Crooked Seeds

‘This is an extraordinary novel. It is shattering, almost bearable, yet—so good, so clear—it is unputdownable.’ * Roddy Doyle *
‘Karen Jennings’ Crooked Seeds has a moral and psychological precision that sharpens its examination of apartheid’s legacy, and affects a bleak study, unsparing but compassionate, of a character broken by trauma.’ * Age, Pick of the Week *
‘The open-ended conclusion leaves readers with much to ponder about South Africa’s painful history and the stories Deirdre has told herself to survive. There are no easy answers in Jennings’s knotty narrative.’ * Publishers Weekly *
‘Deidre’s the kind of character who gets under your skin: furious, flawed and utterly unique. Jennings writes about broken people with unflinching honesty and deep compassion. A quietly devastating novel.’ * Jan Carson, author of The Raptures *
‘Karen Jennings is a modern master of the castaway novel. Her characters are often exiled from the world—physically or psychologically, sometimes both. Crooked Seeds’ Deidre and Trudy are unforgettable characters living on the margins of life. Together they make this an unsparing, yet profoundly beautiful novel.’ * Chigozie Obioma *
‘The past comes back to haunt a woman whose life is deteriorating in this powerful new novel from [South African] Booker Prize-longlisted author Jennings….With evocative prose and an apocalyptic setting, Jennings brings these complicated women to life while the world around them slowly crumbles. Readers will be captivated by this compelling novel about the corrosive power of family secrets.’ * Booklist *
‘Jennings writes cleanly and crisply. Her brusque, unfiltered treatment of uncomfortable subject-matter is redolent of fellow South African author, Marlene van Niekerk. Structured around short chapters, Crooked Seeds is a pacy read, but with plenty of substance for pondering. She allows the mystery that underpins the narrative to unfold organically, and leaves just enough questions unanswered to keep the story lingering long after the final page. This is simply a sensational piece of writing.’ * GLAM Adelaide *
‘An astonishing, beautifully written novel.’ * Gleebooks *
‘An extraordinary story. Absolutely brilliant and proof again…that fiction can tell us more about our human condition than most journalism can…It’s an amazing book with an incredible story at the heart of it.’ * Michael Brissenden, ABC RN: The Book Shelf *
‘Crooked Seeds is masterful in its intent and execution and with it, Karen Jennings joins the ranks of South Africa’s great writers.’ * Sarah L’Estrange, ABC Arts *
‘5 stars. This searing psychodrama grabs you by the throat.’ * SA Weekend *
‘[Crooked Seeds] stood out for its uncompromising vision: focusing on a bitter, broken white woman in post-apartheid South Africa, it fearlessly works difficult seams of entitlement and collective guilt.’ * Guardian, Best Books of 2024 *
‘As short as it is devastating—a perfect match for our own bleak era, and a testament to the power of fiction to help us understand our own suffering, and our own sins. Of particular note: Jennings’ elegant use of nature’s depletion to underscore the moral failures of the self.’ * CrimeReads *

Karen Jennings is a South African writer. Her novel An Island was longlisted for the Booker Prize in 2021, and her follow-up was longlisted for The Women’s Prize in 2025. She currently lectures at North-West University.

She received the K. Sello Duiker Memorial Award in 2021 and has won the Africa Region Prize of the Commonwealth Short Story Competition. Karen founded The Island Prize for unpublished African authors to help them achieve global publication. Now in its fifth year, the prize has assisted authors from across the continent.

This item is eligible for free returns within 30 days of delivery. See our returns policy for further details.