These are the books our Books Editor received recently. They may be reviewed later.
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Desire for Chocolate
by Care Santos (Jonathan Ball, R350)
If you liked Joanne Harris’s Chocolat, then Desire for Chocolate will definitely appeal to you.
Three women, three centuries, one porcelain chocolate pot.
Sara, who comes from a family of Spanish chocolatiers, prides herself on maintaining the family tradition.
Aurora is the daughter of a nineteenth century maidservant. For her, chocolate is a forbidden luxury.
Mariana is the wife of a famous seventeenth century chocolate manufacturer – the inventor of the chocolate mill.
In a mapping of the history of just about every woman’s favourite confection, the author explores changing social norms in Europe as she explores the lives of these three women.
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The Life I Left Behind
by Colette McBeth (Headline, R285)
Melody Pieterson was attacked and left for dead six years ago.
A dog walker happens on her in a park and she is saved.
Melody’s neighbour and friend is found guilty of the attack and goes to jail.
But the attack and David’s betrayal has changed Melody’s life for ever.
She trusts no one and has built a life behind high walls, gates and security systems.
Then David is released from prison. Soon after Eve Elliot is killed in an attack almost exactly the same as Melody’s
As Melody learns more about Eve’s murder, she begins to wonder if David was the person who attacked her after all, and whether in fact he did betray her.
Suddenly Melody has to confront the fact that the killer is someone else, who is still out there and who is preparing to strike again.
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In Enemy Hands
by Karen Horn (Jonathan Ball, R240)
In Enemy Hands explores world War II from an angle that very few look at – South Africa’s prisoners of war.
Historian, Karen Horn, interviews a number of former POWs and, together with archive documents and written memoirs, has created a narrative of another war, which was fought in prison camps. It’s a narrative of the war against hunger and deprivation, a war against low morale and hopelessness.