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Book Synopsis______________________________THE NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER FROM THE 45th PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES'I like thinking big. I always have. To me it's very simple: If you're going to be thinking anyway, you might as well think big.' – Donald J. TrumpHere is Trump in action – how he runs his business and how he runs his life – as he meets the people he needs to meet, chats with family and friends, clashes with enemies, and changes the face of the New York City skyline.But even a maverick plays by the rules, and Trump has formulated eleven guidelines for success. He isolates the common elements in his greatest deals; he shatters myths; he names names, spells out the zeros, and fully reveals the deal-maker's art. And throughout, Trump talks – really talks – about how he does it.Trump: The Art of the Deal is an unguarded look at the mind of a brilliant entrepreneur and an unprecedented education in the practice of deal-making. It's the most streetwise business book there is – and the ultimate read for anyone interested in making money and achieving success, and knowing the man behind the spotlight.Trade ReviewTrump makes one believe for a moment in the American dream again. * New York Times *A chatty, generous, chutzpa-filled autobiography. * New York Post *Donald Trump is a deal maker. He is a deal maker the way lions are carnivores and water is wet. * Chicago Tribune *

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Book SynopsisBreaking Down Six Decades of James Bond Movies#1 New Release in Action & Adventure Movies & Video, and Movie ReferenceHosts Mike Kalinowski and Brad Gilmore team up in this comprehensive examination of the longest running film series in the history of cinema. In Bond, James Bond, they explore the cinematic history of the James Bond collection to celebrate everything it got right and reflect on everything it got wrong.The complete cinematic biographies of James Bond. Since his initial portrayal by Sean Connery, James Bond has become a timeless icon worldwide. Now, comes the first-ever era-by-era breakdown of the much loved international spy—on and off the silver screen. Following the men who portrayed James Bond—Daniel Craig, Pierce Brosnan, Timothy Dalton, Roger Moore, and Sean Connery—readers will discover the characteristics that made him resonate, as well as the less glamorous relics that made him evolve.For fans of the Ian Fleming James Bond novels and movies. Cinephiles and fans can finally unscramble some of the best action movies of all time. Covering everything from cars to court cases, Bond, James Bond looks at the evolution of the 007 movies from all angles.Featuring bonus chapters on Bond women and musical scores, inside, you’ll also find: The origins of 007 in the early James Bond books Off-screen politics, drama, and movements that shifted the series trajectory The “other” James Bond, comic books, and animated series If you’re looking for Father’s Day gifts, gifts for men, or James Bond gifts—and enjoyed books like Some Kind of Hero, Nobody Does it Better, or Shaken—then you’ll love Bond, James Bond.Trade Review“Roger Moore was always my favorite Bond. James Bond could handle a weapon, knew how to fight and always got the girl—he was the ultimate man’s man! Brad and Mike excellently lay out the origins of Bond and how the character has evolved over the years. I, for one, can most certainly dig that!” —Booker T., author of My Rise to Wrestling Royalty“Brad and Mike found the perfect blend of childlike wonder and thoughtful analysis. They have knowledge and an endless array of interesting tidbits, but see everything through the eyes of the fans, which is ultimately what makes this so enjoyable.”—Peter Rosenberg, Hot97 & ESPN“Eureka! Brad and Mike provide a detailed historical account to one of America's most endeared entertainment franchises!”—Cedric Duplechain, co-star on AMC’s The Son, starring Pierce Brosnan“James Bond is one of the greatest movie characters of all time, and Brad Gilmore and Mike Kalinowski do an incredible job of celebrating why 007 has left such an indelible mark on pop culture, regardless of the actor playing him. From the villains, to the drinks and the gadgets, this will make you love the Bond franchise even more!”—Chris Van Vliet, four-time Emmy-Award-winning TV hostTable of ContentsWorking Table of Contents: 1. I Admire Your Courage (Sean Connery Era) 2. Grand Slam (importance of Goldfinger) 3. The Other Fellow (the unbelievable story of Lazenby) 4. Good Moorening (The Roger Moore Era) 5. Quartermaster (q’s best gadgets) 6. Penny & Dimes (untangling the history of the Bond women) 7. Underneath the Mango Tree (songs of Bond) 8. Perfectly Formed (the style of bond) 9. Timothy Dalton Era 10. Pierce Brosnan Era 11. Never Say Never (McClory case) 12.You Know His Name (Craig era) 13. Everything or Nothing (future of bond and growing as a character with progressive minds)

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Book SynopsisWalking saved his life. Now it will help find him a family. In the follow-up to his Sunday Times bestselling Finding Hildasay, Christian Lewis takes his next steps – along the coastline of Britain and on the road of life.Since his time on Hildasay, Chris’s adventure has only got wilder. No one was more surprised than Chris when, in November 2020, he had an unlikely (seemingly destined) encounter with fellow adventurer Kate. The two turned out to be kindred spirits and – even more astonishingly – Kate made the bold decision to join Chris on the walk of a lifetime. Day in, day out, as they trekked the coastline down from Scotland together, their relationship grew, and soon the couple were thrown in at the deep end when their first child – baby Magnus – arrived.But, away from Scotland, Chris’s struggles with mental health returned. The solitude of Hildasay seemed far away and he unravelled once again.

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Book Synopsis**Winner of the Goodreads Readers' Choice Memoir Award 2024**''Remarkably candid'' Guardian ''A remarkable person with remarkable stories to tell'' Lauren Graham ''Bold, unapologetic and inspiring'' Sutton FosterDiscover Kelly Bishop's captivating story of six decades in show business: a must-have for fans of Gilmore Girls in search of a journey beyond Stars Hollow.Kelly Bishop's storied career has been defined by landmark achievements, from winning a Tony Award for her turn in the original Broadway cast of A Chorus Line to her memorable performance as Jennifer Grey's mother in Dirty Dancing. It is probably her role as matriarch Emily in the modern classic Gilmore Girls that cemented her legacy.Now, Bishop reflects on her remarkable life and looks towards the future, sharing some of her greatest stories and the life lessons she's learned. From her early transition from dance to drama, to marrying young to a compulsive gambler, to the losses and achievements she experienced among them marching for women's rights and losing her second husband to cancer Bishop offers a rich, genuine celebration of her life.Full of witty insights and featuring a special collection of personal and professional photographs, The Third Gilmore Girl is a warm, unapologetic, and powerful memoir from a woman who has left indelible impressions on her audiences for decades.Kelly's story of her life and career is an incredibly engaging read, full of warmth, and honesty' *5 star reader reviewThis is so much more than an ode to Gilmore Girls. Kelly Bishop has had an incredible life and career [she] is extremely honest about her personal life and it was such a touching read' *5 star reader reviewIf you're a fan of Gilmore Girls and especially Kelly Bishop, you're in for a treat' *5 star reader review

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Book SynopsisOisin Murphy grew up in Killarney in Ireland. He started riding ponies from the age of 4 and competed in show jumping before switching to flat racing. He has won two British Classics and a number of Group 1 races. He has been British Champion Jockey in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2024.

