The debut novelist I am featuring for the month of May is Joanne Serling. Joanne’s book Good Neighbours is Literary Fiction and was published by Twelve. (Twelve is part of the Hachette Book Group, who also publish, among others, David Baldacci, Jeffrey Deaver, Malcom Gladwell and Michael Connelly.) BLURB “Joanne Serling’s ice-pick of a debut novel, Good Neighbors, centers of…
Tag: Parenting
Surf Trip, Staycation Style
Costa Rica is our dream surf trip destination. But we would take Maldives, Bali, Hawaii, Long Island or even Mauritius if you threw it at us. But you didn’t, so we gathered our battered Rands and set off for Melkbosstrand instead. We left after work on a Friday, so we missed the traffic. The journey from our home in the South to…
A rare snippet on parenting – Picky Eaters
I hardly ever write about parenting. Mainly because I am terrified my girls will grow up to become writers and take revenge. What if they write about me like Alexandra Fuller did? She wrote, in her mum’s words, “that awful book”, Don’t Let’s go to the Dogs Tonight (because mother is already there?) and she exposed the full depths of her…
Finding her balance – the journey of a SUP mama
One of the first things you learn when you get on a stand up paddle board is to bring your big girl panties. It’s not for the fainthearted. The second is to learn to balance. You start with a wide board, a wide stance, some flat water and a fully engaged core. With a little ocean knowledge, courage grows and with…
Flying With Children
eter Pan has it sorted. His flights with children are a roaring success. Second star to the right and straight on till morning. For the rest of us, however, those without Pixie Dust, the challenge is real.
When motherhood is elusive: What you need to survive IVF
That night it was my turn to host book club. The phone rang, shrill above the chatter. With the books on the coffee table and a wine glass in my hand, I took the call. It was the doctor. He didn’t soften his diagnosis with euphemisms. “You will probably never have children,” he said. I crouched over the phone, trying…
Melissa A Volker 