Memoirs Books
Orion Publishing Co The Way We Survive
Book SynopsisA searing and powerfully written exploration of rape culture and surviving sexual violence, written by Catriona Morton, host of award-winning BBC Sounds podcast, After.Trade ReviewHonest and unapologetic, Catriona Morton's book brings nuance and poignant personal insight to a topic which is more than just 'timely' -- sexual violence is a lived a reality for many of us in society, and has always been. In so doing, she offers a guiding hand for any victim or survivor out there who has felt lost, isolated, or misunderstood. A book that builds community and understanding. * Winnie M Li, author of Complicit *A luminous, empathetic, inclusive and urgent book. This book taught me so much about trauma and survival, about the world, and about myself. Catriona's voice is clear and lucid and it is a lifeline to survivors everywhere and those who love them. I am so grateful for this book and I will return to it again and again. Everyone should read it. * Lucia Osborne-Crowley, author of My Body Keeps Your Secrets *Through intimate, sensitive, and nuanced writing, Catriona Morton builds community with survivors across the world, and offers solidarity and illumination for those who may be stumbling through the darkness. Catriona's writing wraps the soul up in the warmest, most comforting of blankets, offers it a warm cup of tea, and listens without judgement and with a deep-rooted empathy that helps you feel incredibly seen. A truly beautiful book - one everyone should read. * Prishita Maheshwari-Aplin, the Politics Editor at BRICKS *One of the most important, impressive and compassionate books I've read on surviving sexual violence. The Way We Survive perfectly blends the personal with the political to create a series of raw, honest, moving and well-researched essays. This book helped me enormously in understanding my own CPTSD. I'm so glad I found it. * Katy Wix, author of Delicacy *Morton's own story is so inspiring - and provocative - and her honesty deeply uplifting. The conversations contained are generous, varied, exquisitely realised and profoundly nuanced. Morton provides a valuable resource to readers who carry forward difficult histories, and the result is beautiful. * Jessica Cornwell, author of The Serpent Papers and Birth Notes *
£9.49
Pen & Sword Books Ltd Panzer Leader
Book SynopsisA rare memoir by a German armoured reconnaissance patrol commander in the elite Panzer-Lehr-Division.
£13.49
Pen & Sword Books Ltd Flying Freestyle
Book SynopsisA well-written account of a long RAF flying careers with several squadrons still with active Associations and on many interesting fast jet aircraft.
£13.49
Pen & Sword Books Ltd From Dieppe to DDay
Book SynopsisThe previously unpublished memoirs of one the most important Allied military planners of the Second World War.
£17.00
Pen & Sword Books Ltd The Perilous Road to Rome Beyond
Book SynopsisA superb infantry officers memoir of fighting in North Africa and Italy.
£13.49
Pen & Sword Books Ltd The Workhorse of Helmand
Book SynopsisFirst-hand Chinook crewman's account.
£18.70
Pen & Sword Books Ltd Eyewitness to Wehrmacht Atrocities on the Eastern
Book SynopsisThought-provoking eyewitness account of the Second World War on the Eastern Front by a common German soldier.
£17.00
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC The Magic in the Tin
Book Synopsis''Unmissable: please read this extraordinary book.'' - Daily Mail''A triumph ... A worthy follow-up to The Boy on the Shed.'' - Jeff Stelling''All men should read this book - important and brilliantly written.'' - Alan Shearer''Genius... A difficult, deeply personal story beautifully told.'' George Caulkin, The Athletic----From the author of the critically acclaimed memoir, The Boy on the Shed, comes a powerful tale of grit and resilience, told with great humour, openness and profound bravery.Former Newcastle United winger Paul Ferris was 51. He had successfully forged a post-football career as a physio, barrister and then a CEO, and his award-winning memoir, The Boy on the Shed, was just about to be published. But then he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. This honest, sometimes brutal and frequently funny book tells the story of what happened next.Prostate cancer. It's a phrase that strikes fear into the hTrade ReviewAll men should read this book – important and brilliantly written. -- Alan ShearerA triumph ... A worthy follow-up to The Boy on the Shed. -- Jeff StellingA difficult and important story beautifully told. -- Mick HarfordGenius... A difficult, deeply personal story beautifully told. Paul Ferris is a rare and important author who can write about the darkest of subjects with a warmth and life- affirming honesty few others can match. -- George Caulkin * The Athletic UK *Paul Ferris manages to be brutally honest and very funny about something dark and terrifying. He's also generous, warm and philosophical. -- Kevin Day, writer and comedianA book as brave as it is honest. * Daily Mail *... a fantastic read… educational and thought-provoking. * ITV News *A powerful, courageous and brave book -- Francis Benali, Southampton FC legend and award-winning charity fundraiserCourageous, life-affirming and beautifully written, it is a memoir that is both deeply moving and rich in humour... a magnificent book and I encourage you to read it. -- Helen McGurkA deeply personal and brutally honest account ... handled with a light tough - and moments of real humour - as Ferris brings that roller coaster road to life. * Irish news *Powerful * Choice Magazine *Unmissable: please read this extraordinary book... Every man, whatever their age, should read this brave and painfully honest book. * Daily Mail *Ferris brings humour to the darkness. This profoundly moving memoir will perhaps be his most important legacy. It will hold the hands of men unfortunate enough to face the same fight and encourage others not to remain silent. Inspirational. * Daily Mail *
£10.44
Orion Publishing Co We All Come Home Alive
Book SynopsisWe All Come Home Alive is the story of a life told through the moments which remade it - from car crashes to first kisses, from the stumbling magic of drunkenness to the tearing open of birth - to offer consolation and companionship, deep wisdom and luminous beauty.''Intelligent, poised and emotionally exacting. Beecher''s evocative essays on life''s defining moments unpick how we might be made and remade by life'' Cal Flyn, author of Islands of Abandonment
£17.00
Orion Publishing Co The Story Smuggler
Book Synopsis''Some smuggle cigarettes, others alcohol - or weapons.Our contraband, being invisible, is more dangerous.Our contraband is undetectable by scanners.What we carry as concealed excess baggage is stories.''In this exquisite literary gem, Georgi Gospodinov, winner of the International Booker Prize, invites the reader on a winding journey through his own memories.He shows us a childhood under Communism, a particularly Bulgarian variety of melancholy, the freedom and thrills found in reading and writing, and the coming of age of one extraordinary writer.Ultimately, this profound, playful and deeply moving autobiographical text offers resounding proof of the power and importance of storytelling.TRANSLATED FROM THE BULGARIAN BY KRISTINA KOVACHEVA AND DAN GUNN
£13.49
Hachette Books Ireland The Lamplighters of the Phoenix Park
Book SynopsisThe Phoenix Park in Dublin holds a special place in the collective memory of Irish people. From the assassinations of 1882 and the destruction of several imperial monuments, to the arrival of Douglas Hyde as Ireland''s first president and Pope John Paul''s 1979 visit, it has been at the centre of Irish society for centuries.But the park is also part and parcel of daily life for many Dubliners - none more so than the Flanagan family, who have been lighting the gas lamps within its walls since 1890.Here, historian Donal Fallon speaks to brothers Frank and James Flanagan, lamplighters of the park, to give us a snapshot of a fading tradition, and a unique history of one of Ireland''s most beloved places.With stunning photographs, historical events and personal stories, The Lamplighters of the Phoenix Park shines a light on the park at the centre of our national identity, through the prism of this singular family, whose histories have been intertwineTrade ReviewThe Flanagan family, celebrated in this beautifully produced, illustrated book, have had a connection to the park that goes back generations * Sunday Independent *A most interesting story, expertly told and with very fine illustrations * Irish Times *This handsome publication is both homage and history, as it chronicles Ireland's most famous public space, the Phoenix Park in Dublin * RTÉ Guide *thoroughly researched but also conversational and full of tangents ... Fallon's obvious expertise makes him an engaging and authoritative tour guide * Sunday Business Post *
£19.54
John Murray Press Style and Substance
Book Synopsis''A compelling new encyclopaedia of style'' Harper''s Bazaar''In a world of fleeting trends, Bay Garnett has created an accessory to treasure, earning Style and Substance an enduring place in the canon of fashion literature.'' i-newsFor Bernardine Evaristo, style is about a refusal to be stereotyped. Heels make Charlotte Tilbury feel powerful while Chloë Sevigny delights in the traditional, with a twist. Jilly Cooper and A J Tracey appreciate diamonds; Zadie Smith adapts her wardrobe depending on the city and Rachel Weisz loves the democracy of denim. Sienna Miller misses the freedom of a less self-conscious age.With over sixty pieces on everything from Davina McCall on the importance of underwear to Stanley Tucci on the elegance of a narrow stripe, this is a gloriously eclectic celebration of self-expression.''Stellar'' Pandora Sykes ''
£11.69
Richfield and Barr Publishing Limited My Families and Other Samurai
Book SynopsisIn this deeply researched, richly textured and often moving family history, Haruko Fukuda gives for western readers a series of unique insights into the Japan of the last century and a half. David KynastonJapan's lordly samurai thought money beneath them, but Haruko thought for herself. Coming to England, she got herself into Cambridge (to read History) and went on to a dazzling career in international finance and then public service. Her book is fascinating, illuminating and touching. Christopher FildesA vivid, personal and revealing excavation of the forgotten worlds of 20th-century Japan In My Families and Other Samurai, Haruko Fukuda weaves together intricate threads of Japan's modern history, offering a glimpse into the lives of members of her family the last of the samurai as they deal with momentous change. With meticulous rsearch and insightful analysis, Fukuda guides us through the pages of history, unearthing hidden narratives, revealing a remarkable interplay of tradition and progress, and shedding light on the untold stories of Japan's elite.
