Memoirs Books
Vintage Publishing Boyhood
Book SynopsisIn Boyhood, J. M. Coetzee revisits the South Africa of half a century ago, to write about his childhood and interior life. Boyhood''s young narrator grew up in a small country town. With a father he imitated but could not respect, and a mother he both adored and resented, he picked his way through a world that refused to explain its rules, but whose rules he knew he must obey. Steering between these contradictions, Boyhood evokes the tensions, delights and terrors of childhood with startling, haunting immediacy. Coetzee examines his young self with the dispassionate curiosity of an explorer rediscovering his own early footprints, and the account of his progress is bright, hard and simply compelling.Trade ReviewThis life is described with such skill, such exactitude and such relentlessness that I found myself gasping for air... Coetzee has achieved something universal in his work...a fine book, probably the best description of a childhood I have ever read * The Times *As funny, cruel and terrifying as life itself. It is also intense and elegant, clearly the product of the complex, subtle imagination which shapes Coetzee's outstanding fiction... As austerely beautiful as would be expected of Coetzee the artist...its aloof, edgy grace and seething passion ensure the narrative is both truthful and mysterious * Irish Times *Boyhood is a deeply-felt and utterly compelling account of a South African childhood: the narrative style is as spare and lean as the Karoo flatlands which form its backdrop * Daily Telegraph *The economy with which Coetzee makes sense of his past is evidence, once again, of his outstanding talent * Independent on Sunday *An uncannily accurate picture of the way things were in South Africa * Literary Review *
£999.99
Vintage Publishing Green Hills of Africa
Book SynopsisThis is Hemingway''s East African safari journal.''All I wanted to do was get back to Africa''Green Hills of Africa is Ernest Hemingway''s lyrical journal of a month on safari in the great game country of East Africa, where he and his wife Pauline journeyed in December 1933. Hemingway''s well-known interest in - and fascination with - big-game hunting is magnificently captured in this evocative account of his trip. It is an examination of the lure of the hunt and an impassioned portrait of the glory of the African landscape and of the beauty of a wilderness that was, even then, being threatened by the incursions of man.''In a class by itself - the country at all hours shines bright and clear in these pages'' Daily Telegraph''The best-written story of big-game hunting anywhere'' New York TimesTrade ReviewA fine book on death in the African afternoon. . .The writing is the thing; that way he has of getting down with beautiful precision the exact way things look, smell, taste, feel, sound * New York Times *If he were never to write again, his name would live as long as the English language, for Green Hills of Africa takes its place beside his other works on that small shelf in our libraries which we reserve for the classics * Observer *This book is an expression of a deep enjoyment and appreciation of being alive - in Africa. There is more to it than hunting; it is the feeling of the dew on the grass in the morning, the shape and colour and smell of the country, the companionship of friends ... and the feeling that time has ceased to matter * TLS *
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd A Place in the Country
Book SynopsisA Place in the Country is a window into the brilliant mind of W. G. Sebald''The greatest writer of our time'' Peter CareyWhen W. G. Sebald travelled to Manchester in 1966, he packed in his bags certain literary favourites which would remain central to him throughout the rest of his life and during the years when he was settled in England. In A Place in the Country, he reflects on six of the figures who shaped him as a person and as a writer, from Jean-Jacques Rousseau to Jan Peter Tripp. Fusing biography and essay, and finding, as ever, inspiration in place - as when he journeys to the Ile St. Pierre, the tiny, lonely Swiss island where Jean-Jacques Rousseau found solace and inspiration - Sebald lovingly brings his subjects to life in his distinctive, inimitable voice.''A fascinating volume that confirms Sebald as one of Europe''s most mysterious and best-loved literary imaginations'' Evening Standard''SebalTrade ReviewA fascinating volume that confirms Sebald as one of Europe's most mysterious and best-loved literary imaginations * Evening Standard *Sebald was in possession of the uncanny ability to make his own intellectual obsessions, immediately, compulsively his reader's * Observer *Shows a writer at his most inquisitive, gazing deeply under the surface of things * Financial Times *Irresistible . . . an intimate anatomy of the pathos, absurdity and perverse splendour of trying to find patterns in the chaos of the world * Independent *Erudite, truthful, moving * The Times *A beautiful book . . . about the crazy quest for meaning, and how we persist with it despite the shadows that slide towards us -- Joanna Kavenna * Spectator *
£9.99
Penguin Books Ltd Meetings with Remarkable Men
Book SynopsisThe exhilarating, life-affirming call to spiritual arms from world-renowned spiritual teacher G. I. Gurdjieff''Gurdjieff''s voice is heard as a call.He calls because he suffers from the inner chaos in which we live.He calls to us to open our eyes.He asks us why we are here, what we wish for, what forces we obey. He asks us, above all, if we understand what we are . . .''Part adventure narrative, part travelogue, part spiritual guide, Meetings with Remarkable Men is suffused with Gurdjieff''s unique perspective on life. With vivacity and charm, he organizes his account around portraits of the remarkable men and women who accompanied him through remote parts of the Near East and Central Asia, and who aided his search for hidden knowledge. Among them are Gurdjieff''s own father (a traditional bard), a Russian prince dedicated to the search for Truth, a Christian missionary who entered a World Brotherhood deep in Asia, and a woman who esc
£9.49
The University of Chicago Press Is There God After Prince
Book SynopsisTrade Review"Coviello is our bard of ardor, of nuanced connection, of passionate critical engagement with objects of art and each other. There is God, or at least life, after Prince, for a little while, anyway, but it's up to us to seek vibrancy and feeling and new meaning in a world that seems too ready to close up shop. Coviello's essays are beautiful demonstrations of our task." -- Sam Lipsyte, author of "No One Left to Come Looking for You" and "The Ask"Table of ContentsIntroduction: Praisesongs and Descants Overture: Talk, Talk Part I: Sounds Is There God after Prince? The Last Psychedelic Band Karaoke for the People The Everyday Disaster What We Fight about When We Fight about Doctor Wu Part II: Ceremonies Love in the Ruins Circumstance Joy Rounds First Loving John The Impostor Part III: Kids Easy Our Noise Where I Want to Be Ghost Stories Rhapsody for the Crash Years Part IV: Sentences So-Called Normal People Say Chi City Our Man in the Fifteenth Hollow Killing Joke Part V: Ends My Thoughts Are Murder Mercy Hours In the Maze Anthony and Carmela Get Vaccinated Afterword: Exit Wounds Acknowledgments Notes Index
£9.99
Penguin Books Ltd Promise at Dawn
Book Synopsis''You will be a great hero, a general, Gabriele d''Annunzio, Ambassador of France!''For his whole life, Romain Gary''s fierce, eccentric motherhad only one aim: to make her son a great man. And she did. This, his thrilling, wildly romantic autobiography, is the story of his journey from poverty in Eastern Europe to the sensual world of the Côte d''Azur and on to wartime pilot, resistance hero, diplomat, filmmaker, star and one of the most famed French writers of his age.Trade ReviewPerhaps the only memorial by a son that raises the rare literary pleasure of laughter in the reader as a measure of appreciation. * The New Yorker *A celebrated and infinitely seductive portrait of his early life, which is still often described as an unprecedented innovation in the writing of autobiography in France -- David BellosWhat a gold mine! -- Jean Paul SartreWhat talent, most certainly, how many ideas and passions too. You seize us and shake us. Ah! -- Charles de Gaulle
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd Missing Persons Or My Grandmothers Secrets
Book Synopsis*Non-Fiction Book of the Year 2024, Irish Book Awards**A Daily Telegraph Book of the Year* ''This is a history shaken by intimacy - a brave and rigorously humane book'' Seán HewittHow far would you go for the missing?When Clair Wills was in her twenties, she discovered she had a cousin she had never met. Born in a Mother and Baby Home in 1950s Ireland, Mary grew up in an institution not far from the farm where Clair spent happy childhood summers. Yet she was never told of her existence.How could a whole family - a whole country - abandon unmarried mothers and their children, erasing them from history?To discover the missing pieces of her family''s story, Clair searched across archives and nations, in a journey that would take her from the 1890s to the 1980s, from West Cork to rural Suffolk and Massachusetts, from absent fathers to the grief of a lost child.There are some experiences that do not want to be remembered. What began as an effort to piece together the facts became an act of decoding the most unreliable of evidence - stories, secrets, silences. The result is a moving, exquisitely told story of the secrets families keep, and the violence carried out in their name.Trade ReviewIn its account of one family's history of silence and secrecy, Clair Wills has written a compelling book which demonstrates the uncanny universality of even the most personal stories. Attending to the ways that the past ruptures and grows through the present, this is a history shaken by intimacy - a brave and rigorously humane book. -- Seán HewittIf the past is a mass of tangled wool, Clair Wills frees a long strand and knits it into clarity, line by line, inviting the reader to see the complexity of the pattern she reveals. Written with elegance and erudition, Missing Persons is an extraordinary, moving achievement. -- Doireann Ní GhríofaClair Wills retrieves from time’s abyss a speculative history of universal import. This is a penetrating and affecting study, essential reading for anyone who seeks to understand the profound