Biography Books
HarperCollins Publishers The Grammar of Angels
a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd Frederick the Great
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewHighly readable and deeply researched -- Andrew Roberts * Mail on Sunday *Tim Blanning's masterly biography guides the reader through all these wars and chicaneries with great skill and dry-eyed objectivity -- Noel Malcolm * Telegraph (5*) *It is sure to be the standard English-language account for many years. It instructs; it entertains; and it surprises -- Philip Mansel * The Spectator *Tim Blanning is that rarest of scholars, as deft in his command of government and grand strategy as he is in his handling of philosophy and opera, and is rightly regarded as one of Britain's (indeed Europe's) finest historians. This biography finds him at the height of his powers and offers major reassessments of almost every aspect of Frederick's career -- John Adamson * Literary Review *Potsdam, where the founding father of Prussian autocracy built the prettiest of palaces and picked the loftiest of guardsmen, [is] freshly and fascinatingly described by Tim Blanning -- Nicky Haslam * Spectator *A similar mastery of topic is evident from the first lines of Tim Blanning's Frederick the Great: King of Prussia (Allen Lane), a virtuoso study of an exceptionally complex man who, through force of personality, helped to shape an equally complex moment in European history. -- Michael Prodger * New Statesman *A superbly wise and accomplished biographer -- Dominic Sandbrook * Sunday Times *Tim Blanning's Frederick the Great, is as enthralling on its subject's horribly abusive upbringing as on his bold, sometimes foolhardy military campaigns. Blanning is particularly acute in inquiring, without, prurience, into the notorious question of Frederick's sexuality. -- Ritchie Robertson * TLS *
£17.09
Penguin Random House Children's UK Sluts
Book SynopsisAn important and honest book that will encourage better conversations about sex. I wish I read this when I was younger!' - Laura Whitmore'A must-read for anyone whose sexual expression has been used as a weapon against them' Ruby Rare'A fascinating deep dive into the history of slutshaming' - Service 95, Dua Lipa's Book ClubA 'taboo-smashing debut book' - CosmopolitanFrom award-winning journalist Beth Ashley comes a groundbreaking investigation into the history of slutshaming, how it continues to affect us today and what we can do to fight it. Whore. Hoe. Jezebel. Harlot. Slut. Five words. One meaning. But what exactly is a slut? How has the concept changed over time? And why is slutshaming so dangerous?In this groundbreaking investigation, Beth Ashley reveals the truth about slutshaming, gives us the tools to fight it, and encourages us all to have better conversations about sex. The fight starts now.
£10.40
Penguin Books Ltd An Autobiography
Book Synopsis''Riveting; as fresh and relevant today as it was almost 50 years ago. The words fire off the page with humour, anger and eloquence'' GuardianA powerful and commanding account of the life of trailblazing political activist Angela DavisEdited by Toni Morrison and first published in 1974, An Autobiography is a classic of the Black Liberation era which resonates just as powerfully today. It is reissued now with a new introduction by Davis, for a new audience inspired and galvanised by her ongoing activism and her extraordinary example.In the book, she describes her journey from a childhood on Dynamite Hill in Birmingham, Alabama, to one of the most significant political trials of the century: from her political activity in a New York high school to her work with the U.S. Communist Party, the Black Panther Party, and the Soledad Brothers; and from the faculty of the Philosophy Department at UCLA to the FBI''s list of the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives.Told with warmth, brilliance, humour, and conviction, it is an unforgettable account of a life committed to radical change.Trade ReviewThere are books you should read, books that you will enjoy reading, and books that will educate you. Rarely does one book do all three. The Autobiography of Angela Y. Davis is one of those books -- Marcus Ryder[A] rare book that even almost 50 years later feels timely and relevant. Maybe too relevant, considering how little has changed in the interim * Los Angeles Times *She has eyes in the back of our head. With her we can survive and resist -- John BergerDavis's arguments for justice are formidable. . . The power of her historical insights and the sweetness of her dream cannot be denied * The New York Times *Angela Davis has stood her ground on every issue important to the health of our people and the planet. It is impossible to read her words or hear her voice and not be moved to comprehension and gratitude for our incredible luck in having her with us -- Alice Walker
£10.44
Faber And Faber Ltd. My Roman Year
Book Synopsis
£10.44
Hodder & Stoughton FRAMED
Book Synopsis
£10.44
Hachette Mobius A Time for Truth
a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.
£10.44
Hodder & Stoughton Queen Victoria
Book Synopsis AN INTIMATE ACCOUNT OF ONE OF BRITAIN''S LONGEST-REIGNING - AND MOST EXTRAORDINARY - MONARCHS FROM BESTSELLING HISTORIAN LUCY WORSLEY Readers LOVE Queen Victoria:''This book changed my whole perception of Queen Victoria'' ?????''Fascinating. Lucy has really brought her to life'' ?????''An insightful, interesting and readable account'' ?????******************************* Who was Queen Victoria? A little old lady, potato-like in appearance, dressed in everlasting black? She was also a passionate young princess who loved dancing. And there is also a third Victoria, the brilliant queen, one who invented a new role for the monarchy.Victoria found a way of ruling when people were deeply uncomfortable with having a woman on the throne.Her image as a conventional daughter, wife and widow concealed the reality of a talented, instinctive politician. Her actions, if not her words, reTrade ReviewSuch a brilliant idea! Drilling down into Victoria's diaries Worsley gives us Victoria in all her infinite variety - queen and mother, matriarch and minx...I loved it. * Daisy Goodwin, author, and creator of ITV's Victoria *A wonderfully fresh, vivid and engaging portrait of Victoria. * Jane Ridley, author of Bertie: A Life of Edward VII *The glory of this book is in the details, and the specific moments, that Worsley chooses to single out for mention, and in her cheerful voice as she leads us by the hand to the next window of Victoria's life calendar. * The Times *Queen Victoria has much of the abundant charm of its author -- A.N. Wilson * Spectator *In this lively, light-footed biography, just out in paperback, the popular TV historian Lucy Worsley looks at just 24 days of Victoria's 81-year long life to reveal unexpected sides to the monarch. * BBC History Magazine *The latest from historian Worsley is an insightful, sympathetic, and vividly written examination of the "good woman" who ruled England for 64 years... Worsley's command of the material and elegant writing style make this a must-read for anyone interested in the British monarchy. * Publishers Weekly *An intimate glimpse * Daily Mail *Lucy Worsley brings our most iconic of monarchs to life with this intimate and sympathetic portrayal... Even if you know Victoria's story, there's more to discover in this insightful biography. * Woman's Weekly *An engaging portrait of the monarch * i paper *Praise for Jane Austen at Home:This is my kind of history: carefully researched but so vivid that you are convinced Lucy Worsley was actually there at the party - or the parsonage. * Antonia Fraser *Jane Austen at Home offers a fascinating look at Jane Austen's world through the lens of the homes in which she lived and worked throughout her life. The result is a refreshingly unique perspective on Austen and her work and a beautifully nuanced exploration of gender, creativity, and domesticity. * Amanda Foreman *A vivid portrait of Jane Austen. A must for any Austenite. * Red Magazine *Brilliant and very moving, this book is a fascinating and original exploration of Jane Austen with lots of new material - Worsley brings Austen to life superbly, through her pages she is a flesh and blood woman, intelligent, powerful, contradictory, loving, loved. A magnificent book. * Kate Williams *Rarely, if ever, will you encounter a historian so in command of their material. Truly, this is a dazzling exercise in persuasion, written with sense and sensibility. * Saturday Express *A deep, prolifically researched dive into the houses, vacation homes, and schools where the author spent her life. * Vogue Magazine *Worsley offers us much that Austen's admirers wish to know... [she] is entirely convincing. * New York Times *