£24.00
Dermot Scott Knight Errant
Book SynopsisRobert Irwin Knight, bank clerk, left Downpatrick for Armyservice, initially as a sergeant with the British ExpeditionaryForce in France, surviving its chaotic retreat and subsequentevacuation from Dunkirk. Thereafter as aCommissionedOfficer he served in the defence of the UK. Finally he took partin the Normandy campaign.After retirement from a post-war career as an English teacher atBanbridge Academy, he wrote of his war-time service, a memoirnotable for its wit and self-deprecation. He gives charming,penetrating descriptions of his fellowofficers and men, of thepeople among whom they moved, the liberated and theconquered.This humane and intelligent man has written the leastmilitaristic account possible of his hopes and fear, hisexhilaration and anxiety, during six years of service.Written some forty years after the event, the memoir isenlivened with literary references, the fruit of his subsequentunivers
£11.88
Penguin Books Ltd Is It Really Too Much To Ask
Book SynopsisThe fifth volume in the mega-bestselling World According to Clarkson series.Well, someone''s got to do it: in a world which simply will not see reason, Jeremy sets off on another quest to beat a path of sense through all the silliness and idiocy. And there''s no knowing what might catch Jeremy''s eye along the way. It could be:-The merits of Stonehenge as a business model-Why all meetings are a waste of time-The theft of the Queen''s cows-One Norwegian man''s unique approach to showing his gratitude-Fitting a burglar alarm to a tortoise-Or how Lou Reed was completely wrong about what makes a perfect dayPithy and provocative, this is Clarkson at his best, taking issue with whatever nonsense gets in the way of his search for all that''s worth celebrating. Why should we be forced to accept stuff that''s a bit rubbish? Shouldn''t things work? Why doesn''t someone care? I mean, is it really too much to ask?It''s a goodTrade ReviewPraise for Clarkson * - *Brilliant . . . laugh-out-loud funny * Daily Telegraph *Very funny . . . I cracked up laughing on the tube * Evening Standard *Outrageously funny . . . will have you in stitches * Time Out *
£10.44
Penguin Books Ltd Spectacles
Book SynopsisDiscover the woman behind the spectacles in the hilarious, incredibly moving memoir from much loved comedian, writer and presenter Sue Perkins, star of Mel & Sue and The Great British Bake Off''Very funny. Reading her memoir is very like meeting her'' Sunday Times''Tight & bright & full of inspiration'' Chris Evans, Radio 2 When I began writing this book, I went home to see if my mum had kept some of my stuff. What I found was that she hadn''t kept some of it. She had kept all of it - every bus ticket, postcard, school report - from the moment I was born to the moment I finally had the confidence to turn round and say ''Why is our house full of this shit?''Sadly, a recycling ''incident'' destroyed the bulk of this archive.This has meant two things: firstly, Dear Reader, you will never get to see countless drawings of wizards, read a poem about corn on the cob, or marvel at the kilos of brown flowers I so loviTrade ReviewDrama, tears and laughs - Spectacles has got it all. A brilliant, touching memoir suffused with love, it reminds you that life is best lived at wonky angles. I ADORED it -- Jessie Burton bestselling author of * The Miniaturist *Very funny . . . It seems there are two Sue Perkins: the TV one, who gabbles and pratfalls, and the sensitive one who aches. The first of course, exists to protect the second. They can both write. The first writes comedy, the second tragedy; in this sense, reading her memoir is very like meeting her * Sunday Times *It's a proper book . . . so well written. Tight & bright & full of inspiration -- Chris Evans * Radio 2 *Utterly wonderful. It's very, very funny and poignant and it's very Sue Perkins and that's the bliss of it -- Nina Stibbe, bestselling author of * Love, Nina and Man at the Helm *Relentlessly cheering, Spectacles is as charming and funny as Perkins herself. Like going for a long, slightly drunken lunch with your naughtiest friend * Red Magazine *Brilliantly written... fearlessly honest and full of heart, it will also make you laugh like a gibbon * Heat ***** *I absolutely loved it . . . whip smart and very funny -- Fanny Blake * Woman & Home *Life, love and loss - it's all here ... Warm, crisp and beautifully layered - like its author,Spectacles is a complete delight * Independent on Sunday *[A] deftly written and belly-laugh funny autobiography . . . Though she never suggests she might be remotely brainy, she clearly is. Her vocabulary makes Will Self's seem lacking, her writing is full of discreetly clever allusions . . . If she wants her readers to like her, she certainly achieved it with this reviewer who laughed and cried and secretly wants her as a best friend -- Elizabeth Fremantle * Daily Express *Sue's memoir will leave you feeling like you've made a new best friend. Introducing us to a cast of friends, family and love interests, and not forgetting a psychopathic nun, Sue picks apart life in a refreshingly honest, warm and downright hilarious way... Spectacles firmly cements her as an exciting writer of the future * OK Magazine *This smart and funny story is far from the photo-heavy, ghost-written volumes that it will compete with . . . Perkins is such a good writer . . . incapable of writing a boring sentence -- Cathy Rentzenbrink * Sunday Express *
£9.99
Penguin Books Ltd Malas Cat
Book SynopsisThe remarkable true story of friendship, resilience and survival against the odds''A remarkable tale of survival'' Jeremy Dronfield, bestselling author of The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz''It''s an account of astounding courage and resourcefulness . . . The real miracle here is the vitality of Kacenberg''s faith and determination'' Mail on Sunday__________In a small Polish village, Mala Kacenberg grew up in the comfort of her family. Until the Nazis arrived.Her village was torn apart. Her family were murdered. And Mala had no one left.Except she wasn''t alone. Her beloved cat, Malach, remained by her side. They were forced to hide in the forest. Food was impossible to find. And with German soldiers hunting them at every turn, they were never safe.Alone, they would have died.But could they somehow survive together?__________This is the astonishing true stTrade ReviewA remarkable tale of survival, in which Jewish life in pre-war Poland and the atrocities of the Holocaust appear through an almost dreamlike lens of childhood memory * Jeremy Dronfield, bestselling author of The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz *This book has a unique spiritual richness * Jewish Tribune *Mala's Cat is fresh, unsentimental and utterly unpredictable... This memoir, rescued from obscurity by the efforts of Mala Kacenberg's five children, should be read and cherished as a new, vital document of a history that must never be allowed to vanish * Julie Orringer for the New York Times *A haunting saga with classic potential * Daisy Styles *In this gorgeous debut, Kacenberg shares her harrowing and courageous story of surviving the Holocaust. This moving account is a welcome addition to the canon of WWII memoirs * Publisher’s Weekly *It's an account of astounding courage and resourcefulness . . . The real miracle here is the vitality of Kacenberg's faith and determination * Mail on Sunday *To read Mala's Cat is to enter a dreamscape of horrors seen through innocent eyes * Jewish Chronoicle *
£10.44
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC The Rookie
Book SynopsisChess was invented more than 1,500 years ago, and is played in every country in the world. Stephen Moss sets out to master its mysteries, and unlock the secret of its enduring appeal. What, he asks, is the essence of chess? And what will it reveal about his own character along the way?In a witty, accessible style that will delight newcomers and irritate purists, Moss imagines the world as a board and marches across it, offering a mordant report on the world of chess in 64 chapters 64 of course being the number of squares on the chessboard. He alternates between black chapters where he plays, largely uncomprehendingly, in tournaments and white chapters, where he seeks advice from the current crop of grandmasters and delves into the lives of great players of the past. It is both a history of the game and a kind of Zen and the Art of Chess; a practical guide and a self-help book: Moss's quest to understand chess and become a better player is really an attempt to escape a lifetime of diTrade ReviewThe Rookie is actually a life lesson much more relevant than all of those self-help books * The Daily Mail *Stephen Moss’s highly readable book, The Rookie, is a brilliant account of the emotional roller coaster of an average club player trying to become seriously strong ... Many will empathise with Stephen’s tribulations and can learn something about themselves. Recommended. -- Leonard Barden * The Guardian *There is wit and humour in abundance in the book * Surbiton Chess Club *Deserves to do for chess what Fever Pitch did for football -- Charles CummingAn engaging memoir [and] a… spiritual journey * Daily Mail *
£13.49
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC My Salinger Year
Book SynopsisThe much-loved, irresistibly funny memoir of literary New York which was an international bestseller and enchanted readers around the world now a major film starring Sigourney Weaver and Margaret Qualley, My New York YearGripping and funny' ObserverLike a literary The Devil Wears Prada ... An irresistible read' Harper's Bazaar''Irresistible'' Sunday Times''Spellbinding'' GuardianAfter leaving graduate school to pursue her dream of becoming a poet, Joanna Rakoff takes a job as assistant to the storied literary agent for J. D. Salinger. Precariously balanced between poverty and glamour, she spends her days in a plush, wood-paneled office - where Dictaphones and typewriters still reign and agents doze after three-martini lunches - and then goes home to her threadbare Brooklyn apartment and her socialist boyfriend.Rakoff is tasked with processing Salinger's voluminous fan mail, but as she reads the Trade ReviewHard to put down ... Demands sympathy, admiration, and attention ... Irresistible * SUNDAY TIMES *Intimate ... elegant ... graceful * Sunday Telegraph *So gripping and funny, you feel sure she had only to twitch her nose to be back there * Observer *Spellbinding ... You don’t have to be a Salinger fan to fall under Rakoff’s spell; I’m not and I did * Guardian *A warm, witty, occasionally sly piece of storytelling ... An affectionate love letter to a first job in an industry that in just 20 years has changed beyond recognition * Woman & Home *In prose that is clear, precise and evocative, Rakoff renders her people and places touchably real * Independent *Every young person who moves to New York with creative ambitions should read Joanna Rakoff’s wonderful memoir ... As transporting as the best novels -- Adelle Waldman, author of The Love Affairs of Nathaniel PAnyone who has ever dreamed of a life in books will find much to love in Joanna Rakoff’s memoir ... Funny and knowing, it’s both an idiosyncratic tribute to Salinger’s writing and an affirmation of the power of books * Metro *A memoir that manages to be dreamlike but sharp, poignant but unsentimental. Here is a book I’m going to have to insist you read immediately -- Maggie Shipstead, author of Seating ArrangementsA charming coming-of-age memoir that fizzes with youthful energy and bookish insight * Good Housekeeping *Joanna Rakoff’s memoir of a New York publishing life, a fantastic book about being young and alone in a big city * Observer Books of the Year *Think of her as the even more bookish Lena Dunham with a bit of Mad Men claustrophobia thrown in * Grazia *A year spent in the orbit of a great writer gives rise to an elegant memoir * Sunday Telegraph *Anyone who can remember the fear of feeling hopelessly out of their depth in their first job should get a kick out of My Salinger Year ... Rakoff’s prose is precise and often amusing * Evening Standard *A beautifully written tribute to the way things were at the edge of the digital revolution, and to the evergreen power of literature * Chicago Tribune *An affecting coming-of-age memoir. . . . Rakoff wisely – and deftly – weaves her Salinger story into a broader, more universal tale about finding one’s bearings during a pivotal transitional year into real adulthood * Washington Post *Charming ... Glamorous ... Rakoff does a marvelous job of capturing a cultural moment ... What is most admirable is [her] critical intelligence and generosity of spirit * Boston Globe *The loneliness of life after college [is] perfectly explained ... There’s something Salingeresque about her book: it’s a vivid story of innocence lost * Entertainment Weekly *My Salinger Year describes its author’s trip down a metaphorical rabbit hole back in 1996. She arrived not in Wonderland, but a place something like it, a New York City firm she calls only the Agency ... An outright tribute to the enduring power of J.D. Salinger’s work * Salon *A breezy memoir of being a “bright young assistant” in the mid-1990s ... Salinger himself makes a cameo appearance … The “archaic charms” of the Agency are comically offset by its refusal to acknowledge the Internet age * New York Times Book Review *
