Autobiography: writers Books

Book SynopsisMy Bondage and My Freedom is the second of Frederick Douglass's full-length autobiographies. An important slave autobiography, it is significant both for what it tells us about slave life and about its author.Table of ContentsIntroduction Note on the Text Select Bibliography A Chronology of Frederick Douglass My Bondage and My Freedom Appendix: The Heroic Slave Explanatory Notes

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Book SynopsisThough well-known to many Whitman scholars, Specimen Days is an underrated 'late' prose work which chronicles the life of one of the world's best loved and most influential poets.Table of ContentsIntroduction Note on the Text Select Bibliography A Chronology of Walt Whitman SPECIMEN DAYS Appendix A: "Preface. To the Reader in the British Islands" Appendix B: "Additional Note. Written 1887 for the English Edition" Explanatory Notes Glossary of Persons Mentioned

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Book Synopsis''Little Matters they are to be sure, but highly important.''Letter-writing was something of an addiction for young women of Jane Austen''s time and social position, and Austen''s letters have a freedom and familiarity that only intimate writing can convey. Wiser than her critics, who were disappointed that her correspondence dwelt on gossip and the minutiae of everyday living, Austen understood the importance of ''Little Matters'', of the emotional and material details of individual lives shared with friends and family through the medium of the letter. Ironic, acerbic, always entertaining, Jane Austen''s letters are a fascinating record not only of her own day-to-day existence, but of the pleasures and frustrations experienced by women of her social class which are so central to her novels.Vivien Jones''s selection includes very nearly two-thirds of Austen''s surviving correspondence, and her lively introduction and notes set the novelist''s most private writings in their wider culturTrade Review...astute introduction * Karen Joy Fowler, The Independent *

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Book SynopsisDelivered in Stockholm on 7 December 2017, My Twentieth Century Evening and Other Small Breakthroughs is the lecture of the Nobel Laureate in Literature, Kazuo Ishiguro. A generous and hugely insightful biographical sketch, it explores his relationship with Japan, reflections on his own novels and an insight into some of his inspirations, from the worlds of writing, music and film. Ending with a rallying call for the ongoing importance of literature in the world, it is a characteristically thoughtful and moving piece.

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Book SynopsisIn the bitter winds of autumn 1963, Tove Jansson, helped by Brunström, a maverick fisherman, raced to build a cabin on a treeless skerry in the Gulf of Finland. The island was Klovharun, and for thirty summers Tove and her beloved partner, the graphic artist, Tuulikki Pietilä, retreated there to live, paint and write, energised by the solitude and shifting seascapes. Notes from an Island, published in English for the first time, is both a chronicle of this period and a homage to the mature love that Tove and 'Tooti' shared for their island and for each other. Tove's spare prose, and Tuulikki's subtle washes and aquatints combine to form a work of meditative beauty. '... Tooti wandered aimlessly around the island and stood stock still for long periods. I thought I knew what she was doing. She was working again. Copperplate etchings and wash drawings. Mostly the lagoon, the lagoon as a consummate mirror for clouds and birds, the lagoon in a storm, in fog. And the granite, first and foremost, the granite, the cliff, the rocks. It's all peace and quiet now.'Trade ReviewIt's hard to describe the astonishing achievement of Tove Jansson's artistry -- Ali SmithThe Summer Book's limpid style belies a deep psychological subtlety. It's about how people can live close together for months with tact and grace, and about how rich and rewarding even a small world can be. -- Melissa Harrison * Guardian *Both a memoir and a love letter to all things wild and weathered * New Statesman *These wry and winsome autobiographical sketches demonstrate the couple's virtuosity in the art of living...as evocative as a long-lost coastline glimpsed through mist. -- Nancy Campbell * TLS *

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Book SynopsisA narrator and her dog are criss-crossing the Swiss Alps. She travels with friends who share her interest in food, languages and their topographical contexts. They collect colours, even look for colourlessness, and develop the idea of a walk-in diary, a vain attempt to archive their observations. Gradually, other mountains appear in their observations and memories, as do the mountains of literature and art. Mountains may be sites of fear and awe, of narrow-mindedness, racism and ever-looming collapse; Alpine lodges may be places of hospitality, retreat and unexpected encounters; of nature under threat. In 515 notes, Zsuzsanna Gahse unfolds a finely woven interplay between her six characters while giving us a vivid panorama of mountain worlds, a multi-layered typology of all things mountainish.

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Book SynopsisGeorge Orwell is a difficult author to summarize. He was a would-be revolutionary who went to Eton, a political writer who abhorred dogma, a socialist who thrived on his image as a loner, and a member of the Imperial Indian Police who chronicled the iniquities of imperialism. Both the books in this volume were published in the 1930s, a “a low, dishonest decade,” as his coeval W.H. Auden described it. Orwell’s subjects in Down and Out in Paris and London and The Road to Wigan Pier are the political and social upheavals of his time. He focusses on the sense of profound injustice, incipient violence, and malign betrayal that were ubiquitous in Europe in the 1930s. Orwell’s honesty, courage, and sense of decency are inextricably bound up with the quasi-colloquial style that imbues his work with its extraordinary power. His descriptions of working in the slums of Paris, living the life of a tramp in England, and digging for coal with miners in the North make for a thoughtful, riveting account of the lives of the working poor and of one man’s search for the truth. Our edition includes the following essays: Marrakech; How the Poor Die; Antisemitism in Britain; Notes on Nationalism

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Book Synopsis''I took it: - and in an hour, oh! Heavens! what a revulsion! what an upheaving, from its lowest depths, of the inner spirit! what an apocalypse of the world within me!''Thomas De Quincey''s Confessions of an English Opium-Eater (1821) launched a fascination with drug use and abuse that has continued from his day to ours. In the Confessions De Quincey invents recreational drug taking, but he also details both the lurid nightmares that beset him in the depths of his addiction as well as his humiliatingly futile attempts to renounce the drug. Suspiria de Profundis centres on the deep afflictions of De Quincey''s childhood, and examines the powerful and often paradoxical relationship between drugs and human creativity. In ''The English Mail-Coach'', the tragedies of De Quincey''s past are played out with horrifying repetitiveness against a backdrop of Britain as a Protestant and an imperial power.This edition presents De Quincey''s finest essays in impassioned autobiography, together with three appendices that are highlighted by a wealth of manuscript material related to the three main texts. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford''s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.Table of ContentsIntroduction ; Note on the Text ; Select Bibliography ; A Chronology of Thomas De Quincey ; Confessions of an English Opium-Eater ; Suspiria de Profundis ; The English Mail-Coach ; Appendix A. Manuscript and Other Material relating to Confessions of an English Opium-Eater ; Appendix B. Manuscript Material relating to Suspiria de Profundis ; Appendix C: Manuscript and Other Material relating to 'The English Mail-Coach' ; Explanatory Notes

