Autobiography: writers Books

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Book SynopsisWilliam Henry Davies was born in a pub and learnt early in life to rely on his wits and his fists - and to drink. Around the turn of the century, when he was twenty-two, his restless spirit of adventure led him to set off for America, and he worked around the country taking casual jobs where he could, thieving and begging where he couldn't. His experiences were richly coloured by the bullies, tricksters, and fellow-adventurers he encountered - New Haven Baldy, Wee Shorty, The Indian Kid, and English Harry, to name but a few. He was thrown into prison in Michigan, beaten up in New Orleans, witnessed a lynching in Tennessee, and got drunk pretty well everywhere. A harrowing accident forced him to return to England and the seedy world of doss-houses and down-and-outs like Boozy Bob and Irish Tim. When George Bernard Shaw first read the Autobiography in manuscript, he was stunned by the raw power of its unvarnished narrative. It was his enthusiasm, expressed in the Preface, that ensured the initial success of a book now regarded as a classic.Trade Review"I have read it through from beginning to end and would have read more had there been any more to read." George Bernard Shaw "He found the people generous and the climate pleasant; he considers the United States an ideal place for tramps." The New York Times

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Book SynopsisAt the age of fifty, towards the end of the First World War, W. H. Davies decided that he must marry. Spurning London society and the literary circles where he had been lionised since the publication of his Autobiography of a Super-Tramp, he set about looking for the right partner on the streets of London. Young Emma is a moving and revealing memoir told with disarming honesty and humour. Davies records his life with three women: from his affair with Bella, the wife of a Sergeant Major, to his year-long liaison with the gentle Louise, to the turbulent brushes with a society woman who fears for her own life at his hands. He finally meets Emma, then pregnant, at a bus-stop on the Edgware Road. This is the story of their love affair.Trade Review"Young Emma is a masterpiece, and stranger than any fiction" Sunday Telegraph "Classic... remarkable... an extraordinary manuscript" The Observer "An extraordinary memoir destined to become a classic" Publishers Weekly

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Book SynopsisPart memoir, part biography, part book about creative writing and what really makes a novel, and also a brave book about failure, This Is Not A Book About Charles Darwin is unique and compelling.

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Book SynopsisA memoir on love, lust and attachment: one woman's remarkable and candid account of transforming a difficult and uncomfortable love triangle into an honest polyamorous relationship.

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Book SynopsisPreviously unpublished work from the acclaimed author of several great classics, detailing the last years of her life.

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Book Synopsis "Absolutely fabulous!"  - Sir Ray Davies.The Kinks"We Danced On Our Desks offers a window on another lost world, a silver age of journalism when a magazine could please itself and celebrities would wait to be invited into its charmed circle. It''s also an unbeatable portrait of a writer finding his voice amid the distractions of a dementedly sybaritic decade." - The Observer"It''s wonderful. It intrigued and amused and delighted ... done with wit, verve, charm and self-deprecation." - bestselling author Anthony Quinn"A classic of its genre." - author David TaylorWE DANCED ON OUR DESKS is a compelling, entertaining and thrilling look at acclaimed journalist and writer Philip Norman''s experiences working on the Sunday Times Magazine at the height of its popularity in the 60s and 70s. From incredible interviews with the Beatles to Bob Dylan, Gaddafi to Indira Ghandi, and through seismic historical events such as the Vietnam War, Philip provides a vibrant cultural insight into the Swinging Sixties and uniquely documents key events in his own incredible life.  provides a unique front row seat to the seminal events and the people who defined a generation and continue to impact us today it''s a compelling story of an extraordinary life, as a young man moves from a provincial existence headfirst into the heady world of the Swinging Sixties in all its provocative glory gives an addictive first-hand account of work and life at The Sunday Times Magazine, one of the world''s most influential publications Includes interviews with many icons of the rock, film, political and media worlds, including Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, P.G. Wodehouse, J.R.R Tolkein, Truman Capote, David Hockney, Philip Roth, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, Johnny Cash, the Beach Boys, Fleetwood Mac, the Everly Brothers, King Hussein of Jordan, Indira Gandhi, and President Gadaffi. Philip has led - and is leading - an extraordinary life, full of drama, emotion, experience and positivity. His book is not simply a snapshot of a particular time in history, or remembrances of famous people and places, but a genuinely revealing and compelling account of a life lived and lived well.

