Memoirs Books

Book SynopsisPOWER AND RESPONSIBILITY is the third volume of Alastair Campbell''s unique daily account of life at the centre of the Blair government. It begins amid conflict in Kosovo, and ends on September 11, 2001, a day which immediately wrote itself into the history books, changing the course of both the Bush presidency and the Blair premiership. In this volume, we see that New Labour''s honeymoon is well and truly over. In addition to detailing the continuing tensions at the top, here we find graphic accounts of a variety of domestic crises: foot-and-mouth disease and protests over fuel prices which almost brought Britain to a halt. Volume Three includes Peter Mandelson''s second resignation, the agonies of the Millennium Dome, and the most unexpected slow-handclapping in memory, when the Women''s Institute turned against Tony Blair. Yet despite all the problems - not least the most accident-prone manifesto launch in history, complete with deputy prime minister John Prescott punching a voter - Labour won a second successive landslide election victory. That triumph is intimately recorded here, alongside the high points of this period, such as devolution to Northern Ireland and the fall of Milosevic.Trade ReviewA compulsively fascinating record * Daily Telegraph (on Vol. 2) *A belter * Independent (on Vol. 2) *Instantly captivating * Spectator (on Vol. 2) *Alastair Campbell's diaries have the quality of Pepys ... people will be looking for insights and finding them in 100 years' time * Lord Alex Carlile (Vol. 1) *

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Book SynopsisPeeling the Onion is a searingly honest account of Grass'' modest upbringing in Danzig, his time as a boy soldier fighting the Russians, and the writing of his masterpiece, The Tin Drum, in Paris.It is a remarkable autobiography and, without question, one of Günter Grass'' finest works.By the Nobel Prize-winning author of The Tin Drum.Trade ReviewAn exquisitely constructed narrative... Peeling the Onion is a genuine masterpiece * Independent on Sunday *A memoir of rare literary beauty * New Yorker *As a writer, his influence still looms large, and Peeling the Onion is a reminder why. It has that same imaginative accuracy that made The Tin Drum a bestseller * The Times *An ingenious but treacherous text that glides constantly between past and present, first and third person, memory and imagination * Evening Standard *This subtle and expertly written book is really a memoir about forgetting -- Sebastian Faulks * Sunday Times *

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Book SynopsisTim Dee has been a birdwatcher all his life. His first book, The Running Sky (2009), described his first five birdwatching decades. In the same year he collaborated with the poet Simon Armitage on the anthology The Poetry of Birds. Since then he has written and edited several critically acclaimed books: Four Fields (2013), a study of modern pastoral, which was shortlisted for the 2014 Ondaatje Prize; Ground Work (as editor, 2017), a collection of new commissioned writing on place by contemporary writers; and most recently, Landfill (2018), a modern naturejunk monograph on gulls and rubbish. He left the BBC in 2018 having worked as a radio producer for nearly thirty years. He lives in three places: in a flat in inner-city Bristol, in a cottage on the edge of the Cambridgeshire Fens, and in the last-but-one house from the south western tip of Africa, at the Cape of Good Hope.Trade ReviewThe Running Sky has the makings of a classic. It's beautifully written, extraordinarily vigilant, and very moving...as we read it, we learn a lot about ourselves as well as the fellow creatures flying through, over and around our own lives -- Andrew MotionIts author has a forensic eye for detail and a gift for poetry...an intimate and erudite account... he is in the front rank of contributors to the literature of natural history * Daily Telegraph *Serious and playful...creates a powerful and intensely poetic paean to what others have called the wonder of birds * Guardian *A beautifully haunting and involving memoir. The writer's passion for birds becomes his way of expressing his whole relationship to landscape and history and family: unsentimental and urgently contemporary -- Tessa HadleyDee's extraordinary, beautifully written account of a life spent watching birds is a fine addition to the flourishing genre of British nature writing * Sunday Times *

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Set in the 1920s, this marvellously sensitive autobiography recreates the varied community of Nairn, with its fishermen and townsfolk, its crofters and its prosperous upper-middle-classes. Nairn has witnessed many of the triumphs and tragedies of Scottish history, and these are recalled with intuitive understanding. But it is also the scene of David Thomson''s formative years when he suffered an eye injury which nearly blinded him and shaped his whole future.Winner of the McVitie''s Prize and the first NCR Book Award For Non-Fiction

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Book SynopsisWritten in 1857, this is the autobiography of a Jamaican woman whose fame rivalled Florence Nightingale''s during the Crimean War. Seacole''s offer to volunteer as a nurse in the war met with racism and refusal. Undaunted, Seacole set out independently to the Crimea where she acted as doctor and ''mother'' to wounded soldiers while running her business, the ''British Hotel''. A witness to key battles, she gives vivid accounts of how she coped with disease, bombardment and other hardships at the Crimean battlefront.In her introduction to the very welcome Penguin edition, Sara Salih expertly analyses the rhetorical complexities of Seacole''s book to explore the richness of her story. Traveller, entrepreneur, healer and woman of colour, Mary Seacole is a singular and fascinating figure, overstepping all conventional boundaries. Jan Marsh, IndependentIt''s hard to believe that this amazing adventure story is the true-life experience of a Jamaican woman - it would make a great film. Andrea Levy, Sunday Times

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Book SynopsisA unique look into the childhood experiences of Gervase Phinn in Road to the Dales. Gervase tells of a life full of happiness, conversation, music and books shared with his three siblings, mother and father. This book is a snapshot of growing up in Yorkshire in the 1950s - reminisce with Gervase, and share in his personal journey - of school days and holidays as well as his tentative steps into the adult world. Devour numerous uproarious stories including the incident involving a broken greenhouse, crashing his brother''s newly restored bike as well as secrets about his first dates, adventures at summer camp, family trips to Blackpool and many other captivating tales. With a wicked ear for the comical, and a sharp eye for detail, Road to the Dales visits poignant moments, significant events and precious memories from a boy called Gervase Phinn.Gervase Phinn is an author and educator from Rotherham who, after teaching for fourteen ye

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Book SynopsisWhen the journalist Lynn Barber was 16, she was picked up at a bus-stop by an attractive older man who drew up in his sports car - and her life was almost wrecked. A bright confident girl, on course to go to Oxford, she began a relationship which, incredibly, was encouraged by her conventional, suburban parents and which took her into the louche, semi-criminal world of west London just as the 1960s began. Ruin beckoned, until one day she made an important discovery.''An Education'', the opening piece of this fascinating memoir, was highly praised when first published in Granta magazine, and is currently being filmed by the BBC with a Nick Hornby script.Trade ReviewCandid, unsentimental and extremely funny. I read it in one glorious go, laughing and crying throughout. -- Zoe Heller

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Book SynopsisGreg Mortenson is a former mountaineer and ER nurse, and is cofounding Director of the Central Asia Institute, raising $2.8 million dollars each year through tireless campaigning for modest individual donations. His previous book Three Cups of Tea has sold over 3 million copies in the US. He is the recipient of Pakistan's highest civil award (The Star of Pakistan) for his sixteen years work to promote education and peace in the region. He lives in Montana with his family.Mike Bryan has written or collaborated on twenty-five books, including Cal Ripken's bestseller The Only Way I Know.

