Ben Smith has the perfect family, but in the sixteenth year of his life, everything changes. Ben's world is pulled inside out, his love-life turned upside down. Ben's family circle suddenly grows by one, then by two and then by another. The sum of all these new family members should be three, right? Except everyone knows that two plus one relatives don't make three, they make trouble. It's a year of relative madness.
A story of two girls living in Johannesburg. Two acts of betrayal, set more than fifty years apart. It is Johannesburg 1963 and Nelson Mandela is on trial for his life. Nine-year-old Margaret Channing-Court unwittingly attracts the attention of the security police to her home. Forced to make a choice, she watches helplessly as her family is destroyed. More than fifty years later, Jenna Moore, a troubled fifteen-year-old, is packing up her Great Aunt Cee-Cee’s Johannesburg house. She pries open a...
In the future, the world has flipped. Ravaged by the Conflagration, this is a harsh world where the relentless sun beats down, people’s lives are run by a heartless elite and law is enforced by a brutal brigade. A mark at the base of the spine controls each person’s destiny. The Machine decides what work you will do and who your life partner will be. In this world, everyone must make their contribution. Some more than others. Juliet Seven – “Ettie” – will soon turn 15 and her life as a drudge...
Juliet Seven is waiting on a seacraft offshore from war-torn Mangeria, hoping that her beloved Nicolas will soon join her. Instead, the boat is pirated by a Reject boy stinking of rot and oil. A storm rises and they are swept away. They reach a new land, but all is not what it seems in this perfect place of refuge. Juliet is desperate to escape. Since the day of her birth, the blind tellers of Mangeria have prophesied that Juliet is ‘The One’. What will she have to do to fulfil her destiny?
High Schools are jungles. And there are rules for surviving. All teenagers need to know these rules. They’re pretty simple: never let your mom drive you to school in her dressing-gown. Never let her comment on your Facebook page. Never let her choose your clothes. Especially not your underwear. Common sense, right? Thirteen-year-old Ben Smith, flying under the radar at St David’s, a rugby-worshipping school, knew all the rules. His mom knew them, too. That’s why he trusted her to be cool. But...