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Book SynopsisIn 1982, at the age of just twenty-three and halfway through her architecture studies, Elspeth Beard left her family and friends in London and set off on a 35,000-mile solo adventure around the world on her 1974 BMW R60/6.Reeling from a recent breakup and with only limited savings from her pub job, a tent, a few clothes and some tools, all packed on the back of her bike, she was determined to prove herself. She had ridden bikes since her teens and was well travelled. But nothing could prepare her for what lay ahead.When she returned to London nearly two and a half years later she was stones lighter and decades wiser. She'd ridden through unforgiving landscapes and countries ravaged by war, witnessed civil uprisings that forced her to fake documents, and fended off sexual attacks, biker gangs and corrupt police convinced she was trafficking drugs. She'd survived life-threatening illnesses, personal loss and brutal accidents that had left permanent scars and a black hole in her memory. And she'd fallen in love with two very different men.In an age before email, the internet, mobile phones, satnavs and, in some parts of the world, readily available and reliable maps, Elspeth achieved something that would still seem remarkable today. Told with honesty and wit, this is the extraordinary and moving story of a unique and life-changing adventure.Trade ReviewAn eye-opening account of one of adventure motor-cycling's most enjoyable and inspiring stories. If there's only one adventure biking book you read this year, make it this one. * Adventure Bike Rider *Stunningly honest, Lone Rider is going to raise eyebrows. This extraordinary story is hard-hitting ... It's going to challenge and surprise every reader. * Overland Magazine *[A] beautifully crafted memoir * The Guildford Magazine *Lone Rider's a book that carries you around the globe on a fast-moving wave of sights and struggles - the pace alone makes it unputdownable [...] a stunning read. * Drivetribe *A remarkable feat by an equally remarkable woman. * 100% Biker *

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Book SynopsisThe award-winning New York Times bestseller that inspired BTS''s K-pop song ''Magic Shop''.The day that 12-year-old James Doty walked in to his local magic shop is the day that changed his life. The day that 12-year-old James Doty walked in to his local magic shop is the day that changed his life. Once the neglected son of an alcoholic father and a mother with chronic depression, he has gone on to become a leading neurosurgeon, based at Stanford University. He credits Ruth for this incredible turnaround: the remarkable woman who devoted the summer to transforming his mind and opening his heart.In this uplifting memoir, Jim explains the visualisation techniques Ruth taught him that gave him the self-esteem to imagine a new future for himself. He examines the science behind mindfulness and why the skills he learned - of focus and attention - now help him to think fast and keep calm in the operating theatre. And he shows us what is possible Trade ReviewThis book tells the remarkable story of a neurosurgeon's quest to unravel the mystery of the link between our brains and our hearts. From the moment in his childhood when a simple act of kindness changed the course of his own life to his founding a center to study compassion at Stanford University. Jim Doty's life illustrates how each of us can make a difference. We can make the world a more compassionate place. I'm sure many readers will be moved by this inspiring story to open their hearts and see what they too can do for others.Part memoir, part scientific exploration, Into the Magic Shop is a powerful work of emotion and discovery, showing that we all have within us our own small magic shop, a place of calm and beauty we can return to whenever we need it. As James Doty compellingly shows, we simply have to open the door, and let ourselves in.When a top neurosurgeon opens his heart to talk about his own difficult childhood that provided recipes for loneliness, fear, rage and shame, you know you are in for a deeply moving and insightful journey into the suffering and fragility of the human mind. Beautifully written, deeply original, this is an extraordinarily moving and exceptionally practical book into the "magic" tricks for calming and cultivating our minds. Here are lived ways to cope and engage with the realities and struggles of life that we all just find ourselves in. The seeds of compassion are being planted; we must now cultivate them. Into the Magic Shop is a powerful testimony of how, when we choose compassion as defining part of who we are, magic truly begins to unfold in our life. A most inspirational book that uplifts our spirits and open our hearts, at a time when so much of what we hear and read seem to make us lose hope in humanity. Anyone who reads this book will be changed, for the better.True healing is both biological and spiritual. When you experience love and compassion, your body shifts into homeostasis and self-regulation. When you heal yourself, you heal others. The reverse is also true. Your acts of kindness and compassion are the true healing of the world. In this extraordinary book Dr James Doty shows you the way.Into the Magic Shop is a captivating journey of discovery. Neurosurgeon Jim Doty's well-told personal story illuminates for us all the power of insight and empathy to transform our lives and enhance our world. Read it and you too may find magic in the mystery and majesty of the mind to bring health and healing to our individual and collective lives.A powerful, eloquent, deeply spiritual and exquisitely beautiful book. Real magic!

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Book SynopsisThis is an account of how an angry young man can cross the line that divides theoretical support for violence from a state of 'killing rage', in which the murder of neighbour becomes thinkable. Over 3000 people have died in Northern Ireland since 1969, and most of them have died at the hands of their neighbours. The intimacy of the Ulster conflict, what it means to carry out a political murder when in all probability the victim is personally known, or lives in a nearby street, is described accurately by an honest participant. The book does not attempt to soften the impact of the events it describes through euphemism or rhetoric. It is a truthful picture of the brutality and waste caused by the IRA's unwinnable campaign, and of its human consequences. It is also a self-portrait of the despair and disintegration, the hardening to conscience and grief, that accompany political violence.Trade ReviewEamon Collins's book is the most devastating account we have of what actually went on within the IRA during its years of 'armed struggle'. Collins revealed the banality, the ignorance and psychotic inhumanity of the little men pumped up into village Napoleons by the Troubles -- Fintan O’Toole * The Independent on Sunday *The most convincing honest book ever written about the IRA -- Jim Cusack * The Irish Times *A moving, even thrilling book... I would recommend it very strongly indeed * Daily Telegraph *

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Book Synopsis'I love puzzles, and finding answers is the only truly enjoyable part of what I do.'This is because Professor Patricia Wiltshire is a forensic ecologist, her days spent at crime scenes collecting samples, standing over dead bodies in a mortuary, or looking down her microscope for evidence. Nature has given us a messy, imperfect world, but her job is to help make sense of it when we need it to most. A pioneer of forensic ecology - using the natural world to help solve crimes - Patricia has been involved in some of the most high-profile murder cases. Not only does she help the police solve crimes and give answers to the most bemusing circumstances, she can help to exonerate the innocent and enable confessions from the guilty. Working at the interface of where the criminal and natural world interact, Patricia will show us how she finds the answers to some of the worst crimes imaginable.Through a study of her most infamous cases, we join Patricia in putting the puzzle together, teasing the evidence out of her cases - 'a garden came out of his hair' - and showing us all how life and death have always been, and always will be, intertwined. But how do you find justice for a mother who has lost her daughter in the most horrific of circumstances? How does she face the very worst of humanity's crimes, and the weight of responsibility to the victims and those they leave behind?

