Lesley Pearse’s autobiography, The Long and Winding Road, is as incredible as her bestselling fiction … from being found playing coatless in the snow while her mum lay dead in the house to a teenage pregnancy … and finally marriage and children and a career as bestselling author. Michael Joseph
• In André Aciman’s The Gentleman From Peru, a group of college friends meet a fellow guest at the luxurious hotel on the Amalfi Coast, where they’re marooned. A stranger – in more ways than one! Faber
• Is there anything better than a new Marian Keyes? Yes. When it’s a new MK about the Walsh family. This one centres around Anna, but with loads of catch-ups with Claire and Helen and Margaret, Rachel and Luke, Mammy Walsh (as dramatic as ever), even the Real Men (remember them). And the tortured but gorgeous Joey. It’s just pure MK joy … when she wants to emphasise something she uses italics … all the time, which is just wonderful. Loved, loved, loved My Favourte Mistake. Book of the month! Penguin
Thrills and chills
A black man accused of killing an elderly, wealthy white couple. In the tumultuous year of 1968 in southern Virginia, the odds are already against him, and his white lawyer. A courtroom, Civil Rights, a prosecution’s deliberate march towards a guilty verdict and the electric chair … no one does this better than David Baldacci. Two murders, two suspects and A Calamity of Souls. Macmillan
If most men say they’re one of the good guys, why are so many women afraid to walk alone at night? A husband whose wife has just left him, a reclusive artist living in a scary cottage, two young women who go missing … One of the Good Guys is Araminta Hall’s novel about what happens when women have had enough! Macmillan
Abigail Dean’s Girl A was superb, as is her second chilling, gripping thriller. From it’s devastating, heartbreaking opening, Day One keeps you racing along, ducking twists at every turn. A lie. A media frenzy. Conspiracy theories. A small community changed forever … with families torn apart. The novel, explains the author, was inspired by her long fascination with conspiracy theories … the people who believe them, the people who peddle them, and the people they destroy! Hemlock Press
Wild reads
The Hawks, SA’s elite crime-fighting force, have put scores of our worst criminals behind bars. In Hunting With The Hawks, investigative journalist Graham Coetzer gives a glimpse of the secretive world of this police unit. Tafelberg
Pursuing a dream instilled by David Attenborough’s television adventurers, as a young man Larry Patterson is advised to become a veterinary surgeon – his first step towards a career working with wild animals in Africa. Aiming to Save tells his story of finding adventure in Botswana … as a vet, ecologist, survey pilot, game capture operator, hunter and then passionate conservationist. Rockhopper Books
Painting a Life In Africa is the story of Joan van Gogh – a direct descendant of artist Vincent – who has lived an unusual and adventurous life close to nature. Born in bedpan during a locust storm was just the start of it … she explored some of the most remote and secretive spots in southern Africa. Warm and full of humour. Rockhopper Books
For the CEO in hiking boots and the adventurer in a suit … here’s one showing how to use adventure principles in business. Johan de Villiers flits between crocodile-infested waters and high-stakes corporate decision making in Overlanding Through the Boardroom, offering the thrill seekers, the sole entrepreneur and the season large corporation executives a philosophical compass to navigate the unpredictable wilderness and the complex corporate world. Rockhopper Books
All books available at Exclusive Books
Not much more fun than Three Men in a Tub with a Rubber Duck … Black Elephant Vintners’ playful red. A blend of Cab Sauv, Merlot, and Mourvèdre. R112 from bevintners.co.za
