Biography Books

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Book SynopsisThe sensational sequel to Papillon'.Banco' continues the adventures of Henri Charriere - nicknamed Papillon - in Venezuela, where he has finally won his freedom after thirteen years of escape and imprisonment. Despite his resolve to become an honest man, Charriere is soon involved in hair-raiding exploits with goldminers, gamblers, bank-robbers and revolutionaries - robbing and being robbed, his lust for life as strong as ever. He also runs night clubs in Caracas until an earthquake ruins him in 1967 - when he decides to write the book that brings his international fame.

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Book Synopsis***NOMINATED FOR THE NME BEST BOOK AWARD 2017 *** The first and only OFFICIAL book from ZAYN, for his ultimate fans. Zayn''s autobiography features exclusive, never-before-seen photographs alongside his story. -------------------------------- ''This book is my diary of a period that I would like to share with you all. I hope that there are things in the book that contextualise some of the moments and memories we have all shared together. There are things I address in the book that are very personal to me, things that I have never told anyone, things I still find hard to talk about. It''s a part of a journey I''m still on'' - ZAYN ZAYN opens up with this collection of thoughts, inspiration, and never-before-seen personal photographs. After five years of massive success with One Direction, ZAYN launched his career as a solo artist with Mind of Mine, becoming one of the most successful artists in the world. NowTrade ReviewThe first and only official book from ZAYN. Global superstar ZAYN shares a photographic journey of his life since leaving One Direction. from the publisher's description

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Book SynopsisFrom Moses to Nelson Mandela, speeches have changed the way we see the world and the way the world is shaped.The Penguin Book of Historic Speeches gathers together the world''s greatest speeches, bringing together the words of over one hundred men and women. These brilliant and passionate declarations by Socrates, Robespierre, Lincoln, Queen Elizabeth I, Churchill, Washington, Pankhurst, Gandhi and many others provide a vivid glimpse of history in the making while retaining their power to move and inspire today.''Impeccable. MacArthur prefaces each address with a short but scholarly historical explanation that sets the scene perfectly. An attractive volume'' Andrew Roberts, Sunday Times''Works well not just as an anthology but as a history'' Independent on SundayTrade ReviewImpeccable. MacArthur prefaces each address with a short but scholarly historical explanation that sets the scene perfectly. An attractive volume with a splendidly pithy introducton -- Andrew Roberts * Sunday Times *MacArthur wisely [concentrates] on certain political conflicts - gathering together the oratory of the American Civil War or the campaign for female suffrage. His book works well not just as an anthology but as a history of those episodes * Independent on Sunday *A collection to stir the blood and lift the heart * Daily Mail *

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Book SynopsisA fascinating slice of East End life, from the No.1 bestsellilng author of CALL THE MIDWIFE, soon to be a major BBC TV series.In this follow up to CALL THE MIDWIFE, Jennifer Worth, a midwife working in the docklands area of East London in the 1950s tells more stories about the people she encountered. There''s Jane, who cleaned and generally helped out at Nonnatus House - she was taken to the workhouse as a baby and was allegedly the illegitimate daughter of an aristocrat. Peggy and Frank''s parents both died within 6 months of each other and the children were left destitute. At the time, there was no other option for them but the workhouse. The Reverend Thornton-Appleby-Thorton, a missionary in Africa, visits the Nonnatus nuns and Sister Julienne acts as matchmaker. And Sister Monica Joan, the eccentric ninety-year-old nun, is accused of shoplifting some small items from the local market. She is let off with a warning, but then Jennifer finds stolen jeTrade ReviewBe warned, it's a real tear-jerker - but it also makes you very grateful for the life we have today. * Woman *

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Book Synopsis***THE WORD OF MOUTH INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER NOW UPDATED WITH 15 EXPLOSIVE NEW CHAPTERS***False economics. Threats, bribes, extortion. Debt, deception, coups, assassinations and unbridled military power. These are the tools used by the ‘corporatocracy’ – a vast network of corporations, banks, colluding governments and rich and powerful individuals – to ensure that they retain and expand their wealth and influence, growing richer and richer as the poor become poorer.In his original, post 9/11 book, John Perkins revealed how he was recruited as an economic hit man in the 1970s, and exposed the corrupt methods American corporations use to spread their influence in the developing world, cheating countries out of trillions of dollars. In this new, extensively updated edition he lays bare the latest, terrifying evolution of the economic hit man, and how the system has become even more entrenched and powerful than ever before.In New Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, John Perkins provides fresh and chilling evidence of how the corporatocracy has grown its influence to every corner of the globe, making us all unwitting slaves to their regime. But he also provides advice on how we can end our unconscious support of the system and its self-serving, lethal economy.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------"Perkins has, once again, made a substantial contribution to a world that needs whistle-blowers to open its eyes to the true sources of political, social, and economic power" - Yanis Varoufakis"It comes from the heart. I highly recommend it." - Michael Brownstein"it’s all here in toe-curling detail' - GuardianTrade ReviewConfessions of an Economic Hit Man is a unique book, brave because it is personal. With unflinching honesty, John Perkins narrates his moral awakening and struggle to break free from the corrupt system of global domination he himself helped to create. This book possesses an immediacy which separates it from the numerous studies we already have of American Empire. It comes from the heart. I highly recommend it. -- Michael Brownstein, author of World on FireWhen I read Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, I could not have known that, some years later, I would be on the receiving end of the type of ‘economic hit’ that Perkins so vividly narrated ... Perkins has, once again, made a substantial contribution to a world that needs whistle-blowers to open its eyes to the true sources of political, social, and economic power -- Yanis Varoufakis, former Minister of Finance, GreeceMust reading for those that know another world is possible! Perkins' story, however, is less about individual guilt and more about the systemic programming and tempting of males in patriarchal societies and their global power elites. Perkins' revelations shock us and illuminate how these same incentives in academia keep reproducing the compartmentalized worldviews and sophisticated economic models rationalizing inequity, greed, egotism, competitive self-interest and global expansionism via GDP-growth and debt. * Hazel Henderson, author of Beyond Globalization and Building a Win-Win World *I was hazy on the precise details of how third world debt came about, but after reading Confessions of an Economic Hit Man I consider myself rather better informed. And a lot more dismayed… it’s all here in toe-curling detail * Guardian *

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Book Synopsis'Wonderfully readable... Emphasises their sheer extraordinariness and celebrates them' MAIL ON SUNDAY. The eldest was a razor-sharp novelist of upper-class manners; the second was loved by John Betjeman; the third was a fascist who married Oswald Mosley; the fourth idolized Hitler and shot herself in the head when Britain declared war on Germany; the fifth was a member of the American Communist Party; the sixth became Duchess of Devonshire. They were the Mitford sisters: Nancy, Pamela, Diana, Unity, Jessica and Deborah. Born into country-house privilege, they became prominent as 'bright young things' in the high society of interwar London. Then, as the shadows crept over 1930s Europe, the stark – and very public – differences in their outlooks came to symbolise the political polarities of a dangerous decade. The intertwined stories of their lives – recounted in masterly fashion by Laura Thompson – hold up a revelatory mirror to upper-class English life before and after World War II.Trade ReviewI was enthralled and charmed by this group biography of all six Mitford sisters, which tells the intertwined stories of their stylish scandalous lives in a fresh and admirably concise way – and with a striking contemporary sensibility too * Bookseller, Editors Choice *Engaging... Thompson's is an astute, highly readable and well assembled book, and she writes with particular intelligence about the sisters' self-mythologising and their ongoing hold on the public imagination' * The Observer *Thompson is marvellous at mapping and explicating the webs or skeins of sibling rivalry [in this] gripping and appalling family saga * The Times *The first book to consider "the whole six-pack" in the post-Mitford age. And what a remarkable story it is... Thompson retells the story with great style and illuminating detail' * The Independent *Thompson has written this book with generosity and delicacy. It is amusing, poignant and perceptive as a portrait of the sisters' long lives and changing times, and of their own apparent inability to change with them * Book Oxygen *A breezy vigorous argument for the sisters' powerful, unrepeatable significance... Thompson combines a subtle understanding of history with enjoyably crisp, tart insights: this is an excellent place either to begin with the Mitfords or proceed with them' * Mail on Sunday *I was captivated by this group biography, which tells the story of the Mitfords' sensational lives in a fresh and concise way * Sunday Express *A wonderful telling of an extraordinary family living in extraordinary times * Yorkshire Gazette & Herald *This is a careful, realistic assessment of their virtues, follies and charm * Daily Mail. *Not the first-ever book about the Mitford sisters - but it might well be the best of the lot' * Reader's Digest. *Thompson's wonderfully readable biography emphasises their sheer extraordinariness and celebrates them * The Mail on Sunday *This book builds rich individual portraits, especially of the unfathomable Diana * TLS *Gives a great insight into the relationship between the sisters as their lives unfold * Irish Independent *It's brilliant on the most fascinating and least explored sister, Diana... A wonderful book' * Mail on Sunday *

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Book SynopsisSHORTLISTED FOR THE 2016 PEN ACKERLEY PRIZE'An intense, succulent read that's intermittently dazzling' THE TIMES'Chilling, exquisitely moving' DAILY TELEGRAPH'A superb memoir - and one of the best books on addiction I have ever read' EVENING STANDARDA. A. Gill's memoir begins in the dark of a dormitory with six strangers. He is an alcoholic, dying in the last-chance saloon. He tells the truth - as far as he can remember it - about drinking and about what it is like to be drunk. He recalls the lost days, lost friends, failed marriages ... But there was also an 'optimum inebriation, a time when it was all golden'.Sobriety regained, there are painterly descriptions of people and places, unforgettable musings about childhood and family, art and religion; and most movingly, the connections between his cooking, dyslexia and his missing brother. Full of raw and unvarnished truths, exquisitely written throughout, POUR ME is about lost time and self-discovery. Lacerating, unflinching, uplifting, it is a classic about drunken abandon.Trade Review'His mind, officially measured as off the Mensa scale, is an object of wonder. But it swivels everywhere like a dropped high-pressure hosepipe . . . Gill is explosive. God knows what a frightening thing he must have been in drink. He is bad enough as a dry drunk, the kind of sober person who gets thrown out of restaurants (in his case, Gordon Ramsay's). But the end of the book dwells on a recently evolved philanthropic side to Gill's character. He has become very anxious about the world. He travels to awful places, eloquently and genuinely compassionate with the suffering he witnesses there ... One deduces that he has transcended his suffering but he now has a hypersensitive sympathy with the suffering of others. A A Gill is 61, 30 years sober and surviving. Those who admire him (and I am one) will not merely read him over the years to come but follow him wherever he is now going. It will, one guesses, be an interesting journey' -- John Sutherland * NEW STATESMAN *'A.A. Gill, the man who makes a living getting beneath the skin of things, whether it's television, restaurants or places round the world - has skinned himself ... The funny, curious, sad and often sodden stories are told using combinations of words and ideas that shouldn't be friends, but hold hands at the behest of Gill, like a circus master with a comma for a whip. This is a book full of darkness, laughs and dark laughs. Personal truths by a man whose love of language is ultimately the protagonist' * VANITY FAIR *'[Gill] writes passionately and movingly about his struggle with dyslexia; disarmingly and defensively about his lifelong feelings of intellectual insecurity; evocatively about his relationships with his parents and the disappearance of his brother . . . stirringly about his love of journalism . . . It might not all be beautiful; it might not all be true. But that does little to diminish the pleasure to be found in its story' -- Matthew Adams * INDEPENDENT *'Fluent, cocky and dense with gags . . . he is a brilliant raconteur, and a gifted satirist of place and person. He is also, perhaps through a history of AA meetings (those initials are well chosen), unafraid to take risks of self-exposure. The baroque debauchery of his drinking days gives way to frank and often moving examinations of his growing up . . . his loves and lusts and marriages, and his own efforts at fatherhood: the role that has done most to keep him sober' -- Tim Adams * OBSERVER *'As readers of Gill's journalism will expect, Pour Me is alert, emphatic, mordant, unforgiving. It is often moving, but never tries to be likeable. Honesty about alcoholism is not its chief attraction. It is a full-blooded retrospective by a man aged 61, who has travelled in remote and dangerous places, and has considered most human possibilities. He apologises for his book being insufficiently amusing ("it's about me, and I'm not really funny"), but his gallows comedy gives a hefty kick, many sections are beautifully droll, and some scenes are hilarious' -- Richard Davenport-Hines * SUNDAY TIMES *'In this chilling, exquisitely moving book, Gill defines the seductive, addictive and destructive power of drink . . . Gill's trademark is slamming the truth down hard on the page. It is his honesty that accounts for the intensity of this haunting memoir . . . and although he says this is not a funny book, it is . . . there are meditative passages of beauty here . . . A book that began by discussing lost time becomes one of recovered time, of a new way of life that is worth not only living but also celebrating' -- Juliet Nicolson * DAILY TELEGRAPH *'It's an intense, succulent read that's intermittently dazzling - 250 pages about a young life nullified by anxiety and addiction and not one cliche, each sentence earning its keep. Gill's regular readers might expect that but his willingness to expose his deepest insecurities, his apparent belief that, even now, he's an imposter, method-acting being normal, makes him newly vulnerable . . . There's no triumphant, teary-eyed conclusion: Gill says he's still no clearer on whether he drank because he was anxious and depressed or that he was anxious and depressed because he drank. As he says, it probably doesn't matter. What he knows is that for all his success now, he will always mourn the blackout of those years, the prime decade of his life just a cigar box of dog-eared postcards and incoherent memories. The saddest thing of all, it turns out, is absence' -- Carol Midgley * THE TIMES *'Pour Me, Gill's sweet-sour memoir of his drinking days and subsequent reform . . . is a delight. In pages of well-turned anecdote, Gill chronicles a rackety life made good. The book is nicely designed, moreover, and I liked the discussions of, among other things, the difficulties of parenting and marriage in late middle age' -- Ian Thomson * SPECTATOR *'This tonic memoir is the absolute works . . . As an autobiographer, A.A. Gill is unhampered by introspection. He observes his former self from without, dispassionately, unsparingly, as if grimacing at some squalid exhibit in memory's museum, an exhibit from a different age that has little to do with the successful, prolific sexagenarian journalist and random stirrer. Indeed he's promiscuously interested in just about everything save himself. The scope of his knowledge is phenomenal . . . His descriptive prose is polychromatic and specific. He is impatient with 'impressionistic' approximations . . . He judges neither himself nor others . . . The aberrant behaviour, the bodily dysfunctions, the wondering how you ended up here, with these people you have never seen before - all this is recalled with impeccably grim comic timing' -- Jonathan Meades * COUNTRY LIFE *'A superb memoir - and one of the best books on addiction I have ever read . . . beautifully written. Gill describes many things - people, works of art, parts of London - wonderfully well. He says he wanted to be an artist. He is - with words' -- William Leith * EVENING STANDARD *'Pour Me by the jounalist A.A. Gill is a sour-sweet memoir of his alcoholism and its attendant woes. Gill's early years of drinking brought only a squalid self-denial and low self-esteem; liquor had got him well and truly licked. Often funny, the book is dedicated to the "friends of Bill", after the Bill Wilson who, in 1935, co-founded Alcoholics Anonymous' * THE TABLET *'Funny, infuriating and moving' * CATHOLIC HERALD *'The restaurant and television critic defines the seductive power of drink in this amusing, exquisitely moving memoir about alcoholism, full of riffs and detours, from Gill's parents' affairs while he was a child to his own first shaky detox days. His verbal dexterity is all the more remarkable for his dyslexia, the "wordcurdling" from which he has suffered since he was a schoolboy' * DAILY TELEGRAPH *'A.A. Gill's new memoir Pour Me is a prodigiously well-penned tale of addiction, misery, shame and rehabilitation - sometimes pompous, sometimes self-lacerating, but always unflinching and gripping' * MR HYDE *'A.A. Gill hangs his ferociously entertaining autobiography on his youthful spell as an alcoholic . . . with grimly comic scenes from bars and clubs, and confused fragments in between blackouts, garishly lit by guilt and shame . . . But Pour Me is more than an extended act of "sharing" at an AA meeting . . . He also writes about many aspects of his life that are much more interesting than his drinking, such as his family . . . He writes brilliantly about art - in a superb account of Gericault's 'Raft of the Medusa', for example - as he does about anything he turns his hand to, most surprisingly the plight of refugees. He has a terrific relish for simile . . . His favourite is "like a slap", which is what his writing is like; that or an electric shock: in any case, always stimulating' -- Lewis Jones * THE OLDIE *'Gill's memoir, Pour Me, focuses on his alcoholism and recovery from an earlier exclusive view of his own mortality. Like all his writings it combines a willingness to say the unsayable, and an intention to say it colourfully . . . it evokes a character of fearless intelligence, determined to find out everything for himself, and happy to tweak sensibilities along the way' -- David Horspool * TLS *

