Memoirs Books

Book SynopsisA Sunday Times bestseller (May 2023) - the incredible story of courage, resilience and survival. 'I am a survivor. That comes with a survivor's obligation to represent one and half million Jewish children murdered by the Nazis. They cannot speak. So I must speak on their behalf.' Tova Friedman was one of the youngest people to emerge from Auschwitz. After surviving the liquidation of the Jewish ghetto in Central Poland where she lived as a toddler, Tova was four when she and her parents were sent to a Nazi labour camp, and almost six when she and her mother were forced into a packed cattle truck and sent to Auschwitz II, also known as the Birkenau extermination camp, while her father was transported to Dachau. During six months of incarceration in Birkenau, Tova witnessed atrocities that she could never forget, and experienced numerous escapes from death. She is one of a handful of Jews to have entered a gas chamber and lived to tell the tale. As Nazi killing squads roamed Birkenau before abandoning the camp in January 1945, Tova and her mother hid among corpses. After being liberated by the Russians they made their way back to their hometown in Poland. Eventually Tova's father tracked them down and the family was reunited.In The Daughter of Auschwitz, Tova immortalizes what she saw, to keep the story of the Holocaust alive, at a time when it's in danger of fading from memory. She has used those memories that have shaped her life to honour the victims. Written with award-winning former war reporter Malcolm Brabant, this is an extremely important book. Brabant's meticulous research has helped Tova recall her experiences in searing detail. Together they have painstakingly recreated Tova's extraordinary story about the world's worst ever crime.(P) 2022 Quercus Editions LimitedTrade ReviewEvery so often a book arrives that demands to be read. This is such a book. It should be compulsory reading for those who know little of one of humanity's greatest crimes and the awe-inspiring bravery of those like Tova Friedman who survived to tell their story. But also for those who think of the Holocaust as ancient history. It is not. It is an eternal reminder that evil needs only ignorance to flourish. That is the true value of this remarkable book * John Humphrys *Tova Friedman's vividly written and compelling story serves as proof that after suffering unimaginable cruelty and trauma, it is still possible to forge a life. This unforgettable book not only ensures we remember the horrors of the Holocaust, but can see the dangers of anti-semitism and other forms of racism today * Lindsey Hilsum *An unforgettable and deeply moving story. Malcolm Brabant brilliantly evokes the world of the ghetto and of Auschwitz through the eyes of Tova Friedman, a small child who survived the brutality of the Holocaust * Jeremy Bowen *I read this book with gratitude and urgency. Gratitude for the courage Tova Friedman has shown in deciding to share her story. We are all the beneficiaries of such powerful witness. The urgency comes from the knowledge that as time marches on such vivid voices are becoming increasingly rare. Read this book, cherish the lessons. It is a book rooted in the terrible events of another time, but the truths it reveals are eternal * Fergal Keane *Tova Friedman is telling her story for a reason, and that's clear in every page. It is a surprising and moving book which makes you furious, and I suspect that's what she wants -- Krishnan Guru-Murthy * Channel 4 News *[A] harrowing and lyrical memoir * Sunday Independent *An absolutely riveting book - please read it -- Judy Woodruff * PBS Newshour *A truly remarkable book -- Christine Lampard * Lorraine *Heart-breaking and powerful reading * History Revealed *In this vivid account, [Tova's] harrowing memories are brought to life with meticulous research from war reporter Malcolm Brabant. This result is a poignant, extraordinarily powerful book * Woman's Own *The combination [of authors] ... has turned into gold, as Brabant unerringly provides accurate research to support Friedman's callow memories. This is the real thing, the horrors of the Holocaust brought shudderingly to life, and all from the point of view of a small child who could barely read or recognise numbers. * Jewish Chronicle *Friedman is unflinching in choosing to reveal the trauma of her childhood and enlist the reader in her struggle to ensure that it can never be forgotten, and in the hope that it will never happen again. * Church Times *

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Book Synopsis''Wilfred''s sheer ambition is an inspiration. We can all learn from it.'' - Peter Bazalgette''Based on my career, Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones'' approach to risk can produce huge dividends'' - Nigel Travis, chairman of Dunkin'' Brands and author of The Challenge CultureJeopardy is the single greatest catalyst for making things happen in life.In Jeopardy, award-winning entrepreneur Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones argues that our natural instinct for caution is one of the greatest barriers to making progress in life, and shows how embracing jeopardy is essential if you want to succeed.Drawing on a life that has taken him from a deprived childhood in inner-city Birmingham to becoming one of the nation''s most famous farmers, he demonstrates how we can all go further in life by learning to escape the fears that stop us from achieving our ambitions.Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones is no stranger to jeopardy: he remortgaged his house Trade ReviewWilfred is a one-off; as you'd know if you've ever eaten a Black Farmer sausage, watched any of his TV shows or even listened to one of his political speeches (I've done all three). Wilfred's sheer ambition is an inspiration. We can all learn from it. * Peter Bazalgette *Based on my career, Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones' approach to risk can produce huge dividends -- Nigel Travis, Chairman of Dunkin' Brands and author of The Challenge CultureThis book will help the reader become positive about overcoming adversity and failure, while ensuring that dreams have a better chance of being achieved. Based on my career, Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones' approach to risk can produce huge dividends. * Nigel Travis, Chairman and CEO of Dunkin' Brands (owers of Dunkin' Donuts and Baskin Robbins) and author of Challenge Culture *

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Book SynopsisElizabeth Jane Howard was the author of fifteen highly acclaimed novels, including the five volumes of The Cazalet Chronicles, as well as After Julius, Falling, Getting It Right, Love All, and Odd Girl Out. The Cazalet Chronicles The Light Years, Marking Time, Confusion, Casting Off and All Change have become established as modern classics and have been adapted for a major BBC television series and for BBC Radio 4. She had one child, Nicola, and married three times lastly to fellow author Sir Kingsley Amis. In 2000 she was awarded a CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List, and in 2002 Macmillan published her autobiography, Slipstream. She died, aged ninety, at home in Suffolk on 2 January 2014.Trade ReviewHer talent seemed so effervescent, so unstoppable, that there was no predicting where it might take her -- Hilary Mantel, author of Wolf Hall

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Book SynopsisIn her new book, Cathy Glass, the no.1 bestselling author of Damaged, tells the story of the Alice, a young and vulnerable girl who is desperate to return home to her mother.Alice, aged four, is snatched by her mother the day she is due to arrive at Cathy''s house. Drug-dependent and mentally ill, but desperate to keep hold of her daughter, Alice''s mother snatches her from her parents'' house and disappears.Cathy spends three anxious days worrying about her whereabouts before Alice is found safe, but traumatised. Alice is like a little doll, so young and vulnerable, and she immediately finds her place in the heart of Cathy''s family. She talks openly about her mummy, who she dearly loves, and how happy she was living with her maternal grandparents before she was put into care. Alice has clearly been very well looked after and Cathy can''t understand why she couldn''t stay with her grandparents.It emerges that Alice''s grandparents are considered too old (they are in their early sixtieTrade ReviewReviews for ‘Damaged’: 'Cannot fail to move those who read it.' Adoption-net ‘Heartbreaking.' The Mirror ‘A truly harrowing read that made me cry.’ The Sun 'A true tale of hope.' OK! ‘Foster carers rarely get the praise they deserve, but Cathy Glass’s book should change all that’ First Magazine ‘A hugely touching and emotional true tale.’ Star Magazine

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Book SynopsisFrom much-loved documentary maker Louis Theroux comes a funny, heartfelt and entertaining account of his life and weird times in TV.The Sunday Times Bestseller.'Honest and soul-searching' - Sunday Express______________In 1994 fledgling journalist Louis Theroux was given a one-off gig on Michael Moore’s TV Nation, presenting a segment on apocalyptic religious sects. Gawky, socially awkward and totally unqualified, his first reaction to this exciting opportunity was panic. But he’d always been drawn to off-beat characters, so maybe his enthusiasm would carry the day. Or, you know, maybe it wouldn’t . . .In Gotta Get Theroux This, Louis takes the reader on a joyous journey from his anxiety-prone childhood to his unexpectedly successful career. Nervously accepting the BBC’s offer of his own series, he went on to create an award-winning documentary style that has seen him immersed in the weird worlds of paranoid US militias and secretive pro-wrestlers, get under the skin of celebrities like Max Clifford and Chris Eubank and tackle gang culture in San Quentin prison, all the time wondering whether the same qualities that make him good at documentaries might also make him bad at life.As Louis woos his beautiful wife Nancy and learns how to be a father, he also dares to take on the powerful Church of Scientology. Just as challenging is the revelation that one of his old subjects, Jimmy Savile, was a secret sexual predator, prompting him to question our understanding of how evil takes place. Filled with wry observation and self-deprecating humour, this is Louis at his most insightful and honest best.______________'Funny, engaging' - Sunday Times'Gripping' - Daily Mail'Absorbing and surprisingly candid' - Telegraph MagazineTrade ReviewAn absorbing and surprisingly candid book . . . * Telegraph Magazine *Gripping * Daily Mail *Engaging, funny * Sunday Times *If you are a fan of Louis Theroux's self-deprecating humour and relaxed broadcasting style, you will enjoy this honest and soul-searching account of his life so far. * Sunday Express *

