Memoirs Books

Book SynopsisTHE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERImpossible to read with dry eyes or an unaltered mindset' Sunday TimesIlluminating and beautiful' Cathy RentzenbrinkWhat if everything you thought you knew about death was wrong?How should we prepare for the facts of dying and saying our goodbyes?And what if understanding death improved your life?By turns touching and tragic, funny and wise, With the End in Mind brings together Kathryn Mannix ' s lifetime of medical experience to tell powerful stories of life and death.Trade Review‘It is incredibly moving, of course, but what it isn’t is miserable. Yes this is a book about death, but it is also a book about joy. There aren’t all that many books that change the way you see the world. This book really might. It will make you want to do a better job of loving and living. It will make you want to be kinder. And it will make you want to cherish every precious moment of your precious life.’Sunday Times ‘Extraordinary and profoundly moving. … Any reader will come away with the wish that they will be cared for at the end by someone with Mannix’s imaginative sympathy and matter-of-fact generosity of perception’Rowan Williams, New Statesman ‘Illuminating and beautiful … I shed a few tears but it’s not gut wrenching and Mannix weaves the light and dark strands of her experience with finesse. It’s essential reading for anyone who will encounter death, and that means all of us.’Cathy Rentzenbrink, The Times ‘I got to the end of Kathryn Mannix’s book with just one thought – I wish I’d been a palliative consultant … A reminder that talking about death is an Act of Love’Greg Wise ‘In the last few years, there has been a crowd of books by doctors, scientists and writers that have sought to show us different, kinder ways of ending: Atul Gawande, Oliver Sacks, Henry Marsh… the list is long. Now Kathryn Mannix joins this distinguished group. Mannix’s aim is to shed a soft, clear light on a subject too often avoided. Mild, tender and conciliatory, I would like her to be my compassionate, wise doctor when I lie dying.’Observer

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Book SynopsisEvery Thursday morning in a living room in Iran, over tea and pastries, eight women meet in secret to discuss forbidden works of Western literature. As they lose themselves in the worlds of Lolita, The Great Gatsby and Pride and Prejudice, gradually they come to share their own stories, dreams and hopes with each other, and, for a few hours, taste freedom. Azar Nafisi''s bestselling memoir is a moving, passionate testament to the transformative power of books, the magic of words and the search for beauty in life''s darkest moments.Trade ReviewEngrossing, fascinating, stunning -- Margaret AtwoodI was enthralled and moved -- Susan SontagAnyone who has ever belonged to a book group must read this book -- Geraldine BrooksVivid, often heroic and sometimes funny ... Nafisi's rather wonderful book touches a beauty of its own -- Paul Allen * Guardian *Remarkable ... an eloquent brief on the transformative power of fiction * The New York Times *

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Book Synopsis''Broken Blue Line is a rollercoaster of a ride depicting the realities of twenty-first-century policing on the front-line. Its well written, honest and informative. Alistair Livingstone put his life on the line, and now he''s put his heart on the line. Courageous and human. Highly recommended.''Mike Pannett, author of Now Then Lad . . . and Crime SquadAs a police officer, Alistair Livingstone was dubbed Supercop by the media for making more arrests than any other officer in the UK. But then Ali broke down. Broken Blue Line is the vividly told story of what brought him to that point, and the beginning of his slow, painful recovery.Ali was dubbed Supercop for making more than 1,000 arrests over one eighteen-month period, when the average arrest rate for officers in England and Wales is just nine a year. In his work as a police officer, he dealt with life-and-death situations on an almost daily basis: saving lTrade ReviewBroken Blue Line is a rollercoaster of a ride depicting the realities of twenty-first-century policing on the front-line. Its well written, honest and informative. Alistair Livingstone put his life on the line, and now he's put his heart on the line. Courageous and human. Highly recommended. -- Mike Pannett, author of Now Then Lad . . . and Crime Squad

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Book SynopsisFrom the pages of Vanity Fair to the red carpets of Hollywood to the courtrooms of Fleet Street, editor Graydon Carter's memoir revives the glamorous heyday of magazines when they were the vanguard of culture.

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Book SynopsisJeremy Wade has caught an unparalleled array of outsize and outlandish fish from challenging locations all over the world - goliath tigerfish from the Congo, arapaima from the Amazon, ''giant devil catfish'' from the Himalayan foothills . . .As his catches attract increasing public attention, many people ask him how they can improve their own fishing results. This book is his reply. Sparse on the details of technique, it''s about the simple, fundamental principles - a mindset for success. Part science, part art, and part elusive something else, this, he says, is within every angler''s ability to develop.How to Think Like a Fish is the distillation of a life spent fishing. Along the way readers will learn when to let instinct override logic. Why less time can bring better results than more. Which details are vital and which may be irrelevant. And how a ''non-result'' can be a result. Thoughtful and funny, brimming with wisdom and adventure, here is the boo