£11.69
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC World Travel
Book SynopsisWitty and fascinating a guide book that can''t help but inspire' independent.co.ukAnthony Bourdain saw more of the world than nearly anyone. His travels took him from his hometown of New York to a tribal longhouse in Borneo, from cosmopolitan Buenos Aires, Paris, and Shanghai to the stunning desert solitude of Oman's Empty Quarter and many places beyond.In World Travel, a life of experience is collected into an entertaining, practical, fun and frank travel guide that gives readers an introduction to some of his favorite places in his own words. Featuring essential advice on how to get there, what to eat, where to stay and, in some cases, what to avoid. Additionally, each chapter includes illustrations by Wesley Allsbrook.Supplementing Bourdain's words are a handful of essays by friends, colleagues, and family that tell even deeper stories about a place, including sardonic accounts of traveling with Bourdain by his brother, Chris; a guide to C
£11.69
Ebury Publishing Call Me Red
Book SynopsisSunday Times bestsellerGrowing up on the Wirral, Hannah Jackson had no idea she wanted to work on a farm until a life-changing family visit to the Lake District in her late teens. It was there where she first saw a lamb being born, giving her the drive to defy her urban roots and become a professional shepherd. She never looked back.In this uplifting and inspirational memoir, Hannah shares how she broke the stereotypes of her ''townie'' beginnings, took risks and faced up to the challenges of being a young woman in a male-dominated industry, and followed her heart to become the Red Shepherdess. But behind the beautiful landscape, talented sheepdogs and eye-catching red hair was a steep learning curve. The physically and mentally demanding conditions she faced as she chased her dreams to build her own Cumbrian farm taught Hannah the values the holds true, including community, leadership, patience and resilience. In Call Me Red, Hannah gives a
£15.29
Hodder & Stoughton Journeys to Impossible Places: By the presenter
Book SynopsisIn Journeys to Impossible Places, best-selling author and presenter Simon Reeve reveals the inside story of his most astonishing adventures and experiences, around the planet and close to home.Journeys to Impossible Places continues the story Simon started in his phenomenal Sunday Times bestseller Step by Step, which traced the first decades of his life from depressed and unemployed teenager through to his early TV programmes.Now Simon takes us on the epic and thrilling adventures that followed, in beautiful, tricky and downright dangerous corners of the world, as he travelled through the Tropics, to remote paradise islands, jungles dripping with heat and life, and on nerve-wracking secret missions. Simon shares what his unique experiences and encounters have taught him, and the deeper lessons he draws from joy and raw grief in his personal life, from desperate struggles with his own fertility and head health, from wise friends, fatherhood, inspiring villagers, brave fighters, his beloved dogs, and a thoughtful Indian sadhu.Journeys to Impossible Places inspires and encourages all of us to battle fear and negativity, and embrace life, risk, opportunities and the glory of our world.
£8.79
Yellow Pear Press The Pride of a Lion: What the Animal Kingdom Can
Book SynopsisWhat One Pride Can Teach Us About Survival, Fear, and Family#1 New Release in Biology of Cats, Lions & TigersDiscover the true survival story of how K’wasi the lion cub overcame unimaginable odds, was saved and nurtured by his adopted mother and family, fathered his own son Atlas, and grew into a magnificent star of Lion Country Safari.Documented by Ron Magill. K’wasi’s story is told by world renowned wildlife expert, photographer, and Zoo Miami’s “Goodwill Ambassador”, Ron Magill who documented and photographed every stage of K’wasi’s remarkable roller coaster life.A survival story of grit and resilience. The story of K’wasi the lion cub is one of heartbreak, adoption, fear, and family. He was born to his mother Asha at Zoo Miami in late 2013 and gained nationwide attention as an incredibly cute lion cub. In March 2014, he was orphaned when his mother Asha tragically died. K’wasi’s remarkable journey takes him from the untimely death of his mother to redefining what it means to be in a pride, and most importantly, what it means to have a family.Animals have feelings too. Society has only recently accepted the incredible emotional intelligence of dogs, pigs, and chimpanzees. But through K’wasi’s remarkable story, Ron Magill details how evolved the animal kingdom truly is—lions in particular. Funny, engaging, touching, and thrilling, The Pride of a Lion teaches us about family, resilience, and the meaning of life.In Ron Magill’s book find pictures captured during the many challenges K’wasi faced and overcame: As a young cub When his father and uncle fought over Asha his mother Being supplemented with milk because his mother did not produce enough When Jabare attacked and could have ended K’wasi’s life, until Kashifa his adopted mother saved him If you are a fan of The Lion King, or have read The Lion Tracker’s Guide to Life, The Soul of an Octopus, or The Good Good Pig, you will love Ron Magill’s The Pride of a Lion. Table of ContentsIntroduction Chapter 1 - A Miracle Chapter 2 - Only SonChapter 3 - A Mother and her SisterChapter 4 - K'Wasi's Last DayChapter 5 - ProtectionChapter 6 - Adoption Chapter 7 - Sibling Rivalries Chapter 8 - Not My FamilyChapter 9 - Facing DeathChapter 10 - The Perfect Mother and the Perfect SisterChapter 11 - Pride of a LionAfterword
£17.59
Greystone Books,Canada The Bird Singers
Book SynopsisI read this book in one sitting. I loved the story of the two boys, of their relationships with the nature around them, their community, and their relationship with each other.' Marc Hamer, author of How to Catch a Mole and Spring RainIn the vein of H is for Hawk and Raising Hare this moving memoir shines a light on the transformative power of nature as it tells the story of two boys, Jean and Johnny, who learned the language of birds. This captivating book brings together two birds of a feather: Jean and Johnny, boys from very different worlds growing up in a small village in France. Jean is the genteel pharmacist's son, dressed in his Sunday best; Johnny's father is a rough, working-class sheep herder, always with the odour of animals clinging to him. Each year, over three hundred bird species visit their village, which intersects a major migratory flyway. The two boys' stories converge when Jean enters a bird-calling contest. He places second, and at only eleven years old becomes a child celebrity on the bird-calling circuit. Then Johnny starts to compete as well. At the annual bird festival, both boys are standouts, and a long, admiring rivalry develops between them, eventually culminating in the European championships. As they evolve as performers, the two boys' identities become more distinct: Jean is soft-spoken, while Johnny likes to play to the crowd. While most of their competitors are adult men, hunters who learned to call birds for sport, the two boys are fascinated with the pure beauty of birdsong, and in trying to transcend themselves through imitating birds. Their shared passion develops into an enduring partnership as performers, and they go on to tour the world in concert as the Bird Singers. This is a story as much about friendship as it is about birdsong. The setting is timeless and bucolic, with long walks to small village schools, games of pick-up football, and father-son birding trips. The chapters, which bounce back and forth between the two narrators, are woven through with descriptions of colourful characters in the bird-calling competition circuit and the kind of ornithological detail that can only come from a true passion for birds. There is poetry in the description of the different birds, from common seagulls to thrushes and bluethroats and nightingales, and something like communion in the way Jean and Johnny understand the feathered friends they imitate. Unique, evocative, and cinematic, The Bird Singers is the story of an unlikely friendship, sparked by a desire to speak with the avian world.