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Book SynopsisEver been tempted to try a marathon? Maybe you've just started running, perhaps you're gaining confidence, or are you already well on your way to conquering the iconic distance? Whatever stage you're at on your journey, join marathon man Vassos Alexander as he shows us why we shouldn't be afraid of the big 26.2.Every marathon runner's journey is different. You might have caught the bug after experiencing that adrenaline rush of completing your first 5k; it might be a desire to finally cross something off your bucket list; or, perhaps it was a bit of an absentminded afterthought while watching TV, crisps in hand, and a niggling voice saying maybe I could do that' it was for Vassos, at least. However far along you are in your journey, How to Run A Marathon shows us that absolutely anyone can take those first steps to defeating the distance. In fact, you'll probably end up enjoying it a lot more than you think.Including inspiring interviews with runners from all walks of life, delightful tales of remarkable marathons all over the world, crucial training and nutrition tips and so much more, Vassos shares all the lessons he's learnt from start line to finisher's medal.Funny, candid and motivating, this book will not only help you succeed in your marathon quest but empower you to complete the distance any way you want. Whether that's achieving a particular time or simply finishing in one piece, How to Run a Marathon will guide you through.

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Book Synopsis'Stunning, timely and timeless.' -Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat Pray LoveRenowned activist, filmmaker and civil rights lawyer Valarie Kaur made headlines when her 'Breathe and Push' speech on how to survive in a time of rage went viral with 30 million views worldwide. In this inspiring and timely debut, she shows you how to reclaim love as a force for justice.When we practise love in the face of fear or rage, it has the ability to transform an encounter, a relationship, a community, a culture, even a country. Love becomes revolutionary. Revolutionary love is the call of our time. A radical, joyful practice that extends in three directions: to others, to our opponents and to ourselves. It invites you to see no stranger but instead look at others and say: You are part of me I do not yet know.Grounded in Valarie's own personal experience of practising love in the face of political oppression, sexual assault, wrongful arrest, detention, racism and murder, See No Stranger is an important and urgent manifesto that shows us a way to build movements that leave no one behind. You will learn to love others without prejudice or judgement, love your opponents through empathy and forgiveness, and ultimately to love yourself.Trade ReviewValarie Kaur is a prophetic voice of our generation. Her wisdom ignites and inspires me, lighting the way through the darkness. This book will do the same for you. -- America Ferrera, actress and activistValarie Kaur is a visionary worker for justice and this book is her radiant offering. -- Eve Ensler, author of THE VAGINA MONOLOGUESSee No Stranger is rooted in radical honesty, vulnerability, and fierce commitment to building a world in which we all belong. -- Michelle Alexander, author of THE NEW JIM CROWValarie Kaur is a revolutionary for justice who shows us how to labor for the world we dream. In my darkest moments, I remember my Sikh sister's call to "breathe and push!" Her wisdom inspires us to build movements and seek the change that love demands. -- Rev. William J. Barber, II, president of Repairers of the Breach and co-chair of the Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral RevivalIn a world ravaged by anger and hatred, Valarie Kaur offers a vision of 'Revolutionary Love,' not as platitude or panacea, but rather as a powerful weapon against intolerance and injustice. It may well be our only hope for peace and understanding in these troubled times. -- Reza Asian, author of ZEALOT: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JEASUS OF NAZARETHThis is the book we have been waiting for. It calls us up and calls us into the hard and necessary work to heal our wounds and reimagine the world. -- Van Jones, CEO of REFORM Alliance and CNN hostLove-firebrand...Part personal history, part inspiring manifesto, Kaur's immensely readable book implores and inspires us toward love as "sweet labor: bloody, fierce, imperfect, and life-giving." -- Rainn Wilson, actorThis book and the woman who gave birth to it have so much to offer the struggle for peace and justice as we move into a most complex and crucial century. Open up your heart as you open these pages and let yourself be inspired and invigorated by the way Ms Kaur breaks it down. -- Ani DiFrancoInspires us to become who we believe we are. -- Lawrence Lessig, legal scholarTested and tempered by suffering, but rising up with hope and joy, Kaur shows us how to love others, opponents, and ourselves in ways that will bring us closer to the Beloved Community. This book will change your life. -- Parker J. Palmer, author of LET YOUR LIFE SPEAKA book of remarkable courage and deep insight...Kaur maps singularly personal experiences of suffering and shared collective agonies of inequality as she seeks to understand the terrain of our humanity. -- Melissa Harris-Perry, Maya Angelou Presidential Chair at Wake Forest UniversityThe intimate, raw stories in See No Stranger will break and awaken your heart; the profound teachings and compelling vision will inspire you to serve and savor our precious world. -- Tara Brach, author of RADICAL ACCEPTANCE

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Book Synopsis'I want to eat everything in this book every single day for the rest of my life' - James Acaster'Sweet and funny and weird...as well as genuinely insightful about cooking' - Hadley Freeman, The Sunday Times'As touching as it is delicious' - The Evening StandardFrom Spaced and Hot Fuzz to Paul and Truth Seekers, Nick Frost has lit up our screens for decades with his perfectly observed, just-the-right-side-of-absurd sketches and films. He's also a keen, self-taught cook: so keen, in fact, that in lockdown, he personally delivered pies to his Instagram followers.This book is his love letter to food, to kitchens and the people in them.Nick's favourite thing to eat aged 10 was his mother's stroganoff and as her alcoholism worsened, he began to learn to cook it himself, gradually taking over and using it as a magic trick to conjure up the very best bits of her - the stable, sober bits, which became harder to find as the years went on. This was the beginning of a lifelong love of process and technique, of escaping into a world of hisses, blips and thunks of a knife on a board.A Slice of Fried Gold is a delicious mixture of hearty recipes, stories and digressions from one of Britain's most loved actors and writers.

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Book SynopsisAfter first meeting over sixty years ago while filming a costume drama for the BBC, Prunella Scales and Timothy West have enjoyed a partnership like no other; from appearing together in hit sitcoms to bringing up two children, they have chalked up an almost endless list of professional triumphs.In this book, Tim traces their united steps through life professionally and personally, and covers the highs and lows of caring for Pru since her dementia diagnosis, twenty years ago. As with all things in life, she and Tim have tackled it together, often with a glass of wine in hand and almost always with a smile.Trade ReviewHeartening and heartfelt. Exudes West's characteristic warmth * The Times, Books of the Year *A joyous portrait of a unique partnership — uplifting, highly moving and packed with stories of the highs and lows of showbusiness, from what happened when Fawlty’s Sybil appeared nude to how he saw off his love rival Peter Sellers. A love story like few others. Riveting * Daily Mail *A beautiful, witty, moving and joyful portrait of marriage * Red *A memoir laden with laughter and love * Daily Mail *A deeply moving, poignant and enthralling memoir * Mail on Sunday *Charming. An act of loving reclamation, a gentle tribute to a woman of every importance. * Sunday Telegraph *Shows most movingly that what will survive of them is love * Oldie *

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Book SynopsisAn intimate and electrifying collection of essays from the New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Delights.