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Book SynopsisThis is a memoir as wry, funny, moving and vivid as its inimitable subject himself. A joy for both lifelong fans and for a whole new generation.'One of Britain's outstanding poets' – Sir Paul McCartney'Riveting' – Observer'An exuberant account of a remarkable life' – New StatesmanJohn Cooper Clarke is a phenomenon: Poet Laureate of Punk, rock star, fashion icon, TV and radio presenter, social and cultural commentator. At 5 feet 11 inches (32in chest, 27in waist), in trademark dark suit, dark glasses, with dark messed-up hair and a mouth full of gold teeth, he is instantly recognizable. As a writer his voice is equally unmistakable and his own brand of slightly sick humour is never far from the surface.I Wanna Be Yours covers an extraordinary life, filled with remarkable personalities: from Nico to Chuck Berry, from Bernard Manning to Linton Kwesi Johnson, Elvis Costello to Gregory Corso, Gil Scott Heron, Mark E. Smith and Joe Strummer, and on to more recent fans and collaborators Alex Turner, Plan B and Guy Garvey.Interspersed with stories of his rock and roll and performing career, John also reveals his boggling encyclopaedic take on popular culture over the centuries: from Baudelaire and Edgar Allan Poe to Pop Art, pop music, the movies, fashion, football and showbusiness – and much, much more, plus a few laughs along the way.'Nothing short of dazzling' – Alex TurnerTrade ReviewThis is not a ‘ponderous trudge through the turgid facts of an ill-remembered life’ but the kind of autobiography Rimbaud might have written if he had been a Mancunian stand-up comedian. -- Graham Robb * Spectator Best Books of the Year *The bookshop shelves have been clogged up for years by musicians and artists who made their debuts in the sulphurous days of 1976-7, but I Wanna Be Yours, the autobiography of the "punk poet" John Cooper Clarke, aka "the Bard of Salford", knocked most of the competition into a cocked hat. -- Books of the Year * TLS *Any autobiography that features both Bernard Manning and Nico is unlikely to disappoint; even less so when it’s written with such brilliantly Dickensian vigour by the Bard of Salford, John Cooper Clarke . . .this fast, funny book catches his life in its lines -- Music Books of the Year * Sunday Times *Manchester punk poet John Cooper Clarke takes a rather different approach to heroin addiction, treating it as a source of humour in his sharply observed, entertaining memoir . . . “Relentless tragedy is always hilarious,” he notes of his eventual recovery. “At some point the laughter has to stop.” -- Best Music Books of 2020 * Daily Telegraph *[I Wanna Be Yours] might be the funniest book published this year. Few memoirists have had better material to work with: heroin addiction, years living in a squat with Nico, endless love affairs and a TV appearance with the Honey Monster. Talk about getting the most out of life. -- Best Music Books of the Year 2020 * The Times *John Cooper Clarke is one of Britain’s outstanding poets. His anarchic punk poetry has thrilled people for decades and his no nonsense approach to his work and life in general has appealed to many people including myself for many years. Long may his slender frame and spiky top produce words and deeds that keep us on our toes and alive to the wonders of the world. -- Sir Paul McCartneyI say to people, have you heard of John Cooper Clarke and if they say, yes, yeah he's an absolute genius and you just go, 'oh - ok, you've saved me a lot of time' -- Steve Coogan, comedian and actor (I'm Alan Partridge)John Cooper Clarke uses words like Chuck Berry uses guitar riffs melody and anger, humour and disdain in equal measure. He's the real deal, really funny and really caustic, the velvet voice of discontent. -- Kate Moss. . . nothing short of dazzling -- Alex Turner, musician (Arctic Monkeys)There are a legion of new young poets who rightly pay homage to Cooper Clarke -- Julian Hall * Independent *It’s impossible not to hear Clarke’s voice, rhythmic & deadpan, while reading his memoir. Like his poetry,his prose style is wry and dry . . . Mad anecdotes & whimsical gags abound, but wisdom often lurks beneath the wordplay. * Guardian *Riveting * The Observer 'Book of the Week' *An immensely engaging memoir that fizzes with wit . . . Though he needs no such affirmation, it cements Clarke’s status as one of the most distinctive voices in pop cultural history – it’s impossible not to hear him read every word aloud in your head with that unforgettable Manc drawl – and reveals much about a remarkable life and career * NME *An exuberant account of a remarkable life * New Statesman *A naturally splendid tell-all * I newspaper *The most entertaining and certainly the most culturally revealing book I have read this year -- D. J. Taylor * Literary Review *Clarke’s primordial gift for language is everywhere in this book. It is almost impossible not to read passages out loud — a meta reminder of his contribution to the joy of spoken-word performance. As Clarke puts it: 'Wherever people gather for amusement, that’s where I’ll be.' * Financial Times *He became the first big-time performance punk poet – a warm-up act for the Sex Pistols, with famous fans ranging from Sir Paul McCartney to Kate Moss. And his life has been as chaotically unpredictable as his next line . . . Now clean and, to his own surprise, a happily married family man at 71, the bard of Salford has written his memoirs. * Sunday Mirror *One of the most magnificent and hysterically funny memoirs of modern times * Irish Times *Crafted, entertaining and educative * Mojo Magazine *Elegantly sardonic . . . His writing remains spry and sparkly, sweary but sweet, with this book testament to how 'a half-arsed grafter with a rich vocabulary' became a kind of British institution * Uncut Magazine *A poet who writes about darkness and decay but makes people laugh, a human cartoon, a gentleman punk, a man who has stayed exactly the same for thirty years but never grown stale. John Cooper Clarke is an original -- Claire Smith * Scotsman *One of the most entertaining autobiographies of the year. Hilarious and inspirational in equal measure, it’s the perfect panacea to the misery of 2020 * The Quietus *I Wanna Be Yours could not be more entertaining, charming and optimistic . . . Its immense spirit-lifting qualities will do the despairing – and everyone else – the world of good * Strong Words Magazine *I telephoned hardworking entertainer and poet Dr. John Cooper Clarke to tell him how much I’m enjoying his memoir, I Wanna Be Yours . . . a buxom read and a highly entertaining one. -- Martin Newell * East Anglian Times *

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewAs an explorer Erling Kagge is world class; as a writer he is equally gifted. This breathtaking, inspiring little book teaches us how to find precious moments of silence - whether we are crossing the Antarctic, climbing Everest, or on the train at rush hour -- Sir Ranulph FiennesSilence braces a space within which we can hear ourselves think. Quietly, wisely, it makes a case for dumbing the din of modern life, and learning to listen again. Drawing on the experiences of Kagge's extraordinary life in wild places, this is a book of great concentration -- Robert MacfarlaneErling Kagge is a philosophical adventurer - or perhaps an adventurous philosopher * New York Times *A breathtakingly beautiful, quietly life-changing book by the Norwegian explorer Erling Kagge, that shows us how to find perfect silence in our daily lives - however busy we are * Publisher's description *Silence braces a space within which we can hear ourselves think. Quietly, wisely, it makes a case for dumbing the din of modern life, and learning to listen again. Drawing on the experiences of Kagge's extraordinary life in wild places, this is a book of great concentration -- Robert Macfarlane

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Book SynopsisThis fascinating autobiography of the country music legend recounts the highs and lows, the struggles and hard-won triumphs of his remarkable life.The story takes us from Johnny Cash's childhood on an Arkansas cotton farm to his early years at Sun Records. We read of his life on the road and meetings with, and performances for, world leaders. There is also the darker side of his life: the years of addiction to amphetamines and pain killers, a suicide attempt and the spiritual awakening that pulled him through.He looks unsparingly at his turbulent past, but remains a man of honesty, humility and humour. His memoir reveals his friendships with Roy Orbison, Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan and Billy Graham.Trade Review‘I’ve never met a man who combined spiritual depth, musical ability and international fame with such grace, charm and humility as Johnny.’Dr Billy Graham

