Set in the late eighteenth century, Eyes of the Sky is about identity, betrayal, forbidden love and the merger of diverse cultures.

Eyes of the Sky (African Writers Series)

Literature & Fiction

Jacobs, Rayda

History & Criticism

Heinemann

Set in the desolate landscape of the interior of the Cape in the late eighteenth century, Eyes of the Sky is a South African saga about identity, betrayal, forbidden love, and the coming together of diverse cultures vying for the scant resources of an arid land. The novel takes us into the hearts of the early people of the Cape - the settlers who had to be rough and tough to bend the wilderness to their will, and the brown-skinned people who found themselves "almost pushed off teh end of the earth".

Eyes of the Sky

Contemporary

Kwela Books

The Slave Book

Politics & Social Sciences

Social Sciences

Confessions of a Gambler

In this timely novel, Abeeda, a South African woman in her late forties, is struggling to hold on to both halves of a double life. To others, she is a pious Muslim mother of four, coping with the death of one of her sons to AIDS. But Abeeda has also developed a gambling addiction, winning and losing huge amounts of money. In a series of flashbacks her life is traced as a woman in her twenties, through a torrid affair with her younger sister's fiancé, Imran, and her history of taking wild risks. In all, this is a gripping story of family, addiction, religion, and redemption.

Combining autobiography and fiction, this collection of intersecting short stories focuses on South Africa's middle children — the offspring of master and slave, commonly known as ‘Coloureds.” Sabah has light skin. At age sixteen she decides to pass as ‘white” in order to get into a restricted business school. Several years later officials discover her deception. She is given an ultimatum. She leaves South Africa. Sabah's forced emigration, her life away from home and her visits back are part of the intricate weave of intersecting stories that introduce a rich wealth of characters and themes.
Set in the years of unenlightenment before the abolition of apartheid, The Middle Children addresses issues of rejection, abandonment, self-esteem and political change. With humour and poignancy Rayda Jacobs populates her stories with unforgettable characters who take us into a world we have rarely seen before. The Middle Children is a book of linked short stories combining fiction with autobiography. It focuses on South Africans of mixed race and their struggle for identity.

The Middle Children

Wahl, Charis

United States

Sumach Pr

My Father's Orchid

Umuzi

In this timely novel, Abeeda, a South African woman in her late forties, is struggling to hold on to both halves of a double life. To others, she is a pious Muslim mother of four, coping with the death of one of her sons to AIDS. But Abeeda has also developed a gambling addiction, winning and losing huge amounts of money. In a series of flashbacks her life is traced as a woman in her twenties, through a torrid affair with her younger sister's fiance, Imran, and her history of taking wild risks. In all, this is a gripping story of family, addiction, religion, and redemption.

Literary

The Overlook Press

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Books by Jacobs, Rayda