Biography

When John Thaw, star of The Sweeney and Inspector Morse, died from cancer in 2002, a nation lost one of its finest actors and Sheila Hancock lost a beloved husband. In this unique double biography she chronicles their lives - personal and professional, together and apart. John Thaw was born in Manchester, the son of a lorry driver. When he arrived at RADA on a scholarship he felt an outsider. In fact his timing was perfect: it was the sixties and television was beginning to make its mark. With his roles in Z-Cars and The Sweeney, fame came quickly. But it was John's role as Morse that made him an icon. In 1974 he married Sheila Hancock, with whom he shared a working-class background and a RADA education. Sheila was already the star of the TV series The Rag Trade and went on to become the first woman artistic director at the RSC. Theirs was a sometimes turbulent, always passionate relationship, and in this remarkable book Sheila describes their love - weathering overwork and the pressures of celebrity, drink and cancer - with honesty and piercing intelligence, and evokes two lives lived to the utmost.

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***THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER****A FINANCIAL TIMES, TELEGRAPH, NEW STATESMAN AND TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR*'Excellent... first class... both fair and damning.' Daniel Finkelstein, The Times 'Authoritative, gripping and often jaw-dropping' Andrew Rawnsley, Observer'Invaluable' New Statesman'Explosive' Isabel Hardman, The iAfter his dramatic rise to power in the summer of 2019 amid the Brexit deadlock, Boris Johnson presided over the most turbulent period of British history in living memory. Beginning with the controversial prorogation of Parliament in August and the historic landslide election victory later that year, Johnson was barely through the door of No. 10 when Britain was engulfed by a series of crises that will define its place in the world for decades to come. From the agonising upheaval of Brexit and the devastating Covid-19 pandemic to the nerve-shredding crisis in Afghanistan, the outbreak of war in Ukraine and the Partygate scandal, Johnson's government ultimately unravelled after just three years.This gripping behind-the-scenes work of contemporary history maps Johnson's time in power from start to finish and sheds new light on the most divisive Prime Minister to have led the United Kingdom since Thatcher. Based on more than 200 interviews with key aides, allies and insiders, Johnson at 10 gives the first full account of Johnson's premiership, the shockwaves of which are still felt today.***A WATERSTONES BEST POLITICS BOOK OF 2023***

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Napoleon Bonaparte's rise to power was neither inevitable nor smooth; it was full of mistakes, wrong turns and pitfalls. During his formative years his identity was constantly shifting, his character ambiguous and his intentions often ill-defined. He was, however, highly ambitious, and it was this ruthless drive that advanced his career. This book examines the extraordinary evolution of Napoleon's character and the means by which at the age of thirty he became head of the most powerful country in Europe and skilfully fashioned the image of himself that laid the foundation of the legend that endures to this day.

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Luftwaffe commander Wolfram von Richthofen was a brilliant master of the tactical and operational air war and one of the key catalysts in the resurrection of Germany's air force. Long overshadowed in history by his cousin, World War I's famous ""Red Baron,"" von Richthofen served in seven major air campaigns from 1936 to 1944, and as senior air commander he was always at the center of the action.For this first full-length biography of von Richthofen, James Corum has mined the field marshal's extensive diaries, which provide a detailed record of military campaigns, tactical and operational problems, interactions with other commanders, and his assessment of methods and weaponry. He has also drawn on interviews with former Luftwaffe members and on his unparalleled access to von Richthofen family papers and photos.Corum reveals how, before World War II, von Richthofen played a central role in developing and building the Luftwaffe and such famous aircraft as the Me 109 fighter and He 111 bomber. He then delivered tactical and operational successes in the Spanish Civil War, where he established the close air support tactics that became an essential trademark of the German blitzkrieg. As commander of the Special Air Division in the invasion of Poland, he demonstrated the effectiveness of massed airpower and in 1940 helped produce a dramatic German victory in France by providing close air support for Von Kleist's panzer divisions as they raced to the English Channel. Later he also led the Luftwaffe's Second Air Fleet against the Allied landings in Sicily, Salerno, and Anzio.Providing a fully rounded portrait, Corum also cites von Richthofen's signal defeats in the Battle of Britain and around Stalingrad; depicts his arrogant and ruthless tendencies; and reveals his loyal but naive belief in Hitler.Cutting through the myths that have grown around von Richthofen's life, Corum's study fills a major gap in the literature and offers new insight into German military culture, Hitler's strategic thinking, and their impact on the German way of war.

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*SHORTLISTED FOR THE BRITISH BOOK DESIGN AND PRODUCTION AWARDS 2023*'A fascinating, whistle-stop tour of LGBTQIA+ icons and allies from across the globe and throughout history... This will be a great LGBTQIA+ reference book for years to come.' Peter Tatchell - Human Rights CampaignerA fun and fascinating compendium of LGBTQ+ icons, one for every day of the year, and a celebration of queer history – or as RuPaul would say; Herstory! Discover your queer hero and learn something new every day with 365 Gays of the Year, an accessible and fun introduction to LGBTQ+ history through the people that made it.Carefully curated and thoughtfully researched, author Lewis Laney assigns a person or group of note to each day of the year to form the ultimate LGBTQ+ hall of fame. Legendary queer icons such as Marsha P Johnson and Freddie Mercury sit alongside lesser known but equally important names such as activist Renée Cafiero, blood donor Barbara Vick, and Sappho the lesbian poet (who was doing her thing in 570BC). All have contributed amazing achievements to the LGBTQ+ story. Each month also features one ally - inspiring heterosexual people who have all contributed something significant to the lives of the LGBTQ+ community. People like Elizabeth Taylor who “brought AIDS out of the closet and into the ballroom ­– where there was money to be raised”. Each entry comprises a short biography plus a brief explanation about why that celebratory date represents an important milestone. Lewis brings international figures to life (famous and lesser-known) with his witty and uplifting prose which are peppered with little-known facts and accompanied by bright illustrative portraits from the hugely talented Charlotte MacMillan-Scott. This witty, unique celebration of queer history promises to inspire and empower readers with its wealth of bright stars.