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Book Synopsis'A surprising page-turner, full of humour and startling details' THE TIMES 'If I read a better history this year, I will be lucky' TOM HOLLAND 'An astonishing tour de force' SPECTATOR Longlisted for the 2024 Highland Book Prize From Peter Marshall, winner of the 2018 Wolfson Prize, Storm's Edge is a new history of the Orkney Islands that delves deep into island politics, folk beliefs and community memory on the geographical edge of Britain. Peter Marshall was born in Orkney. His ancestors were farmers and farm labourers on the northern island of Sanday where, in 1624, one of them was murdered by a witch. In an expansive and enthralling historical account, Marshall looks afresh at a small group of islands that has been treated as a mere footnote, remote and peripheral, and in doing so invites us to think differently about key events of British history. With Orkney as our point of departure, Marshall traverses three dramatic centuries of religious, political and economic upheaval: a time when what we think of as modern Scotland, and then modern Britain, was being forged and tested. Storm's Edge is a magisterial history, a fascinating cultural study and a mighty attestation to the importance of placing the periphery at the centre. Britain is a nation composed of many different islands, but too often we focus on just one. This book offers a radical alternative, encouraging us to reorient the map and travel with Peter Marshall through landscapes of forgotten history.

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Book Synopsis'[The Gulag Archipelago] helped to bring down an empire. Its importance can hardly be exaggerated' Doris Lessing, Sunday Telegraph WITH A NEW FOREWORD BY JORDAN B. PETERSONA vast canvas of camps, prisons, transit centres and secret police, of informers and spies and interrogators but also of everyday heroism, The Gulag Archipelago is Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's grand masterwork. Based on the testimony of some 200 survivors, and on the recollection of Solzhenitsyn's own eleven years in labour camps and exile, it chronicles the story of those at the heart of the Soviet Union who opposed Stalin, and for whom the key to survival lay not in hope but in despair.A thoroughly researched document and a feat of literary and imaginative power, this edition of The Gulag Archipelago was abridged into one volume at the author's wish and with his full co-operation. 'Solzhenitsyn’s masterpiece...The Gulag Archipelago helped create the world we live in today' Anne Applebaum THE OFFICIALLY APPROVED ABRIDGEMENT OF THE GULAG ARCHIPELAGO VOLUMES I, II & IIITrade ReviewTo live now and not to know this work is to be a kind of historical fool missing a crucial part of the consciousness of the age * Guardian *The ferocious testimony of a man of genius * London Magazine *What gives the book its value is the sound it gives out; the harsh roar give out by a wise and experienced animal as a warning that the herd is in danger * Sunday Telegraph *He is one of the towering figures of the age as a writer, as moralist, as hero... in The Gulag Archipelago he has acheived the impossible * Observer *It is impossible to name a book that had a greater effect on the political and moral consciousness of the late twentieth century * New Yorker *

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Book SynopsisThree million girls across the world are at risk of female genital mutilation (FGM) each year. When Ann-Marie Wilson met a girl named Fatima in West Darfur, who had experienced FGM at the age of five and was pregnant by the age of ten, she knew she had to do something. Her life’s work since then has been geared toward speaking out against FGM, as well as supporting the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of as many survivors as possible. Built on the experience of more than 3,000 FGM survivors’ stories as well as meetings with heads of state and the Pope, Overcoming tells the compelling story of how Ann-Marie leaned on her Christian faith through her darkest moments to build 28 Too Many. This international organisation offers hope to the millions of girls who, just like Fatima, are at risk of FGM each year.Table of ContentsIntroduction 7One: Youthful ambition 12Two: Early days in aid work 27Three: What is FGM? 53Four: Called and equipped .71Five: Setting up the charity 78Six: Opposition, setbacks, and encouragements 97Seven: Stories of hope and seeds of change 114Eight: Living with cancer… 143Nine: Looking to the future 160Ten: My new normal 170Conclusion 180Further resources 191

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Book SynopsisThe perennial classic: this intimate journal chronicling the Narnia author''s experience of grief after his wife''s death has consoled readers for half a century; this edition features responses from authors like Hilary Mantel, Francis Spufford, Rowan Williams, Jenna Bailey ...''An intimate, anguished account of a man grappling with the mysteries of faith and love ... Elegant and raw ... A powerful record of thought and emotion experienced in real time.'' Guardian ''Raw and modern ... This unsentimental, even bracing, account of one man's dialogue with despair becomes both compelling and consoling ... A contemporary classic.'' Observer''A source of great consolation ... Lewis deploys his genius for vivid imagery ... It is a relief for the reader to find that he or she is not alone in the intense loneliness or feelings of anguish that bereavement brings.'' Henry Marsh, The Times''Testimony from a sensitive and eloquent witness [on] The Human Condition'. It offers an interrogation of experience and a glimmer of hardwon hope. It allows one bewildered mind to reach out to another. Death is no barrier to that.'' Hilary Mantel''Here, sorrow and despair, the tiredness and numbness and petulance and nightmarishness of grief, all have their full, uncontrolled, experienced force ... [Such] radical openness ... Brilliant.'' Francis Spufford***No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear.Narnia author C.S. Lewis had been married to his wife for four blissful years. When she died of cancer, he found himself alone, inconsolable in his grief. In this intimate journal, he chronicles the aftermath of the bereavement and mourning with blazing honesty. He grapples with a crisis of religious faith, navigating hope, rage, despair, and love - but eventually regains his bearings, finding his way back to life.A luminous modern classic, A Grief Observed has offered solace to countless readers for decades. This companion edition combines the original text with personal responses from Hilary Mantel, Rowan Williams, Francis Spufford, Maureen Freely, Kate Saunders, Jessica Martin and Jenna Bailey.***What readers are saying:''A truly great book - inspirational and untold help.'' ''Every human being, living or dead, understands what Lewis means ... One of the most valuable books ever written.'' ''Lewis, as always, sits down next to you and validates your grief like a true friend. He lets you rage, and cry, and even be furious with God, just as he did.''''If you are grieving an enormous loss, you may find comfort here ... A great mind and wonderful writer who understands your grief well enough to put words to it.''''His journal was also my journal as I worked through my own grief. Reading this book was actually comforting in that I knew that someone else understood my situation and offered insight and hope ... I highly recommend this book for anyone who has gone through the death of a loved one or who wants to comfort. ''This little book has had me in floods of tears [and] shows a real understanding of grief ... To read the words of this great man who shared and understood my pain and is a life affirming and faith affirming experience.''

