Clare Houston
Official website of South African author,
BOOKS
An Unquiet Place
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Hannah Harrison has escaped her stalled life in Cape Town for a fresh start, working in a small-town bookshop in the picturesque Eastern Free State. In a dusty box of old books she discovers a journal: an account of life in a concentration camp written by Rachel Badenhorst, a girl separated from her family in the South African War. Captivated by the girl's courage and endurance, Hannah is compelled to uncover what happened to Rachel. But she doesn't foresee that her interest will stir up the more recent grief of local farmer Alistair Barlow, and older losses that carry on the air and lie hidden in the ground.
Clare Houston's An Unquiet Place unearths a counterweight to sadness: that love and kindness can bolster our resilience as we look for ways to soothe the past.
Titanium Beneath
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Ali Rose sees the world in black and white, from her righteous job in conservation to the relationships she keeps at arm’s length. When Austrosands, a large titanium mining company, forges ahead without proper permissions, she decides to brave the steamrolling corporate.
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She, like her father, fights fiercely for the last wild places but the war is brutal and corrupt. Ali must call in all her favours and put her life on the line to untangle the truth of her father’s death.
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Titanium Beneath is set on the KwaZulu Natal coast of South Africa where protected dunes are mined for titanium ore. The novel fields a protagonist who battles the possibility of love to avoid the inevitability of loss, in a beautiful country that is anything but tame.
The Magic Bat
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Mickey has no cricket kit and his mom, a single parent, cannot afford a new one. In a local charity shop, Mr Chetty persuades him to buy second hand kit and a bat. But this isn't any old bat, says Mr Chetty, this bat belonged to the South African legend, Jacques Kallis. This, is a magic bat. When Mickey next plays a match, he finds he can hit any ball; he just can't miss with this bat. But is it really magic? And does it make any difference when things in Mickey's life get tough?
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Winner of the 2017 MML Literature Award
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"Both boys and girls will relate to the theme of overcoming odds...readers will love it" - Lesley Beake, judge of the MML Literature Award
IN THE PRESS
About An Unquiet Place
So masterful is Houston's writing that at the end readers will likely be inspired to research our history
- Sunday Times
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There are layers of secrets in our history and Houston's novel peels back the onion skin of our complicated past. the revelation at the end stuns and intrigues, and will, I hope, lead to further unpeeling
- Business Day
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The mystery surrounding Rachel reminded me of the compulsion I felt to find out more about Boo Radley in Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird and, just like in the American classic, Houston delivers a delicious and satisfying twist at the end.
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- The Witness
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BIO
Clare grew up in Pietermaritzburg, an historically Victorian town which has become a vibrant African city in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. She trained as a teacher and went on to teach in London, Pietermaritzburg, Cape Town and Polokwane. During this time she studied further and read an honours degree in Educational Linguistics from UKZN and then a masters degree in Applied Language Studies from UCT.
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Clare is married to Peter, an Anglican minister, and has two children. She has been a passionate reader and writer since childhood but began writing novels when her daughter was born. Her first children's book, The Magic Bat, was the winner of the Maskew Miller Longman 2017 Literature Award for English fiction.
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She currently lives in near Durban, teaching English in a local high school and keeping up with a busy family.
