An important rumination on youth in modern-day South Africa, this haunting debut novel tells the story of two extraordinary young women who have grown up black in white suburbs and must now struggle to find their identities. The rich and pampered Ofilwe has taken her privileged lifestyle for granted, and must confront her swiftly dwindling sense of culture when her soulless world falls apart. Meanwhile, the hip and sassy Fiks is an ambitious go-getter desperate to leave her vicious past behind for the glossy sophistication of city life, but finds Johannesburg to be more complicated and unforgiving than she expected. These two stories artfully come together to illustrate the weight of history upon a new generation in South Africa.

Coconuts have been around for longer than Homo sapiens; they have been turned into art, taken part in religious rituals and been a sign of wealth and success. They have saved lives, not only by providing nourishment, but also as part of the charcoal filers in First World War gas masks. It was coconuts that triggered the mutiny on the Bounty, and coconuts that saved the life of the man who went on to become the 35th President of the United States. The coconut has long been the unseen player in the endeavours of industrialists and bomb makers, physicians and silversmiths, smugglers and snake charmers. To this day, coconuts shape the lives of people around the world. At a time when coconut products crowd the shelves of supermarkets, health food shops and beauty salons, Robin Laurance looks beyond the oils and health drinks to uncover the unexpected, often surprising, and vital roles played by the coconut palm and its nut in times past and present.

In this book you will learn about the amazing health benefits of coconut oil, meat, milk, and water. You will find out why coconut oil is considered the healthiest oil on earth and how it can protect you against heart disease, diabetes, and infectious illnesses such as influenza, herpes, candida, and even HIV. You will learn why coconut water is used as an IV solution and how coconut meat can protect you from colon cancer, regulate blood sugar, and expel intestinal parasites. Contains dozens of fascinating case studies and remarkable success stories. You will read about one woman's incredible battle with breast cancer and how she cured herself with coconut. You will read how a medical doctor cured himself of Crohn's disease in seven days. This book includes an extensive A to Z reference with complete details on how to use coconut to prevent and treat dozens of common health problems. The foreword is written by Dr Conrado Dayrit, the first person to publish studies showing the benefit of coconut oil in treating HIV.

"When her family moved from Puerto Rico to Atlanta, Von Diaz traded plantains, roast pork, and malta for grits, fried chicken, and sweet tea. Brimming with humor and nostalgia, Coconuts and Collards is a recipe-packed memoir of growing up Latina in the Deep South. Inspired by her grandmother's 1962 copy of Cocina Criolla--the Puerto Rican equivalent of the Joy of Cooking--Coconuts and Collards celebrates traditional recipes while fusing them with Diaz's own family history and a contemporary Southern flair. Diaz discovers the connections between the food she grew up eating in Atlanta and the African and indigenous influences in so many Puerto Rican dishes. With stunning photographs that showcase the geographic diversity of the island and the vibrant ingredients that make up Puerto Rican cuisine, this cookbook is a moving story about discovering our roots through the foods that comfort us. It is about the foods that remind us of family and help us bridge childhood and adulthood, island and mainland, birthplace and adopted home."--[page 166]

On a little island a happy man lives under the shade of the coconut tree. Across the water a greedy king who wants the island is planning his takeover. But what does the man have in store for the king? 4 yrs+

There is a forgotten castaway one an island in the thousands of miles of the Pacific Ocean. He writes his story in a battered paperback novel, covering the space between printed lines and around the margins before packing the book into a coconut shell and sending it out to drift to sea, hoping that it will be found. Who is this forgotten man? In a remarkable feat of imaginative skill, Richard Maynard records the thoughts, feelings and struggle for survival of the ultimate castaway, a man whose name and background we are never told but whose inner life we come to know intimately. Alone on his few square yards of sand, rocks and stunted palms he writes of his despair and self-pity, his triumphs and fantasies, his struggle to stay alive. He occupies his time by measuring the island that has become his prison, and the solitary spider that shares his home becomes his only friend. As time goes by, dreams and reality begin to blend. He realises that the elderly man who appears before him is a figment of his imagination, as her the sounds of music and laughter that float across the sea from an island that seems to be in the distant haze. One day he will find the courage to swim over to the island, following the sounds of music...