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Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its incredible range of best-loved, essential classics.

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Book SynopsisA tale of obsession and very big fish from Jeremy Wade, the presenter of ITV''s RIVER MONSTERS.Over ten feet long, it weighs in at nearly a quarter of a ton. Covering its back are armoured plates made of bone. Five hundred stiletto-sharp teeth line its long crocodilian jaws. It''s a prehistoric beast of staggering proportions; a fearsome creature from the time of the dinosaurs.But the Alligator Gar, an air-breathing survivor from the Cretaceous period is still with us today, patrolling inland rivers, hunting in murky waters shared by human communities.And for Jeremy Wade, described as the ''greatest angling explorer of his generation'', the Gar and other outlandish freshwater predators have been an obsession for all his adult life. With names like Arapaima, Snakehead, Goonch, Goliath Tigerfish and Electric Eel, many of them have acquired an almost mythical status.In a quest that has taken him from the Amazon to the Congo, and from North AmericaTrade ReviewThe fishing fanatic's Downton Abbey... a terrific book * THE LADY *A serious angler with a genuinely pioneering streak, his written accompaniment to the series, now in paperback, is well crafted and, although the species are exotic, the tales of chasing elusive specimins will resonate with all anglers. * ANGLING TIMES *A reflective character with a hint of angst about him, he has a travel writer's eye and a philosopher's mind to go with his scientific background. * TROUT FISHERMAN *

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Book SynopsisGeorges Perec produced some of the most entertaining and spirited essays of his age. His literary output was amazingly varied in form and style and this generous selection of Perec''s non-fictional work also demonstrates his characteristic lightness of touch, wry humour and accessibility.

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Book SynopsisJenni Fagan was born in Scotland. Jenni was selected as one of Granta's Best Young British Novelists after the publication of her debut novel, The Panopticon, which was shortlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize and the James Tait Black Prize. The Sunlight Pilgrims, her second novel, was shortlisted for the Royal Society of Literature Encore Award and the Saltire Fiction Book of the Year Award and saw her win Scottish Author of the Year at the Herald Culture Awards. Luckenbooth was shortlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize 2021. Jenni Fagan is a Doctor of Philosophy, she lives in Edinburgh with her son.

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Book SynopsisWritten by Tulisa through a series of raw, unfiltered journals during the most turbulent year of her life, Tulisa captures, moment by moment, the downfall orchestrated by the notorious 'Fake Sheikh', Mazher Mahmood.

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Book SynopsisThe ghost is the most enduring figure in supernatural fiction. He is absolutely indestructible. . . . He changes with the styles in fiction but he never goes out of fashion. He is the really permanent citizen of the earth, for mortals, at best, are but transients.—Dorothy Scarborough This new selection of ghost stories, by Michael Newton, brings together the best of the genre. From Elizabeth Gaskell''s The Old Nurse''s Story through to Edith Wharton''s Afterword, this collection covers all of the most terrifying tales of the genre. With a thoughtful introduction, and helpful notes, Newton places the stories contextually within the genre and elucidates the changing nature of the ghost story and how we interpret it.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

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Book SynopsisLust for Life is the classic fictional re-telling of the incredible life of Vincent Van Gogh. “Vincent is not dead. He will never die. His love, his genius, the great beauty he has created will go on forever, enriching the world… He was a colossus… a great painter… a great philosopher… a martyr to his love of art. “Walking down the streets of Paris the young Vincent Van Gogh didn’t feel like he belonged. Battling poverty, repeated heartbreak and familial obligation, Van Gogh was a man plagued by his own creative urge but with no outlet to express it. Until the day he picked up a paintbrush.Written with raw insight and emotion, follow the artist through his tormented life, struggling against critical discouragement and mental turmoil and bare witness to his creative journey from a struggling artist to one of the world’s most celebrated artists.

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Book SynopsisRobert Burns is more than Scotland's national poet. This compact little book contains an illustrated selection of Burns' most acclaimed and best loved poems and songs. The book also contains a biography, a guide to the key landmarks 'in the land of Burns', a brief introduction to each poem, a glossary of Scots words, and an index of titles and first lines.

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Book SynopsisJOINT WINNER OF THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZENadia Murad is a courageous young Yazidi woman who has endured unimaginable tragedy and degradation through sexual enslavement to ISIS. Six of Nadia''s brothers were killed, and her mother soon after, their bodies swept into mass graves. But she has fought back.This inspiring memoir takes us from her peaceful childhood in Iraq through loss and brutality to safety in Germany. She is the subject of Alexandria Bombach''s film On Her Shoulders, a Nobel Peace Prize nominee and the first Goodwill Ambassador for the Dignity of Survivors of Human Trafficking of the United Nations. Courage and testimony can change the world: this is one of those books. ''Those who thought that by their cruelty they could silence her were wrong. Nadia Murad''s spirit is not broken, and her voice with not be muted'' Amal Clooney''Offers powerful insight into the barbarity the Yazidi suffered alongside glimpsesTrade ReviewThe Last Girl offers powerful insight into the barbarity the Yazidi suffered alongside glimpses into their mystical culture . . . this is an important book by a brave woman, fresh testament to humankind's potential for chilling and inexplicable evil -- Ian Birrell * The Times *Courageous . . . Anyone who wants to understand the so called Islamic State (is) should read [The Last Girl] * The Economist *This devastating memoir unflinchingly recounts her experiences and questions the complicity of witnesses who acquiesced in the suffering of others * New Yorker *Nadia Murad has put a human face on one of the world's most complicated and intractable conflicts * Sunday Business Post *

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Book SynopsisIn Lovebug, Daisy Lafarge explores metaphors of love and disease as she seeks to understand human vulnerability and our intimacy with microbial life. Turning to microbiology, mysticism, and psychoanalysis – as well as the raw materials of love and life – Lafarge navigates the uncomfortable intimacy between the human body and the many bacteria, vi-ruses, and parasites to which it is host. Lovebug is a book about the poetics of infection, and about how we can learn to live with multispecies ambivalence. How might we forge non-phobic relationships to our ‘little beasts’? How might we re-wild our imaginations? In weaving the personal with the pathological, Lovebug complicates the idea of coherent selfhood, revealing life as a site of radical vulnerability and an ongoing negotiation with limit.

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Book SynopsisAgatha Christie's Complete Secret Notebooks brings together for the first time Secret Notebooks and Murder in the Making, two volumes that explore the fascinating contents of her 73 notebooks. This includes illustrations, deleted extracts, unused ideas, two unpublished Poirot stories and a lost Miss Marple.When Agatha Christie died in 1976, aged 85, she had become the world''s most popular author. With sales of more than two billion copies worldwide in more than 100 countries, she had achieved the impossible more than one book every year since the 1920s, every one a bestseller.So prolific was Agatha Christie''s output 66 crime novels, 20 plays, 6 romance books under a pseudonym and over 150 short stories it was often claimed that she had a photographic memory. Was this true? Or did she resort over those 55 years to more mundane methods of working out her ingenious crimes?Following the death of Agatha''s daughter, Rosalind, at the end of 2004, a remarkable secret was revealed. UneartTrade Review'Many of Curran's discoveries will shape how Christie is read in future… This book is fascinating.' INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY ‘Agatha Christie’s notebooks have had to wait for the meticulous attention, dedication and prodigious knowledge of John Curran to achieve publication.’ THE TIMES ‘A meticulously detailed study that is packed with shrewd perceptions about Christie's fiction… Curran has produced an enthralling miscellany of a book, in which her fans will rummage to their heart's content.' SUNDAY TIMES 'Curran has organized his material as efficiently as an Agatha Christie mystery… His enthusiasm for his subject carries us along.' IRISH TIMES ‘Something unimaginably unique: an unknown Poirot story, one that had lain silently between its covers for over 60 years.’ THE SCOTSMAN

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Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its incredible range of best-loved, essential classics.Three francs will feed you till tomorrow, and you cannot think further than thatAs a young man struggling to find his voice as a writer, George Orwell left the comfort of home to live in the impoverished working districts of Paris and London. He would document both the chaos and boredom of destitution, the eccentric cast of characters he encountered, and the near-constant pains of hunger and discomfort.Exposing the grim reality of a life marred by poverty, Down and Out in Paris and London, part memoir, part social commentary, would become George Orwell's first published work.

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Book SynopsisBex and Laura really have pieced together the parachute we all need to help us land safely after falling into the world of loss and fertility struggles.' Elle Wright, author of A Bump In The RoadA practical and emotional self-help guide for anyone affected by miscarriage and pregnancy loss, from the co-hosts of the successful podcast, The Worst Girl Gang Ever.Following pregnancy loss, it can feel like you've forgotten how to speak and need to learn a new language. You can tell your story to a room full of people but if no-one speaks this new language, they won't understand. They will try but ultimately, they won't fully grasp what you are saying.This is us. This is our new language. It is a language built from pain, and it is a language we need to teach others. Welcome to our gang.We are so, so sorry that you've found yourself here. It's the gang you'd never chose to join but it is also a community chock-a-block full of kind, supportive, warrior women just like you.We are here to tell Trade Review‘Bex and Laura really have pieced together the parachute we all need to help us land safely after falling into the world of loss and fertility struggles. It’s like the kind friend who climbs down into the hole with you through the worst parts, and gives you a leg back up when you’re ready to try again. Thoughtful, helpful, and a little bit sweary… my kind of manual!’ Elle Wright, Feathering the Empty Nest and author of A Bump In The Road ‘Buckingham and Gunn are part of a growing group of women helping to change the place of miscarriage in public consciousness.’ Nell Frizzell, Vogue ‘[Bex and Laura] are here to offer support to others and smash the stigma of baby loss, with their powerful mantra: “We get you. And we’ve got you.”’OK

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Book SynopsisOne of the most important nineteenth-century schools of thought, Utilitarianism propounds the view that the value or rightness of an action rests in how well it promotes the welfare of those affected by it, aiming for 'the greatest happiness of the greatest number'. Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) was the movement's founder, as much a social reformer as a philosopher. His greatest interpreter, John Stuart Mill (1806-73), set out to humanize Bentham's pragmatic Utilitarianism by balancing the claims of reason and the imagination, individuality and social well-being in essays such as 'Bentham', 'Coleridge' and, above all, Utilitarianism. The works by Bentham and Mill collected in this volume show the creation and development of a system of ethics that has had an enduring influence on moral philosophy and legislative policy.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Table of ContentsIntroductionFrom An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation by Jeremy BenthamFrom A System of Logic by J. S. Mill"Bentham" by J. S. Mill"Coleridge" by J. S. Mill"Whewell on Moral Philosophy" by J. S. MillUtilitarianism by J. S. MillFurther ReadingIndex

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Book SynopsisThe brilliant tale of Anais Nin''s true love affair with Henry Miller, and her ambiguous, charged relationship with his wife, June. Drawn from the journals of a single momentous year in Paris, Henry and June provides a wildly lyrical account of a woman''s sexual awakening and the disillusion of idealized marriage.