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Book SynopsisThe iconic bags, the instantly recognizable packaging, the celebrity fans – Hèrmes is the last word in luxurious accessories. Through the generations, Hermès have created innovative and exquisite accessories for the most glamorous customers. From their nineteenth-century saddlery workshop to 1960s Paris and beyond, Hermès has graced the arms and wardrobes of style icons from Grace Kelly and Jane Birkin to Victoria Beckham and Kim Kardashian. Little Book of Hermès tells the story of the evolution of the House of Hermès, through beautiful illustrations of the most coveted items and authoritative text by fashion historian Karen Homer.Table of ContentsIntroduction • The Early Years • A New Generation • Considered Expansion • The Evolution of Fashion • Iconic Bags • Silk Scarves • Aristocracy and Celebrity Clientele.

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewRemarkable . . . skilful storytelling . . . intrepidly adventurous and unconventional . . . couldn't be more relevant. The kinship he felt with the Inuit on that first visit saw the publication of a literary work that was well ahead of its time. -- Michael Segalov * Observer *Fearless reverse ethnology . . . gorgeous descriptions . . . an eye for absurdity . . . Kpomassie is a writer of enviable and maybe indispensable amiability and serenity . . . With his gaze and his mind continually turned out and facing forward, he is up to every predicament he encounters; he has the mother wit, the equanimity and the self-confidence of the epic hero -- London Review of Books * Michael Hofmann *Beautiful, compassionate, insightful . . . inner and outer landscapes both richly and honestly detailed . . . the furthest a book has taken me . . . Astonishing -- Johny Pitts * author of Afropean *A fascinating snapshot of Inuit culture and a reminder of the common threads that bind us all . . . a first-rate storyteller to the whole world -- Noo Saro-Wiwa * The Times *It is a long way in miles, but even longer in resilience, adventurous persistence and uncanny charm. . . . Kpomassie's book contains a catalogue of his impressions, combined with striking passages of fine writing. The result is the curious double perspective of a naïve visitor, combined with the controlled distance of a writer -- Paul Zweig * The New York Times Book Review *Warm, witty and joyful -- Ann Morgan * Financial Times *Surprising . . . this beautifully written, page-turning piece of unjudgmental anthropological reportage by a black man finding his soul through seeking the soul of the Inuit recognises an important lesson for today. -- Sue Prideaux * The Times *Pioneering and unforgettable * Mr Porter *An ebullient snapshot of a vanished age -- John Self * Observer New Review *

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Book SynopsisThe first publication of Kurt Cobain''s diaries, which were found after his death in 1994. Genuinely moving, provocative and candid, and suprisingly funny, pieces of writing which, as a whole, provide a unique account of the rise and fall of a greatpopular artist and icon.

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Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its range of best-loved, essential classics.Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, and what is the use of a book, thought Alice, without pictures or conversations?'So begins the tale of Alice, who follows a curious White Rabbit down a hole and falls into Wonderland, a fantastical place where nothing is quite as it seems: animals talk, nonsensical characters confuse, Mad Hatters throw tea parties and the Queen plays croquet. Alice's attempts to find her way home become increasingly bizarre, infuriating and amazing in turn.A beloved classic, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland has continued to delight readers, young and old, for over 150 years.

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Book Synopsis'A brave writer whose books open up fundamental questions about life and art' – TelegraphIn this inspiring collection of essays, acclaimed writer and critic Olivia Laing makes a vivid and politically-engaged case for the importance of art – especially in the turbulent weather of the twenty-first century.We are often told art can’t change anything. In Funny Weather, Laing argues that it can. It changes how we see the world, it exposes inequality, and it offers fertile new ways of living.Across a diverse selection of essays, Laing profiles Jean-Michel Basquiat and Georgia O’Keeffe, interviews Hilary Mantel and Ali Smith, writes love letters to David Bowie and Freddie Mercury, and explores loneliness and technology, women and alcohol, sex and the body. Written with originality and compassion, Funny Weather is a celebration of art as a force of resistance and repair – and as an antidote to a frightening political moment.Trade ReviewA brave writer whose books open up fundamental questions about life and art * Telegraph *Olivia Laing is my new favourite non-fiction writer -- Nick HornbyLike all great critics, Olivia Laing combines formidable intelligence with boundless curiosity and fabulous taste, but she also has a rare quality of intimacy; an ability to connect the reader to a work of art or literature with a directness that lights it up like nothing else. It’s why I read her -- James LasdunHer observations and poetic incisiveness on art, writers and politics are a gift. This is a fascinating, excursive, tonic of a book -- Sinéad Gleeson, author of ConstellationsA thought-provoking, inspiring collection that you can go back to whenever the weather takes a funny turn * Evening Standard *Funny Weather gives the reader a tangible sense of the sprawling garden of work which Laing has planted. She is to the art world what David Attenborough is to nature: a worthy guide with both a macro and micro vision, fluent in her chosen tongue and always full of empathy and awe * Irish Times *Laing has acted as a kind of cultural sage for the past four years, an accidental literary grande dame of the emotional havoc wrought by late capitalism and digital disconnect * New York Magazine *Laing writes of her creative subjects in a winning, passionate voice that proves both soothing and galvanizing, especially amid a panic . . . It’s not just art we need in an emergency, but writers, like Laing, who gently guide our eyes to what’s out there -- Alina Cohen * Observer *The hospitality of world view in Olivia’s writing is a vital force in our disputatious present -- Maria Balshaw, director of TateLaing combines passion and curiosity in a collection of art-based essays and profiles that reflect the uncertainty of our age * Guardian *Never has a publication been more timely * Dazed *A warm, thinking, enticing sweep of a book, like spending the afternoon with your brainiest friend -- Kate Mosse, author of The Burning ChambersA fine writer’s embrace of the artists who preceded her, friendly visits with their lives and loving acknowledgement of their foundational contributions. A work of joy in recognition -- Sarah SchulmanThe book to help you make sense of the world . . . [a] mesmerizing collection of essays . . . this unique and compassionate book is a mind-expanding opportunity to rethink how we live, and what we can do to change things for the better. * Stylist *A light-footed tour of enriching stories, lives, and ideas * Dazed and Confused *Her gift as a critic is her ability to imaginatively sympathize with her subjects in a way that allows the art and life of the artist to go on radiating meaning after the book is closed * Elle *Breathtaking, beautiful, funny, shocking, sad, revealing, and timely -- Nina Stibbe, author of Love, NinaI yield to absolutely no one in my admiration of Olivia Laing; her essays are magical liberations of words and ideas, art and love; they're the essence of great 21st century literature: brilliantly expressed, wildly uncontained, wilful and wonderfully unbound. -- Philip Hoare, author of RISINGTIDEFALLINGSTAROlivia Laing shines the light for art writing. Funny Weather urges us to humanise art, and listen to what artists say about life, love and crisis. -- Charlie PorterAn incivisive meditation on the value of heartfelt, messy art in our paranoid times * Telegraph *It’s not just art we need in an emergency, but writers, like Laing, who gently guide our eyes to what’s out there * Observer *Vibrant commentary on art and society by a writer with a sharp eye for the offbeat * Kirkus *Laing’s essays are urgent, compassionate, enlivening and acutely perceptive, and that’s true whether or not we encounter them “in an emergency” * the arts desk *Her words seem balefully accurate, given what has now overtaken us * Financial Times *Laing is an intelligent and acute writer, and this book is certainly interesting and assuredly well-written * Scotsman *Laing’s arts writing is sharp-minded, and her manner is generous toward both subject and reader * Washington Post *