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Book Synopsis''Although there is much in this world that is incomprehensible, you can nevertheless discover a meaning as long as you have managed to limit your field of search.''Fredrik Sjöberg - collector, romantic, explorer - spends his life tracing the smallest details of the natural world. In these two beautifully wrought tales he meditates on the joy of little things, childhood memories, long-forgotten Swedish entomologists, earthworms, wine-making, the National Parks of the United States, the richness of life and the strange paths it leads us on. ''Digressive, discursive and delightful'' Daily Telegraph''A joy . . . Fredrik Sjöberg''s best-selling memoir The Fly Trap marked him as a maestro of the episodic. Here, he completes a trilogy'' Nature''Thoroughly entertaining, beguilingly uncategorizable ... By his own admission Sjöberg has a butterfly mind ... What insures this approach against triviality is the author''s patient alertnTrade ReviewDigressive, discursive and delightful. -- Michael Kerr * Telegraph *A joy . . . Fredrik Sjöberg's best-selling memoir The Fly Trap marked him as a maestro of the episodic. Here, hecompletes a trilogy. * Nature *By his own admission Sjöberg has a "butterfly mind"; the effect of his narrative excursions amounts to a sort of Sebald-lite, albeit without the fictional element. What insures this approach against triviality is the author's patient alertness to pattern, to telling correspondence. -- Nat Segnit * Times Literary Supplement *Delightful, at once informative and often humorously digressive . . . a humane man of wide-ranging curiosity, Sjöberg writes with infectious passion. * Independent *

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Book SynopsisThe inspiring memoir of the superstar astronaut and TikTok sensation - now on her biggest space mission yet''Today I woke up on Earth. And I will fall asleep in space''In space the sun rises and sets 16 times a day. You fly over every sea, every mountain and desert, every city and every port. The most ordinary things -- eating, sleeping, brushing your teeth or cutting your hair -- have to be relearned, until they become familiar again. This is the story of Samantha Cristoforetti''s incredible journey to becoming an astronaut, and her journey beyond Earth.Her voyage as an apprentice astronaut began when she was in her early thirties: five years of intense training around the world, from Houston to Japan to the legendary Star City in Russia. Countless hours spent in centrifuges, spaceship simulators and under water for spacewalk practice. Then, one day, a rocket was waiting for her on the launch pad. And after eight minutes of wild ascent, she wasTrade ReviewAn incredible odyssey * The Financial Times *From the mundane to the sublime in a second. . . full of illuminating observations from what Cristoforetti calls the 'cosmic perspective ' * Guardian *Samantha Cristoforetti is remarkable. . . a brilliant book -- Jeremy Vine * BBC Radio 2 *Cristoforetti rocks. . . being awesome is part of the job. . . She belongs to a new category of astronauts who are just as adept at posting a witty Facebook post as they are at performing a science experiment in minimal gravity * Wired *An enthralling book. . . Many of us are dreaming of an escape from Earth at present - and Samantha Cristoforetti's absorbing tale of becoming an astronaut and venturing into space offers just that. . . She's a gifted writer -- Gwendolyn Smith * Mail on Sunday *Incredible detail and great writing. I do take exception with the title because when I arrived on ISS, Samantha was far from an apprentice astronaut -- Scott Kelly, author of EnduranceLately, I have become as fascinated by the way that humans relate to science and the natural world, as I am to the scientific breakthroughs themselves. . . So, this diary of what it is like to do through astronaut training for a 200-day mission to the International Space Station crossed my desk at exactly the right time. ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti writes with honesty. Her prose is simple and down to Earth, which increased my empathy for her story -- Stuart Clark * BBC Science Focus Books of the Year *

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Book SynopsisIn this profound and hopeful book, a mathematician and celebrated teacher shows how mathematics may help all of us—even the math-averse—to understand and cope with grief.Trade Review"How the fractal nature of grief is both the key to understanding it and the doorway to moving through it is what mathematician Frame explores in his unusual book Geometry of Grief: Reflections on Mathematics, Loss, and Life. After twenty years of working with the visionary father of fractals and another twenty years of teaching fractal geometry at Yale, Frame draws on a lifetime of loss and a lifetime of delicate attention to the details of aliveness we call beauty to interleave memoir and mathematics in an uncommon tapestry of thought, twining Borges and quantum mechanics, evolutionary biology and Islamic art, music and multiverse theory. . . . Attentiveness to beauty is the instrument of transcendence—that essential facet of Frame’s geometry of grief and readjustment." -- Maria Popova * The Marginalian *"Frame has written a poignant and beautiful book. . . . Treat yourself to the wisdom of this sweet, gentle soul." -- Steven Strogatz * @stevenstrogatz *"Frame's new book, Geometry of Grief, suggests that thinking about fractals—and thinking geometrically, in general—can help us process life's most difficult moments... Zooming out instead of in, we might see our individual griefs as small versions of other tragedies in the world. Maybe, Frame says, thinking of grief as a fractal can inspire empathy and lead us to channel our sadness into helping others." * Boston Globe *"This brief, intriguing personal meditation is inspired by mathematician Michael Frame’s lifelong love of geometry — including 20 years’ collaboration with fractal geometer Benoit Mandelbrot — and the childhood loss of his aunt, who set him on his career path. He writes: 'Grief informs geometry and geometry informs grief.' How so? His epiphany on first understanding any beautiful mathematical idea is always tinged with sadness, because it is unrepeatable. With quirky illustrations, he integrates the lives of his Mom and Dad." * Nature *"The word fractal, from the Latin fractus meaning 'broken glass,' was coined by Benoît Mandelbrot, who brought mathematics closer to nature by showing that iterating a simple geometric pattern can result in complex, rough-edged, and beautiful shapes. In Geometry of Grief, Frame, a former colleague of Mandelbrot’s at Yale, aims to unite maths with our lived experience still further by showing how fractals both inform and can help us cope with the experience of irreversible loss. . . . Ambitious and moving.” * Times Literary Supplement *"Frame has written a wonderful memoir. Combining his passion for mathematics and his mastery of the geometry of fractals, in this text he seeks to educate, encourage, and inspire readers in a personal way. Identifying grief as irreversible, Frame makes surprising connections to foundational mathematical concepts such as continuity and self-similarity. . . . Here, he elucidates the foundational intertwining of science and grief in his own life through deeply and surprisingly personal stories from lived experience. Weaving together references from literature, art, popular culture, and mathematics, Frame clarifies the transcendence found through grief as a universal human experience. The text offers a wealth of resources for curious readers and is a must have for the bookshelf of any mathematics teacher who wants to inspire curiosity in students or relate with empathy to a student suffering loss. This book will be a wonderful addition to any advanced or graduate-level seminar, and preprofessionals in mathematics education will certainly benefit from exploring the book's diverse fields of discourse. Highly recommended." * Choice *"Frame writes: ‘Times folds up. So many ghosts crowd into my head. Parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, dear friends, students… And far too many cats.’ Live long enough oneself and one realizes that half or more of one’s friends and relatives have departed the planet, ‘summoned,’ as the poet Robert Southey had it, ‘on the grand tour of the universe,’ before one. One lives with it, saddened yet grateful oneself still to be in the game. Yet some holes never successfully fill up." * Commentary *“With poignancy and audacity, Frame builds an unexpected bridge between mathematical beauty and human sorrow, illuminating both.” -- Francis Su, author of "Mathematics for Human Flourishing"“I expected to enjoy the experience of thinking in fresh ways with Frame about grief—and encountering his love of cats, really of all nature, made manifest on the page. What blew me away were the exciting new connections among love, grief, beauty, and resilience that flowered in my mind as I read. Immersed in Frame’s world of geometry, including fractals, and its applications to real-world emotions, I sometimes felt afloat in a mysterious, and always inviting, dream. It’s a beautiful place for all of us to spend time.” -- Barbara J. King, author of "How Animals Grieve"“With concision and compassion, Frame shows how a mathematical mind makes sense of a grieving heart. The result is a peculiar, wise, and beautiful book.” -- Ben Orlin, author of "Math with Bad Drawings" and "Change Is the Only Constant"“A unique, meaningful, and moving work that connects the irreversibility of loss that comes with grief and the irreversibility of first deeply understanding something—particularly something mathematical.” -- Susan Jane Colley, Oberlin College, editor of "American Mathematical Monthly"“Captured perfectly an experience that I've long tried to put into words but couldn't—the nostalgic sense that comes immediately after a discovery. It's astonishing how so many important ideas come to us in an almost dream-like state, fully formed and with a hazy beauty that somehow falls away when we more fully work out to implications of that idea and put it into words and onto paper; the whole process makes the idea more real but somehow less charming." -- Christina Stankey, medical student and former student of Michael Frame“Frame believes everyone can fall in love with math if it’s presented with empathy and humor and clarity and context. He portrays math as math-lovers know it: a beautiful garden, a place of curiosity and delight, a tribute to human creativity and the wonders of nature.” -- Steven Strogatz, from the foreword to "Fractal Worlds"Table of ContentsPrologue 1 Geometry 2 Grief 3 Beauty 4 Story 5 Fractal 6 Beyond Appendix: More Math Acknowledgments Notes Index