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Book Synopsis''It''s for everyone. Candid, authentic and utterly charming'' Sarah Waters, author of Tipping the Velvet''Funny and super relatable'' Alice Oseman, author of HeartstopperA tender and funny graphic memoir about identity, love and Willow from BuffyEllie always knew she was different. Contrary and creative, she wore black, obsessed over Willow in Buffy and somehow never really liked boys. As she grew, so did her fears and a deep sense of unbelonging. From her first communion to her first girlfriend via a swathe of self-denial, awkward encounters and everyday courage, Ellie''s journey is told through tender and funny illustrations - a self-portrait sketched out from the heart.The Times I Knew I Was Gay reminds us that sexuality is not often determined by falling in love with others, but by coming to terms with oneself; that people must come out not just once but again and again. Full of vitality Trade ReviewCandid, so funny, and super relatable. Perfectly captures all of the confusing, complex, scary, and euphoric realisations in coming to terms with your sexuality. * Alice Oseman, author of Heartstopper *Crewes' beautifully illustrated memoir will appeal to anyone who's had to negotiate the awkward, thrilling, sometimes hilarious, sometimes bewildering loops and cul-de-sacs of the journey into adulthood and self-knowledge. In other words, it's for everyone. A candid, authentic and utterly charming book. * Sarah Waters *Beautiful - I cried and couldn't stop reading. It's a wonderful inspiration. * Sara Quin, of Tegan and Sara *Moving, funny, romantic, wise and honest. I wanted to shout 'I felt like that too!' so many times while reading this book - it will help so many people feel less alone. It's a beautifully told memoir about accepting yourself for who you are, and finding peace, happiness and love. * Kate Davies, author of In at the Deep End *A really poignant look at the fuzziness and confusions of queer life * Ruby Tandoh, author of Eat Up *Evocative, authentic and hilarious. As a gay woman I'm constantly looking for content that feels true to my own experiences, that helps me understand myself more. In this book, I found that * Tillie Walden, author of Spinning *Ellie Crewes' honesty should be applauded in quietly and succinctly challenging a social obsession with trying to fit people's sexualities into restrictive categories * Nicola Streeten, author and co-founder of Laydeez Do Comics *Witty, poignant and beautifully observed * Andy Oliver, Broken Frontier *Charming, honest and very readable * Alex Thomas, Pipedream Comics *First published as a hand-stitched zine that Crewes delivered around London on her bike, The Times I Knew I Was Gay won us over before we'd even started reading. While this frank and touching graphic memoir touches on many familiar queer experiences of growing up, such as bullying and an obsession with Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Crewes is admirably candid about her own shortcomings - "I was pretty scared of being rejected so I took my fears out on my friends" - and her struggles with food which she describes as "a subconscious way to direct myself from the fact that I was gay". It's not all sad, however - Crewes's description of her first love after coming out is adorable. This heart-warming book is also a welcome reminder that coming out looks very different for each of us and that there is no "right way" to do so * Independent *The book brims with hope, and the joy that arises when one is finally ready to step out into the world * O, The Oprah Magazine *Crewes' commitment to telling a not-neat story is the best thing about her great memoir . . . When young adult Ellie looks into a doorframe filled with five of her past selves readers have gotten to know each one, and will fully appreciate having been let in on the journey. * Booklist, starred review *

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Book SynopsisFrom the beloved writer Nina Stibbe, a warm and funny story of a woman changing her life at 60.'A unique comic voice, endlessly funny' – David Nicholls, author of One Day'Painfully funny, but also deeply moving' – Meg Mason, author of Sorrow and BlissWhat does it mean to start again at sixty?Nina Stibbe is surprised to find herself asking this question as she leaves married life behind in Cornwall and heads back to London after twenty years away for what she calls ‘a year-long sabbatical’.She takes up lodgings at the house of writer Deborah Moggach, unprepared for how she, and the city, has changed and now wondering whether freedom is all it’s cracked up to be . . .As heard on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour'The true heir to Sue Townsend' – Caitlin Moran'An utter, UTTER treat! It was like spending time with my most cTrade ReviewVulnerable, sharp, funny, wise -- Bonnie Garmus, bestselling author of Lessons in ChemistryA unique comic voice, endlessly funny. Nina makes me laugh so much -- David NichollsNo one writes heartbreak more hilariously, or hilarity more heartbreakingly. No one does a better job of making the ordinary phenomenal -- Katherine Heiny, author of Early Morning RiserPainfully funny, but also deeply moving. I never wanted it to end -- Meg Mason, author of Sorrow and BlissAn absurdist chronicler of a world both baffling and extraordinary . . . [a] lovely, funny-sad book * Guardian *What an utter, UTTER treat! It was like spending time with my most clever, insightful, funny, FUNNY friend. I'm so sad it's over -- Marian Keyes[The] most reliably entertaining of comic writers . . . pure Victoria Wood . . . Stibbe might be sad and scared and have a bad back, but I’d rather read her sad than almost anyone else happy * The Spectator *So sharp and funny, blissfully gossipy, enviably well-observed — it’s like she has X-ray vision when it comes to human beings. I couldn’t stop reading it. I wish it were twice as long. I loved it -- India KnightI don’t think I’ve enjoyed a diary so much since I read Adrian Mole for the first time -- Daisy BuchananFunny, warm, enlightening. The reading equivalent of getting the giggles in the back row of a school assembly -- Santham Sanghera, author of EmpirelandI loved this book. Stibbe’s joyful midlife observations, her nods to the wonders and absurdities of the everyday, are so life-affirming. I started seeing pockets of humour in my own ordinary days - and actually felt bereft when I turned the last page -- Lucy Atkins, author of Magpie LaneStibbe turns out more perfect, sharp, unique sentences than anyone else -- Caitlin MoranOne of the most hilarious, insightful, addictive writers working today -- Jenny ColganLike spending an endless afternoon in the most sparkling company but without any pressure to sparkle back -- Frank Cottrell-BoyceNina Stibbe makes being funny look easy, but that's just because she's very, very good at it -- Clare ChambersOne of the great comic writers of our time * Irish Times *Stibbe is an unassuming comic genius * Independent *Breezy, sophisticated, hilarious, rude and aching with sweetness: Love, Nina might be the most charming book I've ever read -- Maria Semple, author of Where'd You Go, Bernadette

