Memoirs Books

Book SynopsisThe international bestselling record of a German Jew in Nazi Germany.''Deserves to stand beside the diary of Anne Frank as a day-to-day description of the sufferings of the victims of Hitler''s evil regime'' EVENING STANDARD''Few English readers will fail to be moved as I was - ultimately to the point of tears'' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH''Packed with vivid observation, profound reflection ... they find hope, dignity and even tart humour in the jaws of hell'' INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAYA sensation when first published, this is one of the most extraordinary documents of the Nazi period. The son of a rabbi, Klemperer was by 1933 a professor of languages in Dresden. Over the next decade he lost his job, his house and many of his friends, even his cat, as Jews were not allowed to own pets. Saved for much of the war from the Holocaust by his marriage to a gentile, he was able to escape in the aftermath of the Allied bombing of Dresden and survived tTrade ReviewThe best written, most evocative, most observant record of daily life in the Third Reich * NEW YORK TIMES *It is a fascinating record which deserves to stand beside the diary of Anne Frank as a day-to-day description of the sufferings of the victims of Hitler's evil regime * EVENING STANDARD *Few English readers will fail to be moved as I was - ultimately to the point of tears * SUNDAY TELEGRAPH *Klemperer was a shrewd judge of human nature and unsparing of his own. As a diarist he is in the Pepys class ... He is, quite simply, the German of record * SPECTATOR *These are the day-to-day records ... of an unheroic man who showed, in keeping them, inconceivable courage -- Penelope Fitzgerald * TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT *These diaries constitute one of the most vital historical and human documents of their age. Packed with vivid observation, profound reflection ... they find hope, dignity and even tart humour in the jaws of hell * INDEPENDENT *Of all the books I have read on the subject, I find it hard to think of one which has taught me more * SUNDAY TELEGRAPH *A heroic diarist who has left an invaluable record of the Third Reich * INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY *This is a truly monumental work, destined to become a source book for anyone studying the Third Reich -- Eva Figes * HAMPSTEAD AND HIGHGATE EXPRESS *The diary's value, apart from the quality of its writing ... lies in its detailed narrative of the humiliations suffered by Jews ... That is the guiding spirit of this remarkable book * TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT *He has left an extraordinary historical document which in its own way is an invaluable contribution to an understanding not just of Jewish life under the Nazi regime, but of the whole German wartime experience * SUNDAY TRIBUNE *

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Book Synopsis''One of the great Second World War memoirs ... will be read as long as that war is remembered'' John Keegan''Extraordinary realism'' SUNDAY TIMES''A touch of the Somme and more than a hint of Wilfred Owen'' TLSA classic of WWII, this is the vivid memoir of Private Bowlby, who came through the North Africa campaign only to have to battle in bitter fighting against a stubborn and skilled German defence in Italy. It is a truly authentic account of what it was like to fight your way through one of the most gruelling and dangerous campaigns of the Second World War, where so often the hunters became the hunted.A superb first-hand account of the the second world war.Trade ReviewOne of the great Second World War memoirs ... will be read as long as that war is remembered -- John KeeganA touch of the Somme and more than a hint of Wilfred Owen * TLS *Extraordinary realism ... The sweating, slogging infantryman in conditions of extreme stress and horror ... a book to bring a shiver of horror to the most grizzled veteran * SUNDAY TIMES *Authentic with the reek, panic and dignity of action * OBSERVER *Few accounts have portrayed the gruelling reality of war so vividly -- James Holland

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Book Synopsis''Every person - parent or not - ought to read this . . . beautifully written and searingly honest''iLike grief or falling in love, becoming a mother is an experience both ordinary and transformative - one that not only turns your world upside-down, but your inner self, too.In this frank, funny and fearless memoir, Marianne Levy writes with heart-wrenching honesty about love and loss, rage and pain, fear and joy. She breaks the silence around the emotional turmoil of raising a child and asks why motherhood is at once so venerated and so undervalued.Here is the real story of being a mother in the modern world, voicing the unspoken truths that everyone needs to hear.''I''ve never read a book about motherhood that captures so perfectly the impossible complexity of it all . . . genius''Irish IndependentTrade ReviewI loved these sharp, unusual essays about motherhood and cried my way through much of the book. Childbirth, desire, consumerism and marketing of baby stuff, deciding to have a second child, goldfish. Recommended * Amy Liptrot, author of The Outrun *Don't Forget To Scream is funny and heartbreaking - a powerful portrayal of all that makes up motherhood. It feels both intimate and profoundly universal * Catherine Cho, author of Inferno *Marianne Levy's Don't Forget to Scream tells the truth of modern motherhood like nothing else I've read. Bold, brave and brilliant, it is also full of humour, joy and warmth. I loved it * Cathy Rentzenbrink *How I wish this book existed when I was a mother of young children. Each essay executes a brilliant swallow-dive from the enervating everyday of parenting into deep waters of profound and unorthodox thought. This is exciting, emboldening writing * Tanya Shadrick, author of The Cure for Sleep *I read Marianne's book with a constricted throat and welling eyes. Her writing cuts to the quick - so deep, direct, and moving but also wry and funny, often provoking a choked laugh. These essays tug and prod at what it means to be a mother - the 'messy cat's cradle of womanhood' - in the most intimate, powerful and painfully honest way, leaving me ravaged, occasionally enraged, but also feeling profoundly seen * Beth Morrey, author of Saving Missy *Honest, witty, powerful and moving . . . an important book brimming with hard-won wisdom * Robert Webb, author of How Not To Be a Boy *A brave, unflinching, utterly necessary book. I'm in awe of what it must have taken to write these searing and all too recognisable essays * Tammy Cohen, author of The Wedding Party *I laughed, I cried and I haven't stopped thinking about it since. A brave, moving, brilliantly-written and often funny exploration of what it means to be a mother. I want everyone to read it * Anna Mazzola, author of The Clockwork Girl *A remarkable book, cutting to the quick of what motherhood really feels like - the terror and the rage and the joy of it. The mundane rubs shoulders with the life-changing, the damply humdrum is shot through with calamitous love. I've read so much about motherhood, but I've never read anything as sharply honest as this; mothers will find themselves here * Shelley Harris, author of Jubilee *Brilliant, funny, heartbreaking, and true, Marianne Levy's Don't Forget to Scream had me exploring my own experience of motherhood in an entirely new way. I simply can't stop thinking about it. * Deidre Mask, author of The Address Book *An excellent book . . . elegant, funny, raw and beautiful. It made me angry with myself and the world but it also made laugh. Compulsive reading * Emma Beddington, author of We’ll Always Have Paris *A gut-punch of recollections about early motherhood . . . Incredible, honest writing that gets to the heart of the experience. It's wonderful * Julia Raeside *A remarkable memoir, threaded with humour and tenderness, and yet exposing the often crushing loneliness and unfairness of motherhood. A must-read for fathers and prospective fathers, this book made me wish I could go back in time and do parenting differently * Alex Reeve, author of The House on Half Moon Street *Don't Forget to Scream is a work of painful genius. Exquisitely written, totally honest, insightful and alternately hilarious and moving. I don't have or want children and might not have picked the book up, thinking it's not "for" me. Which would have been a big mistake. Huge. The beauty of reading is in allowing a skilful writer to not only lead you into their world but picture yourself there. This is what Don't Forget To Scream achieves, and it's utterly compelling * Jo Harkin, author of Tell Me An Ending *A beautifully, and at times agonisingly, honest confessional. Moving, funny, poignant and inciteful: Marianne's reflections shine a light on both the joys and lies about parenthood with which we're all complicit. This is This is Going To Hurt from the other side of the bed * Dr Keir Shiels, Consultant Paediatrician, Great Ormond Street Hospital *Brilliant, brave, honest (and sometimes very funny) . . . Don't Forget To Scream should be read by anyone who has a mother * Lev Parikian *A staggeringly, ferociously good book - unflinching but humane, real and funny and courageous, and vitally questioning. I wish we lived in a world where it didn't need to be written * Piers Torday *The contradictions and complexities of motherhood dissected in a painfully accurate and extraordinarily funny way. Don't Forget to Scream is a must-read for anyone, not just mothers * Ania Bas, author of Odd Hours *Don't Forget To Scream is a stunning, urgent, feminist masterpiece. Many of the essays brought me to tears, and I had to give myself breaks between them to digest their beauty and wisdom and insight before moving onto the next. In a world where motherhood is simultaneously deified and scorned, Levy expertly stitches together what this jarring juxtaposition means for the internal lives of women navigating this. She's brave enough to tell the truth about the daily conflicts between overwhelming love and overwhelming grief at the loss of self - conflicts that are rarely allowed to sit alongside each other, let alone felt within a five minute period. She's angry enough to speak out about the depraved normalisation of gynaecological violence, and the endless other ways mothers are failed by the government and societal expectations. And yet she also writes so beautifully about the overwhelming wonder of having children - the joys, the love, the laughter, and the true magic. So many mothers will see themselves in this book. And anyone who has ever rolled their eyes while a mother struggles to get a buggy onto the bus needs to read it too. A masterclass in empathy. I'm buying copies for everyone I know * Holly Bourne *Funny, honest, courageous and brilliant . . . I really recommend it * Brian Bilston *A terrific collection of bracing and often darkly funny personal pieces about the transformative experience of becoming a mother and the extent to which it derails your sense of self. I know I would have fallen upon it with immense gratitude and relief when I had my first child * The Bookseller *Extraordinary. Levy brings to life so many feelings and thoughts that have lurked around my subconscious but are hard to look at clearly, let alone articulate. I wanted to read it slowly because it made me feel so many things, but ended up devouring it because it's so damn good * Emily Itami *I finished this book in tears. It perfectly articulates the contradictions of motherhood, the breath-stealing, heart-aching, painful intensity - and, above all, the love. What a book * Emylia Hall *Fierce, funny, frightening . . . Marianne Levy offers the unvarnished truth about motherhood, charting both its blisses and its many challenges. Rarely is writing this raw yet also this readable: Don't Forget to Scream digs deep, and the results are can't-look-away compelling. Essential reading for anyone who has kids, is thinking about having kids, knows someone who has kids, was once a kid - basically, for everyone * Holly Williams *A paean to the messy, confounding, chaotic, beautiful, heartbreaking soup that is motherhood - I loved it * Kate Maxwell, author of Hush *These brilliant essays are filled with the visceral, contradictory emotions of early motherhood. Filled with righteous anger at a society which still hasn't addressed how we mother in the modern world, they'll make you both cry and laugh. Everyone should read these words * Araminta Hall *Fascinating . . . Although full of love and written in glittering prose, the domestic world the essays present is chaotic and at times full of rage * Irish Independent *It's fabulous -- Eva WisemanI devoured this book about motherhood in all its complex, beautiful, ugly reality. It felt like seeing myself reflected on the page for the first time in the better part of a year. Like shouting out and finally hearing an echo in the darkness . . . I gobbled it up like something delicious and forbidden, something selfishly and exclusively mine . . . When I picked up this book it felt like being seen and heard . . . Reading and writing about mothering in such raw, searing, beautiful honesty is a radical act . . . hearing that my feelings are shared by even one other person - that the bittersweet, aching, love-pain of it all, the good tears and the bad tears, the inertia and the wonder, were not mine alone after all - felt like a revolutionary act of self-care * Metro *Courageous . . . bursting with urgency, both pocket therapy for parents and a keen appraisal of the desperate bind of contemporary motherhood. Levy tells her story with a light touch, an exhausted heart and bright rage. She notes the pleasure, humour and sackfuls of love that exist alongside the sleep deprivation and fury, but more weight is given to the gruelling aspects of motherhood, the hidden spaces . . . If you are a mother, read this book to know you are not alone, to find vindication in your fury. If you are not a mother, read it to empathise with the mothers in your life * i newspaper *Marianne's memoir, sometimes poignant, sometimes funny, unflinchingly frank, gives voice to the maelstrom of fear, rage, love and joy, the loss of identity and independence, and the pain that motherhood entails . . . will strike a chord with all parents * Camden New Journal *Some serious thinking about feminism and its intersection with women's health policy, the environment, employment and the philosophy of everyday life . . . flashes of brilliance . . . She's quite right to point about that women's pain, from the first period cramps to later-life illnesses, is treated differently to men's. And her prose can be lovely . . . Levy comes alive as a writer musing on her own mother, or her daughter's first, poignant questions about the Holocaust, or just her own rather interesting psychological make-up . . . clearly a good writer * The Times *Stands apart from the populous pack of recent books about motherhood for a number of reasons . . . tremendous wit, warmth and acuity . . . humorous observations . . . compelling discussions on childcare challenges and the gender pay gap . . . colourful, charming . . . truly, it's the sort of book that should be pushed into every new parent's hands . . . courageous truth-telling can be found on every page * Irish Independent *With wry wit and blistering honesty, her collection of essays shines a light on the untold stories of modern motherhood * Woman’s Own *Brings humour to everyday pain . . . a heartfelt attempt to break the discourse about motherhood out of this silo and bring it to a wider and more diverse audience. It's an unvarnished look at the grimy, lonely, frightening, alienating side of pregnancy and motherhood, spanning birth phobia and physical trauma, the erosion of Levy's sense of self and self-worth in the early months and years, and the structural, social, economic bind in which so many mothers find themselves . . . Levy is an engaging, often funny author . . . There's virtuoso swearing, pet fish psychodrama and a revoltingly accurate taxonomy of the various kinds of filth motherhood involved . . . Don't Forget to Scream seeks to challenge the way we minimalise and deny how hard the ordinary business of mothering is * Observer *I recognise it all. And I welcome her urge to "invite other women backstage". Levy is as aware as anyone that motherhood is an ordinary miracle, but she also knows that it is still a miracle . . . I also enjoyed her incredulous anger . . . Don't Forget To Scream becomes really interesting when Levy wonders - usefully, intensely - why we don't talk about such aspects of motherhood . . . Amid all the rage and the wit, Levy writes with great tenderness about her children and the "whole minutes of honeyed joy" she has with them, however hard-won and conflicted that joy might be * Daily Telegraph *You must read this . . . a hilarious reflection on being a mother . . . I've never read a book about motherhood that captures so perfectly the impossible complexity of it all and the massive shift that women experience in the process as Marianne Levy's Don't Forget to Scream . . . Straight-talking and hilarious . . . to say her work is genius would be an understatement. Each essay is a masterpiece, a snippet of deep - and often hilarious - reflection on being a mother in today's society . . . I found many of her observations profound . . . and she revels in the joy of it all too . . . Everything about the book has stuck with me, and though it is a memoir and ultimately Levy's experience, so much of it is universal and all of it is important * Irish Independent *Perceptive . . . honest and necessary writing . . . visceral * BBC Culture *Beautifully written . . . Insightful and funny, too * Francesca Steele, i newspaper *A terrific collection of bracing and often darkly funny personal pieces about the transformative experience of becoming a mother and the extent to which it derails your sense of self. I know I would have fallen upon it with immense gratitude and relief when I had my first child * The Bookseller *I've never read a book about motherhood that captures so perfectly the impossible complexity of it all . . . universal and important * Irish Independent *To describe this book as honest, brave, empathetic and powerful doesn't do it justice - it is all these things in abundance, but also funny and beautiful * Adam Kay *Phenomenal. Words like 'searing' and 'extraordinary' and 'blistering' will be used about this book, and they will not convey one tenth of the strength of it, nor the honesty nor the bravery in writing it * Emma Flint, author of Little Deaths *'A stunning, urgent, feminist masterpiece' * Holly Bourne *I've never read a book about motherhood that captures so perfectly the impossible complexity of it all . . . universal and important * Irish Independent *To describe this book as honest, brave, empathetic and powerful doesn't do it justice - it is all these things in abundance, but also funny and beautiful * Adam Kay *