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Book Synopsis'Deepa is the epitome of a woman living in her power. Ask Me How It Works provides a stunningly vulnerable and poetic glimpse into her most intimate spaces and through her journey to sexual liberation. If this book doesn't change your perspective on relationships, nothing will' GILLIAN ANDERSON'A memoir that offers a candid and insightful perspective on love in all its forms' STYLIST'Raw, vulnerable, and unexpectedly relatable' EASTERN EYE----Here is my husband. Here is my boyfriend. Here I am. In the early hours of dawn in Amsterdam, Deepa Paul rises from her boyfriend's bed. She gets dressed, slips away with a kiss and cycles home, where she is welcomed into the arms of her husband, whose contentment is mellow alongside her own. There isn't a glimmer of shame, deception or guilt, only the honesty and compassion needed to make this kind of life possible even if it wasn't always this easy. You might have questions. Whose idea was it? What are the rules? Are you ever jealous? In this memoir, Deepa offers her answers openly and tenderly, as she explores the truth to questions of her own. Can I ask for what I want, and still honour the life I have chosen? Do I deserve it? Is it worth it?Unexpectedly relatable and joyfully vibrant, this is one woman's story of discovering her own desires and how to liberate them, of shifting identities from mother to lover and back again, and of finding the courage to ask for the marriage she wanted, beyond the marriage she had. One question at a time. --'A spectacular memoir written with verve and style' NANA DARKOA SEKYIAMAH'An honest look at how to navigate multiple partners and motherhood. Expect to have your preconceptions rattled' STYLE'A fascinating and big-hearted portrait of sex, intimacy and non-monogamy' CLOVER STROUD'Reads like a long-overdue conversation with an old friend, will leave you thrilled and humming with possibility' YAEL VAN DER WOUDEN'A brave and elegantly executed memoir about the power of writing your own rules, shaking off shame and fighting for a marriage to work' THE SUNDAY TIMES IRELAND'A generous-spirited, imaginative exploration of how to live life differently' REBECCA WAIT

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Book SynopsisThe real story that inspired the BBC drama, The GoldOn Saturday, 26 November 1983, an armed gang stole gold bullion worth almost 26 million from the Brink''s-Mat security depot near London''s Heathrow Airport. It was the largest robbery in world history, and only the start of an extraordinary story. For forty years, myths and legends have grown around the Brink''s-Mat heist and the events that followed.The heist led to a wave of international money laundering, provided dirty money that helped fuel the London Docklands property boom, caused seismic changes in both British crime and policing, and has been linked to a series of deaths that continued until 2015.The Gold is the conclusion of extensive research and includes exclusive testimony from one of the original robbers who gives his version of events for the first time. The result is the astonishing true story of the robbery of the century.

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Book Synopsis** PRE-ORDER THE SEQUEL I WANT TO DIE BUT I STILL WANT TO EAT TTEOKBOKKI NOW **THE PHENOMENAL INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER TRANSLATED BY INTERNATIONAL BOOKER SHORTLISTEE ANTON HUR''Will strike a chord with anyone who feels that their public life is at odds with how they really feel inside.'' RedPSYCHIATRIST: So how can I help you? ME: I don't know, I'm what's the word depressed? Do I have to go into detail? Baek Sehee is a successful young social media director at a publishing house when she begins seeing a psychiatrist about her what to call it? depression? She feels persistently low, anxious, endlessly self-doubting, but also highly judgemental of others. She hides her feelings well at work and with friends; adept at performing the calmness, even ease, her lifestyle demands. The effort is exhausting, overwhelming, and keeps her from forming deep relationships. This can''t be normal. But if she''s so hopeless, why can she always summon a desire for her favourite street food, the hot, spicy rice cake, tteokbokki? Is this just what life is like? Recording her conversations with her psychiatrist over 12 weeks, Baek begins to disentangle the feedback loops, knee-jerk reactions and harmful behaviours that keep her locked in a cycle of self-abuse. Part memoir, part self-help book, I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki is a book to keep close and to reach for in times of darkness.I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki comes in three different colours; the colour you receive will be chosen at random

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Book SynopsisTHE NO. 1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERHead back down to Clarkson Farm with the bestseller from our favourite welly-wearing wannabe farmer, Jeremy Clarkson___________Enthusiastic trainee farmer Jeremy Clarkson made just 144 in his first year at Diddly Squat Farm. This year he''s determined to do better. Not because he now knows what he''s doing. But because he''s fed up of getting stick from Kaleb.Yet farming continues to be a challenge.For instance . . . Loading a grain trailer was more demanding than flying an Apache gunship? Cows were more dangerous than motor-racing? It''s easier to get planning permission to build a nuclear plant than to turn a barn into a restaurant?Jeremy''s always got a plan. Loads of them. Often cunning.Not always greeted with wild enthusiasm by Kaleb and Cheerful Charlie, however . . .___________PRAISE FOR DIDDLY SQUAT<Trade ReviewIf you want a laugh, it's Jeremy Clarkson's Diddly Squat: 'Til the Cows Come Home . . . The book will keep us going until the next TV series appears. * Spectator *

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Book SynopsisOliver Sacks died in August 2015 at his home in Greenwich Village, surrounded by his close friends and family. He was 82. He spent his final days doing what he loved: playing the piano, swimming, enjoying smoked salmon – and writing . . . As Dr Sacks looked back over his long, adventurous life his final thoughts were of gratitude. In a series of remarkable, beautifully written and uplifting meditations, in Gratitude Dr Sacks reflects on and gives thanks for a life well lived, and expresses his thoughts on growing old, facing terminal cancer and reaching the end. I cannot pretend I am without fear. But my predominant feeling is one of gratitude. I have loved and been loved; I have been given much and I have given something in return; I have read and travelled and thought and written. I have had an intercourse with the world, the special intercourse of writers and readers. Above all, I have been a sentient being, a thinking animal, on this beautiful planet, and that in itself has been an enormous privilege and adventure.Trade ReviewEssays that capture the essence of what it means to have lived and to face death well -- Katie LawFour short beautiful essays by the celebrated late neurologist on his feelings as he came toward the end of his life – a slight but poignant read -- Sally Magnusson * Herald *