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Book SynopsisThis is the complete story of long-distance runner Lizzy Hawker’s journey from a school girl running the streets of London to a world record-breaking athlete racing on mountains. Scared witless and surrounded by a sea of people, Lizzy Hawker stands in the church square at the centre of Chamonix on a late August evening, waiting for the start of the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc. The mountains towering over the pack of runners promise a gruelling 8,600 metres of ascent and descent over 158 kilometres of challenging terrain that will test the feet, legs, heart and mind. These nervous moments before the race signal not just the beginning of nearly twenty-seven hours of effort that saw Lizzy finish as first woman, but the start of the career of one of Britain’s most successful endurance athletes. She went on to become the 100km Women’s World Champion, win the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc an unprecedented five times, hold the world record for 24 hours road running and become the first woman to stand on the overall winners’ podium at Spartathlon. An innate endurance and natural affinity with the mountains has led Lizzy to push herself to the absolute limits, including a staggering 320 kilometre run through the Himalayas, from Everest Base Camp to Kathmandu in Nepal. Lizzy’s remarkable spirit was recognised in 2013 when she was a National Geographic Adventurer of the Year. These ultimate challenges ask not just what the feet and legs can do, but question the inner thoughts and contemplations of a runner. Lizzy’s astonishing story uncovers the physical, mental and emotional challenges that runners go through at the edge of human endurance – inspiring us to get out of the chair and go running in the mountains. Trade Review‘Need inspiration? This book tells ultra-athlete Lizzy Hawker’s story. From winning the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc to becoming the 100K Women’s World Champion, Lizzy’s story is truly moving.’‘A book that will make you think and, of course, want to go running in the mountains.’ ‘Runner is beautifully written and as packed with pure inspiration (and possibility) as any book ever written on the subject, destined to become a classic of the genre.’ ‘Runner is beautifully written and as packed with pure inspiration (and possibility) as any book ever written on the subject, destined to become a classic of the genre.’'Britain’s most distinctive female ‘ultra runner’, coming first in the UTMB five times, taking gold in the Women’s 100km World Championships in Korea in 2006, setting a new women’s world record for 24 hours on the road in the 2011 Commonwealth Championships and a new course record at the sunbaked 246 km Spartathlon in 2012.But Hawker’s inspirational memoir does not focus on the figures. She’s more interested in why she is able to push herself beyond normal limits, and how running makes her feel. Her book is strong on Buddhist philosophy and the peace that comes with living fully in the now.''She's held the world record for distance covered in 24 hours and is a five-time winner of the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc. Runner follows her through that 100 mile race, breaking off to explore what driver her, and the physical, mental and emotional challenge of pushing the limits.'‘The astonishing Lizzy Hawker’s story provides a much-needed female slant on the sport. Where this could have been an insufferable list of extremes endured, Hawker’s generosity of spirit and faith in what running can do for one’s soul makes it a rather moving tribute to what all of us might be capable of.’'About what it means to be a runner, facing the highs and the lows, being full of doubt, but also determined. This book will inspire and enthuse you to move outside of your comfort zone and live life.'‘A book that will make you think and, of course, want to go running in the mountains.’‘Need inspiration? This book tells ultra-athlete Lizzy Hawker’s story. From winning the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc to becoming the 100K Women’s World Champion, Lizzy’s story is truly moving.’

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Book SynopsisAn extraordinary story of life on a South African game reserve from the 'Indiana Jones of conservation' and the authors of The Elephant Whisperer.Lawrence Anthony's South African game reserve is home to many animals he has saved, from a remarkable herd of elephants to a badly behaved bushbaby called George. When one of his rhinos was brutally slaughtered for her horn, he didn't hesitate to lead an armed response against the poachers. Then he learned that there were only a handful of northern white rhinos left in the wild, living in an area of the Congo controlled by the infamous Lord's Resistance Army and soon to be hunted into extinction. Lawrence knew he had to take action. What followed was an extraordinary adventure, as he headed into the jungle to negotiate with the rebels, while battling to save his own animals from terrible drought and to save the eyesight of his beloved elephant matriarch Nana. The Last Rhinos i

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Book SynopsisCaitlin Moran is the eldest of eight children, home-educated on a council estate in Wolverhampton, believing that if she were very good and worked very hard, she might one day evolve into Bill Murray.She published a children's novel, The Chronicles of Narmo, at the age of 16, and became a columnist at The Times at 18. She has gone on to be named Columnist of the Year six times. At one point, she was also Interviewer and Critic of the Year - which is good going for someone who still regularly mistypes the' as hte'. Her multi-award-winning bestseller How to Be a Woman has been published in 28 countries, and won the British Book Awards' Book of the Year 2011. Her two volumes of collected journalism, Moranthology and Moranifesto, were Sunday Times bestsellers, and her novel, How to Build a Girl, debuted at Number One, and is currently being adapted as a movie. She co-wrote two series of the Rose d'Or-winning Channel 4 sitcom RaTrade Review"I adore, admire and - more - am addicted to Caitin Moran's writing" Nigella Lawson "I have been waiting for this book my whole life" Claudia Winkleman "This might just be the funniest intelligent book ever written .. Moran's work packs a feminist punch in a way that Germaine Greer and an entire army of female eunuchs could never do, because she writes about things we've all done, thought, and said - but not quite so eloquently...the book everyone will be talking about" Stylist "Moran's writing sparkles with wit and warmth. Like the confidences of your smartest friend" Simon Pegg "It would almost be unkind to call this an important book, because what it mostly is is engaging, brave and consistently, cleverly naughtily funny, but actually it is important that we talk about this stuff" -- Katy Guest Independent on Sunday

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Book SynopsisFeatures sixty-three short essays. Both a memoir and an exploration of the artistic process, this book not only reveals the author's particular experience as a gay artist captivated by the transience and physicality of his media and his life, but also his thoughts on the more technical aspects of his vocation.Trade Review"A lyrical, elegiac celebration of the medium and its implications-a provocative and highly original investigation." (Kirkus) "Quick, candid, and exquisitely felt." (Publishers Weekly)"

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Book SynopsisAS SEEN IN THE TIMESMaria Compton was born and raised in the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church. Encouraged to keep her distance from outsiders, she grew up in a world of Church meetings, banishments and with the fear that the end of the world - known as the Rapture - was nigh. When she was still in her late teens, she married a man she barely knew. To those around her she lived the perfect life; dutiful wife, loving mother, devout Brethren woman. But underneath the surface, this life was far from perfect.Plagued by spiritual doubts, stuck in an abusive marriage and with her mental health in severe decline, Maria came to realise that she simply could not go on. And so, although knowing everything it would cost, she did the unthinkable: she left her church. Despite her attempts to stay in touch, Maria is no longer seen by her family, her friends or even her own children. But whilst she continues to grieve for everything she has lost, she holds fast to wh

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Book SynopsisDaphne Sheldrick''s best-selling love story of romance, life and elephants, An African Love Story: Love, Life and Elephants is an incredible story from Africa''s greatest living conservationist.A typical day for Daphne involves rescuing baby elephants from poachers; finding homes for orphan elephants, all the while campaigning the ever-present threat of poaching for the ivory trade.An African Love Story is the incredible memoir of her life. It tells two stories - one is the extraordinary love story which blossomed when Daphne fell head over heels with Tsavo Game Park and its famous warden, David Sheldrick. The second is the love story of how Daphne and David, who devoted their lives to saving elephant orphans, at first losing every infant under the age of two until Daphne at last managed to devise the first-ever milk formula which would keep them alive. ''Compulsively readable'', Mail on Sunday''An enchanting memoir'', TelegraTrade ReviewCompulsively readable...the more you hear about elephants from her, the more you wonder why they don't rule the world -- Kathryn Hughes * Mail on Sunday *An enchanting memoir...Baby birds, antelopes, elephants, rhinos and a civet cat all pass through Sheldrick's life -- Helen Brown * Telegraph *Wonderfully candid -- Charlotte Kemp * Daily Mail *Absorbing, moving...paints a vivid picture of an extraordinary life in the bush that will delight everyone * BBC Wildlife Magazine *Moving and magical...a fascinating story...touching, funny and written with warmth and compassion * Lancashire Evening Post *Inspirational. A heart-warming read for anyone interested in wildlife and conservation * Compass *Africa has never been more vividly described...I read it straight through and it nearly broke my heart...her warnings about the decline of wildlife should be heeded the world over -- Joanna Lumley

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Book SynopsisGoodbye Christopher Robin: A.A. Milne and the Making of Winnie-the-Pooh is drawn from Ann Thwaite’s acclaimed biography of A. A. Milne, one of the most successful English writers ever, and the creator of Winnie-the-Pooh, and of Piglet, Tigger, Eeyore and Christopher Robin.But the fictional Christopher Robin was based on Milne’s own son. This heart-warming and touching book recounts the true story that inspired the film Goodbye Christopher Robin, directed by Simon Curtis and starring Domhnall Gleeson, Margot Robbie and Kelly Macdonald, and offers the reader a glimpse into the relationship between Milne and the real-life Christopher Robin, whose toys inspired the magical world of the Hundred Acre Wood. Along with his mother Daphne and his nanny Olive, Christopher Robin and his family were swept up in the international success of the books; the enchanting tales brought hope and comfort to an England ravaged by the First World War. But with the eyes of the world on Christopher Robin, what will the cost be to the family?With a preface by Frank Cottrell-Boyce, co-writer of the screenplay.