contradictions, the secrets and lies that define post-famine Ireland. -- Paul LynchClair Wills has written a book of unusual subtlety and power. Part memoir and social history, part familial detective story, it's a work that lays bare the strength and terrible frailty of the bonds that are supposed to bind us together. A superb work of narrative nonfiction. -- Francisco GarciaA deeply absorbing account, related with compassion in elegant prose, of how a family's past becomes embedded in its present. -- Danielle McLaughlinThis is a brilliant, poignant, discomforting book but one that has the beauty of honesty and the ultimate restorative kindness that truth-telling offers. It is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the complex typology and legacy of family secrets. -- Katherine O’DonnellIn this powerful memoir, Wills manages to excavate the truth about silence. Her vision as a historian reaches for the central question, why and how Irish people kept such dark secrets. How a nation of storytellers became so good at keeping violence concealed from themselves. How the information was kept, manipulated, disremembered under layers of talk into a vast store of collective forgetting. This is not only the story of Ireland in the past, but who we all are and what we have become. -- Hugo HamiltonMissing Persons is as close to perfect as a memoir can be; the richness of its subject honed to a poised and discerning brevity, written in unexpectedly lambent prose. It is the sum of the author’s life: both the family history she carries with and within her, but also the four decades of research and analysis that have been her intellectual existence. Only she could have written it, but it will speak to and about the lives of many. -- Lucy Scholes * Financial Times *She is deft at unpicking lies, evasions and gaps in the record, grasping that these things have political as well as private meaning… an act of fairly radical reframing. -- Olivia Laing * The Guardian *An expertly crafted work, at once vigorous and subtle, which manages its effects and conserves its revelations with all the skill of a master novelist. -- John Banville * The Observer *Always compelling and deeply moving… an unforgettable account, in microcosm, of the world of Catholic Ireland in the 20th Century: the incarceration of the so-called sinful and the emigration of others, leaving a fragmented country of secrets, enigmas and buried guilt. -- Ysenda Maxtone Graham * Mail on Sunday *The stories she uncovers are remarkable: touching, tragic and terribly human… Her book, written with care, wit and vulnerability, shows that ordinary tragedies deserve our anger and attention. -- Laura Hackett * The Sunday Times *An affecting and enraging book, part memoir, part national history, about Wills’s attempt to uncover the truth about her family and the hundreds of others like it. -- Pippa Bailey * New Statesman *Not just a vivid, compelling account of Clair’s family and ancestry, but an intriguing snapshot of Ireland’s social history … rigorously researched .. empathetic. * The Irish Independent *
£17.00
Transworld Publishers Ltd This Boy
Book Synopsis''The best memoir by a politician you will ever read'' Philip Collins, The TimesSchool on the Kings Road, Chelsea in the Swinging 60s, the rock-and-roll years, the race riots; this boy has seen it all. ________Alan Johnson''s childhoodwas not so much difficult as unusual, particularly for a man who was destined to become Home Secretary. Not in respect of the poverty, which was shared with many of those living in Britain''s post-war slums, but in its transition from being part of a two-parent family to having a single mother and then to no parents at all...This is essentially the story of two incredible women: Alan''s mother, Lily, who battled against poor health, poverty, domestic violence and loneliness to try to ensure a better life for her children; and his sister, Linda, who had to assume an enormous amount of responsibility at a very young age and who fought to keep the family together and out of care Trade Reviewthe best memoir by a politician you will ever read -- Philip Collins * The Times *a poignant memoir…Johnson writes wonderfully -- Mary Kenny * Telegraph *deeply moving and unforgettable -- Lynn Barber * Sunday Times *a handsome and eloquent tribute -- Peter Wilby * Guardian *beautifully, beautifully written... his style is utterly simple, with a wit so understated that every reader will believe that he or she alone got it -- John Rentoul * Independent on Sunday *Neither mawkish nor sentimental, it is an evocative, filmic account on an early childhood... would make a fabulous drama that, for all its squalor, lifts the spirits -- Judith Woods * Daily Telegraph *a testament to the power of family love and a tribute to two strong women -- Ian Birrell * Daily Mail *Wonderful and moving... unreadable with a dry eye * The Times *the biography of a politician like no other - beautifully observed, humorous, moving, uplifting; told with a dry self-deprecating wit and not a trace of self-pity -- Chris Mullin * Observer *No ordinary politician's memoir ... wonderful. -- John Grimond * The Spectator *
£11.69
Transworld Publishers Ltd Youve Got To Laugh
Book SynopsisKnown for her hilarious and unforgettable interviews with Hollywood A-listers, Alison is also responsible for countless classic moments of broadcasting gold - from getting stuck on a caravan door to delivering Christmas cash dressed as an elf.But who is Alison Hammond really, and how did she become the personality we know and love?
£10.44
Faber & Faber Black Teacher
Book SynopsisThe rediscovered classic: an unforgettable memoir by a trailblazing black woman in post-war London, introduced by Bernardine Evaristo ('I dare anyone to read it and not come away shocked, moved and entertained.')Benjamin Zephaniah: 'A must-read. Her life makes you laugh. Her life makes you cry. Get to know her.'Jacqueline Wilson: 'A superb but shocking memoir about a brilliant teacher, imaginative, resilient and inspiring.'Steve McQueen: 'Gilroy blazed a path that empowered generations of Black British educators.'Diana Evans: 'Important, enlightening and very entertaining, full of real-life drama ... Inspirational.'David Lammy: 'This empowering tale of courage, resistance, and triumph is a breath of fresh air.'Alex Wheatle: 'A pioneer in many fields and wonderful example for all of us ... Essential reading.'Christie Watson: 'A beautiful memoir of one wTrade Review'A must-read. Her life makes you laugh. Her life makes you cry. Get to know her.' - Benjamin Zephaniah'A superb but shocking memoir about a brilliant teacher, imaginative, resilient and inspiring.' - Jacqueline Wilson'Gilroy blazed a path that empowered generations of Black British educators.' - Steve McQueen'Important, enlightening and very entertaining, full of real-life drama ... Inspirational.' - Diana Evans'This empowering tale of courage, resistance, and triumph is a breath of fresh air.' - David Lammy'A pioneer in many fields and wonderful example for all of us ... Essential reading.' - Alex Wheatle'A beautiful memoir of one woman's strength and dignity against the odds.' - Christie Watson
£10.44
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Red Azalea
Book SynopsisThe acclaimed memoir from the bestselling author of Empress OrchidTrade Review'Historically remarkable ... intensely moving and erotic' Sunday Times 'This is not just another book on the Cultural Revolution ... This is a riveting account told in language that is distinctly Min's yet accessible to any heart' Amy Tan 'Mysterious and moving ... brave and uplifting' Independent on Sunday 'The book sings. It is a small masterpiece ... no one has written more honestly and poignantly than Min about the desert of solitude and human alienation at the centre of the Chinese Communist revolution' Vogue
£9.49
Citadel Books Show Me Colour
Book Synopsis
£6.40
Pan Macmillan Is This OK
Book SynopsisHarriet Gibsone began her career as a runner for MTV, before becoming a music journalist in the 00s, writing for publications such as Q, NME, Time Out and Nylon. She spent eight years as a Guardian staff writer and editor and now has a column for its weekend magazine. Is This OK? is her first book.Trade ReviewLaugh-out-loud-on-the-train funny . . . swings between silliness and profundity . . . This is a book to hold on to and one to share, a warning and a map created by a watchful girl, telling others what may lie ahead -- Maeve Higgins, GuardianThis book is a delight - very real and very entertaining. -- Bob MortimerPersistently funny, ill-advisedly honest and deadly accurate . . . My mind is blown -- Caitlin Moran, author of More Than a WomanA hugely enjoyable read . . . [a] delight of a memoir -- Otegha Uwagba, The TimesEye-wateringly honest and all-too-relatable . . . funny and wise * Observer *Very funny and deeply moving. -- Sara PascoeHilarious and brutal! I could not put it down -- Lou SandersBrutally honest but brilliantly funny and poignant too . . . Utterly relatable * Glamour *Hilarious and cringe-inducingly nostalgic . . . It’s a cliché to say “You’ll laugh, you’ll cry”, but with this book, you really will * New Statesman *A singular and truly funny voice -- Jamie DemitriouDeeply intense, and insane (in a great way). -- Robert Popper, creator of Friday Night DinnerWritten with humour and intelligence * Stylist *A raw and funny memoir exploring mental health, illness and motherhood against the backdrop of obsessive internet and social media activity. * Huffington Post *Gloriously unfiltered, hilariously unhinged and utterly unlike anything else you'll read this year. Harriet's incredibly moving memoir made me laugh out loud, cringe, reminisce and think deeply. What a wonderful introduction to a truly singular comedic voice; I remain in awe! -- Yomi AdegokeVery funny and moving * Evening Standard *Devastating and funny as f*ck. I can't remember when I was last so struck by a voice . . . Harriet Gibsone is a SPECTACULAR writer -- Terri WhiteJust read this from its giggly heights to its mortifying depths . . . I feel like I've been through something. Something really worth going through. -- Frank Cottrell-BoyceBrilliant. Incredibly funny, chillingly accurate, real sad. Harriet Gibsone is a spectacular writer -- Stevie Martin
£15.29
Amberley Publishing I Was Transformed Frederick Douglass
Book SynopsisNew paperback edition - A vivid and compelling account of the famous escaped slave Frederick Douglassâs tour of Britain and Ireland, 1845-7.
