Memoirs Books

Book SynopsisSony and Writers' Guild Award-winning writer and comedian Mark Steel is best known for his critically acclaimed BBC Radio 4 show Mark Steel's in Town. Mark has presented the BAFTA-nominated Mark Steel Lectures for BBC Two, and is a regular on BBC One's Have I Got News for You and BBC Radio 4's The News Quiz. He has also written several acclaimed books, including Reasons to be Cheerful and What's Going On? He has also written an adaptation of his critically acclaimed stand-up show Who Do I Think I Am? for Audible, which was released in 2021.

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Book SynopsisShortlisted for Harper's Bazaar Book of the Year 2019A Guardian, Spectator and Mail on Sunday Book of the Year 2018'A lyrical portrait of a fast-vanishing way of life . . . Thompson is a terrific writer' New StatesmanLaura Thompson’s grandmother Violet was one of the great landladies. Born in a London pub, she became the first woman to be given a publican’s licence in her own name and, just as pubs defined her life, she seemed in many ways to embody their essence.Laura spent part of her childhood in Violet’s Home Counties establishment, mesmerised by her gift for cultivating the mix of cosiness and glamour that defined the pub’s atmosphere, making it a unique reflection of the national character. Her memories of this time are just as intoxicating: beer and ash on the carpets in the morning, the deepening rhythms of mirth at night, the magical brightness of glass behind the bar…Through them Laura traces the story of the English pub, asking why it has occupied such a treasured position in our culture. But even Violet, as she grew older, recognised that places like hers were a dying breed, and Laura also considers the precarious future they face.Part memoir, part social history, part elegy, The Last Landlady pays tribute to an extraordinary woman and the world she epitomised.Trade Review 'A lyrical portrait of a fast-vanishing way of life ... Thompson is a terrific writer, and her detailed evocation of the day in the life of the pub ... has all the visual richness and emotional power of a Terence Davies film' New Statesman 'Just occasionally a book comes along that leaves you breathless with pleasure, admiration and a dash of envy too. The Last Landlady is Laura Thompson's exquisitely observed and brilliantly written memoir of the life and times of her grandmother, the first woman in England to hold a pub licence in her own right... Simply delicious' Kathryn Hughes, Mail on Sunday 'You really mustn’t miss Laura Thompson’s brilliant The Last Landlady … A wonderfully observed story about female agency in the post-war period' Guardian 'It is about the pub as theatre … A typically eclectic mix of social history and elegy, ironic comedy and indelible Englishness' The Spectator, Books of the Year 'The award-winning Thompson turns her acute eye for detail on her own family in this gorgeous memoir of her indomitable grandmother, Vi, the first woman to hold a pub licence in England' Independent

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Book Synopsis'Unforgettable' The Times'Grippingly told and brilliantly reported' Mail on Sunday'Startlingly intimate' Sunday Times'Fascinating' Daily Mail'Groundbreaking' Evening Standard'Exceptional and moving' Spectator"Hidden Valley Road contains everything: scientific intrigue, meticulous reporting, startling revelations, and, most of all, a profound sense of humanity. It is that rare book that can be read again and again."-David Grann, author of Killers of the Flower MoonOne of the New York Times' "20 most anticipated books of 2020": the heartrending story of a mid-century American family with twelve children, six of them diagnosed with schizophrenia, that became science's great hope in the quest to understand the disease."An extraordinary case study and tour de force of reporting."-Sylvia Nasar, author of A Beautiful MindDon and Mimi Galvin seemed to be living the American dream. After World War II, Don's work with the Air Force brought them to Colorado, where their twelve children perfectly spanned the baby boom: the oldest born in 1945, the youngest in 1965. In those years, there was an established script for a family like the Galvins - aspiration, hard work, upward mobility, domestic harmony - and they worked hard to play their parts. But behind the scenes was a different story: psychological breakdown, sudden shocking violence, hidden abuse. By the mid-1970s, six of the ten Galvin boys, one after the other, were diagnosed as schizophrenic. How could all this happen to one family?What took place inside the house on Hidden Valley Road was so extraordinary that the Galvins became one of the first families to be studied by the National Institutes of Mental Health. Their story offers a shadow history of the science of schizophrenia, from the era of institutionalization, lobotomy, and the schizophrenogenic mother, to the search for genetic markers for the disease, always amidst profound disagreements about the nature of the illness itself. And unbeknownst to the Galvins, samples of their DNA informed decades of genetic research that continues today, offering paths to treatment, prediction, and even eradication of the disease for future generations.With clarity and compassion, bestselling and award-winning author Robert Kolker uncovers one family's unforgettable legacy of suffering, love and hope."This book tore my heart out. It is a revelation-about the history of mental health treatment, about trauma, foremost about family-and a more-than-worthy follow-up to Robert Kolker's brilliant Lost Girls." -Megan Abbott, Edgar Award-winning author of Dare Me and Give Me Your HandTrade ReviewFascinating * Daily Mail *An exceptional and moving dissection of what this means for those forced to live with the depredations of madness * the Spectator *Grippingly told and brilliantly reported * Mail on Sunday *A startlingly intimate account of a family ruptured from within by forces they could not control * The Sunday Times *Kolker is a fine writer and a first-class investigative journalist ... this unforgettable book will surely increase people's understanding of a terrifying disorder * The Times *Groundbreaking... Kolker uses his prodigious journalistic skills to balance his darkly riveting tale of the family's implosion against shifting attitudes to the treatment of this devastating condition * Evening Standard *A feat of narrative journalism but also a study in empathy * New York Times *Storytelling at its most immersive * Sunday Times *

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Book SynopsisMeet Marc 'Elvis' Priestley: the former number-one McLaren mechanic, and the brains behind some of Formula One's greatest ever drivers.Revealing the most outrageous secrets and fiercest rivalries, The Mechanic follows Priestley as he travels the world working in the high-octane atmosphere of the F1 pit lane. While the spotlight is most often on the superstar drivers, the mechanics are the guys who make every World Champion, and any mistakes can have critical consequences.However, these highly skilled engineers don't just fine-tune machinery and crunch data through high-spec computers. These boys can seriously let their hair down. Whether it's partying on luxury yachts or photo opportunities aboard gravity-defying aeroplanes, this is a world which thrills on and off the track.This is Formula One, but not like you've seen it before. Trade ReviewThe principle is sound, as are the author’s credentials… [A] genuine attempt to reflect the day-to-day realities of a relentless life on the road. And it is relayed by someone who doesn’t feel duty-bound to toe the corporate line * Motorsport *Here we are privileged to have Marc’s take on the Formula 1 world from the inside… Marc was lucky enough to work alongside David Coulthard, Mika Hakkinen, Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton, among others, but it is his close relationship with Kimi Raikkonen that we gain most insight into as we read… In short, it is a must read for any F1 fan, and I can highly recommend -- Sarah Merritt * Badger GP *

