Autobiography: general Books

Book SynopsisFew people have the opportunity to change the face of modern medicine. However, Raymond Moody achieved precisely this with the publication in 1975 of Life After Life, which introduced the phrase 'near death experience' (NDE) into popular use. In that bestseller, Dr Moody researched what happens when we die, including the amazing stories of those who have had out-of-body experiences and witnessed the afterlife for themselves. And he has remained at the forefront of investigations into the paranormal ever since. Now, at long last, he has decided to share his discoveries and the story of his own unusual life in this gripping account. Searingly honest and extremely engaging, in Paranormal Dr Moody recalls his pioneering research into NDEs, reincarnation and ghosts. He also exorcises many of his own demons, revealing the trials and tribulations that have beset him personally - nearly driving him to suicide. The autobiography of a truly extraordinary life, Paranormal makes for compulsive reading.Trade Reviewfascinating and heartwarming -- Jeffrey Long, author of Evidence of the AfterlifeThrilling and inspiring...Anyone who is not grateful for Moody's immense contribution to human welfare ought to check his pulse -- Larry Dossey, author of Healing Beyond the BodyMoody's pioneering activities have...helped millions of people to understand and accept these special states of consciousness -- Pim Van Lommel, author of Consciousness Beyond LifeA lucid, engrossing memoir from a psychologist and philosopher dedicated to the afterlife. . . . The supernatural undertones saturating the narrative are dwarfed by an overwhelming sense that this eccentric visionary just might be on to something . . . the fascinating life story of an impassioned mystical maverick. * Kirkus Reviews *

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Book SynopsisMary Beard's by now famous blog A Don's Life has been running on the TLS website for nearly three years. In it she has made her name as a wickedly subversive commentator on the world in which we live. Her central themes are the classics, universities and teaching -- and much else besides. What are academics for? Who was the first African Roman emperor? Looting -- ancient and modern. Are modern exams easier? Keep lesbos for the lesbians. Did St Valentine exist? What made the Romans laugh? That is just a small taste of this selection (and some of the choicer responses) which will inform, occasionally provoke and cannot fail to entertain.Trade ReviewDelightful ... it has the virtues of brevity, eclecticism and learning worn lightly ... Beard is a very funny and penetrating commentator on academic life - and has a fantastic knack for controversy. If they'd had Mary Beard on their side back then, the Romans would still have their empire -- Sam Leith * Daily Mail *Enjoyable ... Beard is an exuberant communicator -- Dinah Birch * Observer *Sharply observed, often hilarious slices of academic life -- Charlotte Higgins * Guardian *Beard's studies of bygone times are infused with a peppering of wit that is unusual in an academic work, but given free rein here -- Julian Fleming * Sunday Business Post *This collection of her posts is pithy and engaging. The casual, humorous tone is seemingly informal. But the rhythm and cadence of the short blog have been honed to a fine art ... Beard remains self-deprecatory, invigoratingly sane and zestful -- Frances Spalding * Independent *The marvellously educative, hilarious It's a Don's Life by Mary Beard, the blogging queen -- Jane Gardam * Daily Telegraph *Beard has a spry, pithy, conversational style ... a diverting read -- Edmund Gordon * Sunday Times *Well-written, in short column-length bursts, it's the thinking person's loo book -- Alastair Mabbott * Glasgow Herald *It's a Don's Life is, by turns, enlightening, funny, outrageous * Weekend Australian *

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Book SynopsisAt the beginning of the 1990s, Linda Grant's mother, Rose, was diagnosed with Dementia. In Remind Me Who I Am, Again Linda Grant tells the story of Rose's illness and tries to reconstruct the history of their Jewish immigrant family, stalking them from Russia and Poland to New York and London. Writing with humour and great tenderness, Grant explores profound questions about memory, autonomy and identity, and asks if we can ever really know our parents.

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Book SynopsisVilla Diodati. 1816.In a villa on the shore of Lake Geneva, Lord Byron, Percy Shelley, and his young wife Mary, gathered for the summer. For three glittering months, this party of young bohemians would share their lives, charged with sexual and artistic tensions. It was a period of extraordinary creativity from which would emerge some of the masterworks of the Romantic period, including Frankenstein. But there were two other guests at the villa that summer, for whom the season would not be so rosy. With Byron came his young physician, John Polidori, a man with literary aspirations of his own. And joining Mary was her step-sister, the beautiful Claire Clairmont. For Byron and the Shelleys, their stay by the lake would serve to immortalise them in the annals of literary history. But for Claire and Polidori, the Swiss sojourn would scar them forever.Trade ReviewThe Vampyre Family is a thrilling tale about the pursuit of love, sex and fame. Andrew McConnell Stott provides a dual portrait of the Romantic spirit during its most intense period of creativity, and uncovers the emotional devastation that was left in its wake -- AMANDA FOREMAN, the bestselling author of Georgiana, Duchess of DevonshirePraise for The Pantomime Life of Joseph Grimaldi:'Brilliant . . . As a portrait of London life in all its mutinous and anarchic variety this book would be hard to beat * * Spectator * *A fast-paced rumbustious biography . . . Stott evokes both the dizzying excitement and the harshness of theatrical life -- Jenny Uglow * * Observer * *[A] great big Christmas pudding of a book, almost over-stuffed with rich and colourful life * * Guardian 'Book of the Week' * *Stott's dynamic dramatization grabs our attention, and we, too, as outsiders [like Claire and Polidori], are cannily lured into the poetic celebrity's inner circle * * Times Literary Supplement * *

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Book SynopsisAdapted from his extraordinary autobiography, Angels of Divine Light (Transworld, 2010), for the Open Door series of short books for emerging readers, Aidan Storey recalls how the presence of Angels sustained him through years of great turmoil. As he recalls the sexual and mental abuse he suffered in primary school, and the dark days of depression that followed, he describes how the Angels, through the power of angelic healing, taught him how to bring light and love into his life and the lives of many others. Profoundly moving, this is an inspiring story of hope and forgiveness, and a testament to the healing power of Angels that will stay with you for ever.