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The life, dramatic reign, and enduring legacy of the pharaoh Ramesses the Great, with lessons for the present, from internationally acclaimed Egyptologist Toby Wilkinson “The author succeeds in bringing this distant age to life through telling detail and insightful analysis. . . . Whenever he can, the author takes advantage of opportunities to peer beneath the mask.”—The Economist Ramesses II ruled the Nile Valley and the wider Egyptian empire from 1279 to 1213 B.C., one of the longest reigns in pharaonic history. He was a cultural innovator, a relentless self-promoter, and an astute diplomat—the peace treaty signed after the Battle of Kadesh was the first in recorded history. He outbuilt every other Egyptian pharaoh, leaving behind the temples of Abu Simbel; the great hypostyle hall of Karnak; the tomb for his wife Nefertari; and his own memorial, the Ramesseum. His reputation eclipsed that of all other pharaohs as well: he was decried in the Bible as a despot, famed in literature as Ozymandias, and lauded by early antiquarians as the Younger Memnon. His rule coincided with the peak of ancient Egypt’s power and prosperity, the New Kingdom (1539–1069 B.C.). In this authoritative biography, Toby Wilkinson considers Ramesses’ preoccupations and preferences, uncovering the methods and motivations of a megalomaniac ruler, with lessons for our own time.

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Nikola Tesla was a major contributor to the electrical revolution that transformed daily life at the turn of the twentieth century. His inventions, patents, and theoretical work formed the basis of modern AC electricity, and contributed to the development of radio and television. Like his competitor Thomas Edison, Tesla was one of America's first celebrity scientists, enjoying the company of New York high society and dazzling the likes of Mark Twain with his electrical demonstrations. An astute self-promoter and gifted showman, he cultivated a public image of the eccentric genius. Even at the end of his life when he was living in poverty, Tesla still attracted reporters to his annual birthday interview, regaling them with claims that he had invented a particle-beam weapon capable of bringing down enemy aircraft. Plenty of biographies glamorize Tesla and his eccentricities, but until now none has carefully examined what, how, and why he invented. In this groundbreaking book, W. Bernard Carlson demystifies the legendary inventor, placing him within the cultural and technological context of his time, and focusing on his inventions themselves as well as the creation and maintenance of his celebrity. Drawing on original documents from Tesla's private and public life, Carlson shows how he was an "idealist" inventor who sought the perfect experimental realization of a great idea or principle, and who skillfully sold his inventions to the public through mythmaking and illusion. This major biography sheds new light on Tesla's visionary approach to invention and the business strategies behind his most important technological breakthroughs.

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This volume of Reiner Stach's acclaimed and definitive biography of Franz Kafka tells the story of the final years of the writer's life, from 1916 to 1924--a period during which the world Kafka had known came to an end. Stach's riveting narrative, which reflects the latest findings about Kafka's life and works, draws readers in with nearly cinematic precision, zooming in for extreme close-ups of Kafka's personal life, then pulling back for panoramic shots of a wider world blighted by World War I, disease, and inflation. In these years, Kafka was spared military service at the front, yet his work as a civil servant brought him into chilling proximity with its grim realities. He was witness to unspeakable misery, lost the financial security he had been counting on to lead the life of a writer, and remained captive for years in his hometown of Prague. The outbreak of tuberculosis and the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire constituted a double shock for Kafka, and made him agonizingly aware of his increasing rootlessness. He began to pose broader existential questions, and his writing grew terser and more reflective, from the parable-like Country Doctor stories and A Hunger Artist to The Castle. A door seemed to open in the form of a passionate relationship with the Czech journalist Milena Jesenska. But the romance was unfulfilled and Kafka, an incurably ill German Jew with a Czech passport, continued to suffer. However, his predicament only sharpened his perceptiveness, and the final period of his life became the years of insight.

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The definitive biography of enigmatic golfer, commentator, and performer David Feherty-one of the most universally beloved figures in the game.John Feinstein, who has spent four decades finding intriguing sports characters and narratives and turning them into classic books, chronicles the life and career of David Feherty. The two have known each other for years, beginning with Feinstein's work on A Good Walk Spoiled, researched and written at a time when Feherty was an excellent player, who won five times in Europe and was on the '91 Ryder Cup team, but also a functioning alcoholic. In retirement from the game, Feherty has sobered up, while his golf world persona has only grown in stature. Feherty is now a grand ambassador for golf, a man who is feted by US Presidents and respected by every big name in the game.Feinstein tells hilarious true tales about Feherty's time in the limelight and interactions with stars such as Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Payne Stewart, and Seve Ballesteros. He also details Feherty's struggles with alcoholism, the death of his son who was lost to addiction, and the highs and lows of Feherty's marriages. Feinstein captures the human being behind the athlete, and his triumphant rebound as a golf commentator after his athletic career fell apart. Feherty is fall-down-funny, self-deprecating, and a lifelong underdog who has thrived as a commentator and television interview host, and most recently as a touring standup comic, using the difficult experiences of his life as a source for humour and understanding, which Feinstein mines with an expert's touch.