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Book SynopsisA reflection on children in war and second-generation trauma.

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Book SynopsisCynthia Rogerson’s mother is dying. Often. Travelling between her home in Scotland and California, as she spends time at her mother’s bedside Cynthia recalls her youthful adventures: living in a squat, train-hopping, hitchhiking and all the other things she never told her mother. Wonderfully witty and refreshingly candid, Wah! is an unflinching look at life in all its uncertain and messy glory.Trade Review‘A rich, lyrical text that will show the tears at the heart of things.’I devoured Wah! A delicious memoir from the from the much loved ex director of Moniack MhorEncompasses all the different kinds of love.As poignant as it is hilarious.Witty, rich in revelation, and elegantly written.Wah! is both moving and funny, with a wonderfully light touch - completely charming.A selfie of a tearaway with a real writer in control of the chaos. A wonderful and courageous book.This sparkling memoir is a revelation.Witty, compassionate, playful, scarily honest.Her wisecracks skewer even the bleakest moments.Laugh-aloud funny, poignant, wicked, shallow and profound.

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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 SynopsisA unique autobiography by a young author that leads us on a revealing, personal journey. Malachy Edwards faces his mixed-race, multi-cultural and religious identity while tracing his family history in Ireland and Barbados. With the background of our recent history, including Brexit and Covid-19, he writes honestly about life's great experiences such as the birth of his children.Table of ContentsYn enedigol o Lundain ac wedi ei fagu yn Ffynnon Taf, ger Caerdydd, mae Malachy yn swyddog Undeb Llafur sydd bellach yn byw ar Ynys Môn gyda'i wraig a'i deulu ifanc, mab a dwy o ferched.

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Book SynopsisAll In Your Head is about what happens when your doctor doesn't believe that you're ill. When they think you are imagining a serious ailment, or worse, faking it.

