Biography Books

Book SynopsisAlistair Urquhart was a soldier in the Gordon Highlanders captured by the Japanese in Singapore. He not only survived working on the notorious Bridge on the River Kwai , but he was subsequently taken on one of the Japanese ''hellships'' which was torpedoed. Nearly everyone else on board died and Urquhart spent 5 days alone on a raft in the South China Sea before being rescued by a whaling ship. He was taken to Japan and then forced to work in a mine near Nagasaki. Two months later a nuclear bomb dropped just ten miles away . . .This is the extraordinary story of a young men, conscripted at nineteen and whose father was a Somme Veteran, survived not just one, but three close encounters with death - encounters which killed nearly all his comrades.Trade ReviewA book you must read * DAILY MAIL *Riveting, powerful, moving * OBSERVER *A remarkable memoir * FINANCIAL TIMES *

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Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its incredible range of best-loved, essential classics.I beheld, unclouded by doubt, a magnificent vision of all that invisibility might mean to a man the mystery, the power, the freedom.Griffin, a stranger, arrives at the local inn of an English village, entirely shrouded in bandages. Forbidding and unfriendly, he confines himself to his room. Driven away by the villagers and turning to an old friend for help, Griffin reveals that he has discovered how to make himself invisible, and plans to use his condition for treacherous ends. But when his friend refuses to join his quest, Griffin turns murderous, threatening to seek revenge on all who have betrayed him.H. G. Wells' controversial works are considered modern classics of the science fiction genre. Originally serialised in 1897, The Invisible Man is a fascinating exploration of power, corruption and science.Trade Review‘[Wells’ work is] astonishingly rich in human and historical interest … he foresaw the invention of, among other things, television, tanks, aerial warfare and the atom bomb’ David Lodge ‘I personally consider the greatest of English living writers [to be] H. G. Wells’ Upton Sinclair ‘The father of science fiction’ Guardian

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Book SynopsisCritically acclaimed, award-winning biography of CS Lewis, JRR Tolkien and the brilliant group of writers to come out of Oxford during the Second World War.C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien and their friends were a regular feature of the Oxford scenery in the years during and after the Second World War. They drank beer on Tuesdays at the Bird and Baby', and on Thursday nights they met in Lewis' Magdalen College rooms to read aloud from the books they were writing; jokingly they called themselves The Inklings'.C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien first introduced The Screwtape Letters and The Lord of the Rings to an audience in this company and Charles Williams, poet and writer of supernatural thrillers, was another prominent member of the group.Humphrey Carpenter, who wrote the acclaimed biography of J.R.R. Tolkien, draws upon unpublished letters and diaries, to which he was given special access, in this engrossing story.Trade Review‘A constantly enjoyable volume’ John Carey, Sunday Times ‘A triumph of skill and tact… not one dull or slack sentence’ Kingsley Amis, New Statesman ‘It must be technically very difficult to write a biography of more than one person at a time: it is still more difficult to capture the atmosphere of a group… Mr Carpenter has managed both things admirably’ Mary Warnock, Sunday Telegraph

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Book SynopsisAdventures in advice with some of the world's most remarkable people.President Bill Clinton, Clare Balding, Stephen Fry, Dame Judi Dench, James Corden, Margaret Atwood, Sir David Attenborough, Annie Lennox, Andy Murray, Joanna Lumley, Anthony Bourdain, Marina Abramovic, Sir Richard Branson, Sandi Toksvig, Jude Law, Nicola Sturgeon, Harry Belafonte, Olivia Colman, Simon Cowell, Martha Lane-Fox, Mario Testino, Esther Perel, Bear Grylls, Diana Athill, Mike Bloomberg, Ruby Wax, Alain de Botton, Jo Malone, Heston Blumenthal, Ruthie Rogers, Nitin Sawhney, Katie Piper, Richard Curtis, Shami Chakrabarti, and Michael McIntyre are just some of the many inspiring people who appear in Richard Reed's fascinating book.In each case Richard asked them to share with him some of their hard-earned wisdom and insights into life and how to make the most of it.If I Could Tell You Just One Thing... is not only packed with great advice but is also an enormously entertaining, brilliantly written and stunningly designed book. Each of the encounters is complemented by a pen and ink portrait by the award-winning British artist, Samuel Kerr. The resulting book is a treasure trove for readers of all ages and interests and a perfect gift book for just about anyone.Trade ReviewScanning through the delightfully illustrated pages, I found so many wonderful pearls of wisdom from remarkable game-changers, from Stephen Fry to Andy Murray, Sir David Attenborough to Martha Lane Fox . . . If you're looking for inspiration or useful life lessons, I recommend you pick up a copy -- RICHARD BRANSONFunny, entertaining and inspiring, Reed's book will surely motivate anyone who picks it up . . . Invaluable insights into life from an amazing collection of people . . . Remarkable * * Sunday Post * *Entertaining collection of pearls of wisdom . . . A fascinating new prism for understanding the powerful and the prominent * * Times Literary Supplement * *Ever wondered how the world's most successful people ended up doing so well in their lives? . . . If I Could Tell You Just One Thing contains a host of tips to help us lead more rewarding lives * * Daily Mirror * *

