Memoirs Books

Book SynopsisA historian's personal journey into the complex questions of immigration, home and nationFrom Ireland to London in the 1950s, Derry in the Troubles to contemporary, de-industrialised Manchester, Joyce finds the ties of place, family and the past are difficult to break. Why do certain places continue to haunt us? What does it mean to be British after the suffering of Empire and of war? How do we make our home in a hypermobile world without remembering our pasts?Patrick Joyce's parents moved from Ireland in the 1930s and made their home in west London. But they never really left the homeland. And so as he grew up among the streets of Paddington and Notting Hill and when he visited his family in Ireland he felt a tension between the notions of home, nation and belonging. Going to My Father's House charts the historian's attempt to make sense of these ties and to see how they manifest in a globalised world. He explores the places - the house, the street, the walls and the graves - that formed his own identity. He ask what place the ideas of history, heritage and nostalgia have in creating a sense of our selves. He concludes with a plea for a history that holds the past to account but also allows for dynamic, inclusive change.Trade Reviewan immensely readable, thoroughly enjoyable book ... Hegel would have admired the way Joyce lets a sharply individualised life distil a whole socal history. -- Terry Eagleton, author of Why Marx was RightA haunting meditation on Ireland and England, war and migration, Derry and Manchester. I admired the originality of his observations and his tone of melancholy, calm wisdom. -- Colm Toibin * Books of the Year 2021, Guardian *Merges personal stories with large political moments. Joyce's family came to England from Mayo and Wexford. His account of his life in London, of the legacy of war and of his experiences in Ireland is written with wisdom and grace. -- Colm Toibin * Authors' and Critics' 2021 Favourites, Irish Times *This is a rare kind of writing, a form of meditation on the societies that are forming and melting around us in the present. Only a voice such as this can alert us to these historical worlds -- Seaumas DeaneI can't think of another historian around who could write something so suggestive and profound, so much on both a minor and major scale, constantly tracing the connections between the two. -- Paul Ginsbourg

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Book SynopsisIn Xinjiang, the large northwest region of China, the government has imprisoned more than a million Uyghurs in re-education camps. One of the incarcerated--whose sentence, unlike most others, has no end date--is Ilham Tohti, an intellectual and economist, a prolific writer, and formerly the host of a website, Uyghur Online. In 2014, Tohti was arrested; accused of advocating separatism, violence, and the overthrow of the Chinese government; subjected to a two-day trial; and sentenced to life. Nothing has been heard from him since.Here are Tohti's own words, a collection of his plain-spoken calls for justice, scholarly explanations of the history of Xinjiang, and poignant personal reflections. While his courage and outspokenness about the plight of China's Muslim minorities is extraordinary, these essays sound a measured insistence on peace and just treatment for the Uyghurs.Winner of the PEN/Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award and the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought while imprisoned, this book is nonetheless the only way to hear from a man who has been called "a Uyghur Mandela".Trade ReviewAs Tohti wrote before his sentencing, the reason his people's arduous history must be known and proliferated is because of the hope it and his life's work evinces. -- Kevin Lozano * Vulture *Through his writings, Tohti tries to give the Uyghurs a voice. It is a tragic story that speaks volumes about the UK's current retreat from international law. -- Helena Kennedy * Guardian *An indispensable firsthand description of the Uyghurs' desperate plight. -- Jeremy Ray Jewell * Arts Fuse *We Uyghurs Have No Say provides a comprehensive analysis of how Uyghurs came to be a subjugated group within China, as well as strategies for remedying the situation through interethnic dialogue and policy reform ... At times, [Tohti's] writing reads more like one friend's sober advice to another, possessing a 'for your own good' quality while still bearing the mark of lived experience. * New York Magazine *[The] demand for autonomy and dignity within the Chinese state - stubbornly expressed and quietly eloquent - is voiced often in We Uyghurs Have No Say, a slim volume of Mr. Tohti's essays, speeches, open letters and interviews. * The Wall Street Journal *[We Uyghurs Have No Say] expands on [Tohti's] work unpacking China's treatment of Uyghurs and how the consequences of the country's promotion of Han ethno-nationalism. * TIME magazine *In 2014, [Tohti] was arrested and given a life sentence on the charge of 'separatism.' This selection of his writings shows what this separatism consisted of: bracingly honest analyses of the racism, discrimination, marginalization, and coercive policies that shape Beijing's treatment of the country's 55 recognized 'national minorities'; nuanced analyses of the social tensions between Uyghurs and Han Chinese; and thoughtful recommendations for how to realize the promises of equal citizenship and minority cultural self-rule laid out in the Chinese constitution and the Regional Ethnic Autonomy Law. -- Andrew J. Nathan * Foreign Affairs *

