JENNIFER PLATT | August getting you down? Then hide inside a three, head for the UK or just braai

If August was a feeling, it would be meh. Not yet out of winter, not yet spring, with dusty winds that disconcert and make one feel a little edgy. There is going to be another cold spell, there'll be some sunny days, and there'll always be wind. It’s not a great month for my sinusitis either.

And like its conditions, this month brings a mixed bag of new books. There are some lovely, sunny reads, a few heavy hitters, a surprising debut, a bit of pretentious windiness and a few that will hopefully hit the thriller sweet spot.

Penguin Fiction is bringing out the oddly titled How to Hide Inside a Three by Jane van der Riet. I keep wanting to type “a tree”, but it is definitely three, as the main character Leigh-Ann can only sort of cope with life when she writes to-do lists of just three items. We learn there are three things she wishes were true: “1) On the morning of your 21st birthday you were handed a top-secret manual explaining how to be a grownup. 2) Mr Hoody and the legions of others in the crevices of the city had homes. 3) There were still chocolate digestives in the cupboard after last night’s binge.” It’s set during the 2017 Cape Town water crisis and Leigh-Anne’s southern suburbs world is unravelling. The author lives in that city, where she practises as a psychotherapist, and this is her first novel.

I have to get my husband Gman Blackouts & Boerewors by Karl Tessendorf and Greg Gilowey. I feel like we are among those unfortunate people who live in an area where the evening load-shedding slots fall mostly between 6pm to 10pm every week. We try to plan ahead, but mostly it’s poor Gman braaiing marinated chicken breasts, so this could be a great addition. The book promises: “With some clever thinking and 40 great recipes — quick and easy, plan ahead and weekend winners — load-shedding can go from the worst part of your day to the best ... Put your money where your braaibroodjie goes and join the Beer Country duo as they dive into their best braai recipes for the Eishkom disaster.”

And if load-shedding and the other unabated calamities in this country have got to you, you might be considering moving to the UK. If so, best you get the book Moving to the UK by Sam Beckbessinger. She wrote the best-selling Manage Your Money Like A F*cking Grownup, which I still firmly suggest everyone gets a copy of because it is easy-to-understand, practical advice about money. She does the same with this book. Blurb: “Thinking of moving to the UK but don’t know where to start? Overwhelmed by the information coming at you after a Google search? Baffled by visa requirements? Worried about how your kids and your beloved pet iguana would handle it? Fear not! Written by a seasoned mover who's been there, done that and even brought back the tea towel, Sam Beckbessinger will hold your hand in this end-to-end guide to moving from South Africa to the land of tabloids, tweed and terrible weather. Inside, you'll find helpful tips, funny anecdotes and thorough to-do lists to keep you on track. This guide covers everything from the practicalities of finding a job and a place to live, equipping you with everything you need to know about fitting in on this weird, adorable island.”

For clever, intricate thrills with well-developed characters and plots that are quick reads, Ruth Ware delivers, and hopefully Zero Days will see her do so again.

I always need a roast chicken book (not chicken soup for souls — I don't particularly like chicken soup). It’s that comforting, satisfying read you know will deliver. Ann Patchett’s offering, Tom Lake, comes out this month. Set in spring 2020, “Lara’s three daughters return to the family's orchard in Northern Michigan. While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the story of Peter Duke, a famous actor with whom she shared both a stage and a romance years before at a theatre company called Tom Lake. As Lara recalls the past, her daughters examine their own lives and relationship with their mother, and are forced to reconsider the world and everything they thought they knew. Tom Lake is a meditation on youthful love, married love, and the lives parents have led before their children were born. Both hopeful and elegiac, it explores what it means to be happy even when the world is falling apart.” Aah, sounds lovely.

Another big hitter is two-time Pulitzer prize-winner Colson Whitehead with Crook Manifesto, his sequel to Harlem Shuffle. We are back in the world of furniture store owner and ex-fence Ray Carney. Now it’s the ’70s and the city is under siege with Harlem burning block by block. How will Ray survive this dangerous decade?

For clever, intricate thrills with well-developed characters and plots that are quick reads, Ruth Ware delivers, and hopefully Zero Days will see her do so again. I have, sob, given this to a reviewer, so have not had a chance to look at it yet, but the blurb indicates it could be a solid cat-and-mouse thriller: “Hired by companies to break into buildings and hack security systems, Jack and her husband Gabe are the best penetration specialists in the business. But after a routine assignment goes horribly wrong, Jack arrives home to find her husband dead. It soon becomes clear that the police have only one suspect in mind, her. Jack must go on the run to try to clear her name and find her husband’s real killer. But who can she trust.”

Another solid mystery writer is Clare Mackintosh. Her A Game of Lies is set on a Welsh mountain where seven reality show contestants have no idea what they've signed up for. Each of these strangers has a secret. If another player can guess the truth, they won't just be eliminated, they'll be exposed live on air. The stakes are higher than they'd ever imagined — they're trapped and will be killed one by one.

If you are one of those souls who can’t exist without poetry, then check out Tiger Work by Ben Okri. I have not received it, so cannot summarise, so the somewhat confusing blurb will have to do: “If we continue to live as we do now, Ben Okri argues in this evocative collection, there will be no world left for us to fix. Okri imagines messages, sent to us from beyond the end, from those who saw it coming from Africa, Europe, the Americas and the rest of the world, exhorting us to change now. This is a collection comprising two poems and six prose pieces, three short stories, an essay, a letter, and an interview. It has Ben's classic blend of storytelling, fantasy and magic.” Happy August reading!