These are the books our books editor, MENEESHA GOVENDER, received recently. They may be reviewed later
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The River Between
by Ngugi wa Thiong’o (Penguin)
I was first introduced to the writing of Ngugi wa Thiong’o as an undergrad student in African Literature.
Most memorable is his collection of essays: Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature.
I can safely say it was the book that changed my view and turned on its head what years of apartheid education had indoctrinated me into believing was good literature.
Ngugi has written a vast array of fiction as well as non-fiction books.
The River Between is one of his first works – one that he wrote in English before turning his back on writing fiction in English in the late 1980s.
This novel has been republished to mark the 50th anniversary of its publication.
It is a novel about an African society attempting to plot a course between the influences of colonialism and the pull of ancestral traditions.
Fifty years later it still has relevance and is well worth reading.
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Emily Hobhouse: Beloved Traitor
by Elsabé Brits(Tafelberg)
Emily Hobhouse has been hailed as a woman ahead of her time – a woman who defied the constraints of her gender or class.
Her defiance was unprecedented in her lifetime and she has become a hero for her travels across continents and stance against oppression of any kind.
In her opposition to the Anglo Boer War and World War I, she was also accused of treason. However, in the end she died alone and without honour in her own country.
The author has travelled in Hobhouse’s footsteps, retracing her story. This is her take on an extraordinary hero who simply believed in justice.
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The Kept Woman
by Karin Slaughter (Penguin Random House)
Karin Slaughter is well known for her Will Trent novels – this is the latest instalment.
The body of a former cop is found in an empty warehouse in Atlanta.
Bloody footprints leading away from the crime scene indicate a female victim appears to have vanished into thin air.
The warehouse itself belongs to a politically connected, high-profile athlete, who also has on hand a slew of expensive lawyers to protect him.
Trent has spent the last six months investigating this man for rape.
And if that’s not enough of a fine start to a suspense thriller, get a copy because there are a whole lot more dramas and devastation lurking between the pages.