£10.79
Austin Macauley Publishers Methadone and a Mobile Phone
Book Synopsis
£6.99
Austin Macauley Publishers In the Steps of Alan Turing Working in the
Book Synopsis
£10.44
Pen & Sword Books Ltd The Invasion of France 1814
a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.
£18.70
John Murray Press The Undisputed King of Selston
Book Synopsis''Captivating and deeply moving.'' Richard Coles''Evocative, beautifully written . . . conjures locations and feelings almost magically.'' Jeremy Vine''My brain has made the decision . . . I am going to love this book.'' Richard Hawley There was a time when he felt like the undisputed King of Selston.Then again, there were several years when he was convinced that he could talk to animals and had even mastered the power of flight - sailing nightly over the headstocks, slag heaps and doggedly beautiful countryside of an isolated East Midlands mining village.But, deep down, Danny Scott knew that the real King of Selston was and always would be coal. Over the last seven hundred years, coal dust had settled on every inch of Selston. It was in the food he ate, the air he breathed and the words he spoke. It fashioned resilient men like his dad and The Texan; feisty women like his mother, whose right-hook was feared even more than her fondness for house fires.Danny was a clever bugger - dangerously clever, some said - and fiercely proud of Selston, his dad and his mining heritage. Five generations of his family had spent their working lives underground, providing fuel for the Industrial Revolution, the electrical, rail and motoring revolutions. Without it, the modern age wouldn''t have been so . . . modern.But as this young boy prepared to follow in his dad''s footsteps, things began to change. The Devil became captain of the local darts team. Fortune tellers held seances in the front room of his council house. And that once unassailable King''s reign seemed to be coming to an end.For dangerously clever buggers, there was only one option... somewhere else, someone new.Funny, poignant and alive to the unheralded beauty, purpose and camaraderie of a village which finds itself on the wrong side of history, THE UNDISPUTED KING OF SELSTON shines a light onto a forgotten industry and the dark shadows that wormed their way into the families who got left behind.''Proper working class stories don''t get much of a look-in these days. A shame, really. Especially when they''re as beautifully written as this one.'' Noddy Holder
£15.29
Penguin Books Ltd No Easy Day
Book SynopsisTHE GRIPPING FIRST-PERSON ACCOUNT OF BIN LADEN''S EXECUTION For the first time, read the first-hand account of the planning and execution of the extraordinary mission to kill the terrorist mastermind. No Easy Day puts readers inside the elite, handpicked twenty-four-man team known as SEAL Team Six as they train for the most important mission of their lives. From the crash of the Black Hawk helicopter that threatened the mission with disaster, to the radio call confirming their target was dead, the SEAL team raid on bin Laden''s secret HQ is recounted in nail-biting second-by-second detail. Team leader Mark Owen takes readers behind enemy lines with one of the world''s most astonishing fighting forces, in the only insider''s account of their most spectacular mission. ''No Easy Day amounts to a cinematic account of the raid to kill Bin Laden: you feel as if you''re sitting in the Black Hawk as it swoops in'' NTrade ReviewNo Easy Day amounts to a cinematic account of the raid to kill Bin Laden: you feel as if you're sitting in the Black Hawk as it swoops in. * New York Times *A blistering first-hand account * The Sun *
£11.69
Penguin Books Ltd Can You Make This Thing Go Faster
Book SynopsisThe hilarious new collection of stories and observations from Jeremy Clarkson - setting our off-kilter world to rights with thigh-slapping wit once again.Who is that tractor-driving Gentleman Farmer? Has Jeremy turned into a horny-handed son of the soil?These and other perplexing questions may or may not be answered in the latest volume of Clarkson''s utterly unbiased musings on life, the universe and everything in between (except cars - this isn''t one of his four-wheel drive books).Inside you''ll also discover why: Bathing in crude oil isn''t for everyone People who go fishing hate their kids Noise-cancelling headphones will never silence James May The rambler who stole his marrow is in for itFull of fact-checked opinions and ideas so good they''re no longer following the science but chasing it up a tree, Can You Make This Thing Go Faster? is one hundred per cent guaranteed ClarksTrade ReviewPraise for Jeremy Clarkson * - *Brilliant . . . laugh-out-loud * Daily Telegraph *Outrageously funny . . . will have you in stitches * Time Out *Very funny . . . I cracked up laughing on the tube * Evening Standard *
£12.34
Little, Brown Book Group Becky Lynch The Man
Book SynopsisThis compelling and deeply personal memoir from WWE superstar Rebecca Quin - AKA The Man, AKA Becky Lynch - delves into Quin's earliest wrestling days, her scrappy beginnings, and her meteoric rise to fame.