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Book Synopsis''An unforgettable, freewheeling masterclass''Michael Magee, Nero Book Award-winning author of Close to Home ''Electric... It''s a breath of fresh air, in a world of packaged and marketed versions of ourselves, to see raw pain and perseverance''Daily Mirror''Funny, nerve-wracking and utterly compelling''Colin Barrett, Booker Prize-longlisted author of Wild Houses''Extraordinary... A writer with a rare gift. I feel changed by it''Belinda McKeon, author of Solace''I was floored by the power and beauty of this book''Donal Ryan, author of The Queen of Dirt Island''A reading experience of the highest order''Wendy Erskine, author of Dance Move''Extraordinary'' Lisa McInerney, Women''s Prize for Fiction-winning author of The Glorious HeresiesA raw and powerful memoir of addiction and recovery, across three continents and multiple drugs, from early childhood through adulthood.Following an obsessive mind trying (and failing) to find relief, The Black Pool is a gripping thrill-ride through violent, chaotic underworlds. Tracing the roots of an illness through the failures of youth and adolescence and finally back to childhood, it''s about all the wrong places where addicts look for transcendence - from work, to relationships, to writing, to anger.It shows what happens when everything falls apart. It shows us rock bottom and the start of the journey to recovery from there. It''s a memoir shot full of holes and shocking clarities. And towards the end, it achieves something like serenity - something like recovery.''Raw and powerful'' Irish Times, Books to look out for in 2025''A vibrant, darkly humorous writer'' Irish Independent, Non-fiction highlights for 2025''A gripping and personal story of addiction'' Irish Examiner, 2025 Books to Read''Unflinchingly honest, heart-wrenching and life-affirming'' RTÉ, 10 books we''re looking forward to reading in 2025

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Book SynopsisSHORTLISTED FOR THE BARBELLION PRIZE 2021 'A manifesto for recalibrating' DAILY MAIL 'I can’t think of many books where the reader feels so passionately on the side of the narrator' GUARDIAN 'A profound redefinition of the very idea of vitality' FINANCIAL TIMES Josie George lives in a tiny terraced house in the urban West Midlands with her son. Since her early childhood, she has lived with the fluctuating and confusing challenge of disabling chronic illness. But Josie’s world is surprising, intricate, dynamic. She has learned what to look for: the routines of her friends at the community centre; the neighbourhood birds in flight; the slow changes in the morning light, in her small garden, in her growing son, in herself. In January 2018, Josie sets out to tell the story of her still life, over the course of a year. As the seasons shift, and the tides of her body draw in and out, Josie begins to unfurl her history. And against a world which values progress and productivity above all else, Josie sets out a quietly radical alternative: to value and treasure life for life itself, with all its great and small miracles. 'Full of kindness, A Still Life will make you a better person' CLARE MACKINTOSH 'A Still Life is joy-lit: vivid, lovestruck, hopeful and wise' MELISSA HARRISON 'Josie George is the kind of writer I strive to be ... A tough, tender, beautiful book about existing in a body in the world' ELLA RISBRIDGER 'Could not be more timely ... An immensely talented writer' LINDA GRANT Trade ReviewInspiring ... How fragile we are, she notes, how fleeting our joys ... Describes a way of living now familiar to many of us -- TRACEY THORNE * New Statesman *A moving account of living with a chronic illness * Independent *In all honesty, I've never come across a new writer with more to offer the world -- MELISSA HARRISONA profound redefinition of the very idea of vitality * Financial Times *Audacious, exuberant ... I can’t think of many books where the reader feels so passionately on the side of the narrator * Guardian *A Still Life is that rarest of things: a memoir that reads like a novel. In a world where we are continually made to think bigger is better, Josie reminds us of the joy to be found from a small, quiet life. Full of kindness, A Still Life will make you a better person -- CLARE MACKINTOSHThis book would always have found a loyal readership – its vivid prose and meticulous, kindly candour ensure it. But coming now, at a time when record numbers have been struggling with their own ill-health and when many more have been forced to slow down, it feels like a manifesto for recalibrating * Daily Mail *Could not be more timely ... Josie is an immensely talented writer and thinker who sees a world in a grain of sand and we're all made richer for it ... I hope it’s a bestseller -- LINDA GRANTJosie George is the kind of writer I strive to be: meticulous and exacting in her documenting of joy and pain, and how those are the same thing. George sees things other people miss, and that's the point: it's about noticing, about seeing, about learning to see. A tough, tender, beautiful book about existing in a body in the world. I loved it -- ELLA RISBRIDGERThis memoir feels like the book we all need right now * Good Housekeeping *An exquisitely pitched memoir of disability and living with chronic pain, but also of finding joy and wonder * Bookseller, Editor's Choice *

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Book SynopsisIf we’re talking agoraphobia, we’re talking books. I slip between their covers, lose myself in the turn of one page, re-discover myself on the next. Reading is a game of hide-and-seek. Narrative and neurosis, uneasy bedfellows sleeping top to toe.When Graham Caveney was in his early twenties he began to suffer from what was eventually diagnosed as agoraphobia. What followed were decades of managing his condition and learning to live within the narrow limits it imposed on his life: no motorways, no dual carriageways, no shopping centres, limited time outdoors.Graham’s quest to understand his illness brought him back to his first love: books. From Harper Lee’s Boo Radley, Ford Madox Ford, Emily Dickinson, and Shirley Jackson: the literary world is replete with examples of agoraphobics – once you go looking for them.On Agoraphobia is a fascinating, entertaining and sometimes painfully acute look at what it means to go through life with an anxiety disorder that evades easy definition.Trade ReviewNever less than completely absorbing, simply because [Caveney] is such a nimble, exact writer, able to move swiftly but unjarringly between daft jokes and serious reflections. His descriptions of the toll the condition takes on his mental health are horrifying in their precision, but that precision makes them beautiful at the same time...the book has the merit of timeliness, in addition to its eloquence and refreshing sense of being totally unconfected * Telegraph *Intellectually curious, emotionally bracing and immensely erudite. . .bright and funny, and full of telling quotes. . .it will hearten people who have agoraphobia, enlighten medics and teach outsiders all the lessons Caveney has learned -- Blake Morrison * Guardian *A strange and many-headed work that melds personal experience with cultural criticism....thoughtful, humane and unjustly enjoyable * Sunday Times *One of my favourite living writers: intelligent, lucid and, most impressive of all, funny – even when he’s writing about the most difficult subjects. -- Jonathan CoeCaptivating . . . but also a book unscared of open white space, which feels like an act of defiance. For a book about agoraphobia it covers a huge amount of ground. -- Richard BeardGraham Caveney approaches the subject of agoraphobia diaristically, legally, and philosophically; he drinks about it, reads about it, has therapy about it, and assembles the long and fascinating history of its writers. Any of these approaches could have been its own book. But the best part of this book is the silence Caveney somehow also manages to include on the page, which holds space for the phobia’s mute, ineffable, terrifying center. -- Sarah MangusoA witty and engaging cultural history, and a frank and insightful memoir: On Agrophobia is original, smart and hugely entertaining -- David Nicholls

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Book SynopsisInternational bestseller Leïla Slimani''s elegant meditation on life and death, art and beauty, translated by Sam Taylor ''A revelation - I have never felt more seen by a book, nor have I been so gripped'' KATY HESSEL''An engaging meditation'' DAILY TELEGRAPHIn 2019, Leïla Slimani was commissioned by her editor to spend a sleepless night alone in a museum and to document the experience. Here, we find her grappling with the thoughts and ideas that emerge from her solitude as she walks the halls of the Punta della Dogana in Venice, interrogating her life as a woman, a writer and a daughter. In a space where old meets new, she beholds her past and present; surrounded by art, she explores what it means to behold and clasp beauty; enveloped by night, she confronts the meaning of life and death.