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Book Synopsis''Fascinating ... this collection illuminates corners of the wartime world ... it provides a valuable and often entertaining window'' GUARDIAN''The horrors have not been suppressed. Everyone who speaks was very young then. You sense their wonder that they did the things they recall'' INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAYWhen we remember the Second World War in the air, we think of fighter pilots and bomber crews. But what was it like for the men and women working as ground crew and in the aircraft factories who also played a crucial role in defeating Hitler? What was it like making history? What sense did these individuals have of what they were doing, either at the time or later? Did they feel they were caught up in the tide of great events? Or were they simply doing their demanding and often dangerous duty?Originally published as ACES, ERKS AND BACKROOM BOYSTrade ReviewFascinating ... this collection illuminates corners of the wartime world ... it provides a valuable and often entertaining window * GUARDIAN *The horrors have not been suppressed. Everyone who speaks was very young then. You sense their wonder that they did the things they recall * INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY *

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Book SynopsisSPIES... FAMILIES... SECRETS - perfect for anyone who enjoyed A SPY AMONG FRIENDSOriginally published as LOOKING FOR MR NOBODYA fascinating true story of one man''s connection to the Cambridge Spy Ring and his daughter''s search for the truth.''A book which deserves nothing but praise'' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH''What makes [this book] memorable is Rees''s moving account of her own attempt to come to terms with her father''s "secret" ... her poignant memoir gives a rare insight into the experiences of families whose fathers joined the ranks of "Stalin''s Englishmen"'' SUNDAY TIMESSince Goronwy Rees''s death, his daughter Jenny has had to cope with the frequently made allegation that her father was another of the spies recruited at Cambridge in the 1930s. He never disguised his friendship with Guy Burgess who, with Donald Maclean, had defected to Moscow in 1951, and in 1979 Rees helped Andrew Boyle unmask Anthony Blunt, the Fourth Man. So, was Rees himself actually a spy? The opening of KGB files has acted as a spur to Jenny Rees in her quest to exorcise the past. The result is full of unexpected revelation, made all the more moving as she discovers for the first time the secret life of her father.Previously published as LOOKING FOR MR NOBODYTrade ReviewA book which deserves nothing but praise * SUNDAY TELEGRAPH *What makes [this book] memorable is Rees's moving account of her own attempt to come to terms with her father's "secret" ... her poignant memoir gives a rare insight into the experiences of families whose fathers joined the ranks of "Stalin's Englishmen" ... Jenny Rees now probably understands her father better than he did himself * SUNDAY TIMES *A touching, unsentimental book worth reading * SPECTATOR *Resolute but tender * TLS *A sensitive voyage of discovery * DAILY TELEGRAPH *

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Book Synopsis Combat helicopter pilots in the Vietnam War flew each mission facing the possibility of imminent death. Begun as a series of attempted letters to the Department of Veterans Affairs, this compelling memoir of an aircraft commander in the 116th Assault Helicopter Company--The Hornets--relates his experience of the war in frank detail. From supporting the 25th Infantry Division''s invasion of Cambodia, to flying the lead aircraft in the 101st Airmobile Division''s pivotal Operation Lam Son 719 invasion of Laos to cut the Ho Chi Minh Trail at LZ Hope, the author recounts the traumatic events of his service from March 1970 to March 1971.

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Book Synopsis There was another war in Vietnam, one that mostly did not make the headlines: the campaign to win the hearts and minds of the Vietnamese people. Fought not with artillery and helicopters but with food, medicine and shelter for civilians devastated by the conflict, the effort was unprecedented in U.S. history, involving both military and civilian personnel working together in widely spread areas of the countryside. Part history and part memoir, this book chronicles an overlooked aspect of U.S. involvement in Vietnam, with a focus on the war victims and refugees who were most tragically affected by the carnage. The author recounts his two years in-country as an aid worker and tells how the humanitarian effort was conducted and why it failed.

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Book Synopsis A farm boy from the mountains of North Carolina, Rufus Edmisten could not have been prepared for the halls of power in Washington, D.C., during the Vietnam War era, as young men burned their draft cards and pro-cannabis factions held smoke-ins in the capital. A University of North Carolina Chapel Hill graduate, he earned a law degree at George Washington University and landed a job as counsel to U.S. senator Samuel J. Ervin, Jr. This led to Edmisten''s appointment as Deputy Chief Counsel for the Senate Watergate Committee--he personally served Richard Nixon the first ever subpoena of a sitting president by Congress. Returning to North Carolina, he served as Attorney General and Secretary of State before retiring from public life to practice law and participate in charitable activities. Written with humor and candor, his memoir recalls the cultural contrasts of American life in the 1970s and 1980s, and affirms that the business of government is to enable us to li

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Book Synopsis By 1969, the Sikorski H-34 was an older helicopter with severe limitations for combat duty in Vietnam. For pilots like U.S. Marine Lieutenant Rick Gehweiler, the good news was it could still take significant damage and keep flying. His vivid memoir narrates his harrowing, at times deadly flight missions under fire, as experienced in the cockpit, along with anecdotes of tragedy and humor from his 13-month tour through Da Nang and Phu Bai.Trade ReviewI was a Marine infantry company commander in Vietnam. The majority of our time was spent in the jungle fighting. Our lifeline was the helicopter and the pilots who flew them. They brought us food and water, carried out our wounded and dead and delivered replacements. Without them we could not have survived. They never let us down, no matter how dangerous or desperate the situation. I never remember them not responding to my call. It was incredibly dangerous flying in the worst terrain and circumstances imaginable. Their skill and courage were astounding. To this day I remain in awe of them. Read Rick Gehweiler's personal account and you will understand."—W. E. Boomer, General, U.S. Marine Corps (ret)Table of Contents Acknowledgments Preface  1. Pop Smoke  2. The Beginning  3. Quantico  4. Pensacola  5. The Edge of the Envelope  6. Phu Bai  7. Water Buffalo  8. The Sikorsky Bounce  9. Flying for the ROKs 10. Incoming or Outgoing? 11. Hill 818 12. The Twilight Zone 13. Final Days 14. Departure 15. Boat Ride from Hell 16. Coming Home 17. You Can Run but You Cannot Hide Epilogue Military History of Richard W. Gehweiler Index