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Book SynopsisThe Sunday Times bestseller and Waterstones Book of the Year, now in paperback‘Paul McCartney says this is as close as he will get to an autobiography and no wonder – his life is in every line of these songs ... pure joy’ Sunday Times, Book of the Year With seven songs added for this edition: ‘Bluebird,’ ‘Day Tripper,’ ‘English Tea,’ ‘Every Night,’ ‘Hello, Goodbye,’ ‘Magical Mystery Tour’ and ‘Step Inside Love’Spanning seven decades – from his early Liverpool days, through the historic decade of The Beatles, to Wings and his long solo career – Paul McCartney’s The Lyrics has transformed the way artists write about music, pairing the definitive texts of 161 songs with intimate, autobiographical commentaries on McCartney’s life and music.Arranged alphabetically, these commentaries reveal the diverse circumstances in which the songs were written, how they ultimately came to be, and the remarkable – often ordinary – people and places that inspired them. Dozens of vignettes re-create the working-class Liverpool of McCartney’s youth, where delivery boys ran parcels on docks, as in ‘On My Way to Work,’ and elderly ladies in the neighbourhood inspired ‘Eleanor Rigby.’ McCartney also introduces us to his early literary influences, among them Shakespeare, Lewis Carroll and Allen Ginsberg, as well as Alan Durband, his beloved English teacher, and his mother, Mary, who passed away when he was just fourteen – and whose memory has infused his work ever since.Yet the two most powerful presences in The Lyrics after the author himself are his songwriting partner, John Lennon, and his ‘Golden Earth Girl,’ Linda Eastman McCartney. Here McCartney describes how he met John at a church fête in 1957; their adventures with George Harrison and Ringo Starr in the early 1960s; and how, at the end of the decade, they, and The Beatles, broke up. Thus began a second act of now more than fifty years, with Linda and family life as driving forces – inspiring songs from ‘Maybe I’m Amazed,’ written just after the breakup of The Beatles, to the 2012 ballad ‘My Valentine,’ addressed to McCartney’s wife and partner, Nancy Shevell McCartney.Edited and introduced by Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Paul Muldoon, and enhanced by more than a hundred images from McCartney’s personal archives – including handwritten texts, mementos, and photographs – and seven new song commentaries, The Lyrics is a book for the ages, and the definitive literary and visual record of one of the greatest songwriters of all time.Trade ReviewThe Lyrics is a triumph. It is hugely readable, devoid of rock cliché, and full of fresh stories and opinions that even devoted fans won't have encountered before. The pictures of McCartney and of handwritten lyrics, many of them never previously published, are worth the entry ticket on their own and the quality of the boxed product makes it a tactile pleasure and fun to possess. All that, and its highly original organisation, means you never get bogged down in a period of his life you don't find interesting ... The Lyrics is McCartney at his best. * The Times *I know it all... or so I thought until I read Paul McCartney's magical treasure trove of a book ... Touching... bountiful * Mail on Sunday *His composing methodology is revealed as a kind of innocent and endless curiosity ... this mighty tome is billed as the closest thing to an autobiography McCartney will ever write. It comprises 154 songs, with hundreds of fascinating photos and handwritten lyrics from McCartney's collection, and an informal, thoughtful text assembled from conversations conducted with acclaimed Irish poet Paul Muldoon ... McCartney is a playful and brilliant wordsmith ... His book of lyrics is charming * Daily Telegraph *Reading "The Lyrics" is like standing in a master chef's kitchen as he prepares a dish, adding a dash of this and a spoonful of that and talking to us so winningly ... there's nothing like listening to Macca (as McCartney was known in his Liverpool days) talk about the rise of a band composed largely of working-class teens who changed the world forever ... charming * Washington Post *With a gravity, reverence and sense of occasion that hasn't been seen since the Levites rolled out the Ark of the Covenant, the complete lyrics of Paul McCartney are published at last ... This vast, absorbing book is studded with McCartneyisms that make you rub your eyes * Sunday Times *Describing it as a book doesn't quite capture the object. It is two books, two separate volumes, in a gorgeous box. It weighs 8kg on my bathroom scales. It's a big thing of great beauty, and going back and forth through it is a hugely satisfying experience ... no matter where you start, or continue, McCartney seems to be waiting, ready to continue his warm, vivid, erudite stroll through his life and lyrics ... the life - McCartney's - seems more believable when examined in these glimpses. There is a modesty hiding in the book's bulk, and raw, gentle honesty ... There are 154 sets of lyrics in this book, and it's almost impossible to read most of them without hearing the melodies and trumpet bits. But it is well worth trying. Read, not heard, Lady Madonna is a different experience. I read it and thought of Zola's best novels. * Irish Times *he provides a fascinating new insight into his life at the time they were written, and the lives of his fellow Beatles ... This, then, is a book for dipping into and sampling at leisure. It allows us to see some of the most familiar songs ever written in new and surprising ways ... [it] will not only thrill Beatles obsessives but fascinate anyone who has ever sung along to a Lennon and McCartney tune. Which must, surely, include half the world or more. * Daily Mail *a feast for the eyes. Dyed-in-the-wool Beatles fans will be bowled over by the sheer profundity of unpublished photographs, previously unseen lyrics sheets, journal entries, paintings, and the like. Indeed, The Lyrics easily represents the finest collection of illustrations associated with McCartney's life and work. And it's beautifully rendered, to boot. Drop-dead gorgeous as books go * Salon *the two things it reveals - an unrelenting work ethic and the picture-painting imperative of the storyteller - are the twin pillars of his life's work, as revealed here in random reflections on 154 selected songs spanning 64 years ... it's this up-front abdication of control, of responsibility and ultimately of authorial meaning that makes McCartney's story, and his open-handed attitude to a monumental body of work, so engaging. * Sydney Morning Herald *Nothing comes close to Paul McCartney's breezeblock of a title ... Combine this monumental lyrics collection with Peter Jackson's Get Back and many Beatles fans won't come out again until the clocks go forward. Paul McCartney says this is as close as he will get to an autobiography and no wonder - his life is in every line of these songs. Each alphabetical entry (a smart arrangement that opens up a trove of lesser known McCartney lore) is not only accompanied by a wealth of wonderful photographs and memorabilia (the lyrics to Carry That Weight on Apple notepaper!), but also McCartney's own recollections and analysis. "Mostly, we were writing to the world," McCartney says about I Want to Hold Your Hand. The Lyrics makes it a pure joy to reach out for these songs once again. * The Sunday Times Book of the Year *a rich, enjoyable and beautifully presented treat * i Newspaper *To read over the words to these 154 songs is to be impressed not merely with McCartney's productivity but with the fertility of his imagination and the potency of his offhand, unfussy style ... giddy playfulness and unguarded experimentation. They're a joy to read because they exude the joy their maker took in their making. * The New York Times *The text is accompanied by beautifully reproduced illustrations, including personal snapshots, formal portraits and memorabilia. The result is a hybrid of collected lyrics, memoir and picture book, a composite form resembling the all-round character of McCartney's musicality ... The Lyrics is a rewarding portrait of an exceptional songwriter. * Financial Times *From All My Loving to Your Mother Should Know, the former Beatle illuminates a life spent puzzling how to get from the beginning of a song to its end * Observer *Paul McCartney's storied career has been a long and winding road paved with songwriting gold. Thankfully, these fab volumes do it justiceengrossing ... reading it is like watching genius - which McCartney undoubtedly was and fitfully remains - in the process of creation, summoning something out of nothing * Spectator *The Lyrics is stunningly beautiful and a masterpiece of book design, a true joy for bibliophiles. Paul McCartney has fashioned, through the explorations of his songs with the poet Paul Muldoon, a fascinating insight into his life and creative genius. The booksellers of Waterstones are proud to celebrate this magnificent and deeply original book.This lavishly produced two-volume boxed-set, which took five years to compile, is destined to be under many Christmas trees. * Daily Mail *The Beatles used to chuck lyric sheets in the wastebasket after recording a song: Linda McCartney fished them out and saved them. The Lyrics is the deluxe version of her scrapbook, a ... handsome, two-volume compendium of Paul McCartney's work as a lyricist, accompanied by photos and Macca's engaging reminiscences. * Financial Times, Best books of 2021 *Paul McCartney never wrote an autobiography. He argued that his remarkable life story is "all in the songs" - the hundreds upon hundreds of timeless, instantly engrossing classics that have become the soundtrack to Western culture. One hundred and fifty-four of these musical gems are gathered in The Lyrics - a gripping commentary on the inspiration for the tunes, their making and the characters they portray. ... McCartney's commentary throughout feels candid, enlightening and at times philosophical. His insight into the makeup and meaning of the lyrics is illuminating and entertaining, adding layers of depth to the already rich texture. * The Critic *Sir Paul has arranged 154 favourite compositions alphabetically, with lots of glossy photos. But in the essays that accompany each song, his underlying purpose is to affirm his status as a writer ... what fan will not enjoy a meander that feels like a long private audience with one of the Fab Four? * Economist *Paul McCartney's delicious The Lyrics is a treasure trove. Gloriously illustrated with old snaps, posters with the Beatles' bottom-of-the-bill, handwritten set lists, lyrics on scraps and exhausting tour lists criss-crossing Britain. * Waitrose Weekend *The Lyrics is sumptuously made to a standard associated with high-end art publishers. It is lovely to hold and to touch and to look at. There are countless beautifully reproduced photographs, of McCartney - who in his younger years ravished the lens - his mother, father, brother and aunties, his wives, his children, his friends and notable collaborators. Many of the pictures are published for the first time. There are also handwritten lyric sheets festooned with doodles, scribbled diary entries, gig posters, newspaper reports, pictures of first pressings ... This book is ... more like an autobiography, done McCartney's way. Rather than publish a conventional life story, he has opted to tell this life through songs and pictures ... His eloquence is found in his art: next to the splendour of the songs ... The book showcases McCartney's lyrics ... the songs make up a larger canvas, or mosaic, that the artist himself is only now stepping back to contemplate. * New Statesman *Stating in the introduction to this two-volume gift edition that he has no intention of writing a memoir, Paul McCartney presents his songs as the next best thing, leaving us to mine their words as a guide to his life and world view. * The Times *These two beautifully produced hardbacks give a lot of bang for your buck. Macca recalls the inspiration behind 154 of his songs and the collaborative process of writing them, his stories taking in Lennon, Linda and fame, and there's a trove of photographs and memorabilia from his personal archive. He says the time has never been right to write a full memoir, but this collection is brimming with insights into the man and the music. * Daily Express *

