Memoirs Books

Book SynopsisFew of us have lived through the kind of suffering Teal Swan endured: 13 years of ritual abuse at the hands of a cult. But all of us have been fractured by trauma in one way or another. Your wounds may be visible as bodily scars; or they may show up in the form of anxiety, depression or PTSD; or you may simply be struggling in your life for reasons you simply don't understand.The good news is that you can heal your wounds. The Completion Process invites you on a profound journey of self-exploration and self-restoration to reclaim the lost parts of you and return to a joyous life, no longerinhibited by the past or terrified of the future. Drawing on her wide range of extrasensory abilities, including clairvoyance, clairsentience and clairaudience, Teal offers a revolutionary 18-step process for healing any past hurt or present problem. Learn how to: Create a haven in your mind where it's safe to re-enter a difficult memory Validate painful emotions Let your feelings shift naturally towards relief Close the memory of trauma and begin a 'new life'This is not only healing work it's also the work of enlightenment. It will leave you with a stronger sense of value and hope in the world, and the assurance that life can be good again.

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Book SynopsisA unique and compelling collection of memoir and personal stories by Arab LGBTQ+ writers edited by the Arab-Australian journalist, Elias Jahshan.Trade Review'A wonderful collection of stories, of people unshackled, of tongues untied. This surprising book allows the deliberately silenced and the preferably unheard to speak. Profoundly moving and uplifting. Yes, This Arab is Queer.' Rabih Alameddine;'Visionary. A powerful and moving portrait of life as a queer Arab.' Sabrina Mahfouz;'A vital addition to what it means to be Arab. This collection showcases the magnificent diversity and richness of Arab identity.' Layla AlAmmar;'A heartfelt, moving collection, unflinching in its vulnerability, courageous and empowering in its honesty. These writers hold our gaze, demanding to be seen, on their own terms.' Yassmin Abdel-Magied

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Book SynopsisThis famous book, the inspiration behind Kate Bush's 1985 hit song 'Cloudbusting', is the extraordinary account of life as friend, confidant and child of the brilliant but persecuted psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich. Peter, his son, shared with his father the revolutionary concept of a world where dream and reality are virtually indistinguishable, and the sense of mission which set him and his followers apart from the rest of the human race. Here, Peter Reich writes vividly and movingly of the mysterious experiences he shared with his father: of flying saucers; the 'cloudbuster' rain-makers and the FDA narks; and of the final tragic realization of his father's death, which woke him up to the necessity of living out his life in an alien world. Already regarded as a modern classic, A Book of Dreams is not only a beautifully written narrative of a remarkable friendship and collaboration, but a loving son's heartfelt tribute to a loving father.

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Book SynopsisLife in the Pitlane is an inspiring memoir from Red Bull's senior engineer Calum Nicholas that will open up the world of Formula 1 like never before. Replete with all the high-octane tales and behind the scenes details you'd expect from a life lived next to the fast lane, Life in the Pitlane will detail the realities of life off the track; the good and the bad, with a particular spotlight on diversity and inclusion within the sport, and all the entertaining stories and behind the scenes details fans of F1 will be looking for.Life in the Pitlane brings a brand-new perspective to the sport, as Calum reflects on his career so far, how the sport has changed for those working in it, the realities of life on the road and the future he hopes lies ahead.

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Book SynopsisPowerful, intelligent and vital one of the year's must-reads' Hannah Nathanson, Features Director, ELLEFeaturing contributions from Candice Carty-Williams, Jessica Horn, Ebele Okobi, Funmi Fetto and Freddie Harrel.In the vein of Roxane Gay's Bad Feminist, but wholly its own, Girl is a provocative, heartbreaking and frequently hilarious collection of original essays on what it means to be black, a woman, a mother and a global citizen in today's ever-changing world.Black women have never been more visible or more publicly celebrated. But for every new milestone, every magazine cover, every box office record smashed, the reality of everyday life remains a complex, nuanced, contradiction-laden experience.Award-winning journalist and American in London Kenya Hunt threads razor sharp cultural observation through evocative and relatable stories, both illuminating our current cultural moment and transcending it.Trade Review‘Powerful, intelligent and vital – one of this year’s must reads’ Elle ‘Enlightening, relatable, warm and witty, Girl is a must-read for 2020’ Sunday Times Style ‘Valuable’ Guardian ‘If any book should enrich – and disrupt – your life, let it be this.’ Harper’s Bazaar UK ‘very honest and intelligent’ Dina Asher-Smith ‘Put it on your reading list, pronto’ Dazed ‘Exceptional … This book genuinely changed the way I see the world’ Red ‘Essential reading’ Psychologies ‘Brilliant … if there’s any book you should read this year, it’s this one.’ Refinery29 ‘Funny, heartbreaking, and needed now more than ever.’ Cosmopolitan ‘[A] smart, sharp look at what it means to be a black woman’ i News ‘Powerful’ Prima ‘Important’ Woman & Home ‘GIRL is written with a tenderness and urgency that will stay with you long after you have finished reading’ Press Association ‘Insightful’ ES Magazine ‘A fundamental read … This varied and at times introspective anthology is pithy, humorous and incredibly moving. We couldn’t recommend it enough.’ Magic Radio ‘Both moving and motivating; informative and transformative. I could not put it down. A truly beautiful book.’ Emma Gannon, bestselling author of Olive ‘Beautifully fluent and readable … A book not just to read but to witness.’ Afua Hirsch, author of Brit(ish) ‘Girl speaks to the Black woman of today.’ Bethann Hardison, fashion model and activist ‘Girl is a radical and magical diasporic curation of love for Black dialect, Black freedom, Black cool, Black culture, Black joy, and mostly–and specifically–Black women.’Damon Young, author What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Blacker

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Book SynopsisObsessive was, still is, my natural state, and I never wondered why. I didn't mind, didn't know that other people could feel at peace. I always felt like a raw nerve, but then, I thought that everyone did. Writer and journalist Marianne Eloise was born obsessive. What that means changes day to day, depending on what her brain latches onto: fixations with certain topics, intrusive violent thoughts, looping phrases. Some obsessions have lasted a lifetime, while others will be intense but only last a week or two. Obsessive, Intrusive, Magical Thinking is the culmination of a life spend obsessing, offering a glimpse into Marianne's brain, but also an insight into the lives of others like her. From death to Medusa, to Disneyland to fire, to LA to her dog, the essays explore the intersection of neurodivergence, fixation and disorder, telling the story of one life underpinned and ultimately made whole by obsession. AUTHOR: Marianne Eloise is a writer and journalist. She covers topics like TV, film, digital culture, neurodiversity, wellness and alternative music, for outlets including The Cut, the New York Times, Courier, Vulture, i-D, Guardian and more.Trade ReviewThe mortifying ordeal of being known, minus the ordeal and sans mortification. I felt recognised on every page, learned so many new things, and laughed so hard I choked on my water. Read this!!! -- Naoise Dolan, author of Exciting TimesIn her candid, witty memoir, Marianne Eloise offers a powerful account of what it is like to feel trapped by mental health problems and obsessions ... A brave book that puts vulnerability fully on show. * Independent *Incandescent [...] Eloise's wit and grace cast her differences in a dazzling light [...] the result is a rewarding navigation through the corridors of a relentlessly curious mind. * Publishers Weekly *There are several shrewd observations made within this lucid and level-headed memoir. Amongst them is the way the matrix of obsession, compulsion and intrusion represents an exaggeration of conventional anxieties. * Arts Desk *Did not disappoint [...] a really good portrayal of neurodiversity in an entertaining and enjoyable way' * Eleanor, NetGalley *Lyrical, often funny, ... the essays will leave readers feeling secondhand joy and maybe even encouragement to own their love for their own less-than-cool favorite things. * NYLON *