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

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Book SynopsisBestselling travel writer Richard Grant “sensitively probes the complex and troubled history of the oldest city on the Mississippi River through the eyes of a cast of eccentric and unexpected characters” (Newsweek).Natchez, Mississippi, once had more millionaires per capita than anywhere else in America, and its wealth was built on slavery and cotton. Today it has the greatest concentration of antebellum mansions in the South, and a culture full of unexpected contradictions. Prominent white families dress up in hoopskirts and Confederate uniforms for ritual celebrations of the Old South, yet Natchez is also progressive enough to elect a gay black man for mayor with 91% of the vote. Much as John Berendt did for Savannah in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and the hit podcast S-Town did for Woodstock, Alabama, so Richard Grant does for Natchez in The Deepest South of All. With humor and insight, he depicts a strange, e

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Book SynopsisA unique perspective on one of the most infamous cities in recent American history. - Publisher's WeeklyA book that sticks with you long after you've read it. Volume 1 BrooklynHoke's writing is blunt and honest, and Sticker is a collection worth keeping. Southern Review of BooksI will never forget this book. - T Kira Madden, author of Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless GirlsFunny, nostalgic, and weird in the best possible way. - Jocelyn Nicole Johnson, author of My MonticelloFeatured in Electric Lit's The Most Anticipated LGBTQ+ Books of 2022Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.Stickers adorn our first memories, dot our notebooks and our walls, are stuck annoyingly on fruit, and accompany us into adulthood to announce our beliefs from car bumpers. They hold surprising power in their ability to define and provoke, and hold a stranTrade ReviewHoke (The Groundhog Forever) offers up an evocative reflection on queerness, race, and his hometown of Charlottesville, Va., in this conceptual 'memoir in 20 stickers.' .” Part of Bloomsbury’s “Object Lessons” series, his book uses the humble sticker as a metaphorical linchpin for a series of essays that [offer] a unique perspective on one of the most infamous cities in recent American history. * Publishers Weekly *We’re not entirely objective here, but we’re quite fond of the Object Lessons series — and Henry Hoke’s contribution might boast the most striking cover design the series has had to date. Hoke’s book uses stickers to chronicle everything from queer identity to the recent history of Charlottesville, Virginia — all of which should make this a book that sticks with you long after you’ve read it. (Pun intended, oh yes.) * Volume 1 Brooklyn *Hoke’s keenly constructed memoir-in-essays is really a memoir-in-stickers, from the glow-in-the-dark stars and coveted Lisa Frank unicorns of childhood to a Pixies decal from his teenage years. The book also peels back the complicated notoriety of the author’s hometown, Charlottesville, Virginia, juxtaposing Dave Matthews’ fire dancer emblem against a truck emblazoned with the words “Are You Triggered?” on its back window heralding the infamous white supremacist march. * Electric Lit *Sticker is a trove of Millennial nostalgia. Its uniqueness lies not only in Hoke’s unabashed storytelling but also in its critical analysis of American current events and its brutal honesty about a city rooted in racism. In Sticker, Hoke’s Charlottesville morphs into a scrapbook, one where Hoke places many of the literal and metaphorical stickers significant to his past and his identity, one in which America memorializes some of its questionable, inhumane history and many of its darkest days. Possessing the evocative power of Melissa Faliveno’s Tomboyland, Hoke’s writing is blunt and honest, and Sticker is a collection worth keeping. -- Nicole Yurcaba * Southern Review of Books *Funny, nostalgic, and weird in the best possible way, Henry Hoke's Sticker weaves evocative personal moments with hometown lore and racial reckoning, all while making you want to dig up your old-school sticker collection—the puffy, the glowy, especially the scratch and sniff. * Jocelyn Nicole Johnson, author of My Monticello *Henry Hoke examines gender, sexuality, music, and the depths of humanity with exuberant whimsy and charm. Sticker pulses with ghost stories, lamplit streets and pine, boyhood, blood. Startlingly original and gorgeously rendered, I will never forget this book. * T Kira Madden, author of Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls *Table of ContentsMr. Yuk Unicorn Wahoowa Gold Star Constellation Chiquita Reinforcer Proud Parent Parental Advisory Explicit Content Rotunda Anarchy Blueberry Death to the Pixies Pink Circle Heart Fire Dancer Be Nice to Me I Gave Blood Today Are You Triggered? Hail Satan HH Index

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Book SynopsisVeteran scholar and critic Henry Sussman deploys anecdote, reportage, and memoir to lament and scrutinize the rise of anti-intellectualism in the past few decades. How are we to reckon with the decline of impartiality and sharp increase in self-interested interference in politic, legal, and cultural spheres; the normalization of pathological narcissism in public life; and the blanket dismissal of scientific findings and their counterparts in the humanities and social sciences?In retracing his own intellectual and experiential steps, Sussman revisits many of his lasting inspirations, including Walter Benjamin, Jacques Derrida, Douglas R. Hofstadter, Immanuel Kant, and J. Hillis Miller. The result is an intellectual meditation on the great dismissal,' in public and political life, of venerable and vital humanistic traditions, ethics, and ways of thinking.Trade ReviewThis book establishes a new critical standard for memoir. The Great Dismissal demolishes efforts to expunge controversial books from our society simply because they induce people to think. Through an improvised mash-up of original poetry, trenchant cultural analysis, and touching memoir, Sussman's amazing book is an electroshock to the deadened brain of America. This kaleidoscopic survey of life during the Trump-COVID years from one of Derrida's most celebrated students is an extremely important and highly original work of social and political criticism. A must read for anyone who wants to make thinking great again! * Jeffrey R. Di Leo, Professor of English and Philosophy, University of Houston, Victoria, USA, and Executive Director of the Society for Critical Exchange *In The Great Dismissal, Henry Sussman crafts an extraordinary voice meticulously registering the existential vagaries of life in New York City during the twin plagues of COVID and Trump. This intimately personal, nonlinear chronicle foregrounds contemporary journalism that challenges the mendacity, hypocrisy, and subterfuge of American political culture. The Great Dismissal is a sustained meditation on intellectual redemptions that refuse to be dismissed by the Pharisees of disinformation. * Bruce Clarke, Paul Whitfield Horn Distinguished Professor of Literature and Science, Texas Tech University, USA *No one today writes – or thinks – quite like Henry Sussman. A rhizomatic memoir of the Trump era, The Great Dismissal reads as a critique of the present penned simultaneously from the future and past. Pulling from Piketty and Poe and conversations in the street with equal attentiveness, Sussman offers a vibrant, searing, subjective answer to the still critical questions: What is to be done, and Who is to blame? The passion of the prose itself models an alternative – an irrational but inexhaustible, perennial hope – to the post-apocalyptic global present he so skillfully scalpels apart. * Marijeta Bozovic, Assistant Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures, Yale University, USA *Table of Contents1. November 18, 2020. Postal. 2. October 6, 2020. Apocalypse red, apocalypse blue. 3. December 12, 2020. Confederacy of zombies. 4. October 18, 2019. Protests, curtailment of bus service, Queens. 5. June 7, 2020. Atlas of vanished places. 6. February 10, 2021. Requiem to disinterest. 7. January 27, 2020. New feudal lords. 8. Thanksgiving, 2021. Partisans of writing: Mayer with Derrida 9. April 1, 2018. Welcome to the Great Dismissal! 10. August 15, 2020. Co-lateral dommages. 11. December, 31, 2020. What on earth to do with the bodies? 12. August 30, 2018. Midterm enigmas for progressives. 13. December 15, 2021. Partisans of writing. Tobin Smith. 14. January 19, 2021. Politics of entertainment 15. May 24, 2020. Sikhs and other cabbies. 16. November 15, 2020. Electronic ticks and leaden bubbles. 17. June 13, 2019. Three deer in a development near Harrisburg, PA. 18. Labor Day, 2021. Partisans of writing. Shoshanah Zuboff. 19. March 15, 2022. Partisans of writing. Adam Serwer. 20. February 14, 2022. University of the street. 21. May 15, 2022. This Thing that dwells within us. 22. June 27, 2022. Dismissal day: The strange loop of identity politics. 23. January 23, 2023. I was there.

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Book SynopsisWhen a devastating diagnosis tears author Donnie Kanter Winokur’s family apart, a service dog may be their best hope to stay together. Donnie Kanter Winokur and her husband, Harvey, never could have imagined the heart-wrenching struggle that becomes their new reality after they decide to adopt two infants from Russia. As Iyal and Morasha grow, it becomes clear that Iyal’s development is drastically lagging behind his sister’s. By age four, he has a devastating diagnosis: fetal alcohol syndrome. But naming their battle provides little relief as Iyal and his family try to cope with the lifelong impact of his invisible disability. As the Winokurs’ marriage is unraveling, Donnie and Harvey hang on to the last shreds of their own promise. Desperate to alleviate her son’s constant rages and their crushing toll on the family, Donnie comes up with an innovative, untested, four-pawed solution: a golden retriever service dog named Chancer. Chancer is specially trained to give Iyal a unique love he desperately needs. But in this true-life tale infused with moments of despair, tenderness, and humor, Chancer turns out to be what the entire family has needed to stay—and grow—together.Trade Review“The story of how Chancer helped the Winokurs and their son heal and grow closer is poignant and heartwarming. But what makes the book especially important is the frank way the author illuminates an underdiscussed disorder that affects as many as one child in twenty in the United States. An honest, informative, and uplifting memoir.” —Kirkus Reviews “This unique and candid memoir will be a helpful contribution.” —Library Journal “This is a heartwarming story of a childless couple who adopted two babies from Russia…Along the way, the story also shines a light on FAS, an under-discussed disorder. This new memoir is both illuminating and poignant.” —The Bark “What a story! What a dog! Winokur’s memoir is a testament to the power of love, family, and friendship.” —Jennifer S. Holland, author of the New York Times bestselling series Unlikely Friendships “Here, in a courageous and tenderly told mother’s memoir, is the inside story of parents who brought home their darling dream child from a Russian orphanage. In time—though still their precious, cherished child—the boy exhibited severe and irreversible cognitive and behavioral disabilities. In despair, in free fall, the parents grabbed for a lifeline. When the lifeline turned out to be attached to a shaggy four-legged big-hearted golden retriever, their life took an irreversible turn for the better.” —Melissa Fay Greene, author of The Underdogs: Children, Dogs, and the Power of Unconditional Love “Chancer is a moving and elegantly written memoir about marriage, motherhood, and a faithful dog who saves the day. Winokur has an elegant voice, and her humor fills even the most harrowing moments with hope. While this is a very personal tale, anyone who has ever been a parent, a partner, or a dog lover will relate.” —Rebecca Ascher-Walsh, author of Devoted and Loyal “Just as dogs lead soldiers safely across bomb-laden battlegrounds, the stalwart and brave Chancer leads his boy through daunting battles with fetal alcohol syndrome—saving not just the boy, but his entire family. An absorbing, hopeful memoir full of unlikely heroes.” —Maria Goodavage, author of New York Times bestsellers Soldier Dogs, Top Dog, and Secret Service Dogs “As the partner of a golden retriever guide dog, I was intrigued with the thought that a golden could effectively work with a boy born with fetal alcohol syndrome. The book, Chancer, did not disappoint. Donnie Winokur writes from the heart about her family’s struggle to address their son’s lifelong diagnosis and how Chancer, a well-trained, happy-go-lucky service dog lends his talents to calm their son and bring comfort to the whole family. It’s an honest view of disability, and the magic of a dog’s warmth and attention. MUST READ.” —Toni Eames MS, author of Partners in Independence: A Success Story of Dogs and the Disabled