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Book SynopsisThe story of one of the most brilliant, flamboyant and historically important men who ever lived.''A superb achievement'' LITERARY REVIEW''Combines scholarship with storytelling to bring the ancient world to life: in his masterly new CAESAR he shows us the greatest Roman as man, statesman, soldier and lover'' Simon Sebag Montefiore''Magnificent'' DAILY TELEGRAPHFrom the very beginning, Caesar''s story makes dazzling reading. In his late teens he narrowly avoided execution for opposing the military dictator Sulla. He was decorated for valour in battle, captured and held to ransom by pirates, and almost bankrupted himself by staging games for the masses. As a politician, he quickly gained a reputation as a dangerously ambitious maverick. By his early 30s he had risen to the position of Consul, and was already beginning to dominate the Senate. His affairs with noblewomen were both frequent and scandalous.His greaTrade ReviewGoldsworthy's magnificent biography places Caesar in the context of the Roman world and shows why we return to the great man * DAILY TELEGRAPH *Goldsworthy is renowned as a military historian, but his coverage here of messy late Republican politics is also authoritative and clear. He gives us a colourful sense of the wider world and Roman society at this time, and above all, the commanding, unmistakeable presence of the timelessly fascinating man himself * INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY *Adrian Goldsworthy's account of this extraordinary period is a superb achievement. He writes at length and in detail, but with a light touch, never allowing the complexities to obscure the sharpness of the story line...It is a model of the way ancient biographies should be written * LITERARY REVIEW *Goldsworthy is the one of the new generation of young classicists who combine scholarship with storytelling to bring the ancient world to life: in his masterly new CAESAR he shows us the greatest Roman as man, statesman, soldier and lover -- Simon Sebag MontefioreThe analysis of Caesar's generalship is predictably excellent, the account of the Gallic wars, in particular, has rarely been bettered * SPECTATOR *This admirable biography... is so lucid, so comprehensive and so balanced -- Allan Massie * DAILY TELEGRAPH *A compelling biography of Julius Caesar, charting his fantastically eventful life * FINANCIAL TIMES *Goldsworthy is a fine military historian and his account of the Gallic Wars is exemplary * INDEPENDENT *[Goldsworthy] is careful and judicious in his analyses, seeking to integrate the man of action, the scholar, the showman, the lover, legal reformer, town planner * THE TABLET *Adrian Goldsworthy's 519-page work certainly does justice to the scale of his subject, and the evidence is masterfully assembled -- Boris Johnson * MAIL ON SUNDAY *Richness of detail illuminates to great effect the risk-taking, self-promotion and sheer force of will that fuelled Caesar's extraordinary career * BBC HISTORY MAGAZINE *A thorough and wide-ranging biography of a legendary figure * DAILY EXPRESS *Highly enjoyable... [Goldsworthy] writes well, and with real authority -- Simon Heffer * COUNTRY LIFE *Goldsworthy's magnificent biography places Caesar in the context of the Roman world and shows why we return to the great man. -- Toby Clements * Telegraph *

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Book Synopsis'A glimpse into the exotic, mysterious, tinged-with-eroticism world of the almost mythical geisha' Val Hennessy, Daily Mail'[An] eloquent and innovative memoir' The TimesThe extraordinary, bestselling memoir from Japan's foremost geisha.'I can identify the exact moment when things began to change. It was a cold winter afternoon. I had just turned three.' Emerging shyly from her hiding place, Mineko encounters Madam Oima, the formidable proprietress of a prolific geisha house in Gion. Madam Oima is mesmerised by the child's black hair and black eyes: she has found her successor. And so Mineko is gently, but firmly, prised away from her parents to embark on an extraordinary profession, of which she will become the best. But even if you are exquisitely beautiful and the darling of the okiya, the life of a geisha is one of gruelling demands. And Mineko must first conten

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Book SynopsisA gift curated for the poetry and history enthusiast, Poems of the Great War is a miniature hardcover keepsake complete with illustrations throughout.  This 3' tall collection featuring nearly 50 memorable poems from some of the best writers of the time: Rupert Brooke, Siegfried Sassoon, Wilfred Owen, Ivan Gurney, Isaac Rosenberg, Richard Aldington, Edward Thomas, and many more. Vividly expressing the ravages of war fought on the front lines, their poems are some of the most powerful and poignant works of the twentieth century.