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Book SynopsisStates of Plagueexamines Albert Camus's novelas a palimpsest of pandemic life, an uncannily relevant account of the psychology and politics of a public health crisis. As one of the most discussed books of the COVID-19 crisis, Albert Camus's classic novelThe Plaguehas become a new kind of literary touchstone. Surrounded by terror and uncertainty, often separated from loved ones or unable to travel, readers sought answers within the pages of Camus's 1947 tale about an Algerian city gripped by an epidemic. Many found in it a story about their own livesa book to shed light on a global health crisis. In thirteen linked chapters told in alternating voices, Alice Kaplan and Laura Marris hold the past and present ofThe Plaguein conversation, discovering how the novel has reached people in their current moment. Kaplan's chapters explore the book's tangled and vivid history, while Marris's are drawn to the ecology of landscape and language. Through these pages, they find that their sense oTrade Review“Camus argued that ‘The true work of art is one that says the least.' La Peste is such a work, and States of Plague is a moving, thoughtful, and scrupulous examination of both the novel and its readers, the book’s inheritors.” * Times Literary Supplement *"Across 13 insightful, deeply personal chapters, Kaplan and Marris explore the human side of communal trauma. Many chapters provide the sociohistorical context for understanding Camus, covering topics ranging from colonial cemeteries to toxic Oranian politics, the messy denouement of world war, and beyond. Other chapters trace the author’s experiences and choices in writing the novel—his writer's block, narrative identity, and literary restraint—and how he was received by the literary establishment. Importantly, the authors avoid scholarly detachment and instead share their insightful, often vulnerable, reflections in evocative prose that serves to reinforce the deeply humanistic importance of Camus’s thought." -- L.A. Wilkinson * CHOICE *"In this mélange of history, literary analysis, and memoir, the authors explore the intersection between a celebrated novel, current realities, scholarship, language, and the tricks that time and circumstance play on all of them. Seasoned literary historian Kaplan and poet and translator Marris, whose new translation of The Plague was published in 2021, team up to cultivate a deeper understanding of Camus’ classic novel. In alternating short essays, they braid together their distinct sensibilities to offer fresh insight and added significance to a canonical mid-20th-century book. . . . This is a notable addition to the literature about an indispensable French author." * Kirkus *"This intelligent study goes a long way in highlighting Camus's enduring legacy." * Publishers Weekly *“I thought I knew both The Plague and what it brings to the story of our own plague experience. After reading Kaplan and Marris’s States of Plague, I realize I could not have been more mistaken. This is a brilliant book that is always eloquent, often insightful, and, at times, simply heartbreaking.” * Robert Zaretsky, author of "Victories Never Last: Reading and Caregiving in a Time of Plague" *“Turning the intensity of a lockdown gaze on The Plague, Kaplan and Marris restore to Camus's constrained and unsettling allegory a world of associations, from occupied Paris in World War II to crumbling colonial cemeteries in Algiers. These erudite but highly personal reflections spiral outward from careful readings of the novel, relieving the mind like the ventilation of a long-closed room.” * Emily Ogden, author of "On Not Knowing: How to Love and Other Essays" *“In States of Plague, Kaplan and Marris combine their thought-provoking personal impressions with brilliant critical analyses based on the novel’s wealth of cultural, historical, and political contexts. Their complementary readings function both as a helpful introduction to The Plague and eye-opening observations about the novel’s contemporary relevance.” * Raymond Gay-Crosier, emeritus, University of Florida *“Reading this fascinating and often meditative collection of essays by two subject experts who are skilled readers and gifted writers helps us understand the sheer importance of looking. Even if metaphors fail, even if language only serves to illuminate what is impossible to beautify, seeing what is happening in the world is the only way to engage it.” * Full Stop *Table of ContentsPreface ix 1 We, Dr. Rieux 2 Rat Eurydice 3 Les séparés 4 On Restraint 5 Fieldwork 6 Half-Life 7 Atmospheric Changes 8 Toxic City 9 The Essay Garden 10 The Endless Sentence 11 Anthologies of Insignificance 12 The Ends of Wars and Plagues Are Messy 13 Blood Memory Acknowledgments Notes Sources Index

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewIt was the discovery of the essays celebrating his childhood and youth that altered my perception of him, from a thinker to a writer whose intellectual lucidity was a product of the wealth - the sensual immediacy and clarity - that had been heaped on his senses -- Geoff DyerProbably no European writer of his time left so deep a mark on the imagination -- Conor Cruise O'BrienWhat will strike many readers is the author's extraordinarily evocative language, his astonishing facility to create memorable phrases and take readers to places most have never been but where, because of his artistry, they feel immediately at home. Much eloquent-often lyrical-evidence that the author deserved his Nobel Prize. * Kirkus Reviews *

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Book Synopsis''HILARIOUS AND OUTRAGEOUS'' CHRIS EVANS THE HILARIOUS FULL-THROTTLE MEMOIR FROM ONE OF THE BIGGEST CHARACTERS IN UK MOTOR RACINGSHORTLISTED FOR THE TELEGRAPH SPORTS BOOK AWARDS 2020 Two-time championship-winning and record-breaking racing driver, Jason Plato is a living, breathing example of what you shouldn''t do if you want to become a professional racing driver: DO NOT: Steal a JCB in Monaco and end up in prison there - twice Kill Bernie Ecclestone (almost) Choose fags and booze over the gym Give Prince Charles the finger on the M42 Make enemies with a 6ft 6 rival who is a black belt in everything Since joining the Williams Touring Car team in 1997 he has had more race wins than Lewis Hamilton and Stirling Moss, competed in more races than Jenson Button and set the largest number of fastest laps ever. But he''s also a rule breaker who has had more than his fair sTrade ReviewPure entertainment . . . So much fun . . . His journey from outrageous teenage hijinks to the rough-and-tumble of driver feuding tends to prompt involuntary reading noises, be they barks of laughter or gasps at his audacity * Guardian, Best Sports Books of 2019 *Hilarious and outrageous * Chris Evans *As entertaining as watching him drive, a cracking read! * Sir Chris Hoy *I read this in the hope that it would teach me everything I need to know so that one day I can become a racing driver although I think I may have left it too late... * Howard Donald, Take That *Top class chauffeur, sublime broadcaster, ultimate party honey badger. These are the qualities I know and adore about JP. He taught me how to nail a hot lap around Rockingham and I've been in a speed jive ever since. Jason can burn the candle at both ends and in the middle yet still deliver the business. * Suzi Perry, Fifth Gear *Jason Plato is one of the most gifted racing drivers of his generation! * Damon Hill *Jason is a total fruitcake! * Jody Scheckter, Former F1 World Champion *Irreverent * iNews, The best Christmas car gifts *Plato is adept at telling a story. Totally authentic. There's plenty of laughs to be had and insight on offer * Autosport *It makes for one of the great sporting life stories . . . Forget everything you thought about sports stars and any expectations of sports autobiographies. Plato is truly an unconventional sportsman, and this is truly an unconventional autobiography, but it is all the better for being so * NB Magazine *The frank autobiography of British Touring Car Championship legend * Motorsport News, Christmas Gift Guide *There's plenty of laughs to be had and insight on offer * Motorsport News *An account of a larger-than-life character whose life outside of the car is just as exhilarating as in it * NB Magazine *