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Book SynopsisTHE NUMBER ONE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERINDIE BOOK AWARDS NON-FICTION WINNER'EXTRAORDINARY' The Times, 'BEAUTIFUL' Dolly Alderton, 'SHATTERING' Observer, 'INCREDIBLE' Benjamin Zephaniah, 'UNPUTDOWNABLE' Sunday Times, 'ASTOUNDING' Matt Haig, 'POWERFUL' Elif Shafak At the age of seventeen, after a childhood in a foster family followed by six years in care homes, Norman Greenwood was given his birth certificate. He learned that his real name was not Norman. It was Lemn Sissay. He was British and Ethiopian. And he learned that his mother had been pleading for his safe return to her since his birth.This is Lemn's story: a story of neglect and determination, misfortune and hope, cruelty and triumph.Sissay reflects on his childhood, self-expression and Britishness, and in doing so explores the institutional care system, race, family and the meaning of home. Written with all the lyricism and power you would expect from one of the nation's best-loved poets, this moving, frank and timely memoir is the result of a life spent asking questions, and a celebration of the redemptive power of creativity.Trade ReviewA lyrical, painful and yet hope-filled memoir . . . Shattering, light-searching * * Observer * *Searing . . . Unputdownable . . . My Name Is Why is authentic and beautiful, a potential game-changer in public attitudes to children raised in care. It's about bureaucratic cruelty and what happens when love is absent. Don't miss it * * The Times * *An extraordinary story * * Sunday Times * *The most amazing thing about this book is that it's not made up. This actually happened. It is an incredible story -- BENJAMIN ZEPHANIAHI have never read a memoir like it. A blistering account of a young life in the hands of neglectful authorities. It's a quest for understanding, for home, for answers. Grips like a thriller. Astounding -- MATT HAIGThe great triumph of this work comes from its author's determination to rail against what he rightly diagnoses as this institutionally endorsed disremembering of black and marginalised experience. It is a searing and unforgettable re-creation of the most brutal of beginnings -- Michael Donkor * * Guardian * *Utterly devastating and beautiful . . . Breathtakingly written -- DOLLY ALDERTONThis is a deeply moving memoir that speaks with incredible poeticism. A staggering exposé of colonial theft and abandonment, this book is grippingly heartbreaking -- DAVID LAMMYA fascinating memoir . . . So powerful -- ELIF SHAFAKThe engaging transfiguring truth of My Name Is Why is like a baptism of truth - leaving you washed clean of lies and reborn in love. Profound in its kindness, intelligence and unselfish heart, this book is important and unputdownable -- JESSICA HYNES

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Book SynopsisTrade Review'A literary masterpiece that would be worth reading even if his paintings were rubbish…. an engrossing encounter with the creativity of Vincent’s life of solitude. As you read, look at his paintings online and see suffering turned into beauty' - Jonathan Jones, Guardian'Open any letter here and it compels — such is the force, honesty and lucidity of van Gogh’s literary expressiveness, echoing his qualities as a painter ... this is a perfect condensed version of the six-volume complete correspondence; among its miracles is optimism almost to the end' - Financial Times'If you haven’t yet discovered the impassioned power of [Van Gogh's] interior monologues, this volume of his letters [...] will make a nicely presented and eminently manageable addition to your shelves' - Rachel Campbell-Johnston, The Times'A judicious selection from the magnificent six-volume Complete Letters of 2009 … Impassioned, often heartbreaking, furious, funny and tender, these letters form a unique testament from a pivotal figure in 19th-century art' - John Banville, The Irish Independent

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Book SynopsisHow Manchester United conquered all, by the players who won everything ______________________________________________________________ With a foreword by Ruud van Nistelrooy An Irish Times Bestseller The Champions League, the Club World Cup, 6 Premier League Titles, 1 FA Cup, 3 League Cups, 4 Community Shields, 1 legendary manager. From Rio to Rome, 20002010. This is the story of one of the greatest eras in the history of England's most successful club, told through the eyes of the players who made it happen. Not just the big wins, the cup finals and the trophy parades, but the half-time rows, the mad pranks, the boozy nights out and the training-ground bust-ups. Andy Mitten has tracked down eleven of the stars from those Premier League and Champions League winning teams to open the door to both the dressing room and the boardroom at Old Trafford as the club cemented its status as the dominant force in English football. Bring on United is an astonishingly candid and revealing insight into the workings of a relentless winning machine. More than that, it's as lively and entertaining a sports book as you'll ever read. Featuring exclusive interviews with Nemanja Vidic, Ole Gunnar Solskjær, Patrice Evra, Gary Neville, Dimitar Berbatov, Jaap Stam, John O'Shea, Wes Brown, Dwight Yorke, Diego Forlán and Ryan Giggs.

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Book SynopsisBooker T. Washington's famous 1901 memoir, Up From Slavery, charts Washington's rise from an enslaved child with a passion for learning to the nation's most prominent Black educator and first president of Tuskegee University.

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Book Synopsis A captivating collection of women''s writing including poetry, letters, novels, memoir, and journals that celebrates the joy of being a woman. This glorious collection takes a refreshing look at everything there is to enjoy about the experience of womanhood.Chapters include Firsts' with voices such as Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space, and Marie Curie, the first female Nobel prize-winner; Festivities' which emphasises frivolity and pleasure; Friends' exploring the depth of connection experienced through female friendship; Family' on mothers, daughters, sisters, aunts and grandmothers; and Flowering' which celebrates women's creativity, passion and love of life. From Amy Tan representing the uplifting comfort of parties with friends in The Joy Luck Clubto Sylvia Plath considering the fierce and confusing love she feels for her mother, and Elizabeth I embracing her role as Britain's first successful woman ruler, Celebrating Women includes a diverse range of voices from across the ages that explore the breadth of experience in different women's lives.