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Book SynopsisIf anyone has ever wondered what happens in the engine room when the Captain on the bridge rings 'Full Ahead' on the telegraph then this book will enlighten the reader. This is a story of one man's life at sea, from his beginnings as a lowly cadet to his qualification as a Chief Engineer. There are many anecdotes about his experiences - some amusing and some terrifying - together with pen portraits of a few of his fellow seafarers and the places he visited. In the Treacle Mine starts in the 1960s when steam power was still the preferred option for larger and more powerful ships but over the following decade, the availability of ever more powerful and more fuel-efficient, diesel engines sounded the death knell for steam propulsion. Now there are only a few preserved steamships left as a reminder of how things used to be down below in the 'treacle mine', which was how Geordie marine engineers described the engine-room. Despite the fact that steam power has disappeared from everyday use, there are still a great many enthusiasts from all walks of life who are prepared to give up their spare time to ensure that steam lives on. This dedication means that heritage steam railways, steam traction engines and even the occasional preserved steamship, can continue to operate and give pleasure to millions of visitors every year. One whole chapter is devoted to a voyage with an 'up and downer' (a steam reciprocating engine) and although the remaining steamers were all turbine vessels which may lack the same visual appeal, there will still be much that will be of interest to any steam enthusiast. Following his experiences with steam, the author eventually began working on motor ships but these were also not without incident and there is much in this book that will spark the interest of anyone who enjoys stories of the sea and seafarers.

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Book SynopsisBrenda Bullock, brought up on a council housing estate in Sheldon, holds up a mirror to Birmingham in the 1940s and 1950s: she tells of the games played then in the streets: hopscotch, queenie, marbles, skipping, roller skating. She takes us back to school life during and after the war, to what it was like to be sick before the advent of the NHS and antibiotics; the struggle to make ends meet and find enough food to put on the table; the pawn shop, hiding from the rentman - all the experiences shared by so many children of the '40s and '50s, all illustrated by line drawings of the old Birmingham landmarks by architect, Matthew Bullock.

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Book SynopsisThe letters of a young doctor who was sent to a remote hospital in Bangladesh in the years following its war of independence. They describe the day-to-day life of the hospital, its ups and downs, its triumphs and disasters. Through these challenging circumstances, he discovers a new experience of the presence of God.

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Book SynopsisIn Down to Earth, Nancy Cooper gives us a glimpse into the real life of a seventeen year old young woman who is recruited into the Women’s Land Army in 1943. It is a big change from her life at Old Hill in the Black Country, and a welcome escape from the secretarial training that she was desperate to avoid. She soon found herself living alone, far from home and working on several farms. She managed to milk 30 cows, working alone, as she did her part in providing the country with enough food in the shortages both during and after WWII. At one farm she cared for a yard full of pigs, who cunningly tried to outwit her attempts to share their food out. Dealing with unfairly jealous wives, strange billeting arrangements with a nocturnal visitor and rats everywhere were also ways in which Nancy’s resourcefulness was tested. There is now a memorial to honour the work of the Women’s Land Army at the National Arboretum in Staffordshire. If you go to see it you will notice that the rats have got in on this as well!

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Book SynopsisBrought up in a large family living in a council house in the Stechford area of postwar Birmingham, David Prosser's childhood was not easy, he knew hardships and hunger, wearing worn out clothes and pumps with holes in. But, along with his best friend Trevor, David enjoyed the freedom of his youth with nearby fields, trees to climb, a river to play in and lots of places to explore. Times were hard so they did anything they could to make money: running errands for neighbours, carrying bags of coal on their backs, spending many hours on the tip collecting scrap metal and collecting rags from door to door to sell for pennies. Just two Brummie lads getting by on their wits trying to earn enough to pay for sweets, trips to the swimming baths and the cinema.

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Book SynopsisSofka Zinovieff had fallen in love with Greece as a student, but little suspected that years later she would return for good with an expatriate Greek husband and two young daughters. This book is a wonderfully fresh, funny and inquiring account of her first year as an Athenian. The whole family have to get to grips with their new life and identities: the children start school and tackle a new language, and Sofka's husband, Vassilis, comes home after half a lifetime away. Meanwhile, Sofka resolves to get to know her new city and become a Greek citizen, which turns out to be a process of Byzantine complexity. As the months go by, Sofka's discovers how memories of Athens' past haunt its present in its music, poetry and history. She also learns about the difficult art of catching a taxi, the importance of smoking, the unimportance of time-keeping, and how to get your Christmas piglet cooked at the baker's.

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Book SynopsisWhen Adrian Hayter set out single-handed from Lymington, England on his thirty-two-foot Albert Strange-designed yawl Sheila II, local betting was seven to one that he would get no further than the English Channel. His destination was New Zealand, and the odds were definitely against him. In 1949 perhaps only eight people had sailed solo around the world, and single-handed long-distance sailing voyages were rare. Adrian, then thirty-four, was a soldier, not a sailor. In the previous decade he had been a close observer of the Partition of India and fought as a soldier in the Second World War and the Malayan Emergency. The latter, Britain’s brutal reaction to the Communist uprising of 1948, had driven his decision to sail halfway around the world, single-handed. More than sixty years later, and in the thirtieth anniversary year of Adrian’s death, Lodestar Books is republishing the story of that voyage, Sheila in the Wind, first published by Hodder and Stoughton in 1959. As a sailor, Adrian recounts his foray into celestial navigation, a back-street appendix operation in India, armed escort by Indonesian authorities at sea, and eating barnacles off the hull to avoid starvation. As a writer he is trying to make sense of the humanitarian disasters that brought him to this voyage. Sheila in the Wind is more than a report of a 13,000-mile adventure; it’s a story of the human spirit.

