Title: The Woman of the Stone Sea
Author: ​Meg Vandermerwe
Reviewer: Sylvia Gangat
My understanding in reading the beginning is that Hendrik in the story was planning to drown his sorrows by committing suicide, he proceeded to use alcohol as his means of playing it out.
While all this commotion is happening in the sea his dog named Jakkals is sensing that his master was doing something that he does not understand and barks his head off.
The reason for his willingness to take his own life was, that his wife named Rebecca disappeared and it was understood that she had taken her own life and drowned. They held a memorial service for her passing on.  Although he thinks that if Rebecca hadn’t drowned she must be still alive and went elsewhere. He wonders how he got onto his bed after being in the sea and who took off his wet clothes.
He somehow falls into a deep sleep and dreams that Rebecca is still alive.  His dreaming that she is busy with making and preparing dough while his watching her.
Hendrik heads out to sea, wanting to fasten his crayfish crates so that the crayfish can nibble on the bait. As he walks along the beach he sees somebody bending with her back to him. He hopes it’s Rebecca coming back, but to his amazement he sees a black woman half fish and half woman. He looks around shocked, who can she be?  Surely Rebecca couldn’t turn out to be a black mermaid.
He gathers the mermaid up in some tarpaulin and takes her home. He runs water in the bath and puts her in it. He calls her a black visvrou.
Now what does a visvrou eat? He fries a chop and cuts a piece but he figures that she does not eat meat. She howls loud at night and seems to be hungry.
He is also afraid that the neighbours will hear the high pitched sounds the visvrou is making and they would want to know what’s going on. He discovers she only wants to eat crayfish, so he feeds her and she crunches through all his crayfish. That is money that he would have earned if he wasn’t feeding her.
Hendrik goes to the bathroom to watch what she is doing and also to see what she looks like.  Curly black hair, green eyes, little white sharp teeth, bare on top and flapping her tail over the bath.
Hendrik and Jakkals the dog, were coming home after getting more crayfish. He thinks that the visvrou has brought him some luck as his making lots of money. He enters the kitchen and notices the kitchen floor is wet and the visvrou is sitting at the table with Rebecca’s yellow dress. What was shocking is that she had grown two legs and she was busy with Rebecca’s handbag, thrown out all the paraphinalia onto the table.
The fisherman on the beach are now very mad with Hendrik because they are not catching any crayfish because the crayfish are now all going into Hendrik’s crates. He can’t tell them about his luck and the visvrou.
They wouldn’t believe him anyway. Hendrik is just swearing his head off and kept his distance.  The whole village is now skinnering about him stealing their livelihood.

Title: The Son of the House
Author: ​Cheluchi Onyemelukwe-Onuobia
Reviewer: Nancy Richards
Sandwiched between an abduction and release, are the lives of two women: Nwabulu, a tall busy dressmaker, and Julie,  an overweight wealthy widow. Forced together under dark circumstances, they use the time to unfold their stories to each other.
I wanted to weep at Nwabulu’s opening line, it’s 1972 and ‘I had been a housemaid for nearly half my life when I met Urenna. My first sojourn as a housemaid began when I was ten.’ So here was a girl-child marked to struggle. After her father dies she is left with a barren stepmother who blames her for everything, gives her nothing and finally sends her away to be a ‘housemaid’ – a derogatory title if ever, more especially when it is spat out in denial. She is ‘sixteen, on the way to seventeen’ when she meets and falls for the gentle, winsome and educated Urenna, ‘son of the house’ of her friends employers. Dicing with danger to understate the situation. I won’t spoil the journey by saying more, but this bright if battered determined soul manages to survive the unfair flack that seems to  befall so many young women of Africa.
By contrast, in 1973 we meet lush and lovely Julie under more generous if ill-fated circumstances. ‘He touched the gold necklace between my breasts, lifting it slightly with his long fingers, weighing the pendant….’Consumer of my wealth’, he laughed at me. I pushed my irritation down into my belly and found an answering smile.’ Hers is a journey of deception and dangerous decisions.
Needless to say at the conclusion of the book a connection between the two women dawns. You can see it coming, but hardly dare breathe for the pain it will inevitably cause. It is a cunning but compassionate story filled with detail that takes you straight to the heart of the setting, the smells, sounds and textures tangible.
As a mother with two ‘sons of the house’ the title appealed to me as much as the fact of this being another novel from story-rich Nigeria – and a debut at that. I may be wrong, but it seems to me first time writers pour so much of themselves into their first-born books.  Lawyer and academic Onyemelukwe-Onuobia must have drawn deeply into her own well spring for this one.
Reviewer: Nancy Richards