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Book SynopsisTHE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERThe second bestselling book from ''the most joyous and brain-enhancing podcast out there'' (The Times) - also including puzzles and a quiz!Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook bring you an alphabetical miscellany, taking on some of history's best and most bizarre moments. Charge forth against the traitors of the American Revolution, journey through Baghdad to discover the origins of the Arabian Nights and head to Sicily to witness the first face-off between Carthage and Rome. Along the way you''ll find the answers to questions like: - Was Henry V''s great-grandfather, Edward III, the biggest lad in British history?- Which Mitford sister tried to seduce her girlish crush, Adolf Hitler? - Who are history''s top 10 monkeys?- Why did the Romans inspire so much American science fiction?Dust off your tricorne hat, grab your lasso and get ready for a rollicking rollercoaster ride through the past . . . All history podcasts have to be measured against The Rest is History. To listen to anyone else attempt to tell historical stories in audio form is to realise just how good Dominic Sandbrook and Tom Holland are' James Marriott, The TimesHolland and Sandbrook have reached a peak of listenability at which you'd happily hear them chortle through a history of paperclips or phonebooks' Jasper Rees, TelegraphA global sensation . . . Dives into the past with raucous good cheer' Wall Street Journal

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Book SynopsisJulian Cope's highly acclaimed autobiography and its long-awaited sequel in one extraordinary volume.Julian Cope shot to fame with eighties band Teardrop Explodes'' during the Punk era. Hailed as a visionary by those people who recognise his genius and a madman by those who find him perplexing, he has become a cult figure in the music world.Head-On/Repossessed is written in Cope's own inimitable style and follows his journey through a time of incredible change within the music industry.Head-on is the highly acclaimed autobiography that The Observer viewed as book of the year when it was first released. Repossesed picks up in 1983 where Head On ends and continues up until 1989.Trade Review'Hilarious, observant and deeply subversive.' I-D 'Considered and self-deprecating…Mighty.' TIME OUT 'Repossessed…is one of the best books about the 80s ever written and without doubt the best book about toy cars, hermiting, integrity and drug paranoia.' THE GUARDIAN 'Cope's passion and intelligence are well served by a vein of self-deprecating wit.' THE DAILY TELEGRAPH 'Wondrous memoirs of fleeting stardom and LSD-induced psychosis.' Q MAGAZINE [The 50 Best Music Books Ever, 2001] 'Cope's rocking writing at its most infectious, moving and hilarious.' NEW MUSICAL EXPRESS 'Compulsive reading…This man is truly a genius.' LOADED 'A wryly rendered masterpiece.' Q MAGAZINE

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Book SynopsisThe Meditations of Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius are a readable exposition of the system of metaphysics known as stoicism. Stoics maintained that by putting aside great passions, unjust thoughts and indulgence, man could acquire virtue and live at one with nature.

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Book SynopsisRory Stewart served in the UK Cabinet as Secretary of State for International Development, and before that as Prisons Minister, Minister for Africa, Minister for Development, Environment Minister and Chair of the Defence Committee. He ran against Boris Johnson for the leadership of the Conservative Party in 2019. Earlier in his career he was briefly in the British Army, before serving as a diplomat in Indonesia, the Balkans and Iraq, establishing and running a charity in Afghanistan, and holding a chair at Harvard University. His books include Occupational Hazards, The Marches and Politics on the Edge.Stewart is now the president of the non-profit organization GiveDirectly, a visiting fellow at Yale's Jackson School and the co-host, with Alastair Campbell, of the UK's leading podcast The Rest is Politics.

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Book SynopsisJanuary, 1945. 14-year-old Moshe Kessler steps off the train at Buchenwald concentration camp. Having endured the horrors of Auschwitz-Birkenau, lost touch with his entire family, and survived the death march in the freezing European winter, he has seen more than his share of tragedy. Moshe knows only one thing about Buchenwald. Everyone knows it. If you want to survive, you have to get to Block 66. The Germans are cruel and determined – but they are not prepared for Buchenwald’s secret resistance, which rises up with one mission only: to protect the camp’s children from harm. This is the incredible true story of Moshe Kessler and Block 66 – the children’s block that was at the forefront of one of the most shocking and inspiring stories of Holocaust survival.Trade Review'An incredible and chilling story' -- Daily Express

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Book Synopsis'An incredible human being with an extraordinary story to share' Dr Rangan Chatterjee'A beautiful, life-changing manifesto' Brené Brown'I will be forever changed by Dr Eger's story' Oprah'Her story is a testament to our true human potential. She's a gift' Nicole LePeraEach moment in Auschwitz was hell on earth. It was also my best classroom. Subjected to loss, torture, starvation and the constant threat of death, I discovered tools for survival and freedom that I continue to use every day.In her darkest moments, Edith Eger discovered that the most damaging prison was the one in her mind. Drawing on her incredible story and experience as a celebrated therapist, she shares valuable life lessons to heal and inspire so that we too can break free from whatever's holding us back.Trade ReviewI'll be forever changed by Dr. Eger's story * Oprah *This woman will change your life ... The Gift should be required reading for all humans * Marie Forleo *

