Politics, princesses, and high-flying drama

Patricia McCracken reviews a political and historical satire on our country, Lady Anne Glenconner's second memoir, a jet-speed thriller of confusion and betrayal, and a lively children's book that teaches a love of nature.

- Patricia McCracken

Milk the Beloved Country by Sihle Khumalo (Umuzi, R300)

It can be difficult to classify a book which has a cow's rear end on the back cover and, on the front cover, a ruminating cow's front end with a road sign pointing to the mustlive-in towns of Darling and Shaka's Rock. Is the book speculation, literature, history, subtle proselytisation, or perhaps a satire of the modern South African condition?

Khumalo has packed it with plenty of foreign history, from Queen Victoria to the saga of the Jews, but is this pointing to the need for decolonisation or suggesting that South Africa cannot be entirely unpicked from the world's currents?

The political thinker will find sections on the country's future direction, while the foreign reader will find an insight into the South African maelstrom from past to present.

It is also well written, well researched, and not without gentle humour, right from the dedication onwards which, 'with 100% approval from my wife,' is to' the two other women in my life'.

Whatever Next? by Anne Glenconner (Hodder & Stoughton, R360)