Memoirs Books

Book SynopsisAN INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERSHORTLISTED FOR THE GORDON BURN PRIZEA GUARDIAN BEST MEMOIR OF 2023A WATERSTONES BEST BOOK OF 2023AN iNEWS BEST BOOK TO GIFTJohn Niven's little brother Gary was fearless, popular, stubborn, handsome, hilarious and sometimes terrifying. In 2010, after years of chaotic struggle against the world, he took his own life at the age of 42.Hoping for the best while often witnessing the worst, John, his younger sister Linda and their mother, Jeanette, saw the darkest fears they had for Gary played out in drug deals, prison and bankruptcy. While his life spiralled downward and the love the Nivens shared was tested to its limit, John drifted into his own trouble in the music industry, a world where excess was often a marker of success.Tracking the lives of two brothers in changing times - from illicit cans of lager in 70s sitting rooms to ecstasy in 90s raves - O Brother is a tender, affecting and often uproariously funny story. It is about the bonds of family and how we try to keep the finest of those we lose alive. It is about black sheep and what it takes to break the ties that bind. Fundamentally it is about how families survive suicide, 'that last cry, from the saddest outpost.'Trade ReviewVivid, visceral, brilliantly funny in places, dispensing sharp punches to the gut in others . . . [O Brother] made me sob more than once, and I suspect it will do the same to you * * Guardian * *Riotous and yet bracingly moving . . . Often exuberant, laugh-out-loud funny, touching, sad and rueful * * Observer * *Heartbreaking, and told with tenderness and honesty . . . The writing is first rate, without announcing how good it is. I can't recommend it strongly enough * * Spectator * *An honest epitaph for a troubled soul, tender and sentimental, but shot through with anger and regret for the things left unsaid * * The Times * *Oh my God, this book! O Brother feels like war-level reportage from the nuclear-blast that suicide inflicts on a family. [. . . ] A book whose genuine importance is only equaled by its sheer, visceral, compulsive readability -- CAITLIN MORANAbsurdly well-written, painfully funny and painfully painful -- ADAM KAYTender, raw and beautiful . . . Niven is a tremendous storyteller. It is a memoir, it is a remembrance, and it is a guttural cry for us all to take those we love and hold them closer, to love them harder - to fight for them, in a society that gives up on men like Gary all too easily * * iPaper * *As moving, scalding, funny and harrowing as any memoir I've ever read -- IAN RANKINO Brother is an extraordinary memoir; as devastating as it is colourful, forensic in its examination of family dynamics and oh so beautifully written. I earmarked so many pages that my copy doubled in width. Do not read the final chapter without a box of tissues -- JOJO MOYESA brutal and brilliant sibling memoir. It's with both humour and pathos that [John Niven] recalls his and Gary's early life growing up in Irvine, Ayrshire, their diverging adult trajectories * * Guardian * *

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Book SynopsisTHE #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERLove is our only hope. It is not always the easiest choice, but it is always the right one, the noble path, the way home to safety, no matter how bleak the future looks.In Somehow: Thoughts on Love, Anne Lamott explores the transformative power that love has in our lives: how it surprises us, forces us to confront uncomfortable truths, reminds us of our humanity and guides us forward. In each chapter, Lamott refracts all the colours of the spectrum. She explores the unexpected love for a partner later in life. The bruised (and bruising) love for a child who disappoints, even frightens. Drawing from her own life and experience to delineate the intimate and elemental ways that love buttresses us in the face of despair, she galvanises us to believe that tomorrow will be better than today. The lessons she underscores are that love enlightens as it educates, comforts as it energises, sustains as it

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Book SynopsisA whirlwind romance which leads to, within 12 days of first meeting, a proposal of marriage. An extraordinary story but one which the author is keen to demonstrate was all true.

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Book SynopsisA compelling memoir containing stories from the author's life training as a doctor and a surgeon across the world.

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Book SynopsisA personal, truthful account of a mother and son's bond throughout the challenges of addiction and mental ill-health.

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Book Synopsis'A wise, mild and enviably lucid book about a chaotic scene' - Dwight Garner, New York Times 'Memoirs of fatherhood are rarely so honest or so blunt' - Daniel Engber, Atlantic'Tender and generous' - New York magazineKeith Gessen had always assumed that he would have kids, but couldn't imagine what parenthood would be like, nor what kind of parent he would be. Then, one Tuesday night in early June, Raffi was born, a child as real and complex and demanding of his parents' energy as he was singularly magical. Fatherhood is another country: a place where the old concerns are swept away, where the ordering of time is reconstituted, where days unfold according to a child's needs. Like all parents, Gessen wants to do what is best for his child. But he has no idea what that is. By turns hilarious and poignant, Raising Raffi is a story of what it means to invent the world anew.Trade ReviewA wise, mild and enviably lucid book about a chaotic scene... Gessen is a calm and observant writer - if he were a singer, he'd always come in a bit behind the beat - who raises, and struggles with, the right questions about himself and the world -- Dwight Garner * New York Times *A father's careful, piercing introspection, and a deep analysis of anger... Gessen writes about his temperamental, trying son with a depth that can only come from years of loving observation... Memoirs of fatherhood are rarely so honest or so blunt -- Daniel Engber * Atlantic *Raising Raffi is tender and generous * New York magazine *Gessen offers both investigative probe and personal confession; he's both a critic and a dad... But it's one of the most honest accounts of the rage a parent can feel when personally victimized by their small children, even as they love those children with stupefying tenderness. I've never seen this reckoned with so candidly before -- Meghan Flaherty * Slate *I didn't know I was waiting for a book like this until I read it. Raising Raffi is original, funny, and full of heart -- Daniel Alarcón, author of AT NIGHT WE WALK IN CIRCLESMy brother wrote a book about my nephew, and this book made me laugh and tear up. It's a book about love: the love of a father for his child, of course, and also the love of an adult son for his parents (our parents), the love an emigre feels for the language (Russian) and culture (Soviet Jewish emigre) of his home. It's a book about the way love makes us feel powerless one minute and strong the next -- Masha Gessen, author of THE FUTURE IS HISTORYA raw, wry, introspective chronicle of the first five years of dad life... It raises profound questions about what it means to raise a boy when the old ways of being a man have been discredited and the new ones have yet to saturate. If you are a father, want to be a father, have a father, or are thinking of leaving the father of your children, then this book is for you -- Anand Giridharadas, author of WINNERS TAKE ALLParents who have doubted themselves and tried to untangle the mystery of young humans-in other words, all parents-will recognise themselves in this vulnerable and finely wrought memoir -- Megan K. Stack, author of WOMEN'S WORKKeith Gessen is one my favourite writers, and Raising Raffi brings to bear everything I love about him: his fierce intellect and fiercer compassion, his deep reflection and pitch-perfect humour. This fatherhood shit ain't easy, but Gessen might just help us make it through -- Adam Mansbach, author of GO THE F*CK TO SLEEPI would read Keith Gessen writing about anything but having his curiosity trained on the thorny, existential subject of parenthood is pure heaven. I read this book about the neurosis (and the joy!) of the 21st-century parent in a fugue state, grateful to Gessen for his humour and insight -- Meaghan O'Connell, author of AND NOW WE HAVE EVERYTHING