£11.69
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Bad News
Book SynopsisHearing a blast, journalist Anjan Sundaram headed uphill towards the sound. Grenade explosions are not entirely unusual in the city of Kigali; dissidents throw them in public areas to try and destabilise the government and, since moving to Rwanda, he had observed an increasing number of them. What was unusual about this one, however, was that when Sundaram arrived, it was as though nothing had happened. Traffic circulated as normal, there was no debris on the streets and the policeman on duty denied any event whatsoever. This was evidence of a clean-up, a cloaking of the discontent in Rwanda and a desire to silence the media in a country most of whose citizens were without internet. This was the first of many ominous events. Bad News is the extraordinary account of the battle for free speech in modern-day Rwanda. Following not only those journalists who stayed, despite fearing torture or even death from a ruthless government, but also those reporting from exile, it is the Trade ReviewRequired reading … A superb exposé of a dictatorship as he observes how the tentacles of totalitarianism squeeze the life from a society. Bad News is an important book that should shatter any lingering faith people might hold in Kagame’s hideous regime … This is a desolate work, taut prose describing the stifling atmosphere of a nation trapped in fear * Guardian *Superb, timely ... It is nothing less than the best book written about Rwanda by an outsider, a massively important contribution to understanding what is one of Africa's most important, inscrutable, regimes -- Richard Poplak * All In Africa *Powerful and shocking * Sunday Times *Few people have suffered the hideous fate of Rwandans in the modern era. It is shocking, painful beyond words, to see the darkness settling again in a dystopia that is crushing free expression and individual lives. This searing, evocative account provides insights about the human condition that reach far beyond the tragic story of Rwanda -- Noam ChomskyHere is a commanding new writer who comes to us with the honesty, the intensity, and the discerning curiosity of the young Naipaul -- Pico IyerA sensitive writer. He feels deeply and expresses himself richly ... a powerful evocation of the foreign correspondent’s experience * The Times *Anjan Sundaram’s prose is so luscious … that the words come alive and practically dance on the page -- Barbara Demick, author of the Samuel Johnson Prize-winner 'Nothing to Envy'In this thoughtful and evocative book, Anjan Sundaram takes us into the lives of those living under a dictatorship. He chronicles the sacrifices of the brave journalists who try to speak the truth about their own country, the damage those truths inflict on those who bear witness, and the horrors of silence for those who cannot speak. His clipped and lucid prose offers an illuminating look into a place too often ignored by the rest of the world -- Graeme Smith, author of 'The Dogs Are Eating Them Now'Anjan Sundaram is a keen observer and a fine writer. In Bad News, he has rendered a chilling chronicle of the creeping totalitarianism taking hold in Rwanda that is as disturbing as it is unforgettable -- Jon Lee AndersonOne of the finest works of reportage in living memory * The Australian *Sundaram immediately captures the paranoia one feels in a country where citizens are both censored and self-censoring … Delicate and evocative prose … Subtle reminders of the country’s violent past echo throughout the book … This book is a timely one * Irish Times *A chilling and valuable account of conditions inside Rwanda * Sunday Herald *Stark and at times desolate, Sundaram has written a harrowing account of life in “a mirage of a country” where the all-seeing presence of President Kagame has managed not only to destroy free institutions and free speech, but ultimately free thought as well * Irish Examiner *
£14.99
Orion Publishing Co You Can Run But You Cant Hide
Book Synopsis'In Dog We Trust'. The autobiography of cult hero Duane 'Dog' Chapman, the world's most successful bounty hunter.Trade ReviewIn YOU CAN RUN BUT YOU CAN'T HIDE, Duane "Dog" Chapman shares his compelling and heartfelt story, highlighting the power of inner strength and courage to persevere through life's challenges -- Tony RobbinsDog's page-turner of an autobiography, YOU CAN RUN BUT YOU CAN'T HIDE, raced to the very top of the New York Times bestseller list like a fleeing fugitive with the entire Chapman clan following hard on its heels * TORONTO STAR *
£10.44
Orion Publishing Co Christmas Around the Village Green
Book SynopsisDot May Dunn grew up in Derbyshire, the daughter of a miner, during the wartime years. In 1951 she joined the NHS as an early recruit and went on to train as a nurse. Dot''s books are full of wonderful anecdotal insight into the life that she has experienced, written with warmth, humour and vivid accounts of her surroundings - from deprivation, health problems and poverty, to personal determination, the surprises faced by midwives and the social history of the pre- and post-war years. Dot draws upon her wealth of experience and shares her life with her readers, provoking both laughter and tears along the way.Centred on Christmas during war-time, this book will focus on community spirit and the sense of coming together and suporting each other, which Dunn captures so well.
£9.49
Jacana Media (Pty) Ltd Comrade King
Book SynopsisKhulu Radebe already had had a full life before discovering at the age of 50 that he was a king. As a teenager, he teamed with other Alexandra Township youth to carry out the 1976 uprisings just prior to the Soweto rising.
£14.24
Amberley Publishing Too Few Too Far
Book SynopsisBritish Commando George Thomsen's action-filled account of combat during the Falklands War.Trade Review'The untold story of how 22 Marines held off hundreds of Argentinians and disabled a warship on the eve of the Falklands war' THE DAILY MAIL 'Hero reveals Falklands very own 'Rorke's Drift'... told for the first time by one of the men involved' THE DAILY TELEGRAPHTable of ContentsAcknowledgements George's Thoughts Preface March 25th 1982 Chapter 1 April 1981; NP 8901 Have Landed Chapter 2 Hurry Up And Wait Chapter 3 In Cold Blood Chapter 4 Hearts And Minds Chapter 5 Round The Table Chapter 6 Enter The Pigs Chapter 7 The Glory Hour Chapter 8 A Brush With The Junta Chapter 9 The Rich And The Dead Chapter 10 Guns in Doorways Chapter 11 A Revealing Flight Chapter 12 Battle Fitness Chapter 13 Swimming With Penguins Chapter 14 Christmas 1981 Chapter 15 February 1982: The Swan Run Chapter 16 The Men For The Job Chapter 17 Chipping Off Chapter 18 The Eagle's Nest Chapter 19 A Drink With 'The Bear' Chapter 20 Red Alert Chapter 21 A Voice Across The Ocean Chapter 22 Force 11 Chapter 23 The Last Supper Chapter 24 Cold Steel Chapter 25 Enter The Predator Chapter 26 Firefight Epilogue Glossary
£10.44
Dundurn Group Ltd Reasonable Cause to Suspect
Book SynopsisIn a story of deceit, betrayal, and injustice, two parents are tried as terrorists for attempting to rescue their son from a Syrian war zone.On September 2, 2014, Jack Letts, an idealistic eighteen-year-old British Canadian, phoned his mother saying, Mum, I'm in Syria. Those chilling words from a raging war zone set in train his family's eight-year-long battle to rescue Jack from his disastrous mistake.When an unscrupulous journalist invented the term Jihadi Jack, a false image of Jack spread throughout the world. Sally and John, Jack's parents, faced the mammoth task of persuading a hostile public that their son was the victim of a smear campaign. He should, they argued, at least be allowed home to face a fair trial to address the claims against him. But the Canadian and British governments had other plans. Jack is currently detained in a Kurdish prison, while the Canadian government claims it doesn't know if he is alive or dead. This is his parentTrade ReviewReasonable Cause to Suspect takes you on a gut-wrenching journey through the eyes of a devoted mother, Sally Lane. As she weaves her way through the legal and political systems and the unimaginable atrocities in Syria, Sally is determined to hold her son, Jack, in her arms again. At every turn, you need to remind yourself this story has not been dreamt up as fiction but rather is a real-life nightmare where despair and hope clash. You will never forget Jack’s story and his mother’s unwavering love and fierce commitment. * Sam Laprade, host of The Sam Laprade Show and CityNews Ottawa 101.1 FM *This is an extraordinary tale…a testament to an ordinary parent’s unconditional love for a child told with candour and courage. A gripping read. * Adrian Harewood, Canadian journalist and professor *This book details deep loss in a Kafkaesque political landscape with surprising clarity, ironic humour and sobriety. Sally Lane lost her son to a war zone, and then to religious fervour, and now governmental inaction leaves him in an unending prison sentence — showing our democratic government's totalitarian stance on those it accuses as terror suspects, who once labelled, suffer an ongoing suspension of due process and are forever seen as guilty without trial. Who among us would not try to bring a family member home? The family has not given up. * David Gow, Canadian playwright, Relative Good *I have been witnessing the pain and courage of the Letts for many years. Sally, Jack’s mother is a mother everyone should have. This book is another step in that fight for justice for Jack and others. Western citizens, so long consumed by a narrative of Muslim terrorism, have allowed the powerful to take liberties with our liberties. More of us need to stand with the parents and young people who were or are caught between Islamicists and state agents. * Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, journalist and author *This book is a courageous refusal to submit to the violence of cold, indifferent bureaucracy. For this simple drive to hold onto that which is so dear to her, Sally and her family have been effectively unpeopled by the well-oiled stigmatising mechanisms within this society. She lays out in detail the sophisticated system of manipulation that rendered her family rightless. Bring Jack home. Enough is enough. * Lowkey, rapper and activist *
£15.19
Simon & Schuster Ltd The CoOps Got Bananas