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Book SynopsisMalthus'' life''s work on human population and its dependency on food production and the environment was highly controversial on publication in 1798. He predicted what is known as the Malthusian catastrophe, in which humans would disregard the limits of natural resources and the world would be plagued by famine and disease. He significantly influenced the thinking of Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace and his theories continue to raise important questions today in the fields of social theory, economics and the environment.With an introduction by Robert Mayhew.

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Book SynopsisAn extraordinary true story of growing up inside MI6, uncovering family secrets, and tracing a legacy of British espionage across half a century. A fabulous romp of a book, part John le Carré, part Ealing comedy compulsively readable'SUNDAY TIMESTells the story of the author's unique childhood and the extraordinary, shadowy lives of his mother and father'SUNDAY TELEGRAPHTruth is stranger than fiction 'INDEPENDENTReads like a Cold War thriller written by John le Carré with an added injection of wry humour'BBC SATURDAY LIVEIt has always been inculcated into me that no good could ever come of having anything to do with my fatherAs a boy, Alistair Wood lived within the (very high) walls of a Secret Intelligence Service or MI6 training camp, surrounded by some of the most senior - and colourful - characters in SIS history. After all, he was family. His mother was one of a handful of women to have operated behind the lines in post-war Berlin. His father, once one of Britain's most highly-regarded intelligence officers, was an absent and perplexing figure, the reasons for his sudden departure from the Service still classified to this day. But Wood's search for the truth took him on a journey more remarkable than even he had imagined. My Family and Other Spies is a gripping exploration of an extraordinary, scarcely believable life, a globe-trotting spy story that spans a half century from the gathering storm before the Second World War to the fall of Communism, and a son's reckoning with the secrets of the past. 'Simply stunning ... might be the best non-fiction book I've ever read about post-war SIS' CHARLES BEAUMONTA remarkable insight into British intelligence in the Cold Warwith all the intrigue and suspense of a truly gripping espionage novel' ALEX GERLISThis is very entertaining a fascinating biography STEPHEN DORRIL, author of MI6: 50 Years of Special Operations'A compelling personal journey to uncover the truth and an intimate view into one of Britain's most secretive organisations' HELEN FRY'The intriguing story of how the author peels back the cloak of mystery surrounding his father, a member of the Secret Intelligence Service. A very good book strongly recommended' ROBERT LYMAN

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Book SynopsisFull of candid reflections on the struggles and triumphs that were happening both in the public eye and behind closed doors, this is the autobiography of one of the nation's favourite TV diet and fitness experts of the past 50 years.Trade Review‘Through Thick and Thin is a fascinating, frank and honest account of one woman’s rollercoaster ride to success, triumph and transformation by way of frequent trials, tribulations and heartache. Her trailblazing influence has carried immeasurable wellbeing, happiness and good health to countless followers, and this is the story of how she did it. If you want to learn about resilience read this!' * Dr Hilary Jones MBE *‘A story of glamour, success and achievement, mixed with vulnerability, near despair and searing honesty. * Rob Parsons OBE *

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Book SynopsisThe Journals of Sylvia Plath offers an intimate portrait of the author of the extraordinary poems for which Plath is so widely loved, but it is also characterized by a prose of vigorous immediacy which places it alongside The Bell Jar as a work of literature. These exact and complete transcriptions of the journals kept by Plath for the last twelve years of her life - covering her marriage to Ted Hughes and her struggle with depression - are a key source for the poems which make up her collections Ariel and The Colossus.''Everything that passes before her eyes travels down from brain to pen with shattering clarity - 1950s New England, pre-co-ed Cambridge, pre-mass tourism Benidorm, where she and Hughes honeymooned, the birth of her son Nicholas in Devon in 1962. These and other passages are so graphic that you look up from the page surprised to find yourself back in the here and now . . . The struggle of self with self makes the Journals compelling and unique.'' John Carey, Sunday Times

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Book SynopsisThe long-awaited autobiography of the archetypal kitchen bad boy - Marco Pierre WhiteWhen Marco Pierre White''s mother died when he was just six years old, it transformed his life. Soon, his father was urging him to earn his own keep and by sixteen he was working in his first restaurant. White went on to learn from some of the best chefs in the country, such as Albert Roux, Raymond Blanc and Pierre Koffmann. He survived the intense pressure of hundred-hour weeks in the heat of the kitchen, developed his own style, and then struck out on his own.At Harveys in Wandsworth, which he opened in 1987, he developed a reputation as a stunning cook and a rock ''n'' roll sex god of the kitchen. But he was also a man who might throw you out of his restaurant, and his temper was legendary, as younger chefs such as Gordon Ramsay and Heston Blumenthal would find out when they worked for him. He eventually opened several more restaurants, won every honour going and then realiTrade ReviewThis book should serve as a primer to young men on the make * GUARDIAN *

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Book SynopsisA child's odyssey to reunite with his parents on the other side of the borderTrade Review‘I don’t think I’ve ever read a memoir which captivated me in so many ways... It was a beautiful book about family, those that we have and those that we make, and the little family that they made on their journey, which was almost sort of Iliad-esque. An epic journey to their loved ones, because they had no choice.’ -- Jenna Bush Hager, TODAY'A monumental accomplishment.' -- Oprah Daily'Crafted with stunning intimacy . . . you’ll feel so close to the boy [Zamora] was then that you’ll think about him long after the book is done. It’s impossible not to feel both immersed in and changed by this extraordinary book.' -- Los Angeles Times'An important, beautiful work.' -- New York Times Book Review‘Solito is at once blistering and tender, devastating and affirming – it is, quite simply, a revelation, a new landmark in the literature of migration, and in nonfiction writ large.’ -- Francisco Cantú, New York Times bestselling author of The Line Becomes a River'A beautifully wrought work that renders the migrant experience into a vivid, immediately accessible portrayal' * Kirkus Review (starred) *'A monumental act of reconstruction...Zamora reminds us that behind the word migrant – whether used casually or cruelly – there are human faces, and individual tragedies and triumphs. * New Internationalist *'A gripping story, heart-breaking in some passages and heartening in others. Solito is my travel book of the year.' -- Telegraph'A beguiling personal memoir which is so effortlessly evocative of time and place, so light in its unexpected humour and convincing in its characterisation, it reads like a novel written by a master of imaginative and empathetic fiction.' -- Big Issue'Solito is both a work of personal healing and an implicit appeal for countries, including the United States, to address the hardships and danger that immigration posed to Zamora, and continues to pose for countless others.' -- New York Times'The heartbreaking odyssey of nine-year-old Javier Zamora, travelling through South America alone to reach his migrant parents in California, is both a rare, eye-opening rendition of the brutal reality of border-crossing and a haunting testament to the human cost of contemporary immigration policies. I was brought to tears of sympathy and anger.' -- Lea Ypi, author of Free'It’s the finest work of non-fiction I’ve read this year… Solito is a reminder, too, of how far strangers will go to help one another in times of trouble.’ -- Deskbound Traveller‘If there’s any justice, Solito will someday be considered a classic.’ -- Rumaan Alam, New York Times bestselling author of Leave the World Behind‘This is a magnificent book. Every character is rendered with boundless care and love, and the result is… a gorgeous, riveting tale of perseverance and the lengths humans will go to help one another in times of struggle. With this book, Zamora arrives at the forefront of essential American voices.’ -- Dave Eggers, author of The Circle and A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius‘I have waited for a memoir like Solito for decades.’ -- Sandra Cisneros, author of The House on Mango Street‘Zamora presents an immensely moving story of desperation and hardship in this account of his childhood migration from El Salvador to the US… This sheds an urgent and compassionate light on the human lives caught in an ongoing humanitarian crisis.’ -- Publishers Weekly, starred review'A stone-cold masterpiece. I read with my heart in my throat.' -- Emma Straub, author of the New York Times Bestseller ALL ADULTS HERE‘This incredible book… is an outstanding contribution to migration literature. It should become a compulsory read in schools, to understand better the ordeals that millions of migrants face daily trying to cross borders. Solito is not only a masterpiece of memoir writing but one of my favourite books of non-fiction published in recent years. It is a powerful human account that transcends languages, countries and cultures. The book sings its heart out with devastating force: it’s full of life, struggle and hope.’ -- Morning Star

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Book SynopsisQuest for the Red Sulphur: The Life of Ibn ''Arabi is undoubtedly a landmark in Ibn ''Arabi studies. Until the publication of this book, anyone who wanted to learn about the life of Ibn ''Arabi has had little choice of material to work from. This major study by Claude Addas is based on a detailed analysis of a whole range of Ibn ''Arabi''s own writings as well as a vast amount of secondary literature in both Arabic and Persian. The result is the first-ever attempt to reconstruct what proves to have been a double itinerary: on the one hand, the journey that took Ibn ''Arabi from his native Andalusia to Damascusand on the other hand, the ''Night Journey'' which carried him along the paths of asceticism and prayer to the ultimate stage of revelation of his mystic quest.

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Book SynopsisPaul Fallon is a Senior Practitioner for Nursing and Lecturer in Mental Health at the University of Salford, UKTrade ReviewThis is an innovative, interesting book offering the reader an overview of a variety of ‘common’ (that is often diagnosed) mental illnesses, contextualising each through a historical lens and using well known people to bring to the fore the impact of such illness on a person’s life. Clever use is made of people referred to in the book, rather than focusing on one specific person, Paul offers the reader short vignettes of a number of people from previous historical periods to 21st century figures to demonstrate the socio-political nature of a given illness and its treatment over time. This book is a powerful and fascinating read for anyone interested in psychiatry, prompting the reader to give critical thought to the wider context of mental illness and the impact it has on the lives of those who experience it. * Dr Sue McAndrew, Professor of Mental Health and Young People, University of Salford *Table of Contents1. Anxiety Disorders 2. Depression 3. Dementia 4. Eating Disorders 5. Psychosis 6. Bipolar Disorder 7. Dual Diagnosis.

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Book SynopsisProfessor Noel Fitzpatrick shares more heart-warming and uplifting stories from his life as The Supervet. The follow-up to the massive No.1 bestseller, Listening to the Animals.