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Book SynopsisAs a trained nurse, newly married to the son of the Governor of Rhodesia during the UDI years, Susan writes compellingly about bringing up a family on their farm in Matabeleland in the midst of the unfolding terror and growing number of atrocities. Above all it is a human story. Sometimes shocking and always moving, there is also warmth and humour as Susan creates a gripping picture of the conflict and tells of her family's survival when many of her friends and neighbouring farmers didn't. The book is a testament to the courage displayed by so many people who were tested day after day by almost unimaginable horrors. The Litany Bird is the popular name of the Nightjar, a largely nocturnal bird found throughout southern Africa. Its haunting call sounds like 'Good Lord, Deliver Us.'Trade ReviewThis is a moving book, calmly written despite the horrors it details. The Spectator Susan Gibbs's extraordinary memoir. She writes vividly about her love of Africa and its people, and it is impossible not to admire her courage. Her account is threaded with amusing anecdotes. Daily Mail Sue Gibbs is a gifted writer. She tells a compelling personal story of bringing up a family on a farm whilst living through the harrowing times as Rhodesia became Zimbabwe. It is a wonderfully evocative read. Tom Benyon OBE, Founder of ZANE Deeply moving. Douglas Hurd (Former Foreign Secretary) This book reminds us of the courage which they (the Gibbs) and so many of their friends and neighbours showed. Lord Carrington (Former Foreign Secretary) Sometimes a book can touch a part of the soul and for me, Call Of The Litany Bird is such a one. New Books Magazine One really does feel, as the book progresses, the deterioration in the situation and the worries and concerns both of the white farming community and the Africans who shared so much of their lives. The definitive account. Major General Colin Shortis (Former BMATT Commander in Zimbabwe) A heartfelt account of human endeavour to try and lead as normal and productive lives as possible throughout grave turmoil. New Africa Analysis This book is a gem. Robin Byatt CMG (British High Commissioner to Zimbabwe 1980 to 1983) There are not many books which cause me to cancel any thought of doing anything else just so I can get stuck in to them, but this one did it for me today. Go buy this book, you will not be disappointed. John Gaye (Blogger) This is an amazing story, told with modesty and without undue drama. Amazon ***** Review An elegant and easy style. Amazon ***** Review

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Book SynopsisMark Girouard has, he claims, scarcely ever thrown away a letter that he has received, and here he selects and reproduces 29 of them, ranging from his early childhood during the war to recent years, and uses them to characterise and memorialise their authors who range from the grand, the distinguished and the once or still famous, to the entirely ordinary, and from minor British gentry to Belgian monks, from American businessmen to African street traders. In the process a selective autobiography emerges as he discusses his relationship with this diverse crowd, and at the same time he paints a riveting picture of Bohemian cultural life in post-war Britain and Ireland. And the point of it all is that friendship has nothing at all to do with fame, success or wealth, but entirely with that sudden click of reciprocity, or pleasure in companionship, that makes life worth living. So the reader can savour walks with John Betjeman through the ruins of blitzed London, or with Denys Lasdun through the concrete dramas of the National Theatre; be regaled with stories about the Gorbals by Ruby Milton, champion child dancer from Glasgow; eat disgusting rook pie off Bourbon gold plate with the Duke of Wellington; be touched by the surprising love life of Sir John Summerson, loftiest of scholars; grieve at the decline of Mariga Guiness, gifted, drunken and loveable queen of the Irish Georgians; and hear how a Chelsea landlady modelled half-naked for the figure of Fame riding her chariot on top of the arch at Hyde Park Corner, and myriad other life stories, poignant, moving and compelling in turn.

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Book SynopsisCelia Wells always felt like an outsider. Her unconventional early life was shaped by her Communist Party parents, she grew up as `town' not `gown' in Oxford, surrounded by books but living in a council house. She has uncovered an intriguing backstory with a bigamous grandmother, a convicted forger cousin transported to Australia in the 1840s, and the rise and fall of landed gentry. The author describes her parents' bohemian friends and their coded language and uses their original wartime correspondence to produce a picture of a fascinating heritage which ran against the grain and shaped an inquiring mind. A Woman in Law shows how the post-war political landscape provided opportunities for women yet failed to shift many entrenched advantages of gender and class. Tracing the rocky path to becoming Cardiff University's first female law professor, the author shows how her distinctive academic research led to different approaches to teaching criminal law as well as contributing to key reforms described in the book. As she asserts, `I wanted to write about my rather confused political and cultural background, and to relate it to my professional and personal life, to my academic writing, to my relationships, and my beliefs, my experiences of suicide and addiction in my close family.'Trade Review'Well written and beautifully composed in terms of the strands [the author] interweaves so successfully'-- Andrew Ashworth CBE; 'Beautifully written and searingly honest ... a rare resource ... emotionally articulate and deeply considered'--Nicola LaceyTable of ContentsForeword Nicola Lacey. Introduction. Part 1 - THE ACCIDENTAL COMMUNISTS - Getting Started; Class, Gender and Politics; Families - My Bigamous Grandmother; Social and Economic Transitions; Communism and the Carritt Connection; After the War; The Not So Secret Life of a Seven-year-old; Town and Gown; PART 2 - LIFE, LAW AND FEMINISM - Becoming a Woman; Becoming a Law Professor; Law and Life; A Woman Law Professor; Collisions - Expectations, Enabling and Endings; Where Did I Come From? To Oxford via Wolf Hall, St Pancras and Essex. References and bibliography. Appendix 1 - Women Law Professors - Negotiating and Transcending Gender Identities at Work; Appendix 2 - The Decline and Rise of English Murder: Corporate Crime and Individual Responsibility; Index.