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Book SynopsisA ROUGH TRADE BOOK OF THE YEAR''A joy to read'' Guardian''I loved this book'' Irvine Welsh ''What a story! I adored it'' Lauren LaverneAs a DJ and broadcaster on radio, tv and the live music scene, Annie has been an invigorating and necessarily disruptive force. She walked in the door at Radio One in 1970 as its first female broadcaster. Fifty years later she continues to be a DJ and tastemaker who commands the respect of artists, listeners and peers across the world.Hey Hi Hello tells the story of those early days at Radio One, the Ground Zero moment of punk and the arrival of acid house and the Second Summer of Love in the late 80s. Funny, warm and candid to a fault, including encounters with Bob Marley, Marc Bolan, The Beatles and interviews with Little Simz and Billie Eilish, this is a portrait of an artist without whom the past fifty years of British culture would have looked very different indeed.Trade ReviewI loved this book. Annie Nightingale is my heroine. The woman is a legend -- Irvine WelshAbsolutely terrific. A memoir, an overview of the pop and rock eras, and a great deal of wisdom and insight -- David Quantick, writer, Veep and The Thick of ItAnnie was important to me back when I was a teenager, when not only was she one of the few people playing records I liked, she was a WOMAN doing it, which was inspirational to me. I wrote about her in my book Another Planet, where I quote a diary entry from 1978 which listed things I was loving in between watching Bowie on tv and taping a Bruce Springsteen album, the entry simply says, 'Listened to Annie Nightingale' -- Tracey ThornIt wasn't until I heard Annie Nightingale on Sunday evenings after the chart rundown that I understood what music radio could be. Nightingale had a broader music taste than, say, John Peel, but was alternative enough to introduce me to songs I never would otherwise have heard. She's still on Radio 1 now, at the very Nightingale time of 2am. She still plays tracks I hate, tracks I love. She's still the best -- Miranda Sawyer * Observer *Many of her stories are entertaining [...] and the book includes short, funny, informative interviews with leading lights of the day. -- Charlotte Heathcote * Sunday Express *Full of brilliant anecdotes, this autobiography offers a rare insight into a woman who has lived at the forefront of pop culture. * The Sun *What a marvellous memoir. From the very start, Nightingale engages directly with her reader. She welcomes us into an intimate conversation like those she has been creating for decades on the radio . . . as we read, it's almost as if we're listening to the voice that's so distinctive, warm, funny, and honest * Louder Than War *Nightingale was the first female broadcaster on Radio 1 in 1970 and her tales of surviving in a stifling, male-dominated arena are told vividly within Hey Hi Hello . . . Jam-packed with stories and events that span decades of music and culture, from the Beatles via Marc Bolan to Primal Scream and Little Simz . . . very hard to put down * Buzz Magazine *Eccentric but entertaining -- Jude Rogers * Guardian *I can't imagine what growing up without Annie Nightingale would have been like. I don't want to contemplate the limitations that would have been imposed on my cultural life and my own ambitions in that sphere without her presence. Thank god I don't have to and she was there every step of the way from a voice on the radio to an enthusiastic comrade in the chill out zone and post-rave party -- Irvine Welsh

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Book SynopsisQuiara Hudes is in her own league. Her sentences will take your breath away. How lucky we are to have her telling our stories. Lin-Manuel MirandaFrom the Pulitzer-prize winning playwright behind IN THE HEIGHTS comes a spellbinding coming-of-age story, and a vibrant and life-affirming celebration of the women who guide us.Born in Philadelphia to a Jewish father and an enigmatic Puerto Rican mother, Quiara Alegría Hudes had a love-and-trouble-filled upbringing, haunted by the unspoken, untold family secrets of the barrio. In the face of real world wounds, the powerful, Orisha-like women of her family possessed a strength, joy and sensuality that left a young Quiara awe struck. She vowed to tell their stories.But confronted by a world that treated her like an outsider, Quiara knew she must find a new language, one which reflected the multiple cultures that raised this Puerto Rican child of North Philly. Written and spoken, English and Spanish, sacred and profane as her search for a way Trade Review INDEPENDENT BEST COMING-OF-AGE STORY 2021 ‘Flawless … In the moments after I finished reading, first came the aphasia of wonder at a book that exceeds you’ – New York Times ‘This electrifying memoir, which is her first book, brings together the threads of her Philadelphia upbringing as the daughter of a Puerto Rican mother and Jewish father, never quite fitting in and trying to find her place in the world. Part coming-of-age story and part lyrical tale of the women she grew up with, this is a wonderful book about finding your voice, and telling the stories that helped to build you as a person.’ THE INDEPENDENT ‘Quiara Hudes is in her own league. Her sentences will take your breath away. How lucky we are to have her telling our stories.' – LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA ‘Enormously empathetic and funny … The language throughout is gorgeous and so moving. I love this book.’– ANGIE CRUZ, author of Dominicana ‘This book is a how-to for this generation of storytellers looking for direction on how to step into their power. If anyone asks me how to tell their story, I’m just gonna send them this book.’ – JON CHU, Director of In the Heights and Crazy Rich Asians ‘A masterclass on how we might all find the courage to tell our own stories on our own terms.’ – KIMBERLY DREW, author of This is What I Know About Art and Black Futures ‘Visceral, riotous, and cathartic. – to read Hudes’ Broken Language was a kind of baptism. A woman’s journey to find her voice has never been rendered so powerfully. I can honestly say I grew as a writer from reading it.’ – JINI REDDY, author of Wanderland ‘An extraordinary, beautiful and deeply moving memoir ’ – SOPHIE HARDACH, author of Confession with Blue Horses