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Book Synopsis''Outstanding... An elegant masterpiece... Wry but also warm and generous'' Roxane Gay''Funny, exciting, vulnerable - truly visionary'' Alexander CheeTen days after calling off her wedding, CJ Hauser went on an expedition to study the whooping crane. After a week wading through the gulf, she realised she had almost signed up to live somebody else''s life.In this intimate, frank and funny memoir in essays, CJ Hauser lets go of ''how life was supposed to be'' and goes looking for more honest ways of living. She kisses internet strangers, officiates a wedding, visits a fertility clinic. She reads Rebecca in the house her new boyfriend shared with his ex-wife and rewinds Katharine Hepburn in The Philadelphia Story to learn how not to lose yourself in a relationship. She writes about friends and lovers, ghosts and robots, grief and heartbreak, blood family and chosen family, and asks what more expansive definitions of love might offer uTrade ReviewOutstanding . . . An elegant masterpiece . . . Wry but also warm and generous -- Roxane GayThoughtful and fitfully funny . . . Across 17 confessional essays, we find [CJ] furtively spreading her grandparents' ashes at their old house in Martha's Vineyard, contemplating breast reduction surgery and reflecting on her relationships with a high-school boyfriend and a divorcee who is clearly still in love with his ex * Guardian, Best Memoirs of 2022 *Brilliant and beautiful . . . An absolute must-read -- Frances Cha, author of IF I HAD YOUR FACEHauser is refreshingly candid and self-aware. They're unafraid to get into the hard stuff-and it's that vulnerability that makes their writing so accessible. Simultaneously clever, heartfelt, and wrenching, The Crane Wife underlines the messy relationship we all have with love * TIME, 100 Must-Read Books of 2022 *Bold and brilliant and psychologically exquisite, CJ Hauser is a deeply gifted and generous writer. THE CRANE WIFE is enthralling -- Charlotte Fox Weber, author of WHAT WE WANTSometimes a viral essay is just a viral essay. Other times, as with Hauser's story of breaking off her engagement (written for The Paris Review), a piece that spoke to millions will lead to something bigger - in this case, an absorbing memoir in essays * New York Times Book Review, Editors' Pick *Funny and tender * Sun *After reading this memoir-in-essays by the warm, wise, wry, and wonderful CJ Hauser, author of the viral Paris Review essay "The Crane Wife," you'll have to go fix your face. Were you crying laughing or just crying? Both? Splash some cold water on your cheeks. That's it. Now, go forth in peace with a new understanding of what it means to live and love * Garden & Gun, Best Southern Books of 2022 *A deeply personal and vivacious memoir . . . eye-wateringly funny . . . [and] intensely introspective as she focuses on what she is looking for and what she feels is missing * Irish Examiner *Stunning and interrogative. . . Brilliant. . . Calling Hauser 'honest' and 'vulnerable' feels inadequate. She embraces and even celebrates her flaws, and she revels in being a provocateur. . . Much has been written on the themes Hauser excavates here, yet her perspective is singular, startlingly so. Many narratives still position finding the perfect match as a measure of whether we've led successful lives. The Crane Wife dispenses with that. For that reason, Hauser's worldview feels fresh and even radical * Oprah Daily *Intimate, all-too-relatable magic. Hauser writes like she's whispering hard-earned secrets to a friend, picking apart how she has been held hostage to her own fantasies about love and happiness in warm and vulnerable scenes. . . What a gift it is, to have the curtains lift and let us all in * Electric Lit *As Hauser grapples with the changing shape of her life story, it's fitting that the shape of each essay and, indeed, the shape of the collection itself, are self-consciously experimental in form. . . Reading The Crane Wife is a bit like following Hauser into the Mirror Maze, her voice as narrator guiding the way through and out. Whether writing about familial or cultural stories, each text becomes a mirror in which Hauser sees herself reflected back. And in her willingness to turn inward, to truly face herself, Hauser's essays open outward, becoming themselves mirrors into which readers might gaze * Ploughshares *I absolutely LOVED these essays. I knew I ought to ration myself to one a day in order to prolong the joy and fascination of them, but I just couldn't: I had to carry on reading and reading, like eating a whole packet of jelly babies in one sitting. What a fantastic, original, funny and touching voice! C J Hauser is a wondrous writer. This book will give so much happiness -- Cressida Connolly, author of AFTER THE PARTYCompassionate and funny and brave. The book is a masterclass in life writing, and a lesson in how to live a life outside the narratives that would contain us. CJ is a master story weaver. I was left wanting more, in the best way possible -- Charlie Gilmour, author of FeatherhoodIn The Crane Wife, Hauser undertakes a new way for her to tell stories from her life, playing with history and personal history, exploring the possible hidden truths in her family's past and her own. The result is like interconnected short stories but about her life, the person she is and was, maybe even the person she never knew herself to be. Funny, exciting, vulnerable - truly visionary. -- Alexander Chee, author of QUEEN OF THE NIGHT and HOW TO WRITE AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOVELThe Crane Wife more than delivers on the immense promise of the viral essay that served as its source. My goodness is it funny, but also so devastatingly honest and bracing. Reading it is like taking a long road trip with your wisest, sharpest friend and talking the entire way. -- R. Eric Thomas, bestselling author of Here For ItThe Crane Wife is brilliant and beautiful - the vulnerability of her viral essay is expanded to include immense humour, pondering and further misadventures of the heart. An absolute must-read. I will be gifting this book all year long -- Frances Cha, internationally bestselling author of IF I HAD YOUR FACEIn this perceptive and probing work, Hauser brilliantly parses the myths that shaped her understanding of love. . . Sparkling. . . A thrillingly original deconstruction of desire and its many configurations * Publishers Weekly, starred review *Hauser is a delightful and agile writer, capable of speaking in multiple registers, but what all of her essays have in common is honesty, wisdom, a certain loopiness-she's an old soul with a fresh perspective and an energetic, wandering mind. The result is an imaginative and beautiful memoir, one that'll be passed through the secret sisterhood of crane wives for years. -- Jennifer SeniorReaders looking for something a little different in a memoir will not be disappointed. The strongest essays exemplify Hauser's keen awareness about life so far: things don't always work out as planned, love is complicated, and trusting your gut is, sometimes, the best option. * Library Journal *Perceptive and witty * Shelf Awareness *Intimate, witty and beautifully crafted * Elle *"I am a kind of breakup pro," Hauser writes late in this lively, thoughtful, and often funny set of personal essays-at a point when the reader has learned much about how unlucky in love she's been. . . Hauser makes a welcome effort to talk about both love and culture in unconventional ways. . . A smart, inviting, and candid clutch of self-assessments * Kirkus Reviews *A staccato, funny, barbed, metaphor-laced, and thought-provoking memoir-in-essays. . . No matter her focus, Hauser's deductions about human nature are always arresting, delving, fresh, and exhilarating * Booklist *While it's always difficult to summarize an essay collection, what holds The Crane Wife together is Hauser's unpacking of emotional truths: who do we love, and why, and what happens when they're gone? When we're alone? When we forget what it was like to love them? * LitHub *