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Book SynopsisCruel To Be Kind is the true story of Max, aged 6. He is fostered by Cathy while his mother is in hospital with complications from type 2 diabetes.Fostering Max gets off to a bad start when his mother, Caz, complains and threatens Cathy even before Max has moved in. Cathy and her family are shocked when they first meet Max. But his social worker isn't the only one in denial; his whole family are too.

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Book SynopsisThis powerful memoir, written under a pseudonym, is an unflinching exploration of what it means to be gay in a society where homosexuality can result in the death penalty.

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Book SynopsisThe shocking, heart-breaking - and often very funny - true story behind Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit.In 1985 Jeanette Winterson's first novel, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, was published. It was a story of survival.This book is that story's the silent twin.Trade ReviewUnforgettable… It’s the best book I have ever read about the cost of growing up. -- Daisy Goodwin * Sunday Times *A searingly felt and expressed autobiography…Funny and profoundly hopeful – a tale of survival -- Kate Hamer * Metro *This book is good, sensible, beautiful company… Try this -- A.L. Kennedy * Week *Jeanette Winterson’s writing is poetic, emotive and beautiful * So Many Books So Little Time (blog) *Incredibly moving and full of Winterson’s characteristic wit. * Elle *

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Book SynopsisWindswept is a wonderful work, prose painted in bold, bright strokes like a Scottish Colourist''s canvas' ROBERT MACFARLANEAn instant classic of British nature-writing' SUNDAY TELEGRAPHA few years ago, Annie Worsley traded a busy life in academia to take on a small-holding or croft on the west coast of Scotland. It is a land ruled by great elemental forces light, wind and water that hold sway over how land forms, where the sea sits and what grows. Windswept explores what it means to live in this rugged, awe-inspiring place of unquenchable spirit and wild weather.Walk with Annie as she lays quartz stones in the river to reflect the moonlight and attract salmon, as she watches otters play tag across the beach, as she is awoken by the feral bellowing of stags. Travel back in time to the epic story of how Scotland's valleys were carved by glaciers, rivers scythed paths through mountains, how the earliest people found a way of life in the Highlands and how she then found a home there millennia later.With stunning imagery and lyrical prose, Windswept evokes a place where nature reigns supreme and humans must learn to adapt. It is her paean to a beloved place, one richer with colour, sound and life than perhaps anywhere else in the UK.

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Book SynopsisWinner of the Sunday Times Sports Book Award 2022If you are the girl, the woman who feels like she is never enough, that she will never be as strong, as good, as capable, I am here to tell you that you are enough. I am here to tell you that while it shouldn’t have been your burden, you can write a different story.Stronger will change what you think you know about strength and, most importantly, empower you to go on your own journey to discover what strength looks like for you.Now a competitive amateur powerlifter who can lift over twice her own bodyweight, Poorna Bell is perfectly placed to start a crucial conversation about women’s strength and fitness, one that has nothing to do with weight loss. In Stronger she challenges the notions taught to us as girls, and examines how all of us can tap into our reservoir of inner strength to make us our strongest selves mentally and physically. Describing taking up weightlifting after the death of her husband, she shows how discovering her own strength helped her to find the confidence that physical pursuits can amplify – the confidence that has been helping men to succeed for centuries – and that women can find too.In these pages, Poorna tells not only her own story but those of a range of women, investigating intersections of race, age and social background. Part memoir, part manifesto, Stronger explodes old-fashioned notions and long-held beliefs about getting strong and explores the relationship between mental and physical strength.Whether you’re into weightlifting, running, swimming, yoga or don’t consider yourself to be sporty at all, Poorna shows how finding strength can work for you, regardless of age, ability or background.Trade ReviewRaw and moving, Bell connects grief and strength and touches on the unrelenting pressure women face to be strong in a way that hasn’t been tackled before. * Cosmopolitan *A beautiful, inspiring book that will change the way you think about exercise. I only wish it had existed when I was younger. * Bryony Gordon *This book gives us permission to establish a healthy relationship with our bodies and strength. * Fearne Cotton *Poorna's story is one that will inspire women everywhere, tragedy showed her how strong she was inside which would in turn show her how strong she could become on the outside. -- June SarpongThis amazing book reminds us all that we are stronger than we know. Poorna gives readers – whatever their age – the confidence to explore their inner and outer strength in such life-affirming style. * Stacey Solomon *Poorna encapsulates in this book everything I wish I’d known and been told when I first started exercising. Stronger is a book for those who want to see beyond the aesthetic goals, and truly appreciate the mental and physical benefits of movement. * Alice Liveing *I’ve not finished a book in less than a weekend in my entire life until Stronger. Poorna’s book has reinvigorated my desire to see that every woman around the world touches a barbell. -- Kortney Olson, founder of GrrrlExploring both mental and physical empowerment, Stronger is an inspiring blend of memoir and manifesto, shaking off long-held, mistaken ideas about women and strength. -- The best books to look out for in 2021, Waterstones blogI can't think of anyone who wouldn't benefit from reading this inspirational book. -- Caroline Sanderson, The BooksellerPoorna Bell is changing the conversation around women's fitness -- Susan Griffin, Metro * https://metro.co.uk/2021/05/06/how-poorna-bell-is-changing-the-conversation-around-womens-fitness-14528102/ *In this defiant and reflective memoir [Bell] examines ideas around women and strength, resulting in a challenging, positive and powerful call to arms. Muscled arms. -- The Guardian * https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/jun/05/summer-reading-the-50-hottest-new-books-everyone-should-read *