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Runners’ vocabulary is full of acronyms like DNS for “Did Not Start” and DNF for “Did Not Finish,” but when Mirna Valerio stepped up to the starting line, she needed a new one: DNQ for “Did Not Quit.” Valerio has tied on her running shoes all across the country, from the dusty back roads of central New Jersey to the busy Route 222 corridor in Pennsylvania to the sweltering deserts of Arizona. When you meet her on the trail, you might be surprised to see she doesn’t quite fit the typical image of a long-distance runner. She’s neither skinny nor white, and she’s here to show just how misguided these stereotypes can be. In this prejudice-busting, body-positive memoir told with raw honesty, an adventurous spirit, and a sharp sense of humor, Valerio takes readers along on her journey from first-time racer to ultramarathoner and proves that anyone can become a successful athlete.

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Book Synopsis'Part memoir, part true crime, wholly brilliant.' – Paula Hawkins, author of The Girl on the Train.When law student Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich is asked to work on a death-row hearing for convicted murderer and child molester Ricky Langley, she finds herself thrust into the tangled story of his childhood. As she digs deeper and deeper into the case she realizes that, despite their vastly different circumstances, something in his story is unsettlingly, uncannily familiar.The Fact of a Body is both an enthralling memoir and a groundbreaking, heart-stopping investigation into how the law is personal, composed of individual stories, and proof that arriving at the truth is more complicated, and powerful, than we could ever imagine.Trade ReviewA haunting memoir of murder, revenge and dark family secrets * Sunday Times *Shocking, chilling, unforgettable * Mail on Sunday *Compulsive, eloquent and profoundly troubling. One of those rare books which embrace the genuine complexity of real life. -- Mark HaddonUtterly remarkable . . . It isn’t just that the writing can be beautiful (the author has a very nice way with cemeteries, which is just as well because she visits enough of them), it isn’t just her coruscating honesty, it is that she understands how very partial the stories we tell ourselves are. -- David Aaronovitch * The Times *An extraordinary book, weaving as it does the story of the author’s own childhood abuse at the hands of a grandfather into the (also true) story of a convicted child killer on death row in whose retrial she is involved. It’s a complex, difficult, essential read. -- S.J. Watson * Observer Books of the Year *Part memoir, part true crime, wholly brilliant. Bleak subject matter is expertly handled as Marzano-Lesnevich challenges us to see both perpetrators and victims from every possible angle. -- Paula Hawkins * Observer Books of the Year *One of the most fascinating, satisfying, moving, uplifting books I’ve ever read. -- Lucy Mangan * Stylist *The Fact of a Body is excellent. So gripping and fascinating. -- Sophie Hannah, author of The Carrier and The Monogram MurdersThis book is a marvel. With unflinching precision and immense compassion, Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich peels apart both a murder case and her own experience to reveal how we try to make sense of the past. The Fact of a Body is equal parts gripping and haunting and will leave you questioning whether any one story can hold the full truth -- Celeste Ng, author of the New York Times bestselling Everything I Never Told YouThe Fact of a Body is a remarkable act of witness, an anatomy of silence and the violence it abets, a book of both public and private accountings. Rejecting the false comfort of certainty, it confronts the inadequacy of all our tools for fathoming not just unforgivable crimes, but the baffling, human grace that can forgive them. This is a profound and riveting book -- Garth Greenwell, author of What Belongs to YouAs gripping as a thriller, The Fact of a Body is a disturbing work that explores the toughest questions of law and morality without offering any easy answers. * Literary Review *A powerful hybrid…The Fact of a Body is true crime that feels true. -- Victoria Segal, The Sunday TimesI haven’t read anything quite like this before..we must congratulate Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich. She has made us understand things we might not have understood before -- William Leith * The Spectator *The most compelling book I’ve read in a long time – if you liked the Serial podcast or Making a Murderer, it’s similarly addictive. However, it’s also intellectually exacting and rigorous, rather than salacious. A very fine balance. -- Susie Steiner, author of Missing Presumed[A] true-crime masterpiece . . . There are no easy conclusions in The Fact of a Body, but there are many moments of profound revelation. * Vogue *

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Book SynopsisMy Lovely Wife is a powerful memoir of one man's overwhelming love for his wife through mental illness and psychosis.Mark and Giulia fell for each other in their teens, married in their 20s, and didn't realize what their love would demand of them until Giulia suffered a terrifying and unexpected psychotic break at the age of twenty-seven. Hospitalized for almost a month, she was tormented by delusions and paranoia. Upon release, she sunk into an extended suicidal depression during which Mark, struggling to support Giulia, was torn between the demands of keeping her safe and following doctor's orders, and honouring her independence and making her feel loved.Eventually, Giulia fully recovered, and the couple had a son. Soon after Jonas was born, Giulia had another breakdown, and then a third a few years after that. Pushed to the edge of the abyss, everything the couple had once taken for granted was upended. In My Lovely Wife, Mark Lukach takes us through these harrowing years with compassion and candour, as he and Giulia renegotiate their relationship, anchored by an abiding devotion to each other and their family.A story of the fragility of the mind, and the tenacity of the human spirit, My Lovely Wife is, above all, a love story that raises profound questions: How do we best care for the people we love? What and who do we live for? Breathtaking in its honesty, radiant with compassion, written with dazzling lyricism, this intensely personal odyssey offers much-needed insight into the caregiving side of mental illness, and affirms the power of love.Trade ReviewA dazzling, loving and hugely courageous book -- The TimesA compassionate and deeply honest account -- Guardian This gorgeous memoir gives readers a raw and unvarnished account of what it’s like to live with and love someone with a severe mental illness. There are moments of gut-wrenching sadness—but, ultimately, the story is hopeful, even triumphant. This book basically tore out my heart and then lovingly sewed it back in place -- Susannah Cahalan, author of Brain on FireIt’s possible that understanding the terrifying and excruciating process of being placed in a mental institution can be best understood by the person who loves you most. Mark Lukach lyrically transforms our understanding of love, mental illness, patience, and devotion in this stunning memoir which chronicles falling in love with a woman whose mental condition eventually changed their lives forever. With moving and touching prose, this book truly describes what it’s like to have the picture of your life smashed in an instant and subsequently reassembled miraculously. -- Mayim Bialik, PhD, neuroscientist, actress and New York Times bestselling authorIt absolutely gutted me. It was so many things at once: an adorably devoted love story, a memoir of mental illness, an admittance of anger and guilt, a story of resilience. It offered a perspective I feel is underserved in mental health writing, and while I found it hard emotionally to continue at times, it will stay with me for a long time. – Nikki Goerz -- New York Times – Readers Recommend their Favorite Books of 2017An honest and rewarding memoir of a couple’s compassion and love for each other -- KirkusHonest and heartfelt, My Lovely Wife tells the difficult story of a marriage tested by mental illness, and reminds us that true love is never easy -- Kyle Boelte, author of The Beautiful UnseenMy Lovely Wife is a compelling memoir and a heartrending tale of love, madness, and redemption. Like a long-distance trail runner, Mark Lukach embarks on a harrowing journey deep into the woods of psychosis and through the dark twists and turns of his wife’s illness and gradual recovery. But his loyalty to her never wavers, and his story is a testament to the healing power of love and endurance. -- Stuart H. Coleman, author of Eddie Would Go

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Book Synopsis‘I have discovered the secret that after climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb. I have taken a moment here to rest, to steal a view of the glorious vista that surrounds me, to look back on the distance I have come. But I can only rest for a moment, for with freedom comes responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not ended.’ Long Walk to FreedomIn 1994, Nelson Mandela became the first president of democratic South Africa. Five years later, he stood down. In that time, he and his government wrought the most extraordinary transformation, turning a nation riven by centuries of colonialism and apartheid into a fully functioning democracy in which all South Africa’s citizens, black and white, were equal before the law. Dare Not Linger is the story of Mandela’s presidential years, drawing heavily on the memoir he began to write as he prepared to finish his term of office, but was unable to finish. Now, the acclaimed South African writer Mandla Langa has completed the task using Mandela’s unfinished draft, detailed notes that Mandela made as events were unfolding and a wealth of previously unseen archival material. With a prologue by Mandela's widow, Graça Machel, the result is a vivid and inspirational account of Mandela’s presidency, a country in flux and the creation of a new democracy. It tells the extraordinary story of the transition from decades of apartheid rule and the challenges Mandela overcame to make a reality of his cherished vision for a liberated South Africa.Trade ReviewReveals the struggles, setbacks and frustrations that to this very day thwart the progress of Africa. -- Gordon Brown * Guardian Best Books of 2017 *Reveals why Mandela was irreplaceable . . . he was so unique and he made it look so easy. -- Gillian Slovo * Observer *Underneath the history that has been made, there is a human being who chose hope over fear – progress over the prisons of the past . . . Even as he became a legend, to know the man – Nelson Mandela – is to respect him even more. -- Barack ObamaA rare human being who, in freeing himself of his demons, also became free to give his extraordinary leadership to his country and the world. -- Bill Clinton

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Book SynopsisLeonard Nimoy and William Shatner first crossed paths as actors on the set of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Little did they know that their next roles, in a new science-fiction television series called Star Trek, would shape their lives in ways no one could have anticipated. In seventy-nine television episodes and six feature films, they grew to know each other more than most friends could ever imagine.Over the course of half a century, Shatner and Nimoy saw each other through personal and professional highs and lows. In this powerfully emotional book, Shatner tells the story of a man who was his friend for five decades, recounting anecdotes and untold stories of their lives on and off set, as well as gathering stories from others who knew Nimoy well, to present a full picture of a rich life.As much a biography of Nimoy as a story of their friendship, Leonard is a uniquely heartfelt book written by one legendary actor in celebration of another.Trade ReviewShatner delivers a raw and honest look at the life of Leonard Nimoy through the filter of someone who loved him like a brother. "Star Trek" fans aren't the only ones who should read this definitive biography of the man who was much more than Mr. Spock * Daily Mail *Nimoy was an impressive man, and Shatner's warm and engaging book does him justice. -- Simon Griffith * Mail on Sunday *This book works as an enjoyable, affectionate biography. * Spectator *

