Biography: general Books

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Book SynopsisMichael Arlen (1895-1956) was a literary shooting star among the smart set of the 1920s. The self-styled chronicler of Mayfair society, he became an international celebrity after the publication of his scandalous novel The Green Hat in 1924. Born into an immigrant Armenian community in Lancashire, following early breakthrough in London he led a millionaire’s life on the Riviera and dabbled in the Hollywood film industry before living out his final years, all but forgotten, in retirement in New York. For all his success as a purveyor of popular fiction, he remained forever an ‘outsider’, arousing both fascination and suspicion in the English-speaking world. Encounters with Michael Arlen is a set of overlapping essays that reflect how the novelist was seen by himself and by his contemporaries. Unlike a conventional biography, the emphasis is on his connections with other leading figures of the day, especially fellow writers such as D.H. Lawrence, Ernest Hemingway and Rebecca West. The book is also a rumination by the author on the sheer difficulty of writing literary biography. With its comprehensive timeline and listing of archive materials relating to Arlen, it should serve as a stimulus to future research on this neglected and enigmatic personality.

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Book SynopsisThe Welsh Folk Museum at St Fagans was the first large open-air folk museum in Britain. It was (according to himself) created by one man: Iorwerth C. Peate, poet, author, and scholar. This is the first book-length critical study of Peate as scholar and curator, written by one of his successors at St Fagans. Whereas previous commentaries have very largely relied on Peate’s own recollections and views, this book makes extensive use of Peate’s own papers and National Museum archives to inform a far more balanced view of his work, emphasising for the first time the National Museum policy context and its corporate wish to estsablish a national folk museum, and the critical role played by Peate’s boss and bête noir Sir Cyril Fox. This volume also introduces Peate’s relevant Welsh-language writings to anglophone readers.Table of ContentsForeword Introduction The land of lost content: the developing academic and the rural dream The National Museum of Wales Trouble and strife The vanishing country craftsman The search for the Welsh house ‘A fair field full of folk’: Iorwerth Peate and folk life To dream the impossible dream...a folk museum for Wales? Planning for the move Developing the folk park Frustration and fulfilment Retrospects Select Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisThis is the true story of Charles Lucky Luciano, the man who organized crime. An immigrant Italian child, growing up on the filth-ridden, poor and deadly streets of New York city''s infamous Lower East Side, in Manhattan. Through brutality, street smarts, manipulation, treachery, and murder, he became the leader of the American underworld and the most powerful crime boss of all time. The back drop to his rise to power was the glitz, glamour, fun and frivolity, and the reckless abandon of the Roaring Twenties.

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Book Synopsis'In this highly readable biography of Nellie Melba...Robert Wainwright tells the story of the girl with the incredible voice who, by sheer force of her personality and power of her decibels, took the operatic world by storm and managed to escape from her violent husband' Ysenda Maxtone Graham, DAILY MAILNellie Melba is remembered as a squarish, late middle-aged woman dressed in furs and large hats, an imperious Dame whose voice ruled the world for three decades and inspired a peach and raspberry dessert. But to succeed, she had to battle social expectations and misogyny that would have preferred she stay a housewife in outback Queensland rather than parade herself on stage. She endured the violence of a bad marriage, was denied by scandal a true love with the would-be King of France, and suffered for more than a decade the loss of her only son - stolen by his angry, vengeful father. Despite these obstacles, she built and maintained a career as an opera singer and businesswoman on three continents which made her one of the first international superstars. Award-winning biographer Robert Wainwright presents a very different portrait of this great diva, one that celebrates both her musical contributions and her rich and colourful personal life.Trade ReviewIn this highly readable biography of Nellie Melba...Robert Wainwright tells the story of the girl with the incredible voice who, by sheer force of her personality and power of her decibels, took the operatic world by storm and managed to escape from her violent husband -- Ysenda Maxtone Graham * Daily Mail *Jolly gossipy reading, easily digested * The Telegraph *Wainwright's delightfully revisionist biography of Dame Nellie Melba rescues her from fusty Victorianisms to analyse her struggles and resilience to overcome misogyny and social expectation in becoming one of history's greatest opera singers. * Waterstones.com *[A] rounded portrait...the Melba that emerges is not only a prodigious talent but a trailblazing, fiercely independent and determined woman. * Sydney Morning Herald *Most people know the outlines of the career of the legendary nineteenth-century diva Nellie Melba, but this biography offers new insights. What Melba went through to become the toast of the musical world is almost unbelievable to our twenty-first century eyes and how she handled it makes for remarkablereading -- Judging panel for the 2022 Margaret and Colin Roderick Literary Award (longlisted title)Wainwright has a reporter's eye for the telling detail, and an ear for good copy...a racy tale, and briskly told. * The Australian, on NELLIE *A gem of a biography. * The Lady, on ENID *My jaw kept dropping as I devoured Robert Wainwright's wonderfully racy biography, full of comedy and tragedy and populated by some of the most dissolute and eccentric aristocrats of the 20th century. -- Ysenda Maxtone Graham * Daily Mail, on ENID *Enid's story is dazzling and uplifting, and she certainly lived up to her code: "Never be afraid, never be jealous, and never complain when you are ill." -- Christopher Silvester * Spears, on ENID *As social history Sheila Chisholm's life is fascinating... it's undeniably enjoyable to read of all that glitter and gold. -- Selina Hastings * Spectator, on SHEILA *Table of Contents1: Opposites attract 2: 'I must make some money' 3: 'You wait and see' 4: The audition 5: The house of women 6: The dress 7: Becoming Melba 8: 'You are the star' 9: Covent Garden 10: A doctrine of rivalry 11: 'An Australian girl' takes Paris 12: The devil who leaves 13: The patron 14: Taking a cold house by storm 15: Prince Gamelle 16: A diva meets a duc 17: To Russia with lust 18: Melba nights 19: 'I'll whip him and see what he's worth' 20: Crossing boundaries 21: Armstrong v Armstrong 22: A just dessert 23: Facing the music 24: Murphy's law 25: A resolute intent 26: The first singer in the world 27: A fall from grace 28: Of envious men 29: A Wagnerian tragedy 30: A Star-Spangled Banner 31: Divorce, Texas-style 32: Australia finally 33: The brutal Truth 34: 'I am five feet eleven inches' 35: The long farewell

