The Unclassed

Written when George Gissing was a struggling unknown novelist in his mid-twenties, this sprawling work of Victorian realism and romance is an ambitious achievement that far exceeds the author's age and experience. The novel centers on friends Osmond Waymark and Julian Casti, both part of the bohemian literary intelligentsia of the era. Waymark has plans and strong ideals, but his path forward in life is hindered by the fact that he's torn between two very different women.

Makhosazana Xaba, with several collections and anthologies to her name, is at the forefront of a poetry that embraces penetrating socio-political insight with highly emotional responses to the love and pain that our country provides in such abundance.