Dear Readers,

My debut novel will be out this Friday, 29 November 2019. It has been a 20 year journey to get here, and I cannot wait to tick this milestone off my list.

The book goes live this Friday, which happens to be Black Friday (i.e. crazy sales), so get it at a discount while it lasts via the universal online shopping link below.

Universal online shopping link ~ https://books2read.com/capeofstorms

Thanks for all your support over the years. All the info you need about Cape of Storms is below.

Bianca xo

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Title: Cape of Storms
Author: Bianca Bowers
Genre: Coming of Age/Literary Fiction
Publisher: Auteur Books
Dimensions: 6 x 9 inches
Print ISBN-13: 9780648442646
EPub ISBN-13: 978064844265

Synopsis

Eight year old Rosalinde lives in an idyllic version of Africa — vervet monkeys in her garden, the lighthouse that illuminates her bedroom window at night, and Mohini, her mystical Hindu maid who is more maternal than her own mother — until a moment in 1982, when she collides with apartheid and her entire belief system is thrown into chaos. 

Mainly set on Durban’s breathtaking North Coast, over a period of seventeen years, the story moves between atmospheric locations like the Skeleton Coast, Karoo, Cape Point, and KwaMashu, and hosts an array of vivid characters, including the charismatic Paris and his radical cousin Maleven; Mark, the ex-soldier; and Rosalinde’s predatory, racist Uncle Léon.

While navigating personal injustice, family sagas, romance, and political unrest, Rosalinde’s coming of age parallels the years of apartheid’s climactic end, against an increasingly violent backdrop, and she learns that the human condition of her motherland is far more complex than she ever imagined.

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Book Themes and Target Audience

Warning…Cape of Storms is an authentic portrayal of South Africa’s complex race relations as well as its violent crime, and contains scenes that may disturb. 

This book will appeal to:

• South African ex-pats, who left South Africa due to violent crime;
• Discerning readers who appreciate literary fiction and/or a novel that digs deeper than pure entertainment;
• Readers with an interest in South African history.

Comparable Books (with the exception of a female protagonist)

• Disgrace, by JM Coetzee
• Cry, the Beloved Country, by Alan Paton
• The Power of One, by Bryce Courtenay
• Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens

Bonus and Charity

• There is a 20-Q&A with Author at the back of the book
• 10% of Sales go charities that support street kids (read the book as well as the Q&A to find out why)

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Editorial Reviews

Childhood innocence and grown-up cruelty clash in Cape of Storms by author Bianca Bowers, a gripping coming-of-age tale woven through one of the darkest periods in South African history. Rosalinde is the precocious and endearing protagonist, an 8-year-old whose life is shaken and eyes are opened over the course of two shocking decades. With the South African landscape as a beautiful but sinister setting, this novel is a gripping and unforgettable account of one of humanity’s great failures, told with sensitivity and eloquence from a uniquely powerful perspective.
~ Henry, SP Reviews

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A brave, poignant novel about race, belonging and female ambition by an author with a lilting, poet’s ear. I was moved by its authentic portrayal of South Africa, apartheid and complex human nature. There is no doubt that Bianca Bowers is a gifted wordsmith.

The images she conjures are vivid (chuckling geckos was a favourite one!) and sensual and her characters wriggle their way effortlessly into the reader’s consciousness. Bowers anchors us in time and place, offering intricate setting and dialect details. I savoured such details: “They would debate every subject under the infinite karoo sky, from the time the chameleons stalked the sun, to when the crickets began their nocturnal orchestra.” / “Light spilled out of Mohini’s room and drew me toward it like the sun beckons an African daisy.”

The narrative is written in the first person, which suits the protagonist’s youthful voice and brings the reader into her confidences effectively. I felt protective of Ros, who is let down by a number of adults around her. Her choices are utterly believable and desperately heart-breaking. I also enjoyed the use of Afrikaans and how its use added to the world-building. I don’t speak Afrikaans, but the word “Mossiepop” – sparrow’s fart – will stay with me. 

The subject matter is, for the most part, serious and thoughtful, with excellent characterisation and sensitive handling of difficult subject matters. Cape of Storms reads like a labour of love and I have no doubt that readers will indeed fall in love with it.
~ Nillu Nasser, Award-Winning Author of All the Tomorrows

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“Cape of Storms”, the debut novel by Bianca Bowers, is a cry against the wind, a fusion of beauty and blood, a fierceless look into the heart of darkness.

Although I have read three of her five poetry collections, and am aware of her talent as a story teller, the story she tells and the powerful way in which she tells it caught me utterly unprepared for this unique piece of writing, bringing together beauty and violence and conveying it all through a perfectly orchestrated cast of characters.

Structured as a coming-of-age novel “Cape of Storms” follows the thorny roads Rosalinde (Ros) has to walk over two decades. As a character she is not afraid to speak the truth as she sees it, irrespective of the consequences, and on many occasions the consequences are mind-shattering.

Being a bright, brave and sensitive person, Ros goes in search of answers to life’s questions, the goal of which is maturity. I am not giving out any spoilers but will just say that in “Cape of Storms” Ros’s maturity is not achieved gradually, rather it is attained at the expense of excruciating emotional and physical pain.

The novel, true to the genre, features a main conflict between Rosalinde, as the main character, and society. But what is typical for the coming-of-age novel is also a reconciliation of sorts between the protagonist’s values and the values of society. In the world of “Cape of Storms” such a reconciliation, such an acceptance is hardly possible.

This story is told in such a powerful way that in the hours that I read it, I felt all the pain, suffering, beauty, love, despair, violence, shattering the living body of Africa. Everyone in our contemporary flawed world can find something for themselves in “Cape of Storms.”
~ Galya Varna, We Art Friends Magazine

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Download a Press Kit

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Title: Cape of Storms
Author: Bianca Bowers
Genre: Coming of Age/Heritage Fiction / Political Fiction
Publisher: Auteur Books
Dimensions: 6 x 9 inches
Print ISBN-13: 9780648442646
EPub ISBN-13: 9780648442653
Publication Date: 29 November 2019
Universal Online Shopping Link: https://books2read.com/capeofstorms

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When eight year old Rosalinde collides with apartheid in the summer of 1982, her entire belief system is thrown into chaos and the infrastructure of her world begins to decay.⠀

Set over two decades, Rosalinde’s tumultuous story moves between atmospheric locations like the Skeleton Coast, Karoo, Cape Point, and KwaMashu, and hosts an array of vivid characters, including Mohini, her mystical Hindu maid, the charismatic Paris and his radical cousin Maleven; Mark, the ex-soldier; and Rosalinde’s two uncles — the wealthy, but austere Uncle Jericho, and the predatory, racist Uncle Léon. ⠀

While navigating personal injustice, family sagas, romance, and political unrest, Rosalinde’s coming-of-age parallels the years of apartheid’s climactic end, against an increasingly violent backdrop, and she learns that the human condition of her motherland is far more complex than she ever imagined.

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Download Press Kit

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