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Book Synopsis'I grew up on the world's largest island.'From his childhood, Tim Winton's relationship with the landscape around him – Australia's swamps and bush, rockpools, seacaves and scrub – has been as vital as any other connection. Whether camping in hidden inlets, walking in the high rocky desert fringe, or diving at Ningaloo Reef, Winton has felt the place seep into him – its rhythms, its dangers, its strange sustenance.Island Home is the story of how that relationship with the landscape came to be. Charged with love for the huge, besieging force of Australia's wild spaces, this book is a passionate call for their conservation, a memoir that urges us all to feel the ground beneath our feet. Tim Winton's Land's Edge: A Coastal Memoir, is also available.Trade ReviewBoth a celebration of Australia's wild places and an impassioned argument for their preservation . . . Island Home is a masterclass . . . chief among his influences, [Winton] says, was the novelist Randolph Stow, who was born in Geraldton, Winton's mother's home town . . . He was a writer "who seemed to feel the country of his birth as if he wore it". The same might be said of Winton himself * Telegraph *Vivid . . . eloquent . . . the real pleasures of Island Home lie in the personal memories he summons up with his novelist's skills * Sunday Times *Exquisite . . . Winton's writing - lyrical yet visceral - seems formed by Western Australia's variety, its sparkling rivers and red deserts as much as its colloquialism . . . Like Seamus Heaney's and Ted Hughes's, Winton's language feels a product of the land and the natural way to celebrate it . . . Read it * Spectator *Partly a love song to Australia and also an attempt to trace how this love affair began * Observer *In this strikingly well-written book, which blends history, personal memoir, cultural history and environmentalism so deftly that you cannot spot the joins, Winton writes about the extent to which he has been shaped by his country's landscape * National *The two themes that Winton wants to convey - and does so with brilliant success in this small jewel of a book - are the impact of a Western Australian heritage on his life and writing, and the urgent need to conserve Australia's wild places * Times Literary Supplement *A lyrical ode to the power of Oz's wild landscapes. A poetic and enchanting semi-memoir, the author's passion for the rocks and coral seeps into your pores like bush dust * Wanderlust *Perceptive and persuasive . . . a call to arms for us to appreciate, respect and interact with the natural world around us * Big Issue *Wonderful . . . Winton's prose nails his country's strange and savage beauty * RTÉ Guide *Like Wordsworth, he understands and feels the "abiding power" of certain places . . . triumphantly personal, quixotic, eccentric, risky, and daring -- Brian Matthews * Australian Book Review *A beautiful example of that aesthetic response to the glory and the mystery of nature.' William Yeoman * The West Australian *Winton remains one of the finest place-painters in Australian literature -- Jamie Hanson * Guardian (Australia) *Winton embraces everything that is good, bad and ugly about this continent and his commitment is contagious * Herald Sun *

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Book SynopsisEclectic and impassioned, a collection that affirms the power of the written word.' – ObserverThe Boy Behind the Curtain is a portrait of a life, a place and a man. In this deeply personal collection of true stories and essays Tim Winton shows how moments from his childhood and life growing up have shaped his views on class, faith, fundamentalism, the environment, and – most pressingly – how all his experiences have made him a writer. From unexpected links between car crashes and faith, surfing and writing, to the story of his upbringing in the changing Australian landscape, The Boy Behind the Curtain is an impassioned, funny, joyous, astonishing collection of memories, and Winton's most personal book to date.Trade ReviewEclectic and impassioned, it is a collection that affirms the power of the written word and Winton’s mastery of it * Observer *One of Australia’s best-loved novelists. Melancholy but humorous, lyrical but boisterous . . . will delight eventhose unfamiliar with his fiction * Daily Telegraph *One of the greatest writers ever to emerge from Down Under . . . this is a real memoir – a book that grabs you by the scruff and forces you to take a good, hard look into the author’s soul. Compelling, unflinching and true, it’s surely the definitive statement on Winton the man * Scotsman *The bard of the beach-front * Economist *I love Tim Winton's writing, and this treasure trove of autobiographical stories and essays is packed with enthralling insights into his life and work * Bookseller (Editor's Choice) *Tim Winton is a favourite novelist of mine. Always has been. So to read The Boy Behind the Curtain, his collection of autobiographical stories and essays, was a total joy. Here are the influences that shaped Cloudstreet, Breath, The Riders, et al. In one essay, he writes about the gut-churning process and despair of fiction writing. I felt sick. Wonderful. -- Sarah Winman * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisFor many, the Kray twins are legends but for Chris Lambrianou they were something else entirely . . . As a young East End tearaway, Chris turned to crime to escape the grinding poverty of his life. Armed robbery, safe blowing, fraud, even attempted murder - the big brash Cockney did the lot. Then, when he became too successful, the Krays decided they wanted a slice of his action. Pulled into their orbit, Chris was unimpressed by a crime empire built on fear, and alarmed to realise his brother Tony had become a paid up member of their firm. Then Chris was lured to the party that ended in the murder of Jack the Hat McVitie. Wanting to protect Tony, Chris helped dispose of the body. He was arrested along with the Krays and their firm, and after a sensational trial he was jailed for life in 1969.In this searing autobiography, he also describes what it's like to face life as a category A prisoner, the beatings and harsh regime, the friendship he found with other prisoners like Charlie Richardson and Bruce Reynolds. Still, in deep despair after years inside, he tried to kill himself but ultimately found the strength not just to survive but to change his life forever . . .Trade ReviewIt is the honesty with with Lambrianou relates his life story that makes this book so enjoyable . . . [he] succeeds in creating a great sense of atmosphere. He also offers valuable historical insights . . . fascinating * Financial Times *

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Book SynopsisKen Clarke needs no introduction. One of the genuine 'Big Beasts' of the political scene, during his forty-six years as the Member of Parliament for Rushcliffe in Nottinghamshire he has been at the very heart of government under three prime ministers. He is a political obsessive with a personal hinterland, as well known as a Tory Wet with Europhile views as for his love of cricket, Nottingham Forest Football Club and jazz. In Kind of Blue, Clarke charts his remarkable progress from working-class scholarship boy in Nottinghamshire to high political office and the upper echelons of both his party and of government. But Clarke is not a straightforward Conservative politician. His position on the left of the party often led Margaret Thatcher to question his true blue credentials and his passionate commitment to the European project has led many fellow Conservatives to regard him with suspicion – and cost him the leadership on no less than three occasions.Clarke has had a ringside seat in British politics for four decades and his trenchant observations and candid account of life both in and out of government will enthral readers of all political persuasions. Vivid, witty and forthright, and taking its title not only from his politics but from his beloved Miles Davis, Kind of Blue is political memoir at its very best.Trade ReviewLike a fine old wine, this book is to be savoured. -- Iain Dale

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Book SynopsisTHE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER'Beautifully-penned story on the harshness of life and how hope survives' – Sun'Absorbing . . . Marsh writes with a novelistic flair' – Daily Mail From the grimy streets of Acton and Notting Hill to the bright lights of the West End, Sunday Times bestselling author Beezy Marsh's All My Mother’s Secrets is a powerful, uplifting story of a young woman’s struggle to come to terms with her family’s tragic past.Annie Austin’s childhood ends at the age of twelve, when she joins her mother in one of the slum laundries of Acton, working long hours for little pay. What spare time she has is spent looking after her younger brother George and her two stepsisters, under the glowering eye of her stepfather Bill. In London between the wars, a girl like Annie has few choices in life – but a powerful secret will change her destiny.All Annie knows about her real father is that he died in the Great War, and as the years pass she is haunted by the pain of losing him. Her downtrodden mother won’t tell her more and Annie’s attempts to uncover the truth threaten to destroy her family. Distraught, she runs away to Covent Garden, but can she survive on her own and find the love which has eluded her so far?Trade ReviewBeautifully penned story on the harshness of life and how hope survives. * The Sun *Heartwarming. * Kimberley Chambers *Absorbing . . . Marsh writes with a novelistic flair. * Daily Mail *

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Book SynopsisEye-opening and candid, David Bailey's Look Again is a fantastically entertaining memoir by a true icon.'Rollicking . . . with roguish tales as vivid as his era-defining photos' – Daily Mail'Brilliant' – TelegraphDavid Bailey burst onto the scene in 1960 with his revolutionary photographs for Vogue. Discarding the rigid rules of a previous generation of portrait and fashion photographers, he channelled the energy of London's newly informal street culture into his work. Funny, brutally honest and ferociously talented, he became as famous as his subjects. Now in his eighties, he looks back on an outrageously eventful life. Born into an East End family, his dyslexia saw him written off as stupid at school. He hit a low point working as a debt collector until he discovered a passion for photography that would change everything. The working-class boy became an influential artist. Along the way he became friends with Mick Jagger, hung out with the Krays, got into bed with Andy Warhol and made the Queen laugh.His love-life was never dull. He propelled girlfriend Jean Shrimpton to stardom, while her angry father threatened to shoot him. He married Catherine Deneuve a month after meeting her. Penelope Tree’s mother was unimpressed when he turned up on her doorstep. ‘It could be worse, I could be a Rolling Stone,’ Bailey told her. He went on to marry Marie Helvin and then Catherine Dyer, with whom he has three children. He is also a film and documentary director, has shot numerous commercials and has never stopped working. A born storyteller, his autobiography is a memorable romp through an extraordinary career.Trade ReviewHe's the legend who WAS the 1960s . . . with roguish tales as vivid as his era-defining photos * Daily Mail *His name is synonymous with beauty, fashion and sex . . . a joyously un-PC memoir * Mail on Sunday *A raw and surprising memoir * Observer *Brilliant -- Lynn Barber * Telegraph *Very readable and entertaining. Bailey was important * Spectator *A rollicking rake's progress . . . and a vivid document of several lost Londons * Esquire *

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Book SynopsisThis book brings together more than 100 unique recipes from and inspired by America’s first true “farm-to-table” restaurant with the story of its creation. Working together, founders Ron Zimmerman and Carrie Van Dyck turned a farm garage into a restaurant like no other. In their pre-opening manifesto, they vowed to use only local ingredients to reunite their guests with the increasingly forgotten nature that has sustained us for hundreds of years. The initial offering was a single noon seating that began with a garden tour led by Carrie. This quickly became a nine-course chef-selected menu with a price that included wine pairings. The meals told a daily story in six or nine sequential dishes of what was in the garden, wilds, farm, and sea. Unlike restaurants that would later cloak themselves in the verbal mantle of “farm-to-table,” The Herbfarm Restaurant first found the food and only then designed the menu. Everything in eac

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Book SynopsisAn intimate and moving graphic memoir by cartoonist Nate Fakes, dedicated to his stepdad Ron, a larger-than-life personality who gradually becomes affected by a rare form of dementia.Editor's Picks, Honorable Mention at Publishers Weekly's US Book Show"A Fade of Light is a rare story that is both deeply heartbreaking and heartwarming. Nate Fakes is an observant writer and artist, with a good memory and an eye for small, revealing details. In his clear cartooning style, Fakes shows he and his family navigating a rare disease imperfectly but as well as they can. He captures the confusion and frustration of knowing something's wrong but not what, of desperately wanting to fix something that can't be fixed."—Brian Fies, Eisner Award–winning author of Mom's Cancer"A Fade of Light is a graphic memoir centered on [Nate] Fakes’s stepdad, Ron, who came into Nate’s life in the 1990s and brought light into their family—until progressive dementia caused Ron’s own light to begin to fade."—Publishers Weekly, Fall 2022 Announcements: Comics & Graphic NovelsThe first time Nate met his future stepdad in the summer of 1994, he thought Ron was nice, goofy, and kind, the type of guy who wasn't afraid to be himself. Ron liked to honk at other Jeeps while driving his own, bang on the drums without abandon, and order practically the whole menu at drive-thrus. It was alternatively embarrassing, annoying, and funny, though one thing was for sure: life with Ron was never dull.But as years passed, Nate noticed Ron's behavior becoming erratic and strange. He forgot obvious things and seemed more stubborn and irritable than before. Finally Ron received a diagnosis: he has frontotemporal dementia, a progressive disorder that affects about 10 percent of all dementia cases. There is no cure.Stylized in black-and-white drawings, A Fade of Light is a graphic memoir capturing the fullness of a life well lived—the ups and downs, the laughter and tears, the joys and heartaches, and the treasured moments that will always be cherished, if not remembered.