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When death is dancing closer than you'd like, what becomes important? What do you need to tell your child? And how do you want to be remembered? A beautiful, tender, funny and poignant guide on how to really live, from a mother to her daughter. Ella Ward comes from a long line of irrepressibly charming raconteurs, letter-writers, storytellers and people who 'quite like giving toasts at parties'. And so, a few years ago, when Ella was 36 years old, with a husband and a young daughter, and was told that she had a rare cancer and might die, she decided that death wasn't going to stand in the way of her mothering her child.As Ella's treatment for her cancer began, she started drafting letters to her daughter. To tell her about life, love, death, the importance of cotton knickers and - above all - her family. The kind of people who weren't dissuaded by little things like cancer. Or war. Or loss. Or a charging elephant.This is a story of what we inherit, and how we become ourselves. This is the story of a family - a glorious, funny, exotic and gutsy family - but it's really a story about how your attitude to life, can shape your life. A time-travelling memoir from one mother, and the generations that came before her - these are twenty-seven letters about the good, the bad, the magical and the whole damn thing.Jaunty, brave, moving and immensely appealing, this is a gloriously endearing inspirational story in the tradition of Tuesdays with Morrie and The Last Lecture ... although with slightly more dry martinis.

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Joseph Frank's award-winning, five-volume Dostoevsky is widely recognized as the best biography of the writer in any language--and one of the greatest literary biographies of the past half-century. Now Frank's monumental, 2500-page work has been skillfully abridged and condensed in this single, highly readable volume with a new preface by the author. Carefully preserving the original work's acclaimed narrative style and combination of biography, intellectual history, and literary criticism, Dostoevsky: A Writer in His Time illuminates the writer's works--from his first novel Poor Folk to Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov--by setting them in their personal, historical, and above all ideological context. More than a biography in the usual sense, this is a cultural history of nineteenth-century Russia, providing both a rich picture of the world in which Dostoevsky lived and a major reinterpretation of his life and work.

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'Weir combines high drama with high passion while involving us in the domestic life of a most remarkable woman in an equally remarkable book' Scotland on Sunday The first full-length biography of an extraordinary love affair between one of the most important men of English History and a thoroughly modern woman.Katherine Swynford was first the mistress, and later the wife, of John of Gaunt, the Duke of Lancaster. Her charismatic lover was one of the most powerful princes of the fourteenth century and Katherine was renowned for her beauty and regarded as enigmatic, intriguing and even dangerous by some of her contemporaries. In this impressive book, Alison Weir has triumphantly rescued Katherine from the footnotes of history, highlighting her key dynastic position within the English monarchy. She was the mother of the Beaufort, then the ancestress of the Yorkist kings, the Tudors, the Stuarts and every other sovereign since - a prodigious legacy that has shaped the history of Britain.

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The prequel to The Crown: the first truly candid portrait of George V and Mary, the Queen's grandparents and creators of the modern monarchyShortlisted for the Elizabeth Longford Historical Biography prize and the History Reclaimed Book of the Year prizeThe lasting reputation of George V is for dullness. However throughout his reign, the monarch navigated a constitutional crisis, the First World War, the fall of thirteen European monarchies and the rise of Bolshevism. The suffragette Emily Davison threw herself under his horse at the Derby, he refused asylum to his cousin the Tsar Nicholas II and he facilitated the first Labour government.How this supposedly limited man steered the Crown through so many perils is a gripping tale. With unprecedented access to the Royal archives, Jane Ridley has been able to reassess the many myths associated with this dramatic period for the first time.'Wonderful... Never a dull paragraph' Ysenda Maxtone Graham, The Times'Magnificent... An evocative and touching portrait of a surprisingly impressive man' Philip Hensher, Spectator'A big, beautiful beast of a book. Fair, thorough and unexpectedly funny' Lucy Worsley

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First as a journalist and then a publicist at Warner Brothers Records for nearly twenty years, Barbara Charone has experienced, first-hand, the changes in the cultural landscape. Access All Areas is a personal, insightful and humorous memoir packed with stories of being on the cultural frontline, from first writing press releases on a typewriter driven by Tip Ex, then as a press officer for heavy metal bands taking the bus up to Donnington Festival with coffee, croissants and the much more popular sulfate. To taking on Madonna, an unknown girl from Detroit, and telling Smash Hits 'you don't have to run the piece if the single doesn't chart', and becoming a true pioneer in music, Charone continues to work with the biggest names in music, including Depeche Mode, Robert Plant, Foo Fighters and Mark Ronson at her agency MBCPR.The story of how a music-loving, budding journalist from a Chicago suburb became the defining music publicist of her generation, Access All Areas is a time capsule of the last fifty years, told through the lens of music.