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Book SynopsisNOW A NETFLIX FILM STARRING EDDIE REDMAYNE AND JESSICA CHASTAIN'A stunning book... should and does bring to mind In Cold Blood' New York TimesAfter his arrest in 2003, registered nurse Charlie Cullen was quickly dubbed 'The Angel of Death' by the media. But Cullen was no mercy killer, nor was he a simple monster. He was a favourite son, husband, beloved father, best friend and celebrated caregiver. Implicated in the deaths of as many as 300 patients, he was also perhaps the most prolific serial killer in American history. Cullen's murderous career in the world's most trusted profession spanned sixteen years and nine hospitals.Chronicling Cullen's deadly career and the breathless efforts to stop him, The Good Nurse paints an incredibly vivid portrait of madness and offers an urgent, terrifying tale of murder, friendship and betrayal.Trade ReviewCharles Cullen is thought to be responsible for the deaths of as many as 400 patients during his career as a nurse... His crimes are outlined in The Good Nurse, an absorbing tale that's simultaneously terrifying and barely credible.... A standout true-crime book, one that doubles as both a thrilling horror story and a cautionary tale * Boston Globe *The most terrifying book published this year. It is also one of the most thoughtful... The Good Nurse is gripping, sad, suspenseful, rhythmic and beautifully documented (the endnotes to this book are impressive). * Kirkus Reviews *Graeber doesn't pull punches... A deeply unsettling addition to the true crime genre. * Publishers Weekly *

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Book SynopsisIn early 2016 I found myself laying in a hospital bed at the Royal Marsden in Fulham, diagnosed with terminal cancer, I decided to write about my faith in Christ; what it is and how it has been shaped and tested by a life that is lived out in the unpredictability of a world that can be so harsh and cruel. My starting point is to examine what sin is and what it does, paving the way for me to explain the necessity of salvation and what it does. I have made this my starting point because this is where faith begins. The fundamental message of the book is to acknowledge that, as a Christian, life can be filled with extreme pain, confusion and disillusionment and begs for meaningful answers to some very serious questions. The book takes an honest look at faith under the examination of someone who has experienced the safety of Christianity from childhood, yet along the way became one of the biggest sceptics of the Christianity that I saw around me. It was a scepticism that led me to the point of considering abandoning whatever faith I thought I had. This is a dilemma that I know a lot of Christians are tempted by and I hope that this book will give to them the encouragement, support and determination to press on. In this matter I attempt to examine what genuine faith is and what it is not, what it will do and what it will not do. I seek to highlight that the person with genuine faith must expect and be prepared for their faith to be tried and tested by God Himself and what His purpose in doing so is. The conclusion that the book as a whole alludes to, is that whilst there are times when faith does not seem to work, the faithfulness of what God has accomplished through Jesus Christ determines that faith always works.

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Book SynopsisIn 1889 Frederick Rea arrived from the Midlands to teach in South Uist, at that time one of the poorest places in the Outer Hebrides. Roads were often no more than rough tracks across the mountain moorland or over the storm-swept machair, and his Gaelic-speaking pupils were often frozen and starving. In this extraordinary book, he recounts the years he spent in this remote corner of Scotland, where he was welcomed with uncommon kindness and generosity by the islanders, who found him to be a sincere, conscientious man and an excellent teacher. The book also reveals Rea's keen powers of observation as he describes the lonely, ruggedly beautiful landscape and the customs and lifestyle of the people. Frederick Rea treasured his memories of South Uist for the rest of his life, and his love and respect for the islands and islanders is wonderfully conveyed in this vivid testament.

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Book SynopsisFreud revolutionized the way we think about ourselves. His psychoanalytic terms such as Id, Ego, libido, neurosis and Oedipus Complex have become a part of our everyday vocabulary. But do we know what they really mean? Introducing Freud successfully demystifies the facts of Freud's discovery of psychoanalysis. Irreverent and witty but never trivial, the book tells the story of Freud's life and ideas from his upbringing in 19th-century Vienna, his early medical career and his encounter with cocaine, to the gradual evolution of his theories on the unconscious, dreams and sexuality. With its combination of brilliantly clever artwork and incisive text, this book has achieved international success as one of the most entertaining and informative introductions to the father of psychoanalysis.Trade Review"'Zarate's artwork is outstanding and Appignanesi's texts are solidly researched and clearly presented.' Washington Post"

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Book SynopsisOriginally published in 1955, this must be one of the most dramatic adventures of our time. Clemens Forell, a German soldier, was sentenced to 25 years of forced labour in a Siberian lead mine after the Second World War. Rebelling against the brutality of the camp, Forell staged a daring escape, enduring an 8000-mile journey across the trackless wastes of Siberia, in some of the most treacherous and inhospitable conditions on earth. Bauer's writing brilliantly evokes Forell's desperation in the prison camp, and his struggle for survival and terror of recapture as he makes his way towards the Persian frontier and freedom.Trade ReviewA story of human courage, endurance and terror. Washington Post One of the wildest adventure books of our time. Curt Hohof, Suddeutsche Zeitung Bauer has given us more than a prisoner-of-war story; he has left us one of the greatest adventure stories. Die Welt

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Book SynopsisSarah Sak's son, Anthony Walgate, was murdered by gay serial killer Stephen Port after they met on dating app Grindr. Stephen Port was sentenced to life imprisonment at the Old Bailey in November 2016. The case received extensive press coverage not only because of the horrific nature of the crimes but also because the police refused to investigate Anthony's death despite three more bodies being found in near identical circumstances. It was not until Scotland Yard's crime squad took over that Stephen Port was arrested, charged, convicted and sentenced to life in prison. Sarah Sak's courage and perseverance helped to achieve justice for her much-loved son and now she campaigns for better policing, to recognise and link crimes, support families, counter homophobia and raise greater public awareness of the dangers of dating sites/apps, to prevent further deaths. She wants to tell the story of the murder of son and the other men who died in an attempt to understand how this could have happened and the role that social media played in their death.

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Book SynopsisA unique document offering unrivalled insight into women's minds and lives during the Second World War.The Mass-Observation organisation was set up in 1937 with the aim of recording everyday life in Britain. Dorothy Sheridan has plundered its astonishingly rich archives to put together this anthology of women's experience in the Second World War. What was this experience? How far did it go to liberate women? Was it the opportunity that so many expected or was it simply six years of deprivation, hard work and pain?WARTIME WOMEN allows us to explore these questions through the writings of women living through the war years. Dorothy Sheridan has chosen extracts from the whole range of Mass-Observation material including research reports, letters, dairies and detailed questionnaires. The range of contributors is enormous from a fish and chip shop worker in Birmingham to Irish immigrant munitions factory workers, young women welders in Yorkshire and a seventeen-year-old schoolgirl in Essex.'My horror of all this war business is qualified by an eagerness to be a unit of it. I feel as if I have been waiting for this all my life and I have just realised it' A young woman writing in her diary in September, 1939.Trade ReviewA list of treasures here presented could continue almost indefinitely. This is a wonderful book and it is much hoped that it is only the first of several further sections * TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT *Irresistible reading. The only defect of this anthology is that it is not twice as long -- John Carey on Speak For Yourself

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Book SynopsisAn acclaimed biography of Elizabeth I and an examination of the politics and intrigues of her Tudor court.Elizabeth I ruled England in defiance of convention, exercising supreme authority in a man's world. With courage, brilliance and style, she reigned for nearly forty-five years. Anne Somerset's penetrating biography of this complex and uniquely gifted woman is unrivalled in its analysis of both Elizabeth's personal life and her career as leader.