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Book Synopsis''It is a most wonderful comfort to sit alone beneath a lamp, book spread before you, and commune with someone from the past whom you have never met...''Moonlight, sake, spring blossom, idle moments, a woman''s hair - these exquisite reflections on life''s fleeting pleasures by a thirteenth-century Japanese monk are delicately attuned to nature and the senses.Introducing Little Black Classics: 80 books for Penguin''s 80th birthday. Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics, with books from around the world and across many centuries. They take us from a balloon ride over Victorian London to a garden of blossom in Japan, from Tierra del Fuego to 16th-century California and the Russian steppe. Here are stories lyrical and savage; poems epic and intimate; essays satirical and inspirational; and ideas that have shaped the lives of millions.Yoshida Kenko (c. 1283-1352). Kenko''s work is included in Penguin Classics in <

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Book SynopsisA Financial Times and Observer best summer readWith its union of practicality and magic, a kitchen is a portal, offering extended range and providing unlikely paths out of the ordinary longed-for places are suddenly not so far away. Not unreachable, but present. Held again in the hand and heart.'In her Edinburgh basement kitchen, Caroline Eden recounts travels across Central Asia, Turkey, the Baltics and beyond using recipes, souvenirs, ingredients and imagination to provide routes back to distant lands and past adventures. From late-night baking as a way to Ukraine, to the magic of Uzbekistan's wintertime melons, once gifts fit for emperors and tsars, this is a hauntingly honest memoir with the smell, taste and preparation of food at its heart. Cold Kitchen is an ode to the kitchen's extraordinary ability to tell human stories and transport us to faraway places and different times.

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Book SynopsisA new anthology of Chinese short-fiction by award winning author Ken Liu. Here are sixteen short stories from China's groundbreaking SFF writers, edited and translated by award-winning author Ken Liu. In Hugo award-winner Liu Cixin's 'Moonlight', a man is contacted by three future versions of himself, each trying to save their world from destruction. Hao Jingfang's 'The New Year Train' sees 1,500 passengers go missing on a train that vanishes into space. In the title story by Tang Fei, a young girl is shown how the stars can reveal the future. In addition, three essays explore the history and rise of Chinese SFF publishing, contemporary Chinese fandom, and how the growing interest in Chinese SFF has impacted writers who had long laboured in obscurity. By turns dazzling, melancholy and thought-provoking, Broken Stars celebrates the vibrancy and diversity of SFF voices emerging from China. 'Dreamlike and hypnotic, evocative and inspiring' THE BOOKBAG. 'Ken Liu is a genius' ELIZABETH BEAR. 'An instant classic... Poetry on every page' HUGH HOWEY. Trade ReviewA good mix of well-established authors and new voices... While the styles on show are disparate, one thread that links many stories is the way they engage intelligently with Chinese myths and history... This book gives a wonderful insight into the worldview and imagination of its smart and thoughtful writers' * Big Issue *Edited and mostly translated by Ken Liu, a sci-fi writer in his own right who is credited with bringing Liu Cixin's Three-Body Problem onto the world stage... The more compelling stories are those that relate to the unpredicted impacts of technological inventions' * Art Review *A helpful guide to sci-fi in China, with essays that trace its development * Straits Times *

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Book SynopsisA TLS BOOK OF THE YEAR ''Anaximander is a delight and so is this book'' -- James McConnachie, Sunday TimesNow widely available in English for the first time, this is Carlo Rovelli''s first book: the thrilling story of a little-known man who created one of the greatest intellectual revolutions Over two thousand years ago, one man changed the way we see the world.Since the dawn of civilization, humans had believed in the heavens above and the Earth below. Then, on the Ionian coast, a Greek philosopher named Anaximander set in motion a revolution. He not only conceived that the Earth floats in space, but also that animals evolve, that storms and earthquakes are natural, not supernatural, that the world can be mapped and, above all, that progress is made by the endless search for knowledge. Carlo Rovelli''s first book, now widely available in English, tells the origin story of scientific thinking: our rebellious ability to reimagine the world, again and again.Translated by Marion Lignana Rosenberg

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Book SynopsisHome is Where tells of the journeys - across continents, over time, and through the challenges of family love, loss and letting go - of Margaret Beetham, whose parents were Helen and Lesslie Newbigin, missionaries in India between the 1930s and the 1970sTrade Review‘Margaret Beetham has done a wonderful thing – making the ordinary extraordinary and the extraordinary ordinary, both at once. The word “autobiography” does not feel right: this is literature and theology and feminism (among other things). It recounts a way of growing up which is too nearly forgotten, or lost in either swagger or guilt. Above all she captures that elusive seductive distorted precision of childhood memory and weaves it into a story which is both honourable and beautiful.’ -- Sara Maitland * author of A Book of Silence *‘I found this book both enchanting and illuminating, providing as it does a rare insight into the lives of the children of those spreading the Gospel to foreign lands. Despite the years of separation from her parents in the cause of an English education, Margaret grows into a warm-hearted sister and mother that one can only admire.’ -- Sheila Cassidy, author of Audacity to Believe