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Book SynopsisPlayed Up Pompey Four contains fresh interviews with 23 individuals whose immense contributions left an indelible mark on a truly special football club. The fourth in the Played Up Pompey series, this book explores the Blues careers of those whose outstanding performances established them as household names and heroes among the Fratton faithful.

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Book Synopsis'You are the knife I turn inside myself'Franz Kafka's letters to his one-time muse, Milena Jesenska - an intimate window into the desires and hopes of the twentieth-century's most prophetic and important writerKafka first made the acquaintance of Milena Jesenska in 1920 when she was translating his early short prose into Czech. Their relationship quickly developed into a deep attachment. Such was his feeling for her that Kafka showed her his diaries and, in doing so, laid bare his heart and his conscience.While at times Milena's 'genius for living' gave Kafka new life, it ultimately exhausted him, and their relationship was to last little over two years. In 1924 Kafka died in a sanatorium near Vienna, and Milena died in 1944 at the hands of the Nazis, leaving these letters as a moving record of their relationship.Trade ReviewPerhaps the most interesting writer of his generation- a strange and disconcerting genius -- Edwin Muir

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Book SynopsisAt twenty-six, Cheryl Strayed thought she had lost everything. In the wake of her mother's rapid death from cancer, her family disbanded and her marriage crumbled. With nothing to lose, she made the most impulsive decision of her life: to walk eleven-hundred miles of the west coast of America - from the Mojave Desert, through California and Oregon, and into Washington state - and to do it alone. She had no experience of long-distance hiking and the journey was nothing more than a line on a map. But it held a promise - a promise of piecing together a life that lay in ruins at her feet. Strayed's account captures the agonies - both mental and physical - of her incredible journey; how it maddened and terrified her, and how, ultimately, it healed her. Wild is a brutal memoir of survival, grief and redemption: a searing portrayal of life at its lowest ebb and at its highest tide.Trade ReviewClear, honest, and quietly riveting * Marie Claire *A spectacular book... Both a literary and a human triumph * New York Times *A deeply honest memoir about mother and daughter, solitude and courage, and regaining footing, one step at a time * Vogue *Strayed's language is so vivid, sharp and compelling that you feel the heat of the desert, the frigid ice of the High Sierra and the breathtaking power of one remarkable woman finding her way - and herself - one brave step at a time. * People *Table of ContentsPART ONE: THE TEN THOUSAND THINGS 1: The Ten Thousand Things 2: Splitting 3: Hunching in a Remotely Upright Position PART TWO: TRACKS 4: The Pacific Crest Trail, Volume 1: California 5: Tracks 6: A Bull in Both Directions 7: The Only Girl in the Woods PART THREE: RANGE OF LIGHT 8: Corvidology 9: Staying Found 10: Range of Light PART FOUR: WILD 11: The Lou Out of Lou 12: This Far 13: The Accumulation of Trees 14: Wild PART FIVE: BOX OF RAIN 15: Box of Rain 16: Mazama 17: Into a Primal Gear 18: Queen of the PCT 19: The Dream of a Common Language

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Book SynopsisA journey along the Irish coast with powerful Irish woman beside you.At a crossroads in her life, Gráinne Lyons set out to travel Ireland?s west coast on foot. She set a simple intention: to walk in the footsteps of eleven pioneering Irish women deeply rooted in this coastal landscape and explore their lives and work along the way. As a Londoner born to Irish parents, she also sought answers in her own identity.As Gráinne heads north from Cape Clear Island where her great-grandmother was a lacemaker, she considers Ellen Hutchins, Maude Delap, Edna O?Brien, Granuaile and Queen Maeve among others from her unique perspective. Their homes ? in places that are famously wild and remote ? are transformed into sites of hope, purpose, opportunity and inspiration. Walking through this history, her journey reveals unexpected insight into emigrant identity, travelling alone, femininity and the trappings of an ?ideal? life.Against the backdrop and power of this great ocean, Wild Atlantic Women will inspire the twenty-first-century reader and walker to keep going, regardless of the path.

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Book Synopsis*A memoir and self-help manual by one of the country's most treasured comedians - for anyone who feels stuck in a rut but doesn't have the tools or self-belief to shake things up*In his mid-twenties, Jimmy was bored, boring, unfulfilled and underachieving. He wasn't exactly depressed, but he was very sad. Think of a baby owl whose mum has recently died in a windmill accident. He was that sad. This book tells the story of how Jimmy turned it around and got happy, through the redemptive power of dick jokes.Written to take advantage of the brief window between the end of lockdown and Jimmy getting cancelled for saying something unforgivable to Lorraine Kelly, this book is as timely as it is unnecessary. Because you might be interested in Jimmy's life but he's damn sure you're a lot more interested in your own, Before & Laughter is about both of you. But mainly him. It tells the story of Jimmy's life - the transformation from white-collar corporate drone to fake-toothed donkey-laugh plastic-haired comedy mannequin - while also explaining how to turn your own life around and become the you you've always dreamt of being. At just £20, it's cheaper than Scientology, quicker than therapy, and significantly less boring than church.Before & Laughter contains the answers to all the big questions in life, questions like:· What's the secret to happiness?· Is Jimmy wearing a wig?· What happened with that tax thing?· What's the meaning of life?· Is Jimmy's laugh real?· Can those teeth bite through vibranium?And for readers in the West Country: yes, there are pictures (actually, sorry, there are no pictures, but there's a book about a hungry caterpillar you'll love).Because it's Jimmy Carr - recently scientifically proved to be the funniest comedian in the UK - there are jokes, jokes and more jokes throughout. If laughter really was the best medicine, the NHS would be handing out this book in Nightingale Hospitals.Fascinating, thoughtful and insightful - are all words that appear in the book.Trade ReviewRiveting * Daily Mail *An utterly sincere guide for people to achieve bigger things in life * Guardian *Very funny and very beautiful, packed with jokes and genuinely wise advice * Chris Evans *So good. I've loved every second of reading it * James Corden *A hilarious book that will be adored by Jimmy's fans. Both of them * David Walliams *Made me laugh, made me think, what more do you want from a comedian's memoir? * Alastair Campbell *I was really annoyed at how good this book is and that's the biggest compliment I can give * Romesh Ranganathan *Very, very funny - a great read * Gary Davies, The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show *At last, a selfless biography that aims to inspire and does. Also, of course, very, very funny * Rich Hall *It's the first life advice book from someone whose life you would actually want * Katherine Ryan *

