A literary mystery that stretches back to Victorian times and set on the arid plains of South Africa’s Karoo by David Ralph Viviers.
MIRAGE
by David Ralph Viviers
Penguin Random House South Africa, February 2023
(via The Lennon-Ritchie Agency)
A century-old trunk has been dug up near the railway village of Sterfontein. Inside is the lost journal of Victorian author ElizabethTenant – and what appear to be the remains of a child. Michael, a university student recovering from a broken heart, is intriguedby what the journal describes: a scarlet curtain billowing above the desert, covering the entrance to another world. But thingsbecome even stranger when a line in the journal seems to be connected to Michael and his cosmologist mother, written ahundred years before their time. Without much to go on, Michael travels to the old Karoo hotel where Elizabeth wrote her novelMIRAGE. Amid talk of omens in the sky, ancient prophecies and the end of the world, he tries to decipher the journal’s secrets. Asone mystery leads to the next, constellation-like patterns between his own life and Elizabeth’s appear, helped along by Renata, aself-proclaimed medium, and Oom Sarel, the local museum curator. But as time starts to dissolve in the mirages of the Karoo, itbecomes more and more difficult to know what is real and what is not. And why can’t he shake the feeling that he’s been to thevillage before?
David Ralph Viviers is a Cape Town-based writer and film and theatre actor. He holds a BA in Theatre and Performance, as well as a master’s degree in Creative Writing, both with distinction, from the University of Cape Town. In 2016, he was the recipient of the Brett Goldin Bursary award, which allowed him to study with the Royal Shakespeare Company for a month in Stratford-upon-Avon. For his work in both English and Afrikaans theatre, he won a Fleur du Cap Award in 2020 and has received several Kanna and Fiësta nominations. His film/TV work includes BINNELANDERS, TALI’S BABYDIARY, KANARIE, NO HIDING HERE, HOME AFFAIRS 1 & 2, RAGE and BLACK SAILS. MIRAGE is his debut novel.
At the spry young age of twenty-five, Sai has led a quiet life, keeping the family teahouse up and running —even if that means ignoring the past-due notices—and taking care of his ailing mother. But he has a not-so-secret gift that he’s parlayed into a side career: he was born with the ability see the red threads of fate between soulmates, which lends itself nicely to matchmaking. Sai has thus far been content not to follow his own thread, the only one he’s ever seen that’s gray and fraying.
Nikki Serafino is enjoying the sunset from her boat in her beloved port city of Naples, Italy when she discovers the body of a strangled man in the warm waters of the bay. As an investigator with a security unit, Nikki is certainly no stranger to violence, but this case grows complicated when the autopsy reveals that the victim has been boiled. And the next day, Nikki comes across another dead body in an abandoned car – surely two bodies in as many days is no coincidence. While local police suspect a lowlevel crime syndicate is responsible, Nikki isn’t so sure. But when she delves into the case, her search for answers brings her face to face with the possibility that those closest to her are living darker lives than she wants to admit. To catch a killer, Nikki must untangle the cords of past and present that keep her and her family vulnerable to Naples’ dangerous sides.
The Angies were a musical force in the eighties; a band, comprised fully of women, that were as respected amongst music journalists as they were adored by their far-reaching fans. With a steady stream of hits that married pop, folk, punk, and new wave, The Angies appeared to be unstoppable.
Rachel Weiss turns 30 this year, and she has it all: a fabulous social life, three best friends, and a job that pays the bills. Unfortunately, she also has a slightly unhinged Jewish mother who’s desperate for her to be married. When a millionaire tech bro named Christopher buys the house next door, Rachel’s mom fixates on him as a match for her daughter. But Rachel has worked in the tech industry for years and she knows guys like Christopher: arrogant, algorithmobsessed capitalist overlords. Besides, she hits it off with a mysterious hottie whose party boy persona appeals to her more than Christopher’s buttoned-up politeness. She doesn’t need her mom’s help. Especially because she has the world’s most amazing group chat with her best friends that gets her through everything.