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Book SynopsisIn 2017, Sophie Pierce’s life changed forever when her twenty-year-old son Felix died suddenly and unexpectedly. Thrown into an unimaginable new reality, she had to find a way to survive. By writing letters to Felix – composed during walks and swims taken close to his burial place by the River Dart – Sophie gradually learned how to live in the landscape of sudden loss, navigating the weather and tides of grief.The Green Hill collects these letters alongside Sophie’s account of the years following Felix’s death, into which she weaves poignant memories of his life. What results is a deeply moving, beautifully captured record of how – amid the rivers and rocks of Dartmoor, and in the sea off the South Devon coast – Sophie was able to hold on to and nurture her bond with Felix, both in her mind and through a physical engagement with the landscape: actively mourning, rather than grieving.This book is a celebration of the natural world and the role it plays in our lives and relationships, as well as an examination of how beauty, a sense of place and the passing seasons can help us contend with our own mortality. Above all, The Green Hill is one woman’s story of navigating through trauma and loss, and towards a fragile, complicated kind of joy.'In The Green Hill, Sophie Pierce writes about the sudden death of her son Felix with an aching and gentle honesty. Struggling to come to terms with the loss not only of the young man he was, but everything that he would eventually become, she finds herself overwhelmed not only by grief, but also by love. Her writing is illuminated by a remarkable attention to the beauty and consolation of the natural world, and by the wisdom and tenderness which has been so painfully acquired. This is a book that will be a great comfort to those who need it' Sarah Perry, author of The Essex Serpent and Melmoth'Unforgettable, necessary. This beautiful book is a map, compass and ration of courage for anyone arrived in the landscape of sudden loss. Full of love and learning' Tanya Shadrick'The Green Hill is an extraordinary book… I thought of the fairy tale in which a captured princess must weave clothes from stinging nettles: Sophie Pierce has wrought something beautiful and useful from the darkest pain' Cressida Connolly, novelist and criticTrade Review 'Tough but cathartic reading, particularly for those who’ve lost family members too early. The results are both brutal and beautiful' Kirkus Review 'Sophie Pierce takes us to a place that none of us wants to visit. But there we discover extraordinary riches - riches that will transform us. This is a book about what it means to be a human, and that, we find, is a high, deep, demanding calling, of terrible beauty' Charles Foster, *New York Times bestselling author of Being a Beast

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Book Synopsis‘My father tried to kill my mother one Sunday in June, in the early afternoon.’ Thus begins Shame, the probing story of the twelve-year-old girl who will become the author herself, and the traumatic memory that will echo and resonate throughout her life. With the emotionally rich voice of great fiction and the analytical eye of a scientist, Annie Ernaux provides a powerful reflection on experience and the power of violent memory to endure through time, to determine the course of a life.Trade Review‘[Shame and The Young Man] deserve to be read widely. Her work is self-revealing, a series of pitiless auto-autopsies….Their disparate achievements work together to illuminate something perennially fascinating about Ernaux: her relationship to revelation and visibility. These are deeply intimate books, but in another way, Ernaux brings a disquieting impersonality to her project.’ — Megan Nolan, The Times‘[E]xceptionally deft and precise, the very epitome of all that language can do…a surprisingly tender evocation of a bright, passionate and self-aware young girl growing up in her parents’ “cafe-haberdashery-grocery” in a small town in Normandy.’ — Julie Myerson, Observer‘Annie Ernaux writes memoir with such generosity and vulnerable power that I find it difficult to separate my own memories from hers long after I’ve finished reading.’ — Catherine Lacey, author of Biography of X‘Reading her is like getting to know a friend, the way they tell you about themselves over long conversations that sometimes take years, revealing things slowly, looping back to some parts of their life over and over.’ — Joanna Biggs, London Review of Books‘Annie Ernaux is one of my favourite contemporary writers, original and true. Always after reading one of her books, I walk around in her world for months.’ — Sheila Heti, author of Pure Colour‘I find her work extraordinary.’ — Eimear McBride, author of A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing‘Ernaux has inherited de Beauvoir’s role of chronicler to a generation.’ — Margaret Drabble, New Statesman‘Across the ample particularities of over forty years and twenty-one books, almost all short, subject-driven memoirs, Ernaux has fundamentally destabilized and reinvented the genre in French literature.’ — Audrey Wollen, The Nation‘It’s hard to fault a book that so elegantly and engagingly shows how… past horrors of varying scale can consciously and subconsciously affect someone…. [A] prescient and eminently readable book, as well as a great introduction to a giant of French literature.’ — India Lewis, The Arts Desk‘A lesser writer would turn these experiences into misery memoirs, but Ernaux does not ask for our pity – or our admiration. It’s clear from the start that she doesn’t much care whether we like her or not, because she has no interest in herself as an individual entity. She is an emblematic daughter of emblematic French parents, part of an inevitable historical process, which includes breaking away. Her interest is in examining the breakage ... Ernaux is the betrayer and her father the betrayed: this is the narrative undertow that makes A Man’s Place so lacerating.’ — Frances Wilson, Telegraph (Praise for A Man's Place)‘Not simply a short biography of man manacled to class assumptions, this is also, ironically, an exercise in the art of unsentimental writing ... The biography is also self-reflexive in its inquiry and suggests the question: what does it mean to contain a life within a number of pages?’ — Mia Colleran, Irish Times (Praise for A Man's Place)‘Ernaux understands that writing about her parents is a form of betrayal. That she writes about their struggle to understand the middle-class literary world into which she has moved makes that betrayal all the more painful. But still she does it – and it is thrilling to read Ernaux working out, word by word, what she deems appropriate to include in each text. In being willing to show her discomfort, her disdain and her honest, careful consideration of the dilemmas of writing about real, lived lives, Ernaux has struck upon a bold new way to write memoir.’ — Ellen Peirson-Hagger, New Statesman (Praise for A Man's Place)‘The triumph of Ernaux’s approach ... is to cherish commonplace emotions while elevating the banal expression of them ... A monument to passions that defy simple explanations.’ — New York Times (Praise for Simple Passion)‘A work of lyrical precision and diamond-hard clarity.’ — New Yorker (Praise for Simple Passion)‘I devoured – not once, but twice – Fitzcarraldo’s new English edition of Simple Passion, in which the great Annie Ernaux describes the suspended animation of a love affair with a man who is not free. Every paragraph, every word, brought me closer to a state of purest yearning...’ — Rachel Cooke, Observer (Praise for Simple Passion)