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Book SynopsisDamian longs for home, but one man stands in his way Damian is just seven when he is taken in by foster carer Cathy Glass. His mother, Rachel, loves her three young children dearly, but she is vulnerable, naive and unable to cope on her own.Cathy sets about helping Damian overcome his eating issues, with the hope that he will eventually return home. But when Rachel's new boyfriend, Troy, arrives on the scene, Cathy becomes deeply concerned. She soon realises that Damian and his siblings are in great danger

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Book SynopsisOne of TIME's 100 Must-Reads of 2024'A delight' The New York Times'Delicious' Vogue'Superb' Time'Joyful, bold and liberating' Emma GannonCome to Paris, August 2021, when the City of Lights was still empty of tourists and a thirst for long-overdue pleasure gripped those who wandered its streets.After New York City emptied out in March 2020, Glynnis MacNicol, aged forty-six, unmarried with no children, spent sixteen months alone in her tiny Manhattan apartment. The isolation was punishing. A year without touch. Women are warned of invisibility as they age, but this was an extreme loneliness no one can prepare you for. When the opportunity to sublet a friend's apartment in Paris arose, MacNicol jumped on it. Leaving felt less like a risk than a necessity.What follows is a decadent, joyful, unexpected journey into one woman's pursuit of radical enjoyment.The weeks in Paris are filled with friendship and food and sex. There is dancing on the Seine; a plethora of gooey cheese; midnight bike rides through empty Paris; handsome men; afternoons wandering through the empty Louvre; nighttime swimming in the ocean off a French island. And yes, plenty of nudity.In the spirit of Nora Ephron and Deborah Levy (think Colette . . . if she'd had access to dating apps), I'm Mostly Here to Enjoy Myself is an intimate, insightful, powerful, and endlessly pleasurable memoir of an intensely lived experience whose meaning and insight expand far beyond the personal narrative. MacNicol is determined to document the beauty, excess, and triumph of a life that does not require permission.The pursuit of enjoyment is a political act, both a right and a responsibility. Enjoying yourself-as you are-is not something the world tells you is possible, but it is.Here's the proof.

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Book SynopsisJosephine Baker (Author) Josephine Baker was born in 1906, in St Louis, Missouri. After performing in New York during the Harlem Renaissance as a teenager, she sailed to Paris in 1925 at the age of 19. She became a star there during the 20s, achieving international celebrity. In 1927 she became the first black woman to star in a major motion picture.When the Second World War broke out Baker joined the French intelligence agency and was awarded for her bravery. During the 50s and 60s she became involved in the civil rights movement - in 1963 she spoke at the March on Washington alongside Martin Luther King. In later life she adopted twelve children. Baker died in 1975.Anam Zafar (Translator)Anam Zafar is a UK-based translator from Arabic and French to English. She is the winner of a PEN Translates award, the Gulf Coast Prize in Translation and the Stinging Fly New Translator's Bursary.Sophie Lewis (Translator) Sophie Lewis translates from French and Portuguese. She has translated books by Stendhal, Marcel Aymé, Violette Leduc, Leïla Slimani, Noémi Lefebvre and Nastassja Martin, as well as Patrícia Melo, Victor Heringer and Sheyla Smanioto.

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Book SynopsisBorn in Oldham and known affectionately as 'Sir Kev', Kevin Sinfield retired in 2016 as an idol of the Leeds Rhinos' golden years and as a former England captain. Sinfield won seven Super League titles, three World Cup Challenges and two Challenge Cups in 521 matches for his club. From 2003 he captained a side that exemplified the best of his sport. Sinfield became the first rugby league player to be nominated for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award, finishing in second place behind Andy Murray in 2015.But his career on the pitch is only part of the story. Alongside Sinfield was a small but indomitable scrum-half, Rob Burrow. As Rob's health has tragically declined in recent years due to Motor neurone disease (MND), Sinfield has set himself a series of extraordinary endurance challenges, including running seven ultra marathons in seven days and over 100 miles in a single day, that have raised awareness and millions of pounds for the cause of MND. In the process, Sin

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Book SynopsisSudhir Venkatesh the young sociologist who became famous in Freakonomics (Why do drug dealers still live with their moms?) describes his time living with the gangs on the Southside of Chicago and answers another question: what''s it like to live in hell?In the Robert Taylor Homes projects on Chicago''s South Side, Sudhir befriends J.T., a gang leader for the Black Kings. As he slowly gains J.T.''s trust, one day, in order to convince Sudhir of his own CEO-like qualities, J.T. makes him leader of the gang... Why does J.T. make his henchmen, the ''shorties'', stay in school? What is the difference between a ''regular'' hustler and a ''hype'' - and is Peanut telling him the truth about which she is? And, when the FBI finally starts cracking down on the Black Kings, is it time to get out - or is it too late?Trade Review'A rollicking read ! a vivid insight into gang culture' The Times 'Darkly entertaining ! an absorbing and self-effacing odyssey' The Guardian 'An absolutely incredible book ... equal parts comedy and tragedy ... I promise you will not be able to put it down' - Steven D. Levitt, co-author, Freakonomics

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Book Synopsis'A vital book for our times' ROBERT MACFARLANE'Unflinching, complex, provocative' NIKESH SHUKLA'A work of astonishing, insistent importance' ObserverAged eight, Dina Nayeri fled Iran along with her mother and brother, and lived in the crumbling shell of an Italian hotel-turned-refugee camp. Eventually she was granted asylum in America. Now, Nayeri weaves together her own vivid story with those of other asylum seekers in recent years. In these pages, women gather to prepare the noodles that remind them of home, a closeted queer man tries to make his case truthfully as he seeks asylum and a translator attempts to help new arrivals present their stories to officials. Surprising and provocative, The Ungrateful Refugee recalibrates the conversation around the refugee experience. Here are the real human stories of what it is like to be forced to flee your home, and to journey across borders in the hope of starting afresh.Trade ReviewDina Nayeri has written a vital book for our times. The Ungrateful Refugee gives voice to those whose stories are too often lost or suppressed. Braiding memoir, reportage and essayism, Nayeri allows those fortunate enough to have never been stateless or displaced to glimpse something of the hardships and subtleties of the refugee experience. Written with compassion, tenderness and a burning anger, her book appears at the end of a decade in which division and dislocation have risen to a terrible pitch. It speaks powerfully from - and to - the heart. Please read it -- ROBERT MACFARLANEA work of astonishing, insistent importance . . . This is a book full of revelatory truths, moments where we are plunged deeply and painfully into the quotidian experience of the refugee * * Observer * *This is a humane and compelling book that seeks to make human those demonised by the media and governing bodies for so long. Nayeri is never sentimental and her accounts of refugee lives, including her own, are unflinching, complex, provocative and important -- NIKESH SHUKLADina Nayeri's powerful writing confronts issues that are key to the refugee experience -- VIET THANH NGUYENA thoughtful investigation . . . This wide-ranging, reasoned book is no polemic: its observations are self-reflective, contemplative and significant * * Financial Times * *Nayeri combines her own experience with those of refugees she meets as an adult, telling their stories with tenderness and reverence * * New York Times * *A remarkable book, whose evocative stories are deftly woven into a powerful tapestry, with lessons for us all. Anybody interested in the refugee experience will learn from Dina Nayeri's book. As for policymakers: The Ungrateful Refugee should be compulsory reading if they are to regain or retain a sense of humanity -- STEVE CRAWSHAW, Policy Director, Freedom from Torture, former London Director of Human Rights WatchCogent and persuasive . . . provoking and enlightening * * Bookmunch * *With her own experience to guide her, she talks to present-day refugees in camps in Greece, weaving her own story into the tales of hardship she hears . . . Nayeri presents their stories sensitively and respectfully * * Herald * *