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'Immersive and compelling. I read it in a single day! Everyone should take a plunge into this book.' CATHY RENTZENBRINK'The Tidal Year is some of the best writing on wild swimming that I have encountered.' MARIANNE LEVYFreya is still searching. For four years, she's been looking for a way to fill the empty space her brother's death left behind. Ready for another distraction, Freya decides to swim every tidal pool in Britain in a year with her friend Miri. The adventure takes them from a pool hidden in the cliffs of fishing-village Polperro to the quarry lagoon of Abereiddi via the Trinkie where locals meet each year to give the pool wall a fresh lick of paint. As Freya travels further from London, she finds herself closer to memories of her brother. With every swim, and every stranger they meet in the water, the challenge becomes more than just a way to explore the coast, but a journey of self-discovery.The Tidal Year is a true story about the healing power of wild swimming and the space it creates for reflection, rewilding, and hope. An exploration of grief in the modern age, it's also a tale of loss, love, female rage and sisterhood.'Funny, sad and honest, but ultimately also hopeful, The Tidal Year is a wonderful and welcome addition to the growing canon of books exploring the restorative power of wild swimming.' SOPHIE PIERCE

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*** SHORTLISTED FOR SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT BOOK OF THE YEAR AT THE SUNDAY TIMES SPORTS BOOK AWARDS 2023 ***'fascinating, frank, funny' Jim White, Daily Telegraph'insightful' Henry Winter, The Times'very entertaining ... great stories' Hawksbee & Jacobs, talkSPORT radio'an incredible book' The Football Show, Sky Sports News'Yeah, I'm all that plus a bag of chips''Come round my house and we'll have a fight on the front lawn''I'm as chuffed as a badger at the start of the mating season''I thought his bum cheeks looked very pert'Football management is like being a potato - you're never too far from the sack and everyone is constantly chipping away at you. It's not for the faint-hearted and unless you've got skin as thick as rhino and, more importantly, a wicked sense of humour, you've no chance of surviving.Ian Holloway - aka 'Ollie' - has all the above and more besides. His press conferences are the stuff of legend. He's been there, seen it and done it in his 40 years as player and manager, and has been entertaining football fans on and off the pitch for most of his life. He's been head honcho at clubs in all four divisions in English football, experiencing everything from the giddy heights of taking Blackpool to the Premier League to fighting relegation from the Football League with Grimsby Town. There's never been a dull moment.In the joyful How to Be a Football Manager, Holloway weaves a fantastically rich tapestry of hilarious anecdotes to reveal what being the boss is really like. This is not a handbook to tell you when to play a Christmas tree formation or throw on a false nine - it's about dealing with the ridiculous, fighting your corner and always having a comeback.

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'A multiple biography with overlapping chronology is a tricky feat and Buruma pulls it off magnificently.' Ben Macintyre, The TimesOn the face of it, the three characters here seem to have little in common - aside from the fact that each committed wartime acts that led some to see them as national heroes, and others as villains. All three were mythmakers, larger-than-life storytellers, for whom the truth was beside the point. Felix Kersten was a plump Finnish pleasure-seeker who became Heinrich Himmler's indispensable personal masseur - Himmler calling him his 'magic Buddha'. Kersten presented himself after the war as a resistance hero who convinced Himmler to save countless people from mass murder. Kawashima Yoshiko, a gender fluid Manchu princess, spied for the Japanese secret police in China, and was mythologized by the Japanese as a heroic combination of Mata Hari and Joan of Arc. Friedrich Weinreb was a Hasidic Jew in Holland who took large amounts of money from fellow Jews in an imaginary scheme to save them from deportation, while in fact betraying some of them to the German secret police. Sentenced after the war as a traitor and a con artist, he is still regarded by supporters as the 'Dutch Dreyfus'. All three figures have been vilified and mythologized, out of a never-ending need, Ian Buruma argues, to see history, and particularly war, and above all World War II, as a neat tale of angels and devils. In telling their often-self-invented stories, The Collaborators offers a fascinating reconstruction of what in fact we can know about these fantasists and what will always remain out of reach. It is also an examination of the power and credibility of history: truth is always a relative concept but perhaps especially so in times of political turmoil, not unlike our own.

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The surviving correspondence between Walter Benjamin and Theodor W. Adorno. This is the first time all of the surviving correspondence between Adorno and Benjamin has appeared in English. Provides a key to the personalities and projects of these two major intellectual figures. Offers a compelling insight into the cultural politics of the period, at a time of social and political upheaval. An invaluable resource for all students of the work of Adorno and especially of Benjamin, extensively annotated and cross-referenced.

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From the author of Serial Griller and South’s Best Butts, a cookbook of more than 125 everyday specialty recipes plus meaty stories and secret tips from butchers everywhere.Sometimes, the best way to get the best recipes is to just talk to your butcher. It’s an age-old adage that Matt Moore, author of Serial Griller and South's Best Butts and grandson of a butcher, took to heart—he’s traveled around the country and beyond to do just that. In Butcher on the Block, he shares stories, coveted family recipes, and expert tips from the people behind the counter who sell your meats, poultry, fish, vegetables, and trimmings.This all-inclusive book is carved into three separate sections:Butchering Primer, a quick prep of what a home cook might need to begin butchering at home, including step-by-step photographs of how to break down a chicken, fillet a fish, prep a bone-in pork chop, and slice up a beef tenderloin.Butcher Profiles, with behind-the-counter access and specialty recipes from renowned butchers and butcher shops around the world, including Hing Lung Company in San Francisco; Cara Mangini, author of The Vegetable Butcher; Red’s Best in Boston; Maison Mallard in France; and Tommie Kelly—the butcher at Matt’s own local Kroger’s. With recipes like Grilled Honey BBQ Chicken Wings with Ginger Scallion Sauce, DiSalvo’s Porchetta, and Matt’s grandfather’s Kibbeh Nayyeh (Lebanese-style tartare), you can simultaneously travel the country and meet the butcher on your block.And lastly, Matt’s own highly praised recipes, for grilling, barbecue, and all-around cooking to further your own butchering techniques—or to just cook what you get from the butcher’s. Recipes cover it all, from appetizers, sides, salads to meaty mains (including game) and vegetables—even desserts and drinks: Grilled Corn “Ribs” Bacon Buttermilk Cornbread Egg Drop Soup with Pork Belly Cracklins Roasted Bone Marrow with Country Bread Hangar Steak “New-Vide” Catch-all Paella Bacon Boulevardier Alaskan Ice Cream If you’re looking for exciting new cooking techniques, delicious recipes, good stories, and to support and celebrate local businesses, look no further than Butcher on the Block.