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Book SynopsisThe first volume of the remarkable autobiography of Arthur Koestler, author of Darkness at Noon.In 1931, Arthur Koestler joined the Communist Party, an event he felt to be second only in importance to his birth in shaping his destiny. Before that point, he lived a tumultuous and varied existence. He was a member of the duelling fraternity at the University of Vienna; a collective farm worker in Galilee; a tramp and street vendor in Haifa; the editor of a weekly paper in Cairo; the foreign correspondent of the biggest continental newspaper chain in Paris and the Middle East; a science editor in Berlin; and a member of the North Pole expedition of the Graf Zeppelin. Written with enormous zest, joie de vivre and frankness, Arrow in the Blue is a fascinating self-portrait of a remarkable young man at the heart of the events that shaped the twentieth century. The second volume of Arthur Koestler's autobiography is The Invisible Writing.Trade ReviewA brilliant and deeply moving record of a whole generation as well as of an individual * Observer *The cumulative effect is overwhelming * New Republic *He is a journalist of ideas on a very high level - the kind we lack and need in this country - who functions midway between the realms of art and of society, but whose function is indispensable, if thought is to be part of culture * Saturday Review *Perhaps the most remarkable autobiography since the confessions of Rousseau -- V. S. Pritchett * New Statesman *

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Book Synopsis'During certain hours, at certain years in our lives, we see ourselves as remnants from the earlier generations that were destroyed... I think all of our lives have been terribly shaped by what went on before us.'Twenty-five years after leaving his native Sri Lanka for the cool winters of Ontario, a chaotic dream of tropical heat and barking dogs pushes Michael Ondaatje to travel back home and revisit a childhood and a family he never fully understood. Along with his siblings and children, Ondaatje gathers rumours, anecdotes, poems, records and memories to piece together this fragmented portrayal of his family's past, his father's destructive alcoholism and the colourful stories and secrets of ancestors both disgraced and adored throughout centuries of Sri Lankan society.In an exotic, evocative portrait of the heat, wildlife, sounds and silences of the Sri Lankan landscape, Ondaatje combines vivid recreations of a privileged, eccentric older generation with a deeply personal reconciliatory journey in which he explores his own ghosts, and how his family's extraordinary history continues to influence his life.Trade ReviewBrightly coloured, sweet and painful, bloody-minded and otherworldly, [this book] achieves the status of legend -- Margaret AtwoodEloquent, oblique, witty, full of light and feeling....Ondaatje's knowledge of the fragility and luck of life is very clear. So, too, is the grace and originality of his prose * New Yorker *Ondaatje has produced a remarkable book....Shimmering through the haze of heat and memory is an impressionistic, sometimes surreal portrait of an exotic time and place now gone, a colonial paradise that had its own rhythms and imperatives * Globe and Mail *A beautiful, luscious book. Michael Ondaatje has depicted his extraordinary family, who delighted in masks and costumes and love affairs that 'rainbowed over marriages' in the kind of language that makes glory of their lives. He has gone on a poet's journey to Sri Lanka (Ceylon), and the reader who travels with him enters a truly magical world -- Maxine Hong KingstonWith a prose style equal to the voluptuousness of [Ondaatje's] subject and a sense of humor never too far away, Running in the Family is sheer reading pleasure * Washington Post *

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewIt was the discovery of the essays celebrating his childhood and youth that altered my perception of him, from a thinker to a writer whose intellectual lucidity was a product of the wealth - the sensual immediacy and clarity - that had been heaped on his senses -- Geoff DyerProbably no European writer of his time left so deep a mark on the imagination -- Conor Cruise O'BrienWhat will strike many readers is the author's extraordinarily evocative language, his astonishing facility to create memorable phrases and take readers to places most have never been but where, because of his artistry, they feel immediately at home. Much eloquent-often lyrical-evidence that the author deserved his Nobel Prize. * Kirkus Reviews *

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Book SynopsisDylan Thomas''s classic account of his childhood Christmases, with full colour illustrations by Peter Bailey. The special gift edition for Thomas''s centenary now in paperback, with a beautiful gold-foiled cover.All the Christmases roll down toward the two-tongued sea, like a cold and headlong moon bundling down the sky that was our street...Dylan Thomas''s lyrical account of his childhood Christmases in a small Welsh town, featuring wolves, bears, hippos and Mrs Prothero''s cat, has become deservedly famous. This re-designed edition celebrates the centenary of his birth, and features full colour artwork from illustrator Peter Bailey. A beautiful gift edition of a classic work from one of Britain''s best-loved writers, this is the perfect Christmas present for young readers building their own childhood Christmas memories.Trade ReviewDylan Thomas's classic recollections of his own childhood, A Child's Christmas in Wales, has been republished with beautiful illustrations to mark the centenary of his birth. Perfect for reading aloud -- Sunday Express * Sunday Express *It is one of those books that a child will cling on to as they grow up and cherish for a lifetime to one day pass on to their own children. * THE BOOKBAG *It is one of those books that a child will cling on to as they grow up and cherish for a lifetime to one day pass on to their own children. * THE BOOKBAG *