£21.71
Little, Brown Book Group The Secret Diaries Of Miss Anne Lister: Vol. 1: I
Book SynopsisDiscover the extraordinary diaries of the real Anne Lister: the inspiration for Gentleman Jack and Emma Donoghue's new novel Learned By Heart'Engaging, revealing, at times simply astonishing' SARAH WATERS'[Anne Lister's] sense of self, and self-awareness, is what makes her modern to us . . . The diaries gave me courage' JEANETTE WINTERSON'The Lister diaries are the Dead Sea Scrolls of lesbian history' EMMA DONOGHUEWhen this volume of Anne Lister's diaries was first published in 1988, it was hailed as a vital piece of lost lesbian history. The editor, Helena Whitbread, had spent years painstakingly researching and transcribing Lister's extensive journals, much of which were written in an elaborate code - what Lister called her 'crypthand', which allowed her to record her life in intimate, and at times, explicit, detail. Until then, Anne Lister's lesbianism had been supressed or hinted at; this was the first time her story had been told. Anne Lister defied the role of nineteenth century womanhood: she was bold, fiercely independent, a landowner, industrialist, traveller and lesbian - a woman who lived her life on her own terms.These diaries include the years 1816-1824. The second volume, continuing Anne's story, THE SECRET DIARIES OF MISS ANNE LISTER: NO PRIEST BUT LOVE, is now available.Trade Review[Anne Lister's] sense of self, and self-awareness, is what makes her modern to us. She was a woman exercising conscious choice. She controlled her cash and her body. At a time when women had to marry, or be looked after by a male relative, and when all their property on marriage passed to their husband, Anne Lister not only dodged the traps of being female, she set up a liaison with another woman that enhanced her own wealth and left both of them free to live as they wished . . . The diaries gave me courageThe Lister diaries are the Dead Sea Scrolls of lesbian history; they changed everything. By resurrecting them and editing them with such loving attention and intelligence, Helena Whitbread has earned the gratitude of a whole generation
£10.86
Nine Elms Books Building Bridges
Book SynopsisDick Olver's initial response to being offered a job at BP was to turn it down. Luckily he didn't. Thirty years later, he had risen to be deputy CEO. His next appointment was Chairman of BAE Systems where a steady new hand was needed. Dick's great skill of getting the very best outof people is captured in hiscompelling autobiography.
£21.25
FUM D'ESTAMPA PRESS Empordan Scafarlata
Book SynopsisEmpordan Scafarlata is a mirage of memories written with intelligence, irony, courage and tenderness; linking tradition, modernity, resentment and nostalgia for a mythical country and for that part of the river in which: ‘he will never swim again.’ In a mixture of prose and poetry, Adrià Pujol brings us snippets of Empordà, a region of northern Catalonia wedged between the mountains and the sea, and invites us onto its sweaty, well-trodden, exalted paths. All this he does it by avoiding conventions, clichés and with the sincerity of someone who writes about a world he loves and which for that very reason he does not simplify, rather elaborating it with powerful, eclectic prose, showcasing the writing that has pushed Adrià Pujol to the very forefront of great Catalan writing.Trade Review‘Every page is a festival of words, images and sounds; a machine-gun burst of prose and rhyme, through which he immortalises moments, spaces and characters.’ —SEBASTIÀ ROIG, EL DIARI DE GIRONA. ‘The book is a cunning diary, a game by the author with himself, a blending of the journal of a curious anthropologist with the notebook of a perplexed poet. It is the creative exercise of someone who wants to be chronicler of a specific time and ecosystem, and who also has the will to restore a certain cordial relationship with himself.’ —ISIDRE FERRÉ, NÚVOL.
£12.34
Chelsea Green Publishing UK Ghosts of the Farm
£18.70
Mirror Books Finding Dad
a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.
£9.49
Mindfield Media Cutting the Lines
a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.
£9.49
Vertebrate Publishing Ltd Extreme Rock
£36.00
LID Publishing 100 Million Hair Ties and a Vodka Tonic: An
Book Synopsis"Why didn't I think of that genius idea?" This is the remarkable, at times funny, story of a young entrepreneur who, aged 18 and with $4,000 and no other funding, started up invisibobble - the revolutionary hair ties that have taken the haircare industry by storm. Today, Sophie Trelles-Tvede's company has sold over 100 million hair ties around the world and turns over $15 million. As a first-year university student, getting ready for a party, Sophie spotted an old telephone cord and decided to use it to tie her hair with. The next morning, she noticed something different with her hair: she did not have a headache after untying the cord and there was not much of a mark (or kink) in her hair. The genius idea of invisibobble was born right there! This is the story of the idea and thereafter - the ups and downs, funny and serious moments, of an entrepreneur's journey that will inspire others and reveal what it takes to succeed.