£11.69
Dialogue XOXO Cody
Book SynopsisThe beloved Peloton instructor chronicles his journey from small-town North Carolina to New York City stardom in an empowering story that reveals his secret to success: not taking yourself-or life-too seriously.Cody Rigsby has a lot of opinions: Kevin is the hottest Backstreet Boy; grape jelly is a crime against nature; if you wear flip-flops in New York City, you do not love yourself. But if there is one opinion-one truth-that he holds above all others, it''s that we shouldn''t let the fear of looking stupid or being judged hold us back from living our best lives.Cody didn''t always feel this way. In XOXO, Cody, he opens up about his journey toward accepting himself, from growing up gay and poor in the South to his migration to New York City, where he went from broke-ass dancer to fitness icon. He intimately details what it was like to lose both his father and best friend to addiction and how he began to repair his relationship with his mom as an adult. He recounts
£17.00
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Goodbye Sarajevo
Book SynopsisMay, 1992. Hana is twelve years old when her older sister Atka puts her on a UN evacuation bus fleeing the besieged city of Sarajevo. Thinking they will be apart for a short time, they make a promise to each other to be brave. But as the Bosnian war escalates and months go by without contact, their promise becomes deeply significant. Hana is forced to cope as a refugee in Croatia, while Atka and their younger siblings battle for survival in a city overwhelmed by crime and destruction. Then, when Atka manages to find work as a translator, events take an unexpected turn, and the remarkable events that follow change her life, and those of her family, forever.Trade Review‘A beautiful story that turns from sorrow to happiness, redemption, restoration. Goodbye Sarajevo shows that sometimes out of dire circumstances, new lives, new beginnings are possible' * Janine di Giovanni *‘A sparky memoir of survival written by such driven and inspirational women' * Independent *‘Extraordinary... serves as a timely reminder of the staggering odds faced by many refugees hoping to reach safe homes' * Sydney Morning Herald *‘An amazing and heart warming story of one family's fight for survival against all odds' * Irish Examiner *
£11.69
Orion Publishing Co The Secrets of My Life
Book SynopsisIn this powerful and candid memoir, Caitlyn Jenner chronicles her life as Bruce and her brave transition into womanhood. 'The memoir is funny, shocking in parts and above all incredibly honest' OK MagazineTrade ReviewThe memoir is funny, shocking in parts and above all incredibly honest. * OK! MAGAZINE *Her refusal of bullshit is refreshing and sometimes eye-popping. -- Sarah Ditum * NEW STATESMAN *
£9.49
Hodder & Stoughton 80 Not Out My Favourite Cricket Memories
Book SynopsisHardly a week goes by without Dickie Bird visiting a county or Test match arena where he can keep up to date with all that is happening in the cricket world, while at the same time taking the opportunity to reflect, in the company of old friends and acquaintances, on his own colourful contribution to the sport that lasted for over half a century. Dickie remains the most famous umpire of them all and is still highly respected throughout the world. A lovable eccentric with a joyful sense of fun, he decided, as he approached his eightieth birthday, to recall the highlights of his life in cricket, while also providing an illuminating insight into what he has been up to since his retirement.
£11.69
Little, Brown Book Group My Cousin Maria Schneider
Book SynopsisLovingly written Deborah HarryAn exquisite portrait of a tragic heroine Violaine HuismanA spare, heartbreaking memoir and tribute to Maria Schneider, the 1970s movie starlet who catapulted to fame in the controversial film Last Tango in Paris-only to live the rest of her life plagued by scandal-as told from the perspective of her adoring younger cousin.The late French actress Maria Schneider is perhaps best known for playing Jeanne in the provocative film Last Tango in Paris, directed by Bernardo Bertolucci and released to international shock and acclaim in 1972. It was Maria''s first major role, alongside film legend Marlon Brando, when she was barely eighteen years old. The experience would haunt her for the rest of her life, traumatizing her and sparking a tabloid firestorm that only ceased when she began to retreat from the public eye nearly two decades later.To Maria''s much younger cousin, Vanessa Schneider, Maria was a towering figure of another kind-a beautiful and fearsome fixture in Vanessa''s childhood, a rising star turned pariah whose career and struggles with addiction won the family shame and pride in equal measure. Here, Vanessa recounts the challenges of their overlapping youths and fraught adulthood and reveals both the tragedy and inevitability of Maria''s path in a family plagued by mental illness and in a society rife with misogyny.Unsentimental and suffused with deep love, My Cousin Maria Schneider is the story of a talented artist and the cousin who admired her, and of exploitation and how its lingering effects can reverberate through a lifetime.
£10.44
Headline Publishing Group The Circling Sky
Book SynopsisFrom a 2018 Wainwright Prize shortlisted author, THE CIRCLING SKY is part childhood memoir, blended with exquisite nature observation, and the story of one man's journey over a year to one of the UK's key natural habitats, the New Forest of HampshireIn the form of several journeys, beginning in January 2019, Neil Ansell returns for solitary walks to the New Forest in Hampshire, close to where he was born. With beautiful sightings and observations of birds, trees, butterflies, insects and landscape, this is also a reflective memoir on childhood, on the history of one of the most ancient and important natural habitats in the United Kingdom, and on the Gypsies who lived there for centuries - and were subsequently expelled to neighbouring cities. It is also part polemic on our collective and individual responsibility for the land and world in which we live, and how we carTrade ReviewA beautiful evocation of life in a forest and a powerful reminder of the interconnected fate of all wild things, including ourselves * Raynor Winn *Like taking a refreshing and eye-opening walk in the open air with the most interesting, observant and companionable of guides. In The Circling Sky Neil Ansell reveals the remarkableness of the relatively unexotic New Forest, moving deftly from personal reflection to beautiful nature writing, to a crucial, timely argument about the history and importance of common land. * Naomi Ishiguro *Neil Ansell's series of walks in the New Forest through the course of a year coalesce into a skilful exploration of memory, childhood, and how certain landscapes can become an integral part of your life. Ansell is a gifted naturalist, sensitive, inquisitive, at times justly enraged, invariably joyful. The Circling Sky is a wonderful tribute to a unique and precious place * James Macdonald Lockhart *The Circling Sky reads like a vivid and subtle nature programme for your mind's eye. Its New Forest setting is a world within a world; a fragile Eden with an utterly astonishing cast of birds; a unique harbour to an array of species both familiar and unexpected, and a complex, sometimes dark human history. At times it felt like Danny the Champion of the World had grown up, lived an intriguing life, and was now communicating his subtle life philosophy as he walked among the trees. I finished this book sharing its author's desire to look closer, to "walk in peace", and - as he puts it - to "camp without camping", and simply fall sleep beneath a tree. * Damian Le Bas *'Top-class nature writing. The book is a poetic meditation as well as a forthright argument. Ansell is among my most-admired British nature writers' * Rebecca Foster, shinynewbooks.co.uk *Neil Ansell is a wonderful guide...this is a delight of nature writing * Choice magazine *Neil Ansell takes us on a thoughtful journey through the fabulous New Forest. He combines evocative description with an accurate naturalist's eye, in the best tradition of modern British nature writing. * Jeremy Purseglove *His articulate reminiscences and observations on history, wildlife and the changing landscape will make readers reflect on the world around us and our part - individually and collectively - in looking after it * Culturefly *Neil Ansell is a writer of extraordinary sensitivity and insight * climatecultures.net *An immersive delving into the delights of the New Forest. Neil Ansell writes with such warmth and such wonder on the wild - with vital eyes and mind he senses the essence of the world around him, tucked down in the landscape to observe better the life of the natural world * Dr James Canton *His anecdotes gleam * TLS *Beautifully charts the challenges and solaces of being alone and part of nature * Bookseller *[A] captivating memoir...vivid as photographs, yet sketched with something more profound than simple reportage. Beneath the measured, knowledgeable, unfussy voice is a meaningful, and even important record: not just of a changing landscape, but of a man such places have shaped. * The Herald *Ansell's beautiful memoir of his walks through the Scottish wilderness makes the case for being truly a part of nature rather than outside of it * Observer *Neil Ansell is a genuine creature of the wild. His knowledge of remote places, and his love for them, come from deep and sustained immersion. He writes in prose which is entirely right for its subject - unshowy, level-headed, quietly surprising. The Last Wilderness is a wonderful experience which tingles with all the sensations of being out on the hill, in all weathers, alone * Philip Marsden *Ansell has the rare skill of combining vividly the intimacy of detail and the astonishing grandeur of this North West coastline of Scotland. Through his keen eyes we look again at the familiar with a sense of wondrous revelation * Madeleine Bunting *An easy storyteller, with a companionable style. His year in the forest is painterly in its attention to colours...his knowledge of birds is formidable * Herald Magazine *Every foray Ansell makes into the New Forest yields captivating insights * Saga Magazine *
£11.69
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Transitional
Book SynopsisLONGLISTED FOR THE POLARI PRIZE FIRST BOOK AWARD 2024WATERSTONES'' BEST BOOKS OF 2023: POLITICSA riveting blend of memoir and manifesto ... I found myself dog-earing every page' Elizabeth Day''Profoundly articulate. Entirely wise. Beautifully real.'' Attitude Transitional is a clever, moving book that packs a lot into its 194 pages' GuardianTransitioning is an alignment of the invisible and the physical. It is truth rising to the surface. It is one of the most fundamental aspects of the human condition a part of our experience as a conscious being, no matter who we are.As time goes on, we all develop as people. We all transition. It's what unites us, not what separates us.In this life-affirming, heartfelt and intimate book, activist and model Munroe Bergdorf shares reflections from her own life to illustrate how transitioning is an essential part of all our lives. Through t
£9.49
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Old Rage: 'One of our best-loved actor's powerful
Book SynopsisTHE SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLER WITH EXCLUSIVE NEW MATERIAL 'I want to be Sheila Hancock when I grow up' - Lorraine Kelly 'Wise, witty, kind and true' – Sunday Times 'A sparkling memoir as funny and insightful as it’s moving' – Daily Mail 'A captivating memoir' – Mail on Sunday In 2016, Sheila Hancock sat down to write a book about a serene and fulfilled old age. This is not that book. In Old Rage, one of Britain’s best-loved actors opens up about her tenth decade. Funny, feisty, honest, she makes for brilliant company as she talks about her life and takes an uncompromising look at a world so different from the one of her wartime childhood. And yet – despite age, despite rage – she finds there are always reasons for joy. 'The much-loved actor candidly shares the fear, joy and frustration she has found in her ninth decade' Guardian, Books of the Year 2022 'Sheila Hancock reflects upon her life and career with all the winning candour and warm-heartedness we have come to expect from the legendary actress' WaterstonesTrade ReviewThe much-loved actor candidly shares the fear, joy and frustration she has found in her ninth decade * GUARDIAN, BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2022 *This book should be required reading for EVERYONE! I was belly laughing but also reduced to tears. Sheila is the wisest of women ... I want to be Sheila Hancock when I grow up -- LORRAINE KELLYSheila Hancock reflects upon her life and career with all the winning candour and warm-heartedness we have come to expect from the legendary actress * WATERSTONES *Sheila Hancock’s memoir Old Rage promises to be funny, feisty and honest * IRISH INDEPENDENT, BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2022 *A warm and thoughtful memoirist ... Hancock discovers many reasons for joy and optimism - and you're quite likely to find yourself nodding in agreement with her. * WOMAN & HOME, The best non-fiction books to read in 2022 to inspire and enthral *Entertaining * SPECTATOR *
£9.49
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC It Happened Like This
Book SynopsisA searing, inventive memoir that interrogates misogyny, heroism and women's power in an often-unsafe world through the lens of Vicky's Foster's own traumatic background.