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Book Synopsis''Dazzling ... in her kaleidoscopic essays, memoir has been shattered into sliding and overlapping pieces ... mind-expanding'' The New York Times Book Review Esmé Weijun Wang was officially diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder in 2013, although the hallucinations and psychotic episodes had started years before that. In the midst of a high functioning life at Yale, Stanford and the literary world, she would find herself floored by an overwhelming terror that ''spread like blood'', or convinced that she was dead, or that her friends were robots, or spiders were eating holes in her brain. What happens when your whole conception of yourself is turned upside down? When you''re aware of what is occurring to you, but unable to do anything about it? Written with immediacy and unflinching honesty, this visceral and moving book is Wang''s story, as she steps both inside and outside of her condition to bring it to light. Following her own diagnosis and the many manifestations of schizophrenia in her life, she ranges over everything from how we label mental illness to her own use of fashion and make-up to present herself as high-functioning, from the failures of the higher education system to how factors such as PTSD and Lyme disease compounded her experiences. Wang''s analytical, intelligent eye, honed as a former lab researcher at Stanford, allows her to balance research with haunting personal narrative. The Collected Schizophrenias cuts right to the core and provides unique insight into a condition long misdiagnosed and much misunderstood.Trade ReviewWang's story is devastating... she is wise and eloquent, and heart-rendingly honest on the effects of the illness * Spectator *Wang writes about how mental illness is framed both within the medical system and by society...The word ["schizophrenia"] is often misused and trivialised...Wang's narrative, without pulling punches, goes a long way to dispelling such views...many would benefit from this book and I highly recommend it, both for the author's clarity and, ultimately, her expression of hope * The Lancet *Fragmented by design, the book's structure heightens the immediacy of its testimony * New Yorker *Impressive ... we learn what schizophrenia feels like from the inside. Wang strikes a perfect balance between explanation and implication * Brooklyn Rail *In Wang's kaleidoscopic essays, memoir has been shattered into sliding and overlapping pieces. . . . The images and insights Wang summons are . . . often dazzling, and well worth the reconstructive work. . . . Her multifaceted arguments can be gratifyingly mind-expanding. * The New York Times Review of Books *[An] utterly unique book of essays: a deep, illuminating, and explosively written dive into a life of living with mental illness * Entertainment Weekly *Wang . . . is an implicitly trustworthy guide to this netherworld of psychosis and chronic illness. . . . Her characteristic nuance more often carries the ring of wisdom, hard won * Washington Post *The Collected Schizophrenias is riveting, honest, and courageously allows for complexities in the reality of what living with illness is like--and we are lucky to have it in the world * NPR *[The Collected Schizophrenias is] resoundingly intelligent, often unexpectedly funny, questioning, fearless and peerless, as Wang makes for brilliant company on 13 difficult walks through largely uncharted territory * Los Angeles Times *Going beyond her personal story, Wang applies her experience as a former lab researcher at Stanford to add an analytical perspective to The Collected Schizophrenias, which gives readers an inside look into the often-misunderstood intricacies of mental health * Time *Intimate, urgent, and powerful. . . . Wang writes generously about the manifestations of schizophrenia in her life . . . and lends her keen analysis to the big, ethical questions about how we treat those whose experience of the world differs from ours * Buzzfeed *Wang writes with lucid clarity. . . . Harrowing and heartfelt. * Star Tribune *An intimate, rigorously researched, collectio * BBC Culture *In a voice both laboratorial and poetic, Wang examines her own diagnosis, as well as her PTSD and Lyme disease, with a gentleness and frankness that mesmerizes and demystifies * The Week *Wang is a brilliant writer. . . . This intimate essay collection grapples with her diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder and all the sorrow and searching that comes with it. Always artful and illuminating, never facile * Vulture *Wang's clear-eyed look into a complicated reality makes this is an essential read for anyone who better wants to understand why we treat each other--and ourselves--so harshly at any display of weakness; it's a book of compassion and brilliance, an unflinching look at a topic that has long repelled too many of us. * NYLON *Esmé Weijun Wang's compelling essays highlight the humanity behind a schizophrenia diagnosis, delivering a necessary read tackling mental illness * Paste *Wang creates an unforgettable portrait of a singular brain * Refinery29 *Wang is a highly articulate and graceful essayist, and her insights, in both the clinical and general senses, are exceptional. * Los Angeles Review of Books *Wang writes brilliantly and beautifully about lives lived with mental illness * The Millions *In writing about her experiences, Wang puts a face to the silent suffering of millions of people. Her searing honesty coupled with the strength of her writing make The Collected Schizophrenias a remarkable look into a little-understood part of the human condition * Chicago Review of Books *An illuminating, breathtaking look into the underexplored world of schizophrenia, with the rare perspective of someone who's actually been there * mindbodygreen *Wang . . . eloquently balances personal narrative and empirical research to offer a powerful series of insights into a woefully misunderstood world. * SF Weekly *This beautifully written work will expand your thinking about severe mental illness and mental illness in general * Rewire.News *The Collected Schizophrenias is illumination and important--not only because it educates and challenges--but because it forces us to consider how much we still have to work to undo historical and systematic damage, to challenge our own broken, misguided partiality towards what it means to be healthy and sane * The Arkansas International *[The Collected Schizophrenias] organizes the confusion, terror and complexity of [Wang's] experience into an imperfectly cohesive, profoundly illuminating whole. * Shelf Awareness *Penetrating and revelatory. * Publisher's Weekly *This mesmerizing collection of essays has achieved the rarest of rarities--a meaningful and expansive language for a subject that has been long bound by both deep revulsion and intense fascination -- Jenny ZhangA brilliant guide to the complexities of thinking about illness, and mental illness, in particular. It will bring hope to others searching to understand their own diagnoses -- Meghan O'RourkeA masterful braiding of the achingly personal and the incisively researched. . . . This book is a vital, illuminating window onto the world we all already live in, but find all too easy to ignore -- Alexandra KleemanYou won't find any pity-baiting, sensationalism, or false positivity here; Wang is so candidly aware that I'd trust her over my own diary -- Tony TulathimutteEsmé Weijun Wang offers us an all-access pass to her beautiful, unquiet mind. . . Rarely has a book about living with mental illness felt so immediate, raw, and powerful -- Dani ShapiroThe Collected Schizophrenias is at once generous and brilliantly nuanced, rigorous and bold. It had me rethinking what it is to be well or ill. -- R.O. KwonEsmé Weijun Wang sends out revelatory dispatches from an under-mapped land, shot like arrows in all directions from a taut bow of a mind. . . . Her work changes the way we think about illness - which is to say that it changes us -- Whiting Award Selection Committee

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Book SynopsisThe third book in The Corfu Trilogy (after My Family and Other Animals and Birds, Beasts and Relatives), the beloved books that inspired ITV''s television series The Durrells.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 wild and amusing chronicle'' Daily Express''This book, an evocation of a budding naturalist''s life as a boy on Corfu, will delight many readers, even those who can''t stand spiders...'' Evening Standard''Delightful, charming, funny'' The TimesTrade ReviewDelightful, charming, funny * The Times *A wild and amusing chronicle * Daily Express *

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewSuperb - a great book to fuel your wanderlust. * Mark Beaumont *Grit, perseverance and statesmanship, Nick Butter pulled off the impossible. * Dean Karnazes *The ultimate running book, showcasing the ultimate running adventure. * Sean Conway *Readers will find not only the bumps Butter encountered on the road, but the moments of serenity and insight he found along the way. * Daily Telegraph *[An] excellent biography. The Belgian's life is sufficiently extraordinary to warrant wider interestAlyson Rudd, The Times * . *

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Book SynopsisNearly thirteen years after Australia welcomed Jessica Watson and Ella's Pink Lady home from their record-breaking adventure, a new-release feature film will soon share the story of this remarkable young woman who followed her dream and conquered the world.

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Book SynopsisThe first time Lara Marlowe interviewed Lieutenant Yulia Mykytenko in Ukraine in 2023, Marlowe realized that the 28-year-old woman army officer was one of the most extraordinary people she had encountered in 42 years of journalism.Mykytenko was born in Kyiv in July 1995. She co-founded the female squad' of the 16th regiment of the Self-Defence Force during the 2013/14 Euromaidan protests, which overthrew the corrupt, pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych. She married Illia Serbin, a soldier, in 2015 and joined the army to serve with him in Donbas the following year. Mykytenko briefly left the army after her husband was killed in a Russian bombardment, but re-enlisted on the first day of the full-scale Russian invasion of 24 February 2022. She commands a 25-man drone unit on the frontline in Donbas.Drawing from a series of interviews with Mykytenko through the winter of 2023/24, Marlowe paints a searing portrait of life on the frontline and offers insights into Ukra

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Book Synopsis''What I''ve learned from climbing mountains is that we can push ourselves far beyond what we think we are capable of, and it''s outside of our comfort zones that the most amazing things happen.''What drives us to go to our limits and beyond? What does it take to make dreams come true over all else? And how can you turn fear into courage? From Everest to K2, The Girl Who Climbed Everest is the story of Bonita Norris'' journey undertaking the world''s toughest and most dangerous expeditions. Once an anxious teenager with an eating disorder it was the discovery of a passion for climbing that inspired Bonita to change her life. Drawing on her experiences to capture the agonies - both mental and physical - and joys of her incredible feats Bonita also imparts the lessons learned encouraging you to harness greater self-belief.The Girl Who Climbed Everest is an honest exploration of everything Bonita has learnt from climbing. Life lessons about

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Book SynopsisÉdouard Louis is one of the most important literary voices of his generation' GuardianOne day, Édouard Louis finds a photograph of his mother from twenty years ago: a happy young woman, full of hopes and dreams. But growing up, Édouard only knew his mother's sadness - what happened in those years since the photo was taken? Then, at the age of forty-five, Édouard's mother frees herself from this life of oppression, to start a new one in Paris.A Woman's Battles and Transformations reckons with the cruel systems that govern our lives - and with the possibility of escape. It is a tender portrait of a mother, and an honouring of her self-discovery as she chooses to live on her own terms.'Tash Aw's sensitive translation captures the vividness of Louis's voice... Movingly, the book demonstrates the pain that moving from one social class to another entails' Times Literary Supplement 'A tenderness of observation' New York Times'Incandescent...Louis's most hopeful book to date' Los Angeles TimesTranslated from the French by Tash AwTrade ReviewPoetic, tender, joyous. * Guardian *Heartbreaking... You suspect this uniquely troubling writer is far from done yet. * Observer *Louis' project, at once aesthetic and political, is..."to create a new language for the left", capable of articulating contemporary working-class experience. * New Statesman *Tash Aw's sensitive translation captures the vividness of Louis's voice... Movingly, the book demonstrates the pain that moving from one social class to another entails. * Times Literary Supplement *A tenderness of observation... translated into English with unobtrusive flair by Tash Aw. * New York Times *

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Book SynopsisKaty Lironi's story is first and foremost, a musical, family memoir. Both parents come with their own lives immersed in the Scottish music scene of the 1980s - Katy enmeshed in everything that was Edinburgh-based C86 indie pop, while her bandmate and future husband, Douglas MacIntyre, embraced the Scottish post-punk era.