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Book SynopsisThe last generation of Americans with a living memory of Jim Crow will soon disappear. They leave behind a collective memory of segregation shaped increasingly by its horrors and heroic defeat but not a nuanced understanding of everyday life in Jim Crow America. In The South, Adolph L. Reed Jr. - New Orleanian, political scientist, and according to Cornel West, "the greatest democratic theorist of his generation" - takes up the urgent task of recounting the granular realities of life in the last decades of the Jim Crow South.Reed illuminates the multifaceted structures of the segregationist order. Through his personal history and political acumen, we see America's apartheid system from the ground up, not just its legal framework or systems of power, but the way these systems structured the day-to-day interactions, lives, and ambitions of ordinary working people. The South unravels the personal and political dimensions of the Jim Crow order, revealing the sources and objectives of this unstable regime, its contradictions and precarity, and the social order that would replace it. The South is more than a memoir or a history. Filled with analysis and fascinating firsthand accounts of the operation of the system that codified and enshrined racial inequality, this book is required reading for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of America's second peculiar institution the future created in its wake. With a foreword from Barbara Fields, co-author of the acclaimed Racecraft.Trade ReviewErasing the Color Line -- Christopher Hitchens * New York Times *[A] trenchant history of the Jim Crow South....This spare, earnest recollection shines a unique light on the fight for racial equality in America. * Publishers Weekly *A remembrance of the author's early life below the Mason-Dixon line, while also making a case for class-based inequality as a historical constant -- Aaron Bogart * White Review, Best Books 2022 *Reed seeks to delineate exactly what Jim Crow was and wasn't. He is speaking directly to the errors of today, which threaten to calcify the reality of the past into doctrinaire historical misunderstandings. -- Jeremy Ray Jewell * Arts Fuse *If some observers today are tempted to look at the racial injustices that still abound... and claim that little has changed since the days of Jim Crow, Reed shows the folly of such a conclusion -- Jason Sokol * Washington Post *Part memoir, part history, and part political treatise, The South chronicles Reed's life under Jim Crow to correct what he sees as misleading representations of the past. -- Elias Rodriques * Bookforum *In The South, Reed recounts growing up in New Orleans while blending in his analysis of segregation. Like his criticisms of Obama or The 1619 Project, Reed's perspectives on Jim Crow are both incisive and incendiary. -- Jonah Goldman Kay * Los Angeles Review of Books *Reed has added nuance and insight to understanding the segregated South as it came to a formal end. -- Steve Suitts * Southern Spaces *

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Book SynopsisTwain's playful exuberance and remarkable storytelling gifts are on full display as he regales readers with his real-life adventures, some of them so outrageous they cannot be true - or can they? As Richard Russo says in his fascinating introduction, Twain was an 'inspired, indeed, unparalleled, bullshitter' who himself cheerfully relates how as a cub reporter out West he had elevated a routine Indian attack on a wagon full of immigrants to a battle that 'to this day has no parallel in history' - once he knew he could get away with it.There is drama as well as comedy in his account of life on the Mississippi, and great sadness too when his younger brother Henry is killed in a steamboat explosion - all the more poignant for the restraint with which he describes it. In The Innocents Abroad Twain the gleeful iconoclast is a passenger on a cruise ship to Europe and the Holy Land, poking fun at European snobbery and pretension and refusing to be overawed by all that History - but fully prepared to aim his satirical barbs at his fellow-tourists and indeed, squarely at himself. He also proves to be a deeply compassionate writer, as fierce in his condemnation of injustice as he is skilful in mining the humour of human folly. He brought to literature a new, distinctly American voice - and he harboured as rich and fertile a blend of contradictions as the dynamic nation he came to embody and define.