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Book SynopsisBBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK, OBAMA 2021 BOOK PICK and INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER''Hunger was a constant, reliable friend in Mei Guo. She came second only to loneliness.'' In China she was the daughter of professors. In Brooklyn her family is ''illegal.'' Qian is just seven when she moves to America, the ''Beautiful Country'', where she and her parents find that the roads of New York City are not paved with gold, but crushing fear and scarcity. Unable to speak English at first, Qian and her parents must work wherever they can to survive, all while she battles hunger and loneliness at school. Thus begins an extraordinary story that describes, in vivid colours, days labouring in sweatshops and sushi factories, nights scavenging the streets for furniture, and the terrifying moment when the family emerges from the shadows to seek emergency medical treatment for Qian''s mother. Qian Julie Wang''s memoir is an unfTrade ReviewA story that needs to be heard. Moving, beautiful, heartbreaking and even funny . . . I never wanted it to end -- Philippa PerryNow a successful lawyer, Qian is working through her trauma in this book, but it's joyous too, with moments of brightness breaking through even the most trying times * Sunday Times, Books of the Year *Elegantly affecting . . . Qian Julie Wang tells a remarkable story of displacement, heartache and resilience * Guardian, Best Biographies and Memoirs of 2021 *Deeply compelling . . . I was moved by the love and resilience of this family thrust into darkness. The book casts an urgent light on a reality that extends way beyond America's borders -- Hisham Matar, author of The ReturnA powerful, gripping insight into the world of an undocumented migrant in New York . . . beautifully written, with vivid scenes that linger in the mind long after finishing it -- Helena MerrimanSharply observed . . . Wang's story leaves the reader wishing that wanting a better future, and working hard for it, wasn't illegal in a country that has been built on the back of immigrants * FT *Astonishing . . . In restrained but beautiful prose, Wang honours her family's sacrifices, but alerts us to the urgent realisation that they should not be necessary -- Nesrine MalikIntricate and penetrating . . . a beautiful and hopeful read that also underlines what can truly happen to people who are simply seeking refuge * Stylist, an Unmissable Memoir for Summer 2021 *The must-read book of 2021 * Marie Claire *This beautifully expressed memoir of the immigrant experience charts her parents' struggles to survive as "illegals" in New York while their daughter battles hunger and loneliness at school, and is all the more moving for being related from a child's point of view * The Bookseller, Editor's Choice *A vital and unforgettable read * Refinery29 *A heart-wrenching and intimate account of life under the ever-present threat of deportation * Woman's Own Magazine *Heart-wrenching . . . A memoir about resilience and overcoming the odds, about finding the small moments of joys which punctuate even the grimmest of childhoods * Bad Form *Consider this remarkable memoir a new classic * Publishers Weekly, Starred Review *A potent testament to the love, curiosity, grit, and hope of a courageous and resourceful immigrant child. Engaging readers through all five senses and the heart, Wang's debut memoir is a critical addition to the literature on immigration as well as the timeless category of childhood memoir * Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review *Heartrending, unvarnished, and powerfully courageous, this account of growing up undocumented in America will never leave you -- Gish Jen, author of The ResistersBeautiful Country rings with power and authenticity. Wang's searing exploration reveals how she and her family were forced to navigate the yawning cracks in the American Dream. An eloquent, thought-provoking and touching memoir -- Jean Kwok, author of Girl in Translation and Searching for Sylvie LeePowerful . . . A haunting memoir of people and places that will stay with readers long after the last page * Library Journal *

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Book SynopsisEscape to Languedoc in this poignant and transportative true account of life in a beautifully restored house in the south of France''This love affair between an English family and a very old French house is by turns turbulent, lyrical and tragic . . . Enriched by an insatiable, ever-eager curiosity, he takes us down many a side alley, adding another dimension to the timeless story of what it is that makes France irresistible'' MICHAEL PALIN''What a wonderful book. Exquisitely written, it is by turns laugh-out-loud funny then suddenly, unexpectedly and profoundly moving... an utter joy and a treat to read from the first to last pages'' JAMES HOLLAND''He writes with genuine emotion . . . He writes beautifully about life in a French village'' DAILY MAIL________One day a Londoner and his wife went a little crazy and bought a crumbling house in deepest Languedoc. It was love at first sight.Over the years these LoTrade ReviewA timeless story of what it is that makes France irresistible -- Michael PalinHe writes with genuine emotion . . . He writes beautifully about life in a French village. The most enjoyable parts of this book are his descriptions of the French countryside * Daily Mail *Elegant, captivating, and sprinkled with self-deprecating humour. Dolby is a writer of abundant talent. -- Peter Kerr, author of Snowball OrangesWonderful. Exquisitely written, it is by turns laugh-out-loud funny then suddenly, unexpectedly and profoundly moving, wistful and touching: a homage to a place, to magical moments in time. An utter joy and a treat to read from the first to last pages * James Holland, author of Brothers in Arms *An unashamed love letter to France from someone who deeply admires the country * UK Time News *This love affair between an English family and a very old French house is by turns turbulent, lyrical and tragic. With often embattled enthusiasm Dolby describes the process of making 1 Place de l'Eglise part of the family. Enriched by an insatiable, ever-eager curiosity, he takes us down many a side alley, adding another dimension to the timeless story of what it is that makes France irresistible. -- Michael Palin

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Book Synopsis''This is the kind of book I wish I had access to as a young mum'' Nadiya Hussain___________What does it mean to be a parent in a space where you are the minority?Meandering through a supermarket highway of camembert and baguettes, Priya Joi heard a heart-stopping confession about her daughter''s identity that made her entire being implode like a dying star. Confronted with the fact that maybe her daughter was not entirely at peace with her appearance, she suddenly had to grapple not only with motherhood but also how to talk to her kid about race and identity.In M(other)land, Joi writes powerfully about how her personal and cultural identity intersect with motherhood - and how they inform her identity as a (British-Indian) parent and step-parent. The book is her powerful, witty response to the absence of an inclusive, accessible blueprint for navigating life as a multi-faceted mother. By sharing her own story, she writes into this sil

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Book SynopsisPresents a memoir of a young historian, who was admitted in England's largest psychiatric institution, Colney Hatch Lunatic Asylum, later known as Friern Hospital. This memoir tells the story of author's madness years, set inside the wider story of the death of the asylum system in the twentieth century.Trade ReviewEloquent, compassionate, and utterly absorbing . . . The Last Asylum is the best sort of memoir, transcending the purely personal to confront a larger social history -- Sarah WatersBeautiful . . . it is hard to write well enough about this book because it is so good -- Susie Orbach * Independent *A wise, considered and timely book -- Hilary MantelMoving, brave and intelligent -- Susan Hill * The Times *Superb. Riveting, insightful and relentlessly honest -- Darian LeaderAn impressive book, strong on narrative, deeply felt and measured in tone... The Last Asylum will stand the test of time. * Literary Review *A gripping (often painful) account of madness, a fascinating description of psychoanalysis, a historical reflection on asylums and a meditation of the interrelationships between care and cure... Unsparing [and] subtly theoretical, an endeavor not only worth reading, but worth emulating. * LA Review of Books *A fascinating if harrowing journey . . . Taylor is a deft and engaging historian * Washington Post *Barbara Taylor's [memoir] is not to be missed . . . An extraordinarily measured, fascinating and honest account, that stands out within the genre... Her book can be compared with Helen Macdonald's H is for Hawk . . . Barbara Taylor is to be applauded for an important and original contribution * Metapsychology *

