, prayer and an education will ensure a prosperous and happy future. She does well at her mission boarding school, and goes on to obtain a scholarship to attend university, but the change in the economic situation in Zimbabwe destroys the old system where hard work and a degree guaranteed a good life.
Out of university, Tsitsi finds herself in a position much lower than she had set her sights on, working as a clerk in the office of the local politician, Zvobgo. With a salary that barely provides her a means to survive, she finds herself increasingly compromising her Christian values to negotiate ways to get ahead.
Sweet Medicine is a thorough and evocative attempt at grappling with a variety of important issues in the postcolonial context: tradition and modernity; feminism and patriarchy; spiritual and political freedoms and responsibilities; poverty and desperation; and wealth and abundance.
Author(s): Panashe Chigumadzi
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Childhood friends, Liwa Nile and Noel Glass grow up in Port Alfred bound by hope and pure love for each other. But their deep dark desires bring in sinister trails of lust, murder and unclassified sexual escapades to the heart of Melrose Arch.
When Liwa loses her beloved father, hear dear friend Noel comes to the rescue. As they grow their architecture business, it emerges that Noel is no ordinary painter. Her love for darkness quickly turns Liwa’s wet bed into a nightmare.
With every break of dawn, a soul falls. More bodies are soon disappearing and their business is thriving.
Tyson Manson seeks sexual pleasure. So when a love affair boils over, he discovers more than expected. As he digs deeper into their past, more worms fill in the missing pieces. Will his findings destroy the bondages of a long-standing friendship?
Behind the close doors of their suburban Johannesburg home, Themba and Ayanda Hlatshwayo, both legal professionals, are beset by deep tensions that draw with relentless intensity at the polished facade of their lives. Ayanda seeks solace in dance classes, while Themba is increasingly drawn to the male companionship he finds at a book club.
With wit and sympathy, The God who made mistakes explores the origins of Themba’s unease and confused sense of identuty. It takes us back to a river bank in Alex, the township where he grew up, and to a boy he once knew who met a violent death there. As the story peels back the painful layers of recollection, Themba’s domineering mother, Differentia, has a major decision to make. When developers set their sight on buying family home and building a supermarket in its place, tendrils of envy and greed begin to curl out of unexpected quarters, as the unscrupulous seek to grab a share of the spoils. Back yard tenant, Tinyike, with her her shorts and questionable morality, and Themba’s disgraced, unemployed elder brother, Bongani, begin to plot a scheme, while across tow Themba’s fragile marriage faces its biggest challenge. When his past walks unexpectedly into his present, it threatens to blow apart his carefully constructed world.
The God who made mistakes is a powerful, poignant story of unexpected longings which, when finally uttered, can no longer be contained.
Author: Ekow Duker
A family struggle to make ends meet in the township and to better themselves. The book deals with the desire to give up, but also answers it’s own question with an affirmation of what things make life worthwhile.
Author(s): EM Damane
Mukoma wa Ngugi’s Nairobi Heat was heralded as “the work of a genius craftsman and wordsmith” by New Africa Magazine. In Killing Sahara we once again join Ishmael Forfona – the world-weary US detective – and O – his irrepressible Kenyan counterpart – as they set up their sleuthing business together in Nairobi. It promises to be a hell of a ride.
In the fictional West African nation Kangan, newly independent of British rule, the hopes and dreams of democracy have been quashed by a fierce military dictatorship. Chris Oriko is a member of the cabinet of the president for life, one of his oldest friends. When the president is charged with censoring the oppositionist editor of the state-run newspaper–another childhood friend–Chris’s loyalty and ideology are put to the test. The fate of Kangan hangs in the balance as tensions rise and a devious plot is set in motion to silence the firebrand critic.
Author(s): Chinua Achebe
Across seven tales, Haruki Murakami brings his powers of observation to bear on the lives of men who, in their own ways, find themselves alone. Here are vanishing cats and smoky bars, lonely hearts and mysterious women, baseball and the Beatles, woven together to tell stories that speak to us all.
Marked by the same wry humour that has defined his entire body of work, in this collection Murakami has crafted another contemporary classic.
Author: Haruki Murakami
A collection of short stories, in the detail of their varied backgrounds, range in location from rural Transkei and township life in the Cape to central New York. They have in common also, as before, the authors’ perceptive and vivid creation of memorable characters, whether hilarious or tragic.
Author: Sindiwe Magona
Marechera made an immediate impact with the publication of The House of Hunger. The novella and nine short stories, most of them set in Zimbabwe, symbolise both home and country as the ‘house of hunger’, the place of madness and violence and despair. Marechera describes a world in which tenderness has long given way to the tactics of survival, and he does so in a style at once explosive and loaded with angry humour.
Author(s): Dambudzo Marechera
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