“A life can change in an instant.” Elizabeth Diamond shapes her debut novel around the moment policeman Jack Philips accidentally knocks over and kills young Laura Jenkins while driving. It was impossible to avoid, and yet in a way it was also meant to be. The death opens old wounds and sheds new light as those involved grapple with grief and guilt. In the aftermath, those affected by the accident come to re-evaluate their entire lives and make decisions they would never have made, had it not been for that dusky evening in November…

Told from the alternating perspectives of Jack Philips and Laura’s mother Lisa, this skilfully-woven story reaches back into the characters’ pasts and propels them forward into a future that is both healing and surprising. Hauntingly, Laura herself plays an integral role in the novel, linking the lives of her ‘murderer’ and her mother. There are times when a debut novel gives the reader a vivid idea of the gems yet to come from that author’s pen, and An Accidental Light is just such a book. Diamond’s gripping first-person style and twisting plot compel the reader to join the characters on their journey through the human heart.

(R206, Picador, ISBN 978-0-330-45351-6)

Jeffrey Archer fans will be delighted with his latest offering. Reminiscent of Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less, Archer’s most recent novel is a whirlwind of intrigue, retribution and masterful plotting, keeping you hooked from the first page. Meet Danny Cartwright, who is wrongfully accused of murdering his best friend, the brother of his fiancée, in a knife attack. Then meet the men who help incarcerate him – a barrister, an aristocrat, a popular soapie heartthrob and a successful partner in a well-known firm. Sentenced to twenty-two years in prison, Danny has not much else but time on his hands to plot his revenge – that and the friends he makes behind bars who believe in his innocence. As Danny’s fiancée fights for justice outside of Belmarsh prison, little does she know how far he has dared to go to settle the scores with the men who put him away. While A Prisoner of Birth may be a little formulaic, Archer’s formula is still one that works. And with his own experiences both inside and outside Her Majesty’s Prisons, Archer offers touches of realism that keep you gripped to the novel’s unexpected conclusion.  

(R229, Macmillan, ISBN 978-0-230-53142-0)

For those who have ventured during a holiday into Morocco or Algeria, A Handful of Honey, gives you answers to all those questions that you didn’t really get answered while you were travelling. How for instance, do you know that it is the women’s session at a hammam? Answer: a piece of cloth is hanging outside, but it is absent when it is time for the men to use the facility. Annie Hawes, the author, has a wonderful sense of place, picking up on the minutiae of daily life, relationships and realities in North Africa. This is the kind of armchair travelling when all your senses are assailed. You can almost taste the pigeon pastilla, smell the chicken tagine and hear the early morning muezzins calling people to prayer. Annie and her travelling companions clearly have the flexibility to accept the invitations of the people they meet along the way. How else to they end up staying with cannabis farmers or eating camel meat as they prepare to sleep outside in “a hotel with a thousand stars”? A Handful of Honey is not fast-paced and riveting, but it is a slow, comfortable journey that you can pick up whenever you have a yearning for the exotic.   

(R110, Pan Books, ISBN 978-033-045-722-4)

2008 MISA Press Freedom Award

The Media Institute of Southern Africa, in conjunction with the Southern Africa Trust, invites entries for the 2008 MISA Press Freedom Award, which recognises excellence in journalism. The award carries a cash prize of US$2,500.

The award is also in recognition of the work of an individual or institution where this is considered to have made a significant contribution to the promotion of media freedom in the region. The excellence which the award acknowledges can be achieved either through reportage or in other ways such as media reform, lobbying or training.

The MISA Press Freedom Award is open to all forms of media e.g. photography, print, video, Internet, or media associations and institutions. Eligible individuals or institutions should be based in the Southern African region.

Nominations can be submitted to: Postal Address: Private Bag 13386, Windhoek, Namibia / Fax: +264 61 248016 / Email: communications@misa.orgThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it / director@misa.orgThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

For more information contact the Programme specialist: Communications and Media Development on +264 61 232975 or email to: communications@misa.orgThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Deadline: 12 August 2008

For more information, click here.

Eye Halve a Spelling Chequer

Eye halve a spelling chequer
It came with my pea sea
It plainly marques four my revue
Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.

Eye strike a key and type a word
And weight four it two say
Weather eye am wrong oar write
It shows me strait a weigh.

As soon as a mist ache is maid
It nose bee fore two long
And eye can put the error rite
Its rarely ever wrong.

Eye have run this poem threw it
I am shore your pleased two no
Its letter perfect in it’s weigh
My chequer tolled me sew.