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Book Synopsis**THE MILLION COPY BESTSELLER** 'Rattling. Heartbreaking. Beautiful.' Atul Gawande, bestselling author of Being Mortal What makes life worth living in the face of death? At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade's training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, the next he was a patient struggling to live. When Breath Becomes Air chronicles Kalanithi's transformation from a medical student asking what makes a virtuous and meaningful life into a neurosurgeon working in the core of human identity - the brain - and finally into a patient and a new father. Paul Kalanithi died while working on this profoundly moving book, yet his words live on as a guide to us all. When Breath Becomes Air is a life-affirming reflection on facing our mortality and on the relationship between doctor and patient, from a gifted writer who became both. 'A vital book about dying. Awe-inspiring and exquisite. Obligatory reading for the living' Nigella LawsonTrade ReviewA vital book about dying. Awe-inspiring and exquisite. Obligatory reading for the living. -- Nigella LawsonRattling. Heartbreaking. Beautiful. -- Atul Gawande, author of BEING MORTALA great, indelible book ... as intimate and illuminating as Atul Gawande’s “Being Mortal,” to cite only one recent example of a doctor’s book that has had exceptionally wide appeal ... I guarantee that finishing this book and then forgetting about it is simply not an option ... gripping from the start ... None of it is maudlin. Nothing is exaggerated. As he wrote to a friend: “It’s just tragic enough and just imaginable enough.” And just important enough to be unmissable. * New York Times *Powerful and poignant. * The Sunday Times *Less a memoir than a reflection on life and purpose… A vital book. * The Economist *Powerful and poignant… Elegantly written posthumous memoir… Should be compulsory for anyone who intends to be a doctor… A profound reflection on the meaning of life. -- Daisy Goodwin * Sunday Times *A stark, fascinating, well-written and heroic memoir. -- Stefanie Marsh * The Times *The power of this book lies in its eloquent insistence that we are all confronting our mortality every day, whether we know it or not. The real question we face, Kalanithi writes, is not how long, but rather how, we will live – and the answer does not appear in any medical textbook. -- Alice Okeeffe * Guardian *Exceptional. -- Katie Law * Evening Standard *When I came to the end of the last flawless paragraph of When Breath Becomes Air, all I could do was turn to the first page and read the whole thing again. Searingly intelligent, beautifully written, and beyond brave, I haven't been so marked by a book in years. -- Gabriel Weston, author of DIRECT REDA remarkable book… Kalanithi writes very well, in a plain and matter-of-fact way, without a trace of self-pity, and you are immediately gripped and carried along… [He] was clearly a deeply thoughtful and compassionate man, and his death is a great loss to medicine, but at least he has left this remarkable book behind. -- Dr Henry Marsh * Observer *A meditation on what makes a life worth living. * Guardian *It turns out not really to be about dying at all but about life and how to live it — though the closeness of death gives it an urgency and economy… When Breath Becomes Air is a Renaissance book from a Renaissance man. It is a work of philosophy and morality, a reconciliation of science and religion. There is even plot and excitement… It was only with the restrained, elegant epilogue written by his wife Lucy Kalanithi that I found myself weeping helplessly… When Breath Becomes Air tells us what means to live a good life, by giving us a glimpse into an exceptional one. -- Lucy Kellaway * Financial Times *A powerful and compelling read. * The Economist, Book of the Year *An astonishingly affecting memoir and eloquent examination of what it is to be human and confront your own mortality… This is a remarkable book by a man who was driven by his passion for his life, his loves and his career. His death is undoubtedly a tragedy but in writing this memoir he has guaranteed that his voice and the important story it tells will resonate for years to come. -- Mernie Gilmore * Daily Express *As thought-provoking as it was moving. The sheer exuberance of Kalnithi’s intellectual curiosity shone through in his writing. -- Katie Law * Evening Standard, Book of the Year *To the venerable canon of doctors who could write (from Chekhov to Oliver Sacks and Atul Gawande), another name can be added: that of Paul Kalanithi… Brilliantly written. -- Louise Carpenter * Sunday Telegraph *Paul Kalanithi’s memoir, When Breath Becomes Air… split my head open with its beauty. Truly. Madly. Deeply. -- Cheryl Strayed, author of WILDThanks to When Breath Becomes Air, those of us who never met Paul Kalanithi will both mourn his death and benefit from his life. This one of a handful of books I consider to be a universal donor - I would recommend it to anyone, everyone. -- Ann Patchett, author of BEL CANTOA remarkable book about what it means to live…a tour de force…The book will be compared inevitably to Sacks’ work and also to the iconic book that Joan Didion wrote about grief, The Year of Magical Thinking. And like that book, it’s destined to become an elegiac classic on the subject of mortality. But it’s a different feeling from Didion’s gorgeous, melancholy fog of war. When Breath Becomes Air is electrically alive in its anticipation of death. -- Lisa Chase * Elle *

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Book SynopsisA richly drawn biography of Jane Austen, from a beloved 20th-century English novelist Elizabeth Jenkins

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Book SynopsisTHE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - TWO MILLION COPIES SOLD'Tragic and comic at the same time... an outrageous story, one that will break your heart' Sunday Independent'A terrific story, grippingly told' Sunday Times'I read The Glass Castle straight through in an evening, wearing an expression of slack-jawed amazement' SpectatorWhile Jeannette Walls was living on Park Avenue, covering the Academy Awards and attending black-tie parties at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, her parents were squatting in an abandoned building on the Lower East Side. Rex Walls, her father, was an ingenious adventurer and a hopeless alcoholic. Her mother was an artist who abhorred domestic routine and the chores of motherhood: 'Why should I cook a meal that will be gone in an hour when I can do a painting that will last forever?' Funny sad, quirky and loving, The Glass Castle is an almost incredible story of a nomadic, impoverished childhood. NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE STARRING BRIE LARSON, WOODY HARRELSON AND NAOMI WATTSTrade ReviewTragic and comic at the same time... an outrageous story, one that will break your heart * Sunday Independent *A terrific story, grippingly told * Sunday Times *Like J.D. Salinger or Hemingway before her, Jeannette Walls has the talent of knowing exactly how to let a story tell itself * Sunday Independent *'I read The Glass Castle straight through in an evening, wearing an expression of slack-jawed amazement. Jeannette Walls has managed to balance her account with great precision; as she and her siblings did, we must both love and hate her parents * Spectator *There isn't a shred of self-pity in this deeply compassionate book * Marie Claire *Wall's journalistic bare-bones style makes for a chilling, wrenching, incredible testimony of childhood neglect * Kirkus Reviews *Affection, shame and guilt run side by side in this unforgettable memoir of a childhood spent ''on the skedaddle'' * Woman and Home *Funny and brilliantly written through a child's eyes, recreating a unique family life * Evening Herald *Walls has joined the company of writers such as Mary Karr and Frank McCourt who have been able to transform their sad memories into fine art * People *Walls has a God-given knack for spinning a yarn, and The Glass Castle is nothing short of spectacular * Entertainment Weekly *Extraordinary * Time *Each memory is more incredible than the last... That Walls recounts them so well and in such detail is our good fortune * Plain Dealer *Some people are born storytellers. Some lives are worth telling. The best memoirs happen when these two conditions converge. In The Glass Castle, they have * New York Newsday *The Glass Castle is the kind of story that keeps you awake long after the rest of the house has fallen asleep * Vogue *Utterly engaging and teeming with incident. This is a life so vividly rendered that the reader feels present at every moment * Express *Walls has carved a story with precision and grace out of one of the most chaotic, heart-breaking childhoods... This deeply affecting memoir is a triumph in every possible way, and it does what all good books should: it affirms our faith in the human spirit * Dani Shapiro *

