I’ve been meaning to write this post for nearly a month, on books perfect for that weird zone between Christmas and New Year, when time stretches and hazes and the brain is equally fritzy. For those lucky enough to be on holiday over this period, here are some easy and entertaining reads. You may have noticed something about these Festive Booky Posts: with one exception so far (and there were SA connections in that case), all have featured local books. This is (as I’ve said before) not because South African writing and writers need any special pleading; but our publishers can’t even begin to compete with the marketing departments of big international outfits. Yet we have every kind of reading material to tickle your fancy, including in the commercial genres: so whether it’s historical fiction or romance or thrillers or police procedurals, we’ve got it all. To make this even more fun, while today’s post features beach and/or sofa reads by local authors and set in localities many will recognise, they’re also all by women authors. Then I decided to make a rule that all those featured had to have written two or more books in the chosen genre, because of that feeling of reading the last word of a really entertaining book and looking around hopefully for more of the same. So here you go.

First, 2019 saw the near simultaneous publication, by newly established Karavan Press, of Melissa Volker’s first two novels — Shadow Flicker and A Fractured Land. What a breath of fresh air: billed as eco-romances, they’re also pretty gripping thrillers. Shadow Flicker deals with wind turbines and A Fractured Land with fracking in the Karoo, but neither book is remotely preachy, nor do they bog down in technical details. The green issues are used simply to get the plots rolling downhill, gently at first, then at increasing speed. Brilliant concept, if you think about it: the tension is set up right from the get-go, and is highly relatable. As are the characters — human, wrestling with demons we all recognise (debt, anxiety, family strife) — and a few of them turn out to be psycho murderers, too. Let’s not forget the romance, either: good quotient of hunky (but flawed) heroes and love triangles. I haven’t seen anything like Volker’s novels elsewhere, and highly recommend them: she’s interesting about everything, whether it’s live music or surfing. Never a dull moment. The books also have beautiful covers, designed by Megan Ross.

Then, for Marian Keyes and Jojo Moyes fans, on to Qarnita Loxton’s Being series: Being Kari, Being Lily and the recently released Being Shelley. I’ve only read the first one, but I thoroughly enjoyed it, and it had what I especially like in this category of fiction: fun, even fluff, but with a good, chewy centre with some crunch to it. Being Kari deals with a Muslim woman who marries “out” and moves to a conventional and mostly white suburb on Cape Town’s coast — and then has to go home again because of a death in the family. The navigating of two worlds, the issues of identity and belonging give this highly readable romance some heft. Kari/Karima is part of a tight group of friends responsible for much of the novel’s fun (all the sex and shopping jokes), and the next two in the series deal with others in this group, so I’m really looking forward to meeting the gang again. Yet they’re all stand-alone novels. Oh, and the covers are gorgeous and suitably festive.

For real, proper grown-up “chick-lit” (what I prefer to call “domestic drama”), that will suck you in like a vacuum-cleaner, read Gail Schimmel’s The Park and The Accident. Be warned; although they’re not thrillers, both books had me reading until 2am. Once again, super-entertaining. Both involve moral and legal dilemmas that will have you wondering “What if that was me?” I also like Schimmel’s dry sense of humour and lean writing — not a word wasted.

Hawa, gorgeous as always. Picture found on the Liberian Observer site, no photographer credited.

Although Liberian H. J. Golakai isn’t strictly speaking a South African writer, she lived here long enough for me to claim her (I hope she doesn’t mind), and her crime novels featuring reporter Vee Johnson, The Lazarus Effect and The Score, are set in Cape Town and Oudtshoorn. An immunologist, she’s a superb writer, with my absolute favourite her non-fiction essay “Fugee”, but for holiday reading, I recommend her novels, recently reissued by Cassava Republic Press. She doesn’t shy away from the tough stuff, but falls firmly into the “let me escape for three hours” category of reads.

So everything I’ve recommended so far has some crunch; the issues are thought-provoking, even if the treatments are effortlessly smooth and highly digestible. But your brain is utterly fried, you never want to see your rellies again, and there will be murder if you have to resurrect that turkey carcass, then you need pure candyfloss. In which case, try Fiona Snyckers’s two e-book series: the H mysteries, featuring PI Eulalie Park, and the Cat’s Paw Cosy Mystery series (I just checked and the first in both is free!)

Snyckers is a local writer, but in this case, the two series are set on imaginary islands; one a semi-tropical one in the Indian Ocean; the other off the coast of Cornwall. The H books have a bit more weight (I loved the kick-ass, slightly fey heroine and her unusual love interest, as well as the location and all the FOOD), but the Cat’s Paw books feature kittens, so I am completely biased in their favour, and probably shouldn’t be trusted. But if, like me, you like a well-oiled plot and go all squiffy-eyed at cats in starring roles, get out your e-readers NOW. Six in each series, so that should get you safely past New Year.