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Book SynopsisPraise for Luke and Ryan Hart's memoir:'A powerful, searing account from incredible brothers and an important contribution to our understanding of domestic abuse' Victoria Derbyshire'... a courageous account of domestic abuse and the devasting impact it has on families' Jeremy Corbyn MP'Relevant and inspiring' Chris Green, White Ribbon UKOn 19 July 2016, Claire and Charlotte Hart were murdered, in broad daylight, by the family's father. He shot his wife and daughter with a sawn-off shotgun before committing suicide.REMEMBERED FOREVER is the shocking story of what led to this terrible crime. Luke and Ryan Hart, the family's two surviving sons, lived under the terror of coercive control. Their father believed that his family members were simply possessions, never referring to them by their names ... just as Woman, Boy, Girl. Written by the boys, but laced with the voices of Claire and Charlotte, this gripping and moving account brings deeper understanding to the shocking crime of domestic abuse and homicide.Luke and Ryan Hart have become spokespeople for the victims who are so often silenced but must never be forgotten.Trade ReviewIn the words of the great Angela Davis, "I'm no longer accepting the things I cannot change, I'm changing the things I cannot accept", and it is with this boldness that Luke and Ryan have used their own experience of domestic abuse to help others. - Jeremy Corbyn MP, Leader of Labour PartyA powerful, searing account from incredible brothers and an important contribution to our understanding of domestic abuse. - BBCA determination to create light from darkness. - Suzanne Jacob OBE, Chief Executive SafeLivesI have been working at Refuge for 35 years, yet I am humbled by the sheer courage and sense of righteousness Luke and Ryan have shown since their mother and sister were brutally killed at the hands of their father. - Sandra Horley CBE, Chief Executive RefugeWhat Luke and Ryan have achieved by writing their memoir is to give their mother and sister a voice. Luke and Ryan Hart become the lighthouse in this book, courageously sending out their warning signal about the danger of coercive control and why it must always be taken seriously. - Katie Ghose, Chief Executive Women's AidI knew that their story was one which millions should hear. It is the most relevant and inspiring account that I have heard in the 15 years I have been active in challenging men's abuse and violence towards women and girls. - Chris Green OBE, Founder White Ribbon UK