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Book SynopsisFrom the author of Mrs Engels and The Sisters Mao, an intimate family memoir about filial love and its limits, separation, and loss. Gavin is spending the quarantine with his eighty-year-old mother, whose mind is slowly slipping away. He has returned home to care for her and to write a novel. But all he can write about is her. In this frank and revealing memoir, he unspools an intimate story of his upbringing and early adulthood: feeling out of place as a child, homophobic bullying at school, his brother’s mental illness and drug addiction, his father’s sudden death, his own devastating diagnosis, his struggles and triumphs as a writer, and above all, his relationship with his mother. Her brightness shines a light over his childhood, but her betrayal of his teenage self leads to years of resentment and disconnection. Now, he must find a way to reconcile with her, before it is too late.Trade Review‘Flayingly authentic and sensationally compelling … one of the best books of the year.’ -- Anthony Cummins * The Observer *‘Cells is a raw, throbbing thing; the literary equivalent of an open wound, but one that’s been cauterised by a highly skilled surgeon … one of the very best, most authentic, beautiful, and brutal depictions of a deep and abiding, albeit imperfect love between a son and his mother, not to mention the story of the making of an acutely talented writer.’ -- Lucy Scholes * The Telegraph *‘Raw and deeply affecting.’ -- Fiona Buckley * The Guardian *‘Fantastic.’ -- Seán Hewitt * Sunday Independent *‘Already established as a leading voice in Irish literature as a novelist, Gavin McCrea’s first foray into memoir, Cells, allows him to pour his literary prowess into a heart stopping excavation of the self … An antidote to shame that this country sorely desires, Cells will heighten the capacity for empathy in all who read it. Not least of all, empathy for the self.’ -- Helen Cullen * The Irish Times *‘Remarkable’ -- Andrew McMillan‘McCrea lays himself bare.’ -- Sophie Grenham * The Sunday Times *‘A brave, raw, visceral memoir told with such acuity, insight, and compassion, I could barely put it down. Gavin McCrea’s unflinching mapping of his family’s struggles, his own journey towards individuation and self-realisation, as well as his deep, conflicted love for his mother, is beautifully rendered, painful, and real. A stunning, memorable read.’ -- Lisa Harding, author of Bright Burning Things‘McCrea’s emotionally intelligent dissection of personal relationships ensures that this is no squalid misery memoir.’ -- Houman Barekat * TLS *‘While a deeply personal book, Cells represents an important comment on modern Ireland.’ -- Luke Warde * Sunday Independent *‘Cells is a compulsive tidal force of a book: detailed, vulnerable, and brave, it pulled me in swiftly and held me to the very end.’ -- Seán Hewitt, author of All Down Darkness Wide‘This is a book that brims with stored-up pain — and with a very particular kind of courage. For all its dark and sometimes brutal honesty, what the reader is going to remember here is the way that McCrea’s prose fights on through his hurt to bring home pages that seem lit from within by love and beauty. A memoir that is as rewarding as it is undoubtedly challenging.’ -- Neil Bartlett, author of Ready To Catch Him Should He Fall and Address Book‘Reading Cells, I was struck by McCrea’s generosity in interrogating personal histories as they relate to wider familial and social systems. Contemplating devotion and loss with revolutionary sensitivity, what results is a stunning work of emotion-mapping. Cells is a dazzling exploration of nuance; pondering the formative threads that piece together the self, sewing a new lineage of interconnectedness towards acceptance.’ -- Peter Scalpello, author of Limbic‘A life recollected in vivid scenes, Cells is both brutal and tender in its depiction of the relationships that shape a self. Leading the reader through moments of darkness and of luminosity alike, this is a work of intellect and eloquence, but also a work of great heart. I was deeply moved as I read, and so grateful that this book found its way to me.’ -- Doireann Ní Ghríofa, author of A Ghost in the Throat‘McCrea is one of Ireland’s best contemporary authors.’ -- Sara Baume * Irish Examiner *‘Using the fine brushstrokes of his relationship with his mother, Gavin McCrea creates a remarkable self-portrait which becomes, then, a portrait of our times. This memoir will comfortably sit alongside other great Irish memoirs of recent decades, not least the work of Nuala O’Faolain, Hugo Hamilton, and John McGahern. This is a brave book, beautifully written, fearless, vulnerable, self-aware, honest, and not without moments of intimate levity. McCrea is prepared to express his rage at how the world has unfurled around him, but he does so with delicacy and love and a daring sense of invention.’ -- Colum McCann, author of Apeirogon‘Honest, moving, raw, and unsparing this memoir makes you think and feel. With Cells, Gavin McCrea has established himself as one of Ireland’s finest writers.’ -- Paul McVeigh, author of The Good Son‘An unflinching memoir about interiority, in multiple senses of the word, and the ways in which shame and trauma inflect the spaces of our material lives. Gavin McCrea’s writing is attentive and deeply intelligent; it teems with the life of its subject, refrains from glumness or easy answers, and all with an elegance that makes Cells a captivating read.’ -- Jack Parlett, author of Fire Island‘Gavin McCrea has written a succession of cells that open up a world of wonder. As smart as it is witty, this memoir grips in a journey that will make the reader feel, understand, and, on top of that, marvel at the cost of love and the things people need do to survive.’ -- Gillian Slovo, author of Every Secret Thing‘Gavin McCrea’s wonderful memoir Cells is aptly named. His writing gets under the skin and drills through the bone and into the marrow of what pain and joy it is to be a mother and to be that very particular mother’s child.’ -- Tish Delaney, author of The Saint of Lost Things‘Raw, courageous, and heartfelt … a brutal, tender book, and one which merits reading with all the same attention and care with which it is written.’ * Totally Dublin *‘He writes beautifully.’ -- Orna Mulcahy * The Gloss *‘A riveting, deeply considered memoir … as with the best memoirs (Nuala O’Faolain’s Are You Somebody? is one touchstone) McCrea uses his own life as a springboard to discuss wider Irish society … From the wonderful prologue that will instantly hook readers, to the many surprising twists introduced without fanfare throughout the book, Cells is an excavation of the past by a writer who knows exactly what he’s doing.’ -- Sarah Gilmartin * The Irish Times *‘A writer of enormous talent and courage, Gavin McCrea’s Cells is the kind of book you can’t put down ... The kind of book you’ll never forget, the kind of book you’ll press on other readers so you can discuss it together.’ -- Caitriona Lally, author of Eggshells‘A visceral and searching memoir where the author displays seemingly inexhaustible strength in revealing his vulnerability.’ -- Brendan Daly * The Sunday Business Post *‘In its ungarnished prose and loud inner voice, Cells stitches raw memories with new meanings to craft a brilliant composite of a son’s unexamined relationship with his mother. The memoir pairs McCrea’s unspoken shame with his private sanctums to show how it’s these cells — physical or fantastical — where we sometimes finally find the words to speak.’ -- Nathan Smith * The Saturday Paper *‘[Q]uite fearlessly, McCrae lays it all bare … [Cells is] brave; brilliantly written; almost unbearably raw and frank; but also tender and sweet.’ -- Peta Stavelli * NZ Booklovers *‘In this exceptional memoir, McCrea (Mrs. Engels) unflinchingly untangles his family’s history and its effects on his adult self … a powerful and complicated reckoning with the ghosts of family dysfunction. This one isn’t easy to shake.’ -- Publishers Weekly, starred review‘A harrowing but ultimately very rewarding read.’ -- Martín Von Hildebrand * The Sunday Business Post *Praise for The Sisters Mao: ‘McCrea’s portrait of Jiang Qing is a masterpiece of characterisation: at once monstrous and pitiable. The Sisters Mao is dazzlingly clever and original.’ -- Antonia Senior * The Times *Praise for The Sisters Mao: ‘The Sisters Mao is a spectacular novel, utterly enthralling and insightful; every voice is penetrating, dazzling. In spite of the setting, it is full of relevance for these times; it manages to be both historically authentic and thrillingly contemporary. Gavin is a writer of extraordinary talent, and I cannot think of a kind of reader who I would not recommend this novel to.’ -- Sara Baume, author of Spill Simmer Falter WitherPraise for The Sisters Mao: ‘McCrea has conducted exceptionally deep research to conjure up nuanced, authentic portrayals of the worlds of the book — but the text carries his knowledge lightly, supporting rather than dominating the story. The Sisters Mao is the best sort of historical fiction; one that illuminates the contemporary moment with great insight. Profoundly brilliant, it will no doubt be a huge contender on the literary awards circuit, but also one that is pushed feverishly from reader to reader with excitement.’ -- Helen Cullen * The Irish Times *Praise for Mrs Engels: ‘[Gavin McCrea] deserves praise for his command of voice in Mrs Engels … This is the best kind of historical fiction — oozing period detail, set in a milieu populated by famous figures and events about which much is known, but seen through the eyes of a central character who, due to her illiteracy, left no ready access to her experience in the form of letters or diary entries: a rich and accomplished first novel.’ -- Lucy Scholes * The Independent *