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Book SynopsisThe much awaited second helping of Mary J. MacLeod’s tales of ‘Papavray’ in the 1970s and her experiences as the island’s district nurse, culminating in her move to a very different new life in California.Mary J.’s anecdotes of life on a remote island in the Scottish Hebrides brim with charm, humour and common sense. She shares heartwarming and amusing tales of crofters and ceilidhs, pesky cows and stubborn drivers, treacherous bogs and a suspected haunting, but also the deeply sad story of a desperate mother and a baby’s untimely death.For the district nurse, human tragedy, joy and laughter are all in a days’ work.Trade ReviewIf the TV companies are looking for the next Heartbeat, it can be found in the windswept coasts of Papavray– THE DAILY RECORDThis lively and heartening memoir evokes both the hardships and the humour of island life.– THE SCOTSMANHer stories will ring true with every nurse — or anyone — who has ever cared for a family or community– LEANN THIEMANN, author of Chicken Soup for the Nurse’s Soul

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Book SynopsisA wry, intelligent, and unputdownable look at class and national identity today. Alberto Prunetti arrives in the UK, the twenty-something-year-old son of a Tuscan factory worker who has never left home before. With only broken English, his wits, and an obsession with the work of George Orwell to guide him, he sets about looking for a job and navigating his new home. In between long, hot shifts in pizzerias and cleaning toilets up and down the country, he finds his place among the British precariat. His comrades form a polyglot underclass, among them an ex-addict cook, a cleaner in love with opera, an elderly Shakespearean actor, Turks impersonating Neapolitans to serve pizzas, and a cast of petty criminals ‘resting’ between bigger jobs. Stuck between a past haunted by Thatcher and a future dominated by Brexit, Down and Out in England and Italy is a hilarious and poignant snapshot of life on the margins in modern-day Britain.Trade Review‘A hallucinatory and savage account of modern working life. Both surreal and instantly recognisable.’ -- Jeff Sparrow, author of No Way But This and Trigger Warnings‘Raw, mischievous, funny, and vulgar … engaging.’ -- John Mulqueen * Irish Examiner *‘Humour and sarcasm abound in Prunetti’s slim, fast-paced account, but these do not lessen the anger and poignancy of his analysis of a society in which the workers are sacrificed at the altar of profit.’ -- Giglioa Sulis * TLS *‘Alberto Prunetti's scatalogical, sociological, phantasmagorical, novel Down and Out in England in Italy might have George Orwell spinning in his grave and chuckling in recognition at the kitchen workers, toilet cleaners, and children of miners and steel workers ... A deep poignancy here too.’ -- Anthony Cartwright, author of How I Killed Margaret Thatcher‘So funny and full of swagger ... a joy.’ -- Cash Carraway, author of Skint Estate‘Down and Out in England and Italy is funny, honest, and literary. Prunetti’s memoir reveals what life is really like for those in low-paid jobs around England while celebrating the bonds that exist between the have-nots. All of this and the history of bolognese too!’ -- Paul McVeigh, author of The Good Son‘A very sweary, grizzled old Italian Lefty … The cast of characters around him is often superbly drawn.’ -- Will Heaven * Mail on Sunday *‘In the span of a year and a half (the period of time the author himself spent in the UK) Prunetti condenses three decades of neoliberalism, deindustrialisation, attacks on workers’ rights and their wages.’ -- Wu Ming 1/Luther Blissett, author of Q‘Alberto Prunetti is a brother to every dispossessed wage slave in the UK. This is what’s happening and it’s only getting worse. Prunetti writes like a cross between John Fante and Jason Williamson. Surreal, defiant, and very very funny.’ -- Howard Cunnell, author of The Painter’s Friend‘Move over Orwell. Down and Out in England and Italy is (first word to last) the most exciting book on working-class experience, casual labour, and serious love (and cost) of book-learning I've ever read. Funny, fierce. I want to read it aloud in public.’ -- Tanya Shadrick, author of The Cure for Sleep‘Increasingly imaginative, experimental, and polyphonic’ -- Federico Picerni * Journal of Comparative Literature and Aesthetics *‘Bitterly funny, lyrical, and often scatological … a foulmouthed, hallucinatory, and often surreal account of the contemporary landscape of class.’ -- John Merrick * Jacobin magazine *‘An urgent examination of class in a 21st-century context.’ * Happy Magazine *‘The book has a nightmarish Lovecraftian undertone — a creative ploy to underline the unspeakable horrors that workers today face under capitalism.’ -- Ivan Franceschini * Made in China Journal *‘A working-class story full of humour, misery, and solidarity.’ -- Angelo Boccato * Tribune *‘An emphasis on language, on dark humour, and critical observations makes [Down and Out in England and Italy] an enjoyable read.’ -- AM Robeson * Reading School Headmaster’s Bulletin *‘If you ever thought Down and Out in Paris and London would be a much better book if it was set in Bristol, Livorno, and Dorset and rewritten by a working class Italian communist with a taste for football, scatology, and codeine linctus — and who hasn’t — then is this the one for you.’ -- Owen Hatherley, author of Landscapes of Communism‘Poignant ... in the writing of his experiences, Prunetti finally finds his salvation, offering his readers some deeply uncomfortable glimpses into a world that it’s far cheerier not to contemplate too closely while tucking into that delicious pizza.’ -- Caroline Wyatt * Italian Riveter *‘The impetuousness and cheerfulness of the story go hand in hand with social indignation. This makes Prunetti’s novel not only unique but also extremely fun to read.’ -- Magnus Nilsson, editor of Working Class Literature(s)