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Book SynopsisA charming memoir exploring the history, landscape and people of rural France, told through the eyes of a Parisian-born Englishman, writer and poet. Adam Thorpe''s home for the past 25 years has been an old house in the Cévennes, a wild range of mountains in southern France. Prior to this, in an ancient millhouse in the oxbow of a Cévenol river, he wrote the novel that would become the Booker Prize-nominated Ulverton, now a Vintage Classic. In more recent writing Thorpe has explored the Cévennes, drawing on the legends, history and above all the people of this part of France for his inspiration. In his charming journal, Notes from the Cévennes, Thorpe takes up these themes, writing about his surroundings, the village and his house at the heart of it, as well as the contrasts of city life in nearby Nîmes. In particular he is interested in how the past leaves impressions--marks--on our landscape and on us. What do we find in the grass, earth and stTrade ReviewIn an altogether different class ... beautifully written, full of wisdom about the balance struck by humanity and the natural world ... Adam Thorpe, a self-described "curator of time", has written a grand little book. I might have added that no holidaymaker this year in France, or further afield, should be without it. But why wait until July or August? Don't postpone the treat. Buy now; this book is a real joy. * The Tablet *A marvellously astute, wry and affectionate account of France and the French – mercifully free of whimsy – and, moreover, written in pitch-perfect English prose. A delight. -- William BoydPart history and part memoir, Notes from the Cévennes is a marvellous evocation of the forgotten Languedoc, and an affectionate portrait of a country and a people. -- Sigrid Rausing * Editor of Granta *A powerful story of cooperation and conflict, both between ourselves and Nature. Living in two places, the ancient pastoral retreat of the Cévennes, and the Roman cosmopolitanism of Nimes, Adam has all the gifts of novelist, correspondent, historian and poet. -- Colin Greenwood * Radiohead *His novels are concerned with how the past and the present, reality and fiction elide into each other, particularly through landscape; and Thorpe, in this series of tightly controlled, involving vignettes, finds evidence of this everywhere he looks … Gleaming with polished insights, this sensitive book is both a warning, plea and salutary reminder that even the tiniest action affects the universal. France profonde, indeed. * Spectator *Erudite and beguiling * The Times *Thorpe has dizzying range as well as style * Daily Mail *[A] deeply engaging book, part chatty memoir, part profound perception of the evidence of previous human existences ... He has, in short, lived a life to which he was not born but which he has taken up and made his own, something many people dream about but few are able to emulate * Times Literary Supplement *Thorpe’s memoir is not part of any herd. Nor does it belong in the fast-and-loose category of potboilers about swapping English life for continental idylls … It is erudite, firmly embedded in its own soil and yet evasive … affectionate, appreciative and perceptive * Observer *Beautifully written and produced, a pure pleasure: learned and attentive and rich in description and full of humour that is genuinely affectionate without being remotely patronising * Irish Times *By turns comic and pensive, Notes from the Cévennes is an absorbing and beautifully composed collection of vignettes, recording Adam Thorpe’s encounters, adventures and meditations over half a lifetime in France … Mr Thorpe captures so well the dark history of France, the conflict of religion, politics and land * Country Life *This absorbing book is written in prose as bright and bracing as the waters of the rivers in which Thorpe loves to swim. Despite the warts-and-all picture, it made me want to pack my bags and head south. * Literary Review *Thorpe allows a sense of folk magic to permeate, and his characters feel rustic in a timeless way because he transmits a real appreciation of the wild and how humans justify our interactions with other beasts … A gentle homage to rural life. * New Statesman *Table of Contents1 Gossamer Threads 2 The Poppet 3 Coming Into Shot 4 Wartime Shrines 5 Our Baker is Missing 6 Reprisal in the Oxbow 7 The Psychological Castle 8 Taking the Postman Hostage 9 Resident Tombs 10 A Flat Above the Cafe 11 All that Rough Muskc 12 Erudition 13 A Local Custom 14 Disaster Area 15 Martins in the Roof 16 A Visit from the City Police 17 Arches and Bulls 18 Defending Wolves 19 A Catastrophe 20 Floodwaters 21 The Ballot 22 Paws, Fingers and Thighs 23 Taking Our Tread 24 Epilogue Footprints Acknowledgements

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Book SynopsisFor the first time, discover the unedited truth about the Duggars, the traditional Christian family that captivated the nation on TLC’s hit show 19 Kids and Counting. Jill Duggar and her husband Derick are finally ready to share their story, revealing the secrets, manipulation, and intimidation behind the show that remained hidden from their fans.Jill and Derick knew a normal life wasn’t possible for them. As a star on the popular TLC reality show 19 Kids and Counting, Jill grew up in front of viewers who were fascinated by her family’s way of life. She was the responsible, second daughter of Jim Bob and Michelle’s nineteen kids; always with a baby on her hip and happy to wear the modest ankle-length dresses with throat-high necklines. She didn’t protest the strict model of patriarchy that her family followed, which declares that men are superior, that women are expected to be wives and mothers and are discouraged from attaining a higher education, and that parental authority over their children continues well into adulthood, even once they are married.But as Jill got older, married Derick, and they embarked on their own lives, the red flags became too obvious to ignore.For as long as they could, Jill and Derick tried to be obedient family members—they weren’t willing to rock the boat. But now they’re raising a family of their own, and they’re done with the secrets. Thanks to time, tears, therapy, and blessings from God, they have the strength to share their journey. Theirs is a remarkable story of the power of the truth and is a moving example of how to find healing through honesty.