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Book SynopsisNow available for the first time in Ireland and the UK - more than half a century after it was written - is the memoir of Michael Dillon/Lobzang Jivaka (1915-62), the Anglo-Irish doctor and Buddhist monastic novice chiefly known to scholars of sex, gender, and sexuality for his pioneering transition from female to male between 1939 and 1949, and for his groundbreaking 1946 book Self: A Study in Ethics and Endocrinology. Here at last is Dillon/Jivaka's extraordinary life story told in his own words. Out of the Ordinary captures Dillon/Jivaka's various journeys - to Oxford, into medicine, across the world by ship - within the major narratives of his gender and religious journeys. Moving chronologically, Dillon/Jivaka was from Lismullin House, County Meath, but spent his childhood in Folkestone, England, where he was raised by spinster aunts, telling of his days at Oxford immersed in theology, classics, and rowing. He recounts his hormonal transition while working as an auto mechanic and fire watcher in Bristol during World War II and describes his surgical transition under Sir Harold Gillies while Dillon himself attended medical school at Trinity College, Dublin (1945-51). He details his travels as a ship's surgeon in the British Merchant Navy with extensive commentary on his engagement with colonial and postcolonial subjects in Asia, followed by his 'outing' by the British press while he served aboard The City of Bath. Out of the Ordinary is not only a unique record of early gender affirmation but also a compelling account of religious conversion in the mid-twentieth century. Dillon/Jivaka chronicles his gradual shift from Anglican Christianity to the esoteric spiritual systems of George Gurdjieff and Peter Ouspensky, to Theravada and finally Mahayana Buddhism. He concludes his memoir with the contested circumstances of his Buddhist monastic ordination in India and Tibet. Ultimately, while Dillon/Jivaka died before becoming a monk, his novice ordination was significant: it made him the first white European man to be ordained in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. This first-person narrative, written in the early 1960s and first published more than a generation later in the US by Fordham University Press, is both ahead of its time and distinctly of its time and class, with Dillon's views being sometimes enlightened, sometimes colonial. A Foreword by Susan Stryker from the Fordham University Press edition describes Dillon as 'a seeker after truth, who traveled wherever his queries led him'. An Afterword, 'A Mapless Journey', by London-based literary agent Andrew Hewson - unique to the Lilliput Press edition - traces the typescript memoir's provenance and preservation prior to its eventual publication. An introductory biographical essay by consultant psychologist Aidan Collins gives an overview of the timeline of this remarkable individual's history. Out of the Ordinary is a landmark publication that sets free a singular voice from within the history of the transgender movement.Trade Review. . . Dillon’s memoir charts his wide-ranging life of education, gender transition, and conversion to Buddhism. . .show(s) continuity of concerns with those of transgender individuals today. Source: Publishers Weekly * Publishers Weekly *The importance of this work to the history of sexuality―and especially to the history of transsexuality―cannot be overstated. Author: Jose Ignacio Cabezon Source: University of California, Santa Barbara -- Jose Ignacio Cabezon * University of California, Santa Barbara *Blocked from publication in the 1960s and then hidden in a warehouse in London, Michael Dillon's autobiography moldered away for decades in the darkness. Now, for the first time ever, it has burst into print. The book illuminates the life of one of the ground-breaking transgender pioneers of the 20th century. Just important, it is a suspenseful and heart-breaking tale that begins at the English seaside and ends with a mysterious death in the Himalayan mountains. In his gripping autobiography, Dillon finds new answers to enduring questions about gender. At the same time, he never manages to solve the puzzle of his own identity and dies in the pursuit of transcendence. Dillon's memoir deserves a place alongside the great spiritual narratives, from Augustine to Merton. This edition is beautifully put together, with an introduction and notes supplied by a trio of scholars who have immersed themselves in Dillon's life history. Author: Pagan Kennedy Source: The First Man-Made Man -- Pagan Kennedy * The First Man-Made Man *While so much of the history of transsexualism has circulated around and through a few highly publicized lives of trans women, Jacob Lau and Cameron Partridge have made an indelible contribution to the modern histories of gender and sexuality by publishing this autobiography. Their introduction carefully situates the history of one of the earliest female to male transitions and gives us a smart and sympathetic account of the political, social and material complexities of Dillon/Jivaka’s life. This is an astonishing story. Author: Jack Halberstam Source: Female Masculinity and In a Queer Time and Place: Transgender Bodies, Subcultural Lives -- Jack Halberstam * Female Masculinity and In a Queer Time and Place: Transgender Bodies, Subcultural Lives *[A] beautifully produced autobiography. . . [Dillon/Jivaka] weaves a rich narrative illuminating his emotional and educational formation, gender variance and a spiritual pilgrimage from Church of England Christianity, via Gurdjieffianism, to the Buddhism that occasioned another first for a Westerner: ordination as a Buddhist novice-monk (getsul) in a Tibetan monastery in Ladakh. . . a moving story as well as a valuable record. Author: Christina Beardsley Source: Theology & Sexuality -- Christina Beardsley * Theology & Sexuality *

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Book SynopsisIn 1972, Jan Wong became one of only two Westerners admitted to Beijing University at the height of the Cultural Revolution. One day, a student, Yin Luoyi, sought Jan's assistance in going to the United States. Wong, then a starry-eyed Maoist, reported Yin to the authorities. Yin promptly disappeared. Now, thirty-three years later, Wong returns to Beijing to search for the woman who has haunted her conscience. She hopes to apologise, perhaps somehow to try to make amends. At the very least, she wants to find out whether Yin has survived. Preoccupied by the past, fascinated by China's present and future, Jan Wong searches out old friends, foes and comrades in this half-familiar city, finally uncovering the truth about the woman she wronged. Chinese Whispers tells a unique and unforgettable story of communism and capitalism, of guilt and atonement, of remembering and forgetting.Trade Review"'Wong is a beautiful writer. Her gift is both to greet the country with enthusiasm and curiosity but also to interrogate the back story. Her tale of trying to find Yin is not just the story of a search for an old acquaintance, but also an insight into how China is dealing with its own past... Gripping and entertaining.' Rosie Blau, Financial Times 'Funny and irreverent... The candid, beguiling style is hugely entertaining' Conor O'Clery, Irish Times" 'A witty, clever and knowingly light-hearted take on betrayal and redemption; a feel good penance.' Daily Mail