£9.49
Pan Macmillan Tales From the Farm by the Yorkshire Shepherdess
Book SynopsisFor everyone who loves watching Amanda Owen and her family on Our Yorkshire Farm, or enjoys reading her bestselling books, comes this delightful and uplifting collection of her monthly Dalesman columns. In Tales From the Farm by the Yorkshire Shepherdess Amanda takes readers on an evocative journey to Ravenseat, where she lives with husband Clive and their nine children, not to mention their flock of sheep, herd of cows, hardworking dogs and a formidable chicken called Linda.Covering events from 2019 through to early 2021, Amanda describes saving the life of a newborn calf on New Year's Eve and watching, mouth agape, as their livestock trailer was swept away by floodwater in March. Son Sidney braves the wrath of Linda and husband Clive crafts an unusual Valentine's Day gift. Eldest daughter Raven leaves the nest, headed for university, while young sheepdog Taff and Tony the pony arrive at the farm. As Covid-19 sends the country into lockdown, Amanda feels more lucky than ever to live close to nature, finding happiness in the beauty of the Dales and the unchanging routines of the farming year.Illustrated with charming line-drawings throughout, this book is the perfect gift for fans of the Owen family and a chance to catch up on their adventures.
£11.69
Vintage Publishing Unearthed: On race and roots, and how the soil
Book SynopsisA powerful work of memoir and storytelling that will change the way we think about the natural world.Like many diasporic people of colour, Claire Ratinon grew up feeling cut off from the natural world. She lived in cities, reluctant to be outdoors and stuck with the belief that success and status could fill the space where belonging was absent. But a chance encounter with a rooftop farm was the start of a journey that caused her to rethink the life she'd been creating and her beliefs about who she ought to be. Enlivened, she turned her hand to growing food in London before finding herself yearning for a small parcel of land to call her own. Unearthed tells the story of her leaving the city for the English countryside - and her first garden - in the hope of forging a pathway towards the embrace of the natural world and a sense of belonging cultivated on her own terms.'Ratinon's story will change hearts and minds' Alice Vincent'A beautiful book about nature...I recommend it' Afua Hirsch, author of Brit(ish)Trade ReviewA beautiful book about nature, and how reengaging with the foundational experience of our species of growing and cultivating crops can be a source of healing and spiritual truth... I recommend it -- Afua HirschThis is an outstanding work of storytelling and nature writing. It's also a hard-hitting and educational read * Gardens Illustrated, *Books of the Year* *It is rare for a book to come along that tells a story that has never been heard before. Unearthed is just that and more. Deeply felt, deeply told, deeply generous, Claire Ratinon's story of trying to find a place of belonging in a post-colonial landscape is one that will change hearts and minds. How vitally we have needed this narrative, how beautifully it has been told. -- Alice Vincent, author of RootboundExquisite * Nova Reid, Author of The Good Ally *Poignant and groundbreaking... we are tenderly offered a new possibility of deeper wonder, awe and profound hope as we unearth the truth that grows in all our gardens * The Garden *
£10.44
John Murray Press This is Not a Pity Memoir: The heartbreaking and
Book SynopsisBoth very funny and as propulsive as a thriller . . . impossible to put down' RACHEL COOKE, Observer'The kind of book you will find yourself saying urgently, over and over, to friends: 'Have you read it?' CAITLIN MORAN'Gripping, funny and always honest' DAVID NICHOLLS'Extraordinary . . . utterly compelling and so honestly told' NIGELLA LAWSON'Truly breathtaking. I could not have loved it more' CAREY MULLIGAN________________________An ordinary day.The end of ordinary life.One morning in June, Abi had her to-do list - drop the kids to school, get coffee and go to work. Jacob had a bad headache so she added 'pick up steroids'. She returned home and found the man she loved and fought and laughed with for twenty years lying on the bathroom floor. And nothing would ever be the same again. But this is not a pity memoir. It's about meeting your person. And crazed late night Google trawls. It's about the things you wished you'd said to the person that matters then wildly over-sharing with the barista who doesn't know you at all. It's about sushi and the wrong shoes and the moments you want to shout 'cut'. It's about the silence when you are lost in space and the importance of family and parties and noise. It's the difference between surviving and living. It's a reminder that, even in the worst times, there is light ahead. It's a love story.Trade ReviewTook my breath away. . . I sobbed and laughed and then sobbed again. I think it puts life into perspective but also, by being a love story, it defies many of the norms. Morgan's unique voice rings out and she is a great companion throughout -- Emma Barnett * I-paper, Books of the Year *Extraordinary...utterly compelling and so honestly told -- Nigella LawsonEvery once in a while, a book comes along that causes me to undergo a genuine shift in perspective. Abi Morgan's This is Not a Pity Memoir had exactly this effect . . . heart breaking, profound and even funny -- CRESSIDA BONAS * Spectator *Both very funny and as propulsive as a thriller...impossible to put down. -- RACHEL COOKE * Observer *There is not a trace of self-pity in Abi Morgan's heartbreaking memoir . . . full of humour, urgency and pathos, written in a staggeringly frank, intimate voice -- CHARLOTTE CRIPPS * Independent *Uplifting and powerful...highly recommended * Woman's Weekly *Compelling . . . mordant humour and heart-warming beauty * Irish Independent *This Is Not a Pity Memoir . . . hurtles along poetically, while managing to be funny and ultimately full of hope * Independent *With her trademark deadpan, trenchant wit, and a deeply soulful mindfulness, Abi Morgan takes a breathtaking hike on the cliff edge of a life upended by illness. By turns harrowing, cracking sharp and heartbreaking, it is comforting to accompany someone with her sense of humor and the absurd on this trip - this book is a gift to anyone who has been similarly unmoored by fate and the furies -- MERYL STREEPVery moving but never sentimental, tough but never cynical . . . gripping, funny and always honest -- DAVID NICHOLLSTruly breathtaking. Arrestingly honest, funny, profound and exquisitely written. I could not have loved it more -- CAREY MULLIGANI wept. I laughed. I dared to hope. I felt my heart crack. This book is life. It is exceptional -- SAM BAKERThe kind of book you will find yourself saying urgently, over and over, to friends: 'Have you read it?' -- CAITLIN MORANAn extraordinary story told extraordinarily well. I don't know how Abi Morgan has managed to live through all this, let alone write such a fascinating, heartbreaking yet frequently funny book about it. It is so gripping I honestly couldn't put it down -- MARINA HYDEFunny and brutally honest . . . an absolute insight for those of us lucky enough to never know life like this -- PANDORA SYKESIncredibly powerful, moving, funny, honest & brave. I LOVED it -- EDITH BOWMANA mash-up of all the things I love in a book - honesty, comedy, pathos and what-happens-next. It's brutal - in a good way - but above all else it's a testament to kindness, stickability and enduring love -- KIT DE WAALA very moving and utterly absorbing story told with the surgical skill of the brilliant scriptwriter she is * ALEXANDRA SHULMAN *A sharp, poignant and witty joy to read that will leave you energised and uplifted * CELIA WALDEN *Astonishing, terrifying, heartbreaking... as well as grief and fear, there is humour, tenderness and so much love * Daily Express *Told with brutal honesty and a heroic amount of humour . . compelling * Radio Times *Heart-breaking but life affirming and soul-stirring . . . Told with a candid honesty and humour . . . a touching love story and a testament to the human spirit, family and friendship -- SARRA MANNING, RedUplifting and powerful * Woman and Home *Captivating and compelling * Daily Express *A heartbreaking but hopeful read that will resonate with anyone who has had to cope with a loved one's illness * Chic, supplement to the Irish Daily Star *A touching love story and a testament to the human spirit, family and friendship * Red Online *I really recommend that book * Fortunately... with Fi and Jane (BBC Radio 4 podcast) *Funny, moving and thought-provoking. It's a love story, but not as you know it * Bryony Gordon *Award-winning screenwriter Abi Morgan's account of how she effectively lost her husband to a terrible brain injury is full of heart yet simultaneously unsentimental * Business Post *True to the book's title, [Abi is] a born storyteller sharing an extraordinary human tale in all its complexity, heartbreak and humour * Cardiff Western Mail *An extraordinary book . . . uplifting and life-affirming. It's billed as a love story and this is exactly what it is * Daily Mail *My book of the year absolutely has to be screenwriter Abi Morgan's heart-wrenching memoir. This Is Not A Pity Memoiris an unputdownable story of tragedy, loss, love, grief, transformation and survival. When Abi's husband Jake was taken ill and put into a coma for months, she thought that was the worst that could happen to their family... then he woke up and a whole new series of unimaginably painful challenges presented themselves. It will make you sob, it will make you laugh, it will break your heart and then it will put it back together again. I promise. I've already bought this book several times. I fully expect to buy it several times more' -- Sam BakerThis is the mediation on love and grief that we all need to read * The Skinny, Books of the Year *
£9.99
Quercus Publishing Bad Influence: The buzzy debut memoir about
Book Synopsis'Equal parts insightful and entertaining - whatever your take on influencers, Bad Influence is a great read' YOMI ADEGOKE'Warm, juicy, and eye-opening, like having a chat with a best friend' ANNIE LORD'If ever a book captured the zeitgeist, this is it' GRACE CAMPBELL'Funny, warm and brilliantly engaging' LUCY VINEOenone didn't set out to become an influencer. The word barely existed when she started posting on Instagram at university to document her 'fitness journey' after a toxic relationship came to a messy end.In this humorous meditation on her digitized life, Oenone chronicles the pits and peaks of coming of age online. Grappling with modern-day issues on a public stage - from body image and personal boundaries to the limitations of online activism, Bad Influence examines what happens when your day-to-day reality becomes #content - and that #content pays your bills.It asks: can you truly be authentic online? Can social media be a force for good? Is it necessarily bad for our mental health?Written with wit, warmth and honesty, this is a candid account of what it really means to be an influencer, from someone still figuring it out: the good, the bad and the instagrammable.Trade ReviewA warm, witty peek behind the influencer curtain. Oenone is equal parts insightful and entertaining - whatever your take on influencers, Bad Influence is a great read * Yomi Adegoke *Warm, juicy, and eye-opening, like having a chat with a best friend * Annie Lord *Boldly unfiltered and beautifully written, Bad Influence is a fascinating peek behind the social media smokescreen. A smart and nuanced read for our extremely online times * Lauren Bravo *A brilliant and necessary look at an industry that is wildly misunderstood, as well as a thoughtful and self-aware interrogation of millennial culture, identity politics and contemporary relationships * Olivia Petter *Like a glass of wine with your most loveable, charming and vulnerable friend. Oenone brings so much nuance to the concept of influencing and living online...If ever a book captured the zeitgeist, this is it. * Grace Campbell *Bad Influence is witty, honest and refreshingly self-aware. It effortlessly encapsulates the experience of a generation fumbling through life against a backdrop of social media and explores what it truly means to be 'an influencer' in today's digital age. Oenone Forbat is one to watch * Hannah Skelley, Fashion Assistant at The Times *I absolutely flew through Bad Influence and loved every page. Oenone has written such a fascinating and self-aware dissection of what it's like to live life in this parallel online universe. It's not just an interesting and incredibly honest memoir, it's also funny, warm and brilliantly engaging. It will leave you questioning about so much - but definitely not how many stars this book deserves. Five stars! * Lucy Vine *A fun and frothy insight into what it really takes to game the algorithm. An ideal summer read * Evening Standard *Oenone writes with real honesty and authenticity, highlighting the good and the bad aspects of having a platform and exploring the life behind the grid squares - the anxiety, scrutiny, and judgement * Glamour *The strength of Bad Influence is its meditation on the deep-seated paranoia that comes with being constantly exposed to so many people * The Economist *
£15.29
Ebury Publishing A Head Full of Music
Book SynopsisSir Cliff Richard OBE (born Harry Rodger Webb on 14 October 1940) is a British singer, musician, performer, actor and philanthropist. He has total sales of over 21 million singles in the UK and is the third-top-selling artist in UK singles chart history, behind The Beatles and Elvis Presley. Over a career spanning 60 years, Cliff has amassed many awards, including two Ivor Novellos and three Brits. He lives in Portugal and Barbados.
£10.99
Ebury Publishing Misfits: A Personal Manifesto – by the creator of
Book SynopsisTHE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER - A SUNDAY TIMES FILM & TV BOOK OF THE YEAR'Razor-sharp and as funny as I May Destroy You ... A gifted writer' Sunday Times 'A remarkable talent' Guardian 'A perfect truth-teller of our time' ELLE 'Leaps off the page' Observer 'Comic and devastating' New York Times 'A magnificent thinker' gal-dem 'A must-read' Metro 'Your self-help bible' Sunday Times***A BEST AUTUMN READ in Vogue, Vulture, Time Magazine, Observer, Entertainment Weekly, Bustle and LitHub ***______________________________________________From the brilliant mind of the creator and star of I May Destroy You and Chewing Gum comes a passionate declaration against fitting in.Michaela Coel's MacTaggart Lecture touched a lot of people with her striking revelations about race, class and gender. But in the end, the person most impacted was Coel herself. Building on this speech, Misfits immerses readers in her deeply personal vision through powerful allegory and anecdotes - from her East London upbringing to her discovery of theatre and love for storytelling.With inspiring insight and wit, she tells of her reckoning with trauma and metamorphosis into a champion for herself, inclusivity and radical honesty, and in telling her journey invites us to reflect on our own. By embracing our differences, she says, we can transform our lives. An artist to her core, Coel holds up the path of the creative as an emblem of our need to regard one another with care and respect - and transparency.Misfits is a triumphant call for honesty, empathy and inclusion. This timely, necessary book is a rousing coming-to-power manifesto dedicated to anyone who has ever worried about fitting in.
