Amabookabooka: Bruce Whitfield

Amabookabooka: Michiel Heyns

One Whale of a Good Yarn The subject of today’s episode of Amabookabooka is ‘A Poor Season For Whales’, which is not the title of a sport’s book about the Welsh rugby team’s miserable 1991 year when they were walloped 63-3 by the Wallabies. ‘A Poor Season For Whales’ (with an H) is author, translator and English professor Michiel Heyns’ outstanding new novel. The book has everything: vivid imagery, beautiful descriptions, fascinating characters, gripping dialogue, understated humour, an intriguing plot, a sharp knife hanging over it and a dassie-chasing Doberman named Benjy. (Michiel reveals why every one of his novels features a dog…)

Amabookabooka: Bruce Whitfield

Bruce Almighty Some would say that it is dreadful timing to launch a book at the same time that Covid-19 has decided to go hitchhiking around the globe, but for one book - The Upside of Down - the timing is spot on. The world is upside down and the Upside of Down highlights opportunities during chaos. The Upside of Down is written by the king of the business airwaves Bruce Whitfield, who has the incredibly rare gift of making complex financial issues easy to understand. Through absorbing anecdotes, cautionary tales, some multiple choice quizzes or six, Bruce tells us that South Africa has extraordinary problems - but with extraordinary problems come extraordinary opportunities. Spoiler alert: In the episode, Bruce reveals the four words that Nando’s chief Robbie Brozen told him that perfectly sums up the state of the world at the moment.

Amabookabooka: Heinrich Böhmke

A Lockdown mystery Heinrich Böhmke loves trees, bees, wind over the veld and Nguni cattle - and even though he loves cattle he’s not scared to stomp all over sacred cows. Heinrich’s debut novel Sarie tells the story of four lives in crisis - on the same day. In the same hotel. It mixes South African politics and history, with a thrilling plot and, as one reviewer put it: There is no chill with this book! Heinrich’s latest book, The Helpless Lady, is a world away from Sarie. It’s a children’s book set in the Lockdown. Day 17 starts off just like any other boring Lockdown day but turns into a day of mystery and adventure when 9-year-old Erika sees a desperate message for help in her neighbour's window. Erika’s grumpy dad is busy so she takes matters into her own hands to rescue her elderly neighbour - all while keeping her social distance. It’s a fast, heart-warming story told with humour and there are a few twists at the end to keep you on your toes.

Amabookabooka Dave Muller

Seven weeks in captivity Thirty years ago today the Muller family's dream holiday turned into a nightmare when they were taken hostage by a band of child soldiers in Mozambique. On Friday the 13th of April 1990 Dave Muller and his family set sail to Mozambique to fulfill Dave's boyhood dream of voyaging to the tropics. On board his yacht Arwen, which he had spent the previous 10 years building, was his wife, Sandy, and their two children 8-year-old Tammy, and Seth, who was about to turn 5. But Friday the 13th turned out to be a bad omen. Fifteen days later, Dave’s voyage came to a shuddering halt when his yacht was shipwrecked and they were taken prison by armed children from the Mozambican rebel group Renamo. It took Dave 29 years to write his memoir, This is not Child’s Play, which was published last year and documents the Muller family’s nightmare. Today - 28 April 2020 - marks the 30th anniversary of the day the family was taken captive. This is not Child’s Play is a story of hope and, eventually, freedom! After 33 days of lockdown, we could all use a bit of hope ... and some Stage 4 freedom.

Amabookabooka: Marcus Low

Low Down on Health Horror Today’s episode of Amabookabooka is a throwback to 2017 when novelist, journalist and public health activist Marcus Low coughed up the incredible and, as it turns out, very credible dystopian health-horror novel Asylum. A high-security quarantine facility has been set up in the Karoo for people with a highly infectious lung disease known as “pulmonary nodulosis” - there is no cure. The inmates have been separated from the rest of the country - where they do nothing much but wait to die. Asylum is like an uncooked onion: raw with layers upon layers and will make you cry. It is a thought-provoking and superbly written book that will do to you what a fictional South African government did to the novel’s protagonist Barry James – hold you captive.