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Book SynopsisTHE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER'Unforgettable . . . a hilarious, poignant and impassioned plea to revolutionise our attitudes to death' Gavin Francis, GuardianFrom her first day at Westwind Cremation & Burial, twenty-three-year-old Caitlin Doughty threw herself into her curious new profession. Coming face-to-face with the very thing we go to great lengths to avoid thinking about, she started to wonder about the lives of those she cremated and the mourning families they left behind, and found herself confounded by people's erratic reactions to death. Exploring our death rituals - and those of other cultures - she pleads the case for healthier attitudes around death and dying. Full of bizarre encounters, gallows humour and vivid characters (both living and very dead), this illuminating account makes this otherwise terrifying subject inviting and fascinating.Trade ReviewA zingy, fresh and possibly even important book about death . . . This book might change your life * * Evening Standard * *Upbeat, brave and brilliantly, morbidly curious . . . Important and timely * * Sunday Times * *A well-researched, beautifully observed book and Doughty is a convincing and impassioned advocate for changes in our cultural attitudes towards death . . . There's much to enjoy in this thoughtful, unflinching and highly entertaining memoir * * Observer * *Absolutely and utterly life affirming . . . Nothing is off limits . . . And yet all of it is written with the utmost respect . . . There are many moments that moved me . . . Doughty's language is full of the notion of care * * Scotsman * *Funny but not flippant, sometimes painful, but rightly so, and always compelling * * Literary Review * *Frank . . . philosophical . . . engaging and even wicked * * New York Times * *Acerbic, hilarious, and thoughtful . . . Doughty's feisty but lovable personality shines through, and that would be enough for a decent memoir, but she does so much more here. The author uses her own life as a jumping off point in this beautifully crafted piece of writing, dovetailing her own observations with the work of psychologists, literary figures, industry professionals, philosophers, and religious leaders to argue coherently and convincingly that the impersonal, big business model of the funeral industry is robbing us of a vital component of the human experience. She argues that only by facing our mortality and becoming intimate with the idea of death can we live our lives to the fullest, and it's hard to argue with her * * Independent * *Eye-opening, cringe-inducing, often hilarious, occasionally haunting, always insightful -- DAVID EAGLEMANCaitlin Doughty blows a huge matter-of-fact hole in the grim curtain of silence surrounding the death industry - and what a blessed relief that is. This book absolutely must be read, if only to remind all of us that exercise, organic food and plastic surgery only work up to a point. Doughty is my kind of death crusader - compassionate, unblinking and very, very funny -- MEG ROSOFFCaitlin Doughty is not what I imagine a funeral director to be . . . she is funny, young and enthusiastic, the same characteristics that infuse her memoir * * Sunday Times * *Strange and funny. It may well blow your mind wide open * * Flavorwire * *[Doughty's] sincere, hilarious, and perhaps life-altering memoir is a must-read for anyone who plans on dying * * Booklist * *Arresting . . . refreshing . . . riveting * * Grazia * *Timely, funny, honest and interesting, Smoke Gets in Your Eyes is an enormously helpful contribution to the current taboo-breaking debate about death -- Virginia IronsideWith the dark wit you might expect from an undertaker and the compassion and insight you might not, strong storytelling and vivid descriptions, she displays a protective mechanism that the psychologists seem to have forgotten - humour * * New Scientist * *Brave and fascinating . . . unusually funny * * Daily Mail * *A death-changing book . . . It is impossible not to be inspired by Doughty's commitment to her cause * * The Times * *Often funny . . . yet never irreverent * * Irish Sunday Independent * *A book as graphic and morbid as this one could easily suck its readers into a bout of sorrow, but Doughty - a trustworthy tour guide through the repulsive and wondrous world of death - keeps us laughing most of the way * * Washington Post * *There's a welcome honesty to Doughty's account of her time as a mortician, which starts when she has to shave the face of her first corpse. In some ways, it's reassuring that we return to dust, and Doughty's healthy humour and practicality are reassuring too * * Glasgow Sunday Herald * *There's something about her understanding of how fragile life can be that got to me . . . And although none of us wants to be confronted by that all the time, Doughty has a matter-of-factness that makes that not as scary as it usually seems * * Scotland on Sunday * *Doughty writes about her life with corpses with all the sassiness that other young women bring to penning romcoms * * Mail on Sunday * *Doughty is determined to lead the way in confronting mortality. Indeed, she does not so much meet Death's gaze as attempt to stare him into submission...Doughty's corpse-collecting adventures are often hilarious as well as informing. If you had not planned to pack a book about crematoria for your holiday read, this one offers plenty of reasons to reconsider * * Financial Times * *A highly unusual memoir . . . a manifesto for how to live - and die - better. Caitlin, with her no-nonsense style and absolute single-mindedness plus a healthy dose of goth sensibility, bravely shows that death is nothing to be afraid of * * Twin Magazine * *Truly riveting . . . this funerally forthright book rings with life and dead-pan humour . . . Having read her brilliant contribution to the death debate, I'm with her all the way to the cremation chamber (and I'd let her push the button) * * Bookseller, Book of the Month * *

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Book SynopsisCan a tiny vehicle provide the space to rebuild a life? Thunderstone: a sculpted & fearless memoir from the award-winning author of Fifty Words for SnowTrade Review‘A memoir of great honesty and clarity, intimacy and subtlety . . . It asks profound questions about how to live through the storms of life with authenticity.’ Gavin Francis, author of Adventures in Human Being ‘A courageous, compassionate, uncanny chronicle of life and loss on the fringes. Striking in its candour, brilliant in its breadth, often very funny.’ Dan Richards, author of Outpost

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Book SynopsisVoted the UK’s Favourite Nature BookThe memoir that inspired Chris Packham's BBC documentary, Asperger’s and MeEvery minute was magical, every single thing it did was fascinating and everything it didn't do was equally wondrous, and to be sat there, with a Kestrel, a real live Kestrel, my own real live Kestrel on my wrist! I felt like I'd climbed through a hole in heaven's fence.An introverted, unusual young boy, isolated by his obsessions and a loner at school, Chris Packham only felt at ease in the fields and woods around his suburban home. But when he stole a young Kestrel from its nest, he was about to embark on a friendship that would teach him what it meant to love, and that would change him forever. In his rich, lyrical and emotionally exposing memoir, Chris brings to life his childhood in the 70s, from his bedroom bursting with fox skulls, birds' eggs and sweaty jam jars, to his feral adventures. But pervading his story is the search for freedom, meaning and acceptance in a world that didn’t understand him.Beautifully wrought, this coming-of-age memoir will be unlike any you've ever read.Trade ReviewFingers in the Sparkle Jar is like nothing else I know - a flickering vat of life itself. A brilliant and remarkable book. -- Robert MacfarlaneIt’s bold and beautiful, both raw and lyrical, and a rather special book. -- Matt Haig * Independent *Incredibly powerful and moving. -- Richard E. GrantA beautiful, riveting and disturbing read. * Guardian *This book is courageous, disturbing, original and at times brilliant. -- Simon Barnes