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Book Synopsis'I was so absorbed by her writing it was unreal . . . I find myself hungry to find the next morsel of who Jenny was and what her life was like' EMILIA CLARKE (on Why Didn't You Just Do What You Were Told?)Jenny Diski's attempt to keep still and mentally idle resulted in a year in which she travelled to New Zealand, spent two months almost alone in a cottage in the country and visited the Sámi people of Lapland. Diski fails to keep still and, like the philosopher Montaigne, keeps a record of her ramblings both mental and physical hoping as he did in time to make her mind ashamed of itself. Interspersed with ill-tempered descriptions of these trips are digressions on the subject of her sore foot; her childhood desire for 'a condition', thoughts about growing older, spiders, fundamentalism and the problems of keeping warm.Trade ReviewWhile much of the collection revolves around Diski's attempt to exercise her stupor to its fullest degree, there is nothing lazy about her writing. Combining philosophy with travelogue and personal memoir - in particular, memories of her difficult childhood - On Trying to Keep Still is unflaggingly engaging. It is also very funny * Sophie Ratcliffe in the New Statesman *Sometimes, as though she can't help it, Diski slips very enjoyably into a travel-writer mode, but On Trying to Keep Still is really a voyage round the author's head. It's a brave and moving admission of a way of life that society isn't geared up to cope * The Herald *Diski epitomises the pleasure of travelling alone... She seeks a mental inertia yet her book proves that, even when idling, the mind is always at work, remembering, recording, revising * Mark Sanderson, Sunday Telegraph *This is unique, and wholly wonderful * Stephanie Cross, Daily Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisFROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF REBECCA. 'Miss du Maurier creates on the grand scale . . . observation, sympathy, courage, a sense of the romantic, are here' OBSERVER 'It is my pick of the Spring biographical material for sheer entertainment value . . . a gifted story teller' KIRKUS REVIEWS 'Daphne du Maurier has no equal' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH When Daphne du Maurier wrote this book she was only thirty years old and had already established herself both as a biographer with the acclaimed Gerald: A Portrait and as a novelist. Here, she further explores her fascinating family history.The Du Mauriers was written during a vintage period of her career, between two of her best-loved novels: Jamaica Inn and Rebecca.Her aim was to write her family biography 'so that it reads like a novel' and it was due to du Maurier's remarkable imaginative gifts that she was able to breathe life into the characters and depict with affection and wit the relatives she never knew, including her grandfather, the famous Victorian artist and Punch cartoonist - and creator of Trilby.Trade ReviewMiss du Maurier creates on the grand scale; she runs through the generations, giving her family unity and reality . . . a rich vein of humour and satire . . . observation, sympathy, courage, a sense of the romantic, are here * Observer *It is my pick of the Spring biographical material for sheer entertainment value - and Daphne du Maurier is a gifted story teller, and makes no bones about the shortcomings of her own forebears, albeit she does it with a sympathetic - at times a tender - touch * Kirkus Reviews *Daphne du Maurier has no equal * Sunday Telegraph *One of the last century's most original literary talents * Daily Telegraph *Miss du Maurier creates on the grand scale; she runs through the generations, giving her family unity and reality . . . a rich vein of humour and satire . . . observation, sympathy, courage, a sense of the romantic, are here * Observer *

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Book SynopsisBY THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF REBECCA INTRODUCED BY ALISON LIGHT'The genuine, thoughtful voice of a woman whose works have been loved by millions' NEW YORK TIMES'Daphne du Maurier has no equal' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH 'Du Maurier created a scale by which modern women can measure their feelings' STEPHEN KING The Rebecca Notebook provides an unparalleled insight into the mastery of a writer's craft and the inner vision that made du Maurier a household name. One of the great international bestsellers, Rebecca also inspired a film, a play and television dramas. This perfect companion volume, The Rebecca Notebook, outlines just how Rebecca came to be written, tracing its origins, developments and the directions it might have taken. The author reveals how she first came upon the secret house, hidden deep in the Cornish woodland, that was to become the romantic setting for her most famous novel: a house which stood derelict, and which she lovingly restored to create her own home. The accompanying Memories introduce other members of her family: her father Gerald, the famous actor; her grandfather George, whose Punch drawings made him world famous; and her cousins, for whom J. M. Barrie wrote Peter Pan.Trade ReviewIn her heartfelt memories ... one hears the genuine, thoughtful voice of a woman whose works have been loved by millions * New York Times *Daphne du Maurier has no equal * Sunday Telegraph *Du Maurier created a scale by which modern women can measure their feelings -- Stephen KingDame Daphne's wise and attractive new book will enchant her many readers * Sunday Express *

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Book Synopsis'A delightful book, full of amusing and charming stories' THE TIMES'Daphne du Maurier has no equal' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH'An intimate view of a creative personality . . . as richly evocative as any of her novels' LOS ANGELES TIMESIn Myself When Young, based on diaries that she kept from 1920-1932, the most famous du Maurier probes her own past, beginning with her earliest memories and encompassing the publication of her first book and her subsequent marriage.Here, the writer is open and sometimes painfully honest about the difficult relationship with her father; her education in Paris; early love affairs; her antipathy towards London life and the theatre; her intense love for Cornwall and her desperate ambition to succeed as a writer. The resulting portrait is of a captivating and complex character. Both her novels and her non-fiction reveal Daphne du Maurier's overwhelming desire to explore her family's history.Trade ReviewA delightful book, full of amusing and charming stories, pinpointing the literary influences and the first stirrings of books to be written in later years, and with a happy and romantic ending * The Times *The girl we meet, a strong-winged bird homing in to the steep banks of a Cornish river, is herself no mean romantic enigma * Sunday Times *An intimate view of a creative personality ... as richly evocative as any of her novels * Los Angeles Times *Daphne du Maurier has no equal * Sunday Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisMende Nazer's happy childhood was cruelly cut short at the age of twelve when the Mujahidin rode into her village in the remote Nuba mountains of Sudan. They hacked down terrified villagers, raped the women and abducted the children. Mende was them. She was taken and sold to an Arab woman in Khartoum. She was stripped of her name and her freedom. For seven long years she was kept as a domestic slave, an 'abid', without any pay or a single day off. Her food was the leftover scraps and her bed was the floor of the locked-up garden shed. She endured this harsh and lonely existence without knowing whether her family was alive or dead, for seven long years. Passed on by her master, like a parcel, to a relative in London, Mende eventually managed to escape to freedom. Slave is a shocking first-person insight into the modern day slave trade. It is also a fascinating memoir of an African childhood and a moving testimony to a young girl's indomitable spirit in the face of adversity.Trade Reviewa powerful memoir...shocking and very moving...her book is an eloquent testament to the ability of a brave soul to survive, and to the need to bring an end to slavery. * Susan McKay, Sunday Tribune *All the cliches of such survival stories - 'life-affirming, heartwarming'- are inadequate to describe the emotional impact of [Mende's] eventual deliverance. * Observer *Intensely moving * Waterstone’s Books Quarterly *An eloquent testament to the ability of a brave soul to survive, and to the need to bring an end to slavery * Sunday Tribune *