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Book SynopsisOver 16 million copies sold worldwide 'Every human being should read this book' Simon Sinek One of the outstanding classics to emerge from the Holocaust, Man's Search for Meaning is Viktor Frankl's story of his struggle for survival in Auschwitz and other Nazi concentration camps. Today, this remarkable tribute to hope offers us an avenue to finding greater meaning and purpose in our own lives.Trade ReviewRemarkable...It changed my life and became a part of all that I live and all that I teach.An enduring work of survival literature. * New York Times *A book to read, to cherish, to debate, and one that will ultimately keep the memories of the victims alive -- John Boyne, author of The Boy in the Striped PyjamasI have loved this book for so many years, and I think every human being should read it. -- Simon SinekViktor Frankl...one of the moral heroes of the 20th century. His insights into human freedom, dignity and the search for meaning are deeply humanizing, and have the power to transform lives. His works are essential reading for those who seek to understand the human condition.

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Book Synopsis'Conjures the rasp of the ski runner, the scent of burning blubber and the rippling iridescence of the Northern Lights' Sara Wheeler '[An] astonishing, haunting memoir' Isabella Tree The rediscovered classic memoir - the mesmerizingly beautiful account of one woman's year spent living in a remote hut in the Arctic In 1934, the painter Christiane Ritter leaves her comfortable home for a year with her husband on the Arctic island of Spitsbergen. On arrival she is shocked to realise that they are to live in a tiny ramshackle hut on the shores of a lonely fjord, hundreds of miles from the nearest settlement. At first, Christiane is horrified by the freezing cold, the bleak landscape and the lack of supplies... But after encounters with bears and seals, long treks over the ice and months of perpetual night, she finds herself falling in love with the Arctic's harsh, otherworldly beauty. This luminous classic memoir tells of her inspiring journey to freedom and fulfilment in the adventure of a lifetime. Part of the Pushkin Press Classics series: timeless storytelling by icons of literature, hand-picked from around the globe Translated by Jane Degras With a foreword by Sara Wheeler Born in 1897, CHRISTIANE RITTER was an Austrian artist and author. She wrote A Woman in the Polar Night on her return to Austria from Spitsbergen in 1934. It has since become a classic of travel writing, never going out of print in German and being translated into seven other languages. 'A year in the Arctic should be compulsory to everyone,' she would say in her later years. 'Then you will come to realise what's important in life and what isn't.' Ritter died in Vienna in 2000 at the age of 103.Trade Review“An epic story, elegantly told and full of mystery. Even though I could never hope to match her bravery and aplomb, Ritter made me long to decamp at once for the harshest and wildest corners of the earth.” — Maggie Shipstead, author of Great Circle

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Book Synopsis'Elegant ... calm and generous' Mary Beard, Guardian The must-read, pocket-sized Big Think book of 2020 One of the Guardian's 'Best Books to Inspire Compassion' One of Independent's Books of the Month A Cosmopolitan 'Revolutionary Read' Ours is the age of contagious anxiety. We feel overwhelmed by the events around us, by injustice, by suffering, by an endless feeling of crisis. So, how can we nurture the parts of ourselves that hope, trust and believe in something better? And how can we stay sane in this age of division? In this powerful, uplifting plea for conscious optimism, Booker Prize-nominated novelist and activist Elif Shafak draws on her own memories and delves into the power of stories to bring us together. In the process, she reveals how listening to each other can nurture democracy, empathy and our faith in a kinder and wiser future.Trade ReviewOne of the best writers in the world today -- Hanif KureishiSharp and elegant ... I did find myself hoping that Facebook and Like (or whatever they are now called) might one day come across this little book - and thinking that its calm and generous view of the world might give them back some part of the optimism that had greeted their arrival. -- Mary Beard * Guardian *A calmly rational response to extraordinary circumstances ... there is comfort in having a voice like Shafak's to guide us * The i Paper *Insightful and very moving -- John Harris * Guardian *A deeply thought-provoking delight * Independent *Fortifying and optimistic * Net-a-Porter Magazine *One of the most important writers at work today * Independent *Shafak's writings are an embodiment of radical remembrance; with existential fervour, they pull together the past and future to bring forth a fully realised present that feels all the more urgent * Dazed *PRAISE FOR PREVIOUS BOOKS: 'Expect vibrant, vivid and eye-opening descriptions of Middle Eastern life propelled by a tender storyline, all in Shafak's haunting, beautiful and considered prose' * Vanity Fair *Incredibly sensuous and poetic and evocative -- Pandora Sykes * The High Low *Richly uplifting... truly beautiful writing -- Nicola SturgeonSimply magnificent, a truly captivating work of immense power and beauty, on the essence of life and its end -- Philippe SandsA vivid carnival of life and death, cruelty and kindness, love, politics and deep humanity. Brilliant! -- Helena KennedyBeautifully written ... a complex vision of how emotions interact with political life -- Devi Sridhar * Lancet *Beautifully written ... calls for the importance of centring knowledge, storytelling, empathy, and wisdom in our lives. -- Devi Sridhar * Lancet *

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Book SynopsisRock stars to royalty, society to sobriety, get to know the real Susannah Constantine in the hottest memoir of the year! ''Sensational, juicy, gossipy, filthy and bravely honest in equal measure, Susannah Constantine''s memoir is a rollicking romp through the upper middle classes'' SUNDAY TIMES, ''BEST BIOGRAPHY AND MEMOIR BOOKS OF 2022'' ''Hilarious and honest. A book for anyone who''s after laughter, tears and one hell of a rollercoaster ride'' GOOD HOUSEKEEPING, ''BOOKS OF THE YEAR'' ''Wildly fun'' DAILY TELEGRAPH, ''BEST BOOKS OF 2022'' ''Sensational, juicy, honest, terrific - it reminded me of reading Lady Anne Glenconner'' GRAHAM NORTON, Virgin Radio ''Hilarious and unsparing. An extraordinary story'' REV. RICHARD COLES, Saturday Live ''Bonkers and brilliant. With comedy and candour, she bares her soul . . . Magnificent'' SUNDAY MAIL ''There is a lot we

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