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Book Synopsis'Moving, funny ... an exquisite story of love, hope, distance and, ultimately, disenchantment.' Mail on Sunday'A sad and truthful fragment of modern history' TLS'Beautifully written' Jenny UglowThe love story of Zippa and Tony is nothing without the context of the Second World War. The war introduced them - they met as blackout wardens in London. It gave them darkened streets to wander in, hand in hand, then, by sending Tony away to officer training camps, it sharpened their hunger for each other, casting a glow over his comings and goings. It turned them into schemers and wanglers against fate and army regulations. It pressed them into marriage, and when the war decided to deploy him to North Africa, it whispered the urgent question of a baby. To which Tony, thinking of the war, replied maybe not; and Zippa, thinking of the war, said yes. In spite of themselves, the war experience was changing them both, and yet both were hanging on, looking back, suspended in memory and time, and living from letter to letter. Decades later, their daughter Julie discovered their letters, and piecing them together began to create a portrait of her parents and their relationship that was completely unfamiliar to her. Vivid, honest and completely absorbing, Damn This War! is a true insight into a wartime love story.

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Book SynopsisAt the end of almost every day of their fifty-five years of married life, the publicity-shy author Margaret Forster would ask the naturally gregarious and outgoing Hunter Davies to describe to her the highlights of his day in the worlds of journalism and publishing. In the six years that have elapsed since Margaret''s death, Hunter has continued these conversations with his wife, regaling her with accounts of the events and developments in his life domestic, social, romantic, book-related, health-related and others through a sequence of ''Letters to Margaret''. The letters are pure Hunter Davies: a feast of gossipy stream-of-consciousness that weaves together strands of confession, self-mockery, anecdote and touching remembrance of married happiness with Margaret. Entertaining, informative, irreverent and indiscreet and sometimes very touching Letters to Margaret reveals an eighty-seven-year-old Hunter still raging against the dying of the light, and seeking consolation

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Book SynopsisA vibrant, often hilarious emotional and physical journey. And let''s be honest, who hasn''t wanted to drift away on a narrowboat? - Ian Moore, author of Death and CroissantsAll Boats Are Sinking is a memoir of love, life and chaos on a narrowboat, perfect for fans of Dolly Alderton, Helen Fielding and Phoebe Waller-BridgeAll boats are sinking, Hannah, just at different rates.After a break-up, some hit the gym; some cut their hair; others have a one-night stand. In the aftermath of her break-up, Hannah bought a narrowboat.Newly single and plunged into life on the water, Hannah had to learn quickly how to grapple with exploding toilets, disappearing hulls, and the curious glances and questions from pedestrians on the towpath. But when career burn-out, a global pandemic and an ill-advised rebound relationship threatened to sink her, Hannah felt the need to escape. In a bid to let go of the past and restor

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Book SynopsisSHORTLISTED, WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK of the YEAR, 2020. When Ian Ridley's wife, the trailblazing sports reporter Vikki Orvice, died of cancer at the age of 56, he found himself plunged deep into a sadness that he expected and a world of madness that he did not. In an attempt to make sense of it all and seek some solace from the brutality of his grief and anxiety, he embarks on a summer of watching county cricket. Reliving bitter-sweet memories in places he and Vikki had visited together, he is alternately unnerved and consoled by the ebbs and flows of his mourning. But gradually, against a backdrop of the County Championship's peace and solitude - with the sun on his back and tea, cake and crossword at his side - he finds a way to survive the rhythms and cadences of his grief. The Breath of Sadness is an unflinching account of how we carry on when we are left behind, and a poignant, tender and candid exploration of love and loss.Trade Review"Ian Ridley's beautifully crafted memoir shows there is no right or wrong way to grieve, and yet grieve we must. A moving insight." JULIA SAMUEL, author of Sunday Times bestsellers Grief Works and This Too Shall Pass. "A fine meditation on life, love, death and grief forged during a gentle summer of county cricket." MICHAEL ATHERTON, former England cricket captain. "If there's ever been a more honest, intimate, visceral, unflinching account of grief than this, well, I'd be very surprised." CHARLIE CONNELLY, THE NEW EUROPEAN. "A heart-rending read. What Ridley has written in his wonderful book is a love letter to the game." JIM WHITE, THE DAILY TELEGRAPH. "I have been immeasurably moved by it." VANESSA FELTZ, BBC RADIO 2. "A love song. Like all the best such tunes it is a sad one, yet also, in the end, life-enhancing." ALEX MASSIE, THE SPECTATOR. "Beautifully produced. A book that will bring comfort to many in that same sad but often inevitable place. Humanity is at hand." JOHN HOTTEN, WISDEN CRICKET MONTHLY." Candid and ultimately life-affirming. One of those rare books that takes you on a journey you didn't want to have to take but feel privileged to be on." STEPHEN KELMAN, BOOKER PRIZE SHORTLISTED AUTHOR. "A wistful rumination on love and loss. Ridley balances fond recollection with candid admissions." SHOMIT DUTTA, THE TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT. "Ridley's quiet reflection in the solitude of county grounds is a backdrop to an extremely candid and brave - harrowingly so, at times - study of his own grieving process." MATT DICKINSON, THE TIMES. "A beautiful memoir. The Breath of Sadness is about music, food, books, hotels, holidays, films, flowers, cards, messages and presents. The things you remember; the things you find put away in drawers, the things that break your bloody heart." PAUL EDWARDS, THE CRICKETER. "Ridley writes with feeling on mourning a loved one in a book that finds companionship with two similar ones written by the surviving spouse: A Grief Observed by C S Lewis and the more recent The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion." SURESH MENON, THE HINDU

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Book SynopsisA self-empowerment gift book for woman of every age, these quotes and slogans are guaranteed to bring out your inner badass. Celebrating female power and potential, the sayings will inspire and motivate you to fight your corner, speak your mind, stand up to those who stand in your way, reach your goals and bounce back with a spring upwards from every challenge or hurdle in your path.By women for women, You Got This is a great antidote to self-doubt, discouragement, imposter syndrome, and general societal bullshit in the twenty-first century. For every tough independent woman out there who sometimes feels the weight of the world, here are uplifting words to foster strength, success and self-reliance.SAMPLE QUOTES:'Behind every successful woman is herself.''No risk, no magic.''People think that all the doors are opened in front of me but it was me who pushed them open.' Coco Chanel'It took me quite a long time to develop a voice, and now that I have it, I am not going to be silent.' Madeleine Albright

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Book SynopsisA design monograph series on the most remarkable architects, designers, brands and design movements of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, each book contains a historical-critical essay discussing the life and work of the subject, followed by an illustrated appreciation of groundbreaking work.At 87 Manchester-born Norman Foster has an illustrious career that spans many decades. A titan of design and master of high-tech and sustainable architecture, Foster was instrumental in changing the skyline of London and elevating British design. Among his famous structures are the Gherkin (Swiss Re) and the Millau viaduct bridge.