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Book SynopsisA SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'Irreverently funny ... kept me giggling all week.' Scotland on Sunday "Do you have a list of your books, or do I just have to stare at them?" Shaun Bythell is the owner of The Bookshop in Wigtown, Scotland. With more than a mile of shelving, real log fires in the shop and the sea lapping nearby, the shop should be an idyll for bookworms. Unfortunately, Shaun also has to contend with bizarre requests from people who don't understand what a shop is, home invasions during the Wigtown Book Festival and Granny, his neurotic Italian assistant who likes digging for river mud to make poultices.Trade ReviewThe second volume of memoirs by the Wigtown bookseller Shaun Bythell is as absorbing as the first -- Alan Bennett * London Review of Books *Bythell has a good ear for the absurd and a mundane telemarketing call becomes comedy gold ... For all Bythell's self-flagellation, he comes across as a generous, largely genial figure. It is hard to go for more than a few pages without finding him cooking for staying guests or drinking with friends until the small hours. -- Philip Boakes * Times *The best parts are irreverently funny and only borderline legal ... he is certainly not self-serving in terms of writing about what he sees as his own failures and weaknesses ... has kept me giggling all week. -- Stuart Kelly * Scotland on Sunday *All the ingredients for a gentle human comedy are here, as soothing as a bag of boiled sweets and just as tempting to dip into. -- Adam Douglas * Literary Review *Written with caustic wit...a diverting and congenial read. -- Jackie Law * Bookmunch *

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Book Synopsis''Harpy is a tonic; a tongue-in-cheek manual for dealing with Spanish Inquisition-style questioning about saying pass to procreation and building an enriching life beyond the nuclear family'' VOGUE''Harpy made me nod in recognition, and shake my head with sorrow, and then it made me laugh out loud'' EMILIE PINE, author of NOTES TO SELF and RUTH & PEN''Defiant, funny and inspiring'' SEÁN HEWITT, author of ALL DOWN DARKNESS WIDEEach generation has more childfree women than the one before. For many, it is an active decision made for a wide range of reasons. Despite this growing trend, we continue to live in a society where women are often judged for deciding to remain childfree - for not conforming to narrow expectations. For being a Harpy.In this timely and thoughtful book, Caroline Magennis looks beyond the often-divisive conversation around women who choose to be childfree and offers an alternative message of hope and celebration. With humour and intelligence, she explores why motherho

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Book SynopsisMark Atkinson is living proof that you don’t have to be ‘good’ at running to make it through a marathon or even further. Packed with insights and tips, pitfalls and joy, Ducking Long Way invites you to join him for a beer at mile thirty as he pushes himself as far as he can while still running for the sheer joy of it.

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

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

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Book SynopsisFor over thirty years, Mark Austin has covered the biggest stories in the world for ITN and Sky News. As a foreign correspondent and anchorman he has witnessed first-hand some of the most significant events of our times, including the Iraq War, during which his friend and colleague Terry Lloyd was killed by American 'friendly fire', the historic transition in South Africa from the brutality of apartheid to democracy, the horrors of the Rwandan genocide, and natural disasters such as the Haiti earthquake and the Mozambique floods.The stories themselves will be familiar to many people, but less well known are the often extraordinary behind the scenes tales of a newsman's life on the road; the problems encountered in some of the most dangerous places on earth; the days when things go badly wrong; the moments of high drama and raw emotion and, quite often, the hilarious happenings the viewer never imagines and only seldom sees. Based on decades of experience on the frontlines, this candid and revealing memoir gives a startling insight into one man's extraordinary career and lifts the lid on the world of television news.Trade ReviewMark Austin is one of the very finest television journalists anywhere, and his charming, insightful view of the world, as laid back yet gutsy as the man himself, is a delight to read. -- John SimpsonMark Austin made his name as a distinguished journalist and one of the popular news anchors on Independent Television News... His great good fortune was to get sent to Washington to report on the Trump administration, surely one of the most unorthodox presidencies of our time. For this alone his book is a must read. -- Sir Trevor McDonaldAuthoritative, searching and honest - Austin writes as brilliantly about the personal as about the professional encounters he's had. -- Emily MaitlisThis is a riveting book for those who love news by one of the best in the business. -- Piers MorganThis insightful and superb book takes you to World Cups, to conflicts in war-torn countries, to division in Trump's America... A terrific read. -- Gary LinekerMark Austin is a brilliant journalist and a great guy. Read this book to be informed, entertained - and moved. -- Jeremy Bowen

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Book SynopsisThe best-selling collection of football facts, stats and stories is back for another fully updated edition!World Football Records 2025 offers lively, fun and fascinating facts and stats from the world of international football. Focusing on all the major world and continental tournaments, national team records, exceptional matches and the stars who made it all possible, this exhaustively researched annual tells the stories of these key moments and the players and coaches behind them.This new edition includes updated stats and facts for all recent major tournaments, awards and international teams. You''ll also find the latest record-breaking achievements of more than 35 featured nations from around the world, including a sidebar with key stats, as well as updates and records for most of the other 170+ FIFA members.

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Book SynopsisThe Quest to Rediscover Microsoft's Soul and Imagine a Better Future for EveryoneMicrosoft's CEO tells the inside story of the company's continuing transformation, while tracing his own journey from a childhood in India to leading some of the most significant changes of the digital era.LONGLISTED FOR THE FT & MCKINSEY BUSINESS BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARDSatya Nadella grew up in India, studied in the US and went on to become Microsoft's third CEO after Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer. In Hit Refresh he offers a unique view of the transformation happening inside one of the world's most iconic tech companies, and the arrival of the most exciting and disruptive wave of technology humankind has experienced including artificial intelligence, mixed reality, and quantum computing.Nadella examines how people, organisations and societies can and must transform hit refresh' in their persistent quest for new energy, new ideas, and continued relevance and renewal. Yet at its core, this book is about humTrade Review‘Satya has charted a course for making the most of the opportunities created by technology while also facing up to the hard questions. He offers his own fascinating personal story, more literary quotations than you might expect, and even a few lessons from his beloved game of cricket’ Bill Gates

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Book SynopsisIn this bold and exhilarating mix of memoir and writing guide, Melissa Febos tackles the emotional, psychological, and physical work of writing intimately while offering an utterly fresh examination of the storyteller’s life and the challenges it presents.How do we write about the relationships that have formed us? How do we describe our bodies, their desires and traumas? What does it mean to have your writing, or living, dismissed as “navel-gazing”—or else hailed as “so brave, so raw”? And to whom, in the end, do our most intimate stories belong?Drawing on her journey from aspiring writer to acclaimed author and writing professor—via addiction and recovery, sex work and academia—Melissa Febos has created a captivating guide to the writing life, and a brilliantly unusual exploration of subjectivity, privacy, and the power of divulgence. Candid and inspiring, Body Work will empower readers and writers alike, offering ideas—and occasional notes of caution—to anyone who has ever hoped to see their true self reflecting back from the open page.Trade ReviewOne of Glamour Magazine's 'Top 30 books that everyone will be reading in 2022'One of Lit Hub's 'Most Anticipated Books of 2022'One of NPR's 'Books We Love 2022''Melissa Febos declaws shame in this stunning shrine to memoir and the art of confession. A book to thump whenever someone questions your audacity to gaze upon your own navel.'Jenny Valentish, author of Everything Harder Than Everyone Else and Woman of Substances‘Melissa Febos has written one of the most liberating books on the subject of writing that I can think of. A tender, urgent intelligence, a wisdom that is hard-won, and a rigor born from a love for the craft preside. [...] I learned so much reading Body Work that I can’t wait to teach and use on the page.’Alexander Chee, author of How to Write an Autobiographical Novel‘Ferociously smart and piercingly insightful, Body Work is an instant classic of the how-and-why-do-we-write form. With candor and clarity, Melissa Febos explores the complexities of writing courageously and honestly about our lives. It’s a book I’ll return to again and again.’Cheryl Strayed, author of Wild‘Body Work is the most necessary book about memoir I’ve read. Daring, honest, psychologically insightful, and absolutely whip smart. A must read for anybody shoving a pen across paper or staring into a screen or a past.’Mary Karr, author of The Liars' Club and The Art of Memoir'As far as I am concerned any new book by Melissa Febos is an event, such is her power to reconfigure the way you see things. Body Work is no different. In wrestling down the hows and whys of writing the self, the accountability it calls for and the veil-tearing it demands, Febos displays characteristic fearlessness. Best of all is the company of her voice, which manages to be at once tender and searching, urgent and insightful. Reading Body Work, you suspect Febos might just be able to see into your soul.' Marina Benjamin, author of Insomnia'Exhilarating. A book that fuses the art of writing with the politics of being, the body's witnessing. Essential reading for anyone who writes, anyone who reads, anyone who breathes.'Helen Mort, author of Black Car Burning'A deft, fearless assertion of the right and to tell our own stories. Melissa Febos shows us just how necessary this is.' Katherine May, author of Wintering' Febos dedicates this volume to her students, but it will be of interest to all readers, writers and potential writers of personal narrative, as well as anyone interested in the mysterious way the creative spirit moves through an artist brave enough to engage it, and embrace it in return.'Carmel McMahon, The Irish Times 'This is a wonder.'Publishers Weekly 'Sharp insights from a passionate practitioner and champion of memoir.'Kirkus Reviews'Unlike most craft books that are either lacking in practicality and process or personality, this book is the best balance of both. A must for non-fiction writers and essayists.'The Rumpus'Wide-ranging in its theoretical and historical breadth yet intimate in all ways, Febos's book offers the tools readers need to identify, access, process, and articulate hard-won stories of trauma and of love that their flesh holds.'Library Journal'In Body Work, Febos offers a compelling rebuttal of the accusation that a memoir is simply a diary in print.'Oprah Daily 'I read Body Work much as I read her third book, Girlhood: feverishly, drinking up the frankness and nuance with which Febos documents the subtle and secreted pains of living in an unequal world.'Electric Lit 'This book was a liberating and validating experience – one that I did not realise that I needed, and which will embolden my own writing.'Lucy Cathcart Frödén, The Sociological Review -- .Table of Contents1 In Praise of Navel Gazing2 Mind Fuck: Writing Better Sex3 A Big Shitty Party: Six Parables for Writing About Other People4 The Return

