The narrative begins in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, when twin boys, Shiva and Marion, are born to a nun (who dies) and a surgeon (who runs away). The babies, conjoined at the head, are successfully separated immediately after birth. The original conjoinment and separation of the boys becomes the operating theme of the novel and we are given situation after situation in which to consider the concepts of fusion and partition. Bookclub-in-a-Box looks at all that Verghese provides: history (Ethiopia and Eritrea), medicine (blood and liver disease), psychology (the search for identity), sociology (human relationships) and philosophy (of both science and religion). The narrative's real facts and descriptions are especially interesting for their thematic implications. Every Bookclub-in-a-Box printed discussion guide includes complete coverage of the themes and symbols, writing style, and interesting background information on the novel and the author.

    Returning to make a documentary at the site of her first great triumph in Kenya, she is accompanied by her faithful middle-aged assistant, Errol McEchern, who has loved her for years in silence. When sexy young graduate assistant Raphael Sarasola arrives on the scene, Gray is captivated and falls hopelessly in love—before an amazed and injured Errol's eyes. As he follows the progress of their affair with jealous fascination, Errol watches helplessly from the sidelines as a proud and fierce woman is reduced to miserable dependence through subtle, cruel, and calculating manipulation.

    Ranging from joyous to elegiac, verses touch on love’s delights and follies with elliptical eloquence. Lovely to read aloud or reflect on silently. Photos of African artwork accompany the text.My heart is single and cannot be dividedAnd it is fastened on a single hope;Oh, you, who might be the moon!--Somali love song

    "A rollicking, off-beat African odyssey".--Publishers Weekly.

    Solo is a former cop who ran away from a dark past in France to start his life over again in Bamako, Mali, as a PI. An ordinary case turns out to be not so ordinary. The drug mule gets her throat slit. The French lawyer is too beautiful and too well-informed. The cocaine is too plentiful. This is classic hard-boiled noir with a modern twist set in Africa.

    A retired professional baseball player, he returns to his home in Detroit to purchase a major league franchise. Rion has to tackle government corruption and systematic racism in his quest. He didn’t realize that one person held the key to all of his dreams until she knocks him off his feet. Rion becomes completely mesmerized by hazel eyes along with a no nonsense attitude and tough city girl exterior. Tauri Patterson is the city Prosecutor and her job is to fight for the citizens of Detroit. Her strength and intelligence have made her one of the top litigators. Little did she know that when she received Rion Shaw’s case on her desk, her life would never be the same. The six-foot four decadent chocolate dream walks into her office and changes her life. She’s swept off her feet by the confident warrior who knows who he is and what he wants. Together they must overcome the threats against them in order to achieve the task before them. Rion and Tauri find that love and family can overcome every barrier.

    

    Brooklyn, BBC.com, and Mental FlossAn intrepid journalist joins the planet’s largest group of nomads on an annual migration that, like them, has endured for centuries. Anna Badkhen has forged a career chronicling life in extremis around the world, from war-torn Afghanistan to the border regions of the American Southwest. In Walking with Abel, she embeds herself with a family of Fulani cowboys—nomadic herders in Mali’s Sahel grasslands—as they embark on their annual migration across the savanna. It’s a cycle that connects the Fulani to their past even as their present is increasingly under threat—from Islamic militants, climate change, and the ever-encroaching urbanization that lures away their young. The Fulani, though, are no strangers to uncertainty—brilliantly resourceful and resilient, they’ve contended with famines, droughts, and wars for centuries. Dubbed “Anna Ba” by the nomads, who embrace her as one of theirs, Badkhen narrates the Fulani’s journeys and her own with compassion and keen observation, transporting us from the Neolithic Sahara crisscrossed by rivers and abundant with wildlife to obelisk forests where the Fulani’s Stone Age ancestors painted tributes to cattle. As they cross the Sahel, the savanna belt that stretches from the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic, they accompany themselves with Fulani music they download to their cell phones and tales of herders and hustlers, griots and holy men, infused with the myths the Fulani tell themselves to ground their past, make sense of their identity, and safeguard their—our—future.

    500 to 1700, the medieval kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay grew rich on the gold, salt, and slave trade that stretched across Africa. Scraping away hundreds of years of ignorance, prejudice, and mythology, award-winnnig authors Patricia and Fredrick McKissack reveal the glory of these forgotten empires while inviting us to share in the inspiring process of historical recovery that is taking place today.