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Book SynopsisWith a dedication to luxury and practicality, Louis Vuitton designed his unique lightweight, airtight luggage in 1854 and ensured that jetsetters all over the globe could travel in comfort and style. It was a creation that founded a fashion house and became a standard-bearer for all travel pieces of the future.Exploring the history from traditional box-making to the revolution of the stackable trunk to modern-day artistic collaborations, the book captures the story and craftmanship behind this status symbol and how the luggage continues to define the spirit of travel. From the unmistakable Monogram canvas to the unpickable lock, the steamer trunk to the Speedy, every detail and feature is unveiled.

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Book SynopsisSHORTLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE FOR NATURE WRITING AND THE BOARDMAN TASKER AWARD FOR MOUNTAIN LITERATUREIn Time on Rock Anna Fleming charts two parallel journeys: learning the craft of traditional rock climbing, and the new developing appreciation of the natural world it brings her. Through the story of her progress from terrified beginner to confident lead climber, she shows us how placing hand and foot on rock becomes a profound new way into the landscape.Anna takes us from the gritstone rocks of the Peak District and Yorkshire to the gabbro pinnacles of the Cuillin, the slate of North Wales and the high plateau of the Cairngorms. Each landscape, and each type of rock, brings its own challenges and unique pleasures. She also shows us how climbing invites us into the history of a place: geologically, of course, but also culturally. This book is Anna's journey of self-discovery, but it is also a guide to losing oneself in the greater majesty of the natural world. With great lyricism she explores how it feels to climb as a woman, the pleasures of the physical demands of climbing, fear and challenge, but more than anything, it is about a joyful connection to the mountains.Trade ReviewRefreshing . . . she writes beautifully about landscape, and her passion for these ancient formations is physical and poetic * * Observer * *Fleming has written a wonderfully intimate account of climbing, filled with the rough texture of rocks and the hard-won elation of reaching for the skies * * Guardian * *Beautifully written. I loved it -- AMY LIPTROTEchoing and honouring some of the classics of climbing literature, the book is a fine introduction to the genre * * Economist * *[Anna Fleming]'s fascination with language infuses her descriptions of the textures of various stones and the mountains they form. In this regard, Time on Rock can take its place next to Nan Shepherd's The Living Mountain . . . Fleming's book is full of awe and wonder . . . Vital * * Spectator * *Engaging . . . Refreshing . . . Anna Fleming immerses herself in the mountains rather than conquering them. Like a climber scanning the crags for the next line, I'm left wanting to read more of her work * * Times Literary Supplement * *Climbing writing is a crowded field, but thanks to its carefully chiselled prose and bright, flinty intelligence, this absolute gem of a book . . . can hold its own against the most famous names in the pantheon * * Scotsman * *A climber's joy of insight and adventure -- ALASTAIR McINTOSHIt reminds me of Nan Shepherd, only the kind of Nan Shepherd I could go for a pint with -- HELEN MORT * * author of Black Car Burning * *Much more than a climbing memoir, Anna Fleming's book is also a fascinating exploration of humanity's timeless relationship with rock . . . both fascinating and beautifully expressed, in a series of glinting, lyrical epiphanies * * Scotsman * *

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Book Synopsis'Where have all my friends gone?'When Max Dickins decided to propose to his girlfriend, he realised there was no one he could call on to be his best man.He quickly learned that he wasn't the only man struggling with friendships. For decades, countless studies from across the world have confirmed that men have fewer close friends than women - and the problem gets worse the older men get. But what goes wrong? And what can men do about it? Dickins is going to find out.Join Max on his funny and charmingly candid search as he takes a defibrillator to his social life. As he ultimately discovers that if he wants a Best Man, then he needs to be a better man.Trade Review[Max Dickins] couldn't think of anyone to be his best man. It was a realisation that triggered a poignant - and very funny - odyssey * * Daily Mail * *A funny but deeply uncomfortable read for those men . . . who have allowed their male friendships to wither * * Sunday Times * *On the spot * * Guardian * *A funny, meaty, informative read where [Max Dickins] uses himself as a hook to guide us through male friendships * * Independent * *Very funny, utterly charming and above all, wise, Billy No-Mates is not so much about getting the friendships you deserve, but deserving the friendships you've got -- TIM DOWLINGFascinating -- JEREMY VINE * * BBC Radio 2 * *Really good * * Financial Times * *Brilliant . . . one of the most important books I've read this year . . . [it] asks us to put a mirror up to our own friendships -- NIHAL ARTHANAYAKE * * Radio5Live * *Billy No-Mates should be required reading for all us fellas. I wish I had it 10 years ago. Hilarious, elegantly-written and fascinating. As a life-improving call-to-arms, it's impact on me is hard to overstate. It has - without exaggeration - made me a better friend. And maybe even a better man. As absorbing as it is funny -- PHIL WANGWe need a conversation about why men don't have a mate they can talk to * * The Times * *