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TWELVE MOONS follows a year spent caught between the wild sea and the changing moon of the wide Northumberland skies. Caro Giles lives on the far edge of the country, with her tribe of daughters: The Mermaid, The Whirlwind, The Caulbearer and The Littlest One. She is at once alone and yet surrounded. Bound by circumstance, financial constraints, illness and the challenges of single motherhood, she has nowhere to go but the fierce landscape that surrounds her. Over the course of the year, the moon becomes her fellow traveller through dark times, and companion through joyful ones – and even when the sky is wreathed in cloud, the moon is still felt in the pull of the tides. TWELVE MOONS follows the lunar calendar, each chapter sharing a month and a moon, and shows the simmering power that lies in our often hidden daily lives. A dazzlingly honest memoir that while never turning away from the awkward truths of life, also shows how love will flourish if we can only find a space for ourselves. Set against windswept beaches and ancient hills, this is a story steeped in nature and landscape. Since our earliest days, mankind has looked up at the moon and seen a story reflected back. Twelve Moons is one of those stories – a book about finding yourself, your voice and a sense that even in the dark of the night, we are never truly alone.

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Richard I, the Lionheart, remains forever (and perhaps wrongly) the mythical king of England who preferred to wage war than to rule over his empire. The familiar epithet conveys all the principal features of his indomitable character: courage, valour, prowess, the pursuit of glory, the thirst for fame, generosity in war and peace, a sense of honour combined with a sort of haughty dignity made up of both arrogance and pride. In this book Jean Flori examines both Richard's role as prince and king in history and also analyses the different and sometimes controversial elements which, for the chroniclers of his day, helped to make Richard a true model of chivalry. Among the questions addressed are: What influences formed his character and determined his behaviour, real or assumed? Why did the image of Richard as a king who was also a knight so quickly and so soon supplant all others, creating a quasi-definitive point of reference? Why did Richard deliberately, it would appear, choose to present himself in this chivalric guise and disseminate this image of himself by what we would today call a 'media campaign', using all the methods then at his disposal, limited perhaps but by no means ineffective? Last but not least, what is the historical and ideological significance of the choice and, even more, success of this image, which has been adopted by history and disseminated by legend, an image based on historical accounts and documents in which history and legend are sometimes inextricably interwoven? Jean Flori's Richard Coeur de Lion was written to mark the eighth centenary of the death of the "knightly king". The book is a tour de force that provides the reader with a reappraisal of Richard's life as well as a study of the myth and reality of Richard's image as the personification of medieval chivalry. The first part of the book takes a straightforward chronological approach to Richard's life, from his birth in 1157, through conflict with his father, Henry II, and his brothers, to his coronation and his years of crusading and fighting the French; culminating in his death in battle in 1199. The second part analyses Richard's image in relation to medieval chivalry.

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Glamorous, fun and packed with scandalous anecdotes and exclusive interviews, Never Shaken, Never Stirred tells the story of two extraordinary sisters, Ann and Laura Charteris, who made marrying well an art form.While Laura eventually became the Duchess of Marlborough, Ann’s third and final husband was the journalist Ian Fleming, who she inspired to start writing the spy franchise he would become famous for. Along the way there were marriages, and affairs, with some of the biggest names of the twentieth century. The sisters’ collective husbands included a duke, four peers, Jacqueline Kennedy's former brother-in-law and the alleged illegitimate son of Queen Elizabeth’s uncle. There were also passionate flings with a Labour leader, a press baron and a cluster of film and literary stars.History would come to define Ann and Laura by the men they married, but their marriages are only part of the story. From royals to writers, film stars to politicians, aristocrats to academics, the Charteris sisters knew everybody that mattered, their countless friendships allowing them a privileged ringside seat during many momentous historical moments of the last century. Blazing a glamorous trail with their beauty, charm, riotous behaviour and energetic love affairs, the aristocratic Charteris sisters alternately delighted and scandalised British society, and their lives continue to do so to this day.

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____________________ ‘A superbly edited and evocatively illustrated collection that brings together everything that Scott wrote to his wife' - Sunday Telegraph 'Heartbreaking ... Love has seldom seemed more poignant' - Sunday Times 'Excellent ... the correspondence speaks for itself and the editors allow readers to draw their own conclusions' - Daily Telegraph ____________________ Through his alcoholism and her mental illness, his career highs (and lows) and her institutional confinement, Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald's devotion to each other endured for more than twenty-two years. Now, for the first time, the story of the love of these two glamorous and hugely talented writers can be given in their own letters. Introduced by an extensive narrative of the Fitzgeralds' marriage, the 333 letters - three-quarters of them previously unpublished or out of print - have been edited by the noted Fitzgerald scholars, Jackson R. Bryer and Cathy W. Barks. They are illustrated throughout with a generous selection of familiar and unpublished photographs.