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Book Synopsismicrobursts is a collection of hybrid, lyric essays about the places between life and death; memoir and poetry; making and letting go. Originally written by Reeder as an intense text-based collection of lyric and experimental essays responding to the illnesses and deaths of her parents, it confronts the raw emotions of crisis, grief and creativity. Through collaboration with Thomson, the project expanded to consider how design and visual intervention might alter the nature and impact of the text.The outcome is a book which explores the subjects of illness, crisis, creativity, caring, death and grief, alongside the aesthetic and formal concerns of cross-genre writing, including how image, formatting and text work together to create tension, understanding and pace, expanding the possibilities of the essay and the artist’s book.Formally audacious, linguistically fluid, sensitive and intricate in its visual presentation, microbursts uses the potential and elasticity of the essay form to explore intensely personal, yet universal, experiences and considers the ways in which we can express and communicate these through spatial and linguistic form. Crucially, it achieves these things effortlessly, with its accessible, poetic language and engaging narrative of family, love, care, grief, dying, death and creativity.

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Book Synopsis'Interesting. Fascinating. I wanted to hold Michelle's hand and say “We can do this"' - Louise Allen In 1972, Michelle Pearson gave up her son for adoption. As ‘one of those girls’, she was expected to hide her shame with secrecy. No one should ever find out she’d had a child. But she never forgot the son who was taken from her. In the years that followed she struggled with PTSD, traumatic memory loss, agoraphobia and anxiety – impacting every area of her life. This is Michelle’s story of love, loss and hope; of how over 50 years she has managed the consequences of living with her secret, survived the emotional pain, and finally, after being reunited with her son, the journey to rebuild their lives together.Trade Review'Michelle's story is powerful, deeply moving and the tip of the iceberg as far as the national scandal of forced adoption in Britain is concerned.' * Dr Michael Lambert *'Interesting. Fascinating. I wanted to hold Michelle's hand and say “We can do this"' * Louise Allen, author *

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Book Synopsis‘Next Time, Bring a Bigger Knife’ is an engaging, highly entertaining and often very funny memoir in which the writer takes us from his inner-city poverty in England to qualifying as a solicitor in the law before a chance encounter leads to his downfall involving sex and drugs. Poverty, followed by boarding-school, propels John on adventures at Oxford in the 1970s followed by a career in family law. A chance encounter with a beautiful woman leads to a decade of adventurous and unusual sexual encounters fuelled by every drug available. Multiple sexual partners, bondage and sex toys accompany drug dealers with knives, baseball bats and guns before John spends time in rehab and prison. He then organises events throughout the world before retiring to South Africa, where adventure continues to find him.Table of ContentsPrologue 9 Introduction 11 1. 1996 – Chester 15 2. 1950s – Liverpool – first memories 20 3. 1950s and 1960s – Liverpool and Jesuits 28 4. 1966–1971 – Ratcliffe College Leicester 39 5. 1996 – Chester Crown Court – above ground 46 6. 1972–1975 – Teddy Hall 53 7. 1974–1975 – Oxford 69 8. 1996 – Chester – below ground 87 9. 1976–1978 – Liverpool – articles 91 10. 1978 – Warrington 103 11. Family matters 107 12. 1980s – The Law – unbelievable sometimes 110 13. Warrington – the calm before the storm 117 14. 1980 – Warrington and cases 127 15. 1993 – The unexpected 136 16. 1994 – The mayonnaise test 139 17. 1996 – Walton prison 144 18. 1982 – Warrington – the unusual 155 19. Getting bored 164 20. 1988 – The atom bomb 167 21. A super butler 180 22. Virgin rail and a sex shop 185 23. Tri-sexual 196 24. Cocaine, acid, and chains 203 25. Addiction 215 26. The night people 220 27. The big deal with the Mancunium 231 28. 1996 – Rehab 240 29. 1996–1997 – Kirkham Preston 266 30. 1997 – Kirkham 277 31. 1997 – Standing up 292 32. 1998 – Public relations 297 33. 2001 – Champagne and caviar 302 34. 1999 – International event management consultant 311 35. The CEO 325 36. 2005 – Liverpool to Cape Town 328 37. 2005 – Red Cross hospital 345 38. 2006 – The orphanage 350 39. 2006 – McGregor 355 40. 2009 – Relationships 378 Epilogue: 2013–2022 – Greyton 390

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Book SynopsisFelicity Bryan was best known as one of Britain’s leading literary agents. She packed an extraordinary life with adventure, her many passions – literature, journalism, ballet and opera, art and gardening – and her deep friendships across the world. In the summer of 2019, she was diagnosed with terminal stomach cancer. True to character, she set about using her time well. Among her many activities during her final year, she wrote this memoir, which covers the period from when she left school in the early sixties to her marriage in 1981.

