IN THEIR OWN WORDS | Popina Khumanda, Zakhe Mazibuko & Penny Haw
In Their Own Words brings together powerful voices from across genres and experiences. In this edition, Popina Khumanda shares the raw, heartbreaking story of her escape from war-torn DRC in The Smallest Ones. Zakhe Mazibuko unpacks faith, freedom, and financial truth in Preacher, Let My People Go. Penny Haw reflects on the past’s grip on the present in her latest novel, Follow Me to Africa. Watch or listen as these authors explore survival, belief, and history in moving conversations that go beyond the page – offering intimate insight into the lives and questions behind their work.
Watch our authors talk about their books …
Popina's harrowing and powerful account of survival
The Smallest Ones is a harrowing and powerful account of survival and resilience in the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo in the early 2000s. Popina, her family and friends were captured by rebel soldiers and were subjected to torture and rape. After several years of captivity, Popina and her older sister managed to escape, and began an epic journey all the way to South Africa. But even there, their nightmare was not over. Written with raw emotion and unflinching honesty, The Smallest Ones takes readers on a journey through the darkest corners of human experience, yet it is also a testament to the enduring power of hope and the will to survive. This is not just a story of tragedy, but a poignant exploration of the human spirit’s capacity to endure and overcome.
*Building Freedom is now titled The Smallest Ones.
Set in the missing decade between two iconic instalments in the George Smiley saga, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Nick Harkaway's Karla's Choice is an extraordinary, thrilling return to the world of spy fiction's greatest writer, John le Carré.
Are modern tithing practices rooted in truth or tradition?
In Preacher, Let My People Go, Zakhe Mazibuko delves into the history and theology of tithing, exposing its evolution and often controversial role in today’s churches and delivers an enjoyable and relatable read in the process. With boldness and compassion, the author shares his own compelling story and challenges manipulative practices and invites believers to rediscover the joy of giving rooted in grace and freedom.
Selfies, Sexts, and Smartphones is the book every teenager (and their parents) should read. At least, that was true seven years ago. The digital world moves at breakneck speed. Today’s teens have to navigate AI, deep fakes, misinformation, and so much more. Meanwhile, the law struggles to keep up, leaving plenty of hidden legal pitfalls. If fully developed adult brains struggle with it, what hope does a teenager’s freshly baked prefrontal cortex have? Enter Rorke and Emma. Emma is a continental digital-law specialist, and Rorke, an elder Gen Z, has the lived experience teens can relate to. Together, they break down the digital world’s biggest challenges and help teens to exist consciously – and, hopefully, safely – online. This book covers every topic: new laws, cyberbullying, sexting, sextortion, addiction, online safety, deep fakes, mental health, privacy, reputation, misinformation, scams, AI, ChatGPT, plagiarism, and much more – all in a South African context. With real-life case studies from Emma’s work and unfortunate anecdotes from Rorke’s life in the digital trenches, we help today’s youth reap the benefits of the internet without ever needing to call the Digital Law Company.
It's not dust she's looking for. It's dirt. Esmie is supposed to be invisible. Just a cleaner with a foreign accent that no one quite has time to place. Her uniform of leggings and a duster allows her to explore the homes of the wealthy, unseen; an outsider creeping around the edges of privilege. But as she sweeps through the exclusive Woodlands gated neighbourhood, cleaning is the last thing on her mind. Treading silently over the polished wooden floorboards and cloud-soft carpets, Esmie gathers up the mess of broken marriages, quiet deceptions and careless failures. She tucks away their fragments, keeping them safe. For now. Because one of the residents took from her the person she loves most. She’s not here to clean; she’s here for revenge – and she’ll get it using the weapons her employers unwittingly handed her along with the keys to their homes: their own secrets… This beautifully sinister, propulsive page-turner that explores themes of identity and privilege is perfect for fans of Harriet Tyce and Lisa Jewell.
Unearthing the Past: A Conversation with Penny Haw
Historical fiction inspired by the story of Mary Leakey, who carved her own path to become one of the world's most distinguished paleoanthropologists. It's 1983 and seventeen-year-old Grace Clark has just lost her mother when she begrudgingly accompanies her estranged father to an archeological dig at Olduvai Gorge on the Serengeti plains of Tanzania. Here, seventy-year-old Mary Leakey enlists Grace to sort and pack her fifty years of work and memories. Their interaction reminds Mary how she pursued her ambitions of becoming an archeologist in the 1930s by sneaking into lectures and working on excavations. When well-known paleoanthropologist Louis Leakey commissions her to illustrate a book, she's not at all expecting to fall in love with the older married man. Mary then follows Louis to East Africa, where she falls in love for a second time, this time with the Olduvai Gorge, where her work defines her as a great scientist and allows her to step out of Louis's shadow. In time, Mary and Grace learn they are more alike than they thought, which eventually leads them to the secret that connects them. They also discover a mutual deep love for animals, and when Lisa, an injured cheetah, appears at camp, Mary and Grace work together to save her. On the morning Grace is due to leave, the girl—and the cheetah—are nowhere to be found, and it becomes a race against time to rescue Grace before the African bush claims her. From the acclaimed author of The Invincible Miss Cust and The Woman at Wheel comes an adventurous, dual timeline tale that explores the consequences of our choices, wisdom that comes with retrospection, and relationships that make us who we are, based on the extraordinary real life of Mary Leakey.