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Book Synopsis**THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER**A humane, hilarious and heart-breaking window into the world of psychiatry from the Adam Kay of mental healthcare' (THE TIMES) 'Very funny and deeply sympathetic. Really excellent' HENRY MARSH'This is honestly my dream book. Both fascinating and bleakly funny' FERN BRADYHonest, funny, saddening and uplifting all rolled into one' JO BRANDA woman in a wedding dress arrives at the hospital looking for Harry Styles. A lorry driver with schizophrenia believes he's got a cure for coronavirus. A depressed man hides his profession from his GP due to stigma. Most of the psychiatric cases in this book are his patients. Some of them are family. One of them is him. Unlocking the doors to the psych ward, NHS psychiatrist Dr Benji Waterhouse provides a fly-on-the-padded-wall account of medicine's most mysterious and controversial speciality. Why would anyone in their right mind choose to be a psychiatrist? Are the solutions to people's messy lives really within medical school textbooks? And how can vulnerable patients receive the care they need when psychiatry lacks staff, hospital beds and any actual cures?You Don't Have to Be Mad to Work Here explores these complicated questions from both sides of the doctor's desk. This is the perfect read for fans of This Is Going to Hurt, Unnatural Causes and The Prison Doctor. Instant Sunday Times bestseller, May 2024

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Book SynopsisRobert M. Pirsig was born in 1928 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He holds degrees in chemistry, philosophy, and journalism and also studied Oriental philosophy at Benares Hindu University in India. He is the author of this book's sequel, entitled Lila.Trade ReviewMr Pirsig has written a work of great, perhaps urgent, importance. Read this book * Observer *Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is an unforgettable trip * Time *Disturbing, deeply moving, full of insights. This is a wonderful book * Times Literary Supplement *The book is inspired, original...the narrative tact, the perfect economy of effect defy criticism.The analogies with Moby-Dick are patent * New Yorker *Profoundly important-full of insights into our most perplexing contemporary dilemmas * New York Times *

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Book SynopsisHIGHLY COMMENDED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE FOR NATURE WRITING 2024An invigorating cross-pollination of memoir and natural history, both beautifully phrased and delicately structured this book deserves your time and attention' Cal Flyn, author of Islands of AbandonmentBorn in Canada to a Taiwanese mother and a Welsh father, Jessica J. Lee is a perfectly placed observer of our world in motion. In Dispersals, she examines the echoes and counterpoints in the migration of plants and people and the language we use to describe them. Combining memoir, history and scientific research, Lee questions how both plants and people come to belong or not and reveals how all our futures are more entwined than we might imagine. Contemplative, elegant' New Statesman'At once expansive and intimate, and most of all, gorgeously written. This is a book I will return to often over the course of my life' Nina Mingya Powles, author of Small Bodies of Water

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Book SynopsisEvening Standard Book of the Year. Observer Book of the Year. Guardian Book of the Year. Sunday Times Book of the Year. Telegraph Book of the Year. New Statesman Book of the Year. Herald Book of the Year. Mojo Book of the Year.Brett Anderson came from a world impossibly distant from rock star success, and in Coal Black Mornings he traces the journey that took him from a childhood as ''a snotty, sniffy, slightly maudlin sort of boy raised on Salad Cream and milky tea and cheap meat'' to becoming founder and lead singer of Suede.Anderson grew up in Hayward''s Heath on the grubby fringes of the Home Counties. As a teenager he clashed with his eccentric taxi-driving father (who would parade around their council house dressed as Lawrence of Arabia, air-conducting his favourite composers) and adored his beautiful, artistic mother. He brilliantly evokes the seventies, the suffocating Trade ReviewA remarkable feat, utterly true. This decade's Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius -- Douglas Coupland, author of Generation X and Girlfriend in a ComaCoal Black Mornings is a triumph . . . a bracingly honest work raised way above the celeb book fray by Anderson's obvious talent for writing . . . revelatory and delivered with writerly panache -- John Harris * Mojo *Fascinating . . . gorgeously written. On more than one occasion it made we well up . . . most certainly not just for the fan club * Guardian *A rich, sad and honest tale -- Olivia Cole * GQ *Beautifully crafted and brilliantly well-written . . . his memoir is a thought-provoking meditation on how our childhoods form the people we become, as well as a love letter to London . . . The book is perfect as it is, but there's no question that we need a second volume -- Anna van Praagh * Evening Standard *Coal Black Mornings is excellent: evocative, thoughtful and frank; an instant hit in a minor key. Anderson is particularly good on his unusual upbringing . . . as accomplished a writer of elegant prose as he was of narcotically enhanced lyrics about urban ennui -- Neil Armstrong * Mail on Sunday *a thrillingly energetic, bracingly entertaining snapshot of a writer hitting his first full flush, leaving you wishing two things. One: that you'd formed a band. Two: that he changes his mind about documenting the coke-blurred mornings to come * Record Collector *An ineffably romantic coming-of-age story; a beautiful reminder of the magic that happens round the edges * Sunday Times *Generous, funny, poignant * Financial Times *Perfect prose, thanks to which Coal Black Mornings does the job of describing the beauty in the banality better than any music memoir since Patti Smith's sublime Just Kids * Classic Pop *His memoir is melancholy and evocative, a dreamy ballad recalling the time before the drugs and the band break-up * Sunday Express *Personal and moving, unpolished and demure . . . Coal Black Mornings is a bravura performance * Times Literary Supplement *Revealing, funny and moving * Mail on Sunday *As an antidote to all the drug-fuelled destruction, I recommend Brett Anderson's elegant Coal Black Mornings, in which the Suede frontman looks back on his pre-fame days * Telegraph *Few rock memoirs are worthy of critical note. Brett Anderson's richly melancholic Coal Black Mornings was an exception. Eschewing the "coke and gold discs" template, the Suede singer recounts a childhood of bohemian poverty and traces his band's vivid prehistory -- George Eaton * New Statesman *It shouldn't have come as a surprise that one of British pop's most original lyricists would write a book almost poetic in its language and painterly in its eye for detail, but this illuminating, moving and generous memoir by the Suede frontman still had the power to confound . . . Coal Black Mornings is a thing of beauty and a work of art * Sunday Times *Richer and stranger than any tale of narcotic excess and success * Guardian *a tough-minded and emotionally acute account of the Suede singer's childhood and teenage years, about his relationship with his parents and the route map that pop music provided for him to march away from his suburban origins * Herald *2018 Music Book of the Year: A brilliant account of how growing up can be impossible and full of possibility, all at the same time -- Victoria Segal * Q *