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Book SynopsisGrove chronicles not only his own fascinating Anglo-Argentinian background growing up in Buenos Aires but also the political history of the tango. He writes, In the troubled times of Juan and Evita Peron, the middle classes detested the music and dance so adored by porteños, the ordinary people of Buenos Aires. Too proletarian, sexy and subversive. These days the tango has enthusiasts worldwide, from Finland to Japan, but I didn't see anyone dance it until I was 18 and didn't attempt it myself until I was nearly 60.' He also details the terrifying moment his father was kidnapped by urban guerrillas and his anguish over the Falklands war.

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Book SynopsisBalraj Khanna witnessed as a child in the Punjab, the cataclysmic Partition of India in 1947, when Hindus and Muslims who had lived peacefully together for generations, succumbed to blood-soaked enmity. At school and university a love of English language and culture took him to London in the bitter winter of 1962, where Goanese painter, Francis Newton Souza, warnedof the ‘pitiless prejudice, indifference and scorn’ he would meet. In London Balraj’s career as a painter blossomed. He met the critic and novelist Mulk Raj Anand; the painter Avanash Chandra; and the distinguished Keeper of the Indian Collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum, W.G. Archer, who in 1968 arranged for the 28-year old Balraj to be given a solo exhibition at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. Balraj joined The Indian Painters Collective and met diplomat, Salman Haidar, who promoted Indian artists and arranged exhibitions. Balraj lectured on Indian Art in universities: Cambridge, Manchester, Oxford, the Royal College of Art, St Martin’s, SOAS, and exhibited at the Hayward Gallery, Serpentine Gallery, Victoria and Albert Museum, Brighton and Hove Museum and Bradford Museum. In 1971–72 he became a Foreign Correspondent during the India-Pakistan War. He met and married Francine and lived in France. Balraj’s novel, Nation of Fools, was awarded the Royal Society of Literature’s Winifred Holtby Prize for a First novel in 1984. Until then best known for his painting, Born in India Made in England tells his story ‘warts and all’: in the first part evoking the atmosphere of the India of his youth; in the second part describing with telling observation England and the English he encountered in the 1960s. As Francis Souza succinctly reflected at the time: ‘Godfuck racist place full of pansies’.Trade Review‘… Khanna’s work has a strong intellectual base. His carefully conceived shapes both natural and man-made…also populate his work as a novelist…’ Carol Jacoby, Tate Britain