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Book SynopsisWhen Oliver Sacks was twelve years old, a perceptive schoolmaster wrote in his report: 'Sacks will go far, if he does not go too far'. It is now abundantly clear that Sacks has never stopped going . . .From its opening pages on his youthful obsession with motorcycles and speed, On the Move is infused with his restless energy. As he recounts his experiences as a young neurologist in the early 1960s, first in California and then in New York, where he discovered a long-forgotten illness in the back wards of a chronic hospital, as well as with a group of patients who would define his life, it becomes clear that Sacks's earnest desire for engagement has occasioned unexpected encounters and travels – sending him through bars and alleys, over oceans, and across continents.With unbridled honesty and humour, Sacks shows us that the same energy that drives his physical passions –bodybuilding, weightlifting, and swimming – also drives his cerebral passions. He writes about his love affairs, both romantic and intellectual, his guilt over leaving his family to come to America, his bond with his schizophrenic brother, and the writers and scientists – Thom Gunn, A. R. Luria, W. H. Auden, Gerald M. Edelman, Francis Crick – who influenced him.On the Move is the story of a brilliantly unconventional physician and writer – and of the man who has illuminated the many ways that the brain makes us human.Trade ReviewDeeply moving. . . a gift to his readers - of erudition, sympathy and an abiding understanding of the joys, trials and consolations of the human condition -- Michiko Kakutani * New York Times *Sacks's empathy and intellectual curiosity, his delight in, as he calls it, "joining particulars with generalities" and, especially, "narratives with neuroscience" - have never been more evident than in his beautifully conceived new book. . .remarkably candid and deeply affecting * Boston Globe *Honest, lucid, passionate, humorous, humane and human (also slightly Martian). . .[a] marvelous memoir, which is as unconventional and singular as the man himself -- Colin McGinn * Wall Street Journal *Absorbing * Chicago Tribune *A fascinating account - a sort of extended case study, really - of Sacks' remarkably active, iconoclastic adulthood. . . .On the Move is filled with both wonder and wonderments * LA Times *Intensely, beautifully, incandescently alive * Newsday *On the Move is as much a dense journal of Sacks's own astonishing, incident-rich life as a meaty handbook on how to live * Globe and Mail *No matter what he writes about - whether struggling to understand what his patients are going through, or describing his love of swimming or photography - Sacks always seems open to learning more. He appears keenly interested in everything and everyone he encounters. He's a wonderful storyteller, a gift he says he inherited from his parents, both of whom were doctors. But as he proves again in his latest . . . book, it's his keen attentiveness as a listener and observer, and his insatiable curiosity, that makes his work so powerful * San Francisco Chronicle *On the Move is entertaining and illuminating and sometimes shocking, and it's given a deep tinge of poignancy by Sacks' public announcement in February that he has terminal cancer. If On the Move is his effort, at age 81 and in the face of death, to record a life well lived, he has succeeded beautifully * Tampa Bay Times *A compelling read. . .The memoir offers a glimpse into one of the greatest minds of our time, made all the more special by the knowledge that it's one of his last gifts to a devoted readership * Men’s Journal *[Sacks'] delving accounts of the invalids he treats have until now stood in stark contrast to his restraint about revealing himself deeply, even though autobiographical threads run through such books as A Leg to Stand On, Uncle Tungsten and Hallucinations. A doctor - concerned, engaging, humane, eccentric and unforthcoming - has occupied the foreground in his self-description. With On the Move, he has finally presented himself as he has presented others: as both fully vulnerable and an object of curiosity. -- Andrew Solomon * New York Times *His truly has been a life lived to the full - and beyond . . . it is the adventure of ideas he has undertaken that has bestowed on his life its remarkable originality -- Will Self * Guardian *[Sacks] could not have written a more breathtaking account of his too-full life. Who knew the most important medical writer of our time was also a complete and total badass? * Men's Fitness *Sacks' zest for life has been extraordinary. . .Coursing through On the Move is his constant sense of joy in the natural world, in scientific epiphanies, and people in all their oddity. . . one of the most singular and inspiring men of our time -- Peter Forbes * Independent *Sacks's accounts are startling in their frankness and express the release of a wise man who, never burdened by snobbery, has also shed that petty encumbrance, embarrassment. . . In February this year Sacks revealed that he has terminal cancer. He wrote in The New York Times that, though not without fear, his predominant feeling is gratitude. "I have loved and been loved; I have been given much and I have given something in return." This book is a remarkable record of those exchanges * London Evening Standard *In this genial and often humorously narrated life, [Sacks] is very much alive and full of passionate energy, as well as of and wry self-awareness . . . He is an astute observer of the life around him. Judging from early motorcycle diaries and writings included here, he could have had an alternative career on the road with Hunter S Thompson * Guardian *Like many of his readers, some months ago I responded with a sense of real personal sadness when reading Sacks' New York Times op-ed announcing his "bad luck" of now facing a terminal cancer. I felt as if a vital window on the world were being closed. On the Move is a glorious memoir that throws open that window and illuminates the world that we have seen through it. In this volume Sacks opens himself to recognition, much as he has opened the lives of others to being recognized in their fullness -- Michael Roth * The Atlantic *This moving book confirms that it is Sacks's expansive passions for learning and for experience that have made his such a vigorous, fascinating and influential life . . .This book is a delight and a fine prompt to return to his earlier work * New Statesman *A lively read and a fascinating insight into a man who changed the way the world sees things. . .revealingand heartbreaking * Courier Mail *What emerges from On the Move is a celebration not just of a life, but of life itself, in all its glorious variousness and possibility. . . [a] joyous whirlwind of a book -- James Bradley * Capital City Daily *A wonderful legacy to leave behind . . .It's an unmitigated pleasure to be in the company of this physician, teacher and storyteller * Big Issue Australia *An affecting read. . .Much will be lost when we can no longer eagerly await the next gift from this dearly loved,stray Santa * The Conversation *

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Book Synopsis''Wonderfully intense and honest - a poignant manual of how to grow hope against the odds.'' - Chris Packham, TV presenter and author of Fingers in the Sparkle Jar.Finding herself in a new home in Brighton, Kate Bradbury sets about transforming her decked, barren backyard into a beautiful wildlife garden. She documents the unbuttoning of the earth and the rebirth of the garden, the rewilding of a tiny urban space. On her own she unscrews, saws and hammers the decking away, she clears the builders'' rubble and rubbish beneath it, and she digs and enriches the soil, gradually planting it up with plants she knows will attract wildlife. She erects bird boxes and bee hotels, hangs feeders and grows nectar- and pollen-rich plants, and slowly brings life back to the garden.But while she's doing this Kate''s neighbours continue to pave and deck their gardens locking them away, the wildlife she tries to save is further threatened, and she feels she's fighting an uphill battle. Is Trade ReviewShines a light on the simple brilliance of life. -- Chris PackhamA moving, unpretentious account of starting again. -- Patrick Barkham * Guardian, Books of the Year *A truly inspiring account of transformation, The Bumblebee Flies Anyway made me simultaneously want to read on to the final page, and rush out to my garden. -- Melissa Harrison * author of All Among the Barley *Bradbury makes a passionate plea for us all to follow her example - to ditch the decking and fill our own outside spaces, however small, with plants. -- Jane Shilling * Daily Mail *Reading this book made me itch to get out into my own garden and peer under piles of dead leaves to look for beetles. A moving tribute to the space Kate Bradbury creates and her skill as a gardener. -- Alys Fowler * The Garden *A glorious thing that is part autobiography, part gardening book and part fierce invective against the sterilisation of our urban landscapes when they are an increasingly important haven for wildlife. * Amateur Gardening *Quirky, passionate and endearing, an inspiring account of bringing a tiny garden back to life. -- Dave Goulson, author of A Sting in the Tale and Bee QuestA beautiful story of a garden brought back from the dead. -- Eleanor Morton * Countryman *A very personal story of love, loss and rebirth. -- Fionnuala Fallon * Irish Times *It made me laugh. It made me cry. It made me mourn the loss of our green spaces but have hope for the wild places that remain. There is no louder, fresher voice for the value of urban wildlife. -- Jules Howard * zoologist and author of Sex on Earth *Bradbury 'unbuttons the earth' and lets the bumblebees, foxgloves and sparrows return at their own pace. A rallying cry for the wildlife garden. -- Louise Gray * author of The Ethical Carnivore *This is an important and timely book. I defy anyone who reads it not to want to do more to help their local wildlife. -- Brigit Strawbridge, wildlife gardener and bee campaignerA gorgeous - and informative - read. -- Penny McCormick * The Gloss *A wonderful and moving book about how a slice of nature at the backdoor offers refuge not only to the city wildlife but to the garden too. -- Alys Fowler * author of Hidden Nature and The Edible Garden *This is a beautiful, heartfelt book of hopeful wildlife gardening in the face of declining habitats and life's tendency to trip us up when we least need it. * Amateur Gardening *Table of ContentsPrologue: A garden Part One: The Bones, A Skeleton Autumn Winter Spring Summer Autumn Winter Spring Part Two: A Phoenix Spring Summer Species list Author acknowledgements If you want to learn more... Index

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Book SynopsisA dazzling 'tell-most' memoir: poignant and laugh-out-loud funny scenes from the life of actor Minnie Driver.Managing Expectations is a collection of delicately crafted, hilarious and heartfelt essays, described as a 'tell-most', in which Minnie Driver uses her formidable storytelling skills to examine and understand her less-than-ordinary life. Suffused with warmth and humour, Minnie shares poignant, candid and honest stories of her unconventional childhood, the shock of fame, motherhood, love, success, failure, the power of sisterly love, and the loss of her beloved mother.In her own words, it's about how things not working out actually worked out in the end, and how reaching for the dream is easily more interesting, expansive, sad and funny than the dream itself coming true. 'When I was six, I wrote my first short essay, about how when I grew up, I wanted to be a farmer's daughter.My dad worked in insurance. Now, though, I realise how apt that ambition was. It set up a template in my life of wanting something impossible to become true. How in trying to make something impossible happen, and failing repeatedly, other things happened. Things that became my life. A life I love, because it was made with so many holes that I enjoy filling in.'

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Book SynopsisPaperback edition of Amberley's bestselling title of 2012. Collects together unabridged, all the major substantial first-hand accounts of the sinking of the Titanic.