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Book SynopsisThis is a touching personal account from one who actually knew this great writer of our time. It includes the fascinating cancelled chapter of Persuasion, and is accompanied by the full text of The Watsons, Lady Susan and Sanditon.

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Book Synopsis**Longlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize 2024** A gripping account of survival and recovery from internationally renowned writer and Booker Prize-winner Salman RushdieA masterpiece Extraordinary' Daily TelegraphA story of hatred defeated by love' Guardian On the morning of 12 August 2022, Salman Rushdie was sitting onstage in upstate New York, preparing to give a lecture on the importance of keeping writers safe from harm, when a man in black black clothes, black mask rushed down the aisle towards him, wielding a knife. His first thought: So it's you. Here you are. What followed was a horrific act of violence that shook the literary world and beyond. Now, for the first time, Rushdie relives the traumatic events of that day and its aftermath, as well as his journey of healing and recovery. This an intimate meditation on life, loss, love, art and finding the strength to stand up again A BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR THE TIMES, GUARDIAN, OBSERVER, DAILY TELEGRAPH, SPECTATOR, INDEPENDENT, EVENING STANDARD, NEW YORK TIMES, THE NEW YORKER AND TIMEAn incandescent book about love and hard-won survival'The TimesSalman Rushdie is a genius A brave book by a brave man' Evening StandardGripping It reminds us of the things worth fighting for'New York Times No.1 Sunday Times bestseller, April 2024

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Book SynopsisTHE AWARD-WINNING INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLEREven in hell, hope can flower''I''ll be forever changed by her story'' - Oprah Winfrey''Extraordinary ... will stick with you long after you read it'' - Bill Gates''One of those rare and eternal stories you don''t want to end'' - Desmond Tutu''A masterpiece of holocaust literature. Her memoir, like her life, is extraordinary, harrowing and inspiring in equal measure'' - The Times Literary Supplement''I can''t imagine a more important message for modern times. Eger''s book is a triumph'' - The New York TimesIn 1944, sixteen-year-old ballerina Edith Eger was sent to Auschwitz. Separated from her parents on arrival, she endures unimaginable experiences, including being made to dance for the infamous Josef Mengele. When the camp is finally liberated, she is pulled from a pile of bodies, barely alive.The horrors of

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Book SynopsisAn inspirational and hilarious autobiography by music chart-topping, social media sensations LadBaby, AKA Mark and Roxanne Hoyle, telling the unbelievable, drama-filled story of how they became the nation''s favourite family and the rollercoaster highs and lows of their life.LadBaby have millions of fans around the world, but the journey to success has been anything but easy. For the first time ever, LadBaby will pull back the curtain to share the truth about how they came from nothing, raised millions for charities and achieved success - against all odds. A working-class family who started off living on 20 a week and ultimately became record-breaking musicians, household celebrities and bestselling children''s authors, together Mark and Roxanne have overcome dyslexia, music industry rejection, death threats, betrayal and more - and now they''re ready to tell their sausage roll-filled story.From childhood stories, Mark and Rox''s first meeting,

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Book Synopsis'An ode to the ocean, and the generations of women drawn to the waves or left waiting on the shore' Guardian In Salt On Your Tongue, Charlotte Runcie explores what the sea means to us, and particularly what it has meant to women through the ages. In mesmerising prose, she explores how the sea has inspired, fascinated and terrified us, and how she herself fell in love with the deep blue.This book is a walk on the beach with Turner, with Shakespeare, with the Romantic Poets and shanty-singers. It's an ode to our oceans - to the sailors who brave their treacherous waters, to the women who lost their loved ones to the waves, to the creatures that dwell in their depths, to beachcombers, swimmers, seabirds and mermaids. Navigating through ancient Greek myths, poetry, shipwrecks and Scottish folktales, Salt On Your Tongue is about how the wild untameable waves can help us understand what it means to be human.Trade ReviewThis motherhood memoir-cum-nature journal about the connection between women and the sea is bracing and poetic . . . Throughout, her prose is defined by cool confidence and unshowy clarity, allowing its more poetic observations, of which there are plenty, to glimmer like glass pebbles . . . Just like her favourite kind of blustery beach, it's strewn with pocketable treasures * * Observer * *Women and water are the subjects of Charlotte Runcie's seductive history . . . Intoxicating . . . Runcie is a fine guiding star: wise, curious, sensitive to language and landscape . . . At its best her writing hauntingly captures the whispered wave and wash of the sea * * The Times * *An ode to the ocean, and the generations of women drawn to the waves or left waiting on the shore . . . A wide, eclectic cast of characters wash in and out on the tide of her poetic prose * * Guardian * *A seductive, estuarine merging of personal memoir and scholarly reportage . . . Runcie has a beachcomber's mind and a poet's turn of phrase * * Daily Telegraph * *A very beautiful book about myth and motherhood - a memoir that intertwines effortlessly and poetically with tales of the sea. Salt On Your Tongue has a rare magic to it -- SOPHIE MACKINTOSH, Booker-longlisted author of THE WATER CURERuncie has combined an exploration of Scotland's seascape with the story of her pregnancy and the birth of her daughter . . . Breathless, intimate . . . Very much in the vein of bestsellers The Outrun by Amy Liptrot and H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald * * Mail on Sunday * *A wise and wonderful book, charting intensely personal moments against the constant yet ever-changing sea. A story of birth, loss, memory and motherhood, spliced with vivid observations of the natural world and collected myth, lore and legend, Charlotte Runcie's voice is by turns practical and poetic, objective and beguiling. An utterly immersive read -- JESS KIDD, author of HIMSELF and THE HOARDERAn intensely personal paean to the sea. Runcie interweaves her experience of an unplanned first pregnancy with her attraction to the seashore and the stories of women who traditionally waited for ships to come home -- Ruth Scurr * * Spectator, Books of the Year * *A lyrical exploration of the complex relationship between women, the sea and their own reproductive biology . . . Her description of childbirth - in all its visceral, growling, bloody intensity - is astonishingly powerful . . . . Beguiling * * Herald * *An expectant mother's diary is also a treasure trove of lore and legend and a moving tribute to the grandmother who inspired a lifelong love of beachcombing . . . A lyrical, impassioned and curious book . . . Elegantly done -- Stuart Kelly * * Scotland on Sunday * *