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The Historians of Ancient Rome is the most comprehensive collection of ancient sources for Roman history available in a single English volume. After a general introduction on Roman historical writing, extensive passages from more than a dozen Greek and Roman historians and biographers trace the history of Rome over more than a thousand years: from the cityâs foundation by Romulus in 753 B.C.E. (Livy) to Constantineâs edict of toleration for Christianity (313 C.E.)Selections include many of the high points of Romeâs climb to world domination: the defeat of Hannibal; the conquest of Greece and the eastern Mediterranean; the defeat of the Catilinarian conspirators; Caesarâs conquest of Gaul; Antony and Cleopatra; the establishment of the Empire by Caesar Augustus; and the Roman Peace under Hadrian and long excepts from Tacitus record the horrors of the reigns of Tiberius and Nero.The book is intended both for undergraduate courses in Roman history and for the gen

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Book SynopsisWith unprecedented access to the Cuban Government''s archives and total co-operation from Che''s widow, Aleida March, as well as access to hitherto unpublished documents, including several of Che''s personal diaries, this biography of one of history''s most fascinating figures by critically-acclaimed New York Times journalist Jon Lee Anderson is truly definitive and monumental - not least because its creation solved a twenty-eight-year-old mystery: the whereabouts of Che Guevara''s body...''Masterly and absorbing'' -- The Sunday Times''Brilliantly evoked... The portrait is now as complete as it will ever be'' -- The Times Literary Supplement''Absorbing and convincing... an indispensable work of contemporary history'' ? Guardian''Probably the best biography I have read'' -- ***** Reader review''It''s hard to imagine that this work can be bettered'' -- ***** Reader review''Simply outstTrade ReviewMasterly and absorbing -- Frank McLynn * The Sunday Times *Brilliantly evoked... The portrait is now as complete as it will ever be -- Alberto Manguel * The Times Literary Supplement *Absorbing and convincing... an indispensable work of contemporary history * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisBY THE WINNER OF THE ORWELL PRIZE FOR JOURNALISM 2023*Includes additional material*A powerful collection of journalism on race, racism and black life and death from one of the nation's leading political voices.Outstanding.' BERNARDINE EVARISTOSharp and grounded.' NEW STATESMANCompelling.' TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENTTimeless.' AFUA HIRSCHHumane.' JOHN LEGENDImpressive.' JEREMY CORBYNFor the last three decades, Gary Younge has sat ringside with the most significant personalities to impact the black diaspora and been on the frontline of historic events. He has witnessed the possibilities of change and the power of systems to thwart those aspirations. Dispatches from the Diaspora is an unrivalled body of work from a unique perspective that compels you to imagine a world in which you might thrive, for which there is no evidence. And then fight for it.'

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Book Synopsis* ERNEST HEMINGWAY wrote to a friend: 'She can write rings around all of us ... I wish you would get it and read it because it is really a bloody wonderful book' * introduction by MARTHA GELLHORNTrade ReviewA beautiful and evocative story that deserves to be ranked alongside Karen Blixen's Out of Africa * Time Out *A poet's feeling for her land, an adventurer's response to life * New York Herald Tribune *[Markham] can write rings around all of us . . . I wish you would get it and read it because it is really a bloody wonderful book -- Ernest HemingwayMarkham made her name as one of the first pilots to fly solo across the Atlantic in 1936 . . . A vivacious account of an eccentric life, with Markham's headstrong nature and spirit shining out * Daily Mail *A beautiful and evocative story that deserves to be ranked alongside Karen Blixen's OUT OF AFRICA * Time Out *A poet's feeling for her land, an adventurer's response to life * New York HERALD Tribune *Markham made her name as one of the first pilots to fly solo across the Atlantic in 1936 . . . A vivacious account of an eccentric life, with Markham's headstrong nature and spirit shining out * Daily Mail *

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Book SynopsisSHORTLISTED FOR THE COSTA BIOGRAPHY AWARD''Engrossing as any thriller'' Daily Telegraph''Superb. Meticulously researched, splendidly told, immensely entertaining'' John le Carré''This is the most amazing book, full of fascinating and hair-raising true life adventures . . . It would be impossible to recommend it too highly'' Mail on Sunday_______One December night in 1942, a Nazi parachutist landed in a Cambridgeshire field. His mission: to sabotage the British war effort.His name was Eddie Chapman, but he would shortly become MI5''s Agent Zigzag. Dashing and suave, courageous and unpredictable, Chapman was by turns a traitor, a hero, a villain and a man of conscience. But, as his spymasters and many lovers often wondered, who was the real Eddie Chapman?Ben Macintyre weaves together diaries, letters, photographs, memories and top-secret MI5 files to create an exhilarat