Book SynopsisA poignant and very personal childhood memoir of growing up in Cumbria during the Second World War and into the 1950s, from columnist Hunter Davies Despite the struggle to make ends meet during the tough years of warfare in the 1940s and rationing persisting until the early 1950s, life could still be sweet. Especially if you were a young boy, playing football with your pals, saving up to go to the movies at the weekend, and being captivated by the latest escapade of Dick Barton on the radio. Chocolate might be scarce, and bananas would be a pipe dream, but you could still have fun. In an excellent social memoir from one of the UK's premier columnists over the past five decades, Hunter Davies captures this period beautifully. His memoir of growing up in post-war North of England from 1945 onwards, amid the immense damage wrought by the Second World War, and the drearinessTrade Review‘He recalls his childhood growing up in Scotland and Cumbria in the Forties and Fifties, capturing gritty working-class life with humour and charm and painting a vivid picture of that period of social history’ * Press Association *‘A cheery memoir of the Forties and Fifties… In among the rationing and the bombsites, this is really a love story between Hunter and his wife of 56 years, Margaret Forster, who died earlier this year… What sets this book apart, though, is its avoidance of cliché and its determination to reveal everything that might be revealed’ * Daily Mail *'Ken Loach might have turned all this into a powerful social film, but the avuncular Davies sprinkles in so many cheery anecdotes that the book bounces along enjoyably' * Sunday Times *‘Eighty-year-old Davies takes a delightfully irreverent approach to his account of his youth and his days as a rookie journalist. Food was rationed, clothes were utilitarian and life could be rough, but there was fun to be had from friendships, films, skiffle and girls’ * Sunday Express *‘Davies is a wonderful companion, leading readers down memory lane with great chumminess that will really resonate with those of a certain age. This book deserves a place on the shelf beside Alan Johnson’s This Boy as both are vivid memoirs of post-war Britain and testaments to the strength of women; in Johnson’s case his mother and sister, in Davies’s his mother and wife. Margaret Forster died this year. Her drive and intellect blaze fiercely in this book. A fitting tribute’ * Express *
£8.54
Simon & Schuster Ltd More than Love
Book SynopsisMore Than Love is a memoir of loss, grief, and coming of age, set amid Hollywood glamour and royalty, by Natasha Gregson Wagner, the oldest daughter of Natalie Wood and her second husband Richard Gregson. Beginning with the night Natalie Wood went sailing on the family boat with her husband Robert Wagner off the coast of Catalina and never returned, we meet the young Natasha at the age of 11, hearing the news of her mother’s disappearance on the radio while having a sleepover at a friend’s house. From this turning point of profound and shattering loss, Natasha stretches back to tell the story of her cosseted childhood in a warm, bustling family where her mother loved to decorate, entertain, keep ducks in the backyard, and often overprotected her daughters. An inside look at Natalie’s classic movies—Miracle on 34th Street, Rebel without a Cause, Splendour in the Grass, West Side Story and Bob an
£8.54
Little, Brown Book Group Toby Jug
Book SynopsisFrom the bestselling author of Paw Tracks in the Moonlight comes a new adventure with Denis O'Connor and his beloved cat Toby Jug. When Denis receives a call to help an abused and starved racehorse called Lady May, he has no idea how this new bond of friendship will shape his life. Toby, Denis and Lady May's adventures through the Northumberland countryside tells a special story filled with love, laughter and loss.Trade ReviewPraise for Paw Tracks: This genuinely endearing cat's life story is going to warm the cockles of hearts all over the world. -- Lancashire Evening Post
£10.44
Little, Brown Book Group Between Stone and Sky
Book Synopsis''This is a book about the stories we tell ourselves and one woman''s determination to make hers true'' Spectator''A fresh . . . heartfelt book that . . . makes you want to throw away your mobile, run for the hills and learn a traditional craft'' The Lady''A spirited defence of manual labour'' TLSAt the age of twenty-six, Whitney Brown met a dry-stone waller. Within weeks she was out on the hill with him in Wales, learning the language of dry-stone walling. Far away from the pressures of her old life, she found deep satisfaction in working with her hands, in the age and heft of the stones, and the ring of the hammer.Out under the open sky, Whitney relished every sore muscle and smashed finger, opportunity to stand atop a wall she''d just built and feel like the strongest woman alive. Between Stone and Sky is a celebration of the raw and rugged splendour of the Welsh countryside and the enTrade ReviewThis beautiful memoir really got under my skin -- Jenny Tattersall, Cogito Books * Guardian Travel *Confessional, heartfelt . . . memoir . . . adventure and intrigue aplenty . . . this is a book about the stories we tell ourselves and one woman's determination to make hers true. Triumphant and tragic in equal measure, Brown's story is the American dream for the millennial generation * Spectator *A spirited defence of manual labour -- Rebecca Foster * Times Literary Supplement *A fresh . . . heartfelt book that . . . makes you want to throw away your mobile, run for the hills and learn a traditional craft -- Rebecca Wallersteiner * The Lady *Refreshingly funny . . . wonderful . . . Brown's writing about the Welsh countryside, and the Welsh people, is particularly colourful; she captures their earthy warmth brilliantly with her outsider's eye. The details about walling are also fascinating and empowering: as a woman working on the land, Brown writes powerfully about the feminist emancipation she experiences . . . But the woman Brown gets to know best in this multi-textured memoir is herself, as she encourages us to find ourselves, in all weathers, in the open air -- Jude Rogers * BBC Countryfile *
£10.44
Headline Publishing Group The Wrong Knickers A Decade of Chaos
Book SynopsisBryony Gordon survived her adolescence by dreaming about the life she''d have in her twenties: the perfect job; the lovely flat; the amazing boyfriend. The reality was something of a shock. Her Telegraph column was a diary of her daily screw-ups; she lived in a series of squalid shoe boxes; and her most meaningful relationship of the entire decade was with a Marlboro Light. Here in the Sunday Times bestselling THE WRONG KNICKERS Bryony busts open the glamorized myth of what it means to be a young (perpetually) single girl about London town, and shares the horrible and hilarious truth. The truth about picking up a colleague at the STI clinic; sinking into debt to fund a varied diet of wine, crisps and vodka; and how it feels when your dream man turns out to be a one night stand who hands you someone else''s knickers in the morning.Bryony''s wonderfully ridiculous and ultimately redemptive story is essential reading for everyone whose ''best years'' werenTrade ReviewThe book is the equivalent of Bridget Jones, Carrie Bradshaw and Hannah Horvath exchanging slightly guarded handshakes, then realising they've all slept with the same terrible men...dark, funny, [and] honest - The ObserverI laughed, I cried, I winced, I whooped, I ran out and bought it for all my single friends. A fantastic writer. - India KnightEye-poppingly truthful and unexpectedly touching, this is the Bridget Jones reboot we were after. - ElleBryony Gordon is a very bad girl - and an even better writer. - Camilla LongThe Wrong Knickers is brilliantly funny, brilliantly honest, deliciously indiscreet and, at times, incredibly moving. It's the most truthful, evocative and hilarious account of what it is to be a twenty something girl in Britain that I've read in a very long time. - Polly VernonAbsurdly good - GraziaAnyone who has got halfway through their 20s to realise that adulthood isn't all they'd hoped will read this memoir of a misspent youth howling with recognition and helpless laughter. - ElleAny book that sees the protagonist exclaim the line, "Beyonce is an essence, not a human being" is literary gold as far as we're concerned... This book definitely needs a disclaimer - if you read it in public, you will definitely get some funny looks for guffawing quite a lot. - Heat
£11.69
Headline Publishing Group The Yorkshire Forager
Book SynopsisAlysia Vasey''s earliest memories are of walking alongside her grandfather as they explored the West Yorkshire moors that they called home. As an adult, this love for wild things stayed with her, even as she learnt that her family''s knowledge of edible plants were a legacy of a much darker time during the Second World War. After leaving Yorkshire in search of adventure, Alysia was eventually guided home by her motto: Be true to yourself and you will become the person you were meant to be. She left her traditional path and took a far wilder journey that gradually evolved into one of the UK''s most successful foraging businesses, supplying some of the greatest chefs in the world and the best restaurants in the country Her achievements are the result of a bit of luck, a lot of knowledge and a huge amount of self-belief. Here, Alysia also shares not only her story, but also her vast knowledge of UK plant lore. A true Yorkshirewoman, Alysia tells it Trade ReviewAlysia Vasey reveals how she turned her love of nature into a successful career as a forager * Sunday Express *Meet the woman the chefs pay to forage their wildly delicious ingredients. * Daily Mail *The Yorkshire Forager... tells [Alysia's] story, and shares some secrets, with humour and pathos. * Regional Press Association *Alysia Vasey... looked to her Yorkshire roots and turned her childhood passion into her profession. * The Telegraph *Alysia Vasey provides a fascinating insight into foraging, edible foliage, plant lore and the Great British countryside. * Liz Earle Wellbeing Magazine *
£13.49
Headline Publishing Group Unmasked
Book SynopsisFrom the detective who helped catch the Golden State Killer, a memoir about investigating America''s toughest cold cases, and the rewards - and toll - of a life spent solving crime.For a decade, from 1973, The Golden State Killer stalked and murdered Californians in the dead of night, leaving entire communities afraid to turn off the lights. Then he vanished, and the case remained unsolved.In 1994, when cold-case investigator Paul Holes came across the old file, he swore he would unmask GSK and finally give these families closure. Twenty-four years later, Holes fulfilled that promise, identifying 73-year-old Joseph J. DeAngelo. Headlines blasted around the world: one of America''s most prolific serial killers had been caught.That case launched Paul''s career into the stratosphere, turning him into an icon in the true-crime world. But while many know the story of the capture of GSK, until now, no one has truly known the man behind it all.In UNMA
£11.69
Headline Publishing Group The Autograph Hunter
