These are some of the books our books editor, Meneesha Govender, received recently. They may be reviewed later
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City of Lies
by Ramita Navai (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)
Tehran is a city that is rarely written about.
It is a city where survival is dependent on a network of lies and subterfuge.
Ramita Navai chronicles the dark underbelly of this city where home-made porn is available at bazaars and mullahs visit prostitutes. The protagonists in this novel are socialites, gangsters, housewives and volunteers in the militia.
City of Lies is born out of extensive interviews and research. It provides insight into what it is to live and survive in one of the world’s most oppressive regimes.
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Here I Am
by PJ Powers with Marianne Thamm (Penguin Books)
On Republic Day 1982, Hotline – a white rock and roll band made an accidental turn and found themselves in Soweto.
It was a detour that would for ever change the life of their lead singer, PJ Powers.
Hotline was the first white rock and roll band to cross the racial divide in apartheid South Africa – making global headlines by doing so.
This is Powers’s story.
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Night Heron
by Adam Brookes (Sphere)
Peanut, a Chinese national, was a spy for the British.
Two decades later he is in danger and has to disappear in Beijing.
He reaches out to MI6 via journalist Philip Mangan – state secrets in exchange for safe extraction from China.
But the secrets are more valuable than they think.