Picture: Zola Nene/Penguin Random House/Twitter
Cape Town - It’s been a long time coming but at long last an in-person gathering last week celebrated the return to post-Covid normalcy as dozens of book lovers, book sellers and reviewers gathered at Penguin Random House offices in Century City to get a preview of the latest books being released by the publishers for the second half of the year.
PRH staffers offered synopses of some of the books to be put out on the shelves and what a fine selection there was of old favourite authors’ new releases as well as newcomers entering the scene with debut works that sound eminently readable and engrossing
Opening proceedings was the effervescent Zola Nene, well known TV personality, cook book writer, judge and foodie who is back with her third book called Seven Colours, which refers to the concept of seven colours being highlighted in a meal, particularly that of a Sunday repast.
Nene fondly recalled traditional family meals around the dinner table and the book looks like a culinary treat as she taps into food nostalgia.
Here is just a small selection of some the other books that featured:
“Shrines of Gaiety” by Kate Atkinson goes back to the year 1926 where London is still recovering from the Great War. The nightlife is delirious and queen of this glittering world is the ambitious but ruthless Nellie Cocker, who won’t stop at anything to advance the lives of her six offspring. Beneath the dazzle, there’s a dark underbelly, described with Atkinson’s unique Dickensian flair. Due out in October.
Richard Osman is back with his third Thursday Murder Club mystery called “The Bullet That Missed” – and as fans already know trouble is never far away as far as the club is concerned.
A local news legend is on the lookout for a story and soon the club are on the trail of two murders, 10 years apart. They run up against a cast of unlikely characters, including a money launderer, and a former KGB agent. Can they catch the culprit before the murderer strikes again? Due out in October.
Ashok Banker has penned what has been described as an addicitve thriller, “A Kiss Before Dying”, about playboy Ricky Manfredi, whose life changes when he meets the shy, pretty Hannah. A second encounter with her has him irresistibly drawn in, which is exactly how she planned it. Murder is only the first stage of her plan ...
Bankers is the author of 80 books spanning a diverse range of genres. Scheduled for publication now.
Of a host of non-fiction books, Bill Bryson’s “The Body Illustrated” is a fabulous reference book – as the wonderfully entertaining and informative writer says: “We spend our whole lives in our bodies yet most of us have practically no idea how it works.”
Bryson’s fabulously illustrated reference book goes head to toe in this tour of the marvel that is the human body, making for compulsive (and comprehensive) reading. Out in November.
Equally compulsive – in another way – is The Profiler Diaries 2 by Gerard Labuschagne. Successor to profiler Micki Pistorius, former SAPS head profiler Labuschagne recalls more than 110 grisly murder series and bizarre scenes he was tasked with analysing during his remarkable career.
Some amazing (and terrifying) stories of stalking a killer but as he writes, it’s one thing catching a killer; getting them convicted is another story altogether. Out this month.
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