south africa

Ilze Hugo’s debut novel Down Days was written before the Covid-19 pandemic swept the globe, so the eerie similarities between her fictional version of Cape Town, South Africa and the real world today seem prophetic. Readers are introduced to Sick City ( formerly known as Cape Town )  7 years after a pandemic has affected the entire world. The slang term for the virus is called “the joke”, named for it’s symptom of uncontrollable laughter, but the other symptoms are no joke — a fever followed by organ failure leads to death. Although there is no cure for the infected, a vaccine is administered

As an avid watcher of The Daily Show, I knew Trevor Noah was born and raised in South Africa. What I didn't know was how amazing his life circumstances were growing up and just how much he had to overcome to be the person he is today. In Born A Crime, Noah chronicles his life as he remembers it, detailing not only his experiences but also the culture of South Africa just before, then after, the end of apartheid. During apartheid it was illegal for black and white people to be together, let alone have a child. Noah's birth, to a black mother and white father, made him literally born a crime.

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Contemporary author, Nadine Gordimer, writes with compassion about her native land. The Republic Of South Africa is still full of racial tension and struggling to define itself. No Time Like the Present tells the graphic story of Steve and Jabulile, a multi-racial couple, and their daughter Sindiswa, as they are presented with ethical choices.  The book has a cast of engaging characters; friends and family, none of whom are living extraordinary lives. The reader is transported among the Zulu tribal life, to the Jewish and Christian white culture, to the refugees from other parts of Africa.  No

1952 South Africa is the setting for this mystery that brings the first years of apartheid to life. An Afrikaner police Captain has been found shot dead and left face down in a river near his hometown of Jacob’s Rest. Detective Emmanuel Cooper is dispatched from Johannesburg to solve the case. He is assisted by “the old Jew” and a black constable, a fact that wins Cooper no favor with the Afrikaner “Special Branch” who show up to take over the investigation and employ somewhat less than ethical tactics. The dead captain has a past that his three sons know nothing about – and they want to keep