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Book SynopsisBaggage is the story of Alan Cumming's life in Hollywood, taking us through the highs and lows of his career, from his struggle with mental health and failed relationships to encounters with legends (Liza! X Men! Gore Vidal! Kubrick! Spice Girls!).Cumming shows how every experience - each bad decision or moment of sensual joy - has shaped who he is today: a happy, flawed, vulnerable, fearless middle-aged man, with a lot of baggage. Startlingly honest, both poignant and joyous, Baggage shines a light on how to embrace the complicated messiness of life.Trade ReviewAn intimate look at the making of a man, an actor, an advocate and - most importantly - a happy human being. Cumming is a natural raconteur, and this feels like a private conversation between the author and the reader. A wonderful book that is funny, honest, fearless and generous in its vulnerability -- DOUGLAS STUARTEverything that makes Alan Cumming so engaging as a person and a performer - his cleverness, kindness, charm, wildness and, above all, authenticity - shines from every page of this wonderful, witty and wise book -- NIGELLA LAWSONA brilliantly gossipy memoir * * The Times * *It seems fundamentally unfair that Alan Cumming is, in addition to being a fine actor and a wicked performer, such a hell of a good writer. But he is. He's observant, honest, often trenchantly funny, always emotionally honest. He's an international treasure -- NEIL GAIMANTo read Baggage is to spend time with the most engaging companion in the world. Charm, wit, insight, entrancingly disarming self-knowledge, hilarious stories by the basketful, Alan Cumming's attributes are endlessly enriching and enchanting. Only one negative, I just hated to see the right-hand page count, the pages yet to be read, thinning down and reminding me, like a tolling bell, that this joyous ride was coming to an end -- STEPHEN FRYAlan Cumming's star quality belies a man and a writer of substance, who unpacks his life in this powerful memoir * * Scotsman * *Reading his books, you sense that Cumming can scarcely walk down the street without drama or incident . . . His stories flit between dinner party anecdote, Hollywood gossip and personal tragedy, switching tempo effortlessly * * Telegraph * *I could not love this man or this book more. Alan writes with such unvarnished truth and a humour that can only come from a brilliant mind, rapier wit and resilience from emotionally painful life experiences. This book - like Alan is off the page - is full of insight, compassion, intellect and wisdom. This is the best Baggage to have -- MONICA LEWINSKYA wonderfully entertaining book about [Cumming's] adventures in Hollywood that follows up the powerful Not My Father's Son * * Stylist * *Deliciously candid * * Daily Mail * *

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Book SynopsisMax and Mally, two out of millions murdered in the Holocaust, are deported in 1942 from Berlin to Theresienstadt - where they will starve to death.Decades later, in London and on a whim, their granddaughter, Jackie googles their names to find two commemorative stones recently placed outside their old home. The discovery compels her to open a long-closed cupboard of haunting family papers, piece together the story of the family she never knew and find her place in it.With searing prose and meticulous detective work, Jackie Kohnstamm offers a gripping and poignant portrait of an ordinary family and reveals a remarkable story of loss, discovery and memory.

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Book SynopsisA COUNTRYFILE CHRISTMAS GIFT BOOKWhat is home?It's a question that has troubled Marchelle Farrell for her entire life. A longed-for career in psychiatry saw her leave behind the pristine beaches and emerald hills of Trinidad. Until, disillusioned, she uprooted again, this time for the peaceful English countryside.The only Black woman in her village, Marchelle hopes to grow a new life. But when a worldwide pandemic and a global racial reckoning collide, the upheaval of colonialism that has led her to this place begins to be unearthed. Is this really home? And can she ever feel truly grounded here?Drawn to her new garden, Marchelle begins to examine this complex and emotional question through the psychotherapeutic lens of her work. As her relationship with the garden deepens, she discovers that her two conflicting identities are far more intertwined than she had realised.Full of hope and healing, Uprooting is a book about finding home where we least expect it, and which invites us to reconnect to the land - and ourselves.Trade ReviewA beautiful memoir that shows how gardens can be a place to plant our most troubled feelings, to put down roots and to find peace -- KATHERINE MAYA tender book, raw in some parts . . . Farrell generously shows the reader the value of openness, considering what we have to learn from other people and species -- AMANDA THOMSON * * Times Literary Supplement * *Glistening . . . This book will change how we speak of gardens, land and identity in myriad ways. An exquisite love letter [and] a rallying call * * Irish Times * *Uprooting is a potent hymn to the importance of home and a deeply thoughtful offering on what our gardens can be -- ALICE VINCENTA wonderful book * * Financial Times * *Stunning . . . The power of [Farrell's] prose, her skilful observation and her uncanny ability to weave together science and spirituality comes alive in this memoir * * NB Magazine * *Emotive . . . [Farrell] uses her plot to as a lens from which to consider to place, people and planet. At time universal, at other times, strikingly personal * * Gardens Illustrated * *An intensely felt book with much to say about family and race * * Country and Town House * *Can the shifting sands upon which a diasporic life is built ever begin to settle? In her search for belonging, Farrell co-creates a garden and considers the wider cultural and political landscapes that have shaped her. A beautiful entanglement of soil and soul -- JINI REDDYUprooting is at once tender and direct - as lyrical in its descriptions of home landscapes as it is scathing on the still-living legacies of colonisation. Farrell has given us a profoundly honest portrait of plants, place and the shifting of spirit wrought by migration -- JESSICA J LEEIn this beautiful book, Marchelle Farrell excavates the troubled legacies of colonialism and her own uprooting as she brings her Somerset garden back to life. Over the course of a year she pours love into the depleted soil and is rewarded with an abundance - of plants, insights and friendships - and, most importantly, a sense of finding home -- LULAH ELLENDERUprooting is gorgeously written, a thoughtful and evocative meditation on gardening and making home. Marchelle took me right there into her garden with her words, and I shared the passing of seasons with her. Having been uprooted and rooted several times, I admired the love and generosity in Marchelle's words. For anyone who has searched for home, this will feel comforting and reassuring -- DR PRAGYA AGARWAL, author of (M)OTHERHOOD and HYSTERICALA cracking, glistening, important book that will change how we speak of gardens, land and identity in myriad ways. A story of becoming and belonging; of building a safe, beautiful life as a means of digging up the chains that colonialism has tried to keep our world bound by. More than anything it is a rallying call; imploring us to reshape what it means to inhabit a place; showing us so many ways that we might make home -- KERRI NI DOCHARTAIGHMarchelle Farrell paints a living, breathing portrait of her home(s), both distant and near, real and imagined. She wills us to look closer, not just at the garden's present but also its past and its imagined future, uncovering an intricate root system of memories and migration lines. Farrell's writing allows us to see plants as vessels of memory and history, plants as kin -- NINA MINGYA POWLESWith lyrical prose, Farrell carries the reader along as she investigates the process of putting down new roots. In a frenetic and troubled world, her book is a timely reminder of the solace to be found within a garden -- SUE STUART-SMITHTransformative. Farrell's writing brought to mind the searching gaze of V. S. Naipaul in The Enigma of Arrival. But her voice is wholly her own, and her story of gardening is a fresh one, leaping off the page with urgency and beauty. But what's also giving me life is the prismatic beauty of her sentences, so poetic that I sometimes had to pause my reading to let them soak in. A powerful and beautiful book -- JASON ALLEN-PAISANTUprooting shimmers with earth-loving beauty, power and possibilities. An urgent, generous, deeply astute book with a strength and sensibility that challenges the inadequate and harmful stories and myths we have been told, and sows the seeds of much-needed new ones. I loved its softness and its toughness, its vitality and its intimacy, Farrell's poetic sentences and her rich and layered ways of seeing. An essential book about connection, interdependence, the experience of mothering, and the magic of the wild, both in the garden, and inside us all -- LUCY JONES