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Book SynopsisKRAUS FAMILY AWARD WINNER FOR BEST AUTOBIOGRAPHY AND MEMOIR AT THE NATIONAL JEWISH BOOK AWARDSWINNER OF THE DAYTON LITERARY PEACE PRIZE‘Beautifully told' – John le Carré ‘More than just history’ – Michael PalinIn this remarkably moving memoir, Ariana Neumann dives into the secrets of her father’s past: years spent hiding in plain sight in wartorn Berlin, the annihilation of dozens of family members in the Holocaust, and the courageous choice to build anew. When her father dies and leaves her a box of clues, Ariana Neumann uncovers a heritage she knew nothing about. Exploring the joys and sorrows of the Neumann family, she learns through her tireless investigations why her father, a successful entrepreneur in Venezuela, never spoke about his past. How as a young man from Prague he boldly deceived the Gestapo by doing the unimagiTrade Review‘When Time Stopped is a beautifully told story of personal discovery, of almost unimaginable human bravery and sacrifice, and a harrowing portrait of living, dying and surviving under the yoke of Nazism.’ -- John Le Carre‘When Time Stopped is Ariana Neumann’s journey of discovery, lyrically set down in this truly exceptional book. She shines an intimate light upon a time unique in its horror, and tells a story of bravery, and rare survival. Yet the events she describes happened more than two decades before she was born. To a man to whom she was very close, but whose secrets she was only able to pursue after his death - thanks to the one hoard of evidence he never destroyed. This is a work of very great talent.’ -- Jon Snow, journalist and Channel 4 television presenter.'The story Neumann uncovers is worthy of fiction with hairpin plot twists, daredevil acts of love and unexpected moments of humor in dark times. Given the slew of colorful characters and dramatic details, she could have turned her painstaking research into a historical novel. Instead she has written a superb family memoir that unfolds its poignant power on multiple levels. Yes, her account of one Jewish-Czech family’s race to outwit the Nazis makes for thrilling reading. But just as important is her lucid investigation of the nature of memory, identity and remembrance.' * The New York Times Book Review *‘Ariana Neumann’s story may strike a chord, and rightly so. The slow and pitiless brutality that took hold of much of Europe in the 1930s is a story that can never be told too often. What makes this account so effective is that it’s personal and, because of the dogged extensiveness of her research, Neumann reminds us of the small details that make the Nazi persecution of the Jews all the more chilling. It’s not always a grim story. Alongside anger and despair there is love and hope. But the message is stark. This is the way bullies work. When Time Stopped is more than just history. It’s a warning.’ -- Michael Palin‘Absolutely remarkable’ -- Edmund de Waal‘Grippingly readable, chillingly sad but above all deeply sympathetic and suffused with love and understanding throughout. A compelling and humane portrait of Ariana Neumann’s father and his courageous decision to survive.’ -- Anne Sebba, bestselling biographer and historian‘When Time Stopped is a remarkable and beautifully written book. Hans Neumann's story is astonishing, confirming that when it comes to the Holocaust we should expect only the unexpected. This is one of the most powerful and profoundly moving family stories of the Holocaust to have been published in many years and a must read.’ -- Professor Dan Stone, Professor of Modern History and Director, Holocaust Research Institute, Royal Holloway, University of London‘When Time Stopped is an astonishing family memoir that will imprint itself on your psyche as only the best books can, forever changing the way you look at your own family. With a mastery of the dogged art of research rarely seen, and with an exquisite narrative sensibility to match, Ariana Neumann has breached the hidden surface of her family’s tumultuous past and brought not only their tragedies and sorrows, but also their joys and loves, to indelible light. I will carry the experience of this book with me for a very long time.’ -- John Burnham Schwartz, author of The Red Daughter, Reservation Road and The Commoner‘In a grand house in Caracas in the 1970s, a young girl comes of age dreaming of becoming a detective and solving mysteries, particularly the mystery of her charismatic, enigmatic father. Four decades later, after he dies, and herself a mother, she embarks on an extraordinary journey through Central Europe and South America to uncover her father's past. Through pre-war Prague's intelligentsia to the rise of fascism in Europe to the horror of Hitler's camps, she combines a daughter's love with a profound yearning for truth. The result is a love letter to a father who, out of sheer will and determination, did not allow the Nazis to destroy him - and who rose to become one of Venezuela's most successful industrialists. Part literary memoir, part mystery tale, Ariana Neumann's tribute to her father is a classic story of redemption and love.’ -- Janine di Giovanni, 2019 Guggenheim Fellow and author of The Morning They Came for Us: Dispatches from Syria‘This book is utterly riveting: Ms. Neumann's memoir reads like a detective novel, as she unravels her late father's complex, agonizing yet inspiring trajectory. Conjuring the lives of her relatives murdered in the Holocaust, she brings their lost world to vivid life.’ -- Claire Messud, New York Times bestselling author of The Emperor’s Children and The Woman Upstairs‘I’ve read countless memoirs. I’ve read hundreds of books about the Holocaust and mysteries and detective stories and rigorously researched tomes of history and psychological studies of the effects of trauma. But never in my reading life have I ever come across anything akin to this magical, brilliant and gripping work of art combining all of these elements into a lyrical tapestry of one woman’s quest to understand her father’s mysterious past and therefore her own. To call this moving is an understatement. It is a journey of untold grace, sorrow and love.’ -- Deborah Copaken, bestselling author of Shutterbabe: Adventures in Love and War and The Red Book‘Growing up in a comfortable Caracas home, surrounded by joy, gaiety and the ‘birds of paradise’ -- and a father so revered that he had streets named after him in Venezuela -- Ariana Neumann willed an adventure to come her way. But nothing could have prepared her for the true-life story which was to unfold upon her beloved father’s death, back into the darkest depths of human history. Lucidly-written, this is a gripping, heart-wrenching journey back to wartime Prague and Berlin. Ariana Neumann has written the book that her remarkable father simply couldn’t.’ -- Tom Gross, former Prague and Jerusalem correspondent * Sunday Telegraph *‘Remarkable...Through painstaking, meticulous research Neumann tells the true story-part memoir, part history-of her heart-wrenching and ultimately life-affirming journey in uncovering her family's long hidden past.’ -- Georgia Hunter, New York Times bestselling author of We Were the Lucky Ones‘Ariana Neumann's beautiful, meticulously researched memoir is an extraordinarily moving story of a family’s lost history, a father’s well-kept secret, and a daughter who pieces it all together with courage, tenacity, and most of all, love.’ -- Dani Shapiro‘Neumann’s efforts to tell [her father] Hans’s story chronologically, rather than in the order she unravelled the mystery, is especially effective. At times the revelations are so extraordinary to modern eyes that the memoir has an almost fictional feel.’ * Financial Times *‘… to unearth such stories takes great determination, patience and sensitivity, not least because so many of those who survived did so by suppressing the truth. ‘Sometimes you have to leave the past where it is – in the past,’ Hans told his daughter. But he didn’t entirely let it go, and nor, on his and our behalf, did she.’ * The Guardian *‘Compelling … brilliant …This remarkable, beautifully written book is full of sadness but it also full of great beauty and joy.’ * Daily Mail, Book of the Week *‘A meticulously researched, gripping and poignant memoir.’ * The Observer *‘[When Time Stopped is] a treasure to be savored as testament of the human will to survive.’ -- Anne Sebba * The Spectator *‘Full of tales of courage … this meticulously researched work is unforgettable.’ * Sunday Mirror *‘This book will be an important addition to Holocaust literature … we have heard many of the atrocities recounted in these pages before. But we must go on hearing them. This is a very fine book indeed.’ * The TLS *‘Extraordinary life-affirming book of survival against the odds, of love and hope, and the threads of humanity that unite us all’ * Surrey Life *‘… a book of exhaustive historical scholarship and profound emotional dedication.’ * The Jewish Chronicle *‘A beautifully wrought book that is both a detective story and a family history.’ * The Times of Israel *‘Occasionally there appears a book so devastating that the only response is stunned silence … When Time Stopped is about the triumph of the human spirit.’ -- Francis Wilson * The Oldie *‘This deeply personal narrative tells the story of Ariana Neumann’s family, many of whom were killed by Nazis, and grapples with Neumann’s attempt to uncover secrets left behind by her Holocaust-survivor father after his death.’ * Vogue *‘Reads like a thriller and it is so, so timely. The work and emotion put into [the] book is unbelievable.’ * Buzzfeed *‘The story Ariana Neumann has to tell – a true one – is both exotic and extraordinary. Her combination of impeccable research with a pitch-perfect sense of narrative and suspense kept this early bird up reading, utterly captivated for every single moment, until long after dawn. I can’t begin to remember how many people I’ve since urged to buy this moving and highly original tribute to a remarkable man. What is truly astonishing is that it marks Neumann’s debut.’ -- Miranda Seymour‘When Time Stopped is a remarkable and beautifully written book. Hans Neumann's story is astonishing, confirming that when it comes to the Holocaust we should expect only the unexpected. This is one of the most powerful and profoundly moving family stories of the Holocaust to have been published in many years and a must read.’ -- Professor Dan Stone, Professor of Modern History and Director, Holocaust Research Institute, Royal Holloway, University of London‘When Time Stopped is an astonishing family memoir that will imprint itself on your psyche as only the best books can, forever changing the way you look at your own family. With a mastery of the dogged art of research rarely seen, and with an exquisite narrative sensibility to match, Ariana Neumann has breached the hidden surface of her family’s tumultuous past and brought not only their tragedies and sorrows, but also their joys and loves, to indelible light. I will carry the experience of this book with me for a very long time.’ -- John Burnham Schwartz, author of The Red Daughter, Reservation Road and The Commoner‘In a grand house in Caracas in the 1970s, a young girl comes of age dreaming of becoming a detective and solving mysteries, particularly the mystery of her charismatic, enigmatic father. Four decades later, after he dies, and herself a mother, she embarks on an extraordinary journey through Central Europe and South America to uncover her father's past. Through pre-war Prague's intelligentsia to the rise of fascism in Europe to the horror of Hitler's camps, she combines a daughter's love with a profound yearning for truth. The result is a love letter to a father who, out of sheer will and determination, did not allow the Nazis to destroy him - and who rose to become one of Venezuela's most successful industrialists. Part literary memoir, part mystery tale, Ariana Neumann's tribute to her father is a classic story of redemption and love.’ -- Janine di Giovanni, 2019 Guggenheim Fellow and author of The Morning They Came for Us: Dispatches from Syria‘This book is utterly riveting: Ms. Neumann's memoir reads like a detective novel, as she unravels her late father's complex, agonizing yet inspiring trajectory. Conjuring the lives of her relatives murdered in the Holocaust, she brings their lost world to vivid life.’ -- Claire Messud, New York Times bestselling author of The Emperor’s Children and The Woman Upstairs‘I’ve read countless memoirs. I’ve read hundreds of books about the Holocaust and mysteries and detective stories and rigorously researched tomes of history and psychological studies of the effects of trauma. But never in my reading life have I ever come across anything akin to this magical, brilliant and gripping work of art combining all of these elements into a lyrical tapestry of one woman’s quest to understand her father’s mysterious past and therefore her own. To call this moving is an understatement. It is a journey of untold grace, sorrow and love.’ -- Deborah Copaken, bestselling author of Shutterbabe: Adventures in Love and War and The Red Book‘Growing up in a comfortable Caracas home, surrounded by joy, gaiety and the ‘birds of paradise’ -- and a father so revered that he had streets named after him in Venezuela -- Ariana Neumann willed an adventure to come her way. But nothing could have prepared her for the true-life story which was to unfold upon her beloved father’s death, back into the darkest depths of human history. Lucidly-written, this is a gripping, heart-wrenching journey back to wartime Prague and Berlin. Ariana Neumann has written the book that her remarkable father simply couldn’t.’ -- Tom Gross, former Prague and Jerusalem correspondent, Sunday Telegraph‘Remarkable...Through painstaking, meticulous research Neumann tells the true story-part memoir, part history-of her heart-wrenching and ultimately life-affirming journey in uncovering her family's long hidden past.’ -- Georgia Hunter, New York Times bestselling author of We Were the Lucky Ones‘Ariana Neumann's beautiful, meticulously researched memoir is an extraordinarily moving story of a family’s lost history, a father’s well-kept secret, and a daughter who pieces it all together with courage, tenacity, and most of all, love.’ -- Dani Shapiro‘Neumann’s efforts to tell [her father] Hans’s story chronologically, rather than in the order she unravelled the mystery, is especially effective. At times the revelations are so extraordinary to modern eyes that the memoir has an almost fictional feel.’ * Financial Times *‘… to unearth such stories takes great determination, patience and sensitivity, not least because so many of those who survived did so by suppressing the truth. ‘Sometimes you have to leave the past where it is – in the past,’ Hans told his daughter. But he didn’t entirely let it go, and nor, on his and our behalf, did she.’ * The Guardian *‘Compelling … brilliant …This remarkable, beautifully written book is full of sadness but it also full of great beauty and joy.’ * Daily Mail, Book of the Week *‘A meticulously researched, gripping and poignant memoir.’ * The Observer *‘[When Time Stopped is] a treasure to be savored as testament of the human will to survive.’ -- Anne Sebba * The Spectator *‘Full of tales of courage … this meticulously researched work is unforgettable.’ * Sunday Mirror *‘This book will be an important addition to Holocaust literature … we have heard many of the atrocities recounted in these pages before. But we must go on hearing them. This is a very fine book indeed.’ * The TLS *‘Extraordinary life-affirming book of survival against the odds, of love and hope, and the threads of humanity that unite us all’ * Surrey Life *‘… a book of exhaustive historical scholarship and profound emotional dedication.’ * The Jewish Chronicle *‘A beautifully wrought book that is both a detective story and a family history.’ * The Times of Israel *‘Occasionally there appears a book so devastating that the only response is stunned silence … When Time Stopped is about the triumph of the human spirit.’ -- Francis Wilson * The Oldie *‘This deeply personal narrative tells the story of Ariana Neumann’s family, many of whom were killed by Nazis, and grapples with Neumann’s attempt to uncover secrets left behind by her Holocaust-survivor father after his death.’ * Vogue *‘Reads like a thriller and it is so, so timely. The work and emotion put into [the] book is unbelievable.’ * Buzzfeed *‘Lucidly-written, this is a gripping, heart-wrenching journey back to wartime Prague and Berlin. Ariana Neumann has written the book that her remarkable father simply couldn’t.’ -- Tom Gross, former Prague and Jerusalem correspondent. * Sunday Telegraph *‘The story Ariana Neumann has to tell – a true one – is both exotic and extraordinary. Her combination of impeccable research with a pitch-perfect sense of narrative and suspense kept this early bird up reading, utterly captivated for every single moment, until long after dawn. I can’t begin to remember how many people I’ve since urged to buy this moving and highly original tribute to a remarkable man. What is truly astonishing is that it marks Neumann’s debut.’ -- Miranda Seymour‘When Time Stopped is Ariana Neumann’s journey of discovery, lyrically set down in this truly exceptional book. She shines an intimate light upon a time unique in its horror, and tells a story of bravery, and rare survival. Yet the events she describes happened more than two decades before she was born. To a man to whom she was very close, but whose secrets she was only able to pursue after his death - thanks to the one hoard of evidence he never destroyed. This is a work of very great talent.’ -- Jon Snow, journalist and Channel 4 television presenter.The story Neumann uncovers is worthy of fiction with hairpin plot twists, daredevil acts of love and unexpected moments of humor in dark times. Given the slew of colorful characters and dramatic details, she could have turned her painstaking research into a historical novel. Instead she has written a superb family memoir that unfolds its poignant power on multiple levels. Yes, her account of one Jewish-Czech family’s race to outwit the Nazis makes for thrilling reading. But just as important is her lucid investigation of the nature of memory, identity and remembrance. * The New York Times Book Review *‘Ariana Neumann’s story may strike a chord, and rightly so. The slow and pitiless brutality that took hold of much of Europe in the 1930s is a story that can never be told too often. What makes this account so effective is that it’s personal and, because of the dogged extensiveness of her research, Neumann reminds us of the small details that make the Nazi persecution of the Jews all the more chilling. It’s not always a grim story. Alongside anger and despair there is love and hope. But the message is stark. This is the way bullies work. When Time Stopped is more than just history. It’s a warning.’ -- Michael Palin‘When Time Stopped is a remarkable and beautifully written book. Hans Neumann's story is astonishing, confirming that when it comes to the Holocaust we should expect only the unexpected. This is one of the most powerful and profoundly moving family stories of the Holocaust to have been published in many years and a must read.’ -- Professor Dan Stone, Professor of Modern History and Director, Holocaust Research Institute, Royal Holloway, University of London‘When Time Stopped is an astonishing family memoir that will imprint itself on your psyche as only the best books can, forever changing the way you look at your own family. With a mastery of the dogged art of research rarely seen, and with an exquisite narrative sensibility to match, Ariana Neumann has breached the hidden surface of her family’s tumultuous past and brought not only their tragedies and sorrows, but also their joys and loves, to indelible light. I will carry the experience of this book with me for a very long time.’ -- John Burnham Schwartz, author of The Red Daughter, Reservation Road and The Commoner‘In a grand house in Caracas in the 1970s, a young girl comes of age dreaming of becoming a detective and solving mysteries, particularly the mystery of her charismatic, enigmatic father. Four decades later, after he dies, and herself a mother, she embarks on an extraordinary journey through Central Europe and South America to uncover her father's past. Through pre-war Prague's intelligentsia to the rise of fascism in Europe to the horror of Hitler's camps, she combines a daughter's love with a profound yearning for truth. The result is a love letter to a father who, out of sheer will and determination, did not allow the Nazis to destroy him - and who rose to become one of Venezuela's most successful industrialists. Part literary memoir, part mystery tale, Ariana Neumann's tribute to her father is a classic story of redemption and love.’ -- Janine di Giovanni, 2019 Guggenheim Fellow and author of The Morning They Came for Us: Dispatches from Syria‘This book is utterly riveting: Ms. Neumann's memoir reads like a detective novel, as she unravels her late father's complex, agonizing yet inspiring trajectory. Conjuring the lives of her relatives murdered in the Holocaust, she brings their lost world to vivid life.’ -- Claire Messud, New York Times bestselling author of The Emperor’s Children and The Woman Upstairs‘I’ve read countless memoirs. I’ve read hundreds of books about the Holocaust and mysteries and detective stories and rigorously researched tomes of history and psychological studies of the effects of trauma. But never in my reading life have I ever come across anything akin to this magical, brilliant and gripping work of art combining all of these elements into a lyrical tapestry of one woman’s quest to understand her father’s mysterious past and therefore her own. To call this moving is an understatement. It is a journey of untold grace, sorrow and love.’ -- Deborah Copaken, bestselling author of Shutterbabe: Adventures in Love and War and The Red Book‘Growing up in a comfortable Caracas home, surrounded by joy, gaiety and the ‘birds of paradise’ -- and a father so revered that he had streets named after him in Venezuela -- Ariana Neumann willed an adventure to come her way. But nothing could have prepared her for the true-life story which was to unfold upon her beloved father’s death, back into the darkest depths of human history. Lucidly-written, this is a gripping, heart-wrenching journey back to wartime Prague and Berlin. Ariana Neumann has written the book that her remarkable father simply couldn’t.’ -- Tom Gross, former Prague and Jerusalem correspondent, Sunday Telegraph‘Remarkable...Through painstaking, meticulous research Neumann tells the true story-part memoir, part history-of her heart-wrenching and ultimately life-affirming journey in uncovering her family's long hidden past.’ -- Georgia Hunter, New York Times bestselling author of We Were the Lucky Ones‘Ariana Neumann's beautiful, meticulously researched memoir is an extraordinarily moving story of a family’s lost history, a father’s well-kept secret, and a daughter who pieces it all together with courage, tenacity, and most of all, love.’ -- Dani Shapiro‘Neumann’s efforts to tell [her father] Hans’s story chronologically, rather than in the order she unravelled the mystery, is especially effective. At times the revelations are so extraordinary to modern eyes that the memoir has an almost fictional feel.’ * Financial Times *‘… to unearth such stories takes great determination, patience and sensitivity, not least because so many of those who survived did so by suppressing the truth. ‘Sometimes you have to leave the past where it is – in the past,’ Hans told his daughter. But he didn’t entirely let it go, and nor, on his and our behalf, did she.’ * The Guardian *‘Compelling … brilliant …This remarkable, beautifully written book is full of sadness but it also full of great beauty and joy.’ * Daily Mail, Book of the Week *‘A meticulously researched, gripping and poignant memoir.’ * The Observer *‘[When Time Stopped is] a treasure to be savored as testament of the human will to survive.’ -- Anne Sebba * The Spectator *‘Full of tales of courage … this meticulously researched work is unforgettable.’ * Sunday Mirror *‘This book will be an important addition to Holocaust literature … we have heard many of the atrocities recounted in these pages before. But we must go on hearing them. This is a very fine book indeed.’ * The TLS *‘Extraordinary life-affirming book of survival against the odds, of love and hope, and the threads of humanity that unite us all’ * Surrey Life *‘… a book of exhaustive historical scholarship and profound emotional dedication.’ * The Jewish Chronicle *‘A beautifully wrought book that is both a detective story and a family history.’ * The Times of Israel *‘Occasionally there appears a book so devastating that the only response is stunned silence … When Time Stopped is about the triumph of the human spirit.’ -- Francis Wilson * The Oldie *‘This deeply personal narrative tells the story of Ariana Neumann’s family, many of whom were killed by Nazis, and grapples with Neumann’s attempt to uncover secrets left behind by her Holocaust-survivor father after his death.’ * Vogue *‘Reads like a thriller and it is so, so timely. The work and emotion put into [the] book is unbelievable.’ * Buzzfeed *‘Lucidly-written, this is a gripping, heart-wrenching journey back to wartime Prague and Berlin. Ariana Neumann has written the book that her remarkable father simply couldn’t.’ -- Tom Gross, former Prague and Jerusalem correspondent. * Sunday Telegraph *‘The story Ariana Neumann has to tell – a true one – is both exotic and extraordinary. Her combination of impeccable research with a pitch-perfect sense of narrative and suspense kept this early bird up reading, utterly captivated for every single moment, until long after dawn. I can’t begin to remember how many people I’ve since urged to buy this moving and highly original tribute to a remarkable man. What is truly astonishing is that it marks Neumann’s debut.’ -- Miranda Seymour‘The story Ariana Neumann has to tell – a true one – is both exotic and extraordinary. Her combination of impeccable research with a pitch-perfect sense of narrative and suspense kept this early bird up reading, utterly captivated for every single moment, until long after dawn. I can’t begin to remember how many people I’ve since urged to buy this moving and highly original tribute to a remarkable man. What is truly astonishing is that it marks Neumann’s debut.’ -- Miranda Seymour‘When Time Stopped is a beautifully told story of personal discovery, of almost unimaginable human bravery and sacrifice, and a harrowing portrait of living, dying and surviving under the yoke of Nazism.’ -- John Le Carre‘When Time Stopped is Ariana Neumann’s journey of discovery, lyrically set down in this truly exceptional book. She shines an intimate light upon a time unique in its horror, and tells a story of bravery, and rare survival. Yet the events she describes happened more than two decades before she was born. To a man to whom she was very close, but whose secrets she was only able to pursue after his death - thanks to the one hoard of evidence he never destroyed. This is a work of very great talent.’ -- Jon Snow, journalist and Channel 4 television presenter.The story Neumann uncovers is worthy of fiction with hairpin plot twists, daredevil acts of love and unexpected moments of humor in dark times. Given the slew of colorful characters and dramatic details, she could have turned her painstaking research into a historical novel. Instead she has written a superb family memoir that unfolds its poignant power on multiple levels. Yes, her account of one Jewish-Czech family’s race to outwit the Nazis makes for thrilling reading. But just as important is her lucid investigation of the nature of memory, identity and remembrance. * The New York Times Book Review *‘Ariana Neumann’s story may strike a chord, and rightly so. The slow and pitiless brutality that took hold of much of Europe in the 1930s is a story that can never be told too often. What makes this account so effective is that it’s personal and, because of the dogged extensiveness of her research, Neumann reminds us of the small details that make the Nazi persecution of the Jews all the more chilling. It’s not always a grim story. Alongside anger and despair there is love and hope. But the message is stark. This is the way bullies work. When Time Stopped is more than just history. It’s a warning.’ -- Michael Palin‘When Time Stopped is a remarkable and beautifully written book. Hans Neumann's story is astonishing, confirming that when it comes to the Holocaust we should expect only the unexpected. This is one of the most powerful and profoundly moving family stories of the Holocaust to have been published in many years and a must read.’ -- Professor Dan Stone, Professor of Modern History and Director, Holocaust Research Institute, Royal Holloway, University of London‘When Time Stopped is an astonishing family memoir that will imprint itself on your psyche as only the best books can, forever changing the way you look at your own family. With a mastery of the dogged art of research rarely seen, and with an exquisite narrative sensibility to match, Ariana Neumann has breached the hidden surface of her family’s tumultuous past and brought not only their tragedies and sorrows, but also their joys and loves, to indelible light. I will carry the experience of this book with me for a very long time.’ -- John Burnham Schwartz, author of The Red Daughter, Reservation Road and The Commoner‘In a grand house in Caracas in the 1970s, a young girl comes of age dreaming of becoming a detective and solving mysteries, particularly the mystery of her charismatic, enigmatic father. Four decades later, after he dies, and herself a mother, she embarks on an extraordinary journey through Central Europe and South America to uncover her father's past. Through pre-war Prague's intelligentsia to the rise of fascism in Europe to the horror of Hitler's camps, she combines a daughter's love with a profound yearning for truth. The result is a love letter to a father who, out of sheer will and determination, did not allow the Nazis to destroy him - and who rose to become one of Venezuela's most successful industrialists. Part literary memoir, part mystery tale, Ariana Neumann's tribute to her father is a classic story of redemption and love.’ -- Janine di Giovanni, 2019 Guggenheim Fellow and author of The Morning They Came for Us: Dispatches from Syria‘This book is utterly riveting: Ms. Neumann's memoir reads like a detective novel, as she unravels her late father's complex, agonizing yet inspiring trajectory. Conjuring the lives of her relatives murdered in the Holocaust, she brings their lost world to vivid life.’ -- Claire Messud, New York Times bestselling author of The Emperor’s Children and The Woman Upstairs‘I’ve read countless memoirs. I’ve read hundreds of books about the Holocaust and mysteries and detective stories and rigorously researched tomes of history and psychological studies of the effects of trauma. But never in my reading life have I ever come across anything akin to this magical, brilliant and gripping work of art combining all of these elements into a lyrical tapestry of one woman’s quest to understand her father’s mysterious past and therefore her own. To call this moving is an understatement. It is a journey of untold grace, sorrow and love.’ -- Deborah Copaken, bestselling author of Shutterbabe: Adventures in Love and War and The Red Book‘Growing up in a comfortable Caracas home, surrounded by joy, gaiety and the ‘birds of paradise’ -- and a father so revered that he had streets named after him in Venezuela -- Ariana Neumann willed an adventure to come her way. But nothing could have prepared her for the true-life story which was to unfold upon her beloved father’s death, back into the darkest depths of human history. Lucidly-written, this is a gripping, heart-wrenching journey back to wartime Prague and Berlin. Ariana Neumann has written the book that her remarkable father simply couldn’t.’ -- Tom Gross, former Prague and Jerusalem correspondent, Sunday Telegraph‘Remarkable...Through painstaking, meticulous research Neumann tells the true story-part memoir, part history-of her heart-wrenching and ultimately life-affirming journey in uncovering her family's long hidden past.’ -- Georgia Hunter, New York Times bestselling author of We Were the Lucky Ones‘Ariana Neumann's beautiful, meticulously researched memoir is an extraordinarily moving story of a family’s lost history, a father’s well-kept secret, and a daughter who pieces it all together with courage, tenacity, and most of all, love.’ -- Dani Shapiro‘Neumann’s efforts to tell [her father] Hans’s story chronologically, rather than in the order she unravelled the mystery, is especially effective. At times the revelations are so extraordinary to modern eyes that the memoir has an almost fictional feel.’ * Financial Times *‘… to unearth such stories takes great determination, patience and sensitivity, not least because so many of those who survived did so by suppressing the truth. ‘Sometimes you have to leave the past where it is – in the past,’ Hans told his daughter. But he didn’t entirely let it go, and nor, on his and our behalf, did she.’ * The Guardian *‘Compelling … brilliant …This remarkable, beautifully written book is full of sadness but it also full of great beauty and joy.’ * Daily Mail, Book of the Week *‘A meticulously researched, gripping and poignant memoir.’ * The Observer *‘[When Time Stopped is] a treasure to be savored as testament of the human will to survive.’ -- Anne Sebba * The Spectator *‘Full of tales of courage … this meticulously researched work is unforgettable.’ * Sunday Mirror *‘This book will be an important addition to Holocaust literature … we have heard many of the atrocities recounted in these pages before. But we must go on hearing them. This is a very fine book indeed.’ * The TLS *‘Extraordinary life-affirming book of survival against the odds, of love and hope, and the threads of humanity that unite us all’ * Surrey Life *‘… a book of exhaustive historical scholarship and profound emotional dedication.’ * The Jewish Chronicle *‘A beautifully wrought book that is both a detective story and a family history.’ * The Times of Israel *‘Occasionally there appears a book so devastating that the only response is stunned silence … When Time Stopped is about the triumph of the human spirit.’ -- Francis Wilson * The Oldie *‘This deeply personal narrative tells the story of Ariana Neumann’s family, many of whom were killed by Nazis, and grapples with Neumann’s attempt to uncover secrets left behind by her Holocaust-survivor father after his death.’ * Vogue *‘Reads like a thriller and it is so, so timely. The work and emotion put into [the] book is unbelievable.’ * Buzzfeed *‘Lucidly-written, this is a gripping, heart-wrenching journey back to wartime Prague and Berlin. Ariana Neumann has written the book that her remarkable father simply couldn’t.’ -- Tom Gross, former Prague and Jerusalem correspondent. * Sunday Telegraph *‘The story Ariana Neumann has to tell – a true one – is both exotic and extraordinary. Her combination of impeccable research with a pitch-perfect sense of narrative and suspense kept this early bird up reading, utterly captivated for every single moment, until long after dawn. I can’t begin to remember how many people I’ve since urged to buy this moving and highly original tribute to a remarkable man. What is truly astonishing is that it marks Neumann’s debut.’ -- Miranda Seymour‘The story Ariana Neumann has to tell – a true one – is both exotic and extraordinary. Her combination of impeccable research with a pitch-perfect sense of narrative and suspense kept this early bird up reading, utterly captivated for every single moment, until long after dawn. I can’t begin to remember how many people I’ve since urged to buy this moving and highly original tribute to a remarkable man. What is truly astonishing is that it marks Neumann’s debut.’ -- Miranda Seymour‘When Time Stopped is a beautifully told story of personal discovery, of almost unimaginable human bravery and sacrifice, and a harrowing portrait of living, dying and surviving under the yoke of Nazism.’ -- John Le Carre‘When Time Stopped is Ariana Neumann’s journey of discovery, lyrically set down in this truly exceptional book. She shines an intimate light upon a time unique in its horror, and tells a story of bravery, and rare survival. Yet the events she describes happened more than two decades before she was born. To a man to whom she was very close, but whose secrets she was only able to pursue after his death - thanks to the one hoard of evidence he never destroyed. This is a work of very great talent.’ -- Jon Snow, journalist and Channel 4 television presenter.The story Neumann uncovers is worthy of fiction with hairpin plot twists, daredevil acts of love and unexpected moments of humor in dark times. Given the slew of colorful characters and dramatic details, she could have turned her painstaking research into a historical novel. Instead she has written a superb family memoir that unfolds its poignant power on multiple levels. Yes, her account of one Jewish-Czech family’s race to outwit the Nazis makes for thrilling reading. But just as important is her lucid investigation of the nature of memory, identity and remembrance. * The New York Times Book Review *‘Ariana Neumann’s story may strike a chord, and rightly so. The slow and pitiless brutality that took hold of much of Europe in the 1930s is a story that can never be told too often. What makes this account so effective is that it’s personal and, because of the dogged extensiveness of her research, Neumann reminds us of the small details that make the Nazi persecution of the Jews all the more chilling. It’s not always a grim story. Alongside anger and despair there is love and hope. But the message is stark. This is the way bullies work. When Time Stopped is more than just history. It’s a warning.’ -- Michael Palin‘When Time Stopped is a remarkable and beautifully written book. Hans Neumann's story is astonishing, confirming that when it comes to the Holocaust we should expect only the unexpected. This is one of the most powerful and profoundly moving family stories of the Holocaust to have been published in many years and a must read.’ -- Professor Dan Stone, Professor of Modern History and Director, Holocaust Research Institute, Royal Holloway, University of London‘When Time Stopped is an astonishing family memoir that will imprint itself on your psyche as only the best books can, forever changing the way you look at your own family. With a mastery of the dogged art of research rarely seen, and with an exquisite narrative sensibility to match, Ariana Neumann has breached the hidden surface of her family’s tumultuous past and brought not only their tragedies and sorrows, but also their joys and loves, to indelible light. I will carry the experience of this book with me for a very long time.’ -- John Burnham Schwartz, author of The Red Daughter, Reservation Road and The Commoner‘In a grand house in Caracas in the 1970s, a young girl comes of age dreaming of becoming a detective and solving mysteries, particularly the mystery of her charismatic, enigmatic father. Four decades later, after he dies, and herself a mother, she embarks on an extraordinary journey through Central Europe and South America to uncover her father's past. Through pre-war Prague's intelligentsia to the rise of fascism in Europe to the horror of Hitler's camps, she combines a daughter's love with a profound yearning for truth. The result is a love letter to a father who, out of sheer will and determination, did not allow the Nazis to destroy him - and who rose to become one of Venezuela's most successful industrialists. Part literary memoir, part mystery tale, Ariana Neumann's tribute to her father is a classic story of redemption and love.’ -- Janine di Giovanni, 2019 Guggenheim Fellow and author of The Morning They Came for Us: Dispatches from Syria‘This book is utterly riveting: Ms. Neumann's memoir reads like a detective novel, as she unravels her late father's complex, agonizing yet inspiring trajectory. Conjuring the lives of her relatives murdered in the Holocaust, she brings their lost world to vivid life.’ -- Claire Messud, New York Times bestselling author of The Emperor’s Children and The Woman Upstairs‘I’ve read countless memoirs. I’ve read hundreds of books about the Holocaust and mysteries and detective stories and rigorously researched tomes of history and psychological studies of the effects of trauma. But never in my reading life have I ever come across anything akin to this magical, brilliant and gripping work of art combining all of these elements into a lyrical tapestry of one woman’s quest to understand her father’s mysterious past and therefore her own. To call this moving is an understatement. It is a journey of untold grace, sorrow and love.’ -- Deborah Copaken, bestselling author of Shutterbabe: Adventures in Love and War and The Red Book‘Growing up in a comfortable Caracas home, surrounded by joy, gaiety and the ‘birds of paradise’ -- and a father so revered that he had streets named after him in Venezuela -- Ariana Neumann willed an adventure to come her way. But nothing could have prepared her for the true-life story which was to unfold upon her beloved father’s death, back into the darkest depths of human history. Lucidly-written, this is a gripping, heart-wrenching journey back to wartime Prague and Berlin. Ariana Neumann has written the book that her remarkable father simply couldn’t.’ -- Tom Gross, former Prague and Jerusalem correspondent, Sunday Telegraph‘Remarkable...Through painstaking, meticulous research Neumann tells the true story-part memoir, part history-of her heart-wrenching and ultimately life-affirming journey in uncovering her family's long hidden past.’ -- Georgia Hunter, New York Times bestselling author of We Were the Lucky Ones‘Ariana Neumann's beautiful, meticulously researched memoir is an extraordinarily moving story of a family’s lost history, a father’s well-kept secret, and a daughter who pieces it all together with courage, tenacity, and most of all, love.’ -- Dani Shapiro‘Neumann’s efforts to tell [her father] Hans’s story chronologically, rather than in the order she unravelled the mystery, is especially effective. At times the revelations are so extraordinary to modern eyes that the memoir has an almost fictional feel.’ * Financial Times *‘… to unearth such stories takes great determination, patience and sensitivity, not least because so many of those who survived did so by suppressing the truth. ‘Sometimes you have to leave the past where it is – in the past,’ Hans told his daughter. But he didn’t entirely let it go, and nor, on his and our behalf, did she.’ * The Guardian *‘Compelling … brilliant …This remarkable, beautifully written book is full of sadness but it also full of great beauty and joy.’ * Daily Mail, Book of the Week *‘A meticulously researched, gripping and poignant memoir.’ * The Observer *‘[When Time Stopped is] a treasure to be savored as testament of the human will to survive.’ -- Anne Sebba * The Spectator *‘Full of tales of courage … this meticulously researched work is unforgettable.’ * Sunday Mirror *‘This book will be an important addition to Holocaust literature … we have heard many of the atrocities recounted in these pages before. But we must go on hearing them. This is a very fine book indeed.’ * The TLS *‘Extraordinary life-affirming book of survival against the odds, of love and hope, and the threads of humanity that unite us all’ * Surrey Life *‘… a book of exhaustive historical scholarship and profound emotional dedication.’ * The Jewish Chronicle *‘A beautifully wrought book that is both a detective story and a family history.’ * The Times of Israel *‘Occasionally there appears a book so devastating that the only response is stunned silence … When Time Stopped is about the triumph of the human spirit.’ -- Francis Wilson * The Oldie *‘This deeply personal narrative tells the story of Ariana Neumann’s family, many of whom were killed by Nazis, and grapples with Neumann’s attempt to uncover secrets left behind by her Holocaust-survivor father after his death.’ * Vogue *‘Reads like a thriller and it is so, so timely. The work and emotion put into [the] book is unbelievable.’ * Buzzfeed *‘Lucidly-written, this is a gripping, heart-wrenching journey back to wartime Prague and Berlin. Ariana Neumann has written the book that her remarkable father simply couldn’t.’ -- Tom Gross, former Prague and Jerusalem correspondent. * Sunday Telegraph *‘The story Ariana Neumann has to tell – a true one – is both exotic and extraordinary. Her combination of impeccable research with a pitch-perfect sense of narrative and suspense kept this early bird up reading, utterly captivated for every single moment, until long after dawn. I can’t begin to remember how many people I’ve since urged to buy this moving and highly original tribute to a remarkable man. What is truly astonishing is that it marks Neumann’s debut.’ -- Miranda Seymour‘The story Ariana Neumann has to tell – a true one – is both exotic and extraordinary. Her combination of impeccable research with a pitch-perfect sense of narrative and suspense kept this early bird up reading, utterly captivated for every single moment, until long after dawn. I can’t begin to remember how many people I’ve since urged to buy this moving and highly original tribute to a remarkable man. What is truly astonishing is that it marks Neumann’s debut.’ -- Miranda Seymour‘When Time Stopped is a beautifully told story of personal discovery, of almost unimaginable human bravery and sacrifice, and a harrowing portrait of living, dying and surviving under the yoke of Nazism.’ -- John Le Carre‘When Time Stopped is Ariana Neumann’s journey of discovery, lyrically set down in this truly exceptional book. She shines an intimate light upon a time unique in its horror, and tells a story of bravery, and rare survival. Yet the events she describes happened more than two decades before she was born. To a man to whom she was very close, but whose secrets she was only able to pursue after his death - thanks to the one hoard of evidence he never destroyed. This is a work of very great talent.’ -- Jon Snow, journalist and Channel 4 television presenter.The story Neumann uncovers is worthy of fiction with hairpin plot twists, daredevil acts of love and unexpected moments of humor in dark times. Given the slew of colorful characters and dramatic details, she could have turned her painstaking research into a historical novel. Instead she has written a superb family memoir that unfolds its poignant power on multiple levels. Yes, her account of one Jewish-Czech family’s race to outwit the Nazis makes for thrilling reading. But just as important is her lucid investigation of the nature of memory, identity and remembrance. * The New York Times Book Review *‘Ariana Neumann’s story may strike a chord, and rightly so. The slow and pitiless brutality that took hold of much of Europe in the 1930s is a story that can never be told too often. What makes this account so effective is that it’s personal and, because of the dogged extensiveness of her research, Neumann reminds us of the small details that make the Nazi persecution of the Jews all the more chilling. It’s not always a grim story. Alongside anger and despair there is love and hope. But the message is stark. This is the way bullies work. When Time Stopped is more than just history. It’s a warning.’ -- Michael Palin‘When Time Stopped is a remarkable and beautifully written book. Hans Neumann's story is astonishing, confirming that when it comes to the Holocaust we should expect only the unexpected. This is one of the most powerful and profoundly moving family stories of the Holocaust to have been published in many years and a must read.’ -- Professor Dan Stone, Professor of Modern History and Director, Holocaust Research Institute, Royal Holloway, University of London‘When Time Stopped is an astonishing family memoir that will imprint itself on your psyche as only the best books can, forever changing the way you look at your own family. With a mastery of the dogged art of research rarely seen, and with an exquisite narrative sensibility to match, Ariana Neumann has breached the hidden surface of her family’s tumultuous past and brought not only their tragedies and sorrows, but also their joys and loves, to indelible light. I will carry the experience of this book with me for a very long time.’ -- John Burnham Schwartz, author of The Red Daughter, Reservation Road and The Commoner‘In a grand house in Caracas in the 1970s, a young girl comes of age dreaming of becoming a detective and solving mysteries, particularly the mystery of her charismatic, enigmatic father. Four decades later, after he dies, and herself a mother, she embarks on an extraordinary journey through Central Europe and South America to uncover her father's past. Through pre-war Prague's intelligentsia to the rise of fascism in Europe to the horror of Hitler's camps, she combines a daughter's love with a profound yearning for truth. The result is a love letter to a father who, out of sheer will and determination, did not allow the Nazis to destroy him - and who rose to become one of Venezuela's most successful industrialists. Part literary memoir, part mystery tale, Ariana Neumann's tribute to her father is a classic story of redemption and love.’ -- Janine di Giovanni, 2019 Guggenheim Fellow and author of The Morning They Came for Us: Dispatches from Syria‘This book is utterly riveting: Ms. Neumann's memoir reads like a detective novel, as she unravels her late father's complex, agonizing yet inspiring trajectory. Conjuring the lives of her relatives murdered in the Holocaust, she brings their lost world to vivid life.’ -- Claire Messud, New York Times bestselling author of The Emperor’s Children and The Woman Upstairs‘I’ve read countless memoirs. I’ve read hundreds of books about the Holocaust and mysteries and detective stories and rigorously researched tomes of history and psychological studies of the effects of trauma. But never in my reading life have I ever come across anything akin to this magical, brilliant and gripping work of art combining all of these elements into a lyrical tapestry of one woman’s quest to understand her father’s mysterious past and therefore her own. To call this moving is an understatement. It is a journey of untold grace, sorrow and love.’ -- Deborah Copaken, bestselling author of Shutterbabe: Adventures in Love and War and The Red Book‘Growing up in a comfortable Caracas home, surrounded by joy, gaiety and the ‘birds of paradise’ -- and a father so revered that he had streets named after him in Venezuela -- Ariana Neumann willed an adventure to come her way. But nothing could have prepared her for the true-life story which was to unfold upon her beloved father’s death, back into the darkest depths of human history. Lucidly-written, this is a gripping, heart-wrenching journey back to wartime Prague and Berlin. Ariana Neumann has written the book that her remarkable father simply couldn’t.’ -- Tom Gross, former Prague and Jerusalem correspondent, Sunday Telegraph‘Remarkable...Through painstaking, meticulous research Neumann tells the true story-part memoir, part history-of her heart-wrenching and ultimately life-affirming journey in uncovering her family's long hidden past.’ -- Georgia Hunter, New York Times bestselling author of We Were the Lucky Ones‘Ariana Neumann's beautiful, meticulously researched memoir is an extraordinarily moving story of a family’s lost history, a father’s well-kept secret, and a daughter who pieces it all together with courage, tenacity, and most of all, love.’ -- Dani Shapiro‘Neumann’s efforts to tell [her father] Hans’s story chronologically, rather than in the order she unravelled the mystery, is especially effective. At times the revelations are so extraordinary to modern eyes that the memoir has an almost fictional feel.’ * Financial Times *‘… to unearth such stories takes great determination, patience and sensitivity, not least because so many of those who survived did so by suppressing the truth. ‘Sometimes you have to leave the past where it is – in the past,’ Hans told his daughter. But he didn’t entirely let it go, and nor, on his and our behalf, did she.’ * The Guardian *‘Compelling … brilliant …This remarkable, beautifully written book is full of sadness but it also full of great beauty and joy.’ * Daily Mail, Book of the Week *‘A meticulously researched, gripping and poignant memoir.’ * The Observer *‘[When Time Stopped is] a treasure to be savored as testament of the human will to survive.’ -- Anne Sebba * The Spectator *‘Full of tales of courage … this meticulously researched work is unforgettable.’ * Sunday Mirror *‘This book will be an important addition to Holocaust literature … we have heard many of the atrocities recounted in these pages before. But we must go on hearing them. This is a very fine book indeed.’ * The TLS *‘Extraordinary life-affirming book of survival against the odds, of love and hope, and the threads of humanity that unite us all’ * Surrey Life *‘… a book of exhaustive historical scholarship and profound emotional dedication.’ * The Jewish Chronicle *‘A beautifully wrought book that is both a detective story and a family history.’ * The Times of Israel *‘Occasionally there appears a book so devastating that the only response is stunned silence … When Time Stopped is about the triumph of the human spirit.’ -- Francis Wilson * The Oldie *‘This deeply personal narrative tells the story of Ariana Neumann’s family, many of whom were killed by Nazis, and grapples with Neumann’s attempt to uncover secrets left behind by her Holocaust-survivor father after his death.’ * Vogue *‘Reads like a thriller and it is so, so timely. The work and emotion put into [the] book is unbelievable.’ * Buzzfeed *‘Lucidly-written, this is a gripping, heart-wrenching journey back to wartime Prague and Berlin. Ariana Neumann has written the book that her remarkable father simply couldn’t.’ -- Tom Gross, former Prague and Jerusalem correspondent. * Sunday Telegraph *‘The story Ariana Neumann has to tell – a true one – is both exotic and extraordinary. Her combination of impeccable research with a pitch-perfect sense of narrative and suspense kept this early bird up reading, utterly captivated for every single moment, until long after dawn. I can’t begin to remember how many people I’ve since urged to buy this moving and highly original tribute to a remarkable man. What is truly astonishing is that it marks Neumann’s debut.’ -- Miranda Seymour‘The story Ariana Neumann has to tell – a true one – is both exotic and extraordinary. Her combination of impeccable research with a pitch-perfect sense of narrative and suspense kept this early bird up reading, utterly captivated for every single moment, until long after dawn. I can’t begin to remember how many people I’ve since urged to buy this moving and highly original tribute to a remarkable man. What is truly astonishing is that it marks Neumann’s debut.’ -- Miranda Seymour‘When Time Stopped is a beautifully told story of personal discovery, of almost unimaginable human bravery and sacrifice, and a harrowing portrait of living, dying and surviving under the yoke of Nazism.’ -- John Le Carre‘When Time Stopped is Ariana Neumann’s journey of discovery, lyrically set down in this truly exceptional book. She shines an intimate light upon a time unique in its horror, and tells a story of bravery, and rare survival. Yet the events she describes happened more than two decades before she was born. To a man to whom she was very close, but whose secrets she was only able to pursue after his death - thanks to the one hoard of evidence he never destroyed. This is a work of very great talent.’ -- Jon Snow, journalist and Channel 4 television presenter.The story Neumann uncovers is worthy of fiction with hairpin plot twists, daredevil acts of love and unexpected moments of humor in dark times. Given the slew of colorful characters and dramatic details, she could have turned her painstaking research into a historical novel. Instead she has written a superb family memoir that unfolds its poignant power on multiple levels. Yes, her account of one Jewish-Czech family’s race to outwit the Nazis makes for thrilling reading. But just as important is her lucid investigation of the nature of memory, identity and remembrance. * The New York Times Book Review *