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Book SynopsisCan you imagine not being able to speak or communicate? The silence, the loneliness, the pain. But, inside you disappear to magical places, and even meet your best friend there. However, most of the time you remain imprisoned within the isolation. Waiting, longing, hoping. Until someone realises your potential and discovers your key, so your unlocking can begin. Now you are free, flying like a wild bird in the open sky. A voice for the voiceless.Jonathan Bryan has severe cerebral palsy, a condition that makes him incapable of voluntary movement or speech. He was locked inside his own mind, aware of the outside world but unable to fully communicate with it until he found a way by using his eyes to laboriously choose individual letters, and through this make his thoughts known.In Eye can Write, we read of his intense passion for life, his mischievous sense of fun, his hopes, his fears and what it's like to be him. This is a powerful book from an incredible young writer whose writing ability defies age or physical disability - a truly inspirational figure.Foreword by Sir Michael MorpurgoA portion of the proceeds from the sale of this book will be donated to Jonathan Bryan's charity, Teach Us Too.http://www.teachustoo.org.uk/Trade ReviewThe summer book you have to read * Hello Magazine *

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Book SynopsisAt the age of 23, Ash Dykes became the first person to walk, solo and unsupported, across Mongolia.His journey took 78 days and saw him trek over the Altai Mountains, the Gobi Desert and the Mongolian Steppe. It was an expedition filled with danger and extreme conditions. He almost didn't make it. Two years later he spent more than five months traversing the length of Madagascar, another world first. In Mission Possible, Ash reveals the spirit, planning, and sheer determination that went into these two record-breaking feats. Along the way we discover how a young man from Wales transformed himself into one of the globe's most acclaimed and exciting young adventurers.

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Book SynopsisNOW A MAJOR NETFLIX MOTION PICTURE starring Naomi Watts - the No.1 International Bestseller - a life-affirming true story of how a magpie chick helped one family overcome tragedy.They saved a little bird . . .And in return she saved them tooAfter a near-fatal fall left Sam Bloom paralysed, no one - not her husband Cameron, nor their three boys - could reach her in the darkest days of her struggle. But everything changed when a new member of the family unexpectedly landed in their lives: an injured magpie chick abandoned after she fell from her nest, whom they named Penguin Bloom. Powerful and tender, Penguin Bloom is a beautifully written account of how compassion, friendship and family can come from unexpected places.Trade ReviewSee how a feathered friend touched the lives of a whole family * * Daily Mail * *Glorious * * Telegraph * *Very special . . . A delight * * Daily Express * *Stunning . . . A gorgeous book * * Good Housekeeping * *A wonderful true tale of tragedy and hope and a rather miraculous little bird. It will warm any heart -- MATT HAIGA unique and remarkable insight into a family dealing with tragedy and finding their way through it with love, courage and hope -- NAOMI WATTSBeautifully captured . . . a treasure * * Sainsbury's Magazine * *Touching and inspiring * * Woman & Home * *

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Book SynopsisA larger-than-life, bad-boy dog teaches a young family about the meaning of love and the key to happiness. The true story and inspiration behind the 2009 film of the same name.Trade ReviewA book with intense appeal . . . tenderly follows its subject from sunrise to sunset, from the ball-of-fluff stage to the heartbreaking farewell. * New York Times *The reason Marley & Me has proved to be a bestseller is that it is not just a funny dog story . . . It's a universal story of family life and a publishing sensation * The Times *Made me laugh so much I pulled a muscle in my solar plexus * Daily Mail *This is a wonderful, moving book that even non-dog-lovers cannot fail to enjoy. * Mail on Sunday *

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Book SynopsisBlending memoir, polemic and feminist philosophy,Intervals is a deeply moving work that harnesses the political potential of grief to raise essential questions about choice, interdependence and end-of-life care.What makes a good death? A good daughter? In 2009, with her forties and a harsh wave of austerity on the horizon, Marianne Brooker?s mother was diagnosed with primary progressive multiple sclerosis. She made a workshop of herself and her surroundings, combining creativity and activism in inventive ways. But over time, her ability to work, to move and to live without pain diminished drastically. Determined to die in her own home, on her own terms, she stopped eating and drinking in 2019. In Intervals, Brooker reckons with heartbreak, weaving her first and final memories with a study of doulas, living wills and the precarious economics of social, hospice and funeral care. Blending memoir, polemic and feminist philosophy, Brooker joins writers such as Anne Boyer, Maggie Nelson, Donald Winnicott and Lola Olufemi to raise essential questions about choice and interdependence and, ultimately, to imagine care otherwise.

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Book SynopsisFROM THE INTERNATIONALLY BESTSELLING AUTHOR[A] mesmerizing portrait of a now vanished world.' NEW YORK TIMES''A dazzling evocation of a time and a place.'' TELEGRAPH''Aciman. . . recalls with a magical sensibility streaked with antic humoUr.'' PUBLISHERS WEEKLYAciman's story of Alexandria is the story of his own family, a Jewish family with Italian and Turkish roots that tied its future to Egypt and made its home there for three generations, only to find itself peremptorily expelled by the government in the early 1960s. It is the story of a fractious clan of dreamers and con men and the emotional price they would pay for exile, the story of a young boy''s coming of age and his memories of the city he loved in his youth.MY ROMAN YEAR - THE NEW MEMOIR FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR - IS AVAILABLE TO PRE-ORDER NOW

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Book SynopsisAre you ready to be a contender? Sly's action-oriented program for getting fit and eating right is a revealing portrait of one of Hollywood's biggest slaves Sly Movespart candid autobiography, part nuts-and-bolts training manual, part motivational handbook is a refreshingly sensible guide to getting immediate results that last a lifetime. It's also a provocative inside look at the trials of a body-conscious star rising in the most image-conscious industry in the world. The truth is, Sly's personal battle to stay in shape has been as tough as any fight he's waged on screen. The book begins with a very personal history of Sylvester Stallone's famous physique, as the Rocky star shares never-before-told stories about his being bullied as a child, finding comfort and strength in the gym, and then later, the wild ride of fad diets, crash-training regimens and workout disasters that fringed on obsession. Sly knows what works and what definitely doesn't, and these experiences formed Sly's unique fitness and nutrition plan. Part 2 consists of Sly's program for getting physically fit without sacrificing life's other pleasures. All he requires is three hours a weekthat's all Sly needsfor a total body workout, an engaging regimen involving all the major muscle groups and aerobic fitness. The step by step program includes four different levels of exercise: classic, advanced, women's, and for those who dare, The Sly Challenge, a hardcore session pushing it to the max. Sly has tried every diet imaginable and so in the Sly Moves nutrition plan he highlights a unique meal plan for a lifetime of good eating. He offers his unique perspective on what works and what doesn't and offers an alternative for health-conscious readers who want great-tasting satisfying food that can become a way of life. In the section Gonna Fly Now inspires and encourages readers to make Sly Moves part of a long-term picture of health, fitness and well-being. This motivational section includes separate chapters on everything from setting and keeping goals to relaxation techniques to lessons learned from his reality-based boxing show The Contender.

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Book SynopsisAgathe von Trapp, the oldest daughter in the Trapp Family Singers, offers readers the real story behind an American classic in her poignant and fascinating autobiography Memories Before and After The Sound of Music. The courageous family and events immortalized in the beloved Broadway musical and hit Hollywood film come vibrantly alive in these pages, and Agathe’s post-Sound of Music life is equally compelling.Trade Review"The eldest daughter in the Trapp Family Singers writes poignantly...In her telling, we learn the real details in this truly providential tale about a tight-knit, devoted, and wonderfully gifted family." -- Publishers Weekly "Agathe von Trapp's World War II story is the stuff of legend -- or, as she would have it, myth. In her memoir, Memories Before and After the Sound of Music, von Trapp, the eldest sister in the famed singing family, attempts to set the record straight...Charming." -- Washington Post "Many fans of 'The Sound of Music' are curious about how much of it is truth and how much is poetic license. This newly released paperback offers some first-person insight." -- Newsday

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Book SynopsisAS SEEN IN THE TIMESMaria Compton was born and raised in the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church.