£9.89
Canongate Books Notes on a Nervous Planet
Book SynopsisOrder THE COMFORT BOOK. Available now!THE NUMBER ONE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERThe world is messing with our minds. What if there was something we could do about it?Looking at sleep, news, social media, addiction, work and play, Matt Haig invites us to feel calmer, happier and to question the habits of the digital age. This book might even change the way you spend your precious time on earth.Trade ReviewWitty, honest and engaging . . . A worthy successor to Reasons to Stay Alive * * Sunday Times * *An honest and human guide to coping with the modern world . . . Notes on a Nervous Planet is generous, sensible and timely. Reading it will probably be good for your mental health. Especially if you leave your smartphone in another room . . . Thought-provoking * * Guardian * *Thought-provoking . . . [Haig's] hard-won wisdom asks us to think about how we can live in the present - and in so doing, he creates a wonderfully perceptive chronicle of life in the always-on social media age. A real-world guide to mindfulness * * Observer * *Beautiful, honest and wise -- FEARNE COTTONNotes on a Nervous Planet is a fascinating look at the link between anxiety and the world we live in . . . [Haig is] one of our warmest, wittiest and wisest writers * * Mail on Sunday * *Genius -- RUBY WAXHaig's bestseller Reasons to Stay Alive was an engaging self-help memoir which mined personal trauma for valuable life lessons. This follow-up is a rag-bag of personal experience, thoughts and feelings . . . some thought-provoking, some pertinent and important . . . He's a smart operator who knows his readership and genuinely wants to help them . . . I reached the last page admiring the author's inventive energy and insight -- Bel Mooney * * Daily Mail * *Take Notes on a Nervous Planet twice daily, with or without food. The book is crammed with wisdom, insight, love and wit -- STEPHEN FRYHaig tackles everything from internet anxieties, phone fears to life overload, putting the chaos into beautiful words * * Sunday Post * *A primer for how to live in the present moment. This book will find grateful readers everywhere -- NIGELLA LAWSON
£8.99
Little, Brown Book Group Rafa My Story
Book SynopsisRevelatory memoir from the greatest sportsman in the world today and a fascinating insight into the making of a championTrade ReviewTake a glimpse behind the curtain of both his private and professional life - it's as exciting as Rafa himself * Woman's Own *A winner * Independent *Rafa: My Story is a terrific sporting memoir, full of memorable anecdotes and stamped with the authority of a ghostwriter who earned the complete trust of his subject. It is hard to imagine how Nadal could have done any more to get the best out of his own raw material. And it is to Carlin's enourmous credit that the book is a true reflection of the man, in every sense -- Ed Smith * New Statesman *Rafa: My Story is a terrific sporting memoir, full of memorable anecdotes and stamped with the authority of a ghostwriter who earned the complete trust of his subject. It is hard to imagine how Nadal could have done any more to get the best out of his own raw material. And it is to Carlin's enourmous credit that the book is a true reflection of the man, in every sense -- Ed Smith * New Statesman *Between them they have served up a winner -- Simon Redfern * Independent *Take a glimpse behind the curtain of both his private and professional life - it's as exciting as Rafa himself * Woman's Own *
£11.69
Ebury Publishing Helmet for my Pillow
Book SynopsisThe inspiration behind the HBO series THE PACIFICHere is one of the most riveting first-person accounts to ever come out of World War 2. Robert Leckie was 21 when he enlisted in the US Marine Corps in January 1942. In Helmet for My Pillow we follow his journey, from boot camp on Parris Island, South Carolina, all the way to the raging battles in the Pacific, where some of the war''s fiercest fighting took place. Recounting his service with the 1st Marine Division and the brutal action on Guadalcanal, New Britain and Peleliu, Leckie spares no detail of the horrors and sacrifice of war, painting an unsentimental portrait of how real warriors are made, fight, and all too often die in the defence of their country.From the live-for-today rowdiness of Marines on leave to the terrors of jungle warfare against an enemy determined to fight to the last man, Leckie describes what it''s really like when victory can only be measured inch by bloody inch. UnparalleledTrade ReviewHelmet for My Pillow is a grand and epic prose poem. Robert Leckie's theme is the purely human experience of war in the Pacific, written in the graceful imagery of a human being who - somehow - survived -- Tom HanksA powerful book that pulls no punches * The New York Review of Books *One hell of a book! The real stuff that proves the U.S. Marines are the greatest fighting men on earth! -- Leon Uris, author of Battle Cry
£12.34
Transworld Spare
Book Synopsis'Honest, insightful and vulnerable' Forbes'Compellingly artful... a blockbuster memoir' The New Yorker'The most insightful royal book in a generation' Financial Times'A rattling page-turner... As a personal insight into one boy's life in an extraordinary spotlight, it may never be better' Sunday Times________Sunday Times Memoir of the Year 2023It was one of the images of the twentieth century: two boys, walking behind the coffin of their mother, Princess Diana. Billions wondered what the princes must be feeling - and how their lives would play out from that point on. For Harry, this is that story at last. Before then, Prince Harry was known as the happy-go-lucky Spare to the more serious Heir. But grief changed everything. At twenty-one, he joined the Army but was soon more lost than ever, suffering from post-traumatic stress and crippling panic attacks. Above all, he couldn't find true love. Then he met Meghan. The world was swept away by the couple's romance and wedding. But
£10.44
HarperCollins Publishers Where I Was From
Book SynopsisA memoir of land, family and perseverance from one of the most influential writers in America.In this moving and surprising book, Joan Didion reassesses parts of her life, her work, her history and America's. Where I Was From, in Didion''s words, represents an exploration into my own confusions about the place and the way in which I grew up, misapprehensions and misunderstandings so much a part of who I became that I can still to this day confront them only obliquely.The book is a haunting narrative of how her own family moved west with the frontier from the birth of her great-great-great-great-great-grandmother in Virginia in 1766 to the death of her mother on the edge of the Pacific in 2001; of how the wagon-train stories of hardship and abandonment and endurance created a culture in which survival would seem the sole virtue. Didion examines how the folly and recklessness in the very grain of the California settlement led to the California we know today a state mortgaged first to tTrade Review‘Her tough, beautiful, surgically precise prose is like nothing else I’ve ever read.’ Donna Tartt ‘She is a voice like no other in contemporary journalism.’ New York Times ‘Everything Didion writes has a land’s end edginess to it- a hyperattentiveeye on the dramas of the human condition. She writes as someone who has come through great shudders of the earth with a fundamental understanding that everything is subject to instantaneous and complete revision.’ Village Voice ‘She is the best chronicler California has.’ Vogue ‘Valediction and elegy alike, WHERE I WAS FROM is a storm-tossed book… Some writers see Californians as brilliant dreamers; others see failures, seeking a second start. Didion steps over both arguments and portrays the settlers of the state as shrewd entrepreneurs who would stop at nothing to turn dirt into dollars.’ Thomas Curwen, LA Times
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd The Power of Words
Book Synopsis''There are certain words which possess, in themselves, when properly used, a virtue which illumines and lifts up towards the good''The philosopher and activist Simone Weil was one of the most courageous thinkers of the twentieth century. Here she writes, with honesty and moral clarity, about the manipulation of language by the powerful, the obligations of individuals to one another and the needs - for order, equality, liberty and truth - that make us human.One of twenty new books in the bestselling Penguin Great Ideas series. This new selection showcases a diverse list of thinkers who have helped shape our world today, from anarchists to stoics, feminists to prophets, satirists to Zen Buddhists.