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Book SynopsisGranny worked so hard at my rearing. She was a frustrated ladysmith and I was her last chance...This is the story of my years on her anvil. Whether she succeeded in making a lady out of me is for you to decide, but I will say one thing in my own favour before we begin. No matter which sex I went to bed with, I never smoked on the street.' When Florence King was born, her Granny, a would-be Virginia grande dame, moved in. 'Anybody could have a family,' writes Miss King. 'She wanted a race all to herself.' Granny's dream of raising the perfect Southern belle failed dismally with her own daughter, a chain-smoking, baseball-playing tomboy given to wild expletives. Florence is Granny's last hope ...Trade ReviewOught to be printed with a mechanism for turning down the volume of the reader . . . Outrageous and laugh-out-loud funny -- Sandi ToksvigI've never read so many perfect one-liners . . . This book is dynamite. Don't miss it -- Jeanette WintersonOne of the funniest writers around -- Gerald DurrellThe damndest adventures in autobiography hilarity to come down the pike in recent years . . . She is a Bombeck with bite, a female Art Bushwald with Southern sass, an A-one original American humorist down to her wicked, wicked bones -- Susan BrownmillerAn outrageous commentator on men, women, and other sources of amusement, particularly the Southern variety . . . Florence King never loses her warmth, her humor, or her ability to be delighted by life's inherent contradictions * Chicago Sun Times *Witty, intelligent, freewheeling . . . Surely the author told these stories before she wrote them, stretching and perfecting them with each telling, mining them for humor * Newsday *Ought to be printed with a mechanism for turning down the volume of the reader . . . Outrageous and laugh-out-loud funny * Sandi Toksvig *I've never read so many perfect one-liners . . . This book is dynamite. Don't miss it * Jeanette Winterson *Gerald Durrell * 'One of the funniest writers around’ *

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Book Synopsis'I was so absorbed by her writing it was unreal . . . I find myself hungry to find the next morsel of who Jenny was and what her life was like' EMILIA CLARKE (on Why Didn't You Just Do What You Were Told?) This strange and brilliant book recounts Jenny Diski's journey to Antarctica, intercut with another journey into her own heart and soul . . . a book of dazzling variety, which weaves disquisitions on indolence, truth, inconsistency, ambiguousness, the elephant seal, Shackleton, boredom and over and over again memory, into a sparse narrative, caustic observation and vivid description of the natural world. While Diski's writing is laconic, her images are haunting.Trade ReviewObserver * 'Skating to Antarctica is a fascinating, moving account of two voyages … Diski's book shines out for its wit, lack of self-pity and strong interest in survival. I relished her sketches of ship routine, solemn penguins and bored soldiers … Diski has a grea *Helen Dunmore, Express * 'A non-fiction masterpiece.’ *She * 'This extraordinary account of a journey to the most barren outer reaches of the planet becomes a beautiful, complex symbol: it's a voyage of self-discovery to the white emptiness that is painted as truth, despair, calm and madness - all at once.’ *

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Book SynopsisI lived through the Dutroux affair from the inside, and all these years I have kept silent about it - about my 'personal' Dutroux Affair, my time in the company of the most hated psychopath in Belgium. I need to write this book for three reasons: so that people stop giving me strange looks and treating me like a curiosity; so that no one ever asks me any more questions ever again; and so that the judicial system never again frees a paedophile for 'good behaviour'.' 'The Dutroux Affair' shook the whole of Europe. In the middle of the immense machinery of investigation and justice there was Sabine Dardenne herself, Dutroux's last victim. She was held captive for eighty days - and survived. Far from sensationalising the horror, her story, dignified and restrained, is ultimately uplifting. Says Sabine Dardenne, 'I choose to live'.Trade ReviewA moving tale of courage and survival. Extraordinary strength ... one comes away from her book shocked, angered and deeply humbled * Mail Like the scariest fairy tales, it involves a little girl, a secret dungeon and a monster. But it is not a fairy tale: it is true . . . I have never read a more harrowing book. . . unbearable were it not for the character - brave, difficult, honest an *Craig Brown, Mail on Sunday * ‘A compelling memoir... a bold and dignified book’ *Observer * ‘Here is a book that refuses to cushion the reader with assurances of redemption and happily-ever-after - it is primarily written not as an aid to healing, but a call for justice. . . One comes away from her book shocked, angered and deeply humbled’ *Mail * ‘direct, unpretentious, chatty, feet-on-the-ground. Sometimes shockingly so’ *

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Book SynopsisWhen Marlena moves with her husband to the small town of Orvieto to renovate a dilapidated medieval palazzo, she knows that the fastest way into the hearts and homes of her new neighbours is through their stomachs. In her third memoir about life in Italy, Marlena de Blasi returns with all of the sumptuous prose and delectable descriptions of the place she calls home, the food that she prepares, and best of all, the people she meets.Trade ReviewDe Blasi is more than a sunny regional food writer - she digs into the meaning of life * PUBLISHERS WEEKLY *De Blasi is a skilled, quirky writer; her prose is by turns reserved, rococo, earthy and, above all, fresh * KIRKUS REVIEWS *

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Book SynopsisThe Girl from Hockley is a new, revised edition bringing together in one new volume this remarkable story. Born into the industrial slums of Birmingham in 1903, Kathleen Dayus became a legend in her own time. She vividly recalls her Edwardian childhood and her life as a young munitions worker during the war, marriage and life below the poverty line in the 1920s. Early widowhood and the Depression forced her to relinquish her children to Dr Barnado's homes until, eight long years later, she could afford a home for them again. Her autobiography is a testament to the indomitable spirit, humour and verve that characterised her life. Her extraordinary memory for the sights, sounds and smells of her youth, her marvellous sense of the comic and above all her spirited refusal to do anything but live life to the full, deservedly made her one of the most compelling storytellers of our time.Trade Review'An evocation of a vanished world as vivid, moving and spiced with humour as any I have read' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH 'Written without nostalgia, sentimentality or self pity, but with humour, simplicity, colour' MARY CHAMBERLAIN 'It is a privilege to share her life' GOOD HOUSEKEEPING