Book SynopsisI''d managed to puncture a hole between our universe and the parallel one where all the celebrities lived.''Effortlessly funny and human'' Daily Mail Adam Andrusier spent his childhood in pursuit of autographs. After writing to every famous person he could think of, from Frank Sinatra to Colonel Gaddafi, he soon jostled with the paparazzi at stage doors and came face-to-face with the most famous people on the planet. For young Adam, autographs were a backstage pass to a world beyond his chaotic family home in Pinner, and his Holocaust-obsessed father. They provided a special connection to a world of glamour and significance lying just beyond his reach. But as Adam turned from collector to dealer, learning how to spot a fake from the real deal, he discovered that in life, as in autographs, not everything is as it first appears. When your obsession is a search for the authentic, what happens when yTrade ReviewI love this book. It is wise, funny, surprising, touching, and wonderful company * Jonathan Safran Foer *Adam Andrusier has created that rare thing: a memoir which delivers the coming-of-age but also reaches far beyond. The writing here about family is excellent, the characters and scenes memorable, but from the first they're engaged also in a history. Two Hitlers and a Marilyn takes in the world as widely as possible, always searching for significance and connection * David Vann *A comic and poignant memoir about growing up in the suburbs, fandom, stalking Ronnie Barker, and much more. A funny, moving read * Zadie Smith *At times hilarious, at others heartbreaking, Andrusier's memoir provides a fascinating insight into obsession * John Boyne *Madcap and thoroughly engaging, Adam Andrusier's vivid memoir brings to mind the early Philip Roth. This is a book of antic comedy that resonates and intrigues * Lisa Appignanesi *A fabulously interesting book and incredibly pleasurable to read. Very funny and strangely entrancing. It is about so much, but effortlessly * Adam Phillips *Hilarious and moving. * David Baddiel *Beautifully written * Maureen Lipman *Andrusier has a genuine comic gift and he's remarkably technically adept. You could easily assume he had been writing this sort of stuff for years. * Daily Mail *Offering a warm, witty and poignant glimpse into the past, Two Hitlers and a Marilyn is a memoir of fandoms, forgiveness, growing up and letting go. * Culturefly *A brilliant, ridiculously funny book -- Robert PopperA charming, honest, moving and highly entertaining memoir in autographs. It captures the insanities of ambition, celebrity, obsession, love and marriage with accuracy and compassion. * A.L. Kennedy *The zaniest book I've read in eons. Andrusier is a fresh new voice and more importantly he's funny as hell. -- Gary ShteyngartEffortlessly funny and human * Daily Mail *A comic, affecting tale about escaping a chaotic home and discovering the truth behind the mask of fame * Independent *The obsessiveness of the collector is amusingly skewered in this memoir of rueful self-absorption * The Observer *An engaging and well-told tale * The Spectator *A warm, witty and poignant glimpse into the past * Culture Fly *Effortlessly told, it's a tale that spans the heartfelt and the hilarious * Happy Mag *A tragicomic triumph . . . Andrusier writes with an addictive deadpan style and he's blessed with an ability to evoke the comedy and pathos of everyday life. * The Mirror *Hugely entertaining . . . a read as out of the ordinary as the lives it chronicles. * NZ Herald *A witty memoir about the author's lifelong involvement with autograph collecting . . . Andrusier conveys its sadness and its strange comedy. * Literary Review *
£10.44
Headline Publishing Group Down and Out
Book Synopsis***Winner of the 2023 Orwell Prize for Reporting Homelessness******Winner of an RSL Giles St Aubyn Award for Non-Fiction***''Part memoir, part howl of fury'' GUARDIAN''Enrich[es] our impoverished sociological imagination'' TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT''Raw and compelling'' FINANCIAL TIMES''Shows the human cost of a genuinely Kafka-esque bureaucratic system'' NEW STATESMANAt once a powerful memoir, unflinching polemic and probing investigation into modern homelessness in the UK, by award-winning investigative journalist Daniel LavelleDaniel Lavelle left care at the age of nineteen, and experienced homelessness for the first time not long after. So began a life spent navigating social services that were not fit for purpose, leaving Daniel and many like him slipping through the cracks.In Down and Out, Daniel draws on his own experiences - as wellTrade ReviewLavelle's ruthless and raw exposé fills me with rage, but also with hope - underneath this harrowing story of injustice lies a lyrical longing for a more compassionate and caring future * David Lammy, Labour MP and author of TRIBES *Daniel Lavelle is a vital voice on one of the most pressing scandals facing Britain today. A book for every politician, policy maker and reader who wants a fairer and kinder country * Frances Ryan, author of CRIPPLED *Part memoir, part howl of fury * GUARDIAN *Enrich[es] our impoverished sociological imagination. [Its] case studies are as bleakly memorable as Raymond Carver stories * TLS *
£11.69
Headline Publishing Group Closer to the Edge
Book SynopsisLeo Houlding started climbing at ten years of age in the Lake District and was the youngest person (and first Briton) to free climb El Capitan in Yosemite National Park in the United States at eighteen years, which cemented his reputation. He has since gone on to summit the world''s toughest peaks and explore the most extreme places on our planet. During such explorations he has had to deal with tragedy when close friends and colleagues have been killed or badly injured, and he will discuss how you deal with such loss and carry on. Honest, raw and exhilarating, Closer to the Edge will be a ''warts-and-all'' insight into the extreme life of one of Britain''s best mountaineer adventurers. What drives him? How does he assess risk and judge what level he''ll take himself to be successful, and how does he balance this with teaching his own children the lessons he has learnt in some of the world''s most dangerous and extreme places.Trade ReviewLeo is an amazing climber and adventurer who's been pushing the limits for as long as I can remember. He's done some of the wildest climbs on earth. -- Alex Honnold
£13.49
Headline Publishing Group The Joy of Snacks
Book SynopsisSHORTLISTED FOR THE FORTNUM AND MASON FOOD BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023A GUARDIAN BOOK OF THE YEAR 2022Take your morning coffee with cinnamon crumble cake and your evening wine with mushroom pate, via a riot of salsas, crispy bits, banana splits, cheeseballs and frozen pina coladas. Whether you''re home alone or ready to party, The Joy of Snacks will lift your spirits while satisfying your deepest snacking desires. ''People think it''s easy to write well about food. It isn''t. Goodman does it brilliantly, with brio and wit as well as cleverness. This is a collection of essays, recipes and meditations about snacks and it is both joyous and useful.''India Knight, The Times''Deft storytelling, deep research and real wisdom about how we actually eat'' Rachel Roddy, Guardian Books of the Year 2022''As moreish as the snacks it celebrates, The Joy of Snacks is a smart, funny and moTrade ReviewDeft storytelling, deep research and real wisdom about how we actually eat -- Rachel Roddy * Guardian Books of the Year 2022 *Delightful * Waitrose Food *Another brilliant book from food writer Laura Goodman . . . Funny, joyful and packed with deliciousness * Cambridge Edition *As moreish as the snacks it celebrates, The Joy of Snacks is a smart, funny and moving meditation on the little things that make life great. I loved it. * Ruby Tandoh *Laura Goodman is a simply perfect food writer and everything she does is a dream * Ella Risbridger *There are few food writers as witty and informed as Laura, and I (unsurprisingly to me) devoured this book. She also happens to have great taste, so I will be making most of these dips immediately. * Georgina Hayden *It's so refreshing to read a cookbook that makes me laugh! Laura does the near impossible; her food and her good humour are as delicious in real life as on the page * Alice Levine *An utterly joyful read. I cannot think of a nicer afternoon than to settle down with this book and a variety of snacks alongside. * Rukmini Iyer *Naked, unashamed and witty, Laura Goodman delights, tempts and insults our intestines with raucous, dangerous and surprising suggestions * Miriam Margolyes *
£11.69
Headline Publishing Group Unbound
Book SynopsisFrom the founder and activist behind one of the largest movements of the twenty-first century, the me too movement, Tarana Burke debuts a powerful memoir about her own journey to saying those two simple yet infinitely powerful words and how she brought empathy back to an entire generation''Searing. Powerful. Needed.'' Oprah''I will never stop thinking about this book.'' Glennon DoyleTarana didn''t always have the courage to say me too. As a child, she reeled from her sexual assault, believing she was responsible. Unable to confess what she thought of as her own sins for fear of shattering her family, her soul split in two. One side was the bright, intellectually curious third generation Bronxite steeped in Black literature and power, and the other was the bad, shame ridden girl who thought of herself as a vile rule breaker, not of a victim. She tucked one away, hidden behind a wall of pain and anger, which seemed to work... until iTrade ReviewSearing. Powerful. Needed. * Oprah *I will never stop thinking about this book. * Glennon Doyle *Sometimes a single story can change the world. Unbound is one of those stories. Tarana's words are a testimony to liberation and love. * Brené Brown *Burke sings a Black girl's song and Unbound stands alongside I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and The Color Purple, as a coming of age story that is at once searingly painful, brilliant, and beautiful. Tarana Burke is known around the world for her activism and leadership. Now she will be known as an extraordinary writer. * Imani Perry, author of Breathe *Burke's Unbound is worthy of being considered next to I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings as one of those rare books that will unfold and welcome parts of us we thought we'd completely hid until the earth is gone. Unbound is the one we readers and writers have been waiting for. * Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy *An unforgettable page-turner of a life story rendered with endless grace and grit. * Kirkus Reviews *Intensely moving and unapologetically frank, Burke's fearless memoir will uplift and inspire the next generation of survivors, advocates, and truth-tellers. * Publishers Weekly *
£10.44
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Flourish
Book SynopsisWhat is a meaningful life? What does it mean to flourish? Antonia Case, the co-founder of New Philosopher and Womankind magazines, quits her corporate job in the city and, with her partner, travels across the world in search of meaning. In a quest to find answers, she turns off the soundtrack of the media, rids herself of technology, and with little more than books as carry-on luggage, she journeys from Buenos Aires to Paris, from Barcelona to Byron Bay, seeking guidance from ancient philosophers and modern-day psychologists on what is a good life, and what is a life worth living. Along the way she discovers why winning the lottery doesn''t make you happy, why making is better than having, and how love and belonging are vital to our sense of selves.Packed with insight into life''s big questions, Flourish will take you on a riveting journey in search of what matters most.Trade ReviewEvery now and then an epiphany comes along in the form of a book. Are we being who we secretly thought we could be? Is life being the adventure it promised? Flourish is a road trip, an odyssey and a quest in the company of thinkers, not by a guru but by someone who with gleeful bravery walked out of the office and went to find their freedom. The time is right for this kind of quest, the time is right for these philosophies - and I found it right for the sweet kick in the backside this book gave me. * DBC Pierre, Booker-Prize Winning author of Vernon God Little *Radiant and wise, Flourish is a book for our times, showing us all the way to live a rich and purposeful life. * Kate Forsyth, bestselling author of Bitter Greens and over 40 books, winner of the American Library Association (ALA) Award for Best Historical Fiction *What's so brilliant and fresh: the big, best ideas of world philosophy