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Book SynopsisLife and death in a modern hospital, from Seamus O'Mahony, the award-winning author of The Way We Die Now and Can Medicine Be Cured? Seamus O'Mahony charts the realities of work in the 'ministry of bodies', that huge complex where people come to be cured and to die. From unexpected deaths to moral quandaries and bureaucratic disasters, O'Mahony documents life in the halls and wards that all of us will visit at some point in our lives with his characteristic wit and dry and unsentimental intelligence. Absurd general emails, vain and self-promoting specialists, the relentless parade of self-destructive drinkers and drug users, the comical expectations of baffled patients: this is not a conventional medical memoir, but the collective biography of one of our great modern institutions – the general hospital – through the eyes of a brilliant writer, who happens to be a doctor.Trade ReviewSharp and pithy observations... An insight into the realities of healthcare that no journalist could hope to capture' -- Danielle Barron, Irish TimesNo one writes as clearly and intelligently about modern medicine as Seamus O'Mahony -- Emily Hourican, Sunday IndependentWonderfully funny and curmudgeonly, The Ministry of Bodies is a descent into the very bowels of modern medicine, as brilliant and candid as Solzhenitsyn's Cancer Ward -- Kevin ToolisDoctors tend to be seen as saints and heroes, but that's a picture few of them recognise. Seamus O'Mahony, a medical Dostoevsky, gives a much more interesting and much funnier portrayal of a doctor's life -- Richard Smith, former editor of the British Medical JournalThe Ministry of Bodies has much of what we expect from O'Mahony – it's blunt, witty, erudite, curmudgeonly -- Melanie Reid, The TimesThere's plenty of interesting strangeness * iNews *Funny, sad, infuriating, heartening and depressing, all in almost equal measure, although the overarching theme is one of deep regret for what has been lost... There are many parts of The Ministry of Bodies that had me laughing out loud... O'Mahony has a very keen eye for the absurd. But much of it made me wince too... The moral conviction of the book is unwavering' * Irish Sunday Independent *

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Book SynopsisThe Journey Continues ... Traversing Canada, rounding Cape Horn, riding the Patagonian Pampas and Mongolian wilds. From Greek Islands to North Cape, through Thailand or along the Silk Road, Letson’s journeys reflect her curiosity and adventurous spirit. Readers meet characters imagined and real: ancestral ghosts, the author’s intrepid parents, lighthouse keepers, an Auschwitz survivor, gauchos, Roma and nomads. Set within historic and literary contexts, Soul of a Nomad shares sixty-five years of journeys and revelations. Evocative descriptions nestle amongst hair-raising anecdotes, every page encouraging the reader to explore further. The English word nomad derives from the ancient Greek νομαδ, referring to those who roam or wander in search of pasture for their livestock. Modern-day nomad, Kim Letson also searches - always seeking new vistas and fresh perspectives - on a lifelong journey that never fails to delight the reader. James Deutsch, George Washington University lecturer, folklorist, author. All lives are special, but some are more special than others. This delightful autobiography encompasses a life, a career and best of all, an exciting guide to those who are more interested in “otherness” than in exporting and expecting Canadian values when abroad. With boisterous good spirits and self-depreciating humour, Letson brings us with her to many of the world’s “roads less travelled” and describes for us the good, the bad and the ugly. Rick Steeves, watch out! Chris Harker, safari guide, fellow adventurer, author. Soul of a Nomad takes us from the Yangykala Canyon of Turkmenistan to the Alaskan Coast and from Florence in Tuscany to Ushuaia in Patagonia. At every juncture, Letson reflects on the significance of place, time and those she encounters. She describes her diverse travels through the eyes of a child, a young soldier on a peace keeping mission and an intrepid retiree. Ever the cautious interloper as she considers her role as “Other” and “outsider,” Letson is a keen observer of new ways, and new cultures. A highly recommended read for all observers of humanity and those with an interest in travel. Christine Dickinson, historian, author. Soul of a Nomad recounts a lifetime of exploration in remote corners of the world. Rich with sensory memories of the author’s childhood in snowy Ontario and family sojourns in England, as well as glimpses of her close bond with her parents, this is the story of how one person grows into the habit and practice of adventure. Going out to meet the world requires courage, flexibility, and humility. Every encounter described by Letson reveals the dual nature of her learning: while other cultures always have much to teach her, the journey is also a mirror of her own self-discovery. This memoir is an interesting blend of many different genres, as Letson also weaves history into her accounts of different countries and regions. For the reader, the pleasure of following the author on her adventures is akin to watching a child grow up to be fearless and confident, full of delight in the mystery and varied beauty of the world. Margo McLoughlin, storyteller, teacher, author.

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Book Synopsis'Transition has not been something linear for me, my joy has come in seasons.'Now, more than ever, trans people deserve to hear stories of joy and hope, where being trans doesn't have to be defined by fear and dysphoria, but can be experienced through courage, freedom, and the love and acceptance of their chosen families.Through a series of uplifting, generous and beautifully crafted vignettes, T. C. Oakes-Monger gently leads you through the cycle of the seasons - beginning in Autumn and the shedding of leaves and identity, moving through the darkness of Winter, its cold days, and the reality of daily life, into Spring, newness, and change, and ending with the joy of long Summer days and being out and proud - and invites you to find similar moments of joy in your life.Celebratory and empowering, these stories are a reminder of the power joy can bring.Trade ReviewWhat we desperately need and deserve - more trans joy -- Charlie Craggs, author of To My Trans SistersTo feel valid and seen in this world is a huge thing - one that many in the trans community never receive - but this book does that for so many people. Tash Oakes-Monger has beautifully weaved their lived experience throughout this book, combining it with a poignant reminder to look for joy, creating something everyone can read and benefit from. -- Ben Pechey, author of The Book of Non-Binary JoyFrom surviving, to thriving, this uplifting gem of a book shares powerful stories detailing childhood clues and trans joy. Every trans experience is different and yet there is still a thread we can connect with in every individual story. Powerful, Insightful and Captivating. -- Fox Fisher, Artist, Author & Film-makerA beautiful set of interpretations of who we are and what we are capable of becoming. A must read. -- Juno Roche, author of Trans Power and Queer SexA beautiful memoir about the power and magic of trans joy * DIVA Magazine *

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Book SynopsisPsycho, psychotic, psychosis. The words get thrown around by everyone from newsreaders to the guy in the pub talking about his ex, and feed into a fog of stigma and misinformation that can make it feel impossible to talk about living with hallucinations and delusions.In reality, psychosis affects 6% of the UK population at some point in their lives. It can be caused by a huge range of factors, from sleep deprivation and certain medications to bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. This guide digs into what psychosis really means, what it feels like, and how to handle its effects along with tackling stigma and other people''s misconceptions.Informed by interviews and the author''s own lived experience, this book explores the realities of living with psychosis. Whether you experience psychosis or support someone who does, this book will help you to understand the symptom and tackle its challenges.