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Book SynopsisWhat a page turner of a book! Dame Elizabeth uncovers the layers of her life from a childhood defined by secrets, to discovering the identity of her father, to her political awakening, and her journey to becoming a Black health radical. She uses her "bellyful of anger" to great effect, highlighting the ethnic health inequalities exposed by sickle cell disease right through to Covid-19. More than anything, her great sense of empathy and fun shine out from the page. I loved it. - DUA LIPA Dreams From My Mother is a beautiful memoir detailing an extraordinary life. Dame Elizabeth Anionwu is a an incredible role model for nurses - and for everyone. - CHRISTIE WATSON, author of The Language of Kindness: A Nurse's StoryWhat a woman. What a book. - LEMN SISSAY OBE, author of My Name Is Why* * *It's 1947 and a sheltered Catholic girl is studying Classics at Newnham College, Cambridge. She is the first one in her family to go to university - and then she discovers that she's pregnant. The father is also a student at Cambridge, studying law. And he is black.Despite pressure to give up her baby for adoption, the young mother has big dreams for her child's future. Her daughter Elizabeth overcomes a background of shame, stigma, and discrimination, to become one of the UK's greatest ever nurses, and the first ever sickle cell nurse specialist. Recently named a BBC 100 Women of the Year 2020 and awarded a Damehood, Dame Elizabeth Anionwu has continued her work throughout her retirement, and recently brought to the nation's attention how Covid-19 has had a devastating effect on Black and Asian communities.Dreams From My Mother is an inspiring story about childhood, race, identity, family, friendship, hope and what makes us who we are. Ultimately, it is an incredibly moving story of a mother and a daughter separated by society, but united in the dreams they shared for her future.Previously published as Mixed Blessings From A Cambridge Union, this is a revised and updated edition* * *This is a powerful and compelling story of dual heritage, how an Irish girl became a Nigerian woman, and how discovering a true and total sense of identity brought acceptance, peace and joy. This story will inspire many people who have Irish and African (and other) roots and should be read by all who are interested in the history and culture of those lands. It is a unique and deeply personal account of the triumph of character, spirit and endeavour in the face of much adversity and considerable bigotry, beautifully written with a complete absence of bitterness. I felt in equal measure humbled and privileged to read it. I never cry but the concluding reflection on the mother and daughter relationship made me cry unashamedly. - PATRICK GAUL, Chair, Liverpool Irish CentreTrade ReviewThis is a powerful and compelling story of dual heritage, how an Irish girl became a Nigerian woman, and how discovering a true and total sense of identity brought acceptance, peace and joy. This story will inspire many people who have Irish and African (and other) roots and should be read by all who are interested in the history and culture of those lands. It is a unique and deeply personal account of the triumph of character, spirit and endeavour in the face of much adversity and considerable bigotry, beautifully written with a complete absence of bitterness. I felt in equal measure humbled and privileged to read it. I never cry but the concluding reflection on the mother and daughter relationship made me cry unashamedly. * Patrick Gaul, Chair, Liverpool Irish Centre *What a page turner of a book! Dame Elizabeth uncovers the layers of her life from a childhood defined by secrets, to discovering the identity of her father, to her political awakening, and her journey to becoming a Black health radical. She uses her "bellyful of anger" to great effect, highlighting the ethnic health inequalities exposed by sickle cell disease right through to Covid-19. More than anything, her great sense of empathy and fun shine out from the page. I loved it. * Dua Lipa *Dreams From My Mother is a beautiful memoir detailing an extraordinary life. Dame Elizabeth Anionwu is a an incredible role model for nurses - and for everyone. * CHRISTIE WATSON, author of The Language of Kindness: A Nurse’s Story *What a woman. What a book. * Lemn Sissay OBE, author of My Name Is Why *Dame Elizabeth Anionwu is the woman who became Britain's first sickle cell nurse, was named as one of the 100 greatest Black Britons in 2020 and was the recipient of Dua Lipa's Brit award trophy earlier this year. But behind all of these incredible accomplishments is an even more jaw-dropping story. Her mother was studying at Cambridge University in 1947 when she unexpectedly discovered she was pregnant following an affair with a Nigerian student. Encouraged to place her child in a Catholic care home, Elizabeth grew up taught by nuns before joining her mother again at age 11, a move that led to more heartbreak but also the roots of a new independent life. However, this is not a misery memoir: it's about people's kindness, self-discovery, Black political awakening, race issues in the UK from the 60s to now, the NHS, a celebration of Black joy and love in many different forms - especially that of a mother. Plus, it's got some unexpected life twists that will leave your head reeling... * STYLIST *An inspiring tale of how [Dame Elizabeth Anionwu] forged her own identity in the face of adversity, then used her achievements and understanding to help others * SHEERLUXE *

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Book SynopsisIn the summer of 1964, twenty-one-year-old Gillies MacBain arrives in Dublin off the ferry from England with only his bicycle, a suitcase and a tent to his name. Young, handsome and charismatic, he begins work as a footman in one of the houses of the `dying aristocracy'. Thus begins his foray into the upper echelons of Irish society. The Adventures of an Irish Footman is an irresistible narrative which describes a fading part of Irish society that MacBain subverts with wry humour. MacBain finds himself in a precarious niche: the borderland in between `upstairs' and `downstairs'. Here, he rubs shoulders with a cast of characters from the bohemian socialites to the chancer `Sketchly' and the hippes with their dewy-eyed `morals'. MacBain's memoirs run the gamut of Irish social classes, from his friendship with County Monaghan small farmers and tenants, to working with a dubious cast of actors and producers on a film set at Castle Leslie, to eventually marrying into the circle of the `idle rich'. An irresistible story told by a charming storyteller, this memoir sheds light on an era of Irish domestic industry, and Irish social history, that has all but been forgotten.Trade ReviewThe Last Footman, is a very funny, often bizarre account of life above and below stairs in some of Ireland’s great houses in the 1960s and 1970s. -- Orna Mulcahy * The Irish Times *

