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South African books to add to your reading list this festive season - part 1

Hiya book lovers With Christmas being just around the corner, I thought I’d highlight some South African reads that should go on your TBR pile. We have so many phenomenal SA authors that deserve to be celebrated , and because this list will be an extensive one, I am splitting this post and making it a series. I know it won’t be possible to include every single South African author, but I am going to try to  highlight books from every genre and make it as diverse as possible (so, with respect, please don’t ask me why so and so isn’t on the list – there’s more to come).  First up:  1. Sing Down the Stars by Nerine Dorman A book I recently received for review ( thanks you NB publishers ) and am super excited about diving into is Sing Down the Stars. I was first introduced to Nerine’s writing years ago, when I read one of her first books, What Sweet Music They Make (Would 100% still love to see more of that). Over the years, I ’ve come to know Nerine as well and she’s not ...

The Secret

Cover love: Beastkeeper by Cat Hellisen

So, given that this cover’s already been doing the rounds, my post today is not so much a cover reveal as it is a squeeing-over-the-cover kind of post.

Yup, the long awaited cover to the fabulous Cat Hellisen’s forthcoming children’s novel, Beastkeeper has been unleashed (ahem, sorry) into the wild (again, sorry. Not really).

Cat, who is the author of When the Sea is Rising Red, House of Sand and Secrets and a host of wonderful short stories (Um, you should so, so, so read The Girls who Go Below by the way),  has taken a tale as old as time (Ok, I've reached cheese overload, I know) and reinvented it entirely.

In fact, Cat’s said that her version is very loosely based on the fairy tale, so you should definitely expect twists in the tale…

I don’t know about you, but I certainly can’t wait to get my hands on a copy.

In the meantime, and to tide us over while we wait, here’s the cover in all of its beauteous glory:


Look at the pretty. Just look at it.

It feels like such a homage to those tales of old yonder, doesn’t it? The creepy, silhouetted forest and the winding path? Beastkeeper has officially become one of my new favourite covers.

About Beast Keeper

Sarah has always been on the move. Her mother hates the cold, so every few months her parents pack their bags and drag her off after the sun. She’s grown up lonely and longing for magic. She doesn’t know that it’s magic her parents are running from.

When Sarah’s mother walks out on their family, all the strange old magic they have tried to hide from comes rising into their mundane world.

Her father begins to change into something wild and beastly, but before his transformation is complete, he takes Sarah to her grandparents—people she has never met, didn’t even know were still alive.

Deep in the forest, in a crumbling ruin of a castle, Sarah begins to untangle the layers of curses affecting her family bloodlines, until she discovers that the curse has carried over to her, too.

The day she falls in love for the first time, Sarah will transform into a beast . . . unless she can figure out a way to break the curse forever.

GO ON… YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO ADD IT TO YOUR TBR PILE.

Also, while you’re at it, you can check out my review of When the Sea is Rising Red and add House of Sand and Secrets (I’ll be reviewing this one at some point) to your TBR pile.
 
About Cat:
Cat Hellisen is an author of fantasy for adults and young adults. Born in 1977 in Cape Town, South Africa, she has also lived in Johannesburg, Knysna, and Nottingham.

She originally studied graphic design at Technikon Witwatersrand, before realising that she had no interest at all in the world of advertising.

She began writing seriously at age twenty-five but it was not until 2010 that she sold her first full-length novel, When the Sea is Rising Red.

Her children’s book Beastkeeper, a play on the old tale of Beauty and the Beast, is due out 2014.

Where to find Cat online:

Website
Goodreads
Twitter

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