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Book Synopsis'Beautiful... A moving reminder for us all to connect with what's gone before' STYLIST'Atmospheric, scholarly - and gripping . . . Shocking and important' Laline Paull, author of PodRoaming the ragged coasts and remote villages of Scotland, Ashes & Stones takes us on a moving journey in search of those women accused of witchcraft in the seventeenth century. From fairy hills to hedge mazes, we follow the traces their stories have left on the landscape. By linking the lives of contemporary women to the horrors of the past, Allyson Shaw creates a powerful record of resilience and remembrance, untangling the myth of witchcraft and giving voice to those erased by it. 'Allyson Shaw has built a monument in words to the thousands persecuted as witches in Scotland. A fascinating and necessary book' Peter Ross, author of A Tomb With a View'Deeply insightful and profoundly respectful . . . I was spellbound from start to finish' Sally Huband, author of Sea BeanTrade ReviewAllyson Shaw has built a monument in words to the thousands persecuted as witches in Scotland. A fascinating and necessary book. -- Peter RossIn Ashes and Stone Shaw has written a compelling and intimate pilgrimage across Scotland as she visits the sites of notorious witch trials to connect with and comment on the memorials left there to the murdered people who perished through greed, misogyny, and superstition . . . The book is a fascinating exploration of the search for personal identity, the ever-present dangers of religious and political extremism, and how we examine and process the murderous injustices from our past -- Helen CallaghanAn incantational group biography infused with personal narrative . . . Shaw pays homage to the hunted while elevating modern self-identified witches as feminist archetypes -- Abigail Santamaria * New York Times *Beautiful . . . A moving reminder for us all to connect with what's gone before * Stylist *Wonderful . . . Powerful . . . it will make you angry, it will make you sad, it will make you want to know so much more * The Scots Whay Hae! Show *Sometimes the truth behind myths and legends is more fascinating and terrible than could ever be imagined . . . Ashes & Stones is its own reminder of a dark period in Scotland's past, but also carries a warning for the present day . . . This is not the book you think it is, and it is all the better for it * Snack *Allyson Shaw's journey around Scotland in search of witches and witness is both deeply insightful and profoundly respectful. Shaw's writing is utterly compelling and her perspective is vital. I was spellbound from start to finish, Ashes & Stones is a work of devotion. This is what it means to write with care and with candour. Ashes & Stones is both genuine memorial and galvanising activism in book form -- Sally Huband, author of Sea BeanVery atmospheric, scholarly - and gripping . . . [Shaw] gives life to many of the women burned as witches in Scotland. Shocking and important - it made me realise this hasn't been done before, nor have I questioned why until now. Recommended. -- Laline PaullThe past is a treacherous landscape shrouded in the mists of myth and misogyny, and Shaw is the sun burning through to reveal clear paths and daunting vistas alike. Profound, personal, and tragically timely, this is more than an important book - it's a requiem that rises to a rallying cry -- Jesse Bullington, author of The Folly of the World

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Book SynopsisA beautiful, honest and ultimately uplifting memoir about family grief and ecological breakdown

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Book SynopsisI Am a Wolf Tonight by Thelma Ainsworth is an intimate and unflinching memoir of love, loss, and the raw reality of grief. When cancer takes someone you love, it leaves behind more than sorrow it reshapes the very core of who you are.

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Book SynopsisIn mid to late March 1913, as the storm clouds of the Great War which was to claim his life gathered, Edward Thomas took a bicycle ride from Clapham to the Quantock Hills. The poet recorded his journey through his beloved South Country and his account was published as In Pursuit of Spring in 1914. Regarded as one of his most important prose works, it stands as an elegy for a world now lost. What is less well-known is that Thomas took with him a camera, and photographed much of what he saw, noting the locations on the back of the prints. These have been kept in archives for many years and will now be published for the very first time in the book. Thomas journeys through Guildford, Winchester, Salisbury, across the Plain, to the Bristol Channel, recording the poet's thoughts and feelings as winter ends.

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Book SynopsisTom is an Asian puppy, destined to be dinner. Instead, an Irish couple rescue him from a street vendor and take him into their care. Together they embark on a whirlwind tour through Vietnam, Nepal and Cambodia, thwarting street dogs and customs officials along the way. But can the three of them truly become a family?

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Book SynopsisAlaa Abd el-Fattah is arguably the most high-profile political prisoner in Egypt, if not the Arab world, rising to international prominence during the revolution of 2011. A fiercely independent thinker who fuses politics and technology in powerful prose, an activist whose ideas represent a global generation which has only known struggle against a failing system, a public intellectual with the rare courage to offer personal, painful honesty, Alaa’s written voice came to symbolize much of what was fresh, inspiring and revolutionary about the uprisings that have defined the last decade. Collected here for the first time in English are a selection of his essays, social media posts and interviews from 2011 until the present. He has spent the majority of those years in prison, where many of these pieces were written. Together, they present not only a unique account from the frontline of a decade of global upheaval, but a catalogue of ideas about other futures those upheavals could yet reveal. From theories on technology and history to profound reflections on the meaning of prison, You Have Not Yet Been Defeated is a book about the importance of ideas, whatever their cost. Trade Review‘Don’t read this book to be comforted. Read it to be challenged, terrified, enlightened, moved, and amazed.’ — Kamila Shamsie, author of Home Fire‘Alaa is the bravest, most critical, most engaged citizen of us all. At a time when Egypt has been turned into a large prison, Alaa has managed to cling to his humanity and be the freest Egyptian.’ — Khaled Fahmy, author of All The Pasha’s Men ‘Alaa is in prison not because he committed a crime, not because he said too much, but because his very existence poses a threat to the state. Those who are bold, those who do not relent, will always threaten the terrified and ultimately weak state which must, to survive, squash its opponents like flies. But Alaa will not allow himself to be crushed like that, I know.’ — Jillian C. York, director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation‘Alaa is a philosopher of everyday life and life-long struggle; he doesn’t merely find meaning in that which we go through, especially in dark political moments, but creates meaning and gives it form in writing. And he does so from a highly entrenched and implicated place in the present. His thoughts know no frontiers; they pierce through local contexts to inspire new modes of thinking about the chaotic substance of politics.’ — Lina Attalah, editor in chief of Mada Masr‘The text you are holding is living history.’ — Naomi Klein, author of This Changes Everything‘“Fix your own democracy,” Abd el-Fattah encourages us, from his cell; Egypt’s rulers attempt to isolate, fragment and conceal resistance because it needs a global ecosystem to flourish. What can any one person do with a legacy of pain, struggle and courage? There are no easy solutions here, but You Have Not Yet Been Defeated is a heartbreaking, hopeful answer.’ — Guardian