    A gripping love declaration to Africa with the troubles of Rhodesia/Zimbabwe as background, the real protagonist of this book is Africa with all her wonders and horrors. "Highly recommended for lovers of the continent, especially those longing for a well-balanced and honest insider’s account of recent African history (B. Pataki 2013) "

    When this investors’ darling was exposed as a house of cards, tales of fraudulent accounting, a lavish lifestyle involving multimillion-rand racehorses and ructions in the ‘Stellenbosch mafia’ made headlines around the world. As regulators tally up the cost, 'Financial Mail' editor Rob Rose reveals the real inside story behind Steinhoff. Based on dozens of interviews with key players in South Africa, the UK, Germany and the Netherlands – and documents not yet public – Steinheist reveals: how Bruno Steinhoff formed the company by doing business in the Communist bloc and apartheid South Africa; how the ‘Markus myth’ started in the dusty streets of Ga-Rankuwa and grew thanks to a ‘bit of luck’ in a 1998 takeover; how Jooste insiders shifted nasty liabilities off Steinhoff’s balance sheet to secretive companies overseas in order to present a false picture of the profits; how Wiese was lucky to lose only R59bn and how Shoprite narrowly escaped getting caught in Steinhoff’s web; and what happened behind closed boardroom doors in the frantic week before Jooste resigned.

    There is no A-to-Z path, and there are no magic beans that will carry you upward overnight. Have you ever wondered how to start, scale up, build teams, and flourish in an uncontested market? I can tell you. I did it. In 1992, I landed in Estonia with $400 in my pocket. There, I discovered a truth that changed my life and the way I conducted business: You can make a lot of money as an entrepreneur by moving decisively in blue-sky markets - markets where you face very little competition and the tide can carry you to riches.Over the next decade and a half, I built a portfolio of businesses worth $200 million. Now, I want to share the paths that led me to success, passing on my knowledge to you. In Why Sell Tacos in Africa? I explain sixteen principles that allowed me to drive such tremendous growth. May you, too, find a blue-market and watch your business soar.

    A dark tale of fate, revenge and violence in a country where wrong is the new right.When the president of South Africa murders his wife in a fit of drunken rage he charges his most trusted henchman, the bloodthirsty Steve Bungu, with orchestrating a cover-up that pivots on blackmailing Joe Louw, a retired cop of impeccable ethics, to mount a fake investigation that'll clear the crooked head of state.In a seemingly unconnected case, Investigator Disaster Zondi (Mixed Blood, Dust Devils) who, because of his criticism of the corrupt post-apartheid regime, has been banished to the fringes of law enforcement, is given the thankless task of traveling to the remote Kalahari Desert to arrest Magnus Kruger, a notorious white supremacist who rules over an Afrikaner-only enclave, for the slaying of a young black man.As Louw and Zondi peel away layers of lies, hatred and festering secrets they reveal the connections that bind them, connections that reach back deep into the nightmare of South Africa's apartheid past.

     Peter Meyer grew up on an African game reserve. His idyllic childhood was spent running wild in the bush with Zulu friends and other free spirits. His adventures in the wilderness honed his character, nurtured by an inspirational father who taught him to believe that everything is possible. Before he had turned eight he had survived Rhino attacks, close encounters with Buffalo and Wildebeest — and the terror of twice being bitten by snakes. His pets were a baby Elephant, Warthogs and an Ostrich that frequented his backyard. He lived in a world where beauty was tempered by daily struggles for survival. He discovered that the reality of the bush is often heart-breaking, such as when an Nyala doe that he had hand-reared was taken by predators. He learned through first-hand experience that the cycle of life on Africa’s feral outbacks can be as unforgiving as it is magnificent. These were the key lessons from the wilds of Africa that he took with him when his family left the continent; from school days in England where his tough upbringing resulted in being a top sportsman, to studying at an exclusive Swiss hotel school and becoming one of the youngest directors in the Hilton group, managing exotic resorts in Jamaica and the Middle East. He was on top of the world when everything came crashing down due to tragedy. Drawing on resilience learned in the African bush, he started to rebuild his life, becoming an actor and model, clawing his way up in one of the most critically demanding industries in the world. This is an inspiring true story of living the dream — a dream nurtured by the freedom and self-reliance of growing up wild in Africa.