beautifully explained, yes; but via the close-up story of Antonia's adventurous and fascinating (and very real) life. It's what I need: not apology or gloom but an authentic, inspiring appetite for getting our complicated, imperfect - and sometimes wonderful - lives to flower. You want to reach for your journal, get brave and join her. * John Armstrong, philosopher and author of Life Lessons from Nietzsche and Art as Therapy *Antonia Case brings the clarity of years of editing Womankind and New Philosopher magazines to her new book, asking: what does it take to really flourish? Drawing on philosophers, writers, artists and the stories of ordinary people — as well as her own journey - she discovers that flourishing cannot exist within the cookie-cutter expectations of others. It must be found within. * Clarissa Sebag-Montefiore, journalist for The New York Times and the Guardian *Flourish is the result of the years the author spent culling wisdom from philosophers, psychologists, writers, religious thinkers, and fellow wanderers… Case’s theoretical ruminations are bolstered by her personal testimony and spirited embrace of her ideas. * Booklist *This is no ordinary travelogue. At times intense, but always wise, the key message is that meaning comes from love, not riches. * Platinum *Flourish is an outstanding book about the tricky business of being in the world. * Times Literary Supplement *Table of ContentsPreface 1 Brisbane, Australia 2 Leaving Home 3 Buenos Aires, Argentina 4 Bariloche, Argentina 5 Ushuaia, Argentina 6 Chile 7 Peru 8 Baños, Ecuador 9 Panama 10 Nicaragua 11 Brisbane, Australia 12 Paris, France 13 Paris, France 14 Barcelona, Spain 15 Byron Bay, Australia 16 Byron Bay, Australia 17 Bangalow, Australia 18 Hobart, Tasmania 19 Ireland 20 Back Home Epilogue Acknowledgements Index
£15.29
Hachette Books Ireland Talking to Strangers
Book Synopsis''Harding writes like an angel'' Sunday TimesTalking to Strangers, from the No.1 bestselling author of Staring at Lakes, Hanging with the Elephant and On Tuesdays I''m a Buddhist is a book about love, about the stories we share with others, and the stories we leave behind us.Too much wine and a casual browse of an airline website - this is how Michael Harding found himself in a strange flat in Bucharest in early January, which set the tone for the rest of that year.After an intense stint in a high-profile production of The Field, Harding returned to the tranquil hills above Lough Allen and started to plan some dramatic changes to his little cottage. Surely an extension would give him a renewed sense of purpose in life as he approached old age.But as the walls of his home crumbled, so too did his mental health, and he fell, once again, into depression -- that great darkness where life feels like nothing mTrade ReviewA compelling memoir. Absorbing and graced with a deceptive lightness of touch ... Harding writes like an angel - Sunday Times on Hanging with the ElephantAn edifying journey of self-discovery - Irish Mail on Sunday on Hanging with the ElephantWonderful ... Like many people who have achieved a great deal, [Harding] cannot recognise his triumphs. This book, like its predecessor, is one of them - John Boyne, Irish Times on Hanging with the ElephantHarding is a self-deprecating and winsome writer whose bittersweet musings on middle-age, loneliness and the search for spiritual enlightenment in post-Catholic Ireland are leavened by an incredibly dry and unforced wit. However, it's the sections in which Harding focuses on his relationship with his mother... that Hanging with the Elephant reaches lump-in-throat-inducing levels of poignancy - Metro Herald on Hanging with the ElephantOften funny, occasionally disturbing and not without its moments of deep sadness, Harding has peeled back his soul and held it out on the palm of his hand for all to see - Christine Dwyer Hickey on Hanging with the ElephantIt's rare for a memoir to demand such intense emotional involvement, and rarer still for it to be so fully rewarded - Sunday Times on Staring at LakesI read this book in one sitting ... it held me and wouldn't let go - Mary McEvoy, Irish Independent on Staring at LakesThis memoir grabs you from the outset and holds you right to the end. Harding traverses the human soul and excavates its deepest secrets. His language sings. Extraordinary - Deirdre Purcell on Staring at Lakes
£9.49
Hodder & Stoughton Staring at Lakes
Book SynopsisThroughout his life, Michael Harding has lived with a sense of emptiness - through faith, marriage, fatherhood and his career as a writer, a pervading sense of darkness and unease remained.When he was fifty-eight, he became physically ill and found himself in the grip of a deep melancholy. Here, in this beautifully written memoir, he talks with openness and honesty about his journey: leaving the priesthood when he was in his thirties, settling in Leitrim with his artist wife, the depression that eventually overwhelmed him, and how, ultimately, he found a way out of the dark, by accepting the fragility of love and the importance of now.Staring at Lakes was a number one bestseller in Michael''s native Ireland and won three BGE Irish book awards in 2013, including Non-Fiction Book of the Year. ''It''s rare for a memoir to demand such intense emotional involvement and rarer still for it to be so fully rewarded'' - SUNDAY TIME
£9.99
Hachette Books Ireland The Sandwich Years
Book SynopsisThe Sandwich Years is the heartfelt, inspirational story of the bond between a mother and a daughter and how one woman - through caring for the person she had relied on the most - finally found herself. (Previously published as Daughter, Mother, Me)Trade ReviewThere is real life on every page of this funny, sad and wise book * Patricia Scanlan *A heartrending account peppered with humour * Irish Examiner *A warm, familiar, touching memoir, ending sadly but hopefully and written with honesty and love * Irish Times *
£8.54
Hodder & Stoughton Shame
Book SynopsisA new edition of the bestselling memoir Shame, including additional content from the author updating her story to the present day. When she was fourteen, Jasvinder Sanghera was shown a photo of the man chosen to be her husband. She was terrified. She''d witnessed the torment her sisters endured in their arranged marriages, so she ran away from home, grief-stricken when her parents disowned her. Shame is the heart-rending true story of a young girl''s attempt to escape from a cruel, claustrophobic world where family honour mattered more than anything - sometimes more than life itself. Jasvinder''s story is one of terrible oppression, a harrowing struggle against a punitive code of honour - and, finally, triumph over adversity.Trade Review'SHAME is an inspiring book, not least because of its honesty.' * The Sunday Times *'A vivid, honest and deeply moving narrative of despair, courage and hope.' * Lord Lester speaking in Parliamentary debate *'Angry, sad and profoundly disturbing . . . a powerful read' * The London Paper *'Unbeaten and eloquent' * Evening Standard *'A success story to inspire anyone.' * Time Magazine *'Heart-wrenching.' * Daily Mail *The glossy cover doesn't prepare you for the impact this book has . . . It gives me hope that there are people like the author of this book who are willing to write their experiences with such passion and clarity. A must-read. * Asians in Media *The last non-fiction book I read was Shame by Jasvinder Sanghera, about a British Asian woman whose parents forced her into a marriage. That was brilliant. * Cameron On Cameron by Dylan Jones *
£10.44
Hachette Books Ireland Me and My Mate Jeffrey
Book SynopsisAn Irish No.1 bestseller, Me and My Mate Jeffrey is an essential book for anyone who knows what it is to feel alone, and who doesn't know how to ask for help - or anyone who wants to better understand that journey.
£8.99
Hodder & Stoughton Mind of a Survivor
Book SynopsisAn inspirational survival memoir by one of the world's best known wilderness experts and right-hand woman to Bear Grylls, Megan Hine.Trade ReviewI love everything about her...but mostly I love her attitude. This kind of calm, can-do mindset is useful in day-to-day life. -- Lorraine Candy * Sunday Times Style *Hine is the real deal. * The Times *Meg is a refreshing proposition. Her new book Mind Of A Survivor not only reflects on her own awe-inspiring experiences, but also the psychology of survival. * Telegraph *This book powerfully uncovers the layers of where people draw strength from in their time of crisis - moving and inspiring. * Bear Grylls *
£9.49
Orion Publishing Co The Reading Cure
Book Synopsis''Freeman''s pleasure in the food of literature ... is infectious. The Reading Cure will speak to anyone who has ever felt pain and found solace in a book'' Bee WilsonAt the age of fourteen, Laura Freeman was diagnosed with anorexia. But even when recovery seemed impossible, the one appetite she never lost was her love of reading. Slowly, book by book, Laura re-discovered how to enjoy food - and life - through literature.Trade Review[A] beautifully written hybrid of memoir and literary criticism... This book is about the anguish of anorexia, written by a bookworm unfurling her wings as a writer of considerable power. -- Cathy Rentzenbrink * TIMES *A miraculous memoir ... Anyone who has encountered anorexia, either first hand or in someone they love, will recognise this harrowing yet heartening portrait. The Reading Cure is a book for the bookish, for those hungry for self-knowledge, or for those who are just hungry. -- Daniel Johnson * STANDPOINT *In its subtle, undogmatic way, The Reading Cure is a tale of joy winning against piety, and the triumph of life over death... both a stimulating argument for the power of fiction as a force for personal change and a wise memoir of anorexia. Moreover, it is never pat, always intelligent, full of enthusiasm, and almost entirely free of self-pity. -- Craig Brown * MAIL ON SUNDAY *Enchanting and original... an illuminating and highly engaging way to think about all kinds of literature. * Amanda Craig *Gentle in its tone and astute in its insights, the book is a treat... [and provides] sound evidence for the ability of literature to affect life. -- Ada Coghen * LITERARY REVIEW *The most moving, most evocative book. -- Sophia Money-Coutts * THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH *The Reading Cure by Laura Freeman is devastatingly close to the bone for anyone who has had an eating disorder and knows its power to warp the mind. Gripping, moving, healing, mouthwatering. * Ysenda Maxtone Graham *You might not expect a book on anorexia to be a joy to read, yet somehow this is. Laura Freeman is unflinchingly honest about the loneliness and misery of suffering from an eating disorder: the desperate calculations over 'an inch of almond milk', the 'shivering hunger'. But her pleasure in the food of literature - from sweets in Harry Potter to roast goose in Charles Dickens - is infectious. The Reading Cure will speak to anyone who has ever felt pain and found solace in a book. There are no easy epiphanies here, but you are cheering Freeman on, page by page, as she slowly recovers her appetite, both for double-cheese toasties and for life. -- Bee WilsonThis book seems to have had the most unanimously glowing reviews of 2018 so far. Quite rightly: Freeman's wonderfully uplifting book is all about how she rediscovered the joy of food, and overcame her anorexia, by escaping into the fictional worlds of Charles Dickens and Virginia Woolf. * SUNDAY TIMES STYLE *The Reading Cure is a painful exploration of anorexia but also a love letter to the healing power of books written with expert care, talent... and hope. -- Francesca Brown * EMERALD STREET *Freeman's writing throughout is beautiful and bountiful; her descriptions of food are full of flavour and temptation; her journey to wellness an inspiring one. -- Lucy Pearson * THE LITERARY EDIT *This stirring autobiography by