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Book SynopsisA reissue of this inspiring and heartbreaking memoir about family, empathy and the stories we tell about ourselves and others Gifts come in many guises. One summer, Rebecca Solnit was given three boxes of ripening apricots, fruit from a neglected tree that her mother, gradually succumbing to memory loss, could no longer tend to. In this courageous, heartbreaking memoir, Solnit draws from this unexpected inheritance, weaving her own story into fairy tales and the lives of others. Encompassing the Marquis de Sade and Mary Shelley, explorers and monsters, a library of water in Iceland, and the depths of the Grand Canyon, The Faraway Nearby is a meditation on family, empathy, and the art of storytelling from a writer of limitless talent and imagination.Trade ReviewLike Simon Schama, Solnit is a cultural historian in the desert-mystic mode, trailing ideas like swarms of butterflies * Harper's *Her writerly digressions obey shapely geometry, not random dérive. [The book is] artfully composed to a unifying scheme, which arises from Solnit's commitment to the storytelling craft and its necessary devices... Finely-wrought, intense and eloquent -- Marina Warner * Guardian *[A] passionately imperfect, extremely moving, original and humane book... Beautiful -- Joanna Kavenna * Literary Review *Solnit is an explorer of the most exquisite kind, and a writer of the public road... We follow [her] mind, and what a mind it is, as vast and intriguing as a system of caverns and passageways opening into yet more caverns and passageways... Courageous -- Kurt Caswell * Los Angeles Review of Book *Gripping... Solnit deserves to be widely read -- Sara Wheeler * Observer *This is one of more beautifully written books we've read this year, filled with insight and gut-wrenching phrases. It is simple to read, yet generates complex reactions in the reader. If you enjoy stories and storytelling, this book will expand your understanding of them, and yourself * Huffington Post *An exhilarating form of literary cartography... wonderful -- Jon Day * Financial Times *Solnit is asking us to pause, to consider the stories we tell ourselves about our lives, and to rethink the unstated assumptions of our own interior epics... a book-length primer in the uses of empathy... Rich [and] poignant -- Saul Austerlitz * The National *The book is a lovely one that may bring many readers catharsis or consolation... One loves Solnit for her intelligence and her uprightness... Compelling and unique * Slate *Solnit has a winning prose style... Imaginative sentences are dropped here and there -- Theresa Munoz * Herald *This [book is] about stories - how we use them, the way we tell them. [It] moves between memories from her mother, to more classic fairy tales... you'll want to pen your own by the end -- Lena de Casparis * Company *Complicated, powerful, acutely, even painfully, personal... Solnit is profoundly antagonistic to formulaic production -- Olivia Laing * New Statesman *An astute cultural critic -- Saul Austerlitz * National *Here is Solnit at her most stimulating: pointed (even outraged), grounded in history, observing from the outside -- S. J. Culver * Slate *Solnit fashions an elegant study in empathy through these meandering reflections -- Gabe Habash * Publishers Weekly *The best chapter is on Iceland... her descriptions are wonderful -- Frances Wilson * Telegraph *If you want a very different, lyrical take on how our lives are surrounded and defined by the stories we tell, Solnit's latest book is one of the finest of this or any year -- Andrew Losowsky * Huffington Post *Solnit's words are exquisite; each chapter weaves a fabric of personal experience, literary or historical anecdote and intimate conversation -- Kate Padilla * Spencer Daily Reporter *[It is] at once memoir, literary criticism, and inspirational touchstone, a meandering yet purposeful exploration of how we spin and follow stories, and of how they can lead us on a journey toward self-definition and empathy -- Heller McAlpin * Barnes and Noble Review *Solnit explores love and loss, warmth and coldness, the making of art and the remaking of the self - her distinctive, dense and at times stunning, storytelling hacks a path through the creative landscape -- Alexandra Murphy * We Love This Book *[It is] a work of art with many layers, and readers will be rewarded each time they revisit this wonderful book -- Katie Archer * Yorkshire Post *Solnit is the champion of a style of writing that loops, circles, changes direction... In an era when much of western culture seem unwilling even to acknowledge the political challenges facing us, looming environmental crisis above all, Solnit is a role model -- Susanna Rustin * Guardian *[Solnit] presents us with a fascinating insight into the mind of a writer -- Sarah Tawton * Northern Echo *Pithy, beautifully observed, full of both truth and provocation... Solnit is an extraordinary artist -- Julia Bell * Writers’ Hub *A powerfully insightful and moving memoir... Fittingly for a book about the power of storytelling, Solnit is a terrific practitioner of the art -- Stephanie Cross * The Lady *Tracing the warp and weft of such a work, written with a moving flatness and vagrant wisdom, is a pleasure that frequently carries an almost tactile sensation, so brightly does it sparkle -- David Anderson * Review 31 *Brilliant [and] lavish -- Robin Romm * New York Times *An extraordinary piece of work in which the personal and philosophical meet -- Siobhan Kane * Irish Times *While the structure seems elegant, the writing never loses that real-life feeling that everything might fall apart at any moment -- Denise Frame Harlan * Englewood Review of Books *Solnit manages to do what many memoirists aspire to but few accomplish: she turns the personal into the universal * Totally Dublin *Provocative and extremely thought-provoking... it inspires nothing short of awe * Irish Examiner *This is narrative as jazz improve, each refrain exploring a new melody or theme. Yet familiar strains recur again and again. Metaphors abound, and Solnit seems to believe that all of life could be looked at as an allegory to be deciphered -- Craille Maguire Gillies * Guardian *It's so rich, absorbing and inspirational that I keep putting it down to make notes or research a tangent -- Emma Healey * Metro Scotland *

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Book Synopsis ''An irresistible treat for all bibliophiles'' WaterstonesTHE BOOKSHOP WOMAN IS A LOVE STORY, A LOVE STORY ABOUT BOOKSNanako Hanada''s life has not just flatlined, it''s hit rock bottom... Recently separated from her husband, she is living between 4-hour capsule hostels, pokey internet cafes and bookshop floors. Her work is going no better - sales at the eccentric Village Vanguard bookstore in Tokyo, which Nanako manages, are dwindling. As Nanako''s life falls apart, reading books is the only thing keeping her alive.That''s until Nanako joins an online meet-up site which offers 30 minutes with someone you''ll never see again. Describing herself as a sexy bookseller she offers strangers ''the book that will change their life'' in exchange for a meeting. In the year that follows, Nanako meets hundreds of people, some of whom want more than just a book...Acerbic and self-knowing, The Bookshop Woman is a soul-soothing story of