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Book SynopsisThe name Cliff Slade will be instantly recognised as a frequent and indefatigable correspondent to the Letters to the Editor columns. This book is written in the first person, as being most appropriate for someone who is speaking directly to his audience. This is a very personal journey in letters. It is touching and different insofar as it provides detailed insight into the life and mind of a man, the author, his relationships with his family and his take on local society, business, and politics. This is accomplished through the sharing of letters, only some of which have previously been published. However, this is not just a book of letters, along the lines of `The Times Great Letters’ as there is depth, emotion, pain, laughter, joy, sadness, and a progressive personal and emotional journey of accomplishment and enlightenment. Each correspondence is introduced, and most have accompanying explanations and information about the background and reason for each of the letters that have been included. Beginning with what motivated his writing, he reflects on his upbringing by delving into his childhood and the reasons that explain why he finds it easier to communicate through the written word, rather than verbally. An excellent sense of humour is clearly evident in the self-depreciatory letters written to the paper under a pseudonym and in his letters to himself. The account of when the author met his wife and their marriage, ups and downs and all, along with his thoughts about life as a parent and his children, is very touching in its openness and honesty. He doesn’t claim celebrity status and claims to be from an ordinary walk of life. In this remarkable book, Cliff shares his life and part of himself with the audience with a great deal of emotion. With an auto-biographical narrative, we are regularly moved from tears to amusement and back again.

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Book SynopsisBelieve in Them is the first-ever memoir of Luma Mufleh, the widely honoured founder and director of Fugees Family, a non-profit organisation devoted to child survivors of war. She tells her extraordinary story with the moving, inspirational force with which she delivered her TED talk, viewed over 1.8 million times. Herself a refugee, Luma fled from her native Jordan to the U.S. in fear for her life if she continued living in Jordan as a gay Muslim, leaving behind a family who had trouble accepting her when she came out as gay. One day, while driving through Georgia she took a wrong turn and noticed some boys playing football in the street. She discovered that they were refugees. The Fugees football team was created. Soon she was not just 'coach' but also friend and mentor to these children and their families. As time passed, it became clear to Luma that the Fugees needed more than just football coaching from her - they needed support, encouragement and education. "Don't feel sorry for them," were Mufleh's grandmother's words about refugee children to her young granddaughter. "Believe in them." And that is precisely what Mufleh has done.Trade Review"I highly encourage you to read Mufleh's wonderful memoir, Believe in Them. Mufleh is a gifted storyteller who delivers provocative, indelible portraits of student after student making leaps in learning that aren't supposed to be possible for children born into trauma." Malala Yousafzai, Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

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Book SynopsisMeet Jason: a college educated documentary film producer, cat parent of two, and one of San Francisco’s top drug dealers. After Jason’s world falls apart in LA, he moves to Berkeley for a fresh start with his kid brother. Just one problem: his long-closeted Adderall addiction has exploded into an out-of-control crystal meth binge. Within weeks, Jason plunges into the sprawling ParTy n’ ’Play subculture of the Bay Area’s gay community. It is a wildly decadent scene of drugs, group sex, and criminals, and yet it is also filled with surprising characters, people who are continually subverting Jason’s own presumptions of the stereotypical tweaker. Soon Jason becomes a dealer on the pretense of researching this tweaker world for a project that will carry him, like a life raft, back to the shores of a normal life. But his friendly entrepreneurial spirit and trusting disposition disarm clients and rival dealers alike. The money begins to roll in as demand increases to frightening levels. Suddenly, Jason is in control of the entire crystal meth market for San Francisco’s gay community, even as he finds himself nodding off behind the wheel of his car, or walking down the sidewalk. As friends and family work frantically to steer him towards recovery, Jason resists, chasing something else: a sleepless nirvana fueled by sex, drugs, and the Tweakerworld. With painful honesty, Jason Yamas has crafted a landmark narrative that is not just a personal account of addiction, but a portrait of a vulnerable, largely undocumented community of people who, for many reasons, have been marginalized to the point of invisibility.

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Book SynopsisThe product of cruel parents in Rhyl, this born rebel’s escape was a long time coming. But once it was engineered, the road that opened up took him from North Wales to the high seas to Disney World Florida (thrown out, naturally), to undercover work in Northern Ireland and, ultimately, counter-insurgency in the likes of Abu Dhabi, Uganda and Otterton, a previously peaceful village in Devon! Brutally beaten as a child – and attempting suicide at the age of twelve – he somehow retired as a multi-millionaire, but not before carving an equally remarkable trail through locations as diverse as deepest Dartmoor, Bogside, Kampala and the City of London, in the company of a colourful cast of characters. Featuring a lively array of mind-boggling adventures, the majority laced with dark humour, Ultimate Survivor tells a story like no other. It is an X-rated tale of warship sieges, sexual abuse, hair-raising IRA ambushes, a death-defying run-in with notorious Sinn Fein politician Martin McGuinness, military coups, encounters with celebrity and a job as bodyguard to Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia. You are unlikely to have read a memoir quite like this one. All profits from the sale of this book will be donated to Military Mental Health and Vulnerable Children

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Book SynopsisHow she managed a husband and two children is a mystery, although she acknowledges various helpers, always bringing them to life in fascinating detail. Many vignettes of people have been described in a manner not to be forgotten.

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Book SynopsisHe relives the battle he waged on behalf of lyricists and music composers in Parliament, the intense internal struggle to overcome the difficulties that built up in the wake of fame and money, and the many strands that wove through his relentless pursuit of excellence.