Laura Freeman looks set to be a key release. * IRISH INDEPENDENT *Inspiring and illuminating. * CULTURE FLY *[An] honest, beautifully written account. -- Eithne Farry * PSYCHOLOGIES *Do read this book, whether or not you've been afflicted or affected by mental illness. Read it as a book-lover; read it to read with fresh eyes - or sharpened tastebuds; read it for fellow-feeling and hard-won wisdom, and for the sheer joy of taking pleasure in good things. * CORNFLOWER BOOKS *What strikes you most about this remarkable memoir is its joyous absorption in literature in general, and food-writing in particular. It is lyrical, exuberant, optimistic and engaging. -- Patricia Craig * IRISH TIMES *Hers is a story of salvation and picnics, ravioli and freedom, Dickens and survival. Laura's recovery is testament to the power of literature, the love of a concerned family and the tenacity of a woman on a mission. -- Kate Leaver * THE POOL *Lyrically written, raw and honest, this inspiring book truthfully describes an ongoing struggle with inner demons but celebrates those hard-won achievements with grace and gladness as books and their invaluable lessons restored Laura's appetite for life. -- Eithne Farry * S MAGAZINE *Shines like a beacon -- Jake Kerridge * DAILY TELEGRAPH *Clear-eyed, ambrosial, impassioned, bountiful... The Reading Cure is the work of a true-blue bibliophile, and it's impossible not to be seduced by Freeman's love of prose. It's essential reading not just for those who love food, but words. Come dine with her. -- Tanya Sweeney * IRISH INDEPENDENT *An extraordinary account of mental illness captured in all its vivid, perplexing extremity. * SUNDAY BUSINESS POST *Warm and insightful, Freeman takes us on an exhilarating journey. -- Bel Mooney * DAILY MAIL *Highly charged but beguiling and absorbing. * SUNDAY TIMES CULTURE *[A] joyful celebration of literature and a candid account of how reading about other people enjoying real or fictional meals helped Freeman recover from anorexia -- Ruth Scurr * THE SPECTATOR Books of the Year *The most delightful hymn to the joys of reading that you could imagine. -- Jake Kerridge * S MAGAZINE *
£9.49
Orion Publishing Co The Company of Trees
Book Synopsis''The master. Puts all other modern tree-writers in the shade'' John Lewis-Stempel, author of MeadowlandThomas Pakenham is an indefatigable champion of trees. In The Company of Trees he recounts his personal quest to establish a large arboretum on the family estate, Tullynally in Ireland; his forays to other tree-filled parks and plantations; his often hazardous seed-hunting expeditions; and his efforts to preserve magnificent old trees and historic woodlands.Whether writing about the terrible storms breaking the backs of hundred-year-old trees or a fire in the peat bog on Tullynally which threatens to spread to the main commercial spruce-woods, his fear of climate change and disease, or the sturdy young saplings giving him hope for the future, his book is never less than enthralling.Trade ReviewThe more you read of the various Earls' attempts to create beautiful views across their parkland, the more you realise they struggle with the same problems the rest of us face when designing our ownlittle gardens. The only difference is that they're working on a massive scale, and thinking in centuries instead of years ... Raising all his own saplings from seed, he comes across like a real-life version of P. G. Wodehouse's amiable (if unworldly) Lord Emsworth, pottering about with his seed trays and compost in his ancestral kitchen. But he engages fully with the 21st-century threat of global warming, as well as the four new diseases threatening our trees: acute oak decline, sudden oak death, ash dieback and pseudomonas syringae - a lethal canker of horse chestnuts that has infected 49 per cent of the tree species in England, according to a recent survey -- Helen Brown * DAILY MAIL *The Company of Trees: A Year in a Lifetime's Quest, brings readers along a journey from the 1,500 acres of farm and parkland of the family estate at Castlepollard, Co. Westmeath, to planthunting expeditions in Asia and South America, and more ... told in monthly chapters that will charm a readership beyond those who don't need to Google 'arboretum' for a definition. There is a sense of adventure in travel diary revelations where the energetic Eighth Lord Longford (though he doesn't use that inherited title) tells of shinning up rocky banks near the foothills of the Himalayas and nearly breaking an ankle in the quest for seeds. He being in his 80th year, mind ... Good-humoured revelations of triumphs that sometimes end in failure contribute to an engaging openness -- Valerie Shanley * IRISH MAIL ON SUNDAY *At Tullynally, his estate in Ireland. Thomas Pakenham is growing his own woodland. In this lively diary of his travels to the Himalayas and Patagonia in search of seeds, and his tours of the thriving plantations where he plants and preserves trees, he gives seasoned advice on garden design and landscaping, and worries about the diseases that have devastated ashes, elms, oaks and chestnuts * SAGA magazine *Historians make very good tree people because they respect both the past, with its particular and changing atmospheres, as well as posterity. After all, most trees span more than one human lifetime, and the story of trees has been part of the story of the land and even the people. And historians can salt the worthy fare of plant descriptions with tales of plant hunters and gardeners from the past. Pakenham's writing is brisk, clearly personal and pleasantly epigrammatic ... Readers should finish this book with a lively sense of the importance and allure of trees, even if they have never so much as planted an acorn -- Ursula Buchan * THE SPECTATOR *Few have ever indulged their inclinations on a grander scale than Thomas Pakenham, whose passion is for trees. This is an exuberant tale of greed and gratified desire by a romantic who, for 50 years and more, has been planting trees by the thousand on his family estate at Tullynally in Westmeath. Pakenham is currently in his 82nd year, and buying magnolias like a madman "in what the Germans call Torschlusspanik" (last-minute or door-closing panic) ... Trees are, as this book points out, "the biggest living things in these islands, taller than most buildings, older than many ancient monuments", and, like the Williamses at Caerhays and the Holfords of Westonbirt, the planting Pakenhams have done them proud in person and in print -- Hilary Spurling * THE GUARDIAN *Botanical history and travel are two of the underlying elements of this absorbing year in the life of tree-loving Thomas Pakenham. Eloquently written as a diary and illustrated with an array of colour photographs, this informative and entertaining read describes the arboretum and garden areas he is creating on the family estate in Ireland. The book reveals his observations, experiences and lessons learned * COUNTRYSIDE *Thomas Pakenham could convert a property developer into a tree-hugger ... If The Company of Trees is a diary, it is also a journey - into the author's life and Tullynally's past. The book's photographs are as beautiful and glossy as conkers; anecdote and information fall like autumn mast ... I closed the book and went to look at my own trees. Thanks to the joyful hours spent in its author's company, I saw them anew. His book is a plum among autumn's publishing fruits -- John Lewis-Stempel * COUNTRY LIFE *Gardeners who love beauty, not arboreal ethnicity, now have an eloquent ally ... The Company of Trees is beautifully illustrated with his own excellent colour photos... it tells a story which has touching continuity across generations -- Robin Lane-Fox * FINANCIAL TIMES *The book is written as a journal in a tone so natural you feel as if you're in his study at Tullynally as the wind soughs through the woods. His hard-won knowledge garnered over a lifetime of seed-collecting, planting and observation is displayed lightly so you absorb masses of information without ever feeling like you're at a dendrology conference. It's impossible not to feel affection for a man nearing 80 who not only plants a copse of rare Magnolia campellii Alba Group from seed, but collects that seed himself from a mountainside in Sikkim, India ... Pakenham's optimism and concern for future generations, both trees and people, is infectious. The world's trees could not have a more compelling advocate -- Caroline Beck * GARDENS ILLUSTRATED *The Company of Trees: A Lifetime's Quest is by one of the world's most famous tree huggers, octogenarian Thomas Pakenham of Tullynally Castle. It tells the story of his collection of remarkable trees in Co. Westmeath, and also shares gems such as discovering a rare blue poppy in Tibet by sitting on it, and getting lost at nightfall in his own woods only to be saved by a search party hours later * THE SUNDAY TIMES IRELAND *Thomas Pakenham, the champion of trees, narrates a story of exploration and discovery, of life-cycles longer than our own in this lavishly illustrated book ... An enthralling book by a passionate writer, educator and entertainer * WELSH BORDER LIFE *Thomas Pakenham's endlessly fascinating life and garden is the subject of The Company of Trees in which he continues the story of one man's love for all things arboreal begun in his 2002 bestseller, Meetings with Remarkable Trees. In this latest work we find him at home in Tullynally, where he has established an important arboretum, recalling his diverse personal quests for plants and seeds found on his far-flung travels ... and as all journeys begin with one small step, so do many plants grow from one small seed. Their stories follow fast and furious -- David Wheeler * HORTUS *
£11.69
Orion Publishing Co About A Son
Book Synopsis'The book that everyone will be talking about this year: a staggering work of honesty, empathy and humanity, wholly unlike anything else you will have read' Terri White On the evening of Halloween in 2015, Morgan Hehir was walking with friends close to Nuneaton town centre when they were viciously attacked by a group of strangers. Morgan was stabbed, and died hours later in hospital. He was twenty years old and loved making music with his band, going to the football with his mates, having a laugh; a talented graffiti artist who dreamed of moving away and building a life for himself by the sea. From the moment he heard the news, Morgan's father Colin Hehir began to keep an extraordinary diary. It became a record not only of the immediate aftermath of his son's murder, but also a chronicle of his family's evolving grief, the trial of Morgan's killers, and his personal fight to unravel the lies, mistakes and cover-ups that led to a young manTrade ReviewI feel very lucky to have read this book. Extraordinary and important . . . a triumph * Adam Kay, bestselling author of This Is Going To Hurt *Gripping, moving and beautifully executed . . . This is the first book I've read in a long time that acknowledges the grief, rage and misery of a crime's aftermath, and it does so with such truthfulness, humanity and respect. Hugely affecting * David Nicholls *I was utterly floored by the emotional depth of About A Son - a book that reaches so deeply into the human experience that to read it is to be forever changed. It is an unflinching examination of grief, a painstaking deconstruction of injustice and a dispatch from the frontiers of the human heart. David Whitehouse has written something of great power and truth. In doing so, he has ensured that Colin Hehir's beloved son, Morgan, and the family's fight for justice will never be forgotten. * Elizabeth Day, author of How To Fail *The book that everyone will be talking about this year: a staggering work of honesty, empathy and humanity, wholly unlike anything else you will have read. Whitehouse is a masterful storyteller who builds an intimate, immersive and unflinching portrait of a boy lost to preventable