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Book SynopsisA bravely honest and brilliantly comic account of how one mother gave up drinking and started living. This is Bridget Jones Dries Out.Clare Pooley is a Cambridge graduate and was a Managing Partner at one of the world''s biggest advertising agencies, and yet by eighteen months ago she''d become an overweight, depressed, middle-aged mother of three who was drinking more than a bottle of wine a day, and spending her evenings Googling ''Am I an alcoholic?''In a desperate bid to turn her life around, she quit drinking and started a blog. She called it Mummy Was a Secret Drinker.This book is the story of a year in Clare''s life. A year that started with her quitting booze having been drinking more than a bottle of wine every day. It sees her starting a hugely successful blog, then getting and beating breast cancer. By the end of the year she is booze free and cancer free, two stone lighter and with a life that is so much richer, healthier and more reTrade ReviewBrutally honest and sparkily funny * Sunday Express *The Sober Diaries is a misconception-busting book, which draws on Pooley's extensive research. * Sunday Herald *

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Book SynopsisIn Burning Questions Atwood aims her constant curiosity and impish humour at our world and reports back to us on what she finds.In it she seeks answers to Burning Questions such as: Why do people everywhere, in all cultures, tell stories? How can we live on our planet? What do zombies have to do with authoritarianism? The roller-coaster period covered in the collection brought an end to the end of history, a financial crash, the rise of Trump and a pandemic. From debt to tech, the climate crisis to freedom; from when to dispense advice to the young (answer: only when asked) to how to define granola, we have no better questioner of the many and varied mysteries of our human universe.INCLUDES NEW MATERIAL FOR PAPERBACK‘A wonderfully written insight into everything from zombies to the climate crisis’ Stylist‘The mighty Margaret Atwood writes about everything from granola to Trump' The TimesTrade ReviewThis isn't just a collection of essays for Atwood fans. Rather, this is an attempt to make sense of the world, taking in with characteristic verve everything from Anne of Green Gables to Donald Trump, zombies to censorship . . . While the tone skates from surreal off-kilter wit to impassioned gravity, Atwood always makes the idea of big questions a little more digestible . . . The collection is polyphonic, enthusiastic, illuminating -- Sophie Macintosh * i News *Margaret Atwood was recently described in a Guardian interview as "arguably the most famous living literary novelist in the world", and she is undoubtedly the most venerable . . . It's fascinating to read Atwood's reflections on her own novels and their continued relevance . . . but equally striking to see how many pieces she has included here generously celebrating other writers -- Stephanie Merritt * Observer *If there's one person in the world from whom you'd want a hot take on the most pressing issues, it would surely be Margaret Atwood . . . She answers our burning questions on climate change, the rise of Trump and on to debt and tech -- Joanna Taylor * Evening Standard *With her bold imagination, calm insight, and wit, Atwood gathers diverse strands into a marvellous collection ranging from the history of forests to the nature of science fiction and beyond. Burning Questions is a delicious antidote to intellectual fragmentation that left me inspired -- Merlin Sheldrake, author of Entangled LifeA compilation of essays that pick the brain of Booker Prize-winning author Margaret Atwood, this is a wonderfully written insight into everything from zombies to the climate crisis * Stylist *