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Book Synopsis2010 ForeWord Book of the Year, Essay Silver Medalist, 2011 IPPY Awards in Multi-Cultural Adult Fiction 2011 American Book Award “Vaswani is a confident writer whose unflinching eye shows the reader the beauty grounded in the mundane.”San Francisco Chronicle “Vaswani’s voice is witty, sharp, innovative, unique.”Chitra Banerjee You Have Given Me a Country is an emotionally powerful exploration of blurred borders, identity, and what it means to be multicultural. Combining memoir, history, and fiction, the book follows the paths of the author's Irish-Catholic mother and Sindhi-Indian father on their journey toward each other and the biracial child they create. Neela Vaswani's second full-length work thematically echoes such books as The Color of Water, Running in the Family, or Motiba's Tatoos, but it is entirely unique in approach, voice, and story. The book reveals the self as a culmination of all that went before it, a brilliant new weave of two varied, yet ultimately universal backgrounds that spans continents, generations, languages, wars, and, at the center of it all, family. Neela Vaswani is the author of the short story collection Where the Long Grass Bends (Sarabande Books, 2004). Recipient of a 2006 O. Henry Prize, her fiction and nonfiction have been widely anthologized and published in journals such as Epoch, Shenandoah, and Prairie Schooner. She lives in New York City.Trade Review*Previous review coverage includes Publishers Weekly, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Los Angeles Times Book Review, Kirkus, Shenandoah, ForeWord Magazine, The Florida Review, Indiana Review, Choice, Sawnet, India Currents, Emerging Writers Network, and Asian American Lit Fans

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Book SynopsisRude Talk in Athens is brave, brilliant, and incredibly funny. There are loads of very specific characters, including Mark himself. It''s the Mark Haskell Smith version of hanging out with Stanley Tucci and Anthony Bourdain, but in present day and ancient Greece. I agree with everything he says about comedy and have never read anything like it. ?Barry Sonnenfeld, Film Director and author of Barry Sonnenfeld, Call Your Mother: Memoirs of a Neurotic FilmmakerIn ancient Athens, thousands would attend theatre festivals that turned writing into a fierce battle for fame, money, and laughably large trophies. While the tragedies earned artistic respect, it was the comediesthe raunchy jokes, vulgar innuendo, outrageous invention, and barbed political commentarythat captured the imagination of the city. The writers of these comedic plays feuded openly, insulting one another from the stage, each production more inventive and outlandish than the last, as they tried to win first prize. Of these writers, only the work of Aristophanes has survived and it's only through his plays that we know about his peers: Cratinus, the great lush; Eupolis, the copycat; and Ariphrades, the sexual deviant. It might have been the golden age of Democracy, but for comic playwrights, it was the age of Rude Talk. Watching a production of an Aristophanes play in 2019 CE and seeing the audience laugh uproariously at every joke, Mark Haskell Smith began to wonder: what does it tell us about society and humanity that these ancient punchlines still land? When insults and jokes made thousands of years ago continue to be both offensive and still make us laugh? Through conversations with historians, politicians, and other writers, the always witty and effusive Smith embarks on a personal mission (bordering on obsession) exploring the life of one of these unknown writers, and how comedy challenged the patriarchy, the military, and the powers that be, both then and now. A comic writer himself and author of many books and screenplays, Smith also looks back at his own career, his love for the uniquely dynamic city of Athens, and what it means for a writer to leave a legacy.