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Book SynopsisAn international bestseller which has sold over a million copies in the UK, Dreams From My Father is a refreshing, revealing portrait of a young man asking big questions about identity and belonging. The son of a Black African father and a white American mother, Barack Obama recounts an emotional odyssey, retracing the migration of his mother's family from Kansas to Hawai'i, then to his childhood home in Indonesia. Finally he travels to Kenya, where he confronts the bitter truth of his father's life and at last reconciles his divided inheritance. Written nearly fifteen years before becoming president, Dreams from My Father is an unforgettable read. It illuminates not only Obama's journey, but also our universal desire to understand our history and what makes us who we are.Trade ReviewExtraordinary . . . It's unique. It's his. There are no other ones like that -- TONI MORRISONAn American classic, written with grace and precision * * Observer * *Thoughtful, moving and brilliantly written * * The Times * *A man with a phenomenal life story * * Spectator * *A bestseller because of its freshness and honesty -- CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS * * Sunday Times * *A well-written account of Obama's struggle to establish his own views on identity and race, and all the more entertaining for its honesty * * Financial Times * *The only politician's life I have read that made me cry . . . elegant and surprising prose as well as a solid personal statement -- IAN KELLY * * The Times * *With its honesty and cool language, and by virtue of having a story worth telling, the book impresses far more than the typical political memoir -- COLIN WATERS * * Sunday Herald * *Obama has written a memoir . . . that evokes the anguish of miscegenation yet culminates in a cry of faith in human community . . . Obama is a born narrator, with a mastery of colour, scene and personality, deftly stirring them into the melting pot of a shared American identity. Rarely has that identity found so vivid a portraitist -- SIMON JENKINS * * Sunday Times * *[Obama] writes with candour about racism, bigotry and hardship, but always there is a sense of wisdom - you feel you are in the presence of a very mature man . . . You will not fail to be moved by Obama's warmth and humility * * Good Book Guide * *

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Book SynopsisThis is James McBride's tribute to his remarkable, eccentric, determined mother, and an eloquent exploration of what family and the colour of your skin really meansTrade ReviewA triumph * New York Times Book Review *A startling, tender-hearted tribute to a woman for whom the expression tough love might have been invented * The Times *As lively as a novel, a well-written, thoughtful contribution to the literature on race * Washington Post *Inspiring * Glamour *Vibrant * Boston Globe *What is stunning here is the grace and compassion with which a young writer captures how shadows, once thrown, are cast across many generations, while celebrating at the same time a real melting-pot of cultures * Financial Times *A wonderfully evocative, moving book ... beautifully flowing prose, interlaced with compassion and humour * Literary Review *

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Book Synopsis''A major achievement.'' CLAUDIA RANKINE''Endlessly absorbing.'' SINÉAD GLEESON ''A probing tour of capitalism and class.'' MAGGIE NELSON''Exhilarating.'' JENNY OFFILLA personal reckoning with the intricacies of money, class and capitalism from the New York Times bestselling author. Having just purchased her first home, Eula Biss embarks on a roguish and risky self-audit of the value system she has bought into. The result is Having and Being Had: a radical interrogation of work, leisure and capitalism. Playfully ranging from IKEA to Beyoncé to Pokémon, across bars and laundromats and universities, she asks, of both herself and her class, In what have we invested? ''As a writer Eula Biss has two great gifts. The first is her ability to reveal to the reader what has, all along, been hidden in plain sight . . . Her other talent is for laying bare our submerged fears . . .

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Book Synopsis*The classic trilogy set in sun-soaked Corfu that inspired ITV''s acclaimed TV series The Durrells*Three classic tales of childhood on an island paradise - My Family and Other Animals, Birds, Beasts and Relatives and The Garden of the Gods by Gerald Durrell - are available in a single edition for the first time in The Corfu Trilogy.Just before the Second World War the Durrell family decamped to the glorious, sun-soaked island of Corfu where the youngest of the four children, ten-year-old Gerald, discovered his passion for animals: toads and tortoises, bats and butterflies, scorpions and octopuses. Through glorious silver-green olive groves and across brilliant-white beaches Gerry pursued his obsession . . . causing hilarity and mayhem in his ever-tolerant family.''A delightful book full of simple, well-known things: cicadas in the olive groves, lamp fishing at night, the complexities of fish and animals - but, above all, childhood moulded by these things'' New York Times

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Book Synopsis''Candid, insightful, moving . . . a memoir, a chronicle of and commentary on America''s abortive civil-rights movement'' -The New York TimesIn this deeply personal book, Baldwin reflects on the experiences that shaped him as a writer and activist: from his childhood in Harlem to the deaths Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. Exploring the visceral reality of life in the American South as well as Baldwin's impressions of London, Paris and Hamburg, No Name in the Street grapples with the failed promises of global liberation movements in fearless, candid prose. Timeless, tender and profound, Baldwin's searing narrative contains the multiplicities of what it means to be Black in America and, indeed, around the world.

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

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Book SynopsisIn 2008, J.K. Rowling delivered a deeply affecting commencement speech at Harvard University. Now published for the first time in book form, Very Good Lives offers J.K. Rowling''s words of wisdom for anyone at a turning point in life, asking the profound and provocative questions: How can we embrace failure? And how can we use our imagination to better both ourselves and others?Drawing from stories of her own post-graduate years, the world-famous author addresses some of life''s most important issues with acuity and emotional force.