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Book Synopsis*Available for Pre-order Now* The life-affirming memoir of Lindsey Burrow, the working mother of three young children who has inspired the nation through her selfless commitment to husband Rob Burrow (CBE), the rugby league legend she cared for throughout his heroic battle with motor neurone disease (MND). A story of compassion, perseverance and love. By sharing her story, Lindsey is shining a light on those who are dealing with incredibly difficult situations, putting other's needs before their own and making great personal sacrifices every day. I hope this book provides all those going through their own challenges with some comfort and optimism, and that it inspires us all to look out for one another.' Prince William 'A tender, powerful and life affirming book by one of the bravest people I know. The story of Lindsey, Rob and their amazing children will make you want to live every day to the fullest.' Kevin Sinfield, CBE*Foreword by HRH Prince William* *A Pride of Britain Award Winner* Lindsey is inspirational' BBC Breakfast Superwoman' Daily Mail______________________________________________________________________ Take Care: A Memoir of Love, Family & Never Giving Up explores the deepest reserves of resilience, personal sacrifice and hope that Lindsey Burrow exhibited on a daily basis when her family's life was upended by the terminal MND diagnosis. Juggling her day job for the NHS as a physiotherapist, with round-the-clock care for Rob, who couldn't move or talk, and could only eat with Lindsey's assistance, she simultaneously raised her brilliant young family and helped to raise awareness for MND. The efforts of Rob, Lindsey and Kevin Sinfield have raised over 15 million for charity. In 2024, Lindsey presented her debut ITV1 documentary, Who Cares for Our Carers?' which highlighted the emotional and practical hardships faced by thousands of her fellow unpaid carers, whose hidden work is worth an estimated 162bn a year in the UK, the equivalent of another NHS. Told in Lindsey's characteristically humble, charming and inspirational style, Take Care explores her life and shares her honest experiences of finding strength in the good and the bad times, in order to offer readers and families hope to overcome challenges in their own lives. The book sheds a light on the many families across the UK who care for their loved ones with little support. Finally, the book is a rousing call to action, for us all as a society to take better care of one another. ____________________________________________________________________________ Thank you for what you are teaching us, about what it is to fight, what it is to love, and what it is possible for us to do and to be as human beings' Michael Sheen, Pride of Britain Awards 2023, to Rob and Lindsey Burrow Lindsey's strength and love shines through' Lorraine, ITV You are an inspirational couple' Loose Women ITV Lindsey and Rob Burrow's moving love story from teenage sweethearts to 'superhero' wife' has stood the test of time - overcoming the hardest and most heartbreaking of challenges. Mirror

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Book SynopsisThe dead talk. To the right listener, they tell us all about themselves: where they came from, how they lived, how they died - and who killed them. Forensic scientists can unlock the mysteries of the past and help justice to be done using the messages left by a corpse, a crime scene or the faintest of human traces. Forensics draws on interviews with top-level professionals, ground-breaking research and Val McDermid's own experience to lay bare the secrets of this fascinating science. And, along the way, she wonders at how maggots collected from a corpse can help determine time of death, how a DNA trace a millionth the size of a grain of salt can be used to convict a killer and how a team of young Argentine scientists led by a maverick American anthropologist uncovered the victims of a genocide. In her novels, McDermid has been solving complex crimes and confronting unimaginable evil for years. Now, she's looking at the people who do it for real. It's a journey that will take her to war zones, fire scenes and autopsy suites, and bring her into contact with extraordinary bravery and wickedness, as she traces the history of forensics from its earliest beginnings to the cutting-edge science of the modern day.Trade ReviewMcDermid has not lost her early journalistic genius for telling a good story plainly -- Ian Finlayson * Times *... she dissects the history of forensics through gripping stories of real-life crime. * New Statesman *Every bit as compelling as the best of the fictional genre * Irish Times *Fascinating history of forensic science .... McDermid provides a grimly absorbing account of crime and it's detection -- Ian Thompson * Observer *... the science of forensics has come a long way, as Val McDermid relates in this fascinating study. McDermid, best known for her gritty psychological thrillers, has interviewed a wide range (a morgue? a graveyard?) of forensic scientists and has revisited some of the most gruesome true life mysteries to piece together a gripping history of the anatomy of crime. Each of the chapters - which examine themes such as fire scene investigation, toxicology, fingerprinting, DNA and blood splatter and facial reconstruction - contains a wealth of surprising information -- Andrew Wilson * Independent *Praise for Val McDermid: 'McDermid has the ruthless psychological scalpel that forms part of the equipment of all good novelists, whatever their genre. And, fortunately for us, she knows just how to use it. * Guardian *The sheer brio of McDermid's writing produces that increasingly rare thing, a genuine page-turner that doesn't insult its readers' intelligence. * Independent *To write one brilliant book is hard. To write 25 is a miracle. That is what Val McDermid has achieved over the course of her career and it's why she is a much-loved legend in the literary world. * Sunday Express *

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Book SynopsisAn intimate, personal exploration of the emotional and restorative power of the Lake District landscape and its poets.

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Book SynopsisIn the middle of 2019, Rishi Sunak was an unknown junior minister in the local government department. Seven months later, at the age of thirty-nine, he was Chancellor of the Exchequer, grappling with the gravest economic crisis in modern history. Michael Ashcroft’s new book charts Sunak’s ascent from his parents’ Southampton pharmacy to the University of Oxford, the City of London, Silicon Valley – and the top of British politics. It is the tale of a super-bright and hardgrafting son of immigrant parents who marries an Indian heiress and makes a fortune of his own; a polished urban southerner who wins over the voters of rural North Yorkshire – and a cautious, fiscally conservative financier who becomes the biggest-spending Chancellor in history. Sunak was unexpectedly promoted to the Treasury’s top job in February 2020, with a brief to spread investment and opportunity as part of Boris Johnson’s levelling-up agenda. Within weeks, the coronavirus had sent Britain into lockdown, with thousands of firms in peril and millions of jobs on the line. As health workers battled to save lives, it was down to Sunak to save livelihoods. This is the story of how he tore up the rulebook and went for broke.