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Book SynopsisA Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains (1879) is a work of travel literature by British explorer Isabella Bird. Adventurous from a young age, Bird gained a reputation as a writer and photographer interested in nature and the stories and cultures of people around the world. A bestselling author and the first woman inducted into the Royal Geographical Society, Bird is recognized today as a pioneering woman whose contributions to travel writing, exploration, and philanthropy are immeasurable. In 1872—after a year of sailing from Britain to Australia and Hawaii—Isabella Bird journeyed by boat to San Francisco before making her way over land through California and Wyoming to the Colorado Territory. There, she befriended an outdoorsman named Rocky Mountain Jim, who guided her throughout the vast wilderness of Colorado and accompanied her during a journey of over 800 miles. Traveling on foot and on horseback—Bird was an experienced and skillful rider—the two formed a curious but formidable pair, eventually reaching the 14,259 foot (4346 m) summit of Longs Peak, making Bird one of the first women to accomplish the feat. A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains, Bird’s most iconic work, was a bestseller upon publication, and has since inspired generations of readers. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Isabella Bird’s A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains is a classic of American literature and travel writing reimagined for modern readers.

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Book SynopsisDuring the catastrophic economic depression of the 1890s, young Jack London found himself in the same situation as many others—homeless and unemployed. After a failed American investment and crop failure, the nation found itself in a panic. As London recounts these times, he tells stories of hopping on freight trains, consequently being forcefully removed. While living as a hobo, London often had to beg for food and money, and frequently found himself in trouble with the law. Since the economic depression had affected so many, there were often people just wandering around with no home or job to go to. Those that were fortunate enough not to be brought to such measures found this undesirable, which led to a strict uphold of vagrancy laws, punishing and harassing the homeless. Though he often would escape imprisonment by making up elaborate stories and excuses to tell the police, he wasn’t always so lucky. After being arrested for vagrancy, London describes his horrible, thirty-day stay at Erie County Penitentiary. Following this incident, London recalls his time in Coxey’s Army, a protest group composed of unemployed workers. Surviving these times and going on to become a successful author, Jack London looks back on the trying time of his youth with a new, and often humorous perspective. With entertaining and enlightening prose, Jack London discloses the personal details of a difficult time in his life, as well as a strained time in American history. Acting as a stimulus for political upheaval, the economic depression of 1893 was a pivotal time in America. Jack London’s The Road provides an intimate glimpse into these times, as well as entertaining audiences with a light-hearted tone. The Road has inspired film adaptations and remains to be a relatable and intriguing perspective into a humbling human experience. This edition of Jack London’s The Road is now presented with a stunning new cover design and is reprinted in a modern, stylish font. With this accommodations, contemporary readers are welcomed to the captivating tales of Jack London’s life on the road, following his humble and humiliating experiences begging for food and evading arrest.

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Book SynopsisThe deliciously funny confessions of a debutante which became an international bestseller It is the early 1960s, and eighteen-year-old Charlotte Bingham, fresh from convent school, has been catapulted into the horrors of The Season. Though desperately on the hunt for a Superman to call her own, the country house ball circuit seems to yield nothing but an inexhaustible crop of charmless, chinless Weeds. But Charlotte’s adventures are more than sufficiently diverting: whether she’s bouffing up her hair to try and pass herself off as a beatnik, hurtling down the Champs Elysées on the back of a Vespa, or accidentally sticking her eyelids together with eyelash glue while at modelling school, her experiments in coming-of-age are never short of intrigue – and disaster. Published in 1963 when she was just nineteen, Bingham’s sparkling memoir of her trials and travails became an international bestseller. From its pages emerges a deeply lovable and relentlessly optimistic young woman – for all that her shorthand isn’t what it might be – looking for love in all the wrong places.Trade ReviewPraise for MI5 and Me: 'A fun and breezy read * Observer, Best summer books 2018 *A stone-cold comic classic … Joyfully silly * Tatler *Astonishing ... She still has all the exuberant delight of a teenager in telling stories to make herself and other people laugh. Long may she write -- Lynn Barber * Sunday Times *Hilarious and candid … Filled with period detail, Bingham’s memoir is entertaining and extraordinary -- Hannah Beckerman * Observer *Sparky and larky -- Lucy Hughes-Hallett * Guardian *Much fun it is … Brilliant, sly, charming and flighty * Spectator *A Jilly Cooper heroine in a John le Carré world -- Libby Purves * Times Literary Supplement *One funny story follows another … You will be sure to find this book a most entertaining and enjoyable read * Country Life *

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Book Synopsis'Wickedly funny' Country Life 'Hilarious and candid' Observer _____________________________ London in the 1950s. Lottie is a reluctant typist at MI5 and the even more reluctant daughter of the organisation's most illustrious spy. Now she has had the bad luck to fall in love with Harry, a handsome if frustrated young actor, who has also been press-ganged into the family business, acting as one of her father's undercover agents in the Communist hotbed of British theatre. Together the two young lovers embark on a star-studded adventure through the glittering world of theatre - but, between missing files, disapproving parents, and their own burgeoning creative endeavours, life is about to become very complicated indeed...Trade ReviewThe great joy of Bingham’s prose is its youthful insouciance. She writes like a teenager, but an exceptionally observant one -- Lynn Barber * Spectator *Enormous fun ... Dazzling * Sunday Express *Wickedly funny * Country Life *Flamboyance is the keynote… I loved it * Daily Mail, Book of the Week *She has a keen eye … Bingham concentrates on amusing asides and scraps of dialogue, and the jokes carry the story blithely along … Its self-deprecatory portrait of a girl adrift is engaging, and it captures well the chance encounters that are often part of growing up -- Lindsay Duguid * Times Literary Supplement *Praise for MI5 and Me: 'Astonishing ... She still has all the exuberant delight of a teenager in telling stories to make herself and other people laugh. Long may she write -- Lynn Barber * Sunday Times *The sort of light, frothy book that makes your laugh out loud on public transport * Daily Mail, Books of the Summer 2018 *Hilarious and candid … Filled with period detail, Bingham’s memoir is entertaining and extraordinary -- Hannah Beckerman * Observer *A fun and breezy read * Observer, Best summer books 2018 *A Jilly Cooper heroine in a John le Carré world -- Libby Purves * Times Literary Supplement *A stone-cold comic classic … Joyfully silly * Tatler *Sparky and larky -- Lucy Hughes-Hallett * Guardian *Much fun it is … Brilliant, sly, charming and flighty * Spectator *One funny story follows another … You will be sure to find this book a most entertaining and enjoyable read * Country Life *

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Book Synopsis‘Victor Gregg is the most remarkable spokesman for the war generation’ Dan Snow ‘A classic’ Mail on Sunday ‘Astonishing’ James Holland Born in 1919, Victor Gregg enlisted in the Rifle Brigade aged just eighteen and began a life of adventure. A soldier throughout the Second World War, he saw action across North Africa, was a driver for the Long Range Desert group and fought at the battle of Alamein. Taken into captivity at the Battle of Arnhem in 1944, he was sentenced to death for sabotaging a Dresden factory; he escaped only when the Allies’ infamous air raid blew apart his prison and very soon encountered the advancing Red Army. Revised and expanded with exclusive new material in time for Gregg’s 100th birthday, Rifleman is the extraordinary story of an independent-minded and quick-witted survivor.Trade ReviewSearingly honest in his appraisal of what that conflict did to the world, on society and, above all, on himself -- DAN SNOWQuite simply, it is one of the best first-hand accounts that I have read … This gripping book immediately joins a select band of the best soldiers’ stories told from the sharp end * MAIL ON SUNDAY *Hugely entertaining and often moving … As action-packed as any fiction, and yet this is no novel – Gregg's adventures were real. His is truly an astonishing story -- JAMES HOLLANDOne of the most shocking accounts of warfare you will ever read ... An account of heartache, violence and cunning by a man whose will to survive and unbreakable optimism are a true inspiration * INDEPENDENT *A thrilling story of a young man in extraordinary circumstances … Rifleman is an outstanding book that deserves to become a classic -- LLOYD CLARKFascinating … a gut-wrenching read * SUN *Evocative, detailed and unsentimental – gets us wonderfully close-up -- DAVID KYNASTONHis coldly factual account of the torments of its burned-to-death victims exceeds in power even Kurt Vonnegut's famous fictional account, Slaughterhouse Five ... Warrior Gregg has seen and experienced the stuff of nightmares, but remains a chirpy optimist in his 90s * DAILY MIRROR *Intensely moving * MAIL ON SUNDAY *It reads like the best fiction * SAGA *Vic’s honesty and warmth shine through this engaging story * CHOICE *Completely fascinating. This feels like one of the last voices of a vital generation. For the first-hand account of the Dresden fire-bombing alone, this is gripping reading. It has an immediate power throughout that makes war fiction a pale shadow of the real thing -- CONN IGGULDEN

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Book Synopsis''No Comment is essential reading for anyone interested in the questions being asked of the Met today'' Katherine Faulkner ''A must-read for anyone who has ever wondered what happens after they''ve called 999 and a shocking indictment of a system not fit for purpose'' Angela KirwinJess McDonald was a true crime junkie and Line of Duty sofa sleuth with a strong sense of justice. Under a year later, thanks to a controversial new initiative, she was a detective in the London Metropolitan Police Service.The Met Police's Direct Entry Detective scheme was aimed at turning people with no experience of the police into detectives. When it was launched, to tackle an unprecedented recruitment crisis, over 4,500 people, Jess included, applied.But why, within just a year of qualifying, had the majority of Jess' cohort resigned?No Comment is Jess' candid, eye-opening and often shocking account, exploring the re