£7.59
Penguin Books Ltd Political Girl
£19.00
Penguin Books Ltd Rooted
Book SynopsisSHORTLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE FOR NATURE WRITING''An honest look at the farming life today. Raw, earthy and inspiring'' - Cal Flyn, author of Islands of Abandonment''A beautifully written, incredibly timely book'' - Clover Stroud, author of My Wild and Sleepless NightsWhen barrister and author Sarah Langford left her city life behind she found herself unexpectedly back in the world of farming. It was not how she remembered. Instead, she saw farmers dealing with very different problems to those faced by her grandfather, considered a hero for having fed a starving nation after war. Now farmers faced accusations of ecological mismanagement by a hostile urban media whilst battling extreme weather and political upheaval. Yet as Sarah learned how to farm and grew closer to the land, she discovered a new generation on a path of regenerative change.In Rooted, Sarah weaves her own story around those who tTrade ReviewEnthralling ... An unignorable call to understand the challenges facing not only farming but the Earth itself. * Spectator *Absorbing, compassionate [and] galvanising. * Guardian *Langford writes so movingly of the countryside and its effect on her heart and her family. * TLS *More than a memoir; Langford manages to contain and convey the whole scale of the coming agricultural revolution. * Daily Telegraph *A refreshing perspective on a overwhelmingly masculine world * Financial Times *Sarah Langford's book on farming is really a book about healing. All of life and death is here: family, politics, nature, climate, history, humanity. Rooted is a beautifully written, powerful reminder of where we've gone wrong, what is at stake, and how we can change. I loved it. * Christie Watson, bestselling author of The Language of Kindness *Rooted offers us an honest look at the farming life today. It is not an easy way to make a living, but through Langford's personal story - and those of who she meets - we appreciate how it offers a connection with the land, and a firmer sense of our place in the world. Raw, earthy and inspiring. * Cal Flyn, author of Islands of Abandonment *Moving, startling, uplifting, galvanising and unsettling, this plainly beautiful book is one of those rare few that changes how you see the world around you: the shape of fields seen from a train, the vegetables in a supermarket chiller cabinet, the earth beneath your feet and falling through your fingers. * Ella Risbridger, author of Midnight Chicken and The Year of Miracles *A beautifully written, incredibly timely book addressing not just where our food comes from and why this matters so much, but also fundamental questions relating to our relationship with the land, and the definition of home. * Clover Stroud, author of My Wild and Sleepless Nights *Heartbreaking and hopeful, this story of a farming revival has never been more important. It opened my eyes and touched my soul * Esther Freud *A magical book of wonderful stories about how farmers think and the challenges they face. It demonstrates that farmers across the country are passionate about producing food and caring for the land. A triumph * Jake Fiennes, author of Land Healer *Rooted is a brave thing: a book that prods into the ever-widening gulf between the binaries we increasingly use to examine the world. As conversations about what we eat and where it comes from reach fever-pitch, Sarah Langford's clear-eyed, inquisitive and passionate plea for farmers and farming offers a vital understanding when it has never been so needed. I hope everyone reads it. * Alice Vincent, author of Rootbound *An eloquent and personal insight into the terrible human as well as environmental cost of cheap food and an inspiring account of the people working to heal our relationship with our habitat and ourselves. Urgent, necessary and moving. * Ben Rawlence, author of The Treeline *A fine book: heartfelt, honest and hopeful. Sarah has the knowledge and skill to help people better understand where their food comes from and why we should all care. * Helen Rebanks *Moving, intimate, tender and searing, this is a gem of a book with deep roots and fresh green shoots. * Tamsin Calidas, author of I Am An Island *A timely and optimistic book, ostensibly about why we need farming to produce food, but more deeply about how farming is done, or could be done. Refreshingly authentic, Rooted gives us a hopeful sense of a regenerative future * Juliet Blaxland, author of The Easternmost House and The Easternmost Sky *Evocative and resonant. These are stories that need to be told. * Andy Cato, Groove Armada and Wildfarmed *Poetically written and filled with compelling data about modern-day farming * Vogue *Where Rooted ploughs its own shining furrow in its humanity ... but also the gathered, inspirational stories of farmers trying to do better and greener. * John Lewis-Stempel *
£10.44
Faber & Faber 89 Words followed by Prague A Disappearing Poem
£11.69
Pen & Sword Books Ltd Jack the Ripper
a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.
£18.70
Arcturus Publishing Friedrich Nietzsche
Book SynopsisTony Lee Moral is an established writer and documentary filmmaker whose work has ranged from the award-winning Shape of Life TV series to studies of Alfred Hitchcock to mystery novels. His books include Alfred Hitchcock's Storyboards (2024), The Two Masks of Vendetta (2024) and Gold: The Metal that Rules the World (2025).