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Book SynopsisHaben grew up spending summers with her family in the enchanting Eritrean city of Asmara. There, she discovered courage as she faced off against a bull she couldn't see, and found in herself an abiding strength as she absorbed her parents' harrowing experiences during Eritrea's thirty-year war with Ethiopia. Their refugee story inspired her to embark on a quest for knowledge, traveling the world in search of the secret to belonging. She explored numerous fascinating places, including Mali, where she helped build a school under the scorching Saharan sun. Her many adventures over the years range from the hair-raising to the hilarious.Haben defines disability as an opportunity for innovation. She learned non-visual techniques for everything from dancing salsa to handling an electric saw. She developed a text-to-braille communication system that created an exciting new way to connect with people. Haben pioneered her way through obstacles, graduated from Harvard Law, and now uses her talents to advocate for people with disabilities.HABEN takes readers through a thrilling game of blind hide-and-seek in Louisiana, a treacherous climb up an iceberg in Alaska, and a magical moment with President Obama at The White House. Warm, funny, thoughtful, and uplifting, this captivating memoir is a testament to one woman's determination to find the keys to connection.

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Book SynopsisIn the summers of the early 1970s, Morris Ardoin and his siblings helped run their family's roadside motel in a hot, buggy, bayou town in Cajun Louisiana. Theirs is a tale of suspense, awkward romance, naughty French lessons, and an insider's take on a truly remarkable, not-yet-homogenized pocket of American culture.Trade ReviewIts details impressive, Stone Motel is a layered memoir, both nostalgic and forthright in recalling family struggles." - Laura Leavitt, Foreword Reviews"One of the three best gay biography books of all time." - bookauthority.org"Morris Ardoin knew he had to escape the hostile world into which he was born before he could find himself as a gay man. He succeeded in this quest, only to discover, as this brave, complex memoir makes clear, that his past remains an inextricable part of the person he has become." - Daniel Burr, The Gay & Lesbian Review"Focusing on tradition, family, and food, Morris Ardoin’s Stone Motel will resonate with those searching for personal identity in an unaccepting time or place. Intensely personal and incredibly emotional, there is a sense of victory in his survival." - Valerie J. Andrews, School of Communication and Design, Loyola University New Orleans"Stone Motel is much more than a memoir; it is a meditation on the intersection of place and identity. Ardoin elevates the classic coming-of-age story to an art form with authenticity and wisdom, all the while never wandering too far from his Cajun roots." - Frank Perez, author of Treasures of the Vieux Carré and other books about New Orleans

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Book Synopsis Graffiti-covered industrial concrete ruins are all that remain today to remind us of the lives, adventures, and human relationships that once animated Bauer, Utah. Located just south of Tooele, across the Oquirrh Mountains west of the Salt Lake Valley, Bauer was abandoned in 1979 and declared a toxic waste site. The Book of Bauer: Stories from a Forgotten Town brings it back to life, evoking mid-twentieth century family and community in that company town as seen through the eyes of an observant adolescent boy. Presenting a dramatic snapshot of life in Bauer in narrative autobiographical form, the book recalls the fate of hundreds of derelict mining towns throughout the mountain and sagebrush West. With vivid prose and intimate observation, The Book of Bauer offers an unparalleled memoir of small-town life in Utah and the Great Basin. Trade Review "Pull up your easy chair, open The Book of Bauer: Stories from a Forgotten Town, and give yourself over to Stephen Lottridge. Soon you will fall under the soothing cadence of Lottridge’s storytelling. You will be drawn into his world, your senses will be filled, your curiosity awakened, and likely your own memories will be stirred as he relates his."—Tina Welling, author of Writing Wild: Forming a Creative Partnership with Nature "A beautifully written, deeply felt, and profoundly moving portrait of a family during one difficult year in a desolate, desecrated western town not long after the end of the Second World War. It is a vividly detailed chronicle of their challenges and satisfactions, of their quiet joys and sorrows and strengths that, at least for a time, held them together. The Book of Bauer is a poignant American story that should not be forgotten."—Joel Lafayette Fletcher III, author of With Hawks and Angels: Episodes from a Southern Life "These stories not only conjure a town that might have otherwise disappeared, they also bring back a way of growing up with curiosity for place and an eagerness to discover. Their spare language evokes circumstances that, although arid and sparsely inhabited, provide the materials necessary for a young man to emerge into his life with a clarity of imagination and conviction that might give some guidance for how to find our way through this fragmented world. The Book of Bauer is an act of remembrance that invites us to consider what of of our own past, if lost, leaves us diminished, and how we also might revive it."—Matt Daly, author of Between Here and Home “The descriptions are vivid, often humorous and compassionate, and unusually thoughtful, even wise. To read the collection at the personal memoir level is delightful, as Stephen S. Lottridge is a confident memoirist and storyteller.”—Audrey M. Kleinsasser, University of Wyoming “Stephen S. Lottridge has produced a readable and thought-provoking account of events, relationships, and remembered impressions from residence in the long-defunct mining town of Bauer from August 1950 to August 1951.”—Edward A. Geary, Brigham Young University

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Book Synopsis'Someone has written that all art aspires to the condition of music. My experience is that all art, including all music, aspires to the condition of horse-racing.' This collection of essays leads the reader into the searching and wildly fertile imagination of Gerald Murnane, one of the masters of contemporary Australian writing, author of the classics Border Districts and Tamarisk Row, and winner of the Patrick White Literary Award. He writes of himself: as a boy making racehorses of his marbles, an obsession shared with Jack Kerouac; as a writer, working his first ten years in secret; as a reader, trying to understand the mystery of the right sentence by way of Virginia Woolf and Robert Frost; as a teacher, exploring the endless ways in which words can express the contours of our thoughts. From these vantage points Murnane sees the worlds of significance that lie within, or just beyond, the everyday details of Australian life. Carrying the reader with him across the valleys, plains and grasslands of his mind, this singular author creates an immersive landscape in which every word has its own space, shape and weight.Trade Review`As a writer, Murnane is [thus] a radical idealist' J.M. Coetzee ----`Strange and wonderful and nearly impossible to describe.' New York Times ---- `Murnane, a genius, is a worthy heir to Beckett.' Teju Cole