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Book SynopsisOut of the cocaine-fuelled, rock''n''roll debauchery of the 1970s came an iconic collaboration between an influential rocker and a visionary filmmaker.From The Last Waltz to The Wolf of Wall Street and The Irishman, the creative legacy of Robbie Robertson and Martin Scorcese has spanned decades. Filled with high octane exploits, bacchanalian parties and untold amounts of debauchery, this is the intimate and unvarnished behind-the-scenes story of a partnership that has shaped American culture like no other.PRAISE FOR TESTIMONY''A book of memories and wonders, a personal testament of a magical time in American music from someone who was there, at the center of it all . . . Robbie brings you along with him, keeps you right by his side first to last, just the way his songs do, drawing you close, spellbound by his easy sorcery. You can feel the music in every word'' Martin Scorsese''Robust, wry, gritty and wise'' Wall Street Journal''Confident and well oiled. At times it has the mythic sweep of an early Terrence Malick movie'' New York Times''Captivating... this is essential reading'' Rolling Stone''Robertson is an immensely capable storyteller and a keen observer'' New Yorker

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Book SynopsisFebruary 2022. David Mackinnon fell down a flight of stairs and the injuries he sustained almost cost him his life. During his recovery, David reflected on his life and reconciled some of the episodes from his football career that still weighed heavy on his mind. The result is Slide Tackles and Boardroom Battles, the incredible story of Glasgow-born David Donaldson Mackinnon. Beginning his career with Arsenal, David spent four years at Highbury where he was taken under the wing of the legendary Alan Ball. After spells at Dundee and Partick Thistle, Mackinnon eventually fulfilled a lifelong dream of playing for his boyhood heroes Glasgow Rangers for four years, making almost two hundred appearances, before a knee injury forced him to revert to part-time football. But David’s story doesn’t end there. He netted the decisive penalty kick when Kilmarnock won promotion to the First Division in 1990 and, after hanging up his boots Mackinnon embarked on a successful business career before returning to football, taking on executive roles with Clyde, Kilmarnock, Dundee, Hamilton Academical, and Greenock Morton. In the latter role, Mackinnon was a key protagonist in the voting fiasco that controversially ended the Scottish football season during the COVID 19 pandemic. Open, honest, and insightful, Slide Tackles and Boardroom Battles reveals the challenges Mackinnon has faced during his eventful career in football and business and the often-brutal impact these have had on his physical and mental health and well-being. Slide Tackles and Boardroom Battles isn’t simply a football book. It’s a memoir that will raise awareness of the trials and tribulations footballers face, while also giving a unique behind-the-scenes perspective on the business side of the game. Mackinnon’s story, told with refreshing sincerity, is a must-read for all fans of the beautiful game.Trade Review"A tender memoir that is so much more than the normal footballer's autobiography. Revelations concerning Mackinnon's own on-going health battles are woven into memories of a career at the cutting edge of the game, both on the park and off it." Alan Pattullo The Scotsman

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Book Synopsis‘A monumental yet intimate biography, a vivid portrait of the man, the statesman and the saint’ The TimesMahatma Gandhi became a legend in his own time. A tireless fighter for human rights and for Indian independence, his strategy of satyagraha, or passive resistance, earned him the admiration of millions. Louis Fischer's biography is the definitive account of Ghandi's life; it tells the astonishing story of one man who changed the world forever. This is the perfect read to celebrate and understand Ghandi in the year of the 150th anniversary of his birth.Trade ReviewThe best biography of Gandhi... I was enthralled from the first page...it changed my life * Sir Richard Attenborough *A monumental yet intimate biography, a vivid portrait of the man, the statesman and the saint * The Times *An important work * London Review of Books *Generous and conscientious... You feel Gandhi would have liked it that way * New York Herald Tribune *Equally successful in presenting the world figure with a cure for the world's woes and the plain little man with the kind look and smile * The Times *

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Book Synopsis**A Sunday Times Book of the Year**The closest you’ll ever get to the most infamous drug kingpin in modern history, told by the person who stood by his sideThe story of Pablo Escobar, one of the wealthiest, powerful and violent criminals of all time has fascinated the world. Yet the one person closest to him has never spoken out – until now. Maria Victoria Henao met Pablo when she was 13, eloped with him at 15, and despite his numerous infidelities and violence, stayed by his side for the following 16 years until his death. At the same time, she urged him to make peace with his enemies and managed to negotiate her and her children’s freedom after Pablo’s demise. The most intriguing character in the Escobar narrative is ready to share her story and reveal the real man behind the legend.Trade ReviewThis engaging book will not have arrived soon enough for Netflix Narcos addicts craving more. It will also stand out as an invaluable text for any student of Colombia’s blood-drenched, modern history. * Sunday Times *