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Book Synopsis'Absorbing . . . testaments such as Janina Bauman's are important and should never be allowed to fade away. The drama of Anne Frank is rightly always before us but the equally vital stories of those who suffered but survived need to be listened to with just as much attention' MARGARET FORSTER'A profound and moving book which everyone ought to read' ALAN SILLITOE, NEW STATESMANJanina Bauman was a year older than Anne Frank when the Second World War began but, unlike The Diary of Anne Frank, this is a story of survival.When Hitler's decree forced her family into the Warsaw Ghetto, Janina, an intelligent, lively girl, suddenly found herself in a cramped flat hiding with other Jewish families. At first even curfews and the casual cruelty meted out by the German occupiers could not dim her passion for books, boys and romance. Then came the raids, and Janina with her sister and mother, had to keep on the move, hiding in the ruins of the ghetto to avoid being one of thousands rounded up every day and deported to the camps. Their escape to the 'Aryan' side was followed by two years in hiding, taking shelter with those willing to help them and living in constant fear of betrayal.Told through her teenage diaries, giving her story a rare immediacy, this is the extraordinary tale of a passionate young woman's courage and survival.Trade ReviewI found it absorbing . . . testaments such as Janina Bauman's are important and should never be allowed to fade away. The drama of Anne Frank is rightly always before us but the equally vital stories of those who suffered but survived need to be listened to with just as much attention * Margaret Foster *A profound and moving book which everyone ought to read -- Alan Sillitoe * New Statesman *A magnificent testimony to the people of the ghetto ... a profound autobiographical meditation * New Society *A deeply moving but surprisingly unselfpitying book, a real pleasure to read * Times Educational Supplement *A writer who has left an indelible mark on the literature of the Holocaust ... her moving testimonies characteristically non-judgmental and free of bitterness -- Lydia Bauman * Guardian *I found it absorbing . . . testaments such as Janina Bauman's are important and should never be allowed to fade away. The drama of Anne Frank is rightly always before us but the equally vital stories of those who suffered but survived need to be listened to with just as much attention * Margaret Forster *A profound and moving book which everyone ought to read * Alan Sillitoe, New Statesman *'A magnificent testimony to the people of the ghetto ... a profound autobiographical meditation * NEW SOCIETY *A deeply moving but surprisingly unselfpitying book, a real pleasure to read * TES *

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Book SynopsisIn this groundbreaking and unconventional biography, Lyndall Gordon dismantles the insistent image of Charlotte Bronte as a modest Victorian lady, the slave to duty in the shadow of tombstones, revealing instead a strong and fiery woman who shaped her own life and transformed it into art. 'Sensitive, open-minded, vivid, full of psychological insight, [Gordon's] book is a brilliant reappraisal of Charlotte Bronte's life, work, and the flow between the two . . . It is also a deeply moving story' Jackie Wullschlager, Financial TimesTrade ReviewAn exemplary biography: brisk but attentive to all nuance; lucid and open in its judgements; wearing its learning lightly but visibly * Jan Marsh, New Statesman *Brilliant and powerful . . . [Gordon] brings us the closest we are ever likely to get to an understanding of the source of Charlotte Bronte's creative genius . . . Bronte biography has, at last, come of age * Mark Bostridge, TES *

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Book SynopsisFrom the moment they met at a pub in London, drink was the most conspicuous part of the lives of Caitlin and her 'genius poet', Dylan Thomas. It fuelled their sexual adventures, lessened their shyness and enriched their social life. This searing book is Caitlin's story of the passions, the rage and the tragic humour of those years of drink and the toll it took on the lives of two talented people, leaving one of them dead at the age of thirty-nine, and the other alone, penniless and an alcoholic. It is also the memoir of a woman not always likeable, but consistently energetic and honest and possessing an indomitable spirit.Trade ReviewDrink swills through the book and so does Dylan. Fatally arrogant, fatally naive, bold and unruly, the Two Terrible Children...derided... the pale orthodox world of despised moderation * SCOTSMAN *Compelling, if painful, reading * MAIL ON SUNDAY *Exhilaratingly uncomplacent . . . The insight she gives into the poet is remarkable * GUARDIAN *

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Book SynopsisNothing in the papers, not the most vivid and heart-rending descriptions, have made me realise war like your letters' Vera Brittain to Roland Leighton, 17 April 1915.This selection of letters, written between 1913 & 1918, between Vera Brittain and four young men - her fiance Roland Leighton, her brother Edward and their close friends Victor Richardson & Geoffrey Thurlow present a remarkable and profoundly moving portrait of five young people caught up in the cataclysm of total war. Roland, 'Monseigneur', is the 'leader' & his letters most clearly trace the path leading from idealism to disillusionment. Edward, ' Immaculate of the Trenches', was orderly & controlled, down even to his attire. Geoffrey, the 'non-militarist at heart' had not rushed to enlist but put aside his objections to the war for patriotism's sake. Victor on the other hand, possessed a very sweet character and was known as 'Father Confessor'. An important historical testimony telling a powerful story of idealism, disillusionment and personal tragedy.Trade ReviewUnique...a remarkable portrait of five young people caught up in the cataclysm of war * INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY *Immensely moving...As the first world war slips out of living memory, this is a timely reminder of what was lost - and how we lost it * SUNDAY TIMES *Touching, angry, bewildered...they demand to be read * MAIL ON SUNDAY *Beautifully edited and with excellent notes. * TLS *

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Book Synopsis'I was born in Bethnal Green ...a tiny scrap of humanity. I was my mother's seventh, and seven more were born after me ...When I was ten years old I began to earn my own living.' Told in the distinctive and memorable voices of working class women, Life as We Have Known It is a remarkable first-hand account of working lives at the turn of the last century. First published in association with the Women's Co-operative Guild in 1931, Life as We Have Known it is a unique evocation of a lost age, and a humbling testament to what Virginia Woolf called 'that inborn energy which no amount of childbirth and washing up can quench'. Here is domestic service; toiling in factories and in the fields, and of husbands - often old and ill before their time, some drinkers or gamblers. Despite telling of the hardship of a poverty-stricken marriage, the horrors of childbirth and of lives spent in search of jobs, these are spirited and inspiring voices.

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Book SynopsisT. S. Eliot once spoke of a lifetime burning in every moment. He had the mind to conceive a perfect life, and he also had the honesty to admit he could not meet it.'He was a man of extremes whose deep flaws and high virtues were interfused,' writes Lyndall Gordon in this perceptive and innovative biography of the great poet. She brilliantly explores his poetry, drama and essays in relationship to the four quite different women in his life and to his time in America and England. The Imperfect Life of T.S. Eliot follows the trials of a searcher whose flaws and doubts speak to all of us whose lives are imperfect.Trade ReviewThe most valuable single book yet published about Eliot -- Jonathan Raban * Sunday Times *A nuanced, discerning account of a life famously flawed in its search for perfection * New Yorker *An intellectually demanding, sophisticated and distinguished book . . . Probing and extremely thoughtful -- Richard Bernstein * New York Times *

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Book SynopsisOver the last two decades, Brian Cockerill has ruled his world with an iron fist. Using nothing but his hands as weapons, he has patrolled the streets, clubs and raves of Britain in order to keep order and to 'tax' those whose ill-gotten gains he sees fit to take a share of. Drug dealers and shady club promoters everywhere know that, if The Taxman is in town, it's time to pay up or get out. All know of the appalling violence this man can exert on his enemies, and of the incredible presence of body and mind that he possesses. Yet despite his appalling record of aggression, Brian is a man who lives by rules and respect - balanced yet unpredictable, he has never used weapons, and those who have used arms against him have barely lived to regret it. The facts of his life are as amazing and awe-inspiring as they are true.

