14-year-old Juni lives with her dad in Potsdam most of the time—fortunately! Her mother is a real control freak; there’s a fixed schedule for everything, there is no provision for leeway. Juni hates that so much! And now she is to spend her holidays at her mum’s place in Berlin, because her father needs to…
Young Adult Fiction
Little Mehrnousch and her three siblings, children of a surgeon, have a privileged childhood in the lovely city of Isfahan in Iran in the 70s. Like most others, the family celebrates the eviction of the Shah as a fortunate event—little do they expect that the new ruler Ayatollah Chomeini would establish a despotic rule and…
15-year-old Talitha and her family live in a village 30 kilometres north of Damaskus. Her father is a doctor, the mother, who used to work as an interpreter, looks after her and her two brothers. Everything is fine until Muslim rebels seize the village, destroy the cloisters and churches and perpetrate a bloodbath one day….
Science fiction nerds Max, Willi and Ben discover a light inside the ruinous mansion. Over night, a strange elderly lady seems to have moved in with her daughter Penelope. Penelope, a striking appearance with platinum blonde hair, rouses unknown feelings in Max. But then the boys discover that the girl has triangular hairs with serial…
Twelve-year old Joaquín lives on an island in Lake Nicaragua and thanks to his many jobs his family manages to survive. When he meets the fascinating German girl Rosa, daughter of an ethnologist, he delights in the opportunity to earn a little extra money with interviews given to Rosa’s dad. When Rosa discovers that he…
A South African love story The young South African Sonwabiso Ngcowa tells the touching story of the lesbian girl Nana—based on a true story. Nana grows up in poor circumstances in the country, but is cared for by her beloved grandmother. When her grandmother gets into financial difficulties, 14-year-old Nana has to move in with…
With a father more interested in money than family, a brother in prison, a sister with a secret, and a mother in denial, it’s no wonder Jeff buries himself in the safe world of mathematics. When a storm hits Wellington, a strange old woman is blown into Jeff’s life, challenging everything he thinks is true. by Joy Cowley “A high-drama…
The Travelling Restaurant (vol. 1) The Queen and the Nobody Boy (vol. 2) The Volume of Possible Endings (vol. 3) The Knot Impossible (vol. 4) by Barbara Else The Travelling Restaurant In the reign of Lady Gall (Provisional Monarch of Fontania), the word ‘magic’ is forbidden… When 12 year old Jasper Ludlow’s parents flee the…
Having finished high-school on the mainland, Cynthia returns to her native island in the Caribbean. A little paradise, actually: with white beaches and palm trees this is every tourist’s dream. Cynthia’s mother Mathilda runs a restaurant overlooking the most beautiful bay. But what Cynthia experiences and sees during the weeks of shrimp season has little…
It’s a lot to ask: Sam is to go to school on the island of Sylt – far from his home town and friends. Sam’s mother Fe is the reason for the family’s move. Fe comes from Rwanda and fled her country during the genocide that took place 17 years ago. Her trauma has now…
In this moving and gripping tale of his life, Mbu recounts his childhood growing up in the shacks of some of the poorest townships in the Eastern and Western Cape; the battle to survive hunger, neglect and sleeping on the streets; the beloved older brother who took care of him as a toddler; the unwavering…
Together with her big brother Jando and her little sister Teya, Jeanne is well looked after as she grows up in Rwanda. Her parents—both teachers and members of the Tutsi—educate their children with affectionate rigour. But shortly after Jeanne’s eighth birthday her carefree childhood comes to a sudden end: in April 1994 the Rwandan genocide…