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Book Synopsis'Deeply moving ... A triumph' Justin Webb 'What might, in other hands, have been simply macabre becomes peculiarly mesmerising' Craig Brown, The Mail on Sunday Ten seconds before my father’s death, I have a premonition - that the breath he is taking will be his last. William Leith’s childhood was marked by his father’s absences and as a consequence their relationship has always been a troubled one. Now, as his father lies dying, William reflects on the connections and ruptures that have marked their shared history. Can he ever really understand his father? Is there an explanation for the physical distance and emotional chasm that his father has maintained between them? And what was he running away from? Darkly comical and told with searing honesty, The Cut that Wouldn’t Heal is a moving memoir about the pain of abandonment, grief and regret.Trade ReviewPRAISE FOR THE CUT THAT WOULDN'T HEAL: The Cut That Wouldn’t Heal should be depressing, but it is in fact weirdly exhilarating, largely because the author tracks his own feelings, however untoward, with a darkly comical precision … What might, in other hands, have been simply macabre becomes peculiarly mesmerising. -- Craig Brown * The Mail on Sunday *Honest without oversharing, William Leith is such a perfect writer … The Cut that Wouldn’t Heal is a triumph and deeply moving. Wonderful. -- Justin WebbWilliam Leith is a very fine writer, defined by a compulsive honesty: not the heavily-curated oversharing of social media culture, but the real, uncomfortable thing. This book, which deals in the sometimes absurdist agonies of grief – and indeed of life – is his best yet. * Laura Thompson *A reckoning with the past by a writer whose past offers plenty to reckon with … Pacily written … satisfyingly structured -- Norma Clarke * Times Literary Supplement *An intensely readable study of love and regret. -- Ian JackAs mysterious and unsettling as a Cold War thriller – the search for self amidst the puzzle of a brilliant absentee father. -- Ed Needham * Strong Words Magazine *PRAISE FOR THE TRICK: The Trick takes all of Leith’s writing habits – his mazy streams of consciousness (few writers are quite so enamoured of, or good at, watching themselves think) and his love of axiom – and, if anything, ups the ante... Hugely enjoyable. * Observer *PRAISE FOR THE HUNGRY YEARS: Compulsively readable. I gulped it down in a couple of greedy bites ... It is a powerful memoir ... it has the unusual qualities of heart and daring. In the end, these are what stay inside you. * Daily Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisCHOSEN AS A BOOK OF 2022 BY THE GUARDIAN AND THE NEW STATESMAN 'A STAND OUT' SUNDAY TIMES 'STARTLINGLY HONEST AND DEVASTATINGLY GOOD' RACHEL CLARKE, GUARDIAN 'BRILLIANT' OBSERVER 'POWERFUL AND EVOCATIVE' ADAM KAY 'YOU EMERGE KNOWING HOW LUCKY YOU ARE TO HAVE READ IT' ALI SMITH, NEW STATESMAN From the frontlines of the NHS, the story of a junior doctor's love, loss and grief through the Covid-19 crisis ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ In early 2020, junior doctor Roopa Farooki lost her sister to cancer. But just weeks later, she found herself plunged into another kind of crisis, fighting on the frontline of the battle taking place in her hospital, and in hospitals across the country. Everything is True is the story of Roopa’s first forty days of the Covid-19 crisis from the frontlines of A&E and the acute medical wards, as struggling through her grief, she battles for her patients’ and colleagues’ survival. Working thirteen-hour shifts, she returns home each evening to write through her exhaustion, chronicling the devastating losses and slowly eroding dehumanisation happening in real time on the ward.Trade ReviewThe most powerful and evocative account of working through the pandemic that I have read -- ADAM KAYThis is such a tough good read about a time of grief, tragedy, loss and catastrophic UK government mismanagement – not over yet, she makes clear – that after you’ve read it, after you’ve withstood its clear-eyed anger, you emerge focussed on what must change and knowing how lucky you are to have read it -- ALI SMITH * NEW STATESMAN *Brilliant … vivid and immediate, fragmentary and unalloyed * OBSERVER *A laser guided insight into what’s been happening in hospitals during the pandemic laying bare what we were all clapping for ... A devastating fusion of private and public grief. Beautifully written, brutally honest -- JO BRANDThe pandemic up-close and thumpingly personal ... Startlingly honest and devastatingly good -- RACHEL CLARKE * GUARDIAN *Even after all we've heard and read about what staff in the NHS have faced during the pandemic, her accounts still have the power to shock * i news *A raw, real-time monologue ... Full of gallows humour, resentment and fear * NEW STATESMAN *Long may Dr Farooki write ... An insightful and entertaining guide, with an attractive blend of wit, self-awareness and moral seriousness ... A genuine insight on love, grief and what truly matters * IRISH TIMES *A stand out ... Raw and clear-eyed * SUNDAY TIMES *The novelist and doctor shares her story of love, loss and grief through the Covid-19 crisis * GUARDIAN, BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2022 *An extraordinary writer … Beautiful, heartbreaking, brilliant, furious and oh-so-honest - an amazing read -- KATE MOSSEAn eloquent testimonial of grief and fury through the first forty days of the Covid crisis – Farooki’s urgent, fragmentary diary of life on the wards conveys the fear, confusion and uncertainty of those first weeks with singular brilliance. I read it in one sitting, hoping it will find its way onto the shelves of those politicians who seem reluctant to learn from their mistakes, and who need to know the truth about the human consequences of health policy decisions -- GAVIN FRANCISA powerful, honest, angry, vivid book ... It will undoubtedly have a big impact ... and finds absolutely the right route through the personal, the political, the angry, the sad, the mundane -- ALICE JOLLYA brilliantly written, disturbing and brutally honest book * TABLET *

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Book Synopsis'A beautiful work that is in turn haunting, touching and redemptive' SIMON SEBAG MONTEFIORE ‘A profoundly emotional book, and a brave one’ THE NEW YORKER 'Generous in spirit, devoid of self-pity, and an authentic literary achievement' ANDREW SOLOMON When Luiz Schwarcz was a child, he knew very little about his grandfather Láios, a Hungarian Jew. Only later would he learn that Láios had ordered his son, Luiz’s father, to leap from a train taking them to a Nazi death camp, while Láios himself was carried on to his death. What Luiz did know was that his father’s melancholia haunted the house he grew up in. Compassionate and tender, The Absent Moon interrogates a personal story of inherited trauma through a family history of murder, silence and the long echo of the Holocaust across generations. 'Brave, honest, devastating, and hopeful ... Schwarcz is a masterful storyteller’ ARIANA NEUMANN 'A lyrical and intimate portrait of the author’s lifelong, harrowing battle with depression' ABRAHAM VERGHESETrade ReviewFascinating, elegiac, heartbreaking and inspiring, this book is both a chronicle of the killing of the Holocaust, a memoir of unbearable suffering witnessed and felt for decades after; and an analysis of psychological trauma and memory – a beautiful work that is in turn haunting, touching and redemptive -- Simon Sebag MontefioreBrave, honest, devastating, and hopeful – a beautiful exploration of a man trying to understand his father, of how Holocaust trauma is passed down the generations and how we are all shaped by words and silences. Schwarcz is a masterful storyteller -- Ariana Neumann, author of WHEN TIME STOPPEDThis tender and lovely memoir of a child growing up in Brazil in a household whose characters were scarred by the Holocaust is unlike anything I can think of. It is also a lyrical and intimate portrait of the author’s lifelong, harrowing battle with depression -- Abraham Verghese, author of CUTTING FOR STONEIn this intimate and profound description of a life often marked by depression, Luiz Schwarcz touches on the insidious power of intergenerational trauma; on the terrible challenges of functioning despite a crippling disease; and on the burden of carrying a disability in relative silence. His is ultimately a book about identity, about how the author has managed, both despite and because of his depression, to inhabit a good marriage, an excellent career, a lovely family, and, perhaps most crucially, a coherent sense of self. It is generous in spirit, devoid of self-pity, and an authentic literary achievement -- Andrew SolomonA profoundly emotional book, and a brave one * The New Yorker *In The Absent Moon, Luiz Schwarcz, a legendary Brazilian publisher and global tastemaker, shares little of the glamorous life, focusing instead on the lifelong pain of clinical depression * New York Times *