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Book SynopsisThe poet and musician Anthony Joseph met and spoke to Lord Kitchener just once, in 1984, when he found the calypso icon standing alone for a moment in the heat of Port of Spain’s Queen’s Park Savannah, one Carnival Monday afternoon. It was a pivotal meeting in which the great calypsonian, outlined his musical vision, an event which forms a moving epilogue to Kitch, Joseph’s unique biography of the Grandmaster.Lord Kitchener (1922 - 2000) was one of the most iconic and prolific calypso artists of the 20th century. He was one of calypso’s most loved exponents, an always elegantly dressed troubadour with old time male charisma and the ability to tap into the musical and cultural consciousness of the Caribbean experience. Born into colonial Trinidad in 1922, he emerged in the 1950s, at the forefront of multicultural Britain, acting as an intermediary between the growing Caribbean community, the islands they had left behind, and the often hostile conditions of life in post War Britain. In the process Kitch, as he was affectionally called, single handedly popularised the calypso in Britain.Kitch represents the first biographical study of Aldwyn Roberts, according to calypso lore, christened Lord Kitchener, because of his stature and enthusiasm for the art form. Utilising an innovative, polyvocal style which combines life-writing with poetic prose, the narrative alternates between first person anecdotes by Kitchener’s fellow calypsonians, musicians, lovers and rivals, and lyrically rich fictionalised passages. By focussing equally on Kitchener’s music as on his hitherto undocumented private and political life, Joseph gets to the heart of the man behind the music and the myth, reaching behind the sobriquet, to present a holistic portrait of the calypso icon.

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Book SynopsisA comprehensive biography of John Roderick Rees, crofter, crowned bard and teacher, a simple yet complex personality. These contrasting elements are brought to life in this outspoken volume.

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Book SynopsisWhen she agrees to take on one of the abused horses just rescued by the local SPCA, a new chapter opens in Susan Richards's difficult life. She lost her mother at the age of five and was raised by uncaring relatives; she married unhappily and divorced; and she'd been an alcoholic. Now, at the age of forty-three, she lives with three horses who keep her company: the diva-like Georgia, boyish Tempo and hopelessly romantic Hotshot.While trying to capture another horse assigned to her, Lay Me Down, a skeletal mare, walks into Susan's horse trailer of her own volition. When Susan agrees to take her, she begins to forge a special, healing relationship that alters her life.Poignant and evocative, this is a book for anyone who has ever loved a horse, and for everyone who has ever lost a loved one.Trade ReviewSometimes animal-lovers are fortunate to enough to bond with an animal so special that the relationship never fades - the animal dies but their influence and magic lives on. It's this magical relationship that Susan Richards writes about so beautifully...The bond between human and animal is conveyed with great sensitivity in this unforgettable story. * Sue Baker, Publishing News *This is an inspirational story of what family means, and what the loss of one can do to us, and for us. * Boston Globe *Chosen by a Horse contains several extraordinary action sequences ... It also has moments of great silence and stillness ... I'll never forget Lay Me Down or Hotshot. * Newsday *A tender lesson in courage and dependence. * Kirkus Reviews *Two kindred spirits find each other in this beautifully written memoir about the human-animal bond. * Temple Grandin, author of Animals in Translation *

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Book SynopsisA true-life Heartbeat for the twenty-first century. Yorkshireman Mike Pannett has just taken up a new posting as a local bobby in rural North Yorkshire. It's quite a change from the Met, where he dealt with riots on the capital's streets and drug gangs in Battersea, and found out what it was like to stare down the wrong end of a sawn-off shotgun.Now, instead of hunting down knife-wielding muggers, he's chasing runaway bullocks, holding up the Last Night of the Proms traffic to escort a lost mole across the road and combing the countryside for the villains who stole the Colonel's balls.Mike's first year on his new patch is told in seventeen chapters which interweave his escapades on the beat month by month together with his growing knowledge of a landscape that changes with the seasons and some snapshots from his off-duty life. Here is a wonderfully entertaining celebration of North Yorkshire, its breathtaking scenery and wide variety of characters and communities.

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Book SynopsisChristopher Lloyd (Christo) was one of the greatest English gardeners of the twentieth century, perhaps the finest plantsman of them all. His creation is the garden at Great Dixter in East Sussex, and it is a tribute to his vision and achievement that, after his death in 2006, the Heritage Lottery Fund made a grant of £4 million to help preserve it for the nation. This enjoyable and revealing book - the first biography of Christo - is also the story of Dixter from 1910 to 2006, a unique unbroken history of one English house and one English garden spanning a century. It was Christo's father, Nathaniel, who bought the medieval manor at Dixter and called in the fashionable Edwardian architect, Lutyens, to rebuild the house and lay out the garden. And it was his mother, Daisy, who made the first wild garden in the meadows there. Christo was born at Dixter in 1921. Apart from boarding school, war service and a period at horticultural college, he spent his whole life there, constantly re-planting and enriching the garden, while turning out landmark books and exhaustive journalism. Opinionated, argumentative and gloriously eccentric, he changed the face of English gardening through his passions for meadow gardening, dazzling colours and thorough husbandry. As the baby of a family of six - five boys and a girl - Christo was stifled by his adoring mother. Music-loving and sports-hating, he knew the Latin names of plants before he was eight. This fascinating book reveals what made Christo tick by examining his relationships with his generous but scheming mother, his like-minded friends (such as gardeners Anna Pavord and Beth Chatto) and his colleagues (including his head gardener, Fergus Garrett, a plantsman in Christo's own mould).Trade ReviewChristopher Lloyd was already a legend in his lifetime, and this intimate biography adds vivid colour as provocative and challenging as the eye-widening combinations in Christopher's borders. This portrait is so alive, so evocative of his vitality, 'naughtiness' and untold generosity, that it hurts to be reminded of what we have lost. -- Beth Chatto[Christopher Lloyd's] reputation as the finest plantsman of the 20th century is underscored in Anderton's affectionate biography of a shy, irascible man who applied a modern sensibility and a personal genius to gardening -- Iain Finlayson * The Times *An unputdownable autobiography -- Victoria Summerley * Independent *A rollicking and compulsive read. Anderton's writing is lithe and perky, especially when it comes to the Lloyd family foibles and dysfunctions. His words dance around these with feline agility. * thinkinggardens.co.uk *Stephen Anderton is a clever and witty writer and well known for his lively take on gardening -- Mary Keen * Daily Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisThis book brings together three major studies from Isaiah Berlin's central intellectual project – to explain the opposition to the excessively scientistic French Enlightenment by getting under the skin of its critics and giving a sympathetic account of their views. The contributions of these particular critics could hardly be more important. Giambattista Vico estabished that the humanties are and must remain crucially different from the sciences: J G Herder – sometimes called the father of European nationalism – originated populism, expressionism and pluralism (an idea which Berlin enriched and made powerfully his own); and the anti-rationalist J.G. Hamann lit the fuse of romanticism, the major movement to arise out of the various currents of hostility to Enlightenment thought. The intellectual tension that existed between Enlightenment advocates and these critics is as crucial today as it was at its inception. With his customary humane understanding, Berlin analyses the ideas of three deeply original but often neglected thinkers, and demonstrates their disturbing relevance to the central issues of today's world.This new edition includes three previously uncollected pieces on Vico, an interesting passage excluded from the first edition of the essay on Hamann, and Berlin's thoughtful letters responding to two reviewers of that same edition.Trade ReviewIt will be a long time before students of either Vico or Herder are able to exhaust their gratitude to Berlin -- Alasdair MacIntyre * Listener *The Magus of the North is a delightful surprise... Berlin at his very best. The prose flows powerfully, at times torrentially, richly saturated in information and ideas -- Michael Rosen * Times Literary Supplement *Brilliant, impressionistic portraits of notable intellectual personalities, great fountains of adjectives and comparisons which bring the totality of their minds to life -- Anthony Quinton

