Jacana: 156 books

Lying bare the political and personal intricacies of community struggles, this extraordinary story portrays the historical roots of the service delivery revolts that have swept South Africa in recent years. This novel centers around an engaging and tragic couple: an unemployed ex-shop steward and...

In this haunting tale of love and learning, the existential chaos of a life ravaged by circumstance takes on a rhythm of its own, one bound by loss and loneliness, but also an intelligent awareness of self. Sometimes melancholy, sometimes brutal, occasionally funny and infuriating, a journalist-comrade-lover...

With a rich vocabulary that is poetic and uncluttered, this debut novel is nothing short of a masterpiece. It is both a well-written and philosophical book. The story begins with Nokwakha giving birth at her village home, and when it is discovered that the child is an albino the midwife convinces...

Meticulous and finely crafted, this biography of Abram Fischer follows the South African lawyer's journey of conscience and personal transformation. Born into one of the most prominent Afrikaner nationalist families, Fischer nevertheless made his name as an antiapartheid activist noted for his defense...

Catastrophe is the story of a Jewish mother who discovers, much to her shock and horror, that not only is her once well-grounded, beautiful, talented, and King David–educated daughter gay, but she’s also a down-and-out drug addict, hopelessly hooked on highly addictive Cat, a synthetic amphetamine...

This sparse, disturbing novel reflects the past, present, and future of a woman, Anna P, who lives on an island off the coast of Italy but can no longer remember how she got there. She comes from South Africa but has almost no memories of the place or people there. The only person she has any relationship...

This time around we venture deep into the mysterious world of the Congo River, the Great Dancing Road.We meet Chrisnelt, a young Congolese boy who grows into manhood shaped by the vast leaves held in the branches of tropical forests, all the while battling a ravaged world of globalised greed and death....

Things even Gonzalez can't Fix is the shockingly brilliant debut memoir of a 24-year-old Greek South African girl, Christy Chilimigras. It is nothing like My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Although there are old women in black plucking stray hairs from their chins, the nuts in the baklava appear by way of...

An investigation within an investigation, this richly imagined tale follows an organ recipient, Guy Hawthorne, and the person who performed his heart transplant. The mystery opens with an unexplained violent death and a video tape left with the body, leading to a story of modern medicine and the...

Tracing the life of South African writer Nat Nakasa, this biography tells the story of how a quiet, serious African boy growing up in the sleepy coastal city of Durban in the 1940s became part of the generation of outspoken black South African journalists in the 1950s and 1960s. He challenged state-sponsored...

This important book brings together the previously unpublished letters of three women, Lilian Ngoyi, Bessie Head, and Dora Taylor. While Ngoyi, Head, and the lesser-known Taylor each made vital and perhaps underappreciated contributions to the southern African struggle, these letters record their...

Set in the taxi industry, the story's main characters are a poor taxi driver, a wealthy taxi owner and the taxi driver's girlfriend. Crime fiction featuring paranormal elements,The Last Stop combines gritty realism with the magical. It shows what happens between people in times of taxi violence and...

The Game Ranger, the Knife, the Lion and the Sheep offersspellbinding stories of some amazing, little-known characters fromSouth Africa, past and very past. Let us introduce you to some ofthe characters you'll meet inside.Starting with Krotoa, the Khoi maiden who is found working in theVan Riebeeck...

Meeran offers a witty and provocative milieu which flows between the elements of dreams and reality. Rabid to impress über girls at underground dinner parties, mud traffic control officer of the Port of Cape Town Geronimo Chanboon and Darius Coochoomber III strive to smuggle and cook every rare critter...