£7.59
Wonderwell Unhappy Achiever
Book SynopsisUnhappy Achiever is a story of healing, of revolutionary awakening—of what happens when we summon our courage to step out from behind the mask of the “good girl” to wholeheartedly embrace our true selves and the joy of being perfectly imperfect. It’s no secret that women have been sold a bill of goods: we’re taught we can—and should—have it all and that happiness is ours for the taking…if. If we go to college and become a degreed professional. If we marry someone respectable and buy a house in a picturesque neighborhood. If we become the proud parents of two children. If we land our dream job, get promoted, or make partner. Women spend decades, even lifetimes, believing: If I can just do—or have—or become—that one thing, I’ll be satisfied, content, complete. Many of us nearly “do” ourselves to death, sacrificing health and relationships to arrive at some elusive, “ultimate” point of existence. Still, no matter how much we do, genuine satisfaction evades us. And the parts of us we sought to fill with the trappings of wealth, power, goodness, and praise somehow feel emptier than before. All the while, missing the most fundamental key to our happiness—the joy of inner fulfillment. For most of her life, journalist, public speaker, and former lawyer Ashley Jordan ingested the commodified myth, bought and sold on the open market of capitalist culture, that what was missing inside her could be fixed by something outside her. Then, shortly after her 37th birthday, life cracked her open. An unexpected trigger sent her spiraling into the darkness of traumatic grief she buried when she was 13 years old. These memories inspired a new perspective: love isn’t earned by what we do, have, or become. That everything Ashley needed to be, she already was at 37, at 13, and since the moment her soul made its home in her body. Deeply personal and openly forthright in the style of Erica L. Sanchez’s Crying in the Bathroom and told with the tender and soulful storytelling of Shauna Niequist''s Present Over Perfect, this is an intimate memoir of one unhappy achiever’s journey to discover the self underneath the accomplishments. Conjuring the courage to upend every aspect of her existence—from her friendships to her career to her marriage—to make her life more reflective of her heart’s deepest desires, Ashley shares stories of healing from loss, her struggle with eating disorders, perfectionism, stories of love and friendship, and the complex relationship between mother and daughter—and what we go on to teach our own daughters about self-worth. Unhappy Achiever is the story of how we use masks of achievement to buffer against the world and protect us from pain, how these masks keep us disconnected from ourselves and distanced from those around us—and ultimately, the magic, wisdom, and wholeness we encounter when we exist unencumbered and unobscured by external pursuits.
£16.99
Austin Macauley Publishers LLC Challenge Alzheimer
Book Synopsis
£8.54
Simon & Schuster Elevate and Dominate
Book SynopsisCOACH PRIME -- famed Pro Football Hall of Famer, two-time Super Bowl-winning NFL player, Head Football Coach for the University of Colorado, inspirational leader, and one of the greatest motivators of all time -- delivers the ultimate playbook of inspiring personal stories, winning strategies, and the motivation to help us elevate and dominate all aspects of our life
£14.24
Simon & Schuster Enough
Book SynopsisCassidy Hutchinson’s desk was mere steps from the most controversial president in recent American history. Now, she provides a riveting account of her extraordinary experiences as an idealistic young woman thrust into the middle of a national crisis, where she risked everything to tell the truth about some of the most powerful people in Washington. Ever since a childhood visit to Washington, DC, Cassidy Hutchinson aspired to serve her country in government. Raised in a working-class family with a military background, she was the first in her immediate family to graduate from college. Despite having no ties to Washington, Hutchinson landed a vital position at the center of the Trump White House. Her life took a dramatic turn on January 6th, 2021, when, at twenty-four, she found herself in one of the most extraordinary and unprecedented calamities in modern political history. Hutchinson was faced with a choice between loyalty to the Trump administration or loyalty to the country by revealing what she saw and heard in the attempt to overthrow a democratic election. She bravely came forward to become the pivotal witness in the House January 6 investigations, as her testimony transfixed and stunned the nation. In her memoir, Hutchinson reveals the struggle between the pressures she confronted to toe the party line and the demands of the oath she swore to defend American democracy. Enough reaches far beyond the typical insider political account. It’s the saga of a woman whose fierce determination helped her overcome childhood challenges to get her dream job, only to face a crisis of conscience—one that more senior White House aides tried to evade—and, in the process, find her voice and herself. This is a portrait of how the courage of one person can change the course of history.Trade ReviewPRAISE FOR CASSIDY HUTCHINSON “A subdued yet arresting presence emerging from a moment of national crisis.” —The New York Times "Hutchinson found her voice. Without it, we might not have known the extent of the criming in the White House as Trump attempted to desperately hold on to power." —MSNBC "A compelling and well-shaped narrative, more of a page-turner than any other Trump administration memoir I’ve read." —Slate “A gift to our country. . . it was almost angelic to see her with the confidence and the clarity of message, the clear patriotism . . . We thank her. We’re grateful to her.” —NANCY PELOSI, US representative “[Cassidy Hutchinson’s] superiors—men many years older—a number of them are hiding behind executive privilege, anonymity, and intimidation. But her bravery and patriotism . . . were awesome to behold. Little girls all across this great nation are seeing what it really means to love this country and what it really means to be a patriot.” —LIZ CHENEY, former US representative “Here [Cassidy Hutchinson] was, all by herself, twenty-five years old, in front of the whole country. In the scheme of things, she’s nobody. And yet such people can upend empires. She showed a lot more guts than the men of that White House.” —PEGGY NOONAN, The Wall Street Journal “Hutchinson was the perfect witness to testify to the dereliction of duty she observed in the final days of the Trump White House, a Trump believer turned reluctant informant. She was John Dean in a white blazer and diamond necklace, reciting a similarly damning cavalcade of facts. . . . An American heroine.” —RUTH MARCUS, The Washington Post “In this age of political cowardice and self-dealing, it can be easy to forget that public service is supposed to be a noble calling. . . . Cassidy Hutchinson reminded us what that looks like." —MICHELLE COTTLE, The New York Times “Few outside of Trump world had ever heard of Cassidy Hutchinson. But few who witnessed the young woman’s extraordinary two hours before the House select committee on January 6th will ever forget her.” —DANA MILBANK, The Washington Post “Courage can be inspirational, even across generations. Hutchinson realized that, like [Alexander] Butterfield, she had to tell the whole truth.” —Salon “Despite pressure, intimidation, and right-wing media attacks, Hutchinson stepped forward to do her duty and testify under oath. . . . She was the perfect witness—not prone to exaggeration or self-congratulation. Her vivid recollections, punctuated by memorable details such as her catatonic boss staring at his phone on his couch, provided a gripping account of the coup that Donald Trump and his senior officials attempted.” —JENNIFER RUBIN, The Washington Post
£17.00
Marble Hill Publishers All Change
Book SynopsisAll Change is a true insider's story of turbulent times in the media in the second half of the 20th century when Clive Bradley worked at the heart of broadcasting, newspaper, book publishing and politics.