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Book SynopsisTraditions and cultures represent a set of persisting or prevailing beliefs, social practices, oral, linguistic, and values that define an individual's way of life. In other words, in memoir writing, the emphasis is often to propagate a unilateral need or embrace of self-identity. However, the dominant narrative and method of analysis in this study holds the notion and privileges that tradition and cultures imbibed by memoirists are sometimes subverted, refashioned, or reworked due to the strand of experiences or realities they encounter in different spaces as their narration develops. Thus, memoirists embrace indifference and open-mindedness, which is also greatly explored in the context of autobiography.

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Book SynopsisRiverdance exploded across the stage at Dublin’s Point Theatre one spring evening in 1994 during a seven-minute interval of the Eurovision Song Contest hosted by Ireland. It was a watershed moment in the cultural history of a country embracing the future, a confident leap into world music grounded in the footfall of the choreographed kick-line. It was a moment forty-five years in the making for its composer. In this tenderly unfurled memoir Bill Whelan rehearses a lifetime of unconscious preparation as step by step he revisits his past, from with his Barrington Street home in 1950s Limerick, to the forcing ground of University College Dublin and the Law Library during the 1960s, to his attic studio in Ranelagh. Along the way the reader is introduced to people and places in the immersive world of fellow musicians, artists and producers, friends and collaborators, embracing the spectrum of Irish music as it broke boundaries, entering the global slipstream of the 1980s and 1990s. As art and commerce fused, dramas and contending personalities come to view behind the arras of stage, screen and recording desk. Whelan pays tribute to a parade of those who formed his world. He describes the warmth and sustenance of his Limerick childhood, his parents and Denise Quinn, won through assiduous courtship; the McCourts and Jesuit fathers of his early days, the breakthrough with a tempestuous Richard Harris who summoned him to London; Danny Doyle, Shay Healy, Dickie Rock, Planxty, The Dubliners and Stockton’s Wing, Noel Pearson, Seán Ó Riada; working with Jimmy Webb, Leon Uris, The Corrs, Paul McGuinness, Moya Doherty, John McColgan, Jean Butler and Michael Flatley. Written with wry, inimitable Irish humour and insight, Bill Whelan’s self deprecation allows us to to see the players in all their glory, vulnerability and idiosyncracy. This fascinating work reveals the nuts, bolts, sheer effort and serendipities that formed the road to Riverdance in his reinvention of the Irish tradition for a modern age. As the show went on to perform to millions worldwide, Whelan was honoured with a 1997 Grammy Award when Riverdance was named the ‘Best Musical Show Album.’ Richly detailed and illustrated, The Road to Riverdance forms an enduring repository of memory for all concerned with the performing arts.Trade ReviewHOT PRESS BOOK OF THE YEARIRISH TIMES BEST BOOK OF 2023‘Bill Whelan’s memoir is an entertaining account of the seismic changes in Irish society during the second half of the 20th century and a colourful testament to an extraordinary life that helped shape and soundtrack it.’ Éamon Sweeney, Irish Times‘Tells the story of a life in music and the path that led to one of Ireland’s most significant cultural exports.’ Irish Independent‘Makes for marvellous, revealing and very powerful reading. A brilliant edition to the canon, it offers a remarkable picture of a musical life lived to the full. Hats off to its maker’ Niall Stokes, Hot Press‘What an incredible talent he is’ Marty Whelan‘Filled with Limerick humour’ Limerick Leader‘Bill Whelan dances down memory lane with new memoir’ Galway Advertiser‘Paints an unforgettable picture of how one man navigated the rapids of music in Ireland – and came up trumps in the long run … an essential read for anyone who loves Irish music.’ Hot Press‘From [Whelan's] central position involved in taking traditional Irish dance into a modern orbit of choreographed bliss, the book charts the artistic and business marriage that built the Riverdance machine - the nuts, bolts and good fortune that together conspired to fashion an extravaganza that would go on play to millions around the globe … After twenty-seven years of live performances to over 22 million people, it remains an Irish export up there with the best.’ Irish ExaminerIRISH EXAMINER BEST BOOK‘[Whelan's] humour is dry, winking, and pivots between sharp and deadpan, developed in the early days of “pre-ghettoisation” Limerick, somewhere between Frank McCourt and the Rolling Stones … As one might expect, Whelan’s writing is rhythmic and punchy, never shying away from difficult topics … His anecdotes are rich and giving.’ Sunday Business Post

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Book Synopsis"...his stories are always interesting, lively and well written, giving an insight to the art world as he experienced it." — Literary Review Julian Spalding's career as a curator and creator of museums was amongst the most controversial and effective of his time. In this collection of essays and memoirs he revisits some of the important events and battles of the last 40 years, when he spearheaded resistance to the cult of conceptual art being promoted from the centre. Witty, illuminating, coruscating and blazingly intelligent, this book is a vital guide to the ways in which we consume art today, for good or ill. Trade Review"Julian Spalding, former director of galleries in Sheffield, Manchester and Glasgow, will include the research in his forthcoming book, Art Exposed, to be published by Pallas Athene Books in November. “This evidence absolutely disproves Duchamp’s authorship of the urinal,” he said. “It means that the whole foundation stone of conceptual art just collapses. A work of art is not a work of art just because somebody says it is." - Dalya Alberge"...his stories are always interesting, lively and well written, giving an insight to the art world as he experienced it." - Literary ReviewJulian was interviewed on Times Radio by Ed Vaizey standing in for Mariella Frostrup, on 21st November 2023 - Times Radio"In ‘Art Exposed’, Julian Spalding draws on his 40 years in the art world – as a museum director, curator, and critic – for his series of essays." - Wallpaper*"If you read one book on art this year, it must be this brilliant critique of art today seen through the lens of retired museum curator Julian Spalding." - International Property & Travel