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‘As the author reaches her 9th decade [this makes] for a fascinating insight into her life and world, albeit with discretion and leaving tantalising hints at what lies beyond. One for the fans (and friends).’ Crime Time'Leon's elegant, witty prose . . . is a joy. One of the best European novelists around' Amanda CraigIn a series of vignettes full of affection, irony, and good humor, Donna Leon narrates a remarkable life she feels has rather more happened to her than been planned.From a childhood in the company of her New Jersey family, with frequent visits to her grandfather's farm and its beloved animals and summers spent selling homegrown tomatoes by the roadside, Leon has long been open to adventure. In 1976, she made the spontaneous decision to teach English in Iran, before finding herself swept up in the early days of the 1979 Revolution. After teaching stints in China and Saudi Arabia, she finally landed in Venice. Leon vividly animates her decades-long love affair with Italy, from her first magical dinner when serving as a "chaperone" to a friend, to the hunt for the perfect cappuccino, to the warfare tactics of grandmothers doing their grocery shopping at the Rialto Market. Some things remain constant throughout the decades: her adoration of opera, especially Handel's vocal music, her advocacy for the environment, embodied in her passion for bees - which informs the surprising crux of the Brunetti mystery in Earthly Remains - and her eager imagination for crime as she watches unsuspecting travelers on trains. Yet as Leon inspects the cracks in the wall of a friend's bedroom, caused by the seven-story cruise ships making their way down Venice's canals, she admits regretfully that the thrill may be gone as mass tourism renders the city less and less appealing to its longtime chronicler.Having recently celebrated her eightieth birthday, Leon now confronts the dual challenges and pleasures of aging. Complete with a brief letter dissuading those hoping to meet Guido Brunetti at the Questura, and always suffused with music, food, and her fierce sense of humor, Wandering Through Life offers Donna Leon at her most personal.'Few detective writers create so vivid, inclusive and convincing a narrative as Donna Leon, the expatriate American with the Venetian heart' Washington Post

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Brought up as a Christian, Marina Nemat's peaceful childhood in Tehran was shattered when the Iranian Revolution of 1979 ushered in a new era of Islamic rule. After complaining to her teachers about her Maths lessons being replaced by Koran study, Marina was arrested late one evening. She was taken to the notorious prison, Evin, where interrogation and torture were part of the daily routine. Aged sixteen, she was sentenced to death. Her prison guard snatched her from the firing squad bullets but exacted a shocking price in return: marriage to him and conversion to Islam. Marina lived out her prison days as his secret bride, spending nights with him in a separate cell. Marina struggled to reconcile her hatred towards Ali and her feelings of physical repulsion with the fact that he had saved her life. When Ali was murdered by his enemies from Evin, and saved Marina's life for a second time, her feelings were complicated even further. At last she was able to return home, to her family and her past life, but silence surrounded her time as a political prisoner and the regime kept her under constant surveillance. Marina's world had been changed forever and she questions whether she will ever escape Iran and its regime or be free of her memories of Evin.

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An intimate and original memoir of love, grief and male friendship by one of Scotland's brightest young talents.'As perfect a portrait of friendship as I've ever read.'STEPHEN FRY'Lucid, lyrical, loaded . . . A love letter to friendship.'JACKIE KAY'A lovely book: bright and heartfelt, funny and refreshing.'ANDREW O'HAGAN'A beautiful, moving, life-affirming book.'IAN RANKINFriendships might just be the greatest love affairs of our lives . . .In 2018 poet and author Michael Pedersen lost a cherished friend, Scott Hutchison, soon after their collective voyage into the landscape of the Scottish Highlands. Just weeks later, Michael began to write to him. As he confronts the bewildering process of grief, what starts as a love letter to one magical, coruscating human soon becomes a paean to all the gorgeous male friendships that have transformed his life.'Boy Friends sees Pedersen illuminate these companions with a poet's eye, a comedian's timing - and a lover's care.'OBSERVER'Written with enough electricity that it seems to jolt off the page . . . Boy Friends opens up conversations about . . . the brunt of suicide, the circumstances of certain types of Scottish masculinity and where friendships fit into that.'SUNDAY TIMES

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Shortlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize for Non-Fiction 2023 New York Times Bestseller A poignant love letter to Bloom's husband and a passionate outpouring of grief, In Love reaffirms the power and value of human relationships. In January 2020, Amy Bloom travelled with her husband Brian to Switzerland, where he was helped by Dignitas to end his life while Amy sat with him and held his hand. Brian was terminally ill and for the last year of his life Amy had struggled to find a way to support his wish to take control of his death, to not submerge 'into the darkness of an expiring existence'. Written with piercing insight and wit, In Love is Bloom's intimate, authentic and startling account of losing Brian, first slowly to the disease of Alzheimer's, and then on becoming a widow. It charts the anxiety and pain of the process that led them to Dignitas, while never avoiding the complex ethical problems that are raised by assisted death. 'Poignant, kind, funny and ultimately redemptive' - Alain de Botton, author of The Course of Love 'In Love is a thrillingly beautiful, laser-eyed book about love, life, mortality and, most remarkably, about the ways in which no one of the three can be separated from the others' - Michael Cunningham, author of The Hours and A Home at the End of the World