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Book SynopsisPoly Styrene was a singer-songwriter, an artist, a free-thinker, a post-modern style pioneer and a lifelong spiritual seeker: a true punk icon. But this rebel queen with the cheeky grin was also a latter-day pop artist with a wickedly perceptive gift for satirising the world around her - her brightly coloured, playful aesthetic sharply at odds with the stark monochrome style and nihilism of punk. Here, for the first time, the vibrant jigsaw of Poly's inspiring and often moving story has been lovingly pieced together by her daughter, singer-songwriter Celeste Bell, and writer/artist Zoe Howe. From growing up mixed-race in Brixton in the 1960s, to being at the forefront of the emerging punk scene with X-Ray Spex in the 1970s, to finding faith with the Hare Krishna movement, to balancing single motherhood with a solo music career and often debilitating mental health issues, the book honestly and openly explores Poly's exceptional life, up until her untimely passing in 2011. Based on interviews with those who knew and loved Poly whether personally or through music, this oral history book includes testimonies from Vivienne Westwood, Don Letts, Glen Matlock, Jonathan Ross, Neneh Cherry, The Slits Tessa Pollitt, Thurston Moore, Jon Savage, and many others. Heavily illustrated throughout including personal photographs, flyers from the punk scene and hand-drawn artwork and lyrics for X-Ray Spex and beyond the book beautifully captures Poly Styrene's creative and personal legacy, reminding us that if anyone had the power to turn our worlds dayglo, it was her.Trade Review'The life and times of a true rebel, by those who knew her best... with a clear-eyed sense of honesty. She was a true artist and a genuine one-off, and Dayglo is the celebration she deserves.' Classic Rock, 8/10 'A portrait of the singer-songwriter, visual artist and spiritual traveller. A richly illustrated oral history of the woman and her singular work. A complex, inspirational and moving story.' Mojo 'Lovingly compiled' NME

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Book SynopsisAnita's debut novel Baby Does a Runner is available to pre-order now - coming July 2023!Fizzing with energy, hilarity and charm, The Right Sort of Girl is the Sunday Times bestseller from Countryfile's Anita Rani.'Warm, honest and funny, filled with hope and inspiration' Nikesh Shukla'Funny, touching, occasionally veering into beautifully controlled, quiet rage... a must-read' Viv Groskop'Like a bloody good natter with your down-to-earth friend' Shappi Khorsandi'A joy from start to finish' Emma Kennedy'Empowering... I will be recommending to everyone I know' Nikita Gill'I'm a girl and northern and brown, didn't you know? A triple threat!' Trying to navigate her Indian world at home and the British world outside her front door, Anita Rani was a girl who didn't ­fit in anywhere. She was always destined to stand out: from playing Mary in her otherwise all white nursery nativity to growing up in eighties Yorkshire with her Punjabi family, spending evenings in the factory her parents owned whilst trying to ­figure out how best to get rid of hair that seemed to be growing EVERYWHERE.Anita shares the lessons she wishes her younger self could have known: 'Freedom is Complicated', 'You Will Fall in Love and Be Loved' and, most importantly, 'Your Anger is Legitimate'. How did she manage to become the powerhouse she is, whilst battling against being too white inside her home and too brown outside of it?This story of a second-generation British Indian woman up north is also a tale of tenacity and a life lived with positivity and humour. If you have ever felt alone, different, or just not the right sort of girl, this is the book for you.Trade ReviewWarm, honest and funny, filled with hope and inspiration... A must-read for every young person with big dreams -- Nikesh ShuklaFunny, touching, nostalgic and occasionally veering into beautifully controlled, quiet rage, Anita's story is a must-read. If she's not exactly "the right sort of girl", then who is? -- Viv GroskopLike a bloody good natter with your down-to-earth friend who never sugars the pill -- Shappi Khorsandi'Warm and wonderful, Anita's book is a joy from start to finish' -- Emma KennedyAnita Rani's empowering, brilliant memoir is bursting full of insight and resilience. Her words are elegant and powerful - they will resonate with women everywhere for generations to come. Truly a splendid read in every way, I will be recommending this book to everyone I know. * Nikita Gill *

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Book SynopsisAlan McGee is the best-known label boss of the post-punk era. His label, Creation Records, has become iconic launching the careers of bands like Oasis, Primal Scream, My Bloody Valentine and many others. He also manages the Happy Mondays, Ocean Colour Scene and many more. He is brilliantly quotable and has endless anecdotes about his time in music. In a time when music has become safe he is one of the last of the great mavericks.

