This collection of engaging short stories emanates from the Camdeboo region of South Africas Karoo. They are told by a traditional African griot (career storyteller), Ndabazabantu, who knows all the gossip about the enigmatic as well as the ordinary folk in his town. Partly drawn from Mzuvukiles book, Children from Exile and other Stories (featuring Oom Asval and His Donkey Cart), the stories expose both the struggle to live comfortably in South African townships of old and the harshness of having to deal with the strictures of Apartheid. The Day the Town of Xhogwana almost Collapsed, deals with this second challenge, specifically the prohibition on mixed race relations and degrading treatment of black people under Apartheids Group Areas Act; when blacks had to report to the township superintendents office when visiting places outside their registered hometowns. The author, through Ndabazabantu, tells these stories with humour, pathos and poignancy. While Camdeboo Stories is unique in style and content, the tales are somewhat reminiscent of Herman Charles Bosmans storytelling style and are valuable additions to the stories of the South African platteland.

In the Xhosa language, Ndabazabantu means ‘he who knows all the gossip about the enigmatic, as well as stories of the people of his town or village.’ The character was first created in the author’s collection of short stories, Children from Exile and other Stories. Ndabazabantu’s stories are refreshingly innocent, dramatic and poignant, and most of them hark back to a simpler lifestyle experienced by black folk living in the platteland – small country towns – from the 1950s to the 1980s. Of course, the unsavoury antics of apartheid regime do not escape Ndabazabantu’s satirical and occasionally scathing tongue. But this is not an angry book of recriminatory rhetoric. The author has chosen mainly to reflect on how these people made most of their lives under trying circumstances, and the stories focus on the culture, humour and pathos experienced by those check and jowl in the township known as uMasizakhe. In this collection, the author delves into a wide variety of themes, including culture, religion, anti-Christianity and beliefs in ghosts, mermaids and the tokoloshe. Several of the stories hark back to the author’s previous collection, Camdeboo Stories, providing further details and explanations. This is best seen in ‘Concert in the Church Hall’ where the origin of the conflict between the uncle, Kleynhans, and Charlien is explained. While Stories of Ndabazabantu can be enjoyed on its own, if the reader has read Camdeboo Stories, a total picture will emerge. Could Stories of Ndabazabantu then be classified as a sequel to Camdeboo? I will leave this to the reader and critics. The character and versatility of Ndabazabantu starts to mature in this book. He delves deep into cultural issues such as the dowry, and demonstrates that this is not solely the practice of Africans alone, but is rather a world-wide phenomenon

The Karoo is a vast semi-desert region that extends across parts of the Western and Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa. This environmentally important area is the largest ecosystem in the country and is abundant in wildlife, vegetation, and ancient history. The Plains of Camdeboo is a celebration of this remarkable landscape. At first encounter the Karoo may seem arid, desolate and unforgiving, but to those who know it, it is a land of secret beauty and infinite variety. For generations author Eve Palmer's family have lived on the Karoo farm of Cranemere, situated on the Plains of Camdeboo. This family have battled for decades against this harsh desert; they have had to adapt to it, learning to fear, respect, and ultimately love it. First published in 1966, The Plains of Camdeboo has become a classic in South African literature. Here is a book that is not autobiography, not history, not botanical study, but all of these and more, blending into a uniquely vivid and personal account of life in the Karoo. The animals, the insects, the wealth of fossils, the countless flowers that spring miraculously to life after rain - all are woven into this rich and engaging story.

It was all well-ordered, food following on food in its appointed season; and this is a rhythm that has continued for more than a century - it is still very much that of the farm today... 'As there were times for special meats, so there were times for vegetables and fruits in their season - marvellous cabbages and cauliflowers, lettuce, peas, broad beans and parsnips in winter, and also oranges, naartjies, lemons and grapefruit; spring brought green beans, tomatoes, brinjals, green peppers, fennel, marrows, fruit of many kinds; and autumn meant pumpkins and pears, quinces and apples - with the first tang in the air we could smell the quinces.' The pages of Return to Camdeboo provide a refuge from the world of fast food - faithfully recorded recipes and culinary observations from generations of South African farm cooking. Although not strictly a cookbook, it explores the activities of choosing, cooking and eating food, and includes a wide selection of traditional recipes. Spanning well over a hundred years, the writing conveys both the abundance and hardships of life at Cranemere farm (on the Plains of Camdeboo of the Karoo), replete with insight into the existence of Camdeboo dwellers from the distant and recent past. Threads of agricultural and culinary history are intertwined with Eve Palmer's personal reflections and family narratives. Tried and tested by generations of cooks at Cranemere farm, most notably including the author herself; Return to Camdeboo evokes a sense of place and time that will fascinate all with an interest in the pleasures of meals created from local seasonal ingredients.

Koos Krantz, a man classified ‘Coloured’ according to apartheid race classification laws, although erased from statutes in the new post-1994 democratic dispensation in South Africa, still lingers amongst them set himself a journey of recovering his roots. Spending days at the local library where he consumed volumes about the history of his people, the ‘coloured’ discovers that his roots are deep from the Inqua nation of the Kingdom of Keobuha (King) Heijkon that was once the richest and most formidable from as early as the time could tell up till the middle of the 18th century, located in what today could be the territory of Somerset East in the eastern part of the Eastern Cape province, down up to the borders with Uitenhage in the south, Aberdeen in the west, to the borders of the Orange River, the seat of which was at Graaff-Reinet in the center. Koebuha Heijkon ruled his nation with the wisdom of King Solomon until his death round about 1715 when the reigns went to his niece, King Hinsati who unfortunately got entangled in a dispute between a neighboring nation, the Mavela group under King Mvelo who had a dispute with his two siblings, Mavela and Jamani resulting in fierce wars whereafter Mavela won the war resulting in the Inqua under Hinsati conquered and amalgamated in what was to be the Mavequa (Mavela and Inqua) short-lived Kingdom. And it is this root that Koos came to realise that he comes from.

The Eastern Cape is a country of great natural beauty and tourist potential, and has produced a wealth of writers and writings that have responded to the landscape in a variety of interesting and enjoyable ways.

The South Africa Reader is an extraordinarily rich guide to the history, culture, and politics of South Africa. With more than eighty absorbing selections, the Reader provides many perspectives on the country's diverse peoples, its first two decades as a democracy, and the forces that have shaped its history and continue to pose challenges to its future, particularly violence, inequality, and racial discrimination. Among the selections are folktales passed down through the centuries, statements by seventeenth-century Dutch colonists, the songs of mine workers, a widow's testimony before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and a photo essay featuring the acclaimed work of Santu Mofokeng. Cartoons, songs, and fiction are juxtaposed with iconic documents, such as "The Freedom Charter" adopted in 1955 by the African National Congress and its allies and Nelson Mandela's "Statement from the Dock" in 1964. Cacophonous voices—those of slaves and indentured workers, African chiefs and kings, presidents and revolutionaries—invite readers into ongoing debates about South Africa's past and present and what exactly it means to be South African.