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The extraordinary and exciting story of East Germany's first Black police officer.Samuel Meffire grew up as a Black German in East Germany and, against all odds, became East Germany's first Black police officer. In the nineties, marked by upheaval and unrest, he was the face of an anti-racism campaign, received invitations to politicians' receptions, talk shows and numerous media appearances. But as Europe changed, he slipped from being a model policeman into crime himself, eking out his days as a hunted criminal and prisoner. After seven years in prison, Meffire fought his way back to life and once again went to the front lines of social upheaval, but this time not as a police officer, but as a social worker for young people with a serious history of violence, and as a successful indie author of dystopian crime novels.In his memoir, Samuel Meffire gives an intimate insight into his emotional world. In the background and with an almost brutal frankness, he grippingly recounts his life across several continents and, looking back, gives us a fascinating insight into an overlooked period of history.

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'Can't Be Satisfied is that rare thing in musical biographies: a book that maps out not just a single, extraordinary life but the cultural forces that shaped it' Sean O'Hagan, Observer Muddy Waters was the greatest blues musician ever, and the most influential. He invented electric blues, inspired the Rolling Stones and created the template for the rock 'n' roll band and its wild lifestyle. Robert Gordon's definitive biography vividly chronicles the extraordinary life and personality of the musical legend who changed the course of modern popular music.

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The name of John Muir has come to stand for the protection of wild land and wilderness in both America and Britain. Born in Dunbar in the east of Scotland in 1838, Muir is famed as the father of American conservation, and as the first person to promote the idea of National Parks.Combining acute observation with a sense of inner discovery, Muir's writings of his travels through some of the greatest landscapes on Earth, including the Carolinas, Florida, Alaska and those lands which were to become the great National Parks of Yosemite and the Sierra Valley, raise an awareness of nature to a spiritual dimension. These journals provide a unique marriage of scientific survey of natural history with lyrical and often amusing anecdotes, retaining a freshness, intensity and brutal honesty which will amaze the modern reader.This collection, including the never-before-published Stickeen, presents the finest of Muir's writings, and imparts a rounded portrait of a man whose generosity, passion, discipline and vision are an inspiration to this day.

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“[A] remarkable journey.” —The TelegraphThe incredible life story of legendary cardiac surgeon and scientist Magdi Yacoub, an outsider who succeeded against the odds Veteran journalists Simon Pearson and Fiona Gorman follow the remarkable life of heart surgeon Magdi Yacoub from his formative years in Egypt, through spectacular success at Cairo University, to his long and distinguished career in Britain. Although at times he clashed with the medical establishment in London, Yacoub pioneered great advances in heart surgery. He was knighted in 1992, and in 2014, he was awarded the highest honor in the gift of the Queen, the Order of Merit.Written with unprecedented access and drawing on extensive interviews and research, the biography recounts how Yacoub transformed the treatment of children with congenital heart disease. He performed some of the first heart transplants in Britain and the first heart-lung transplants in Europe. At London’s Harefield Hospital, he created the greatest heart transplant center in the world. Among his patients are men and women who are still thriving more than thirty-five years after he gave them new hope. This story is also about science, the development of new medical techniques, and a deeper understanding of how the human body works. Today, at an age when most people have long since retired, Yacoub is still pushing the boundaries of scientific understanding and surgical know-how. He is also taking heart surgery to places that until now have had little access to cardiac treatment, developing centers of excellence across Africa, including in Egypt, where his hospital in Aswan has an international reputation, and a new center is rising in Cairo.Yacoub’s life is one of triumph and tragedy, success and failure, fierce criticism and high praise—it is also an enthralling journey through the worlds of scientific research and medical politics and ethics at the highest levels.

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Back from the Brink is a gripping and immediate account of the British government's handling of an unprecedented global financial catastrophe. Alistair Darling's knowledge and understanding make this not only a unique perspective on the events that rocked global capitalism, but a vital and fascinating historical document.

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“The story of the legendary martial arts fighter and kickboxer Oum Ry is by turns pulse-pounding, disturbing, and powerful. His is an astonishing life told beautifully by his daughter Zochada Tat and Addi Somekh. The book will grip you from its first pages and not let you go."—Jeff Chang, author of Water Mirror Echo: Bruce Lee and the Making of Asian America and Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop GenerationOum Ry (b.1944) is a former international champion kickboxer who first brought the Cambodian martial art Pradal Serey to the United States. When his family of silver engravers couldn't afford his food or schooling, he lived with monks until seeking out Pradal Serey masters, soon becoming national champion at 23 years old and one of the most famous fighters in the region. For 15 years, he toured Southeast Asia, and without ever suffering a knock-out, won more than 250 fights. After a young man’s dream-life of stardom, parties, and girls, his new wife gave birth to a child in 1975, two months before the Khmer Rouge entered Phnom Penh and threw the country into the chaos of civil war, where starvation, disease, and mass executions were common.Oum Ry survived the genocide though much of his family perished. He was saved many times from death in Cambodia due to fame, talent, and his resilience, but suffered a life-threatening attack during Southern California’s epic gang violence of the 1990s. Earlier, as a refugee with his young family in Chicago, Oum Ry learned English while working cleaning hotels. But within a few years, he had an investor in Long Beach, California and opened one of the first kickboxing gyms in the United States.This is Oum Ry's life story, which is propelled by his highly anticipated return to Cambodia in February 2022 to reunite with family and to pass on Pradal Serey traditions to the next generation.