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Book SynopsisAn autobiography of a modern day mystic, an Irish woman with powers of the saints of old. It presents the testimony of a woman who sees things, beyond the range of our everyday experience.Trade ReviewThose who see angels are close to being angels. In this book, Lorna beautifully and graphically describes angels and how they workAngels in my Hair is more than just an autobiography. It is a revelation that will open your eyes and change your life. Angels in My Hair has a message that the world needs to hearLorna's wisdom and insights are breathtaking. This is a woman I have known for many years and admire enormously. She has made a big difference to my life and that of many othersIn times of universal deceit, never more so than now, the world needs guidance and hope. Angels in My Hair is an amazing book by an incredible woman, who shares her unique and fascinating experience of the guides at work with her in her own life and the messages they have for us allNobody is going to argue with her underlying message of love and compassion and forgiveness and her hopes for "peace among nations and peace in families". Spending time with her is both challenging and inspirational * The Irish Times *

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Book SynopsisHe is one of the greatest musical talents Britain has ever produced. But even as the principle songwriter and lead guitarist for The Who, it would be unjust to define Pete Townshend's life simply through his achievements with bandmates Daltrey, Moon and Entwistle.Noting that he has sold over 100 million records over a fifty-year period goes some way to quantifying his accomplishments, but numbers only scratch the surface of his contribution to popular culture.An avid student of his profession, during his career he has been credited with the creation of the concept album, worked as a literary editor, developed scripts for television and the stage, and written songs that have defined a generation. The thinking man's rock star with a dedication to his craft unlike any other in the business, he continues to inspire new generations of performers and writers with a continuing commitment to his art.Now, in one of the most eagerly awaited autobiographies of recent times, this icon tells about Trade Review‘More honest than any fan would have hoped. Maybe nobody knows what it’s like to be the bad man, to be the sad man, behind blue eyes—but Who I Am is as close as we are likely to get.’ Rolling Stone ‘Astonishingly frank, detailed and heartfelt.’ The Sun ‘Whatever the subject, he writes passionately and eloquently.’ The Times

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Book SynopsisSHORTLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE FOR NATURE WRITING 2024An invigorating cross-pollination of memoir and natural history, both beautifully phrased and delicately structuredthis book deserves your time and attention' Cal Flyn, author of Islands of Abandonment A poetic and intimate essay collection on the lives of plants and their entanglement with our human worldsA seed slips beyond a garden wall. A seaweed drifts through an ocean. A tree is planted on a shifting border. A shrub is uprooted from its culture and its land. What happens when these plants leave their original homes and put down roots elsewhere?Born in Canada to a Taiwanese mother and a Welsh father, steeped in both literary and scientific traditions, Jessica J. Lee is a perfectly placed observer of our world in motion.In this vibrant book of linked essays she explores the entanglements of the plant and human worlds, and the echoes and counterpoints she de

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Book Synopsis____*THE STRATEGIES BEHIND A SUCCESSFUL LIFE FROM THE LEGENDARY GRANDMASTER AND ADVISOR TO NETFLIX'S THE QUEEN'S GAMBIT, NOW WITH A NEW FOREWORD*'In this book, chess is a teacher, and I aim to show it is a great one.' For over twenty years, Garry Kasparov dominated the world of chess. As the youngest ever undisputed World Champion, known for confounding his opponents at every move and breaking record after record, Kasparov was asked the same question time and time again: what makes a champion? Drawing on a wealth of revealing and instructive stories, from the most intense moments of his greatest games to the world-changing decisions of history's greatest strategists such as Winston Churchill and Steve Jobs, Kasparov reveals the strategic ways of thinking that always give a player - in the game of life as well as chess - the edge.PRAISE FOR GARRY KASPAROV'I've never seen someone with such a feel for dynamics in complex positions' - Magnus Carlsen, World Chess Champion'There is nothing in chess he has been unable to deal with' - Vladimir Kramnik, Chess Grandmaster'Mr. Kasparov is not only one of the world's smartest men, he is also among its bravest.' - Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch

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Book SynopsisLONGLISTED FOR THE GORDON BURN PRIZE 2025LONGLISTED FOR THE JHALAK PRIZE 2025A Book of the Year 2024 in the Guardian, Times Literary Supplement and ObserverRichly imaginative and powerfully empathetic, an intimate portrait of five remarkable Black men, and a meditation on race, estrangement and the search for home''Thrilling and ingenious, propulsive and genre-defying: The Strangers is an outstanding book'' Bernardine Evaristo''Luminous and extraordinary... This book will be referenced for years to come'' Lemn SissayIn the western imagination, a Black man is always a stranger. Outsider, foreigner, intruder, alien. One who remains associated with their origins irrespective of how far they have travelled from them. One who is not an individual in their own right but the representative of a type.What kind of performance is required for a person to survive this condition? And what happens beneath the mask?In answer, Ekow Eshun conjures the voices of five very different men. Ira Aldridge: nineteenth century actor and playwright. Matthew Henson: polar explorer. Frantz Fanon: psychiatrist and political philosopher. Malcolm X: activist leader. Justin Fashanu: million-pound footballer. Each a trailblazer in his field. Each haunted by a sense of isolation and exile. Each reaching for a better future.Ekow Eshun tells their stories with breathtaking lyricism and empathy, capturing both the hostility and the beauty they experienced in the world. And he locates them within a wider landscape of Black art, culture, history and politics which stretches from Africa to Europe to North America and the Caribbean. As he moves through this landscape, he maps its thematic contours and fault lines, uncovering traces of the monstrous and the fantastic, of exile and escape, of conflict and vulnerability, and of the totemic central figure of the stranger.

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Book SynopsisA Guest at the Feast uncovers the places where politics and poetics meet, where life and fiction overlap, where one can be inside writing and also outside of it.From the melancholy and amusement within the work of the writer John McGahern to an extraordinary essay on his own cancer diagnosis, Tóibín delineates the bleakness and strangeness of life and also its richness and its complexity. As he reveals the shades of light and dark in a Venice without tourists and the streets of Buenos Aires riddled with disappearances, we find ourselves considering law and religion in Ireland as well as the intricacies of Marilynne Robinson''s fiction.The imprint of the written word on the private self, as Tóibín himself remarks, is extraordinarily powerful. In this collection, that power is gloriously alive, illuminating history and literature, politics and power, family and the self.Trade ReviewDroll, careful reflections on Ireland, illness and religion in a welcome collection of essays . . . [the] melancholy elegance of the prose guarantees the reader's enjoyment * Guardian *Erudite, forensic, moving and wry . . . the breadth of the collection is impressive: a snapshot of Irish society over decades; Buenos Aires, in the wake of thousands of 'disappeared' people; Covid-era Venice . . . a lesson in how the right words in the right order can get to the truth of the matter * Irish Times *[These essays] are always interesting and intelligent, written in an admirably clear prose free of academic jargon . . . journalism at its best. I learned a lot from them and am grateful for that. It's a collection to which I will surely return, just as I do to Orwell's, Ian Jack's, Ferdinand Mount's and Patrick Marnham's * Scotsman *A feast for the reader . . . the novelist applies his inquisitive and empathetic mind in wide-ranging series of essays, from the political to the poignant . . . [Toibin] seeks no lessons; he tries only to be good company on the page. (He succeeds.) * Irish Independent *Erudite essays from one of the world's finest writers . . . Throughout, the poetry of Tóibín's prose is as impressive as always. In [the] title piece, he writes that his mother was 'what most of us still write for: the ordinary reader, curious and intelligent and demanding, ready to be moved and changed.' Readers like her will savor every page of this book * Kirkus Reviews, starred *The clarity of the novelist's descriptive ability shines through essays on topics ranging from his treatment for cancer to the joys of an empty Venice . . . On every subject, Tóibín's writing is what people these days inevitably describe as nuanced, a word that has become a kind of shorthand for expressing a person's rare ability to understand . . . the foibles of others -- Rachel Cooke * Observer, Book of the Day *I love everything Colm Tóibín has written -- Nicola Sturgeon * New Statesman *I wanted to read out loud, to fully savour writing that is so careful and so lyrical -- Laura Hackett * Sunday Times *Reading Irish novelist, playwright and poet Colm Tóibín is always a delight * Independent *Both epic and intimate . . . a moving portrait of three generations of sprawling, loving, fractious family life . . . a triumph * Financial Times on The Magician *A work of art, an emotional reckoning with a century of change * The Times on The Magician *

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Book SynopsisShoji Morimoto was born in 1983. He began working as a rental person who does nothing in 2018 and has since been hired more than 4,000 times. He's been profiled by many media outlets worldwide and has written several books including Rental Person Who Does Nothing, which inspired a Japanese TV series. Morimoto lives in Japan with his wife and son.