The Cat’s Paw series does exist in print as well, but in this case, e-versions are probably the way to go.

Festive quotient for all of the above: off the charts. Romance, interesting settings, humour, and some interesting ideas on how to bump off one’s relatives. Or understand them better.

Meta-read: Sally Andrew reads about the Lazy Lizard deli IN the Lazy Lizard deli in Prince Albert, from the third in the Tannie Maria mystery series. Karina Szczurek, supporting the home team, is inspired to try the Full Monty breakfast.

I recently had the good fortune to be invited to take part in the Prince Albert Leesfees, a delightful book fair in a small Karoo town at the foot of the magnificent Swartberg Range. It’s the back of beyond — a five-hour drive from Cape Town — but well worth the trip.

I drove up with my friend and fellow book-fiend Karina Szczurek, who was showcasing three books, fruits of her new venture, Karavan Press. I was going to read poems and talk about Wise About Waste: 150+ Ways to Help the Planet, my latest book. There was even more interest in the first in the series, 101 Water-wise Ways, and no wonder — the Karoo looked as if it had been scoured with a blow-torch. The drought is deadly serious, and PA residents are on rations of 90 litres per person per day. It was a relief to find all the grey water from my cottage went through a filter for re-use.

Karina and I plotted (in every sense of the word) all the way up the N1. Little did I know I was soon to be drawn into a different plot.

We settled into our borrowed digs for the weekend — a house and a cottage respectively, each cool and tranquil under the burning sun, beautifully but comfortably furnished, and our minds soon turned to the NB matter of What To Eat. Dinner that night was at the superb locavore establishment, The Real Food Company, but the one deli that kept popping up on all the recommended lists was The Lazy Lizard. Also, even my carefully egalitarian hosts gushed about their apple pie. Apple pie? Very nice, but not usually a dish that makes gourmets come over all messianic.

So the next morning, Karina was in search of a Real Brekfis, and she wanted to try the Lazy Lizard’s menu (word had gotten round). We arrived to find none other than Sally Andrew, author of the hugely popular and internationally renown Tannie Maria detective-and-recipe series, drinking coffee at one of the tables. She sprang to her feet to greet us. “I’m so glad to see you!” she cried. “May I read you a passage from my book?”

It turned out that a chapter in the third book in her series, Death on the Limpopo, is set in the Lazy Lizard itself. And we all wanted the gloriously surreal experience of being read to ABOUT the Lazy Lizard IN the Lazy Lizard. And it led to orders, too; Sally had barely gone a page when “The Full Monty” breakfast rolled up for Karina. But when Sally got to the apple pie, I simply had to find out what all the fuss was about, and ordered a piece. The most enormous wedge arrived. “I’ve being trying to get them to give me the recipe, so I can put it in a book,” said Sally. “But they won’t divulge. Please do some sleuthing and see if you can come up with the ingredients.”

The pie of pies.

So, for all Tannie Maria, baking and fruit pie fans, here’s my best effort. First, the pastry is definitely not shortcrust, but a moist flaky pastry with LOTS of butter, and confectioners’ sugar dusted on top. Then, the apples are baked French-style: they’re clearly sliced very thinly and raw when the pie goes in to bake, not pre-cooked. This means they’re as leaved and layered as the pastry, and are meltingly tender without being sloshy. I’d venture that they were Granny Smith apples — definitely not a red variety. Then golden raisins (but not too many); DEFINITELY lemon zest — a lot (and possibly some reconstituted candied peel as well); and finally, the most teasing of all: the spice mix. Cinnamon, obviously; but also a hint of clove and ginger — maybe allspice too? Plus more sugar and butter. That’s the best I can do, Tannie Maria, and if the Lazy Lizard chefs are now snickering up their sleeves, at least I gave it a shot. I now have to read Death on the Limpopo, if only for the happy memories, and also try my pie recipe to see if I can figure out quantities.

There’s a sweet coda to this sweet story: Karina is wearing the same rugby shirt her late husband, Andre Brink, wore when the Boks won the Rugby World Cup in 1995. Was this a teeny tiny factor in the Bok victory later that day? I like to think so. Also: book festivalling in a small town on the same weekend the national rugby team wins the World Cup is a very MERRY experience.

The fabled Prince Albert library quilt.

PS: Thanks to the organisers of the Leesfees — you did a wonderful job and we’re all longing to return.