£30.38
Fairfield Books The Record of a Long Life
£22.50
Pushkin Press Parisian Days: The Rediscovered Classic Memoir
Book Synopsis'A scintillating book' TLS 'Her company is a delight' Tatler 'Part memoir, part social history... sumptuous and unsparing' Financial Times A brilliantly witty memoir telling the story of a young woman's determined struggle for freedom The Orient Express hurtles towards the promised land, freeing Banine from her past. Escaping her ruined homeland and forced marriage, she aspires to a dazzling future in Paris. As a chic Parisienne she mingles with émigrés, artists and writers-and even contemplates love. But freedom brings challenges. Swept along by the forces of history, can Banine keep up? Filled with vivacious wit and a lust for life, this companion to Days in the Caucasus is a paean to bittersweet dreams and the quest for happiness. Part of the Pushkin Press Classics series: timeless storytelling by icons of literature, hand-picked from around the globe Translated by Anne Thompson-Ahmadova Banine (1905-1992) was born Umm El-Banu Assadullayeva, into a wealthy family in Baku, then part of the Russian Empire. Following the Russian Revolution and the subsequent fall of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, Banine was forced to flee her home country-first to Istanbul, and then to Paris. In Paris she formed a wide circle of literary acquaintances including Nicos Kazantzakis, André Malraux, Ivan Bunin and Teffi and eventually began writing herself. Parisian Days continues the story that began with Days in the Caucasus, which is also available from Pushkin Press.Trade Review'A scintillating book' - TLS''Part memoir, part social history Parisian Days reads like a novel, its sumptuous and unsparing prose once again beautifully carried over into English by Anne Thompson-Ahmadova [and] for all its comic bravura, takes unflinching aim at Russia's colonial legacy amid the privations of exile'' - Bryan Karetnyk'No less charming than its predecessor... to read Parisian Days is to luxuriate in Banine's powers of description and uncanny aptitude for the telling turn of phrase, in which she is, as previously, ably served by her translator Anne Thompson-Ahmadova' - Asian Review of BooksPraise for Days in the Caucasus'Every so often a voice emerges from the archive so vivid that it seems impossible that it should ever have been forgotten' - Evening Standard
£10.44
Vintage Publishing Autumn: From the Sunday Times Bestselling Author
Book SynopsisThe Sunday Times bestseller from literary phenomenon Karl Ove Knausgaard, a love letter about the world written by a father to his unborn daughter.'Inspiring, surprising... Autumn will warm and enlighten anyone who opens their eyes to it' The TimesAutumn begins with a letter Karl Ove Knausgaard writes to his unborn daughter. He adds one short piece each day, describing the material and natural world - from twilight to the migration of birds, from Van Gogh to forgiveness - with the precision and mesmerising intensity that have become his trademark.With artwork by Vanessa Baird'This book is full of wonders... The world feels repainted' New York TimesTrade ReviewDiverse and delightful… These sharp little essays capture the wonder of things with photographic immediacy… This is an inspiring, surprising collection * The Times *Brilliantly conveys the sense you get, as a prospective parent, that the world is brand new… It’s all beautifully done. -- William Leith * Evening Standard *In Autumn, a lyrical cabaret beside the grand opera of the My Struggle books, taboo memories and forbidden feelings disrupt the grown-up project of a compendium of fatherly wisdom... Autumn glows with a radiant attachment to 'the world, as it is'... From sunshine to head-lice, it celebrates the 'dizzying intensity of being'. * The Economist *Quietly illuminates Knausgaard's profound gift for making the reader see the world in fresh and unpredictable ways. -- Stuart Evers * The Observer *This book is full of wonders… Loose teeth, chewing gum, it all becomes noble, almost holy, under Knausgaard’s patient, admiring gaze. The world feels repainted. -- Parul Sehgal * New York Times *
£13.49
Vintage Publishing Milkshakes and Morphine: A Memoir of Love and
Book SynopsisHonest, heartrending and full of humour, this is an extraordinary memoir about an unconventional childhood and the absurdities of the cancer experience. It is also, most importantly, a celebration of life.When Genevieve Fox finds a lump in her throat, she turns up for the hospital diagnosis in a party frock. I can’t have cancer, she thinks. I’ve done my hair. But there is another reason she can’t countenance cancer. She was orphaned by it at the age of nine.Fox’s story weaves together past and present as she recalls her rackety, unconventional childhood, while also facing the spectre of being lost to her young boys. Yet she confronts her treatment with the same sassy survival instinct that characterised her childhood misadventures. She takes life’s precariousness and turns it on its head.‘Life-enhancing… Original and wonderful’ Sunday Telegraph‘Exquisite and tender’ SARAH PERRYTrade ReviewGenerous, engaging and laugh-out-loud funny, Fox's memoir is a reminder that the willingness to share experience, good, bad, and sometimes bloody terrifying, is one of the best parts of what makes us human -- Julie MyersonPart journal, part pitch-black comedy, this extraordinary account of childhood abandonment and life-threatening illness is also a painfully intelligent meditation on vulnerability * Rachel Cusk *An unexpectedly optimistic and at times funny story of hope, warmth, and the vitality of love. -- Helena Lee * Harper's Bazaar *Fox is a brilliant storyteller and a beautiful writer. -- Anna van Praaghe * Evening Standard *Delightful and moving… Fox’s writing brims with joie de vivre. -- Alice O'Keefe * Spectator *Candid and optimistic. -- Fanny Blake * Woman & Home *A cordial, confiding narrator. -- Sarah Crown * Guardian *Remarkably readable wit and flair. -- Helen Brown * Daily Telegraph *An original and wonderful book. -- Allison Pearson * The Sunday Telegraph *A witty, life-affirming book. -- Valerie Grove * The Oldie *This spirited memoir of her journey into remission weaves together stories of her unconventional, orphan childhood with poignant reflections on motherhood, art, and literature. -- Lorna Bradbury * World of Cruising *Genevieve Fox writes about cancer without cliché. Hers is a feat of endurance, not a journey. -- Harriet Baker * The Times Literary Supplement *
£15.29
Cornerstone Only Fools and Stories: From Del Boy to
Book Synopsis*** The Hilarious Number One Sunday Times Bestseller! ***The follow-up autobiography to one of Britain’s best loved actors and national treasures*As seen in David and Jay’s Touring Toolshed on BBC Two*In his first book David Jason told us about himself from his early years training as an electrician through to making it as one of Britain's greatest actors.This autumn, in a follow up autobiography, he tells us about the many other lives he has lived – his characters. From Del Boy to Granville, Pop Larkin to Frost, he takes us behind the scenes and under the skins of some of the best loved acts of his career.And in the process he reflects on how those characters changed his life too. The result told with his characteristic charm and wit is both funny and poignant, honest and heart warming.Trade ReviewA terrific storyteller … An essential purchase. * On: Yorkshire Magazine *A genuinely funny man - 5 Stars * Sunday Sport *Told with candour and wit, a fascinating insight into some of television’s most memorable creations. * Choice *A memoir that's as entertaining and warm as Only Fools and Horses * Daily Mail *Deserves a huge round of applause -- Steve Wright * BBC Radio 2 *
£10.44
Vintage Publishing Running in the Family
Book Synopsis'During certain hours, at certain years in our lives, we see ourselves as remnants from the earlier generations that were destroyed... I think all of our lives have been terribly shaped by what went on before us.'Twenty-five years after leaving his native Sri Lanka for the cool winters of Ontario, a chaotic dream of tropical heat and barking dogs pushes Michael Ondaatje to travel back home and revisit a childhood and a family he never fully understood. Along with his siblings and children, Ondaatje gathers rumours, anecdotes, poems, records and memories to piece together this fragmented portrayal of his family's past, his father's destructive alcoholism and the colourful stories and secrets of ancestors both disgraced and adored throughout centuries of Sri Lankan society.In an exotic, evocative portrait of the heat, wildlife, sounds and silences of the Sri Lankan landscape, Ondaatje combines vivid recreations of a privileged, eccentric older generation with a deeply personal reconciliatory journey in which he explores his own ghosts, and how his family's extraordinary history continues to influence his life.Trade ReviewBrightly coloured, sweet and painful, bloody-minded and otherworldly, [this book] achieves the status of legend -- Margaret AtwoodEloquent, oblique, witty, full of light and feeling....Ondaatje's knowledge of the fragility and luck of life is very clear. So, too, is the grace and originality of his prose * New Yorker *Ondaatje has produced a remarkable book....Shimmering through the haze of heat and memory is an impressionistic, sometimes surreal portrait of an exotic time and place now gone, a colonial paradise that had its own rhythms and imperatives * Globe and Mail *A beautiful, luscious book. Michael Ondaatje has depicted his extraordinary family, who delighted in masks and costumes and love affairs that 'rainbowed over marriages' in the kind of language that makes glory of their lives. He has gone on a poet's journey to Sri Lanka (Ceylon), and the reader who travels with him enters a truly magical world -- Maxine Hong KingstonWith a prose style equal to the voluptuousness of [Ondaatje's] subject and a sense of humor never too far away, Running in the Family is sheer reading pleasure * Washington Post *
£10.44
Bonnier Books Ltd Dog Days: A Year with Olive & Mabel
Book SynopsisJoin Andrew Cotter and his superstar Labradors, Olive and Mabel, as he takes a clear-eyed, often hilarious walk through the ups and downs of a year that encompasses all of life from the crushingly mundane to the weird and wonderful.Followed everywhere by whispers of 'Is that really Olive and Mabel?' - not to mention the occasional Hollywood approach - the three of them pad around literary festivals, breakfast TV, live radio and even an appearance on Good Morning America. Slightly bemused by their fame, Andrew not only pitches up in the iconic Mastermind chair, but makes a return to sports broadcasting to find that it has become rather strange as well.But, always, his pair of utterly endearing, endlessly optimistic and eternally hungry canine companions show justhow precious our time is. Especially our time spent in the devoted company of dogs. For fans new and old, this witty, insightful account of a year like no other is an unmissable treat.
£9.49