£8.54
Hodder & Stoughton Everything is Everything
Book Synopsis THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING MEMOIR, NOW UPDATED WITH NEW MATERIAL Readers LOVE Everything is Everything:''Clive Myrie is one heck of an author'' ?????''Well written and thought provoking. One to come back to again'' ?????''Thoughtful, analytical, deeply caring and, at times, very funny'' ?????-----------------As a Bolton teenager with a paper round, Clive Myrie read all the newspapers he delivered from cover to cover and dreamed of becoming a journalist. In this deeply personal memoir, he tells how his family history has influenced his view of the world, introducing us to his Windrush generation parents, a great grandfather who helped build the Panama Canal, and a great uncle who fought in the First World War, later to become a prominent police detective in Jamaica.He reflects on how being black has affected his perspective on issues he''s encountered in thirty years reporting some of the biggest stories
£10.44
John Murray Press The Escape Artist: The Man Who Broke Out of
Book SynopsisTHE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER SHORTLISTED FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE, RATHBONES FOLIO PRIZE, WATERSTONES BOOK OF THE YEAR AND LONGLISTED FOR THE WINGATE LITERARY PRIZEA MAIL ON SUNDAY, THE TIMES, THE ECONOMIST, GUARDIAN, THE SPECTATOR, TIME, AND DAILY EXPRESS/DAILY MIRROR BOOK OF THE YEAR'Thrilling' Daily Mail'Gripping' Guardian'Heartwrenching' Yuval Noah Harari'Magnificent' Philip Pullman'Excellent' Sunday Times'Inspiring' Daily Mail'An immediate classic' Antony Beevor'Awe inspiring' Simon Sebag Montefiore'Shattering' Simon Schama'Utterly compelling' Philippe Sands'A must-read' Emily Maitlis'Indispensable' Howard Jacobson April 1944. Nineteen-year-old Rudolf Vrba and fellow inmate Fred Wetzler became two of the very first Jews to successfully escape Auschwitz. Evading the thousands of SS men hunting them, Vrba and Wetzler made the perilous journey on foot across Nazi-occupied Poland.Their mission: to reveal to the world the truth of the Holocaust.Vrba's unique testimony would save some 200,000 lives.But he kept on running - from his past, from his home country, his adopted country, even from his own name. Now, at last, Rudolf Vrba's heroism can be known.Trade ReviewExcellent . . . thrilling . . . Freedland's book is rich in the kind of details that haunt you long after you have turned the last page -- Sunday TimesA brilliant and heart-wrenching book, with universal and timely lessons about the power of information - and misinformation -- Yuval Noah HarariA magnificent book. I could scarcely breathe at some points. What a tribute to its extraordinary hero, and it's such an important and necessary story to read . . . I can't praise it too highly. What an achievement -- Philip PullmanAn immediate classic of Holocaust literature. Superbly researched and written, it is both a gripping story and deeply moving, I literally could not put it down -- Antony BeevorImmersive, shattering, and, ultimately redemptive book . . . An epic of terror and endurance . . . Written with Freedland's page-turning, gripping, hard-edged immediacy, The Escape Artist is profound in thought, boundless in humanity, an immediate modern classic -- Simon SchamaAwe inspiring, exciting and poignant, this is a thrilling read, a piece of redemptive storytelling and a work of important Holocaust historical research: Freedland has given Rudolf Vrba his rightful place in history - and in the process written a book that I couldn't put down -- Simon Sebag MontefioreThe Escape Artist is marvellous. It is original, meticulous and utterly compelling - and ultimately a deeply tragic tale -- Philippe SandsA must-read stand out piece of history . . . This is Freedland at his finest . . . It is both a celebration of the extraordinary will, courage and resilience of the hero - Rudi Vrba - and an all too prescient warning of how hard it is to wake up the world to things it would prefer not to see -- Emily MaitlisA work of the highest quality about an astonishing man. It is gripping from start to finish, searingly, shocking, revelatory, and deeply moving - the more so because there is no false note, no striving for effect. The research is prodigious and the complexities deftly woven into the narrative . . . A profoundly troubling and important work -- Jonathan DimblebyA masterpiece of page-turning history: an escape story that is also a fearless exploration of some of the most profound questions that face humanity. Rudolf Vrba's extraordinary testimony will deepen your understanding of the Holocaust - and compel you to think afresh about our own times, and the role of truth, denial and fragile memory. Magisterial -- Matthew d'AnconaThe story of Vrba's escape from Auschwitz, exquisitely told by Jonathan Freedland, soars like a thriller. Exhilarating, deeply moving, and historically important -- Simon ParkinPowerful, important, compelling and superbly told. This is a book that needs to be read -- Bart van Es, bestselling author of The Cut Out GirlAn indispensable, unflinching, bone-hard book. Compelling reading -- Howard JacobsonI read it with my heart beating fast, full of horror, rage, despair - and admiration for this potent demonstration of the stubborn resilience of the human spirit -- Tracy ChevalierBrilliant -- Julia NeubergerMeticulously researched . . . shocking but thrilling, and ultimately overwhelmingly inspiring -- Daily MailAstonishing . . . An indispensable part of Holocaust history . . . Gripping -- GuardianAn utterly gripping narrative, incorporating a restrained though harrowing picture of life in Auschwitz and a kind of heroic adventure story -- The ObserverSuch an important piece of history . . . This dramatic, compelling and deeply sensitive account raises issues around courage, agency and the credibility of facts that still resonate today -- 'Books of the Year', The SpectatorThis really is an extraordinary book -- The Times
£9.99
Pitch Publishing Ltd The King of Dens Park: The Authorised Biography
Book SynopsisThe King of Dens Park is the authorised life story of Alan Gilzean, the legendary, world-class Dundee, Spurs and Scotland footballer. Exclusive insights provided by his family, closest friends and colleagues add to the author's own experience to reveal Gilzean, the man and the player. A reserved, charming and intelligent individual who shunned the limelight off the field, Gilzean played with a swagger as a maker and taker of goals. We discover how the native of the Perthshire town of Coupar Angus became one of the greatest performers in the history of both his clubs. Gilzean emerged a Scottish folk hero having scored the winning goal against England in front of 133,000 at Hampden Park - and was later welcomed back with open arms by the game after ending a self-imposed exile during which the uninformed conjured often defamatory myths. The elegant striker dubbed 'Nureyev in Boots' left us on Sunday, 8 July 2018. There will never be another like him.
£9.49
Canongate Books Pimp: The Story Of My Life
Book SynopsisIn this astonishing account, Iceberg Slim reveals the secret inner world of the pimp, and the smells, sounds, fears and petty triumphs of his world. A legendary figure of the Chicago underworld, this is his story: from defending his mother against the men in their lives to becoming a giant of the streets. A seething tale of brutality, cunning and greed, Pimp is a harrowing portrait of life on the wrong side of the tracks, and a rich warning from a true survivor.Trade ReviewSlim belongs to the knuckle-duster-in-the-face school of storytelling * * Sunday Times * *Slim always told it as it was, without compromise -- IRVINE WELSHPimp is hot and frantic, a remarkable tour de force of carnality and violence * * The Times * *This brutally honest memoir . . . is as shocking today as ever. A precursor of forty years of black-street culture, this is uncompromising and harrowing, but a landmark book nonetheless * * Big Issue * *Iceberg Slim does for the pimp what Jean Genet did for the thief * * Washington Post * *Pimp is an eye-boggling netherworld documentary, a tear-arse tale of ferocious emotion, expressed through action * * Q magazine * *Iceberg Slim always kept it real. It is blatant, uncompromising, and as close to the truth as you can get without going there yourself -- Ice-T
£9.49
John Blake Publishing Ltd Something Wicked
Book Synopsis
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd Openhearted
Book SynopsisSHORTLISTED FOR TWO IRISH BOOK AWARDS 2021''Something they don''t tell you about getting older is that you fall. Oh, you hear about it in passing, of course, She had a fall, poor thing. Falling is not something you ever think about as a younger woman. You think about falling in love . . .''At 20 Londoner Ann Ingle fell madly in love with an Irish fellow she met on holiday in Cornwall. At the church to arrange their shotgun wedding she discovered that he hadn''t even told her his real name.Sixty-odd years later Ann looks back on that first glorious fall and in a series of essays considers what she has learned from the life that followed - bringing eight children into the world, their father''s years of mental illness and tragic death at 40, being a cash-strapped single mother in 1980s Dublin, coming into her own in her middle years - going to college, working and writing, and continuing to evolve and learn into her ninth decade, even as she accepts
£13.49
The Conrad Press An Insignificant Boy
Book Synopsis‘An Insignificant Boy’ is a moving, poetic, evocative tale of a lost boyhood –beautiful, funny, dark, and strange. But ultimately, it is uplifting and full of hope. A secretive father is haunted by the atomic bomb. An ageing mother dreams of escape. Born into the Space Age of Bowie, astronauts, and future visions, Clix is an isolated, imaginative child, growing up in a house full of ghosts – plus a terrible secret. A boy who, aged eight, builds a radio station to ask for help. But there’s a twist: every word of this unique tale is true. It is the final broadcast of Radio Clix.