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Book SynopsisHer voice is absolutely, beguilingly conversational Intelligent, allusive, iconoclastic, captivatingly intense This is the news from the domestic frontline: personal, unique, unexpurgated, without propaganda, as it unfolded and was experienced Splendid'William Boyd, GuardianWith the intimacy and wit of a Second World War Bridget Jones, Eileen Alexander offers a portal into life during the Blitz.Eileen Alexander fell in love amidst the falling of bombs, finding a quotation from poetry at every turn. Graduating from Cambridge in 1939, she had just been injured in a car crash (the man she had a soft spot for was driving) and had firm ambitions of studying further, making herself useful and absolutely not getting married.Her letters offer a love story and a unique snapshot of the home front, as well as resurrecting the voice of a profoundly funny writer.I wonder what anyone would think if they suddenly came across my letters to you & started reading them in chronological order?' Eileen Trade Review‘Once in a while, just at the right moment, a truly gorgeous real-life love story appears out of the blue, or in this case out of a chance purchase on eBay. Some of wartime’s funniest, most unexpected and possibly unintentionally sexiest letters. Eileen has an insatiable eye for funny stories amid the strange circumstances of war. There are echoes of intimate, Mitfordian shorthand and a touch of the self-deprecating, self-doubting Bridget Jones about her.’The Spectator ‘It has been a long time since I enjoyed a book as much … Of the hundreds of books about World War II that I’ve read, this is one of the best. Imagine how [Austen] might have witnessed the Blitz, and you have a sense of this wonderful book’New York Times ‘Eileen emerges as a force of nature, and her voice is one of the real joys in these remarkable letters. She was clever and caustic, without being cruel; intellectually brilliant and revelling in that fact… a memoir of hope and resilience, as much as of love’ The Times ‘A trove of dazzlingly literary love letters. These are as [Oswyn] Murray rightly concludes, ‘some of the most beautiful and vivid’ love letters of the Second World War’Daily Telegraph ‘The great value of Eileen’s book is that it takes you out of our present troubles into a world even more dangerous and destructive, which people nevertheless survived’ Sunday Times ‘This remarkable treasure trove of letters gives a unique insight into home-front life and romance’Mail on Sunday ‘Superbly entertaining … on almost every page there is a gleaming little starburst of life … She is immensely clever and her literary judgements are delicious. Her writing is a diary-like outpouring, a stream of consciousness in which she relives her days in the glorifying imagined gaze of her recipient; it is a mass of aperçus, jokes, observations and confessions.’ TLS

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Book SynopsisSo wise and so well done. It made me wish it were much longer than it is' Chimamanda Ngozi AdichieFrom the award-winning author of Five Star Billionaire and We, The Survivors comes a whirlwind personal history of modern Asia, as told through his Malaysian and Chinese heritage.If we are lucky we will find writing that grips us with its vitality, beauty and significance Strangers on a Pier is like that' Deborah LevyIn Strangers on a Pier, acclaimed author Tash Aw explores the panoramic cultural vitality of modern Asia through his own complicated family story of migration and adaptation, which is reflected in his own face. From a taxi ride in present-day Bangkok, to eating Kentucky Fried Chicken in 1980s Kuala Lumpur, to his grandfathers'' treacherous boat journeys to Malaysia from mainland China in the 1920s, Aw weaves together stories of insiders and outsiders, images from rural villages to megacity night clubs, and voices in a dizzying variety of languages, dialects, and slangs, to create an intricate and astoundingly vivid portrait of a place caught between the fast-approaching future and a past that won''t let go.Trade Review‘Strangers on a Pier offer a unique and thought-provoking perspective of a life lived out in interesting times, places, and circumstances’ Carl Logan, Midwest Book Review ‘Aw always writes well, but this small volume is particularly lyrical. The extended essay format suits him: long enough for some structure – the chronology is not linear, and he bounces from story to social commentary to introspection – and to explore issues in depth, while short enough for immediacy. He covers a tremendous amount of ground … Strangers on a Pier is a wealth of pithy observation’ Peter Gordon, Asian Review of Books Aw digs deep into the meaning of this move, the meaning of Chineseness in Malaysia, the meaning of inherited immigrant markings, and the meaning of leaving the immigrant perspective behind. He charts what it looks like to reprise history, to move for greater opportunity and more education, leaving behind those with less money and shedding the ancestral memory and choreography of poverty’ Sharrona Pearl, Public Books

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Book SynopsisA collection of writings by the author of the 2022 Booker Prize-shortlisted Treacle Walker''His work has a symphonic quality unique in fiction'' THE TIMESThe autobiography of one of the most distinct and profound writers we have'GUARDIANIn this rich collection of writings, spanning more than twenty years, Alan Garner, the Booker shortlisted author of Treacle Walker, explores his interest in a dazzling range of subjects; from archaeology, myth and language, to education, literature, film, music and philosophy, as well as mental health and our most profound quest for the spiritual.The Voice That Thunders serves as an early poetic autobiography of one of England''s best-loved but least public writers. These essays chart how, after hearing himself declared dead at the age of six, he went on to become the writer he is today: one drawing on the deep well of a rural working-class childhood and one inspired by a family of craftsmen who instilled in him the passion for excellence and innovation and humour that guides him to this day.Candid and illuminating, The Voice That Thunders is an enchanting collection from one of Britain's greatest living writers.A brilliant collection of essays' INDEPENDENT

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Book SynopsisTolstoy's passionate and iconoclastic writings--on issues of faith, immortality, freedom, violence, and morality--reflect his intellectual search for truth and a religion firmly grounded in reality. The selection includes 'A Confession,' 'Religion and Morality,' 'What Is Religion, and of What Does Its Essence Consist?,' and 'The Law of Love and the Law of Violence.'For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.Table of ContentsA Confession and Other Religious Writings IntroductionA ConfessionWhat Is Religion and Of What Does Its Essence Consist?Religion and MoralityThe Law of Love and the Law of ViolenceExplanatory Notes

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Book SynopsisGervase Phinn thinks he's heard just about everything in his two years as a school inspector, but a surprising enquiry from an angelic six-year-old reminds him never to take children for granted. His marriage to Christine Bentley, finding somewhere idyllic to live in the Yorkshire Dales, and chance of a promotion.

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Book SynopsisAn essential read for fans of Muriel Spark - the definitive selection of her correspondence from her disastrous married life in South Africa, through to her experience in post-war London as a struggling writer, and her glittering success as a novelist.