Title: Shadow Flicker
Author: ​Melissa A. Volker
Reviewer: Gail Gilbride
An Eco-Romance to keep you on the edge of your seat.
I didn’t plan to read Shadow Flicker in one sitting. I thought I’d read a chapter before I went to bed. At midnight, I turned the last page and breathed out!
Melissa Volker took me on an unexpected roller coaster ride. Her protagonist the vulnerable Kate Petersen, has a secret and she means to keep it. On a renewable energy assignment in an Eastern Cape surfing village, Kate’s resolve is challenged and she has to dig deep in order to hold everything together. She takes a risk and does not tell her boss that he is sending her into the very spot where the tragedy which has shaped her life, actually happened. 
Kate arrives in St Francis Bay, ready to tackle the inevitable opposition to her company’s planned wind farm. The widowed Matthew Sykes, local vet and surfer proves to be a distraction and she tries to ignore him at first… 
Local residents begin their protest peacefully. But soon this develops into something more sinister, as other agendas surface. Kate is forced to face her worst fears and her secret is about to be exposed to the one person she’s come to care about. Her unexpected strength lifts this novel into a heroine’s journey.
As the drama develops, it becomes clear that other people have secrets too. The stakes are high for Kate. Both her job and her new relationship are under threat. What she doesn’t realise is that her life is in danger too… 
Volker is a trail blazer in the Eco-Romance genre. Her gentle voice is unexpectedly powerful. Thorough research, well rounded characters and a nail biting plot, nudge the readers to sit up and take note.
I for one, will be on the lookout for her next offering.
Reviewer – Gail Gilbride
Author of Under the African Sun 

Title: The Tortoise Cried its Only Tear
Author: ​Carol Campbell
Reviewer: Gail Gilbride
It’s a dark night in the Karoo, and a bloodied young woman is running along a deserted dust road. Siena is determined to reach Seekoegat Primary School, her only safe haven. It’s a three-day ride on a donkey cart and she only has her legs to carry her now.
   Siena's people are dispossessed karretjiemense, travelling by donkey cart and searching for small jobs in order to survive another day. Her wild childhood is shared with the even more neglected Boetie and they become inseparable, until a dramatic incident enrages the farmer’s wife and their lives are changed forever. Siena is packed off to Seekoegat Primary school as a boarder. There, she befriends children of a similar background and takes to her lessons like a true scholar.
    Kriekie, the boy with deformed hands and the son of a sex worker, becomes besotted with the kind new girl, Siena, who takes him under her wing. Sometimes, Siena even dares to dream of a future, which would open up a new world…
    The two boys and Siena, meet up again as adults and their shared history results in an unexpected twist.
   Once again, Carol Campbell has created a highly sensitive story of marginalised people. She takes us right into their lives and offers us insight into a world we are mostly unaware of. In doing so, Campbell affords the karretjiemense dignity and respect.
   The tortoise, an animal that embodies ancient wisdom and which cries only one tear when it dies, is central to this poignant story and an icon in the stark landscape that Siena’s people embrace as their home.
 
Reviewer: Gail Gilbride
 Author of Under the African Sun

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Title: Moss
Author: ​Mary watson
Reviewer: Gail Gilbride
The secret moss garden is where Evie and her father walk after dark. The ‘virgin Jessica’ and the
Warlock girls hang out in the metal scrap yard and play strange games. The Brethren and their
fanatical congregation, force an adulteress to drag a boulder up a hill, while they judge and jeer.
These exquisitely written short stories about good and evil, blur the boundaries at times and
question the definitions of wholesomeness, passion and religious belief.  
Mary Watson’s command of language and attention to detail, results in subtle, lyrical prose which needs to be savoured. This is not a collection to be raced through, but rather read at leisure, in order to absorb the many layers of meaning and intensity, in each inter-related piece.
The mythical, nuanced stories weave into each other and yet stand on their own at the same time, touching on themes of innocence and loss, strength and vulnerability, and the human condition in general.
If you are after a light read, I would say this is not it. But if you are looking for a deeply
meaningful collection, don’t miss Moss.
Reviewer: Gail Gilbride
Author of Under the African Sun