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Book Synopsis*Sports Book Awards Autobiography of the Year**Shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award**The Sunday Times Sports Book of the Year* *The Times Sports Book of the Year* *Telegraph Football Book of the Year*Readers love The Boy on the Shed''A journey full of emotion . . . Spectacular'' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐''Honest, insightful and shows how football really has to sort itself out'' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐''Paul Ferris writes from the heart, a wonderful book'' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐''Exceptional'' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐''Ferris''s wonderful memoir represents a twin triumph. He has endured every kind of setback in life but has invariably reinvented himself; and his writing is a pure pleasure.'' The Sunday Times ''Enough depth and humanity to make your average football autobiographyTrade ReviewThis will be one of the most talked about football books of 2018. * Henry Winter *A remarkable piece of writing...Life, death, love, leaving home, motherly relationships, striving, all weaved into the football journey and every page I found myself relating to his experiences, some very personal...So much more than a sporting memoir. You could take so much from it without an interest in football. * Simon Bird, Football Correspondent, Daily Mirror *An excellent read. * Alan Shearer *Paul Ferris has a good story to tell, in fact several, Irish and Geordie, politics and football, and he tells it well, avoiding the obvious pitfalls of trying to be either lyrical or philosophical or too clever. * Hunter Davies *It is also not a run-of-the-mill book about football, but a well-rounded, exceedingly candid account of his life on and off the pitch and of his family, warts and all. * Belfast Telegraph *Unique, interesting, extremely emotive and gives some insight that supporters have never heard before...His story is raw and will keep you engaged without using any exaggerations which try to win over readers...Ferris has pushed himself forward extremely well in his new book, so well that any Newcastle supporter's book collection will be incomplete without The Boy on the Shed in it. * Newcastle Chronicle *Paul Ferris has written a book that transcends genres...Ferris writes with the sort of fluency that, on the pitch, once impressed peers such as Paul Gascoigne.Ferris has gone beyond standard sports autobiographies. The Boy On The Shed is of a time and place, of Ireland, of Northern Ireland, of growing up a Catholic on a Protestant estate in Lisburn in the 1970s. It is a story of everyday sectarianism and its effects...These books offer a window on another world. Paul Ferris spent much of his childhood in Lisburn looking through one. What he saw, how he understood it and didn't understand it, is gripping. * Irish Times *Once opened, you will be unable to put it down. * Chronicle Live *Superb * Oliver Holt *What a life, what a book...it is excellent. Sports book of the year. * BBC Radio 2 Simon Mayo *A stirring testament to the strength of the human condition and the power of ideas. * Sunday Times Northern Ireland *An early contender for sports book of the year, The Boy On The Shed is not only a great story of a man who came tantalisingly close to making it as a top-flight footballer (and went on to achieve so much else besides), but is simultaneously engaging, well-paced and, like the very best stories, well written. * Press Association *Paul Ferris's compelling memoir is different. For starters, he wrote it all himself, beautifully. Also, it extends well beyond football...It has been quite a journey from the garden shed he used to climb, back in Lisburn, that gives this engaging book its title - and one which thoroughly confounds the notion of the idiot footballer. * Daily Mail *The appeal of his astute story-telling is that this book works on levels that reach far beyond football. The Boy on the Shed reveals an impressive triumph of human resilience over adversity as well as a truly gifted wordsmith. * Sunday Mirror *Quite simply one of the best football memoirs I've ever read and I've worked my way through rather a lot. Paul Ferris writes beautifully and weaves a fascinating tale that lures you into not wanting to put this wonderful book down. A masterpiece of the genre. * Brian McNally *Football memoirs rarely produce great literature but Ferris's The Boy on the Shed is a glistening exception, which sets a short career with Newcastle United against the backdrop of a Catholic childhood in a protestant stronghold of Northern Ireland. He's witty, emotional and painfully self-revealing. If, as Alan Shearer intimates in the foreword, a second book is on the way, he may turn out to be the new Frank McCourt. * The Guardian *Ferris writes so well about the sensation of playing that those who have never kicked a ball are given a glimpse of how to be a footballer. This is so much more than a memoir about the game, however. This is rare male honesty about crippling shyness, love and despair and so very moving about the relationship between a mother and her son. * Alyson Rudd, The Times *If by any chance you like a good book and you are not averse to sport, even football, take this recommendation. It is called The Boy on the Shed and it was written by Paul Ferris. Ferris's story is fascinating and stylishly told. -- David Walsh * The Sunday Times *In a genre too often mired in platitudes, former Newcastle and Northern Ireland winger Ferris's account of growing up Catholic in Protestant Lisburn - and the football career that promised him a way out - stands out for its honesty and humour. * i Paper *A fascinating life story, bearing much heart and soul as well as being 'warts and all'. It is well worth reading for its honesty and its insights by any reader and will be a particularly absorbing read for anyone with an interest or love for 'the beautiful game' as well as Ulster readers and those who remember the would-be local football star from these shores. * Irish Tatler *This is a fascinating life story, bearing much heart and soul as well as being warts and all'. It is well worth reading for its honesty and its insights by any reader and will be a particularly absorbing read for anyone with an interest or love for 'the beautiful game'. * Ulster Tatler *A roller coaster read with appeal beyond football fans, this is a tale of struggle and tragedy, of love and hope, and offers humbling reality as an alternative to the traditional "rags to riches" adventure. * Daily Express *In literary terms, his autobiography is far and away the best book here. Not for nothing was it shortlisted for the William Hill sports book of the year award. As with Nick Hornby's peerless classic it will endure beyond a convenient Christmas stocking filler for your dad. That's because it's not about sport, but rather about the far bigger themes of family, pain, identity, masculinity and loss. -- Robert Crampton * The Times *The Boy on the Shed has enough depth and humanity to make your average football autobiography look like a Ladybird book. * The Telegraph *Ferris's wonderful memoir represents a twin triumph ... and his writing is a pure pleasure. * The Times *Ferris's book offers new insights into professional sport - and what happens when the dream curdles. * Irish Independent *

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Book SynopsisThe sequel to the Sunday Times and international-bestselling South Korean therapy memoir, translated by International Booker Prizeshortlisted Anton Hur*AN INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES & INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER*''Starkly raw and vulnerable'' Glamour When Baek Sehee started recording her sessions with her psychiatrist, her hope was to create a reference for herself. She never imagined she would reach so many people, especially young people, with her reflections. I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki became a runaway bestseller in South Korea, Japan, China and Indonesia, and reached a community of readers who appreciated depression and anxiety being discussed with such intimacy. Baek's struggle with dysthymia continues in I Want to Die but I Still Want to Eat Tteokbokki. And healing is a difficult process; the inner conflict she experiences in treatment becomes more complex, more challenging.

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Book SynopsisInto this personal account, Oldham weaves a brilliant historical reconstruction of life in a cultured and prosperous Berlin - until the darkening shadows of Hitler's anti-semitic laws steadily reduced the freedoms that he enjoyed and threatened his very existence. Why? Alexander's family was Jewish by birth but generations before, had converted to Lutheranism, an act which was to provide no defence in Hitler's Germany. Writing, remarkably, without animosity, Alexander Oldham combines the warmth of his childhood and his intriguing family life with a meticulous and historical exploration of the brutal political processes that forced him, aged twelve, to flee his Berlin childhood to take on a new identity and make a new life in Britain.Table of ContentsForeword; GERMANY; 1. Introduction; 2. Berlin 1925; 3. The Golden Years; 4. Change; 5. Darkening Skies; ENGLAND AND THE WAR; 6. Emigration; 7. Settling in; 8. The British Army; 9. Towards an Uncertain Future; Maria's Story

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Book SynopsisThe Sunday Times bestselling hit memoir from Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker.'It's real gold... its storytelling first class' Sunday TimesWhat if the things we keep hidden say more about us than those we put on display?We all have a random collection of the things that made us - photos, tickets, clothes, souvenirs, stuffed in a box, packed in a suitcase, crammed into a drawer. When Jarvis Cocker starts clearing out his loft, he finds a jumble of objects that catalogue his story and ask him some awkward questions:Who do you think you are?Are clothes important?Why are there so many pairs of broken glasses up here?From a Gold Star polycotton shirt to a pack of Wrigley's Extra, from his teenage attempts to write songs to the Sexy Laughs Fantastic Dirty Joke Book, this is the hard evidence of Jarvis's unique life, Pulp, 20th century pop culture, the good times and the mistakes he'd rather forget.This is not a life story. It's a loft story.'Nostalgic, playful and beautifully designed' Daily Mail'Brilliant...lurid, entertaining' Daily Telegraph'Terrific... Very funny' Guardian* A Book of the Year in the Daily Telegraph, Financial Times, Daily Mail and Uncut *Trade ReviewBrilliant... accessible, pithy, lurid, entertaining, even laugh-out-loud funny... we can only hope that Cocker has enough tat for a second volume. * Telegraph *Poignant in a subtle, understated way; Marcel Proust's In Search of Lost Time for the age of the Ford Cortina... This book is about a very normal childhood and the everyday detritus it left behind. Common people indeed. * Times *Incredibly entertaining...a trip through the things that have made him who he is. * Evening Standard, *Books to Look Out For 2022* *Rummage through its pages - through the plastic and nylon, the tin and vinyl - and it's real gold, its shirts second-hand, of course, but its storytelling first class. * Sunday Times *Brilliant... Good Pop, Bad Pop is more than anyone dared hope for * i *

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Book SynopsisFrom his experiences as a rough sleeper in London in the early eighties to the wilds of Jura, Neil Ansell has woven a beautifully told memoir, and a meditation on belonging.