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Book SynopsisA Beat Memoir. Astonishing insider account of the Beat generation by Jack Kerouacs lover and probably the best book ever written about the Beats.Trade ReviewWhat Joyce Johnson is doing here, then, is several things. Sure, she’s writing a memoir of the ’50s, the ‘Beat Generation’ and Kerouac in particular . . . But she’s also writing her own biography and summation of the times . . . taking these two themes, she merges them into the idea of ‘minor characters,’ those people who live just as intensely or more so than those who are defining ‘what’s going on,’ but who still, under these inaccurate definitions, come in as minor characters . . . a tender, sweet intelligent book. Carolyn See, Los Angeles Times; [Johnson] has brought to life what history may ultimately judge to have been minor characters, but who were to her own generation major enough to shape its consciousness. Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, The New York Times; Joyce Johnson hands over to us the safe-deposit box that contains the lost, precious scrolls of the New York ’50s. Seymour Krim, The Washington Post; MINOR CHARACTERS is an avowedly nostalgic portrait that captures the excitement, the strangeness and the often misdirected and destructive energy of those lost days. The Philadelphia Enquirer; The love story of Joyce from the upper westside who journeys to the village on the subway, putting on a pair of copper earrings en route, and Jack, the confused, mother-tied, suddenly famous road poet from Lowell, Massachusetts . . . a first-rate memoir, very beautiful, very sad. . . E. L. Doctorow; Johnson, who was living with Kerouac when the novel that made him famous came out, has given us in Minor Characters a dispassionate portrait of a time that has since become a literary myth . . . at once forgiving and wry. James Atlas, The Atlantic; Tender and complex . . . far more than a simple enumeration of the highs and lows of an underground romance with Jack Kerouac . . . her book becomes a moving story of adolescent rebellion, and then a fascinating meditation on the relations between the sexes by one who in her Bohemian youth took a measure of freedom unthinkable to most women of her time. The Boston Globe; [A] lovely, poignant memoir . . . Minor Characters glows with affection. Todd Gitlin, The Nation; Realistic rather than flamboyant, Johnson succeeds in portraying the Beats not as oddities or celebrities but as individuals. In wry retrospect, she recognizes the folly of young women rebelling against their well-meaning parents only to become subservient to indifferent men. The New Yorker; Joyce Johnson does much more than add her personal memoir to the history of the Beats . . . Her honest story illuminates a classic pattern of feminine ambivalence, blurred direction and girlish dreams. Susan Brownmiller; A beautifully written venture into iconoclasm. Now, realer heroines emerge as Beat gods fall, along with all the strutting princes of literature. Sol Yurick; With a style balanced between lyricism and forceful clarity, Joyce Johnson has become one of our premier memoirists. O, The Oprah Magazine; Joyce Johnson summons up the mythic Greenwich Village of jazz, poetry and black-stockinged Bohemia with infinite ironic grace. She was, briefly, a muse for all those messy Beat angels. This is the muse’s side of the story. It turns out the muse could write as well as anybody. Angela Carter; An open, perfect memoir: the one to read when you think you are tired of memoirs: the one to study when you think you might write one. It’s here. In print and every word is right. Jill Robinson; Rich and beautifully written, full of vivid portraits and evocations . . . of the major Beat voices and the minor characters, their women San Francisco Chronicle; A major literary event, describing with a rare blend of intelligence and grace the difficult process of becoming, in Doris Lessing’s words, a “free woman.” Ann Charters

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Book SynopsisFormer RAF pilot and investigative journalist, Frederick Forsyth defined the modern thriller when he wrote The Day of The Jackal, described by Lee Child as the book that broke the mould', with its lightning-paced storytelling, effortlessly cool reality and unique insider information. Since then he has written twelve novels which have been bestsellers around the world: The Odessa File, The Dogs of War, The Devil's Alternative, The Fourth Protocol, The Negotiator, The Deceiver, The Fist of God, Icon, Avenger, The Afghan, The Cobra and, most recently, The Kill List. He lives in Buckinghamshire, England.www.frederickforsyth.co.ukTrade ReviewForsyth insists that The Outsider is not an autobiography. So I will just say that this is one of the most exciting and enjoyable accounts of an author’s life, in vaguely chronological order and written by the author himself, that I have ever read. * The Sunday Times *The comparison with Bond is apt . . . it may well be the best book he has ever written. * Daily Mail *If there is one memoir to read this autumn, it's Frederick Forsyth's extraordinary life story, The Outsider, which reads like a James Bond novel. The author of The Day Of The Jackal tells his own story and it's clear where the inspiration for so many of his best-selling thrillers came from when you read about his own life, beginning as the RAF's youngest pilot at the age of 19 and carrying on through being captured by the Stasi and threatened by the IRA. * Irish Independent *Enjoyed Freddie Forsyth last night. Boy has he lived a full life! And a life so beyond anything most of us can imagine, full of coups, civil wars, spies, and most importantly, typewriters. Great stories. -- Simon Mayo * Radio 2 Drivetime blog *In this engaging level-headed memoir . . . he reminds me of Ian Fleming, a fellow Europhile (in the cultural rather than political sense_ who also honed his writing skills at Reuters. Fleming is more elegant, more playful; Forsyth has more balls. * Literary Review *There’s plenty of sex and subterfuge, with close shaves, hairy escapades and hints of involvement with the intelligence services . . . ultimately, The Outsider is as good a read as any of the thrillers. If you’re looking for thrills and spills, you’ll find them. * Country Life *

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Book SynopsisEdward St Aubyn's superbly acclaimed Melrose novels are Never Mind, Bad News, Some Hope, Mother's Milk (shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2006) and At Last. He is also the author of the novels A Clue to the Exit, On the Edge, Lost for Words and Dunbar.

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Book SynopsisFROM THE INTERNATIONALLY BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF WHAT I LOVED AND A WOMAN LOOKING AT MEN LOOKING AT WOMEN''Richly intelligent insights on every page'' Financial Times''A rare kind of quiet intellectual confidence'' Sunday TelegraphIn these fascinating, lively and engaging essays, Siri Hustvedt shows what lies behind her fiction: an abiding curiosity about who we are and how we got that way. Covering a wide range of subjects, from the nature of desire to false memories and the paintings of Goya, she draws on her own life and on the insights provided by both the arts and sciences to deepen our understanding of what it means to be human - to live, think and look.''There is something refreshingly straightforward about her style. It has the confidence born of complex but well digested thoughts'' ObserverPRAISE FOR SIRI HUSTVEDT:''Hustvedt is that rare artist, a writer oTrade ReviewHer erudition, the sharp clarity of her thinking, the variety of her sources and the supple ways in which she weaves them into personal narrative, coupled with her fearlessness in the face of those aspects of the human condition which are of necessity ambiguous, infuse her work with a rare kind of quiet intellectual confidence...I'll be returning to these essays. * Melanie McGrath, Sunday Telegraph *richly intelligent insights on every page * George Pendle, Financial Times *Siri Hustvedt is best known as a novelist and her novels have received a deserved acclaim. But to my mind, she is even more to be admired as an essayist...there is something refreshingly straightforward about her style. It has the confidence born of complex but well digested thoughts and thus lacks the tendency to obfuscate that is the hallmark of the inferior thinker's style. * Salley Vikcers, Observer *...she is an inspiring guide to territory where both the humanities and the sciences can throw light on the ways in which we construct meaning in our lives. * Nick Rennison, Sunday Times, Culture *Hustvedt addresses a broad public without dumbing down her material... At once stimulating and warm-hearted, with sentences of drop-dead beauty and acuity on nearly every page. * Kirkus *Hustvedt's deep interest in art, psychology, and neuroscience shape her brilliantly insightful novels as well as her virtuoso essays...Mystery, fact, intelligence, and enchantment flourish here. * Booklist *exquisitely eloquent...You'll be by turns inspired, provoked, educated and enchanted. Her writing is scientifically precise and poetically elegant, and this intense compilation merits careful attention. It's a book you can return to time and time again. * Beatrice Hodgkin, Easy Living *These essays offer thoughts on locating morality in the brain, the origins of desire and who we are when we sleep...I suggest you take this book to your favourite corner, turn off the phone and allow yourself to be reminded of the pure pleasure of using your mind. * Clare Longrigg, Psychologies *