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Book SynopsisThis, the fifth and final volume in the Trinity Tales series, completes a cycle that began with tales from the 1960s. It invites readers to step into the world of Trinity College as it was in the first decade of this century through the reflections of students who attended the university during those years. Within its pages lie the stories of twenty-eight graduates from a mix of diverse backgrounds whose experiences may dispel the myths of what it means to be a ‘Trinity student’. The collection reveals the rapidly changing world of the early 2000s. This was a time of the internet revolution, when social media first affected student life, when mobile phones and laptops became ubiquitous, when handwritten work was passing into history, when The Buttery closed its doors – and all this coming against the backdrop of an overheating then imploding Irish economy. This kaleidoscope of recollections captures a student body in transformation and features stories of personal discovery and achievement against the odds. For some it proved a life-changing era when sexual, racial or class barriers were confronted. This volume concludes a remarkable half-century journey, portraying the lives of others, and of ourselves.

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Book SynopsisOn Dangerous Ground is the revolutionary period memoir of Republican Máire Comerford (1893–1982). This striking memoir, one of the last of its era, includes Comerford’s original text, written mainly in the 1940s and ’50s, and new material unearthed from her extensive archive that also contains a wealth of photographs and memorabilia from the period. The memoir begins with Comerford’s recollection of Sunday strolls to Avondale, former home of Charles Stewart Parnell, who was a neighbour of her father, the mill owner James Comerford. As a young woman, she experiences a ‘political awakening’ at the hands of a fierce Unionist woman in a secretarial college in London. Máire Comerford (the only Catholic in the class) begins to engage with Irish history books to counterbalance this brush with religious sectarianism. On her return to County Wexford to live with her mother’s people – a move necessitated by the family’s change of fortune – she re-enters the genteel world of fox hunting and luncheon parties. The memoir paints an intriguing picture of rural life of the time heralding the arrival of the motorcar, social and economic conditions, the rise of the Gaelic League, debates about Home Rule, and the First World War. While the description of her surroundings as a young adult is intriguing and often charming, change is in the air in Ireland and a sharp and wide-ranging political analysis is ever present throughout her writing. Following Comerford’s witness account of Dublin during the 1916 Rising, she begins a life of political engagement, joining Cumann na mBan, Sinn Féin and the Gaelic League. In 1919, she moves permanently to Dublin to live with and work for renowned historian and nationalist, Alice Stopford Green. There, she becomes immersed in Republican politics and the War of Independence. Comerford’s memoir gives voice to the experience of Republican women during revolutionary times, highlighting the immense contribution of women in the struggle for an Irish Republic. She works all over the country, moving arms, carrying dispatches, finding safe houses, researching atrocities and working assiduously for Ireland. She experiences raids, prison vigils, funerals of her comrades and dangers of all kinds, but nothing cuts as deep as the sense of utter betrayal following the signing of the Treaty in 1922. Comerford takes the anti-Treaty side, is imprisoned a number of times and endures a 27-day hunger strike. Following her release, she leaves Ireland on a tour of east coast American cities to raise funds for the Republican cause at the behest of de Valera. She returns to a harsh, poverty-stricken and lonely existence, eking out a living on a hilltop poultry farm in Wexford. But while her memoir ends in bleak times, her overarching vision suggests an unquenchable optimism – and that the fight will go on. An epilogue by the editor chronicles the years between 1927 and her death.Trade ReviewDescribed as the last comprehensive witness account of the revolutionary period, it is an absorbing read. In 1923, a Daily Mail report called her the Jeanne d’Arc of the Republican cause, the most daring woman working for the Republican movement. -- Mary Burke * The Tuam Herald *This first-hand account includes Comerford’s original text, written mainly in the 1940s and ’50s, and new material unearthed from her extensive archive. * The Journal *This is a fascinating diary written by a republican ‘true believer’. -- J. Anthony Gaughan * The Irish Catholic *In this decade of centenaries, some of those who made their mark 100 years ago have had their lives and contributions critically examined. However, there has also been an acceptance that a number of women who lived through those times had not heretofore been recognised for their contributions. Máire Comerford is one such woman and her recently published memoir is probably the last first-person account we are likely to see written by a witness and participant in extraordinary times. -- The Mick Clifford Podcast * Irish Examiner *This book does something important: it adds new insights and understanding to events in Ireland, 1916-mid 20s, the most analysed and described epoch in modern Irish history. -- John Kirkaldy * Books Ireland *Máire Comerford’s words are truly inspiring and no Republican home should be without this book. * An Phoblacht *Comerford’s memoir places the reader in the lived reality of the time, showing how ordinary lives crossed over with history. Editor Hilary Dully not only has access to original documents, photos and stories, but can also see the direct personal impact Comerford has on the lives of people around her. While Máire’s memoir ends in bleak times, her overarching vision suggests an unquenchable optimism. * Wexford Local *Having access to original documents, photos and stories, Hilary also knows directly personal impact Comerford had on the lives of people around her. -- Cathy Lee * The Independent *These memoirs took more than forty years to be published and are well written and most interesting for any student of Irish history. -- Eva Ó Cathaoir * National Graves Association *'Meticulously edited by Hilary Dully from the original typescript, it’s a terrific read, a page-turner … illustrated with richly evocative photos … Of all the first-person memoirs I’ve read, this is by far the most inspiring. Comerford has an unforgettable, idiosyncratic voice, her language rich with imagery, full of physical movement. Both astute and tender, she feels modern. I could identify with her. Was it her sense of humour? Her honesty? Her lack of self-aggrandisation? Her intense love for animals? I was certainly drawn to all of these qualities. And her characters hum with life.' Martina Evans, Irish Times