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Book SynopsisOne fine April day, Mary Ann Kenny's husband died suddenly while jogging near their family home. In the months that followed, Mary Ann who had no history of mental illness began suffering from depression, and then from a terrifying succession of physical and psychological symptoms, including the delusion that her young children had been harmed by her medications. In this gripping memoir, Mary Ann details how grief led to a descent into psychosis, her hopitalization, and her inspiring journey back to health and happiness. Drawing on her detailed medical files and on her own recollections, she has created a day-by-day account of what it is like to lose touch with reality while living in the dreadful knowledge that everything you care about in life is under threat. And The Episode tells the inspiring story of how Mary Ann recovered from her illness, came to terms with her trauma, and spoke truth to the health service about the limitations of medical psychiatry. It reminds us that anyone could end up in Mary Ann's situation, while also showing that recovery and happiness are possible even after severe mental illness. Written with the pace of a thriller and the insight of a great psychological novel, The Episode is a brilliant act of personal reclamation and an essential read for anyone who is interested in the workings of the mind.

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Book SynopsisThis collection of autobiographical and teaching stories from peace activist and Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh is thought provoking and inspiring. Collected here for the first time, these stories span his life. There are stories from his childhood and the traditions of rural Vietnam. There are stories from his years as a teenage novice, as a young teacher and writer in war torn Vietnam, and of his travels around the world to teach mindfulness, make pilgrimages to sacred sites and influence world leaders. The tradition of Zen teaching stories goes back at least to the time of the Buddha. Like the Buddha, Thich Nhat Hanh uses story-telling to engage people's interest so he can share important teachings, insights and life lessons.Trade Review‘This book is ideal if you are going [to Vietnam] to find inner calm or want something mindful to read.’ * Wanderlust Travel Magazine *

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Book Synopsis'We will change things from within' Sherin Khankan is a pioneer, founding the first mosque for women in Europe and leading the way for a more progressive form of Islam. In this remarkable work, she shares her journey growing up between east and west to then becoming one of the first female imams in Europe. Addressing controversial issues such as radical Islamic groups, the right of Muslim women to divorce and the patriarchal structure of Islam, this is an eye-opening and empowering manifesto for change.

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Book SynopsisOn the eve of the first Chechen war in the 1990s, Mikail Eldin was a young and naïve arts journalist. By the end of the second war, he had become a battle-hardened war reporter and mountain partisan who had endured torture and imprisonment in a concentration camp. His compelling memoir traces the unfolding of the conflict from day one, with vivid scenes right from the heart of the war. The Sky Wept Fire presents a unique glimpse into the lives of the Chechen resistance, providing testimony of great historical value. Yet it is not merely the story of the battle for Chechnya: this is the story of the battle within the heart, the struggle to conquer fear, hold on to faith and preserve one's humanity. Eldin was fated to witness key events in Chechnya's history: from the first day of the attack on Grozny, and the full-scale Russian invasion that followed it, to the siege of Grozny five years later that razed the city to the ground and has been compared to the destruction of Dresden. Resurrecting these memories with extraordinary lyricism, Eldin observes the sights, the sounds and smells of war. Having fled Grozny alongside the droves of refugees, he joins the defending army - yet he always considers his role as that of journalist and witness. Shortly after joining the Chechen resistance, Eldin is captured in the mountains. He undergoes barbaric torture as his captors attempt to break his will. They fail to make him talk, and he is eventually transferred to a concentration camp. There a new struggle awaits him: the battle to overcome his own suicidal thoughts and ensuing insanity.Trade ReviewThe descriptions of seeing the first surreal signs of war are detailed, acute, and horrifying. Alongside the grit runs a poetry of introspection... Powerful, lyrical and disturbing -- Arifa Akbar * Independent *[This] is going to be a 21st century classic about war and conflict. In its humanity and honest, it is unlikely to be surpassed. Anna Gunin deserves high praise for her excellent translation - she wove the mood music of the Russian original into smooth English * Tribune *Expertly translated... an unflinching portrait of an oppressed people and a brutal and little-understood battlefront -- Malcolm Forbes * National *Deeply harrowing and searingly honest... A heartfelt, passionate story * New Internationalist *The Sky Wept Fire has a haunting and defiant lyricism * Russia Beyond the Headlines *Anna Gunin captures the elegiac tone of Eldin's prose... [It] vividly conveys the passions and almost inconceivable suffering that accompanied the latest Russo-Chechen conflicts... Riveting [and] lyrical -- Anna Brodsky * TLS *A remarkable work of life-writing and a brilliantly rendered translation * Oxonian Review *

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Book SynopsisHope Against Hope recounted the last four years in the life of the great Russian poet, Osip Mandelstam, and gave a hair-raising account of Stalin's terror. Hope Abandoned complements that earlier masterpiece, and in it Nadezhda Mandelstam describes their life together from 1919, and her own after Mandelstam's death in a labour camp in 1938. She also sets out his system of values and beliefs, and provides striking portraits of many of their contemporaries including Boris Pasternak and their champion till his own downfall, Nikolai Bukharin, as well as an astonishingly candid picture of Anna Akhmatova.Trade ReviewTwo of the most fortifying books of our times, Nadezhda Mandelstam’s Hope against Hope and Hope Abandoned ... were finally written in the late Sixties. In these books, we have a devastating indictment of most of what happened in post-revolutionary Russia -- Seamus Heaney * London Review of Books *A bursting compendium of glances at people, framed in essays of scorn for the inquisitors and compassion for the victims... If she is vinegarish, she is also powerful and enhancing -- V.S. PritchettDescribes the whole range of her life with Mandelstam, their travels, vicissitudes and friendships, above all the friendship with Akhmatova... a vivid triple portrait * New Society *Max Hayward's translation reads easily and seems to me to convey exactly the style and tone in which this great book is written * Daily Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisOn the backbenches but still in the thick of it, Decline and Fall runs from Chris Mullin's sacking as a minister by Tony ('The Man') Blair in 2005 to the fall of New Labour in May 2010. Here is politics as it really is: entertaining encounters with constituents and conspirators, tantalising glimpses behind the scenes at the courts of Blair and Brown, all set against the background of the global financial crisis and the great expenses meltdown. Every bit as funny and insightful as his first volume A View From The Foothills, these new diaries provide a snapshot of life in the Westminster village. Preparing to step down after twenty-three years as an MP, Mullin wryly observes 'they say failed politicians make the best diarists, in which case I am in with a chance'.Trade ReviewEvery once in a while, political diaries emerge that are so irreverent and insightful that they are destined to be handed out as leaving presents in offices across Whitehall for years to come. A View from the Foothills is one such book -- David CameronAt a time when we are awash with memoirs of political grandees, the worms-eye view is even more valuable * New Statesman *

