Naledi His Love

Hlomu the wife is essentially a love story that takes its cues from life in a South African township. A young woman named Mahlomu meets Mqhele Zulu and they fall in love. Even though aspects of Mqhele's personality and past make her uncomfortable, Hlomu is happy. Their love is strong and they stand by each other through good and bad. But Mqhele and his seven brothers have a dark and tumultuous past that involves a dead warlord father, mob justice, and lots of unaccounted-for money. The Zulu brothers are rich, handsome, powerful and dangerous. They eventually become one of the wealthiest and most powerful families in Johannesburg - but the inherent danger remains.

This first-person narrative about an archaeological discovery is rewriting the story of human evolution. A story of defiance and determination by a controversial scientist, this is Lee Berger's own take on finding Homo naledi, an all-new species on the human family tree and one of the greatest discoveries of the 21st century. In 2013, Berger, a National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence, caught wind of a cache of bones in a hard-to-reach underground cave in South Africa. He put out a call around the world for petite collaborators—men and women small and adventurous enough to be able to squeeze through 8-inch tunnels to reach a sunless cave 40 feet underground. With this team of "underground astronauts," Berger made the discovery of a lifetime: hundreds of prehistoric bones, including entire skeletons of at least 15 individuals, all perhaps two million years old. Their features combined those of known prehominids like Lucy, the famousAustralopithecus, with those more human than anything ever before seen in prehistoric remains. Berger's team had discovered an all new species, and they called it Homo naledi. The cave quickly proved to be the richest prehominid site ever discovered, full of implications that shake the very foundation of how we define what makes us human. Did this species come before, during, or after the emergence of Homo sapiens on our evolutionary tree? How did the cave come to contain nothing but the remains of these individuals? Did they bury their dead? If so, they must have had a level of self-knowledge, including an awareness of death. And yet those are the very characteristics used to define what makes us human. Did an equally advanced species inhabit Earth with us, or before us? Berger does not hesitate to address all these questions. Berger is a charming and controversial figure, and some colleagues question his interpretation of this and other finds. But in these pages, this charismatic and visionary paleontologist counters their arguments and tells his personal story: a rich and readable narrative about science, exploration, and what it means to be human.

Zandile the resolute continues the story of the eight Zulu brothers. Rich, handsome, powerful, dangerous and the wealthiest and most powerful families in Johannesburg, Zandile is the wife of the first brother Nkosana, their love story is like a South African township Romeo and Juliet, their families hate each other but their love is so strong, it endures all the hatred, the deaths and even prison time.

Naledi and her brother Noli are as different as day and night. Naledi is a young girl who loves the sun, and on sunny days she takes pictures of her beautiful home in Cape Town, South Africa with her favorite camera; but her older brother Noli prefers the moon, and loves to gaze at the stars at night with his telescope. It’s only when Grandpa Outa tells them a story about how the stars were born, that Naledi and Noli realize they aren’t so different after all. Do you know the story of the Star Road?

All her life, Naledi has been in awe of Basi, her charming and outgoing older brother. Their childhood was filled with jokes and secrets, alliances, and stories about the community. Having reached thirteen, she is preparing to go to the school dance when she sees Basi commit a rape. When the girl is shamed by the community, but Basi is portrayed as the victim, everything Naledi believes comes into question. -- adapted from back cover and online reviews

Feisty choreographer, Lou 'Lungile', will do anything to avoid falling in love. Even more to avoid going home to South Africa, where she's traditionally engaged to a king. However, when she meets her soulmate Tex she is forced to confront the tradition she's been running away from. -- bookseller's description.