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Book Synopsis''I was filled with apprehension about crossing the front line, but I would have risked my life to save just one child. Ivan was giving me a chance to save them all''This is the extraordinary work of Sally Becker, a humanitarian aid worker who for over three decades has risked it all in order to help the children of war.Where Angels Fear to Tread is a reminder that with determination, unrelenting passion and drive one person can change the lives of so many.In May 1993, Sally Becker went to Bosnia to help the innocent victims of war. She started by delivering humanitarian aid to the region, and was soon hailed as the ''Angel of Mostar'' for rescuing wounded children and their families from the besieged city. Sally continued her work throughout the conflict and is credited with saving many lives.When President Milosevic ordered his troops into Kosovo, her missions continued, this time on foot across the mountains. While attempting to bring sick and wounded children and their families to safety, she was captured by Serb paramilitaries, but neither this nor being shot by masked gunmen in Northern Albania could make her abandon her task.Bosnia was Sally''s first mission and the beginning of her lifelong commitment to help rescue children caught up in some of the most horrific wars around the world, including missions to help children in Iraq, Ukraine and most recently Gaza.Her account provides a rare and invaluable insight into the complexities of international aid work, the shocking reality of life on the front lines and the desperate race to save innocent children trapped in war zones.This is her extraordinary story.

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Book SynopsisA collection of immediate relevance and timeless value, ranging from lyrical autobiography to criticism of literature and culture, from humour to political analysis, from delicate evocations of Pamuk's friendship with his daughter Ruya to provocative discussions of Eastern and Western art.

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Book SynopsisSeason two of the hit TV adaptation of All Creatures Great and Small is now showing on Channel 5, featuring Sam West as Siegfried Farnon.'James Herriot's books have had a lasting and profound effect on my life' Amanda OwenThis beautiful Macmillan Collector's Library edition of the second volume in James Herriot's memoirs, It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet, features an afterword by actress Carol Drinkwater, who starred as Helen Herriot in the BBC's All Creatures Great and Small.It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet sees recently qualified vet James Herriot firmly ensconced in the sleepy Yorkshire village of Darrowby, and acclimatized to life with his unpredictable colleagues, brothers Siegfried and Tristan Farnon. But veterinary practice in the 1930s was never going to be easy, and there are challenges on the horizon, from persuading his clients to let him use his 'modern' equipment, to becoming an uncle to a pig called Nugent. Throw in his first encounters with Helen, the beautiful daughter of a local farmer, and this year looks to be as eventful as the last . . .This beautiful Macmillan Collector's Library edition of the second volume in James Herriot's memoirs, It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet, features an afterword by actress Carol Drinkwater, who starred as Helen Herriot in the BBC's All Creatures Great and Small.Designed to appeal to the booklover, the Macmillan Collector's Library is a series of beautiful gift editions of much loved classic titles. Macmillan Collector's Library are books to love and treasure.

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Book SynopsisHim & Me is a hugely entertaining and irreverent account of a unique relationship between a father and son. Written in two distinctive styles, it reflects the larger-than-life personalities of its authors, Jack and Michael Whitehall. ''This book is a portrait of the pretty odd relationship I have with my elderly father. It''s given me an opportunity to share memories of him losing his temper with foreigners on holidays, being rude to my mother''s family at Christmas and failing epically during the fathers'' race at my prep school. He''s also written some stories about me, but can I just say, before you read anything, that I recall being a calm, well-behaved and learned child, not the intellectually subnormal, mal-coordinated dipshit that he paints me as. Nor am I, as he suggests inside, a sex addict, a flasher or a Scientologist.'' Jack ''How dare Jack refer to me as elderly! People always tell me how young I look for my age. In this book, I have atTrade ReviewDisgracefully funny and rather touching * R4 Midweek *The rapport between them is palpable and priceless . . . crackles with their back-and-forth dynamic . . . an embarrassment of biographical riches * Daily Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisGeorge Orwell set out ‘to make political writing into an art’, and to a wide extent this aim shaped the future of English literature – his descriptions of authoritarian regimes helped to form a new vocabulary that is fundamental to understanding totalitarianism. While 1984 and Animal Farm are amongst the most popular classic novels in the English language, this new series of Orwell’s essays seeks to bring a wider selection of his writing on politics and literature to a new readership. On Reading, the seventh in the Orwell’s Essays series, collects together Orwell’s short essays on books – ‘Bookshop Memories’, ‘Good Bad Books’, ‘Nonsense Poetry’, ‘Books vs. Cigarettes’ and ‘Confessions of a Book Reviewer’ – giving a rounded view of the great writer’s opinions on the literature of his day, and the vessels in which it was sold.Table of Contents‘Bookshop Memories’, ‘Good Bad Books’, ‘Nonsense Poetry’, ‘Books vs. Cigarettes’, ‘Confessions of a Book Reviewer’, Note on the Text, Notes

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Book SynopsisAn international bestseller, this is the extraordinary memoir of a German-Nigerian woman who learns that her grandfather was the brutal Nazi commandant depicted in Schindler's List.Trade ReviewA stunning memoir of cultural trauma and personal identity. * Booklist *Fascinating reading...a thought-provoking book. * The Quarterly Review *A powerful account of Teege's struggle for resolution and redemption. * Independent *Jennifer Teege's new memoir traces the pain of discovering her grandfather was the real-life 'Nazi butcher' from Schindler's List. * People magazine *Unforgettable. . . . Teege's quest to discover her personal history is empowering. * Publisher's Weekly *Refreshing...Teege's heartfelt commentary and Sellmair's objective narrative produce a layer of balanced interpretation and insight. * New York Journal of Books *Courageous. . . . The memoir invites rereading to fully absorb Teege's painful search for answers, for a sense of identity and belonging and for inner peace. * The Seattle Times *Jennifer Teege's haunting and unflinching memoir shatters the kind of silence that has plagued some German families for three generations and offers a healing alternative. * Washington Post *

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Book SynopsisJames Rhodes' passion for music has been his absolute lifeline. It has been the thread that has held him together through a life that has encompassed pain, conflict and turmoil. Listening to Rachmaninov on a loop as a traumatised teenager or discovering an Adagio by Bach while in a hospital ward - such exquisite miracles of musical genius have helped him survive his demons, and, along with a chance encounter with a stranger, inspired him to become the renowned concert pianist he is today.This is a memoir like no other: unapologetically candid, boldly outspoken and surprisingly funny - James' prose is shot through with an unexpectedly mordant wit, even at the darkest of moments. An impassioned tribute to the therapeutic powers of music, Instrumental also weaves in fascinating facts about how classical music actually works and about the extraordinary lives of some of the great composers. It explains why and how music has the potential to transform all of our lives.Trade ReviewThe Supreme Court overthrew an injunction unanimously in May 2015, saying: 'A person who has suffered in the way that [James Rhodes] has suffered, and has struggled to cope with the consequences of his suffering in the way that he has struggled, has the right to tell the world about it. And there is a corresponding public interest in others being able to listen to his life story in all its searing detail -- THE SUPREME COURTThrilling and harrowing . . . Unsurpassed and unsurpassable * * SUNDAY TIMES * *The publishing sensation of the year * * MAIL ON SUNDAY * *You might expect James Rhodes to have been crushed by his experiences. On the contrary I don't think I've ever read an autobiography which is this exuberant, this full of life, this addictively readable -- MARK HADDONA poet once said great books help you to live your life. They also help you survive your ruin, and James Rhodes's Instrumental is a masterpiece of creative endurance. His passion is his programme, his heart is his true instrument, and you might not read a more moral or more loving book this decade -- ANDREW O'HAGANA searingly honest, moving and compelling account of a life damaged by abuse but saved by music. James Rhodes is a rare and gifted spirit with something vital to tell us all. This is a tough but beautiful book -- VICTORIA HISLOPA mesmeric combination of vivid, keen, obsessive precision and raw, urgent energy -- ZOE WILLIAMS * * GUARDIAN * *There is an insight, often startling but always valuable, on almost every page . . . a tough, riveting read * * THE TIMES * *Instrumental is no 'misery memoir' . . . I have rarely read so cogent account of the nature of victimhood . . . Visceral and palpable . . . Among the most powerful pages I've read all year * * SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY * *Bravo to a survivor who refused to be silenced . . . What really marks this book out is his confrontation with the unsaid (or rarely said) aspects of child sexual abuse and mental illness . . . Some of these thoughts verge on the taboo and it takes clarity, courage and intelligence to say them as plainly and honestly as Rhodes does * * INDEPENDENT * *We're locked inside his head for long periods and it's a manic place to be. But he is brilliant . . . and insightful . . . James Rhodes writes at full volume -- BLAKE MORRISON * * GUARDIAN * *An important memoir . . . enlightening * * Psychologist * *An all-access pass to the sublime * * Los Angeles Review of Books * *Rhodes proves that art and beauty do help; that life can be conquered day by day * * El Pais * *A hand-grenade of a book * * Stern Magazine * *