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Book SynopsisFood is our most intimate and vital commodity, yet too many of us have lost touch with the reality of where it comes from and how it is produced. Providing a seasonal tour of a traditional farming year, passionate beef farmer Joe Stanley seeks to bridge this knowledge gap and inform the reader about the journey their food takes before it gets to the plate, revealing the realities of modern agricultural life for a British lowland farmer. Drawing on a lifetime of experience, he strips observations of the countryside and agricultural practices down to the core of his day-to-day, illustrating how our food is produced and why our farmed landscape looks the way it does. Along the way, he offers insight into his daily routine, such as how crops are planted, why livestock is brought in for winter, and what happens at harvest, while addressing the bigger issues surrounding food standards, sustainability, the environment, rural heritage, trade and the future of agricultural policy outside the EU. Often undermined as an antiquated pastime, agriculture is actually the core of a £122bn food and farming sector (the UK’s largest manufacturing industry), and Farm to Fork: The Challenge of Sustainable Farming in 21st Century Britain stands as a testament to British farming and the heart that goes into the food our farmers produce, the environmental stewardship they deliver and the landscape they maintain, whether through the assurance of food quality, animal welfare or environmental sustainability. This is a wonderfully-detailed and candid account of the life of a British farmer — of the highs and lows and lessons learned from a lifetime on the land.Trade ReviewThis book offers a compelling insight into the challenges and rewards of farming. A must-read for any agriculture student, it will also appeal to those with an interest in their food, as well as the farmers who produce it.A wonderfully-detailed and candid account of the life of a British farmer. Farm to Fork offers something for everyone, no matter their background.For now, the battle to defend farming against cavalier politicians, unscrupulous capitalists and ignorant environmentalists continues to be waged in the media by its champions, notably NFU president Minette Batters, who has written the foreword. Mr Stanley has made a heartfelt contribution to that fight.The book gives an insight into the hundreds of decisions affecting what ends up on our plate, how farming life has changed, and how it might look in years to come.It is, at its core, a love letter from one farmer, to an entire industry

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Book SynopsisFrom her earliest years with a boozy, accident-prone father and a reluctantly pragmatic mother, Janice Galloway grew up as a watcher - careful and vigilant. Then her parents' marriage broke up and mother and daughter moved to an attic above a doctor''s surgery. When her big sister Cora returned home, with her steady stream of boyfriends, snappy dress sense and matching temper, evasion became a way of life. This is a funny and telling book about the routine dependencies and confusions, hopes and triumphs of childhood; it is also a book about emergence, as, slowly, the beginnings of unsuspected rage pushed the silent girl towards her voice.Trade ReviewSublime prose and fierce honesty set it apart ... Part of Galloway's skill in This is Not About Me is how she keeps a child's sense of bewilderment and secret understanding * Telegraph *Blistering, terrifying, always moving * Independent on Sunday *Galloway provides sentences blazing with light, a gorgeous draft of terror * Observer *Galloway takes her readers straight back into childhood's wincingly recognisable uncertainties, dislocations and disruptions. She had more of them than most ... one of the most moving, yet completely unsentimental, accounts of growing up that you will ever read * Scotsman *A literary, not a misery, memoir. There is mirth, and a Proustian attention to the sights, sounds and smells of the industrialized coast of Clydeside * Sunday Times *On reluctantly closing the boards of this unforgettable memoir, the words "first volume" are strangely comforting - a combination of Galloway's power and the fact that the wee girl done good make it so * Scotland on Sunday *A dazzling book - Galloway is brilliant on the minute detail of childhood perception. She is also brave, funny, resilient and in spite of everything full of emotional generosity * Daily Mail *A book unlike any other, in which Galloway has captured what it means to start to become yourself * Guardian *Beautifully observed, witty and wonderfully evocative * Woman’s Weekly *

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Book SynopsisFilled with pathos and humour,Parcels in the Postis both a memoir of a loving household and snapshot of the fostering system in Ireland, from someone at the very heart of it all.

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Book SynopsisDavid Attenborough is one of the most influential and admired figures in English television. When 26, he applied for a job in the BBC – which then meant radio – and was promptly turned down. But someone saw his rejected application and asked, would he like to try television? He would, and sixty years later, he is still at it. Elegantly told, often very funny, here is his story.At home there is his rise to controlling BBC2, introducing colour television to Britain, encounters with Montgomery, Anthony Eden, singers, athletes, explorers, the Queen, Benjamin Britten. Abroad there are people just as remarkable, journeys up tropical rivers, to the interior of New Guinea or the Australian outback, dragons, birds of paradise, flying snakes and walls of cockroaches.Now updated to cover his work since 2009, Life on Air is a remarkable account of David Attenborough’s passion for the natural world and his lifelong quest to understand it. .Trade ReviewThere isn’t a single false note....Attenborough’s familiar voice comes through in every line. * Daily Telegraph *It’s almost impossible to believe that all these things happened to one man… But David Attenborough wears his achievements lightly and there as many laughs here as there are animals. -- Michael PalinAn enthralling autobiography from one of the linchpins of television… Attenborough is a master story-teller, and his book is crammed with anecdotes. * Good Book Guide *

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Book SynopsisThe critical and biographical introduction tells of Lady Wortley Montagu's travels through Europe to Turkey in 1716, where her husband had been appointed Ambassador. Her lively letters offer insights into the paradoxical freedoms conferred on Muslim women by the veil, the value of experimental work by Turkish doctors on inoculation, and the beauty of Arab poetry and culture. The ability to study another culture according to its own values and to see herself through the eyes of others makes Lady Mary one of the most fascinating of early travel writers and commentatorsTrade ReviewHer letters have an immediacy and vivacity that remains as fresh as the mosaics on the ancient monuments she saw and the eastern gardens that gave her such delight -- Anita DesaiOne of the best narrative travel books ever written by an Englishwoman -- Dervla MurphyA timely and compelling reminder of the reasons why we should pay attention to the writing of this remarkable woman. They have produced what will no doubt be the definitive teaching edition for years to come -- Suvir Paul, University of PennsylvaniaWhat a treat to see this indispensable and versatile text again available . . . Her idiosyncratic, open-minded, proto-feminist responses to Islamic civilisation are more fascinating today than ever, and the context that the editors supply for them is simply the best yet -- Isobel Grundy, University of AlbertaHer letters have an immediacy and vivacity that remains as fresh as the mosiacs on the ancient monuments she saw and the eastern gardens that gave her such delight. * Anita Desai *

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