Title: You were made for this
Author: ​Michelle Sacks
Reviewer: Beryl Eichenberger
​Imagine leaving the hustle and bustle of a teeming New York to settle in the bucolic countryside some 45 minutes from Stockholm , Sweden. A dream come true or a nightmare waiting to begin?
Dark fiction seems to emanate from the Scandinavian countries and while Sacks is South African born (now living in Sweden) she has embraced this genre to bring a novel that is compelling, chilling, disturbing and tragic. Combining family histories, friendship, control and post- partum depression this tale is one that will stay with you.
For Merry and her husband Sam the move is a new start. A family who has everything; the minimalist beautifully decorated and restored farmhouse in the woods, a doting wife who bakes, cleans, grows her own vegetables and herbs; a devoted husband who is pursuing his new career of film making and baby Conor makes three.   The picture of domestic bliss where the home runs smoothly, the husband comes home to a loving wife and a cooked meal every night and the baby is contented and loved. Well, as they say if it looks too good to be true it probably is!
Sacks skill is in scratching beneath the perfect surfaces and uncovering layer by layer the imperfections of the character’s lives and their ways of resolving their challenges.  As the layers peel back they reveal chilling and disturbing stuff. The beauty of the book is that you are drawn in from page one and while you may not like the characters their lives resonate and their transgressions are not uncommon.
From the moment you start reading you sense the discomfort that Merry has with the baby – referred to as ‘the baby’  throughout her chapters – bonding here is an issue but never to be spoken about and presenting the loving mother is the role.  When Merry’s best friend Frank comes to stay the secrets behind the closed doors start revealing themselves. Frank’s closeness to the family becomes even closer. She bonds with Conor, Sam enjoys her company more than is seemly and even the neighbours are caught-up in Frank’s friendliness and good nature.
Here is Merry – coming from a very privileged but emotionless, dysfunctional, family; deeply scarred by parental indiscretions, arrogance and neglect, very much dependent on her friendship with Frank – when it suits.  Merry is the past master of re-invention, becoming the woman the current partner needs and so she has adapted to life with Sam and the ‘perfection’ he requires. To the extent of having a baby.
Husband Sam is an academic whose fall from grace is apparent as the story unfolds. As a serial philanderer he is more concerned with control of his and Merry’s life and his ability to meet his own desires when and if he wants. A new life in Sweden; a new career – a family set - up with an adored baby and a new mistress and his life is complete.
Frank is more like a sister, having grown up with Merry when the girls spent more time together at  Frank’s home with her nurturing mother  so unlike Merry’s conceited, arrogant and selfish mother. Conversely Frank is more attuned to Merry’s mother and achieves a successful career unlike Merry’s fluttering from job to job. Frank is a woman who picks up and drops men at her whim, never quite achieving a lasting relationship. Below the surface the girls’ friendship is toxic and driven by jealousy and revenge.
Provocative and revealing the darker side of marriage, friendship and motherhood unfold under Sacks distinctive writing and here is a thriller that you won’t put down.  

Title: We Don't Talk About it. Ever.
Author: ​Desiree-ann Martin
Reviewer: Gail Gilbride
1980’s Cape Town and the colour of her skin is already an issue for five year old Desiree-Anne.
The child is unhappy with her doll’s darkness and wants to make her white. She has already internalized that Whites are ‘better’ than everyone else. Her father drinks and gambles. Men touch her inappropriately and her mother’s love is hard to come by. Martin finds her own ways of replacing the love so sorely lacking and at every Scripture Union camp she gives her heart to Jesus.

The unwritten rules in her family and community are, We Don’t Talk About It. Ever. As an awkward teenager in a ‘White School’, Desiree-Anne is painfully aware of her ‘Coloured’ status.  Self-harm, disordered eating, petty theft and escapism through books and acting are her methods of coping. She gives up the chance to study drama at UCT in favour of a trip to the UK where she gets lost in bars, clubs and pills. Back home, the Ecstasy trance club scene pulls her in. When Darren, a heroin addict, enters her life, she turns to needles and soon spirals down into addiction.
Martin’s account is harrowing, evocative and at times humorous. I am in awe of the brutal honesty and skilful writing. This memoir is a testament to the author’s love of words, which have become her addiction of choice.
I do hope Desiree-Anne Martins is well into her next offering and I’ll be watching for it.
Reviewer Gail Gilbride
Author of Under the African Sun 

Title: Johannesburg
Author: ​Fiona Melrose
Reviewer: Gail Gilbride
Fiona Melrose’s Johannesburg puts her on the map as one of South Africa’s most captivating novelists. 
The story takes place in the colourful city on the day of Nelson Mandela’s death. Gin has arrived from New York to organise her cantankerous mother’s eightieth birthday party. Close by, the Mandela family are about to announce Nelson Mandela’s death. Gin grapples with all that Johannesburg represents for her. Amongst many other things, she needs to juggle the arrival of her ex-boyfriend, the search for the missing dog and the celebration which her mother is resisting.
Melrose writes from the heart and manages to convey her deep, complicated love for both the place and the vibrant characters who work and live in it. Through various eyes; an artist’s to a hunchback with no home, we experience the day of Mandela’s death in a modern city grappling to keep up with the many changes happening around it.  
 Melrose writes with deep insight and offers us a glimpse of this beautiful but unforgiving place, which represents so much of the country itself.
I was mesmerized from the first page and will watch out for Fiona Melrose’s next masterpiece!
Review by Gail Gilbride, author of Under the African Sun .

Title: Grace: a Novel
Author: ​Barbara Boswell
Reviewer: Gail Gilbride
Secrets and lies form an integral part of Grace’s background.
The resilient young girl starts her journey in Cape Town of the 1980s. Despite her highly dysfunctional start in a family where relationships were heart breaking and complex beyond measure, she manages to overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles to carve out a respectable life for herself.
An old childhood friend emerges to reignite devastating childhood memories. Grace’s adult life is filled with love and stability, but half-truths and hidden family secrets threaten to derail everything she has worked so hard to build up. She faces an unbearable choice – reveal the truth or keep up the veneer.  
Barbara Boswell’s graceful prose and masterful story telling serve to present us with the long term effects of trauma and violence in families, which can follow generations of victims. It is never easy to break the cycle but Boswell offers us a window of hope and the possibility of doing just that.
Boswell has crafted a highly significant novel which has lingered long after the final page was turned. Grace is a must read and a wonderful addition to the South African writing landscape.
 
Gail Gilbride is author of Under the African Sun and co-author of Behind the Blue Door.