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Book Synopsis''[A] beautifully written investigation of grief ... As an exploration of love and loss, as a portrait of a person and of the nature of personhood, this book is about as true as any I have read'' James McConnachie, Sunday TimesAn audacious and beautiful account of grief and who we are. Memoir, neuroscience and myth interweave to create a book unlike any otherWhen celebrated neuropsychologist Paul Broks'' wife died of cancer, he found himself plunged into the world of the bereaved. As he experienced the pain, alienation and suffering that make us human, his clinician-self seemed to watch on with keen interest. He embarked upon a voyage of experience: a journey through grief, philosophy, consciousness, humanity and magical thinking - seen through the prism of a lifetime''s work in neuroscience. Fusing an account of living with and recovering from loss with thought-provoking meditations on the nature of the mind and the self, The Darker the Night, the BrigTrade Review[A] beautifully written investigation of grief ... As an exploration of love and loss, as a portrait of a person and of the nature of personhood, this book is about as true as any I have read -- James McConnachie * Sunday Times *A wonderful, strange and genre-defying book -- Adam Zerman * Standpoint *A rewarding mind to spend some time with -- David Aaronovitch * The Times *The Darker the Night, The Brighter the Stars is a work of extraordinary insight and imagination. Broks is a 21st century Dante of the human psyche, guiding us on a journey full of surprise, erudition, and wit -- David George Haskell * author of The Forest Unseen and The Songs of Trees *In this gorgeous kaleidoscope of a book, the neuroscientist Paul Broks takes us image by image, story by story, into an exploration of life with all its brilliant hues of grief and despair, joy and resilience, biology and society. There's science here, and curiosity, and humanity, all forming a remarkable portrait of who we are - and who we hope to be -- Deborah Blum, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist * author of The Poisoner’s Handbook *Broks weaves many threads - memoir, neuroscience, and metaphysics - into a rich fabric of reflection, speculation and deep feeling. This is a work that defies categorization, fusing non-fiction and imagination into a single instrument of piercing insight and emotional honesty -- Charles Yu * author of How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe *Truly remarkable prose . . . Throughout, Broks is like a naturalist taking you through the wilderness of the human mind, and he's a companionable guide. -- Eben Schwartz * The Journal of the American Medical Association *

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Book Synopsis''I love India and her no-nonsense, honest and utterly hilarious guide to navigating the post-45 years'' Marian Keyes, Mail on Sunday''A route map for the midlifer woman. Knight tackles every issue - beauty, menopause, laser eye surgery . . . she is not held back by the fear of laying down the law'' The TimesHappy, confident, in control, ready to do and enjoy everything that comes your way - you''re definitely In Your Prime. But too many of us allow mid-life''s little nuisances to dictate how and who we are. So let India Knight tell you how to deal with the obstacles while living life to the full.Whether it is coping with ageing parents, divorce, dating, teenagers, wavering libidos or your saggy bits, India dispenses perfect tips. She''ll instruct you how to drink, dress and party gracefully (or disgracefully), but above all she''ll show that happiness is the one thing you deserve.This is the book that will Trade ReviewFunny, feisty and invaluable * Good Housekeeping *Refreshingly upfront...What a relief to have sorted out my Christmas list for all my older, wiser and happier girlfriends. Thank you. * Evening Standard *India Knight tackles aging with wit...[reads like] a funny, informative conversation...often made me laugh out loud. -- Kate Kellaway * The Observer *Knight's words feel like you're speaking with that friend who always gives you the best advice...an entertaining and informed read. * Stylist *Knight is tremendously opinionated, but there is something strangely comforting about her robust certainty. Reading her book is like having a conversation with a fearfully bossy but beloved old chum * Daily Mail *Brad Pitt at 50 acts as if he believes the best is yet to come. Women should feel entitled to the same belief and the contents of this book make it seem possible. * The Times *Joyous advice on how to age wisely, happily and with grace. * Prima Magazine *I read India Knight's In Your Prime last week, with an air-punch of solidarity at its acknowledgement of the pleasures of middle age. -- Tracey Thorn * New Statesman *I love India and her no-nonsense, honest and utterly hilarious guide to navigating the post-45 years. -- Marian Keyes * Mail on Sunday *India Knight has all bases covered, with great good wit and wisdom. * Daily Mail, ‘Summer Reads’ *Blissful and unputdownable. -- Nina Stibbe

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Book Synopsis''A love story, a meditation on meat eating, on farming animals, on the relations between man and beast. Yallop writes with great tenderness'' Daily TelegraphOn her fortieth birthday Jacqueline Yallop built a pig sty in rural south-west France. She and her husband Ed had decided to turn their Aveyron cottage and garden into a small holding. They bought two pigs - Big and Little - to rear and slaughter. The locals were full of advice, and with just a small amount of plastic poles and metallic string and some new Wellington boots, they were off.They will cultivate the land. They will raise, then kill and eat their pigs. Or so they keep telling themselves. Because the reality is so very different from the romantic dreams of two stubborn English writers . . .Trade ReviewBy turn, poignant, funny, educational and, yes, brutal . . . Yallop's skill lies in blending autobiography with lyrical nature writing. * Radio Times *Quietly devastating . . . Yallop writes with great tenderness about the hogs as housekeepers and gourmands * Daily Telegraph *A delightful and entertaining memoir * Woman and Home *A beautifully written and quietly devastating account of raising two young pigs on [Yallop's] smallholding in the south of France * Frances Wilson, The New Statesman *The narrative tension is as tightly coiled as a thriller * Observer *Fascinating . . . you certainly have a treat in store * Literary Review *Very affecting * Daily Mail *

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Book Synopsis''A little gem of a book'' Brendan O''ConnorTom Inglis and his Wheaten terrier Pepe have lived together for eighteen years: countless days of walks and play and the odd bit of chaos. Now, though, they are both getting old. To Love a Dog tells the story of Tom''s life with Pepe, and looks at the ancient connection between humans and dogs. It explores why we take on the hassle of caring for these pet animals who rely on us so completely, who can create mess and upset in our lives, and who will probably die before us, leaving us behind to grieve. This is a book for everyone who has ever loved a dog.Trade ReviewA little gem of a bookQuietly devastating ... A touching testament to the relationship between one man and his dog * Business Post *Beautiful ... I heartily recommend it to anybody, whether you have a dog or whether you don't -- John Toal * BBC Radio Ulster *It's a brilliant book ... And I can recommend it really highly -- Pat Kenny * Newstalk *Masterly ... it uses its subject to explore more than meets the eye * Dublin Review of Books *

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Book Synopsis''If bravery itself could write, it would write like she does'' John BergerWhy rebel?Because our footprint on the Earth has never mattered more than now. How we treat it, in the spirit of gift or of theft, has never been more important.Because we need a politics of kindness, but the very opposite is on the rise. Libertarian fascism, with its triumphal brutalism, its racism and misogyny - a politics that loathes the living world.Because nature is not a hobby. It is the life on which we depend, as Indigenous societies have never forgotten.Only when it is dark enough can you see the stars, and they are lining up now to write rebellion across the skies.From the author of Wild, this passionate, poetic manifesto for urgent rebellion is also a paean to the deep and extraordinary beauty of the natural world.Jay Griffiths helped redefine activism for a generation, combining detailed research with a poeTrade ReviewThere is just one question left today for all writers. What would Nature say to us if Nature had a voice? I know of nobody who is facing up to that question with more honesty, courage and commitment than Jay Griffiths * John Ashton, independent activist and former UK Climate Change Ambassador *