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

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Book Synopsis''GRIPPING . . . DISTURBING . . . INVIGORATING'' OLIVIA LAING, GUARDIAN''ASTOUNDING . . . DEVASTATING . . . COMPELLING'' STUART JEFFRIES, OBSERVER''It was exciting when it started, then comfortable and domestic, and over time we grew apart. If it had been real, our relationship wouldn''t have made a chapter in a memoir. But Mark was a fictional character, contrived by the British state to violate me and undermine the values I held dearest. And the entire time, EN31 was sitting around the corner, writing it all down, watching our lives unfold.''In 2003, British police infiltrated a group of idealistic young environmental activists, forming sexual relationships and spying without warrant on hundreds of innocent civilians.Kate Wilson fought back. She took the Met to court, at times battling alone without funding or legal representation, enduring bullying, psychological intrusion and further state surveillance. It took her nearly twenty years to uncover the eerie truth about Britain'' s secret political police.In her own words, and those of the officers who documented her every move, this is Kate''s story.

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Book SynopsisSHORTLISTED FOR *AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF THE YEAR* AT THE CHARLES TYRWHITT SPORTS BOOK AWARDSFOREWORD BY FELLOW LIONESS JILL SCOTT*One of Waterstones'' Best Sport Books of the Year 2024*''Steph is truly one of the all-time greats of the women''s game'' Jill Scott''Documents [Steph''s] crucial role in helping to change perceptions of women''s football'' The GuardianThe inspiring memoir of one of football''s greatest players - Steph Houghton - in which she recounts the highs and lows of making it to the top of her game as England Captain, star of the London Olympics, and Man City stalwart, via Sunderland, Leeds and Arsenal. With 121 caps for the Lionesses, Steph has been at the heart of the women''s football revolution, inspiring girls and young women around the world but in her own understated way.Leading from the Back is Steph''s incredibly honest account of what it takes to make it to the pinnacle of women''s football when the odds are well and truly stacked against you.Inside, she shares her dreams of becoming professional as a young girl in Sunderland and how reaching that status has been a long and often difficult path, both on and off the pitch, especially her husband Stephen Darby''s devastating Motor Neurone Disease (MND) diagnosis. In between, she recounts the amazing highs of playing for her country, making history at the Olympics, lifting cups for her team, and the awe-inspiring people she has encountered along the way. This is not only Steph''s personal story, but also the story of women''s football in England and internationally. Steph is credited as being one of the greatest influences in growing the women''s game to the biggest it has ever been. A remarkable journey of unwavering determination that reveals the grit needed to stay true to yourself, and what it really takes to be a leader; this is the full and incredible story of a sports pioneer, ''Super Steph''.

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Book Synopsis______________ ''A stylish, deftly erudite and enormously diverting book' - Sunday Telegraph An artfully aimless pleasure cruise around Paris' - Guardian ''White''s genius as a flâneur is revealed in his affinity for unexpected pleasures, and he includes many for our delectation'' - New Yorker______________ A unique and eclectic view of Paris through the eyes of a fierce and witty intellect. A flâneur is a stroller, a loiterer, someone who ambles without apparent purpose but is secretly attuned to the history of the streets he walks - and is in covert search of adventure, aesthetic or erotic. Acclaimed writer Edmund White, who lived in Paris for sixteen years, wanders through the avenues and along the quays, into parts of the city virtually unknown to visitors and indeed to many locals, luring the reader into the fascinating and seductive backstreets of his personal Paris.______________ ''One has the impreTrade Review‘Edmund White is one of the most virtuosic living writers of sentences in the English language' * Dave Eggers *‘White's genius as a flâneur is revealed in his affinity for unexpected pleasures, and he includes many for our delectation' * New Yorker *‘One has the impression of having fallen into the hands of a highly distractible, somewhat eccentric poet and professor who is determined to show you a Paris you wouldn't otherwise see ... White tells such a good story that I'm ready to listen to anything he wants to talk about' * New York Times Book Review *

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Book SynopsisA complete account of how and why people look to angelsAngels at My Fingertips takes us back to the territory that made Angels in My Hair a million-copy-selling international bestseller. Stories of Lorna''s early life in rural Ireland, of how angels helped and guided her through traumatic events, lead to a detailed description of what angels are like, the different types of angels, how they behave and interact with God and other angels as well as human beings and their role during our lives and after death. Angels at My Fingertips also contains an account of how Joe, her husband, who died young in Angels in My Hair returns to visit her. For the first time Lorna reveals the role of the souls of our loved ones who may return from heaven briefly to help and guide us. Information as detailed as this never been published anywhere before now.Since she went public about her unprecedented gifts, Lorna''s reputation has grown. The CatholiTrade ReviewPraise for Lorna Byrne * : *Byrne gives hope and a sense of peace; something that the Church, in many instances, has been unable to do for a long time * The Times *The world has discovered a modest mystic that it might do well to listen to. * Daily Mail *

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Book SynopsisA stunning book from Amanda Owen – shepherdess, wife, mother of nine children, bestselling author and star of C5’s Our Yorkshire Farm – that brings her world to life in glorious colour.In Celebrating the Seasons, Amanda shares funny and charming stories about life with her family and their many four-legged charges and describes their activities at Ravenseat, from lambing and shearing to haymaking and feeding the flock in midwinter. Her gorgeous photographs showcase the famous Swaledale landscape she writes about, from the sweeping moors to rare wildflowers and the elusive hares glimpsed in the field.She lives in tune with nature and Amanda's attitude to food is the same. She believes in buying good, seasonal ingredients when it comes to feeding her family and includes her favourite recipes here, from wild garlic lamb with hasselback roast potatoes to rhubarb and custard crumble cake and Yorkshire curd tart.As inspirational as Amanda herself, this book is a beautiful keepsake that will delight everyone who has followed her adventures so far.Trade ReviewOur Yorkshire Farm, about the life of the Yorkshire shepherdess Amanda Owen and her family is Channel 5’s highest rated factual programme, with nearly four million viewers. * Daily Mail *

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Book SynopsisLying at the very heart of Libby Clegg's life and achievements is the relationship with her Labrador Retriever cross guide dog, Hatti. A relationship primarily based on trust, with a healthy dose of respect and adoration.Libby Clegg is one of the UK's most popular, recognisable and respected Paralympic athletes, having won ten major gold medals, including two at the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games. As a sprinter who has only peripheral vision in her left eye, Libby runs with a guide runner while wearing a blindfold and, in 2021, she will defend her 100m and 200m titles at the Tokyo Paralympics.Libby is also well-known to the public from her ground-breaking appearance in Dancing on Ice where, in addition to her being the first registered blind person ever appear on the show, she managed to reach the final, winning her millions of new fans and making her a national hero all over again.From the moment Libby wakes up until the moment she goes to bed, Hatti will either be lying at her feet, sitting by her side or guiding Libby to wherever she needs to be. Hatti is there for Libby through both the highs and the lows and they have shared countless adventures together, from spending the day in the Royal Box at Wimbledon where Hatti overdid it on strawberries and cream to Libby trying to overcome a severe bout depression after the Rio Paralympic Games.Theirs is a partnership that works on every single level and, while its circumstances may be unique, its story will be reassuring and familiar to any dog lover. Libby and Hatti are a devoted couple helping each other through life.

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