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Book SynopsisForeword by Irvine Welsh 'My life sentence had actually started the day I left my mother's womb...'Jimmy Boyle grew up in Glasgow’s Gorbals. All around him the world was drinking, fighting and thieving. To survive, he too had to fight and steal… Kids’ gangs led to trouble with the police. Approved schools led to Borstal, and Jimmy was on his way to a career in crime. By his twenties he was a hardened villain, sleeping with prostitutes, running shebeens and money-lending rackets. Then they nailed him for murder. The sentence was life – the brutal, degrading eternity of a broken spirit in the prisons of Peterhead and Inverness. Thankfully, Jimmy was able to turn his life around inside the prison walls and eventually released on parole. A Sense of Freedom is a searing indictment of a society that uses prison bars and brutality to destroy a man's humanity and at the same time an outstanding testament to one man's ability to survive, to find a new life, a new creativity, and a new alternative.Trade ReviewThere have been many fictional versions of gangland Glasgow, but this is the real thing. Boyle's description of how he took the first steps to becoming the hard man of the streets is riveting and disturbing… Sadly, the public, the media and too many politicians still have not got the message that prison generally does not work. They should read this book. * The List *This book changed my life * Shane Meadows *Prepare to be blown away * Irvine Welsh *

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Book SynopsisAs the boxing world starts to recede, the characters he has lived with, and for, rear sharply into focus one last time: the astonishing Jack Kid Berg, and Kid Chocolate the Havana Dandy, and 'Sweet C' McMillan.

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Hermione, Countess of Ranfurly, kept a diary all her life. To War with Whitaker is an account of the most adventurous, most defiant and most valiant of those years. Hermione and Dan Ranfurly married only months before the Second World War erupted. So when Dan was posted to the Middle East, taking their faithful butler Whitaker with him, Hermione resolved to join them there. This memoir offers astounding displays of commitment and independence. After vowing not to go home without her husband, Hermione travelled alone from Cape Town to Cairo, and remained in the Middle East and North Africa for the two and a half years he was imprisoned by the Germans – meeting many notable characters along the way.With wit and exuberance, Hermione’s diary entries take us To War with Whitaker and back again, providing sharp insight into the strong and outspoken woman she was. This Pan Heritage Classics edition features the original black and white plate sections.

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Book Synopsis_______________''A brutal, moving memoir Anyone who emerges from America's black working-class youth with words as fine as Ward's deserves a hearing'' - Guardian''Raw, beautiful and dangerous'' - New York Times Book Review''Lavishly endowed with literary craft and hard-earned wisdom'' - Time_______________The beautiful, haunting memoir from Jesmyn Ward, the first woman to win the National Book Award twice''And then we heard the rain falling and that was the blood falling; and when we came to get in the crops, it was dead men that we reaped'' - Harriet TubmanJesmyn Ward's acclaimed memoir shines a light on the community she comes from in the small town of DeLisle, Mississippi, a place of quiet beauty and fierce attachment. Here, in the space of four years, she lost five young black men dear to her, including her beloved brother to accidents, murder and suicide. Their deaths were seemingly unconnected, yet their liveTrade ReviewA brutal, moving memoir … Anyone who emerges from America’s black working-class youth with words as fine as Ward’s deserves a hearing * Guardian *When I first read her memoir, Men We Reaped – about five young black men, all of whom died within a span of four years of four years in her life – I understood the weight of grief as one struggles to live ... She is a modern-day William Faulkner, painting tapestries of an America that has not been heard -- Lee Daniels, Oscar-nominated director and producerRaw, beautiful and dangerous ... Ward's singular voice and her full embrace of her anger and sorrow set this work apart from those that have trodden similar ground * New York Times Book Review *Acute and often beautiful * Financial Times *Haunting -- Laurie Penny * New Statesman Books of the Year *Elegiac, rage-filled, and uncommonly brave * Vogue *A brilliant book about beauty and death ... Ward is one of those rare writers who’s traveled across America’s deepening class rift with her sense of truth intact * Los Angeles Times *An important, and perhaps even essential, book * San Francisco Chronicle *Lavishly endowed with literary craft and hard-earned wisdom * Time *A memoir about loss in rural Mississippi that burns with brilliance * Harper's Bazaar *A lovely book about stuff so painful that Ward must have written it in a kind of fever ... The final chapters are so moving that you have to avert your eyes, both for the trauma and the tenderness * Entertainment Weekly *A memoir that, in plainsong prose punctuated with sudden poetic flashes, schools us in the unforgiving experiences from which [Ward] has drawn her triumphal fiction . . . Unvarnished and penetrating * Elle *

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Book SynopsisSHORTLISTED FOR THE COSTA BIOGRAPHY PRIZETHE SUNDAY TIMES NO.2 BESTSELLERWINNER OF THE BMA PRESIDENT'S AWARD 2017An incredible memoir from one of the world's most eminent heart surgeons, recalling some of the most remarkable and poignant cases he's worked on.Grim Reaper sits on the heart surgeon's shoulder. A slip of the hand and life ebbs away.The balance between life and death is so delicate, and the heart surgeon walks that rope between the two. In the operating room there is no time for doubt. It is flesh, blood, rib-retractors and pumping the vital organ with your bare hand to squeeze the life back into it. An off-day can have dire consequences this job has a steep learning curve, and the cost is measured in human life. Cardiac surgery is not for the faint of heart.Professor Stephen Westaby took chances and pushed the boundaries of heart surgery. He saved hundreds of lives over the course of a thirty-five year career and now, in his astounding memoir, Westaby details some of his Trade Review‘Raw and moving… the writing is thrilling. Fragile Lives is a frank and absorbing memoir by a man who has done about as much good to his fellow human beings as it is possible to do in one lifetime.’ – The Times, Book of the Week ‘With his battle cry of “bugger protocol” and his renaming of medical directors as “the Stasi”, Westaby comes across as the bloke you’d want on your side in the fight to stay alive.’ Guardian Books of the Year ‘The stakes could not be higher in this bloody, muscular and adrenaline-charged memoir from a pioneering heart surgeon… at points it made my own heart race dangerously. ‘Surgeons are meant to be objective,’ Westaby tells himself, ‘not human’. What makes this book so fascinating, and so moving, is the terrible tension between these necessary qualities.’ – Sunday Times ‘A full-frontal and thrilling portrayal. Each story in this fascinating book brings a new nail-biting surgical adventure… A gifted surgeon, Westaby is also a natural writer… Fragile Lives succeeds on many levels: political battle cry, chronicle of bloody feats, history of modern cardiology, tribute to patients and paean to surgery.’ – Daily Telegraph ‘Westaby is everything you would hope from a maverick surgical genius: authoritative, engaged, passionate and opinionated. His book, annoyingly well written for someone who has penned only medical papers and handbooks, reads like a thriller, except with rather more corpses. You race to each chapter’s end to see if his certain-to-die patient survives.’ – The Times ‘The book is a cracking example of a thriving sub-genre of autobiography, the medical memoir. Anyone who enjoyed the 2014 bestseller Do No Harm by the brain surgeon Henry Marsh, a friend of Westaby’s, will relish Fragile Lives, too. Each story is gripping, written in a vivid, almost brutal way that matches the blood and gore of cardiac surgery.’ – Financial Times

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Book SynopsisMeet Tim.For nearly a decade Tim kept his depression secret. It made him feel so weak and shameful he thought it would destroy his whole life if anyone found out. But an unexpected discovery by a loved one forced him to confront his illness and realise there was strength to be found in sharing his story with others. When he finally opened up to the world about what he was going through he discovered he was not alone. Boys Don''t Cry is a book that speaks against the stigma that makes men feel like they are less-than for struggling, making sense of depression and anxiety for people who might not recognise those feelings in themselves or others. It is a brutally honest, sometimes heart-breaking (and sometimes funny) tale about what it really takes to be a ''real man'', written by one who decided that he wanted to change the status quo by no longer being silent. This is Tim''s story, but it could be yours too.Trade ReviewThis is a book that needs to be read by all, especially males of any age. It is honest depictions such as these by Tim Grayburn, that can save a person's life. -- Anthony Lee * Anthony Lee Writes *

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