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“His manners are not always nice, but then nice manners do not always make interesting autobiographies, and this autobiography has the merit of being intensely interesting."—Saul Bellow, New York Times

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Book SynopsisOn paper, things looked good for Mark Rice-Oxley: wife, children, fulfilling job. But then, at his 40th birthday party, his whole world crumbled as he succumbed to depression...How many men do you know who have been through periods when their lives haven''t seemed right? How badly askew were things for them? Many men suffer from depression yet it is still a subject that is taboo. Men often don''t visit the doctor, or they don''t want to face up to feelings of weakness and vulnerability. By telling his story, Mark Rice-Oxley hopes it will enable others to tell theirs. In this intensely moving memoir he retraces the months of his utmost despair, revisiting a landscape from which at times he felt he would never escape.Written with lyricism and poignancy, Mark captures the visceral nature of this most debilitating of illnesses with a frightening clarity, while at the same time offering a sympathetic and dispassionate viTrade ReviewAn ode to joy lost and found . . . A lyrical account of his descent into, and gradual emergence from, the horrors of clinical depression . . . "What did I have to be depressed about?" he asks. His book is a quest to find the answer - Daily Telegraph

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Book SynopsisREDISCOVER THE FORGOTTEN ART OF ASKING IN THIS NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING BOOK ''Amanda Palmer joyfully shows a generation how to change their lives'' Caitlin Moran''To read Amanda Palmer''s remarkable memoir about asking and giving is to tumble headlong into her world'' Elizabeth Gilbert''The Art of Asking is a book about cultivating trust and getting as close as possible to love, vulnerability, and connection. Uncomfortably close. Dangerously close. Beautifully close'' Brene BrownImagine standing on a box in the middle of a busy city, dressed as a white-faced bride, and silently using your eyes to ask people for money. Or touring Europe in a punk cabaret band, and finding a place to sleep each night by reaching out to strangers on Twitter. For Amanda Palmer, actions like these have gone beyond satisfying her basic needs for food and shelter - they''ve taught her how to turn strangers intTrade ReviewAmanda Palmer joyfully shows a generation how to change their lives * Caitlin Moran, author of HOW TO BE A WOMAN and HOW TO BUILD A GIRL *Amanda Palmer's generous work of genius will change the way you think about connection, love and grace * Seth Godin *To read Amanda Palmer's remarkable memoir about asking and giving is to tumble headlong into her world. Immediately, you notice that her world is really different from yours and mine. Amanda's world is more open, more vulnerable, more fearless, more messy, more surprising, more dangerous, more rich with human encounters and exchanges at every imaginable level. At first, you find yourself thinking, "Goodness, what a crazy world that Amanda Palmer inhabits! How does she possibly endure it?" Then, gradually, as you read along, a doorway opens up in your heart, and you realize, "I want to live in a world exactly like hers". God willing, this book will show us all how to do it * Elizabeth Gilbert, bestselling author of EAT, PRAY, LOVE *Amanda has a direct line with her audience - a lifeline for them and for her, the codependency all truly great performers surrender to . . . she's capable of anything, incapable of telling anything but the truth * Bono *The Art of Asking is a book about cultivating trust and getting as close as possible to love, vulnerability, and connection. Uncomfortably close. Dangerously close. Beautifully close. And uncomfortably close is exactly where we need to be if we want to transform this culture of scarcity and fundamental distrust * From the foreword by Brene Brown, author of the bestselling DARING GREATLY *A story about a life in one dollar bills, from statue to icon, where media doesn't matter, crowds do. Mandatory reading in the digital age, for aspiring artists and their doubtful parents * Nicholas Negroponte, Founder, MIT Media Lab *From this beautiful, heart wrenching story of art comes an incredible account of the nature and future of commerce - or one part, certainly the most important part, of that bit that's new. Here's a truth that someday the economists might begin to grok, but which meanwhile will define everything that's interesting about how art and culture will thrive * Lawrence Lessig, author of FREE CULTURE *This is the kind of book that makes you want to call the author up at midnight to whisper, 'My God. I thought I was the only one * Jenny Lawson, NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author of LET’S PRETEND THIS NEVER HAPPENED *

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Book SynopsisA true story of acceptance, perseverance, and the possibility of love and redemption as evocative, charming, and powerful as the New York Times bestseller Following Atticus.From the author of Following Atticus, an international bestseller that has inspired hundreds of thousands of people around the world, comes the moving true story of a despondent and broken old dog and the man who gave him a second chance. Drawn by a fateful online post, Tom Ryan, with the help of his canine hiking partner, Atticus M. Finch, adopts Will, an elderly, deaf, and nearly blind soul. Long neglected and filled with anger and pain, Will finds himself in a curious world unlike any he has ever known. Tom hopes to give Will a place to die with dignity surrounded by the natural beauty of the White Mountains of his New Hampshire home. But when he witnesses Will''s fear and lack of trust, Tom realizes that his task entails so much more. With endless patience and the s

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Book Synopsis''One of the gems of the year'' - Michele Magwood, Sunday Times (Books LIVE SA)The story of a young man fighting to recover from a devastating psychotic break and the mother who refuses to give up on him.Zack McDermott, a twenty-six-year-old Brooklyn public defender, woke up one morning convinced he was being filmed as part of an audition for a TV pilot. Every passerby was an actor; every car would magically stop for him; everything he saw was a cue from ''The Producer'' to help inspire the performance of a lifetime. After a manic spree around Manhattan, Zack, who is bipolar, was arrested on a subway platform and admitted to hospital. So begins the story of Zack''s free fall into psychosis and his desperate, poignant, often darkly funny struggle to claw his way back to sanity, regain his identity, and rebuild some semblance of a stable life. It''s a journey that will take him from New York City back to his Kansas roots and to the one person who Trade ReviewA startlingly moving memoir of mother and son, structural injustice, and inflammable mental illness. Gorilla and the Bird is as piss-cuttin' a pietà as anyone has any right to hope for. And Zack McDermott- the guy's a fleet, funny, unsentimental storyteller who manages that rare thing: he allows a damaged soul to be found. -- Kent Russell, author of I Am Sorry to Think I Have Raised a Timid SonThis remarkable book illustrates Willam Osler's dictum, 'Ask not what disease the person has, but rather what person the disease has.' When that disease is bipolar disorder spiked with the Truman Show delusion, and that person is Zack McDermott, a terrific and terrifically funny writer, the result is an incredibly powerful read. Zack's mother, endlessly strong and supportive, reminds us that we also need to ask what family the disease has. -- Joel Gold, MD, author of Suspicious Minds: The Truman Show Delusion and Other Strange BeliefsZack McDermott's portrait of a mind under assault from bipolar illness is both fascinating and heartbreaking to observe, and he takes us into his experience with riveting intensity. But McDermott's real achievement is capturing the moving determination and steadfast love of the mother who saves him, the remarkable Bird who breaks the loneliness, quiets the fear, and gives him a home worth returning to. -- George Hodgman, New York Times bestselling author of BettyvilleThis book is one of the gems of the year -- Michele Magwood * Sunday Times (SA) *Breathless, funny, absurd and often completely inappropriate . . . McDermott's insights on mental illness [are] extremely refreshing. The humour and affection with which McDermott describes both his clients and his fellow psych-ward inmates never veers into mawkishness or pity - a rare quality in literature on this topic. Understandably, writers often avoid making jokes about mental illness or those who suffer from it . . . but it is this unconventional approach that makes McDermott's writing so compelling. Those of us who have ever had a psychotic episode or a breakdown, or have ever been in psychiatric hospital, will know that there's a rich vein of dark humour bubbling beneath the surface. McDermott doesn't just acknowledge that: he revels in it, and the result is utterly charming. -- Emily Reynolds * Times Literary Supplement *Despite the subject being really rather heart-wrenching, I found myself laughing out loud at regular intervals throughout Zack's memoir. This is a depiction of mental illness in all of its raw, unnerving honesty - and a true testament to the life-changing power a mother's love can deliver to you. Everybody needs a Bird in their life. -- Stella Dwyer * Grazia *