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Book Synopsis"I love Nick Lyons's books. Every sentence is so full and ripe." --Ted Hughes, former Poet Laureate to Queen Elizabeth II FIRE IN THE STRAW is the witty and deeply felt memoir of Nick Lyons, a man with an intrepid desire to reinvent himself--which he does, over and over. Nick Lyons shape shifts from reluctant student and graduate of the Whar

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Book SynopsisThe improbable and powerful true story of a single mother with prosthetics for both legs who travels the globe with her young daughter in a Land Rover.The Wounds That Bind Us is the improbable true story of Kelley Shinn, an orphan at birth who loses her legs at the age of sixteen to a rare bacterial pathogen. She becomes an avid off-road racer and, as a single mother, attempts to drive around the globe in a Land Rover with her three-year-old daughter in tow to bring light to the plight of land mine survivors. With unflinching honesty, exceptional lyricism, and biting humor, Shinn (“that’s two Ns and no shins”) takes readers on a wild journey—literal and emotional—filled with striking characters and landscapes, heartbreaks, and hard-won insights, ultimately arriving at a place of profound redemption. Told with the energy and intensity of the adventure story it is, this terrifically rich and nuanced examination of a life is also a careful meditation on renewal—a remapping of the world. Guided by the narrator’s keen introspection and her ability to look resolutely at harrowing sorrows and still find hope, joy, and meaning, The Wounds That Bind Us will resonate deeply, long after the last page.Trade ReviewIt is impossible to put down this book. The story of Kelley Shinn’s often dangerous but always thrilling and adventurous life will leave you breathless and awed. The courage, compassion, and joy with which Shinn lives her life is inspiring. She is the person every parent would want to see their child grow to be, the mother every kid wishes they had." — Jessica Anya Blau, author of Mary Jane"This memoir of single motherhood, disability, and an unlikely off-road adventure around the world delivers just what I’m looking for in my reading these days: courage. That, and fine writing, unforgettable characters, suspense, humor, tenderness, and a profound yet humble sense of moral purpose. Kelley Shinn is a marvel, and her book, despite its pain, makes a better world feel possible." —Belle Boggs, author of The Art of Waiting: On Fertility, Medicine, and Motherhood"The Wounds That Bind Us offers perennial relevance in a fresh literary manner. Kelley Shinn invites the reader, the voyeur, the accidental tourist into a world that is a brilliant jewel box of precise, complex, and beautiful turns, with language that bites and soothes the wound in the same stroke. These personal narratives, written with a deliberate genius of craft, usher an arresting memoir that lifts heavy veils and becomes bountiful succor for the parched truths we share." — Jaki Shelton Green, North Carolina Poet Laureate"A beautiful book about how the things we love are torn away from us and about the ways we hold on. Shinn is an anatomist of velocity. Thrilling." —Thomas Beller, author of J.D. Salinger: The Escape ArtistTable of Contents Praise for the Book Title Page Copyright Page