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

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Book SynopsisKnown as the 'grandmother of herbalism', Juliette de Bairacli Levy travelled throughout Europe and North America in pursuit of her passion for herbs and holistic medicine, living mostly in rural places whose nomadic communities helped expand her knowledge of plants and living from the land. In the early 1950s, she settled in a thatched 'cabin' in the New Forest for three years and raised her children in the woods.Originally published in 1958, Wanderers in the New Forest describes an extraordinary family life living wild: drawing spring water from Abbots Well, bathing in Windmill Hill Pond and sharing the water with their animal neighbours, foraging for fruits and fungi or tending to their forest garden of herbs, flowers and vegetables. Juliette's friendships within the local Gypsy community enabled her to record the impact that post-war modernisation was having on their traditions, ancient rights and intimate knowledge of the New Forest. This new edition is illustrated throughout with photographs taken by Juliette while living in the forest.

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Book SynopsisTHE GLOBAL BESTSELLERThe groundbreaking, intimate and inspiring memoir from Pope Francis.Books of the Year 2025: The Times, Telegraph, Guardian, Independent, Financial Times, New Statesman''Remarkable'' Guardian ''Elegant and joyful'' Financial Times Pope Francis originally intended this exceptional memoir to appear only after his death, but the needs of our times and the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope moved him to make this precious legacy available sooner. Now, the book stands as his testament; the spiritual, faith-filled, as well as moral, social, and civic legacy that he envisioned and left for the benefit of all the men and women of the world.HOPE is the first autobiography in history ever to be published by a Pope. Written over six years, this complete autobiography starts in the early years of the twentieth century, with Pope Francis's Italian roots and his ancestors' courageous migration to Latin America, continuing through his childhood, the enthusiasms and preoccupations of his youth, his vocation, adult life, and the whole of his papacy up to the present day.In recounting his memories with intimate narrative force (not forgetting his own personal passions), Pope Francis deals unsparingly with some of the crucial moments of his papacy and writes candidly, fearlessly and prophetically about some of the most important and controversial questions of our present times: war and peace (including the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East), migration, environmental crisis, social policy, the position of women, sexuality, technological developments, the future of the Church and of religion in general.HOPE includes a wealth of revelations, anecdotes and illuminating thoughts. It is a thrilling and very human memoir, moving and sometimes funny, which represents the story of a life' and, at the same time, a touching moral and spiritual testament that will fascinate readers throughout the world and will be Pope Francis's legacy of hope for future generations.

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Book Synopsis'A page-turner with a mystery to solve, and a meditation on what it means for a child to know their parents' - Cathy Rentzenbrink'An exceptional, entirely unpredictable, real-life thriller' - Michael MansfieldWINNER OF THE BRIDPORT PRIZE FOR MEMOIRWhat would you do to find out the truth about someone you love? A forensic, propulsive book about the line between fact and fiction.Renowned scientist Professor Michael Briggs was many things:A Space expert at NASAAn adviser to the World Health OrganisationA successful Big Pharma executive But Michael Briggs had a secret. A scandal broke out in 1986 when research he conducted was revealed to be compromised. Patients were also claiming that a pregnancy test he pioneered had caused devastating birth defects. Soon after his fall from grace, Briggs was dead, struck down by a mystery illness in a foreign countryBriggs left behind a long list of publications, patents, and inventions. But he also left behind hundreds of people who believe they are victims of his negligence and who are still fighting for justice to this day. And he left someone else: his daughter, Joanne. After decades of wondering who her father really was, Joanne decided to investigate for herself. In hypnotic prose, she uncovers the secret that shaped her father's entire life and made his story more fantastic than any science fiction. As she discovered, Briggs's greatest invention was himself.

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Book SynopsisAlison Bechdel is the author of the bestselling memoir Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic and, most recently, Are You My Mother? For twenty-five years, she wrote and drew the comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For, a visual chronicle of modern life - queer and otherwise - considered 'one of the pre-eminent oeuvres in the comics genre.' Alison Bechdel is guest editor of Best American Comics, 2011, and has drawn comics for Slate, McSweeney's, Entertainment Weekly, Granta, and the New York Times Book Review.Trade ReviewFun Home and Are You My Mother? are the kind of head-spinningly thoughtful and textured works that make you rejoice in the comic-book form. * Daily Telegraph *Bulging with literary allusions from Proust to Scott Fitzgerald, Fun Home is a book that demands to be read again and again. * Royal Academy Magazine *One of the very best graphic novels ever * Booklist *A brilliant, bleakly hilarious memoir in comic-book form * Time *A beautiful, assured piece of work... Bechdel's cartooning has transmuted [her father's] life and death into an extraordinary book * Salon.com *

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Book SynopsisIn this stunningly insightful and humorous sequel to Finding Joy, Keeping Joy explores the long terms consequences of chronic illness. Through the eyes of Joyce, Aunt Beth and Logan we follow Joyce’s fight to regain her health and her freedom after nearly a decade of being housebound with Lyme disease.

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Book SynopsisFrom Texas sugar cane fields, Ivy League halls to her homeland of South Korea and back again this memoir is a journey through identity crises, mental health struggles, and the quest for selfhood.

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Book SynopsisFrom the internationally bestselling author of Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop comes a warm and reflective collection of essays about reading, language and life.Why do we read? What is it that we hope to take away from the intimate, personal experience of reading for pleasure?Rarely do we ask these profound, expansive questions of ourselves and of our relationship to the joy of reading. But in this gentle, philosophical collection celebrating books, reading and language, Hwang Bo-reum doesn't just tell us, but shows us what living a life immersed in reading means. Every Day I Read provides many quiet moments for introspection and reflection, encourages book-lovers to explore what reading means to each of us. While this is a book about books, at its heart is an attitude to life, one outside capitalism and climbing the corporate ladder. Readers and non-readers will take away something from it, including a treasure trove of book recommendations blended seamlessly within.

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