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Book SynopsisWickedly indiscreet and elegantMail on SundayHe will join Chips Channon, Duff Cooper and Alan Clark in the pantheon of truly great diaristsMatthew d'Ancona, Evening Standard

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Book SynopsisMark Doty has always felt haunted by Walt Whitman’s bold, new American voice, and by his equally radical claims about body and soul and what it means to be a self. In What Is the Grass, Doty – a poet, a lover of men, a New Yorker, and an American – keeps company with Whitman and his mutable, landmark work, Leaves of Grass, tracing the resonances between his own experience and the legendary poet’s life and work.What is it, then, between us? Whitman asks. Doty’s answer is to explore spaces tied to Whitman’s life and spaces where he finds the poet’s ghost, meditating on desire, love, and the mysterious wellsprings of the poet’s enduring work. How does a voice survive death? What Is the Grass is a conversation across time and space, a study of the astonishment one poet finds in the accomplishment of another, and an attempt to grasp Whitman’s deeply hopeful vision of humanity.Trade ReviewDoty is an extraordinarily fine writer whose every word sings on the page… There certainly couldn’t be a more appropriate explorer [of Whitman] than Doty, as both a leading North American poet and a memoirist and prose writer of exceptional grace and depth… This is an exceptional, passionate memoir of reading, and of a poet’s lifelong work of understanding self and the world. -- Fiona Sampson * Spectator *Mark Doty's deeply personal love letter to Walt Whitman, belongs in the pantheon...beside Ted Hughes’s Shakespeare and the Goddess of Complete Being and Don Paterson’s Reading Shakespeare’s Sonnets… As admirers of his poetry and memoirs will know, Doty writes about his life with a rare warmth and candour. He makes you lean forward to listen… He reads with care, in the sense of both attentiveness and love. -- Tristram Fane Saunders * Daily Telegraph *Marvellous. He sends you straight back to the text, makes you feel like you're returning to an old love... In a fit of enchantment. -- Abhrajyoti Chakraborty * Guardian *Doty is one of the most compelling modern singers of 'the body electric' and in What is the Grass he has produced an elegant meditation on the great founding father of American poetry... Doty helps us feel the touch and connection of great art afresh. It is a warmly affecting performance. -- David Wheatley * Literary Review *Mark Doty has written a warm and intelligent account of Whitman... [Doty's] poems are a highly engaging mixture of the quotidian and the numinous. -- Seamus Perry * Times Literary Supplement *

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Book SynopsisWhen James Cook's daughter was nearly one, he began to suspect that she wasn't simply a 'late bloomer', as he and his wife were telling friends and family. Emily was strongly taken by images and patterns around the house, had a marked response to music, but never pointed at anything, and hadn't crawled yet. At the age of two-and-a-half, after months of invasive tests, Emily was finally diagnosed with severe autism, and everything changed.Forced to embark on a fraught journey from denial to acceptance, James discovered the multi-faceted link between music and autism, and how singing and playing guitar for Emily could provide a unique form of communication. In Her Room is an extraordinary and heartbreaking story of a father's attempts to connect with his daughter, and how music can help bridge the divide.

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Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE SAMUEL JOHNSON PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION A spectacular, definitive portrait of ordinary life within one of the world's most repressive states - North Korea. 'A most perceptive and eye-opening account of everyday life in North Korea' Jung Chang North Korea is Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four made reality: it is the only country in the world not connected to the internet; where Gone with the Wind is a dangerous, banned book; and where during political rallies, spies study your expression to check your sincerity. Nothing to Envy weaves together the stories of adversity and resilience of six residents of Chongin, North Korea's third-largest city. From extensive interviews and with tenacious investigative work, Barbara Demick has recreated the concerns, culture and lifestyles of North Korean citizens in a gripping narrative, and vividly reconstructed the inner workings of this extraordinary and secretive country. Includes an updated afterword by the author. 'Impossible to put down ... helps restore humanity to some of the world's most oppressed people' ObserverTrade ReviewA rare and valuable insight ... Nothing to Envy is a searchlight shining on a country cloaked in darkness -- Alastair Mabbott * Herald *Barbara Demick's achievement is to restore a measure of humanity to 23 million human beings. Many scholars have pored over North Korea's atrocious history, its fearful politics, abysmal economics and blood-curdling propaganda. No writer I know has done a better job of clothing these academic concerns with the rich detail of the lives of ordinary people - explaining, simply, what it feels like to be a citizen of the cruellest, most repressive and most retrograde country in the world -- Richard Lloyd Parry * The Times *A most perceptive and eye-opening account of everyday life in North Korea -- Jung ChangThis report on the lives of six of the citizens of totalitarian penal colony is unputdownable and deeply affecting, a worthy winner this week of the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-fiction -- David Sexton * Evening Standard *Taking the cases of six individuals and their families, Demick constructs a harrowing narrative of the North's slide into famine following the death of the elder Kim in 1994 ... The Kim dynasty, whose Stalinist cruelty Demick graphically chronicles, has shown remarkable staying power -- Simon Scott Plummer * Daily Telegraph *I loved it - I couldn't pull myself away. This is the first book I've read which tells me about the inner lives of individual North Koreans and the universal cruelty of that regime. Reading this book, I've learnt something about how it feels to be North Korean - it's not unimaginable anymore, but it's even more painful than I could have predicted -- Lindsey Hilsum, International Editor, Channel 4 NewsDemick weaves stories derived from interviews and conversations, conducted over a number of years, into a compelling narrative. Her book is a reminder that oral history is one of our greatest resources. Its use in Nothing to Envy makes for a valuable contribution to the literature on North Korea -- Charlotte Middlehurst * New Statesman *A fascinating study in the oral history of Korea in the last decade of the twentieth century ... Nothing to Envy is a fascinating work which highlights in the lives of the individuals concerned the triumph of the human spirit in the face of overwhelming adversity -- Oliver Rafferty * Irish Times *The shroud of silence and misinformation surrounding North Korea means these stories of six lives inside the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, as told to Los Angeles Times journalist Barbara Demick by "defectors", are a revelation -- Emmanuelle Smith * Financial Times *Barbara Demick, the Beijing bureau chief of the Los Angeles Times, has occasionally been to the north, but on visits so strictly controlled as to be worthless. Talking with émigrés and escapees now living in the south has provided the material for this terrific, often gruelling work of reportage. It gives a harrowing, surreal glimpse of what she calls "this hermit kingdom", which is so secretive and little known that it is the only country on earth not connected to the internet -- Christopher Hart * Sunday Times *A fair, modest and informative book about North Korea, a country little known and less understood ... most of what her informants say is repeated in indirect speech, and I found their testimonies varied and convincing ... There is much to learn form this carefully written book that draws few conclusions beyond well-grounded individual cases. Barbara Demick says that in satellite pictures of the Far East, North Korea is an "area of darkness". She makes this black hole at least medium grey -- Jonathan Mirsky * Literary Review *Beijing-based journalist Demick draws on extensive interviews with North Koreans who have defected to the South, revealing the truth of ordinary life within Kim Jong-Il's bizarre and repressive Stalinist state * New Humanist *A lovely work of narrative non-fiction ... that offers extensive evidence of the author's deep knowledge of this country while keeping its sights firmly on individual stories and human details -- Dwight Garner * Scotland on Sunday *Eye-opening portrait of the downtrodden and monochrome lives of six ordinary citizens of North Korea ... Granta's comparisons with Stasiland are apt and you keep having to remind yourself this isn't fiction -- Caroline Sanderson * Bookseller *Nothing To Envy is based on her in-depth interviews with defectors - and their accounts are as harrowing as you would expect -- Siobhan Murphy * Metro *Writing a properly researched book on North Korea seems next to impossible. But in Nothing to Envy, Barbara Demick has done it ... Demick is thorough and fair on the troubled history of Korea -- Roger Hutchinson * Scotsman *In a detailed account of North Korea, Demick looks beyond the country's politics to engage with the human experience and suffering of its residents * Sunday Times *This remarkable book confirms our fears but does much more and is the deserving winner of the 2010 BBC Samuel Johnson Prize ... Barbara Demick is a reporter of impressive tenacity and thoroughness ... Many of those who defected have found their freedom hard to handle. Theirs have been lives twice blighted. But Demick does them proud -- Joan Bakewell * The Times *Barbara Demick, who has an easy winning style, introduces us to a county of suppressed impulses and state propaganda ... This compelling book, a worthy winner of the BBC Samuel Johnson prize, details the experiences of six North Koreans who defected to China or South Korea -- Ian Pindar * Guardian *I've never read anything quite like it ... Demick has unearthed some heartbreaking human stories -- William Leith * Evening Standard *Awarded this year's Samuel Johnson Prize for non-fiction, this book by the former Korea correspondent of the Los Angeles Times uses the accounts of six defectors to reconstruct everyday life under the secretive communist regime * New Statesman *A fascinating portrait of a population bred from birth to be state automatons ... Alongside the daring prison breaks and midnight escapes through icy rivers to reach China, the tales of everyday love and loss make Nothing to Envy impossible to put down ... Demick's important book, by illuminating previously hidden aspects of North Korean life, helps restore humanity to some of the world's most oppressed people -- Imogen Carter * Observer *This is an extreme book ... I've never read anything like it ... Demick has unearthed some heartbreaking human stories * Scotsman *This compelling account of life and death in Korea is eye-opening and often heart-rending. Demick's perceptiveness in describing the inner life of individual North Koreans both enthrals and horrifies. One of the most fascinating books of the year * Independent on Sunday *An elegant, honourable and meticulously referenced account of a country the author calls "grimly dysfunctional". It is an inspiring read. -- Celia Brayfield * The Times *Thoroughly deserving winner of the Samuel Johnson Prize. * Independent on Sunday *Much-praised 2010 winner of the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction, this is a painstakingly researched and gruelling account of the hardships and cruelties of life in the world's most isolated, eccentric and oppressive state -- Gideon Rachman * Financial Times *A story of epic stoicism and suffering and illuminated by such jaw-dropping details as the doctors who have to donate their own skin to conduct operations -- Brian Schofield * Sunday Times *A brilliant, timely work of very modern history and a deserving winner of the 2010 BBC Samuel Johnson prize -- Rob Attar * BBC History Magazine *Amy Bloom turned her unflinching gaze on the map of the human heart, finding solace in our ability to love no matter what -- Claire Allfree * Metro *gripping, revealing, enraging and unexpectedly inspiring -- Ursula Doyle, editorial director of Virago as the 2010 book she wished she had published * Guardian *A vivid picture of life in the Hermit Kingdom. It deserved the awards it has been winning * The Times *Redolent and disturbing, an account of real lives drawn from interviews with defectors from the shadowy (actually dark) and sinister world of North Korea -- Pete Irvine * Scotland on Sunday *A rare light on so hidden a country, and all the more remarkable for its unfailingly engaging humanity * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisEveryone knows about the six flamboyant Mitford girls but in fact there were seven remarkable women in the famous family the seventh was Muv', the mother of the notorious sisters. Too often portrayed as different from them and outside the girl gang, she was really the original and much of her daughters' strong will, self-confidence and extremism came from her.Sydney Redesdale was a divisive figure both among her daughters and subsequent biographers. Until their deaths, her girls were still squabbling over what she was really like, their differing views of her persisted for even longer than the political divides between them. Each daughter wanted to control the narrative and they wrote competing novels, memoirs and letters to vindicate their perspective. For Nancy and Jessica, she was a scapegoat, for Unity, Diana, Debo and Pam a saint.Biographers have been equally divided about how she should be portrayed. Many wondered how such exceptional children could spring from such ordinary parents, but was Sydney really so ordinary'? The story of her life at the heart of one of Britain's most famous families is told in full here for the first time.

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Book SynopsisSHORTLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE FOR NATURE WRITING 2023LONGLISTED FOR THE HIGHLAND BOOK PRIZE 2022Reflecting on family, identity and nature, belonging is a personal memoir about what it is to have and make a home. It is a love letter to nature, especially the northern landscapes of Scotland and the Scots pinewoods of Abernethy.Beautifully written and featuring Amanda Thomson's artwork and photography throughout, it explores how place, language and family shape us and make us who we are. It is a book about how we are held in thrall to elements of our past. It speaks to the importance of attention and reflection, and will encourage us all to look and observe and ask questions of ourselves.Trade ReviewOutstanding -- ROBERT MACFARLANEA beautifully written meditation on rural surroundings and her place within them * * Sunday Times * *Amanda Thomson's new book manages to carve out a distinctive niche for itself . . . This is a passionate book and infused with a sense of rootedness -- STUART KELLY * * The Scotsman * *In recent years rural landscapes have turned into battlegrounds, and nature writing has become increasingly polemical. Belonging is a quiet book of questions in a genre full of answers, but it is all the more powerful and beautiful for this -- PATRICK GALBRAITH * * TLS * *Deservedly shortlisted for the Wainwright Prize; a thoughtful blend of memoir, family history, artistic scrapbook and nature journal in a compelling collage. [ . . . ] There's also an all-encompassing belief in the importance of listening, looking and learning from the world around us * * Observer * *One of the best things I have read in ages . . . Quiet and beautiful and powerful -- ALYS FOWLERThomson writes of the natural in a way I have yet to encounter before. There is no real hoo-haa, no flowery description of which to speak yet somehow, I came away with that ache inside me - that renewed obsession with the world that is only borne of a very particular kind of writing - poetic, loving, raw . . . Like no other -- KERRI Ní DOCHARTAIGH * * Caught by the River * *I rather enjoyed Amanda's very personal history interweaving ideas of family, place, history and nature. I was left feeling that she is the sort of person that I would love to spend an evening engaged in conversation with -- DAVID LINDO, The Urban BirderWhether writing about nature, about family, about art, or about identity, Amanda Thomson brings a careful and a thoughtful attention to the page. She shows how the threads of a life - its passions and preoccupations - are intricately entangled, each illuminating and complicating the other -- MALACHY TALLACKA book that digs deep . . . Vivid * * Herald * *In belonging, Thomson invites us to think about what living with the land really means: not just beautiful and wild places, but cities, suburbs, old houses, the places that shape us in childhood and beyond, too. This is an evocative, intimate journey through the ways we find home - in family, place, history and language -- JESSICA J. LEELyrical * * Country Living * *A finely-wrought meditation on nature, identity and the tender hold of the past -- SAMANTHA WALTON, author of EVERYBODY NEEDS BEAUTY and THE LIVING WORLDTender, searching and dialectically alert, this glorious book is a primer on noticing, a map of intersectional consciousness. Each passage pulses with incandescent turns of wonder and pain, like wingbeats stirring the air. In strikingly original takes on Scottish history, environmentalism, Black feminist theory, artmaking, list-making, memory and memoir, Thomson crafts a cadence that is as wise as it is vitally alive. Reading it, I felt like I belonged. What a gift: to see and love the world even as it hurts, even as it changes -- MARGOT DOUAIHY, author of SCORCHED GRACEA highly original, beautifully written and timely account -- STEPHEN MOSS

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