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Book Synopsis'Nothing less than a guided tour of the human soul ... A masterpiece' Elizabeth Gilbert 'A work of spiritual evolution [and] inner journeys told through extraordinary exteriors' Washington Post One of our most perceptive travel writers embarks on an exploration of the world's holiest places and where we might find paradise on Earth. It’s so easy, I thought, to place Paradise in the past or the future – anywhere but here. After half a century of travel, Pico Iyer asks himself what kind of paradise can ever be found in a world of unceasing conflict. In a spectacular journey, both inward and outward, he roams the globe from Jerusalem to Belfast to North Korea, from crowded mosques in Iran to a holy mountain in Japan. By the end, he has upended any of our expectations and dared to suggest that we can find paradise right in the heart of our angry and confused world.Trade ReviewA luminous and absorbing book, and one that is good to think with -- Caroline Eden * Financial Times *Nothing less than a guided tour of the human soul. Filled with hope, wisdom, and extraordinary tenderness, this is a book not only for the ages, but for our very specific, very troubled age. A masterpiece. -- Elizabeth GilbertIn elegant and ecstatic prose, Pico Iyer uncovers our wonderful capacity for hope, wearing his erudition so lightly. I was revitalised by this book -- Katherine MayIyer shares Graham Greene’s gift for the enthralling sentence, and can be a charming and perceptive companion . . . He reminds us that the key to good travel writing lies in the discrepancy between what you expect of a country and what you get. And at an even more primal level, he makes you want to go to the countries themselves -- Hugh Thomson * Spectator *To step into The Half Known Life feels both a privilege and a necessity . . . Iyer is more than a guide or a compatriot in an unfamiliar land: in the inward journey to lucidity he is a companion of our own searching minds -- Yiyun LiI defy anyone to read this profound travelogue and not immediately start reading it again. If there is a "paradise of words", this is it -- John KeayA wise, immaculately written achievement that could only be contemplated after a lifetime of travel and reading and pondering. Reading The Half Known Life is to yield to the most invigorating and thought-provoking meditation. -- Nicholas ShakespeareThoughtful . . . Iyer comes across as that finest of all personality types, the pragmatic idealist ... There’s a lovely patience in evidence here; he is calm, reasonable and curious -- Darragh McManus * Irish Independent *Iyer has done the impossible with this book . . . This is a singular offering of magnetic story, deep thinking, truth telling and spiritual refreshment for our tumultuous young century -- Krista TippettI really really enjoyed the book -- Frank Cottrell BoyceEven as Iyer takes you around the world, he remains a most faithful companion to the spirit of that ultimate journey into uncharted territories—our inner selves . . . The Half Known Life is a vigorous quest for the paradise within * Los Angeles Review of Books *Iyer's chronicle, which begins with an appreciation of the sophistication, beauty and culture of Iran, becomes a requiem for a world — and an existence — estranged from itself . . . His book has the ring of a classic Buddhist meditation strategy * New York Times *Thought-provoking . . . Iyer has an acutely observant eye for the telling detail and a delicious turn of phrase -- Richard Hopton * Country and Town House Magazine *Reading Mr Iyer’s book in the depth of winter, in a troubled world, it’s heartening to think that paradise—or at least a glimpse of it—might be available from where we sit * Wall Street Journal *A masterful merging of Iyer’s past and current concerns, a book of inner journeys told through extraordinary exteriors * Washington Post *Iyer’s prose is elegant and never hurried as it roams like a travelling mind . . . He comes to his destinations with years of learned erudition and yet seemingly without expectations . . . It may be Iyer’s unique positioning that makes The Half Known Life so much of this moment, in a world reeling from a devastating pandemic as well as lasting divisons * Japan Times *Humming with wisdom and a profound appreciation of nature’s inherent contradictions, Pico Iyer’s meditation on paradise—where it is, what it means, if it can be found on Earth—is much more than a diary of his country-spanning travels. It’s a work of philosophy, probing the scientific and the spiritual to understand why the most beautiful places often become such sources of pain, and how paradise might be re-discovered * Elle US *Iyer’s smooth, intelligent yet elegant prose style makes this an enjoyable and often thought-provoking read * New York Journal of Books *Everywhere Pico Iyer travels his keen vision allows him to see both ravishing beauty and profound flaws * Shelf Awareness *From one of the most perceptive writers of our times, this one brings forth a lifetime of explorations to upend our ideas of utopia and ask how we might find peace in the midst of difficulty and suffering. Could there be anything better to pick at the start of the year? * Harper’s Bazaar India *Iyer flexes his remarkable skill of reading between the lines of passing conversations to extract profound meaning and draw connections between disparate places across the world . . . He does provide hours of thought-provoking meditations on what it means to speak of paradise * New York Times *Mesmering . . . riveting . . . revelatory . . . Iyer poetically depicts the otherworldly beauty of these places while trenchantly examining the paradox of utopia -- Thuy Dinh * NPR *Iyer is the loveliest of writers, a person whose prose is in harmony with the man himself: sharp-minded, witty, benevolent, wise, and never for a second ponderous or spiritually meretricious. To read Iyer, initially, is to entertain ourselves, and then, well, the rest is up to you -- Jim Kelly * Air Mail *Iyer travels the globe—from Iran to Kashmir to Japan to Northern Ireland—to demystify how different communities perceive eternal happiness, and how their quest to achieve it manifests in the face of political, social, and environmental instability. The result is a lyrical, if paradoxical, meditation on a fervent pursuit for happiness that often feels out of reach * TIME, The 100 Must-Read Books of 2023 *

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Book SynopsisNow a major motion picture titled Blinded by the Light, directed by Gurinder Chadha, a charming memoir of growing up during the eighties as both a Pakistani Muslim and Bruce Springsteen fan 'Every detail rings so true ... Manzoor's warm, humane, unsensational voice ... makes you want to extend the hand of friendship to him' Sunday Telegraph 'A richly humane, smile-inducing memoir' Observer Sarfraz Manzoor was two years old when his family emigrated from Pakistan to join his father in Bury Park, Luton. His teenage years were a constant battle to reconcile being both British and Muslim. But when his best friend introduced him to Bruce Springsteen, his life changed for ever. In this affectionate and timely memoir, Manzoor retraces his journey from the frustrations of his childhood to his reaction to the tragedies of 9/11 and 7/7. Original, darkly tender and wryly amusing, this is an inspiring tribute to the power of music to transcend race and religion and a moving account of a relationship between father and son.Trade ReviewEvery detail rings so true ... Manzoor's warm, humane, unsensational voice ... makes you want to extend the hand of friendship to him * Sunday Telegraph *A beautiful and absorbing love letter to his family, his culture and his hero Bruce Springsteen * Rob Brydon *A small wonder - like some melancholy refit of Hanif Kureishi's The Buddha of Suburbia, where boredom replaces bohemia and real life is something only glimpsed in a Bruce Springsteen lyric * Mojo *Like Blake Morrison's And When Did You Last See Your Father? ... it's about trying to make sense of the rubble left behind by a father's death... A richly humane, smile-inducing memoir * Observer *While the book is many things - the impact of multi-culturalism, a coming-of-age story and a Nick Hornby-style documentation of musical obsession - it is Manzoor's relationship with his father that lies at its heart * Independent *Beautiful and moving ... A book to make you believe that we are all more alike than we know -- Tony Parsons

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Book Synopsis‘A tender memoir of the challenges of bereavement ... I closed this book wishing I’d met her – but feeling that I almost had’ Daily Telegraph _______________ A memoir of a husband's grief, and an unforgettable portrait of a marriage; a profound examination of sorrow, and a great celebration of love - by the Sunday Times-bestselling author James Runcie James Runcie’s wife Marilyn Imrie died in August 2020. Their thirty-five year marriage had been miraculously happy – until, in the last two years of Marilyn’s life, she descended into the pain and humiliation of motor neurone disease. In the wake of her death, Runcie stumbled in the dark. How do you make sense of the decline and death of the most alive person you have ever met? And how do you go about building a life worth living in their absence? In Tell Me Good Things, Runcie tells the story of Marilyn’s illness and death – in all its moments of tragedy, rage, farce and surrealness – while painting a vivid portrait of her life and their marriage: a partnership defined by a shared love of beauty, conviviality and storytelling. And during that first year of loss, he awakens to the strange paradox of grief: that the way to survive Marilyn's death is to understand how very good she was at living. Tender, funny, profound and deeply true, Tell Me Good Things is an unforgettable story of life before death – and love beyond the grave. ‘A touchingly honest and tender memoir' The Times ‘A wonderful addition to the literature of bereavement’ Sunday TimesTrade ReviewJames Runcie’s account of losing his wife to MND is vivid, bleak and wonderful… Where Runcie is excellent is in laying bare his own grief, its narcissism and the ‘bizarre freedom’ is gives him not to care anymore… As an instructive examination of how to find hope in the thralls of depair, Tell Me Good Things is a wonderful addition to the literature of bereavement – and it is most definitely not just for its writer * SUNDAY TIMES *A tender memoir of the challenges of bereavement ... I closed this book wishing I’d met her – but feeling that I almost had * DAILY TELEGRAPH *In this beautifully written memoir, Runcie combines a glorious celebration of their love with an unsparing account of Marilyn’s swift decline, and the harsh reality of grief * DAILY MAIL *Tender, heart-breaking and funny by turns. Marilyn’s vibrant character leaps off the page * CHURCH TIMES *A touchingly honest and tender memoir ... Runcie generously fulfils the promise of his title … because his memoir is full of good things: stories that reveal Imrie’s sharp intelligence, her bold fashion sense, her glee at pricking the bubble of pretension * THE TIMES *Praise for James Runcie: ‘Runcie has the gift of the born storyteller * DAILY MAIL *Runcie has an expert imagination -- HILARY MANTELTremendous: shrewd, compelling and full of insight -- WILLIAM BOYDA triumph of inspired imagination -- FINANCIAL TIMES

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Book SynopsisWelcome to What's Tha up to Next?, the fifth volume of Martyn Johnson's acclaimed series of stories about policing during the 1960s and 1970s. Whether 'on the beat' or 'as CID', once again Martyn enthrals, surprises and shocks his readers with tales set in an almost forgotten era: a veritable Lost World of people, places and phrases in his beloved Sheffield. Steven Spielberg please note. This book will focus on Martyn's final years as a beat bobby, with more unbelievable true life tales told with Martyn's wicked sense of humour and candour. As usual, Martyn's down-to-earth honesty and humour shines through the pages; but he never loses sight of the human condition in all its forms: good, bad, sad and happy.

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Book SynopsisWhen A Passionate Prodigality was first published in 1933 it was hailed as one of the finest English works to have come out of the First World War. Today this memoir reads with a graphic immediacy, not merely in the descriptions of the filth and shock and carnage that characterized the struggle, but in its evocation of men at war, certain soldiers who have now become a small quantity of Christian dust'. Stylish, honest and eloquent, A Passionate Prodigality is less a book than a living voice, demonstrating an important if little remembered truth: The poetry is not in the pity. To hell with your generalized pity. What the survivor remembers is not the fears he knew, the pains, but the faces and a few words of the men who were with him at the front '

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Book SynopsisAs the author, a young Army bandsman lies wounded at the Battle of Corinth, he is shot between the eyes at point blank range. Miraculously he survives but is blinded. In a makeshift hospital a young Greek volunteer saves his life with slices of boiled egg. Captured Allied medics later restore the sight in one eye. In this moving and entertaining memoir Bernard describes daily life in POW camps in Greece and Germany. He established a theatrical group and an orchestra who perform to fellow POWs and their German guards. A superb raconteur, as well as a gifted musician, the author's anecdotes are memorably amusing. Bernard was repatriated via Sweden in late 1943. While blinded in one eye and seriously wounded, the author was told by his New Zealand doctor, fellow POW and musician John Borrie, 'When nothing else will do, music will always lift one up'. Barbed Wire Blues' inspirational, ever optimistic tone will surely have the same effect on its readers.

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Book SynopsisAustria's Anschluss - its 'annexation' - saw no gunfire, no blood-curdling screams of Stukas overhead or the rumble of heavy artillery when German troops marched in on 12 March 1938\. It was no 'Blitzkrieg': on the contrary, some Austrians even welcomed the 'invaders' and the opportunity to unite the ethnic German peoples under the rule of Austria's most infamous son, Adolf Hitler. Austria's wealth of natural and mineral resources were especially useful to support the Third Reich's aggression in Europe. The Nazis were keen to exploit these assets and many Austrians benefited from increased employment. However, any initial euphoria was soon replaced by fear and anxiety as the brutal reality of the new regime became apparent. Here is the remarkable story of Herti Bryan who, as a young child, witnessed the totalitarian nightmare of Hitler's dream for world domination. Standing up for what she believed to be right, Herti acted courageously to frustrate the occupying Nazis. In addition to Herti's story, we learn of the experiences of Milly Keller and Hilde Schubert who shared contempt for the Nazi occupiers. The three girls vividly describe their different experiences during the war, although there is a striking similarity in the even greater terror they were subjected to under the Russian 'liberators'. In this volume the lives of Herti, Milly and Hilde come together to reveal an astonishing picture of life in occupied Austria. Drawing on unimaginable fortitude, these girls defied domination and fought fearlessly, risking their own lives, to carry out their moral obligation to humanity. This is their story, in their own words and told for the first time.

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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