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Book Synopsis"Sergio Chejfec is an admirable writer." —Patti Smith“Could anyone possibly believe that writing doesn’t exist? It would be like denying the existence of rain.”The perfect green notebook forms the basis for Sergio Chejfec’s work, collecting writing, and allowing it to exist in a state of permanent possibility, or, as he says, “The written word is also capable of waiting for the next opportunity to appear and to continue to reveal itself by and for itself.” This same notebook is also the jumping off point for this essay, which considers the dimensions of the act of writing (legibility, annotation, facsimile, inscription, typewriter versus word processor versus pen) as a way of thinking, as a record of relative degrees of permanence, and as a performance. From Kafka through Borges, Nabokov, Levrero, Walser, the implications of how we write take on meaning as well worth considering as what we write. This is a love letter to the act of writing as practice, bearing down on all the ways it happens (cleaning typewriter keys, the inevitable drying out of the bottle of wite-out, the difference between Word Perfect and Word) to open up all the ways in which “when we express our thought, it changes.” Trade Review************Praise for Sergio Chejfec"Sergio Chejfec is an admirable writer." —Patti Smith“Chejfec's latest work should be treated as a significant event." —Publisher's Weekly"It is hard to think of another contemporary writer who, marrying true intellect with simple description of a space, simultaneously covers so little and so much ground.” —Times Literary Supplement"I'd locate My Two Worlds among the rarae aves of recent fiction, among those books still capable of blazing new paths on the perilous trajectory of the modern novel." —Enrique Vila-Matas"This first novel by New York-based Argentine native Chejfec to be translated into English is a slim, gracefully discursive work....[My Two Worlds] allows us to enter the thoughts of a restless intellectual whose streams of thought involve the reader in his quest to find meaning in everything he sees and does." —Kirkus Reviews"If genius can be defined by the measure of depth of an artist’s perception into human experience, then Chejfec is a genius." —Coffin Factory“Sergio Chejfec’s The Incompletes is a masterfully nested narrative where writing—its presence on the page, its course through time, its prismatic dispersion of meaning—is the true protagonist. Heather Cleary’s flawless translation adds yet another layer to this extraordinary palimpsest of a novel.” —Hernan Diaz"This was one of Sergio’s great gifts as a writer: his ability to take the small, the fragmentary, and to reveal the worlds contained within." —Heather Cleary, Lit Hub"A beautifully baffling book about the peripatetic wanderings of your own mind through the hotels, hallways, and postcards of the protagonists, or about the instability hiding in every apparently solid building, or maybe even how you don’t know an event is significant until some disconnected and celestial phenomenon illuminates it." —Josh Cook , Porter Square Books

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Book SynopsisAn account of the citizens of the town through their Misdeeds, Thefts, foul crimes against their Betters, petty Arguments, Breaches of the peace and Tales of Drunkenness in the oldest INNs of the Place.A brilliant pocketbook of Victorian crime and punishment in a Gloucestershire town

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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Book SynopsisTHE INSTANT NO. 1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER'Want makes for addictive reading . . . compelling' Guardian'I just loved reading it. It's exceptional' Fearne Cotton, Happy Place'An empowering project' Stylist'Extremely sexy . . . Want is the horny manifesto your TBR list will thank you for' CosmopolitanWhat do you want when no one is watching?Who do you fantasise about when the lights are off?When you think about sex, what do you really want? When we talk about sex, we talk about womanhood and motherhood, infidelity and exploitation, consent and respect, fairness and egalitarianism, love and hate, pleasure and pain. And yet so many of us don't talk about it at all. In this groundbreaking book, Gillian Anderson collects and introduces the anonymous sexual fantasies of women from around the world (along with her own anonymous submission). They are all extraordinary: full of desire, fear, intimacy, shame, satisfaction and, ultimately, liberation. From dreaming about someone off-limits to conjur

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Book SynopsisBlackpink in your area – now fully revised and updated, this is the definitive guide to the biggest K-pop girl group on the planet.Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé and Lisa are the hottest thing in pop right now – supremely talented with looks to die for, it’s no wonder everyone from Ariana Grande to Lady Gaga is a Blink! From headlining Coachella to sitting front row at Paris Fashion Week, these girls have done it all, and done it in style. Their music videos rack up billions of views on YouTube, and their world tours are sell-out events.If you want to know more about Blackpink, from their trainee days to world domination, this book covers it all: the songs, the choreography, the fashion, the music videos, the famous friends and the star collaborations. They really are ‘the only gang to run the game in high heels’.

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Book SynopsisYou've heard all about the brilliant men' of ancient myth, but what about the scheming and scandalous women who were so often lost in their shadow?Bad Girls of Ancient Greece contains profiles of wayward wives, mad mothers, scandalous sisters and damsels, that quite frankly, caused others A LOT of stress in the ancient world.With the ever-growing popularity of mythological retellings, Lizzy Tiffin has written THE guide to all of the baddies of ancient Greece. This book stands as a reminder that us women really have been bad in the best way possible from the start.Written with humour and sass, Lizzy profiles the women in Greek myth and legend covering: mortals, goddesses, titans, nymphs (you name it, she's done it). Here you'll find the weird and wonderful escapades of the women we're often lead to believe were minor characters.Bad Girls of Ancient Greece is an accessible, intelligent, hilarious (sometimes spicy) guide to the women we love and know Athena, Medusa, Aphrodite and also those we may not, like Polyphonte, who was cursed with burning hot lust for a wild bear imagine!So dive into the stories you thought you knew with Bad Girls of Ancient Greece as your illuminating guide

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Book SynopsisThe Woman in Meis a brave andastonishingly moving story about freedom, fame, motherhood, survival, faith, and hope.

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