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Book SynopsisA life can change in a second. 'The Innocent and the Beautiful' is a deeply moving true story of love and tragedy, of injustice and the courage to endure. In 1981 Alan Atkinson took his perfect family on holiday to Florida. As night fell in the Everglades another driver, drink in hand, reversed directly in front of the family's rental car... and in an instant Alan lost his beautiful wife and three wonderful children. Beginning in the early 1960s, 'The Innocent and the Beautiful' tells of Alan and Adrienne's romance, of their family, and of how after their deaths Alan struggled with the American legal system to find justice, ultimately rebuilding his life and finding love again, but never quite peace.Table of ContentsPreface 7 Part one 9 Part two 59 Part three 97 Part four 151 Part five 195 Afterword 239 Epilogue 246

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Book Synopsis*** THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER***From adventures at Central Saint Martins to The Great British Sewing Bee, go behind the scenes of Esme Young's amazing life...At age five, Esme was asked to write in her notebook, but instead, she filled it with drawings - the only way she knew to express herself. At seven, when it was discovered she was partially deaf, she found refuge in her sketchbooks. Shortly after, Esme made her first garment and a passion for sewing and designing was born. As a teenager, she made her way to London where her creative journey truly began.Living in a squat with other young creatives, Esme made the most of her time; studying at Central Saint Martins, launching a clothing line called Swanky Modes with three friends and £50 each, watching Notting Hill Carnival with David Bowie, and altering a dress for Cher. The '90s saw a career move into costumes for films, where she designed outfits for Trainspotting, Bridget Jones's Diary and The Beach, before she moved onto the small screen herself.A celebration of a creative life lived differently, Behind the Seams is a reminder that it's never too early, or too late to pick up a needle and start stitching in a new direction.

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Like St-Pierre, this book is part philosophical, part scientific, part business-tutorial and even part self-help, with carefully selected pieces of the fighter's personal story interwoven throughout. It's all fascinating, coming from one of the most evolved fighting minds the sport has ever produced." -- SportsIllustrated.com "The Way of the Fight delivers a great deal ... part biography, part self-help, part philosophy. It is a book that, read in the right manner, teaches more than it tells." -- Bleacher Report "An interesting view into the psyche of an athlete ... the most insightful view to date of a fighter and person that has not only dominated his sport, but has been one of the foundational figures bridging the gap between MMA's community and the greater mainstream sports audience." -- Sherdog "This is an outstanding book ... at the heart of it The Way of the Fight is about setting and achieving goals, and what it takes to overcome obstacles to become your most successful self... I highly recommend The Way of the Fight." -- New York Times bestselling author Tami Hoag "GSP the warrior reveals himself. The Way of the Fight is the way of his life. It's about the process of Georges St-Pierre, who came from nowhere to become an international icon." -- Diane Sauve, Radio-Canada

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Book Synopsis'Haute couture is like an orchestra, whose conductor is Balenciaga. We other couturiers are the musicians and we follow the direction he gives' - Christian DiorThe godfather of conceptual design, a master of shape, a true fashion game changer – all are accolades bestowed upon one of the most interesting, venerated and iconic couturiers of the twentieth century: Cristóbal Balenciaga. His pureness of line, the comfort of his garments and innovative work with textiles, colour and volume made a huge impact on twentieth-century fashion, with creations such as the babydoll, balloon and sack dresses still influencing fashion today.Through stunning images and captivating text, Little Book of Balenciaga depicts the work and life of Balenciaga the couturier. Fashion historian Emmanuelle Dirix examines his legacy both through tracing the Maison's artistic direction after his death, and the generations of designers influenced by the master himself.Table of ContentsIntroduction • The Early Years • Spain via Paris • The War Years • Craftsmanship • Master of Modernity • The Abstract Body • Design Influences • Clients • Fashion Legacies • A Label Reborn.

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Book SynopsisFrom the bestselling author of The Dutch House, Commonwealth and Bel Canto, Winner of The Women's Prize for Fiction and the Pen/Faulkner Award.When Ann Patchett and Lucy Grealy met in college they began a friendship that would define their lives. Lucy Grealy lost part of her jaw to childhood cancer, and a large part of her life to chemotherapy and endless reconstructive surgeries. Stoic but vulnerable, damaged by bullying but fascinated by fame, Lucy had an incandescent personality that illuminated those around her.In this tender, brutal book, Ann Patchett describes Lucy's life and her own platonic love for her. Truth & Beauty is the story of the part of their lives that they shared the camaraderie and comedy, the tribulations and tragedy of true friendship. A portrait of unwavering commitment through success, failure, despair and drugs, this is what it means to be part of two lives that are intertwined.Trade Review'A luminously detailed book…Truth & Beauty, Patchett's account of her relationship with Grealy, is not a story of commonplace camaraderie. Theirs is a love story, a first-love story, an account of devotion so intense that it compares to conventional friendship as closely as double cream does to Dream Topping' Observer ‘An inspired duet…riveting’ Joyce Carol Oates ‘An extraordinary, painful, but ultimately celebratory memoir’ Red ‘A loving, clear-sighted portrayal’ Elle ‘Equal parts catharsis and work of art, Ann Patchett’s beautifully executed book is sincerely inscribed with Lucy’s inordinate value as a friend’ TLS