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Book SynopsisWords have power. Yet that power must be rooted in truth and justice. Words must never stand apart from those principles.'You end this collection…vowing to never let life, or writing, get so complicated again' GuardianReaders who have long wondered where the mysterious novelist gets his ideas and what inspires his beautifully surreal worlds will be fascinated by this highly personal look at the craft of writing.In this engaging book, the internationally best-selling author shares with readers what he thinks about being a novelist; his own origins as a writer; and his musings on the sparks of creativity that inspire other writers, artists, and musicians.'Murakami is like a magician who explains what he's doing as he performs the trick and still makes you believe he has supernatural powers' New York Times Book Review'A fascinating glimpse of the peculiar writerly life' Sunday Times** A TIMES, SUNDAY TIMES and NEW STATESMAN BOOK OF THE YEAR**Trade Review[The] 11 essays here… deal with all the things that you’d like to ask [Murakami]…in the highly unlikely event that you were able to corner him at a book-signing session… You end this collection of beautiful essays vowing to never let life, or writing, get so complicated again * Guardian *

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Book Synopsis'I seem to have banged on this year rather more than usual. I make no apology for that, nor am I nervous that it will it make a jot of difference. I shall still be thought to be kindly, cosy and essentially harmless. I am in the pigeon-hole marked 'no threat' and did I stab Judi Dench with a pitchfork I should still be a teddy bear.' Alan Bennett's third collection of prose Keeping On Keeping On follows in the footsteps of the phenomenally successful Writing Home and Untold Stories, each published ten years apart. This latest collection contains Bennett's peerless diaries 2005 to 2015, reflecting on a decade that saw four premieres at the National Theatre (The Habit of Art, People, Hymn and Cocktail Sticks), a West End double-bill transfer, and the films of The History Boys and The Lady in the Van. There's a provocative sermon on private education given before the University at King's College Chapel, Cambridge, and 'Baffled at a Bookcase' offers a passionate defence of the public library. This is an engaging, humane, sharp, funny and unforgettable record of life according to the inimitable Alan Bennett.Trade ReviewCleverer and funnier than any one person has a right to be. -- John Carey * Sunday Times *Our most subversive playwright... and able to make the world dance with a single word. On every page there is a phrase to make you smile, poetry disguised as comedy. -- Craig Brown * Mail on Sunday *Fire lit. Hot, thick toast. Coffee. Reading the inimitable Mr Bennett. Happiness. -- Nigel SlaterConfirms his reputation as one of the sharpest and funniest writers in the English language. -- Robert Douglas-Fairhurst * Spectator *Our greatest living writer. -- Roger Lewis * The Times *Screamingly funny. -- Observer * Miranda Sawyer *An endlessly rewarding read by a man for all seasons and one who occupies a unique place in our culture and affections -- Liz Thomson * The Arts Desk *Few diarists could offer such a consistently funny and touching authorial voice as Bennett. Long may he keep on keeping on. -- Ben Lawrence * Daily Telegraph *There is no other writer, certainly none from any other era or nation, quite like Alan Bennett, and having this much more of his work is an uncovenanted blessing. -- David Sexton * Evening Standard *There is not a dull or uninteresting page here ... teddy bear he may be but he has a tiger's teeth * The Herald *This latest anthology of diaries and essays is a beautiful, humane and honest collection of reflections -- Rachel ReevesEvery piece here conveys the sense of an idiosyncratic and cussed mind, alive and open to the world -- Joe Moran * Guardian *The literary equivalent of a warm cup of Horlicks spiked lavishly with whisky * Metro, Books of the Year 2016 *[A] lavish miscellany ... appreciative, nostalgic and also hugely funny. * Prospect *'Alan Bennett, with his combination of pitiless observation and gentle understatement, is perhaps the best-loved of English writers alive today * Sunday Telegraph *Intelligent, educated, engaging, humane, self-aware, cantankerous and irresistibly funny -- John Carey * Sunday Times *Alan Bennett's work, which stands as one of the major achievements across several genres in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, demands the very best of us: not our praise but our attention. -- Ian Samson * TLS *

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Book SynopsisA powerful, personal agenda-changing exploration of poverty in today's Britain.'Totally engrossing and deliciously feisty' Bernardine Evaristo'Staggering... An absolute inspiration' Douglas Stewart, Herald'When every day of your life you have been told you have nothing of value to offer, that you are worth nothing to society, can you ever escape that sense of being 'lowborn' no matter how far you've come?'Kerry Hudson is proudly working class but she was never proudly poor. The poverty she grew up in was all-encompassing, grinding and often dehumanising. Always on the move with her single mother, Kerry attended nine primary schools and five secondaries, living in B&Bs and council flats. She scores eight out of ten on the Adverse Childhood Experiences measure of childhood trauma.Twenty years later, Kerry's life is unrecognisable. She's a prizewinning novelist who has travelled the world. She has a secure home, a loving partner and access to art, music, film and books. But she often finds herself looking over her shoulder, caught somehow between two worlds.Lowborn is Kerry's exploration of where she came from. She revisits the towns she grew up in to try to discover what being poor really means in Britain today and whether anything has changed.'One of the most important books of the year' GuardianTrade ReviewI loved Lowborn... A powerful exploration of Hudson's working-class childhood and its legacy -- David Nicholls, author of One DayHudson's resilience, grace and humility is staggering. She's an absolute inspiration -- Douglas Stewart * Herald *Absolutely beautiful -- Stanley TucciKerry Hudson blew me away, opened my eyes -- Philippa Perry, author of The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read * You're Booked *Compelling, fascinating and well-written, undeniably grim but peppered with humour and tenderness...Hudson demonstrates that only by lifting whole communities out of poverty...can we hope to avoid consigning children and young people like her - vulnerable and blameless - to the worst of lives -- Kit de Waal * Daily Telegraph *Lowborn is in part an indictment of a country that claims to still have a functioning welfare state... Most of all, it is a moving portrait of the survival and eventual flourishing of a remarkable spirit -- John Harris * Guardian *I've been in thrall to the words of Kerry Hudson since reading the very first sentence of her spectacularly good debut novel. I'm so glad she is writing Lowborn. It's an important book that needs to exist and she is exactly the right person to write it. The hideous divisiveness that the horror that is Brexit has both revealed and fuelled, only makes this book more necessary -- Cathy Rentzenbrink, author of THE LAST ACT OF LOVEElegant, compassionate and powerful... tells the hidden story of what it means to be poor in Britain today -- Charlotte Heathcote * Sunday Express *Lowborn is an insider's view of the complexities of modern-day poverty, written with humour and compassion, but without judgement. It should be required reading for anyone who unknowingly believes poverty is a personal choice and that if you work hard enough you'll avoid its fate... a fearless writer, an inspiring woman -- Jackie Annesley * Sunday Times *One of the most important books of the year -- Nikesh Shukla * Guardian *Beautifully written but with emotional hand grenades detonating on almost every page...a breathtaking odyssey -- Stephen McGinty * Sunday Times *Where there are few working-class stories, there are fewer still from working-class women. Lowborn stands out as rare, as well as compassionately and skilfully told… Some books help us understand the world around us. Others do that, and make us feel less alone in it, too. Lowborn is one such book, holding out a hand of friendship to anyone who might pick it up and find something forgotten or familiar among its pages -- Laura Waddell * Scotsman *I wish I’d had access to such honest and relatable work as Hudson’s when I was younger. She proves that successful women can have a working-class story -- Hollie Richardson * Stylist *Hudson has written a moving and readable account of growing up in the poorest section of society. Her book is also a meditation on social mobility… Hudson’s life is proof that a person can, against the odds, make a success of themselves. In Lowborn, she shows us very clearly why so many do not -- James Bloodworth * The Times *Lowborn is the opposite of a misery memoir. The chapters alternate between Hudson's raw memories and accounts of her present-day attempts to confront them. There's warmth and courage as well as pain and ultimately triumph here * New Statesman *