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Book SynopsisNot only has Glasgow produced some incredible personalities, it has also been witness to some of the greatest happenings of our times. These outstanding people and epoch-making events are featured in Glasgow: Tales of the City. As a result of painstaking research, some startling new facts have emerged about the life and times of some of the city's most interesting characters. The many individuals documented in this book include the world's greatest pilot, whose many flying feats are still held in great awe today and unlikely ever to be repeated. He was hailed as a hero in America, they gave a him a ticker-tape reception in New York and Hollywood begged him to be a star. More recently, Glasgow was popularised by a TV programme about the city's tough police officer Taggart. The role of the Glasgow detective made Mark McManus one of Scotland's first international TV stars, and Mark's own life story makes equally compelling reading. Before Billy Connolly, Glasgow's greatest-ever comedian was Lex McLean. He smashed all the box-office records in a Glasgow theatre and became a legend in his own lifetime. His story has never before been told in such detail. This is undoubtedly one of the most fascinating studies of Scotland's largest city ever published.

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Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE OUTSTANDING GENERAL SPORTS WRITING AWARD, BRITISH SPORTS BOOK AWARDSWINNER OF THE BOARDMAN TASKER PRIZEWINNER OF THE MOUNTAIN & WILDERNESS PRIZE, BANFF FESTIVALWINNER OF THE TONY LOTHIAN AWARD, BIOGRAPHERS’ CLUBFor the first time, drawing upon previously unseen diaries and letters, rare archive material and interviews, Everest – The First Ascent tells the remarkable story of Griffith Pugh, the forgotten team member whose scientific breakthroughs ensured the world’s highest mountain could be climbed. A doctor and physiologist, Griffith Pugh revolutionised almost every aspect of British high-altitude mountaineering, transforming the climbers’ attitude to oxygen, the clothes they wore, their equipment, fluid intake and acclimatisation. Yet, far from receiving the acclaim he was due, he was met with suspicion and ridicule. His scientific contributions were, quite simply, at odds with old-fashioned notions of derring-do and the gentlemanly amateurism that dogged the sport. Later in his career, his impact in helping athletes enhance their performance lasts to this day in the fields of cycling, swimming and running.This insightful biography shows Pugh to be troubled, abrasive, yet brilliant. Eight years in the writing, closely researched, and told with unflinching honesty by Pugh’s daughter, Harriet Tuckey, Everest – The First Ascent is the compelling portrait of an unlikely hero.Trade ReviewShines an entirely new light on the great expedition - a riveting read, full of surprises -- Sir Chris BoningtonThe most important addition to the story of Everest. * Doug Scott *Marvellously enjoyable and exciting... * The Times *Gripping... finally establishes [Pugh] as the real hero of the expedition. * Daily Mail *

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Book Synopsis'Impressive in its clarity this biography [is] the most detailed and accurate to date. Written in an engaging prose, [it] ends with an insightful prediction of the legacy of the fourteenth Dalai Lama, and a cleareyed assessment of the challenges that the fifteenth will face' The New York TimesThe Dalai Lama’s message of peace and compassion resonates with people of all faiths and none. Yet, for all his worldwide fame, he remains personally elusive. Now, Alexander Norman, acclaimed Oxford-trained scholar of the history of Tibet, delivers the definitive biography—unique, multi-layered, and at times even shocking.The Dalai Lama illuminates an astonishing odyssey from isolated Tibetan village to worldwide standing as spiritual and political leader of one of the world’s most profound and complex cultural traditions. Norman reveals that, while the Dalai Lama has never been comfortable with his political position, he has been a canny player—at one time CIA-backed—who has manoeuvred amidst pervasive violence, including placing himself at the centre of a dangerous Buddhist schism. Yet even more surprising than the political, Norman convinces, is the Dalai Lama’s astonishing spiritual practice, rooted in magic, vision, and prophecy—details of which are illuminated in this book for the first time.A revelatory life story of one of today’s most radical, charismatic, and beloved world leaders.Trade ReviewImpressive in its clarity...…this biography [is] the most detailed and accurate to date…the book, written in an engaging prose, ends with an insightful prediction of the legacy of the fourteenth Dalai Lama, and a cleareyed assessment of the challenges that the fifteenth will face * The New York Times *The subtitle of Mr. Norman’s book, “An Extraordinary Life,” is an understatement...Mr. Norman knows the Dalai Lama better than most, having helped him to write his autobiography. His new book is rich with detail; his supple prose, often beautiful, is as adept at explaining Tibet’s theology as it is at describing its spiritual world * The Wall Street Journal *Alexander Norman is uniquely qualified among western observers to deliver a definitive account of one of the most remarkable lives of the past century. His thoughtful and insightful biography is unlikely to be surpassed any time soon -- Dr. Solomon George FitzHerbert, Departmental Lecturer in Tibetan and Himalayan Studies, University of OxfordThis is the first authoritative biography of the Dalai Lama, and his life story reads like an adventure! An amazing read * BuzzFeed *Unlike the plethora of Hollywood meditators who claim friendship with the Dalai Lama, [Norman] has known him well for decades * Sunday Times *

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