violence and the family who loved him. I found it absolutely compelling from the first word to the last and know I will never forget it * Terri White, author of Coming Undone *An incredibly compassionate and moving story of loss, grief and enduring love. The portrait of a father's determination and resilience left me filled with both heartache and hope. David Whitehouse is a singularly gifted and deeply compelling writer and this beautiful book opened my eyes to what creative non-fiction can be and do. * Cathy Rentzenbrink, author of The Last Act of Love *I was lucky enough to bag a preview copy of this startling piece of non-fiction a few months ahead of its official release in April. Weird thing to say, but the author might have invented a new genre of literature here, so unique are the events leading up to the book's publication. Part evidence-led true-crime investigation and part psycho-spiritual communion with the essence of grief itself, About A Son is unlike anything you've ever read, I guarantee. This deserves to be massive in 2022 * Time Out *Shocking, harrowing and sensitive . . . brings their love for Morgan to vivid life. Whitehouse writes in a spare style reminiscent of Gordon Burn * Observer, Book of the Week *An astonishing tale of profound love and grief . . . The facts tell nothing of the staggering emotional heft held within its 272 pages, as this singular blend of memoir, reportage and true crime investigation enmesh the reader in a tale of profound love, towering grief and intense indignation at a justice system that let down the Hehirs . . . . Exceptional . . . as much as it is about his death, it is also a tribute to who Morgan Hehir was, and the memory of his life will live long inside anyone who reads it * The i *A feat of creative non-fiction. A mix of true crime and memoir, it's a book that pays tribute to Morgan as a young man whose life was suddenly cut short, while also being a book about Nuneaton itself, capturing the grit and tragedy beneath the surface of the town, as well as a sense of community and openness. Whitehouse's writing is brilliant and devastating * The Skinny *A book of love and grief, and about what justice can and cannot deliver. I shall always remember Morgan and his family * Sunjeev Sahota, author of The Year of The Runaways *A work of such staggering beauty, such sheer, abject dread. My heart ached, and still does, but I'm so glad I read ABOUT A SON. I'm so glad David Whitehouse wrote this book. It's profoundly intimate and despairingly universal. It's a story of life and loss, and grief and love. It's remarkable. * Chris Whitaker, bestselling author of We Begin at the End *About A Son is a story of grief and the urgent all consuming need for closure when truth and justice are denied. Told with such skill, almost like a letter to the grieving father, a gift that honours the details of the crime and its aftermath, while transforming them into art. Both forensic and compassionate, it asks how do we come to terms with the tragic loss of a beloved son, failed by the system and taken far too early. This is an enthralling and beautiful book that stands as a lasting testament to the power and pain of familial love * Lily Dunn, author of Sins of My Father *This book! It's about being a father and losing a son. It's about trying to make sense of a senseless thing. It is tender and beautiful, and it is an angry book, a book whose anger is balanced and honed, anger as a tool, slicing through systemic indifference and obfuscation to what is true and right. Yes it's about a murder, about the loss of a life and future. But there is so much love here, and pride and even hope; Whitehouse takes you right to the heart of what it is to be human * Marianne Levy, author of Don't Forget to Scream *You absolutely must not miss this extraordinarily compelling work of creative non-fiction that is both deeply respectful and superbly crafted. It's one of those works that excels by defying categorisation, and yet if ever a book brought home the stark human reality that lies behind the words 'True' and 'Crime' it is this one * Caroline Sanderson, The Bookseller *David Whitehouse's account of the senseless, preventable murder of a much-loved son, brother and friend, and the unfathomable grief that fuelled his father's quest for the truth, is an astonishing achievement. About A Son is a book that will stay with you for a long, long time. A memorial to Morgan Hehir, the love he gave and the love that surrounded him in his all too short life, it is as beautiful and brilliant as it is heart-breaking * Dan Davies, author of In Plain Sight, winner of the Gordon Burn Prize *David Whitehouse has taken a father's 'unique record of grief' and turned it into a poetic indictment of policing in austerity Britain. About A Son is an original true crime masterpiece and a tribute to human resilience over official intransigence * Michael Gillard, author of Untouchables and Legacy *About A Son is a remarkable work of narrative nonfiction that invites us into a private universe of extraordinarily deep love and loss. It is a beautiful book that should be read by all * Francisco Garcia, author of If You Were There *A devastating book. With great empathy, perceptiveness, and skill, Whitehouse reframes the scenes of a senseless tragedy, giving voice to the untold sorrow of a bereft father, and somehow-don't ask me how-manages to return you to the edge of hope. It's insightful, profoundly moving, and big-hearted. Read it * Benjamin Wood, author of The Bellwether Revivals *A vivid portrait of grief from the frontline of loss. But this is no ordinary grief memoir . . . this is a confronting book. It brings the victim to the fore in a way that the courts struggle to do, and it shows what can go wrong when the victim is forgotten or sidelined. About a Son is an extraordinary work. Whitehouse's writing is beautiful, his storytelling deft . . . the book and its search for truth are propelled by Hehir's anger. While that anger is unfiltered, uncompromising and, for the reader, hard to look at straight in the eye, there is also a huge amount of love in this book . . . It is Hehir's love in the face of unimaginable trauma that elevates About a Son into something courageous, something inexplicably hopeful' * Olivia Potts, TLS *
£9.49
Orion Publishing Co Busy Being Free
Book Synopsis'A staggering piece of writing' Nigella Lawson 'It's woken me up' Minnie Driver, author of Managing Expectations 'The most delicious memoir that kept me in bed all day' Sophie Heawood, author of The Hungover Games What happens when your story doesn't end the way you thought it would? When the dream life you have been working towards becomes something you must walk away from? When you swap a Hollywood marriage and a LA mansion with waterside views, for a little attic flat shared only with your daughter, beneath the star-filled sky of deepest North London? When you find yourself not lonely, but elated - elated to be alone with yourself, who you genuinely thought you might never get to see again? When, after a life guided by romantic obsession, you decide to turn your bacTrade ReviewA staggering piece of writing: I had to start it again the minute I finished reading it, and it was just as shocking, absorbing and beautiful on rereading -- Nigella LawsonCompelling, mystical, deeply moving, darkly funny. Busy Being Free is a poetic, incisive, uncensored study of female solitude. I adored it. * Dolly Alderton *Alluring, shocking, welcome and wonderful -- Lisa Taddeo, author of THREE WOMENThe most delicious memoir that kept me in bed all day. I wonder what it is like to live with a mind like Forrest's, which makes such shooting connections between things and sees a great pattern in it all. I think she might be a genius. Eve Babitz didn't die, she just regenerated as Emma Forrest -- Sophie Heawood, author of THE HUNGOVER GAMESI've really never read about sex and been so sharply reminded about how much it is tied up with the fundamentals of being a woman. This deep part of ourselves that somehow gets side-lined and subordinated by everything else. This ecstatic voice we so often manage to ignore. I can hear Emma's voice though, and it's woken me up -- Minnie Driver, author of Managing ExpectationsBusy Being Free utterly thrilled me with its exposition of loneliness, solitude, and the differences between the two. How wonderful to be privy to many sides of a marriage and what comes after it, how wonderful to be shown so vividly that the end of a formal relationship is not the end of life nor even the end of that particular love. Emma Forrest is a master of voicing those human instincts and thoughts which feel too murky or ingrained to be articulated, and yet here she is doing so with enviable elegance on every page -- Megan Nolan, author of Acts of DesperationA heart-rending and acerbic memoir of appetite and abstinence -- Polly Samson, author of A Theatre for DreamersEmma Forrest can write the hell out of anything but where she truly excels is when she's writing about her life, which is often like something out of a novel... A glorious, sharp-as-a-tack-but-full-of-soul exploration of heartbreak and what happens next. -- Sarra Manning * RED MAGAZINE *Her writing hums with life, honesty and intelligence and underneath the romance and red carpets is loneliness and vulnerability. -- Marianne Power * THE TIMES *Forrest is examining, with an unflinching eye and a formidable cultural frame of reference... what it means for a woman to find herself alone in her 40s and to redefine herself outside a context of marriage, motherhood and men... One of Forrest's greatest gifts as a writer - apart from her humour; like its predecessor, Busy Being Free is frequently hilarious - is her instinct for ambiguity. She writes so well about messy lives because she understands the contradictions we are all prone to... the fact that she has written about this mid life excavation with such ferocity and frankness is cause for celebration. -- Stephanie Merritt * THE OBSERVER *Not to be missed... Disarmingly candid, she reveals how she put herself back together after shattering heartbreak. -- Helen Whitaker * GRAZIA *A rollicking good read - a lyrical and titillating journey through Los Angeles and North London. -- Honeysuckle Weeks * MAIL ON SUNDAY *A beautiful, unputdownable memoir about love and heartbreak, sex and celibacy, growing up and starting again. * SHEERLUXE *Deeply moving and wryly warm. * HEAT MAGAZINE *This book had me from the first few lines. It's bracingly honest, brilliantly written, and very, very sexy. Take it somewhere no one can find you - a hotel, a beach, or foreign country - and celebrate your solitude with the same energy as Emma Forrest -- Tanya Shadrick, author of The Cure for SleepBusy Being Free is a perfect combination of sharp, moving and funny. A story about marriage and its life beyond divorce, but also about how we define ourselves through our relationships and the physical and emotional transformation that comes with maturity and middle age. This is a brave book as it explores love, lust and female desire to the bone, but does it with such airy effortlessness that it becomes a gift we can all learn from -- Lily Dunn, author of Sins of My FatherAs well as being elegantly written, Busy Being Free is eminently readable - a treasure trove of profound insights into love, lust and female desire. -- Emma Lee Potter * DAILY MIRROR *Hitting themes of heartbreak, romance, celibacy and self-discovery, it's a testament to the power of putting yourself first. -- Alicia Lansom * REFINERY 29 *Reading Busy Being Free isn't like reading at all, in the sense that you will never look at how many pages you have left, or wonder whether this was the page you got stuck on last night before sleep. It's more like drinking, or watching TV (no higher praise, in this books column). It is funny, compelling, and the product of a singular, valuable mind. -- Nick Hornby * The Believer *
£9.49