£10.44
Prakash Books Fyodor DostoevskyHB
Book Synopsis
£21.84
Marshall Cavendish International (Asia) Pte Ltd From Estate to Embassy: Memories of an
Book SynopsisThis biography documents K. Kesavapany’s journey from the Malayan estates in the late 1930s to his move to Singapore when he was headhunted to join the Singapore Civil Service in the 1970s, and from his entry into Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) to his subsequent sojourns abroad, such as in Australia, Turkey, Geneva, Jordan, Indonesia, Russia, United Kingdom and Malaysia. After retiring from his last post with the MFA, he took on the position of Director of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies at the National University of Singapore. This book also elaborates on the next phase of his journey where he holds several prominent portfolios in Singapore’s social and academic scene, such as at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, Dyslexia Association of Singapore, Singapore Indian Association, Inter-Religious Organization, as well as the Singapore International Foundation.
£12.74
Simon & Schuster Ltd Return to Sri Lanka
Book Synopsis'Sally's book is an exemplar of the best in the genre' Krishnan Srinivasan,The Statesman A blend of travel writing, memoir, history and current affairs that tells the story of Sri Lanka. A perfect read for first-time visitors, Sri Lankans abroad or at home, or anyone looking to deepen their understanding of one of the world's most fascinating and paradoxical countries. Razeen Sally was born to a Sri Lankan Muslim father and a Welsh mother. Just before his teens, a political conflict tore his family apart and he left Sri Lanka, barely going back for thirty years. When he finally returned home', he spent much of the next decade crisscrossing the island, trying to understand this paradoxical place. Blessed with nature's bounty and an easy, pleasure-loving people, it was nevertheless scarred by ethnic conflict and the violence of civil war. As a native and a tourist, Sally makes an ideal guide to Sri Lanka's past and present. He won't tell you which restaurant has the best reviews or the price of a hotel room. Instead, he will accompany you like a learned friend, sharing his journeys, pointing out the unmissable gems beyond the obvious spots, and unpacking the nation's culture and history. Insightful, intimate and moving, Return to Sri Lanka is an indispensable book, whether you're already familiar with this spectacular country, or planning your first visit.
£11.69
Michael O'Mara Books Ltd Diana: Her True Story - In Her Own Words: The
Book SynopsisTHE SUNDAY TIMES NUMBER-ONE BESTSELLER. AS FEATURED IN SEASON 5 OF THE CROWN.When Diana: Her True Story was first published in 1992 it changed the way the public viewed the British monarchy. Never before had a senior royal spoken in such a raw, unfiltered way about her marriage, her hopes and fears and her extraordinary life inside the House of Windsor. An icon in life and a legend in death, Diana continues to fascinate and now, more than twenty-five years on, Andrew Morton has revisited the secret tapes he and the late princess made, to reveal startling new insights into her life and mind.A unique literary classic, Diana: Her True Story is the closest we will ever come to her autobiography.‘The most carefully researched, authoritative book about the royal family ever.’ The Sunday TimesTrade ReviewA fascinating book full of ... insights into the life and times of Diana ... Deeply personal, candid and sometimes shocking. * The Sunday Times *Utterly fascinating ... gripping. * Daily Mail *If Diana had been living in medieval times she would have been beheaded. -- Dickie Arbiter, Former Press Officer to the QueenArguably the best royal book ever written... * Daily Telegraph *
£10.44
Pan Macmillan All Creatures Great and Small
Book SynopsisJames Herriot grew up in Glasgow and qualified as a veterinary surgeon at Glasgow Veterinary College. Shortly afterwards he took up a position as an assistant in a North Yorkshire practice where he remained, with the exception of his wartime service in the RAF, until his death in 1995. He wrote many books about Yorkshire country life, including some for children, but he is best known for his memoirs, beginning with If Only They Could Talk. The books were televised in the enormously popular series All Creatures Great and Small.Trade ReviewBulls with sunstroke, pigs on the run and a cake-eating Peke with a betting habit . . . I grew up reading James Herriot's book and I'm delighted that thirty years on they are still every bit as charming, heartwarming and laugh-out-loud funny as they were then. -- Kate HumbleThe attraction of Herriot's ever popular memoirs of a country vet . . . is their alternating highs and lows, humour and pathos, and gripping anecdotes about delivering lambs, grumpy farmers, hypochondriac pet-owners, stroppy cows and blunt Yorkshire characters. And, of course, there's a powerful nostalgia element in these stories about our green and pleasant land in the day before the ravages of ribbon development. * Daily Mail *On original release in the 1970s, James Herriot's insights into the life of a working vet were so popular and enchanting to readers that the area of the Yorkshire Dales in which he practised became known as 'James Herriot country'. * Yorkshire Ridings Magazine *
£10.44
Cornerstone BIG DUNC
Book Synopsis
£18.70
John Murray Press The Stonemason
Book SynopsisA stonemason''s story of the building of Britain: part archaeological history, part deeply personal insight into an ancient craft. In his thirty-year career, stonemason Andrew Ziminski has worked on many of our greatest monuments. From Neolithic monoliths to Roman baths and temples, from the tower of Salisbury Cathedral to the engine houses, mills and aqueducts of the Industrial Revolution and beyond, The Stonemason is his very personal history of how Britain was built - from the inside out. Stone by different stone, culture by different culture, Andrew Ziminski (with his faithful whippet in tow) takes us on an unforgettable journey by river, road and sea through our countryside showing how the making of Britain''s buildings offers an unexpected and new version of our island story.''My school history lessons were focused around flat pages of facts, events and royal personalities, but for me it was the material aspects of the past, the tangible remnaTrade ReviewThe author is a beguiling companion to the very bones of the Wessex landscape . . . I hope he has plenty left from his notebooks for another volume * Sunday Telegraph *In attempting to reconnect us to this continuous narrative of English history and architecture, Ziminski is undertaking something more profound than the charm of this delightful book first suggests. Delicate as the threads that tie us to the past can seem, thanks to work like Ziminski's, both as mason and as author, we can hope they will remain unbroken * Daily Telegraph *Andrew Ziminski is the man who rebuilt the West Country. For 30 years, this skilled stonemason has renovated some of Britain's greatest buildings . . . The author skilfully explains the history of these stones and - this is what makes his book so entertaining - relates them to jobs he has done . . . Ziminski is one of those lucky souls with rural X-ray spectacles. He looks at the countryside and sees a series of historical slides going back over several millennia . . . Ziminski has a