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Book SynopsisGetting Lost is the diary kept by Annie Ernaux during the year and a half she had a secret love affair with a younger, married man, an attaché to the Soviet embassy in Paris. Her novel, Simple Passion, was based on this affair, but here her writing is immediate and unfiltered. In these diaries it is 1989 and Annie is divorced with two grown sons, living in the suburbs of Paris and nearing fifty. Her lover escapes the city to see her there and Ernaux seems to survive only in expectation of these encounters. She cannot write, she trudges distractedly through her various other commitments in the world, she awaits his next call; she lives merely to feel desire and for the next rendezvous. When he is gone and the moment of desire has faded, she feels that she is a step closer to death. Lauded for her spare prose, Ernaux here removes all artifice, her writing pared down to its most naked and vulnerable. Translated brilliantly for the first time by Alison L. Strayer, Getting Lost is a haunting record of a woman in the grips of love, desire and despair.Trade Review‘Annie Ernaux is one of my favorite contemporary writers, original and true. Always after reading one of her books, I walk around in her world for months.’ — Sheila Heti, author of Motherhood‘I find her work extraordinary.’ — Eimear McBride, author of A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing‘Annie Ernaux writes memoir with such generosity and vulnerable power that I find it difficult to separate my own memories from hers long after I’ve finished reading.’ — Catherine Lacey, author of Pew‘Like Anna Karenina and Madame Bovary, Ernaux’s affair should be counted as one of the great liaisons of literature.... I suspect the book will become a kind of totem for lovers: a manual to help them find their centre when, like Ernaux, they are lost in love. All her books have the quality of saving frail human details from oblivion. Together they tell, in fragments, the story of a woman in the twentieth century who has lived fully, sought out pain and happiness equally and then committed her findings truthfully on paper. Her life is our inheritance.’ — Ankita Chakraborty, Guardian‘Ernaux has once more created a living document of existential terror and hope.’ — Catherine Taylor, Irish Times‘The almost primitive directness of her voice is bracing. It’s as if she’s carving each sentence onto the surface of a table with a knife.... Getting Lost is a feverish book. It’s about being impaled by desire, and about the things human beings want, as opposed to the things for which they settle... it’s one of those books about loneliness that, on every page, makes you feel less alone.’ — Dwight Garner, New York Times‘Ernaux is an unusual memoirist: she distrusts her memory… Ernaux does not so much reveal the past – she does not pretend to have any authoritative access to it – as unpack it.’ — Madeleine Schwartz, New Yorker‘Reading her is like getting to know a friend, the way they tell you about themselves over long conversations that sometimes take years, revealing things slowly, looping back to some parts of their life over and over.’ — Joanna Biggs, London Review of Books‘Ernaux has inherited de Beauvoir’s role of chronicler to a generation.’ — Margaret Drabble, New Statesman ‘Watching a skilled writer who was for years overlooked by the French literary establishment salvage an affair shrouded in such secrecy is to witness a literary feat.’ — Kaya Genç, Los Angeles Review of Books‘Across the ample particularities of over forty years and twenty-one books, almost all short, subject-driven memoirs, Ernaux has fundamentally destabilized and reinvented the genre in French literature.’ — Audrey Wollen, The Nation‘Ernaux’s writing, in Alison L. Strayer’s accomplished translation, is brazen and candid. Despite the cyclical, repetitive nature of events — the ecstasy of seeing her lover again, the dread of his leaving, the feelings of melancholy after he has departed, the agony of waiting and hoping for his call, repeated ad infinitum — the writing is urgent and gripping…She is a writer of rare calibre, a woman who writes with such honesty and, above all, humanity, as to render her work irresistible.’ — Rachel Farmer, Lunate‘From the very first lines, we feel ourselves, like her, caught up in the vertigo of waiting, obsessed by the telephone that never rings, time that passes too quickly and the meetings that become less frequent. Love, death and literature are constantly intertwined in this story that plunges us into the intimacy of a couple, without ever giving us the impression of being voyeurs.’ — Pascale Frey, ELLE‘With Getting Lost, Annie Ernaux goes for broke. The bed, the site of her pleasure, is to her what the gaming table is to the gambler, the bottle to the alcoholic, the syringe to the addict. The nexus of all danger. The goal is not, as she seems to believe and tries to make us believe, the necessity of passion: it is in reality only a pretext for her to risk her life.’ — Martine de Rabaudy, L'Express

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Book SynopsisMillions of Americans work full time, year round, for poverty-level wages. In 1998, Barbara Ehrenreich decided to join them. Leaving her home, she took the cheapest lodgings she could find, and accepted whatever jobs she was offered. Nickel and Dimed reveals low-rent America in all its tenacity, anxiety, and surprising generosity? exposing the darker side of American prosperity and the true cost of the American dream.Trade Review'An extraordinary achievement...surely one of the most gripping political books ever written' - Observer'A valuable and illuminating book...Barbara Ehrenreich is now our premier reporter of the underside of capitalism' - New York Times

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Book SynopsisFrom the author of Men Explain Things to Me: an electric portrait of the artist as a young woman that asks how a young writer finds her voice in a society that prefers women to be silent.

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Book SynopsisAfter travelling to Spain at the end of 1936 with the intention of working as a correspondent for a British socialist newspaper, thirty-three-year-old George Orwell decided to join the Republican efforts to overturn Franco’s Nationalists in the Spanish Civil War. Having enrolled in the POUM militias, the young writer was soon forced to experience first-hand the hardships and dangers of trench warfare, before becoming involved in the Barcelona May Day street fighting and nearly being killed by a bullet on his return to the front line. Orwell’s initial idealistic dreams of a victorious fight against fascism were gradually tainted by doubt and disillusionment as the divisions and infighting within the Republican coalition became apparent. Part war memoir, part tract, part exposé, Homage to Catalonia is a pivotal work in Orwell’s œuvre, and a key to understanding his political ideas and commitment to the socialist cause. Rejected by Orwell’s long-standing publisher, Gollancz, on political grounds, it is here presented in its original version, as published by Secker & Warburg in 1938.Trade ReviewA moving eyewitness account... [A] brilliant book - Noam Chomsky

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Book SynopsisThe Sunday Times top ten bestseller.Edward Snowden, the man who risked everything to expose the US government’s system of mass surveillance, reveals for the first time the story of his life, including how he helped to build that system and what motivated him to try to bring it down.In 2013, twenty-nine-year-old Edward Snowden shocked the world when he broke with the American intelligence establishment and revealed that the United States government was secretly pursuing the means to collect every single phone call, text message, and email. The result would be an unprecedented system of mass surveillance with the ability to pry into the private lives of every person on earth. Here, Snowden reveals for the very first time how he helped to build this system and why he was moved to expose it.Spanning the bucolic Beltway suburbs of his childhood and the clandestine CIA and NSA postings of his adulthood, Permanent Record is the extraordinary account of a bright young man who grew up online – a man who became a spy, a whistleblower, and, in exile, the Internet’s conscience.Written with wit, grace, passion, and an unflinching candor, Permanent Record is a crucial memoir of our digital age.'A riveting account . . . Reads like a literary thriller' - New York TimesTrade ReviewThe world's most famous whistleblower * Guardian *A riveting account . . . Reads like a literary thriller * New York Times *Riveting, pacy * Financial Times *Fascinating * Observer *Gripping * Washington Post *His disclosures of mass surveillance and bulk collection of personal information are as relevant now as they were in 2013 * Guardian *Full of surprises . . . A deeply reluctant whistleblower . . . he deserves our thanks * Nation *Well-written * The Economist *A very significant figure in the history of intelligence * Sunday Times *[A] thriller plot * London Review of Books *A thoughtful and elegantly written book -- Steven Poole, New StatesmenAn extraordinary book -- Cory Doctorow

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