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Book SynopsisPart coming-of-age story, part psychological thriller, part philosophical investigation, this unforgettable memoir traces the ramifications of a series of lies that threaten to derail the author’s life—exploring the line between truth and deception, fact and fiction, and reality and conspiracy. Sarah’s story begins as she’s researching what she believes will be a book about her high school philosophy teacher, a charismatic instructor who taught her and her classmates to question everything—in the end, even the reality of historical atrocities. As she digs into the effects of his teachings, her life takes a turn into the fantastical when her wife, Marta, is notified that she’s been investigated for sexual misconduct at the university where they both teach. Based in part on a viral New York Times essay, To Name the Bigger Lie follows the investigation as it upends Sarah’s understanding of truth. She knows the claims made against Marta must be lies, and as she uncovers the identity of the person behind them and then tries, with increasing desperation, to prove their innocence, she’s drawn back into the questions that her teacher inspired all those years ago: about the nature of truth, the value of skepticism, and the stakes we all have in getting the story right. A compelling, incisive journey into honesty and betrayal, this memoir explores the powerful pull of dangerous conspiracy theories and the pliability of personal narratives in a world dominated by hoaxes and fakes. To Name the Bigger Lie reads like the best of psychological thrillers—made all the more riveting because it’s true.Trade ReviewOne of Cosmopolitan's Best LGBTQ+ Reads for Pride One of Electric Literature's and The Millions' Most Anticipated "Strange and wonderful…. A book for our times, when singular truths seem less certain with each passing day.” —New York Times Book Review "At the heart of this book are her attempts to reconcile her current identity with all of her previous selves, and to investigate whether the full truth is ever within reach." —New York Times, 9 New Books Coming in June "Viren ... has pulled off a magic trick of fantastic proportion. There are elements here of the classic thriller that function like a flock of seductive doves, released to distract the eye. All the while, her other hand is shuffling multiple shells that conceal a critical reading of Plato, an examination of the mechanics of memory, a study of the anatomy of a lie and an analysis of misinformation’s insidious creep ... Ever since Dr. Whiles introduced her to Plato’s allegory of the cave, the question “What is the sunlight?” has bedeviled Sarah Viren. In writing To Name the Bigger Lie, she practices the answer. It is poetry, such as Yevtushenko’s Babi Yar, which “in sharing that suffering” fights “to keep that truth from being erased or forgotten.” It is art. It is a book like this." —Washington Post "The memoir has the page-turning quality of a thriller, but instead of tracking down culprits and solving mysteries, Viren methodically untangles knotty philosophical tensions in pursuit of what is real." —NPR “An untangling of a web of lies and fake email accounts and false accusations that eventually leaves questions about the value of truth, the malleability of facts, and our responsibility to the truth… Viren's gift [is] making the stakes of philosophical questions pressing, for turning Plato and Socrates and Schopenhauer and Hannah Arendt into characters in her story about how to make sense of this world.” —Autostraddle "Even in the days after I’ve read the book, I’ve found myself haunted by what Viren reveals not just about her life, but all our lives...Viren takes the opportunity of these braided incidents to interrogate how our memories function, and show how memories that are technically accurate to us may not tell the whole truth." —The Chicago Tribune “Past and present collide in this propulsive, one-of-a-kind meditation on truth and conspiracy from Viren… Against the social and political instability of the last seven years, Viren seamlessly weaves her parallel narratives into a bigger picture take on the nature of truth. The result is a mesmerizing page-turner pulled tight with psychological tension. This is breathtaking stuff.” —Publishers Weekly, STARRED review “Both stories are gripping; they unfurl with a sense of suspenseful foreboding to show how lies can tear apart the fabric of everyday life and our most intimate relationships. But underlying them is a more groping, philosophical inquiry that chases the implications of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave to probe our sense of what is real, how we know, and, most importantly, how we come to that knowledge together.” —Booklist, STARRED review "Immersive ... A compelling and propulsive memoir that interrogates the nature of trust and truth." —Kirkus “A poignant musing on the changing nature of truth.” —Library Journal"A thrilling, labyrinthine and ultimately illuminating reckoning with what it feels like to be caught up in a vortex of post-truth, conspiracy, and lies, Sarah Viren's To Name the Bigger Lie is a fascinating and deeply disturbing account of our contemporary age of weaponized falsehoods. That what most of us experience only through the news came for her life so personally makes for heart-in-throat reading. This is a memoir, yes, but it's also a view into a terrifying aspect of modernity, and Viren's ability to unspool complicated tangles for the reader is unparalleled." —Alex Marzano-Lesnevich, author of The Fact of a Body "Sarah Viren’s To Name the Bigger Lie is a work of radical moral philosophy as much as a memoir of one woman’s confrontation with the seeming contradictions of certainty and doubt, truth and conspiracy, of the sometimes unbridgeable distance between the truth we know and the one we can prove. This is one of the most astonishing books I’ve ever read — a beacon in these uncertain times." —Lacy M. Johnson, author of The Reckonings“To Name The Bigger Lie is one of the most dynamic memoirs I’ve ever read. At the heart of this magnificent book is an incisive exploration of the concept of truth, a subject that, in an age of proliferating fake news, conspiracy theories, and coerced conflicts, couldn’t be more urgent.” —Mitchell S. Jackson, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and author of Survival Math "You don't expect a book on the nature of truth to be so darn readable. I could not put this down. It's like Schopenhauer meets Gone Girl. Viren chases into nightmarish places the rest of us try to avoid—she confronts shadows, emails monsters—and brandishes philosophers along the way to make sense of what's unfolding. A breathless and edifying read. You come out of this book different, and also more connected to who you once were." —Lulu Miller, co-host of Radiolab and author of Why Fish Don't Exist “A personal and philosophical deep dive into the world of fake news and conspiracy theories, this book takes on the big questions about truth with in-depth research, empathy and humor.” —Toni Jensen, author of Carry: A Memoir of Survival on Stolen Land “I’ve never read anything like To Name The Bigger Lie. A thriller? A philosophy book? A craft book? A perspective like Sarah Viren’s is what’s been missing from the debates around truths vs conspiracy. Viren has written a masterpiece.” —Javier Zamora, author of Unaccompanied and Solito

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