wonderful way of describing the look and feel of stone . . . What a magician! * The Spectator *The author's eagerness to experience the past physically sets him apart from drier academic historians . . . Ziminski's writing is vividly evocative and craftsmanlike . . . it's a fascinating book and a wise one * Daily Mail *Like nurses, masons must know in detail about the lives of the buildings they care for. This intimate knowledge has given Andrew Ziminski unique insights into some of England's oldest and most beautiful structures. But this book is as much about people as mortar and stone. It's a conversation with the past, from which I learnt so much. My book of the year! * Francis Pryor, Time Team archaeologist and author of THE MAKING OF THE BRITISH LANDSCAPE *Thoughtful, observant and well-informed, as much at ease with words and emotions as with the stone he works with * History Today *A wonderful behind-the-scenes history, where time works on a different scale and stone is a living, breathing entity . . . by a master craftsman whose expertise connects him to the generations that came before him * BBC Countryfile Magazine *There are few reading pleasures that compare with a passionate expert describing their work, and Ziminski stands proudly in this field . . . Remarkable . . . Ziminski weaves together architecture, craft, landscape, archaeology and natural history, all the time keeping a sharp eye on modern everyday life around him * Literary Review *Most of us won't be jetting off to foreign adventures in the next few weeks, so there has probably never been a better time to discover or rediscover this magical land * The Times *This is a compelling book: part travel journal - paddling along misty streams in the South-West by canoe - part builder's manual - you learn about formwork and lateral thrust - and part hymn to the art of sustaining stone structures over centuries . . . it is rooted in the making of England and is a magical read * Evening Standard *[A] surrogate travel book, part memoir, part history, in which Andrew Ziminski describes his career as an itinerant craftsman. Refreshingly, he too recognizes how Eastern skills and styles arrived in Europe * Times Literary Supplement *In this delightful book about the places he's worked (from Wells Cathedral to Bath's Roman ruins) [Ziminski] reconnects us to our past * Daily Telegraph *Lyrical as much as it is factual and quickly grips the reader * The Langport Leveller *Enthralling . . . Along with riveting personal insights into this ancient craft, he immerses us in the past lives of the long-forgotten everyday craftspeople whose legacy is the buildings we so treasure today * Bookseller *
£10.44
Random House We Are Free to Change the World
Book SynopsisLyndsey Stonebridge FBA is Professor of Humanities and Human Rights at the University of Birmingham, UK. She is the author of We Are Free to Change the World: Hannah Arendt's Lessons in Love and Disobedience (2024); Placeless People: Writing, Rights, and Refugees (2018); winner of the Modernist Studies Association Book Prize and a Choice Outstanding Academic Title; The Judicial Imagination: Writing After Nuremberg, which won the British Academy Rose Mary Crawshay Prize for English Literature; and the essay collection, Writing and Righting: Literature in the Age of Human Rights. She is a regular media commentator and broadcaster, and lives in London.www.lyndseystonebridge.com
£10.44
Fitzcarraldo Editions Fifty Sounds
Book SynopsisWhy Japan? In Fifty Sounds, winner of the 2019 Fitzcarraldo Editions Essay Prize, Polly Barton attempts to exhaust her obsession with the country she moved to at the age of 21, before eventually becoming a literary translator. From min-min, the sound of air screaming, to jin-jin, the sound of being touched for the very first time, from hi'sori, the sound of harbouring masochist tendencies, to mote-mote, the sound of becoming a small-town movie star, Fifty Sounds is a personal dictionary of the Japanese language, recounting her life as an outsider in Japan. Irreverent, humane, witty and wise, Fifty Sounds is an exceptional debut about the quietly revolutionary act of learning, speaking, and living in another language.Trade Review‘Witty, exuberant, also melancholy, and crowded with intelligence – Fifty Sounds is so much fun to read. Barton has written an essay that is also an argument that is also a prose poem. Let’s call it a slant adventure story, whose hero is equipped only with high spirits, and a ragtag band of phonemes.’ — Rivka Galchen, author of Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch ‘This book: a portrait of a young woman as language-learner, as becoming-translator, as becoming-writer, in restless search of her life. It is about non-understanding, not-knowing, vulnerability, harming and hurt; it is also about reaching for others, transformative encounters, unexpected intimacies, and testing forms of love. It is a whole education. It is extraordinary. I was completely bowled over by it.’ — Kate Briggs, author of This Little Art ‘It seems fitting, somehow, that this marvelous study of the expansiveness and precarity of human communication is so woefully ill-served by a literal description of its contents. As in all great works of genreless nonfiction, all of the subjects Fifty Sounds is putatively “about” – Japan, translation, the philosophy of language – are inspired pretexts for the broad-spectrum exercise of an associatively vital and thrillingly companionable mind. This is a gracious, surprising, and very funny debut from a writer of alarming talent.’ — Gideon Lewis-Kraus, author of A Sense of Direction‘Fifty Sounds explodes the redundancy of the phrase “I’m learning a language,” showing us that the experience is more akin to relearning reality and who we are in it. Barton writes of being “souped” in the sounds of speech and a new place, but also in what is not said or written. She beautifully recreates the monumental intuition and exposure required to immerse oneself in a new mode of living, and the quantum levels of attention required to translate literature. It chimes and charms, a resounding wonder about identity, communication and love.’ — Jen Calleja, author of That’s All We Have Time For‘Polly Barton is a brilliant, learned and daring writer and Fifty Sounds is a magnificent book. Through her eddying philosophical vignettes, Barton creates a unified work of extraordinary wisdom and vitality.’ — Joanna Kavenna, author of Zed‘I loved this book and learned a lot from it, especially about subjects I thought I knew about – place, displacement, language-doubles and the double-selves we have when we move between our languages. It’s not just just that it’s winningly-written, insightful and formally exciting, though that would be enough. It’s that it’s genuinely gripping: forthright, inventive, personal, and fizzing with ideas.’ — Patrick McGuinness, author of Other People’s Countries‘Learning a language through immersion means learning with the tips of your fingers and the back of your neck; with stubbed toes and goosebumps. It’s exhausting and humiliating and exhilarating, and it makes you do things you don’t want to do, become versions of yourself you don’t expect or particularly want to become, on your way to finding some order in the chaos, the voices in the noise. In its richness, its honesty…Fifty Sounds is both a record of that struggle and its ultimate product.’ — Max Norman, The National
£12.34
