Author: Vanessa Raphaely
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Reviewer: Nancy Richards
Some people are born to write a book  not any book, but a particular book, and Vanessa Raphaely was definitely starred for this one. So it’s set in the heart of women’s magazineland – and not only was Vanessa raised by magazine-pioneer mother Jane Raphaely, but she herself was both editor of Cosmo in South Africa and in London where she launched and edited a major health and beauty title. The point being, Vanessa knows what she’s talking about. Though hopefully she may be exaggerating just a little, in some instances anyway.
Plus One’s protagonist is South African-born Lisa Lassiter, deputy editor of glamour magazine Fille in London. ‘Plus One’ being the second-class title given to partners of the main invitees to posh events. Like for instance a weekend away off the coast of Mykonos on a billionaire’s yacht where Lisa is persuaded to go (as PO) with her best buddy, gorgeous golden movie star Claudia Hemmingway  As you may imagine on a yacht full of A listers, a great deal of cocaine and champagne is going down and Something Really Awful happens. From here, as if life in the style-society lane weren’t already spiked with backstabbing and bombshells, things start to seriously unravel.
Lisa and Claudia fall out big time and the lovely Ms Lassiter reinvents herself with restored dignity back in South Africa.  But bear in mind this is a crime novel in essence, well crime and passion perhaps – and unpacking that crime is, to coin a phrase, complicated – as is the passion. Claudia has a hot but uber-cool brother, Liam.
Whilst Vanessa will take you by Lisa’s manicured hand and guide you gasping through the air-kissing coke and couture set and their shenanigans – she has not been afraid to pull back the curtain on the dark side of celebrity – on power, deception and rape. Got you guessing? Yup, it will – right to the end.

Title: There Goes English Teacher (Modjaji, 2018)
Author: Karin Cronje
Reviewer: Nancy Richards
How many of us have felt the need to just get out of our rut and change direction. Well at the age of 48 in 2005, KARIN CRONJE felt the need big time – for a whole range of reasons. The direction in her case was South Korea – to teach English. Kind of random, but the universe had spoken. Amongst the reasons were that her son Marko’s Uni fees needed paying and she had a book to finish writing. Well, she went on to finish the book which despite all the grief it gave her, turned out to be an award-winner, and eventually her son got to finish his degree. But what happened in between was a journey of note, culture shock and a super-steep self-learning curve. When she left South Africa she was not prepared in any way for what lay ahead – she hardly knew where South Korea was and she had absolutely no teaching experience – plus she was leaving behind a perfectly good job (she had amongst other things, been a book publicist), a house and a much beloved, if aged dog.
So travelling this road with her – part stream of consciousness, part  journal (although she never wrote one) you want to laugh, cry, seethe and scream with her. She (and the reader) learn about Korean language and body language, their social and anti-social behaviour, eating habits, education methods, temples, history and attitudes. Marko comes to visit, she switches from teaching at a children’s ‘hagwon’ (cram school) to a university, she makes and looses friends, loves, hates – and eventually comes home, concluding with a section in which she has what she calls a break-through rather than a break down.
This is one roller coaster book – described on the (very lively and appealing) cover as ‘the full catastrophe of being human.’

Title: Intruders (Picador Africa)
Author: Mohale Mashigo
Reviewer: Nancy Richards
If I didn’t know different, I would say that Mohale Mashigo was one very sassy, savvy, sophisticated and stylish writer. Well I’m not wrong – she is indeed all of those things – but she’s also a sufferer. Anxiety and depression have become bedfellows in the life of this lady who, with her wild weaves and nose-ring, award-winning singer-songwriter and comic book writer on her CV, at first glance you would take for a super-successful celebrity with sites on the world stage.
So with that said, it’s interesting to know that Mohale takes solace in writing – and that it’s the one thing that when the black dog bites, she says she can do to get her through.
The short stories in Intruders are every bit as complex and layered as the writer herself Divided into three sections: The Good, The Bad and The Colourful – they touch on amongst other things, Afrofuturism and the fantastical – working well with words and looking both back into tradition and forward into worlds and places, light and dark, dreamt and imagined.
Previously Mohale has written The Yearning which won her a UJ Debut Prize for SA writing in English as well as a young adult novel Beyond the River. She wins my award for Completely Original I Write What I Think Don’t Judge Me.  She dares to be different.