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Book Synopsis''With characteristic self-effacement, she puts the escapades of charismatic animals ahead of her own feelings.'' The Guardian.When George Mottershead moved to the village of Upton-by-Chester in 1930 to realise his dream of opening a zoo without bars, his four-year-old daughter June had no idea how extraordinary her life would become. Soon her best friend was a chimpanzee called Mary, lion cubs and parrots were vying for her attention in the kitchen, and finding a bear tucked up in bed was no more unusual than talking to a tapir about granny''s lemon curd. Pelican, penguin or polar bear - for June, they were simply family. The early years were not without their obstacles for the Mottersheads. They were shunned by the local community, bankruptcy threatened and then World War Two began. Nightly bombing raids turned the dream into a nightmare and finding food for the animals became a constant challenge. Yet George''s resilience, r

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“However revealing Union is on her feed, she’s even more so on the page. Blurring the line between public and private, many chapters in You Got Anything Stronger? hinge on the very act of disclosure, the moments where Union relatably brings social media more in line with real life” — New York Times “You Got Anything Stronger? continues the project of unshackling. It’s soul-baring work.” — Washington Post "Heartfelt, vulnerable, witty, and sincere." — CNN “Union deftly writes about the life-changing diagnosis that led her to surrogacy as a path to moth­erhood; the impact of cracking open her family’s life for all to see; and how she discovered who she is beyond others’ projections. . . She makes you wish she were your best friend, her number saved in your favorites—a kindred spirit always ready to share real talk over a round of shots.” — Essence “In so many ways, You Got Anything Stronger? is about digging deeper into the genre of celebrity memoir—literally giving us something more potent—because Union is honest without crossing her own boundaries of privacy, passionate about social issues without being condescending, and owns up to her own mistakes and struggles while maintaining a really radiant and admirable self-love throughout the book.” — Shondaland "In her follow-up to her debut memoir, We’re Going to Need More Wine, actor and writer Gabrielle Union picks up where she left off, delving deep into her journey to conceive daughter Kaavia, her experience as a stepmom, and the rest — ugly, beautiful, and in-between. Break out the liquor, folks, because you’re going to want a stiff drink to go with this dish." — Bustle “You Got Anything Stronger? is a boundary-pushing, self-discovery inducing lesson on vulnerability” — Parade Even more open and relatable than her first. This time around the actor and author is opening up about her surrogacy journey, fighting against racial inequality in Hollywood, and her iconic Bring It On character, Isis. Grab a glass of your drink of choice and settle in, because reading Union's essays is every bit as satisfying as a nice, long chat with your best friend. — Popsugar Funny, tender, and so good. — Mindy Kaling, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Why Not Me? These essays are brimming with veracity, humor, and daring sincerity that becomes contagious. In depictions of motherhood, Hollywood, and even the most devastating realities, Union keeps a remarkably steady hand; she speaks with the warmth of a late night phone call. — Kiley Reid, New York Times bestselling author of Such a Fun Age This is an absolute must-read. Gabrielle doesn’t just open up—she opens up conversations we need to be having. — Sunny Hostin, New York Times bestselling author of Summer on the Bluffs and I Am These Truths Here is that rare book that will not only touch your heart, but also send you back out there to stand up for yourself and others. — Meena Harris, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Ambitious Girl This book is a masterclass in authenticity and vulnerability, and I loved it! I drank up the words on the pages because this is Gabby’s heart wide open in print. It is a stunning read that is deeply humanizing and I’m inspired by the courage and humor in it. It’s just so DAMB GOOD! — Luvvie Ajayi Jones, New York Times bestselling author of Professional Troublemaker: The Fear-Fighter Manual Gabrielle Union has written another wonderful book that pulls no punches. The searing honesty of You Got Anything Stronger? is a gift to readers. Union faces head-on the different ways women become mothers and partners in an emotionally resonant and universal way. Her voice is relatable, warm, and sharp. You owe it to yourself to curl up with this book and to pass it along to a friend. — Tressie McMillan Cottom, Professor and MacArthur Fellow Gabrielle Union is serving us another stellar memoir. . . She gets even deeper in this series of essays that detail what her life is like now, including her experience with surrogacy and racism in the entertainment industry. — Cosmopolitan, "15 Compelling Fall 2021 Books to Add to Your Reading List" The star actor and producer demonstrates her dedication to empowering young Black women and other marginalized people. As these essays ably show, Union is a dynamic role model for young Black women in all walks of life. — Kirkus Reviews Union returns with more wise, intimate personal stories. . . The respect with which she writes about the people in her life is a true testament to her character. Always smart, inviting, and generous with emotion, Union's second exquisite memoir reads like a conversation with your most enlightened, thoughtful friend. — Booklist (starred review)

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Book SynopsisIn this delightful sequel to her bestseller Tender at the Bone, the beloved food writer Ruth Reichl returns with more tales full of love, life, humour and marvellous meals. Ruth Reichl''s pursuit of good food and good company leads her to New York and China, France and Los Angeles. She cooks and dines with world-famous chefs and the three star aristocracy of French cuisine, and her accounts of these meetings range from the madcap to the sublime. Reichl lovingly recreates all her marvellous meals in such succulent detail that readers will yearn from truffles in Provence and shrimp in Beijing. Throughout it all, Reichl is unafraid, even eager, to poke holes in the pretensions of food critics, making each and every course a hilarious and instructive occasion for novices and experts alike. She shares some of her first recipes so readers can make the Dry-Fried Shrimp she first tasted in China, or the Dacquoise served at the end of a magical visit to a Paris bistro. Reichl also shares th

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