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It is 1951, and Ugo Fornari, a young Italian doctor, abandons his practice in Abruzzo, setting off with his family to the heart of Africa. With no job lined up, he travels from post-war Europe to pre-independence Tanganyika, where Italians are unwelcome. He arrives on an island in Lake Victoria, where there is neither running water nor electricity, and he is the only doctor for 70,000 people. Many years later, he describes this adventure as a ‘leap into the light’. What challenges does Dr. Fornari face, and how does his wife Maria cope, with few resources and no knowledge of English or local languages? What is it like for his daughter, Paola, delivered on Ukerewe Island by her father’s hands, to grow up with her brother and sister in Musoma, Kigoma, and Mwanza, where their mother home-schools them? How does it feel to be sent off at the age of seven to boarding school in Nairobi, a journey of several days by steamer and train? Join Paola Fornari Hanna, as she recounts the joys and disappointments of her childhood in a corner of the British Empire at its twilight, and at the dawn of African independence. Chug along with Paola on steam trains through the cold Rift Valley to her convent school; feel her distress as illness detains her at the end of term; watch her tease the nuns with her classmates; celebrate as she leaves for Edinburgh University; share her exhilaration as she stands at Africa’s highest point, Kilimanjaro’s Uhuru Peak, almost 6,000 metres above sea level. This bygone world springs to life through Dr. Fornari’s black and white photos, Maria’s letters home to Italy, and Paola’s recollections. ‘Her writing is vivid and extremely readable. She has an eye for the unusual and the moving detail’ — Alexander McCall Smith.

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Giorgio de Chirico was one of the most controversial and consequential artists of the twentieth century a key member of the Paris avant-garde, he was a major influence on other artists, especially the nascent surrealists. His repertoire of motifs empty arcades, elongated shadows, mannequins, trains created images of forlorn emptiness that became iconic. Artists inspired by de Chirico s early work include Yves Tanguy, Pablo Picasso, Max Ernst, Salvador Dali, and Rene Magritte. His influence also extended beyond painting and included writers and poets Guillaume Apollinaire, Andre Breton, John Ashbery, and Sylvia Plath, filmmakers Jacques Prevert and Michelangelo Antonioni, and even David Bowie, who admired de Chirico s genderless tailors dummies that inspired his music videos. After the Great War, he turned toward neoclassicism and bitterly fell out with the surrealists and the mainstream modernist movement in the process, becoming an outspoken outsider of the art world. This in-depth examination of the artist s life and work by the world s foremost de Chirico authority is based on new archival research and offers a fresh view of de Chirico s relationship with surrealism, fascism, forgery, and the European avant-gardes.

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V.S. Srinivasa Sastri was a celebrated Indian politician and diplomat in the early twentieth century. Despite being hailed as the ‘very voice of international conscience’, he is now a largely forgotten figure. This book rehabilitates Sastri and offers a diplomatic biography of his years as India’s roving ambassador in the 1920s. It examines his involvement in key conferences and agreements, as well as his achievements in advocating for racial equality and securing the rights of Indians both at home and abroad. It also illuminates the darker side of being a native diplomat, including the risk of legitimizing the colonial project and the contradictions of being treated as an equal on the world stage while lacking equality at home. In retrieving the legacy of Sastri, the book shows that liberal internationalism is not the preserve of western powers and actors – where it too often represents imperialism by other means – but a commitment to social progress fought at multiple sites and by many protagonists.

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A Wall Street Journal BestsellerFormer IBM CEO Ginni Rometty delivers a powerful combination of memoir, leadership lessons, and big ideas on how we can all drive meaningful change.Ginni Rometty led one of the world's most iconic companies, and in Good Power she recounts her groundbreaking path from a challenging childhood to becoming the CEO of IBM and one of the world's most influential business leaders. With candor and depth, Rometty shares milestones from her life and career while redefining power as a way to drive meaningful change in positive ways for ourselves, our organizations, and for the many, not just the few—a concept she calls "good power."Rometty's "memoir with purpose" combines the experiences that defined her life—personal hurdles, high-stakes decisions, passionate advocacy—with the actionable advice of a coaching session to highlight lessons that shape authentic leadership. Behind-the-scenes stories and practical guidance offer us a blueprint for how we can all use good power to advance our careers, inspire our teams, improve our companies, and create healthier societies.The book begins with raw, vivid memories from Rometty's youth and early professional years as she recalls the trauma and the role models that formed her belief that how we lead is as important as what we achieve. She learns early on that good power is a choice available to everyone, even to those without money, status, or impressive titles.Rometty then shows us how her concept of good power evolved as she grew from a first-time manager to a transformative CEO. Stories told through the lens of five principles—be in service of others; build belief; know what must change and what must endure; steward good tech; be resilient—reveal tools that anyone can apply to achieve real change at any stage of their life and work.Rometty also encourages us to use good power at scale to bring about urgent societal change. She shares insights from her own journey to create a more equitable world by leading the SkillsFirst movement, which connects underserved populations with family-sustaining jobs by transforming hiring, education, and training.With heart, humility, and conviction, Good Power offers an inspiring, compelling guide to creating meaningful change in our lives.

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