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Book Synopsis''An extraordinary writer of the female experience.'' Financial Times''Cusk is startlingly insightful.'' Independent on Sunday''Divorce has been a catastrophe for Cusk but Cusk the writer triumphs.'' MetroIn the winter of 2009, Rachel Cusk's marriage of ten years came to an end. Candid and revelatory, Aftermath chronicles the perilous journey as the author redefines herself and creates a new version of family life for her daughters.

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Book SynopsisA collection of wisdom and life lessons, from the beloved and bestselling author of I KNOW WHY THE CAGED BIRD SINGS 'A brilliant writer, a fierce friend and a truly phenomenal woman' BARACK OBAMADedicated to the daughter she never had but sees all around her, Letter to my Daughter reveals Maya Angelou's path to living well and living a life with meaning. Told in her own inimitable style, this book transcends genres and categories: it's part guidebook, part memoir, part poetry - and pure delight. 'She moved through the world with unshakeable calm, confidence and a fierce grace . . . She will always be the rainbow in my clouds' OPRAH WINFREY 'She was important in so many ways. She launched African American women writing in the United States. She was generous to a fault. She had nineteen talents - used ten. And was a real original. There is no duplicate' TONI MORRISONTrade ReviewA brilliant writer, a fierce friend and a truly phenomenal woman -- President Barack ObamaThe poems and stories she wrote . . . were gifts of wisdom and wit, courage and grace -- President Bill ClintonShe moved through the world with unshakeable calm, confidence and a fierce grace . . . She will always be the rainbow in my clouds -- Oprah WinfreyShe was important in so many ways. She launched African American women writing in the United States. She was generous to a fault. She had nineteen talents - used ten. And was a real original. There is no duplicate -- Toni Morrison

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Book SynopsisThe shocking, heart-breaking - and often very funny - true story behind Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit.In 1985 Jeanette Winterson's first novel, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, was published. It was a story of survival.This book is that story's the silent twin.Trade ReviewUnforgettable… It’s the best book I have ever read about the cost of growing up. -- Daisy Goodwin * Sunday Times *A searingly felt and expressed autobiography…Funny and profoundly hopeful – a tale of survival -- Kate Hamer * Metro *This book is good, sensible, beautiful company… Try this -- A.L. Kennedy * Week *Jeanette Winterson’s writing is poetic, emotive and beautiful * So Many Books So Little Time (blog) *Incredibly moving and full of Winterson’s characteristic wit. * Elle *

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Book SynopsisHunter Davies’ childhood lived amongst the post-war dirt and grime of Carlisle was immediately hailed as a classic memoir from one of Britain’s foremost columnists of the past half century. The Co-op’s Got Bananas! left our protagonist at the cusp of working for one of the world’s greatest newspapers – The Sunday Times. In this much-anticipated sequel, Hunter now looks back across five decades of successful writing to reflect on his colourful memories of the living in London during the height of the Swinging Sixties, becoming editor of Britain’s first colour weekend supplement The Sunday Times magazine; befriending the Beatles; and interviewing (and partying with) the biggest names in television, film and theatre of the day.   Hunter brings the story full circle to reflect on his years spent with the love of his life – the bestselling writer Margaret Forster, who sadly passed away in February 2016. This will

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Book SynopsisA formally audacious and deeply moving memoir in three timeframes that confronts the defining trauma of the twentieth century, and its effects on a father and son. In 1939, Jonathan Lichtenstein’s father Hans escaped Nazi-occupied Berlin as a child refugee on the Kindertransport. Almost every member of his family died after Kristallnacht, and, arriving in England to make his way in the world alone, Hans turned his back on his German Jewish culture. Growing up in post-war rural Wales where the conflict was never spoken of, Jonathan and his siblings were at a loss to understand their father’s relentless drive and sometimes eccentric behaviour. As Hans enters old age, he and Jonathan set out to retrace his journey back to Berlin. Published to coincide with the eightieth anniversary, this is a highly compelling account of a father and son’s attempt to emerge from the shadows of history.For r

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Book SynopsisNevil Shute was a power and a pioneer in the world of flying long before he began to write the stories that made him a bestselling novelist. This autobiography charts Shute's path from childhood to his career as a gifted aeronautical engineer working at the forefront of the technological experimentation of the 1920s and 30s.Trade ReviewShute was a brilliant storyteller and terrific example for any writer * Daily Express *Most of my adult life, perhaps all the worthwhile part of it, has been spent messing about with airplanes -- Nevil ShuteAny book by Nevil Shute is a delight * Punch *

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Book SynopsisGeorge Orwell was an inveterate keeper of diaries. The Orwell Diaries presents eleven of them, covering the period 1931-1949, and follows Orwell from his early years as a writer to his last literary notebook. An entry from 1931 tells of a communal shave in the Trafalgar Square fountains, while notes from his travels through industrial England show the development of the impassioned social commentator. This same acute power of observation is evident in his diaries from Morocco, as well as at home, where his domestic diaries chart the progress of his garden and animals with a keen eye; the wartime diaries, from descriptions of events overseas to the daily violence closer to home, describe astutely his perspective on the politics of both, and provide a new and entirely refreshing insight into Orwell''s character and his great works.

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