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Book Synopsis''A mesmerising book, full of story, truth, pain, lyricism, humour and astonishment: the stuff of a difficult life, fully lived, and masterfully transformed into art'' SALMAN RUSHDIE''Intimate and wise, poignant and compassionate, redemptive and raw. You have to read this beautiful book'' CHERYL STRAYED, author of WildAn electrifying, dazzlingly written reckoning and an essential addition to the conversation about race and class, Survival Math takes its name from the calculations that award-winning author Mitchell S. Jackson made to survive the Portland, Oregon, of his youth. This dynamic book explores gangs and guns, near-death experiences, sex work, masculinity, composite fathers, the concept of ''hustle'' and the destructive power of addiction - all framed within the story of Jackson, his family and his community. Mitchell S. Jackson presents a microcosm of struggle and survival in contemporary urban AmericTrade Review'An unforgettable mix of sharp humor, wide interrogation, and indelible tragedy. Jackson's mesmerizing voice and style draws you into the survival calculations for millions of American kids and families, revealing a need-to-know reality for all of us' * Piper Kerman, author of Orange is the New Black *An extensive and illuminating look at the city of [Jackson's] childhood, exploring issues like sex, violence, addiction, community, and the toll this takes on a person's life * Buzzfeed, Most Anticipated Books of 2019 *Vivid and unflinching ... Mitchell's memoir in essays chronicles the struggles of friends and family with drugs, racism, violence, and hopelessness and puts a face on the cyclical nature of poverty * Boston Globe, Most Anticipated Books of 2019 *"A dynamic, impressive debut memoir from the Whiting Award-winning author of The Residue Years (2013)... A potent book that revels in the author's truthful experiences while maintaining the jagged-grain, keeping-it-a-100, natural storytelling that made The Residue Years a modern must-read." * Kirkus Reviews *Jackson's musings skillfully illuminate the bloodlines, both inherited and earned, that pulse through the body of America's gang-graffitied carceral state * Tyehimba Jess, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Olio *'Survival Math is the best memoir I've read in ages. With honesty, insight, and a tremendous amount of heart, Mitchell S. Jackson takes us deep into the stories that made, ruined, and saved him. I had the feeling while reading it that I'd never read anything quite like it before. It's intimate and wise; poignant and compassionate; redemptive and raw. You have to read this beautiful book' * Cheryl Strayed, author of Wild *Survival Math should be praised for many reasons--its literary integrity, its cinematic pace, its creativity and candor. But what I find most striking about this work, what I think distinguishes it, is its heart * Jason Reynolds *

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Book SynopsisA gripping verse memoir that offers a compassionate and wrenching account of the author’s experience of childhood sexual abuse.Trade Review"[Because] is a rare and remarkable text. Although it deals unswervingly with abuse, violations of trust and the deeply damaging effect of both of these, it is also literary, powerful and consoling…A deeply achieved record of human truth, earned at cost and beautifully expressed." -- Eavan Boland

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Book SynopsisAs Hitler’s bombs threatened London during World War Two, eight-year-old David Merron was removed from his family and close-knit Jewish community in the East End and evacuated to the safety of the English countryside.Placed into the car of strangers, life was sometimes unpredictable and lonely. But, with time, the rural world became an exciting adventure playground in which he flourished.Set against a dramatic wartime backdrop, Goodbye East End is about the conflict between a London boy’s unexpected love of the countryside and his guilt about not missing home as much as he might. It’s the moving story of a childhood experience that changed a young boy’s life forever.

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Book SynopsisFrom the daughter of Muhammad Ali comes an intimate portrait of the heavyweight boxing champion and a final love letter from a daughter to her father. Through audio journals, love letters and cherished memories, Ali''s daughter Hana tells the story of a very typical and yet fully-unique family, the rise and fall of her parent's marriage and the struggles they faced as a family surrounding Ali's loss to Larry Holmes in 1981.With the decline of Ali's voice, his recordings are important to history as they are to his personal legacy. At Home with Muhammad Ali offers a candid look at a man who was trying to find his purpose in the world as he realized he was coming to the end of his lucrative sporting career, all the while trying to balance fatherhood and his worldly and political obligations. Additionally, Hana tells of the everyday adventures that the family experienced around the housewith visitors like Michael Jackson and Clint Eastwood dropping by. And Trade ReviewThis book is an amazing insight into an incredible man * Lorraine Kelly *To millions of fans his reputation went beyond the boxing ring. In At Home With Muhammad Ali, Hana Ali tells what it was like to grow up with the most legendary name in sport. [The book] vividly evokes an Ali who is barely recognisable as the cocky, complicated boxer and incendiary political figure depicted in obituaries. Instead, Hana fleshes out the Ali of his later years... She presents her father as a funny, doting family man who looks for ways to bring joy to ordinary people. Ultimately, his final victory is his greatest: coming to terms with this illness after realising that it was the one opponent he would never beat. * The Times *Intimate... Moving... [This] memoir charts Hana's treasured memories of a man hailed as one of the first global superstars of sport. * Sunday Mirror *How wonderful, after decades of thoughtful but at-a-distance portraits of Muhammad Ali, we have this exquisite and movingly intimate one. His daughter, Hana, has permitted us all to fill out—with love—our own sense of the real man behind all the mythology. This is a hugely important addition to our understanding of the Greatest of All Time. -- Ken Burns, filmmakerA famous man will be viewed one way by the public. Another by his wife. Another by his children. Hana brings together these vantage points — and allows everyone to see Muhammad Ali in a new light. -- Larry King

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Book SynopsisMartin Booth died in February 2004, shortly after finishing the book that would be his epitaph - this wonderfully remembered, beautifully told memoir of a childhood lived to the full in a far-flung outpost of the British Empire...An inquisitive seven-year-old, Martin Booth found himself with the whole of Hong Kong at his feet when his father was posted there in the early 1950s. Unrestricted by parental control and blessed with bright blond hair that signified good luck to the Chinese, he had free access to hidden corners of the colony normally closed to a Gweilo, a ''pale fellow'' like him. Befriending rickshaw coolies and local stallholders, he learnt Cantonese, sampled delicacies such as boiled water beetles and one-hundred-year-old eggs, and participated in colourful festivals. He even entered the forbidden Kowloon Walled City, wandered into the secret lair of the Triads and visited an opium den. Along the way he encountered a colourful array of people, from the plink ploTrade ReviewA classic memoir... the voice of the youthful narrator carries the reader on in a wonderfully honest tone... Booth has delivered a pre-coming-of-age book that ranks with the best of the breed. The writing is superb... it is a more than worth legacy to his prolific literary life, but also stands as one of the most original and engaging memoirs of recent years, all the more telling because it is so personal, witty and true * The Times *Admirably evocative... one longs to learn what happened next; but, alas, we never will * The Sunday Times *It has such pace and power... his memoir is, above all, a celebration... the portrait of his parents... is particularly fine * Sunday Telegraph *Highly evocative... as a sharp-eyed, sensitive child of a vanished Hong Kong, Booth earns his nostalgia... his family are not the only ones who will enjoy the book * Daily Telegraph *His finest work. Full of local colour and packed with incident * Evening Standard ‘Pick of the Year’ *

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Book SynopsisAn 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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