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Book SynopsisIn 1972, Jan Wong became one of only two Westerners admitted to Beijing University at the height of the Cultural Revolution. One day, a student, Yin Luoyi, sought Jan's assistance in going to the United States. Wong, then a starry-eyed Maoist, reported Yin to the authorities. Yin promptly disappeared. Now, thirty-three years later, Wong returns to Beijing to search for the woman who has haunted her conscience. She hopes to apologise, perhaps somehow to try to make amends. At the very least, she wants to find out whether Yin has survived. Preoccupied by the past, fascinated by China's present and future, Jan Wong searches out old friends, foes and comrades in this half-familiar city, finally uncovering the truth about the woman she wronged. Chinese Whispers tells a unique and unforgettable story of communism and capitalism, of guilt and atonement, of remembering and forgetting.Trade Review"'Wong is a beautiful writer. Her gift is both to greet the country with enthusiasm and curiosity but also to interrogate the back story. Her tale of trying to find Yin is not just the story of a search for an old acquaintance, but also an insight into how China is dealing with its own past... Gripping and entertaining.' Rosie Blau, Financial Times 'Funny and irreverent... The candid, beguiling style is hugely entertaining' Conor O'Clery, Irish Times" 'A witty, clever and knowingly light-hearted take on betrayal and redemption; a feel good penance.' Daily Mail

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Book SynopsisBY THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF REBECCA INTRODUCED BY ALISON LIGHT'The genuine, thoughtful voice of a woman whose works have been loved by millions' NEW YORK TIMES'Daphne du Maurier has no equal' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH 'Du Maurier created a scale by which modern women can measure their feelings' STEPHEN KING The Rebecca Notebook provides an unparalleled insight into the mastery of a writer's craft and the inner vision that made du Maurier a household name. One of the great international bestsellers, Rebecca also inspired a film, a play and television dramas. This perfect companion volume, The Rebecca Notebook, outlines just how Rebecca came to be written, tracing its origins, developments and the directions it might have taken. The author reveals how she first came upon the secret house, hidden deep in the Cornish woodland, that was to become the romantic setting for her most famous novel: a house which stood derelict, and which she lovingly restored to create her own home. The accompanying Memories introduce other members of her family: her father Gerald, the famous actor; her grandfather George, whose Punch drawings made him world famous; and her cousins, for whom J. M. Barrie wrote Peter Pan.Trade ReviewIn her heartfelt memories ... one hears the genuine, thoughtful voice of a woman whose works have been loved by millions * New York Times *Daphne du Maurier has no equal * Sunday Telegraph *Du Maurier created a scale by which modern women can measure their feelings -- Stephen KingDame Daphne's wise and attractive new book will enchant her many readers * Sunday Express *

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Book SynopsisA passionate witness to the colossal upheaval that has transformed her native South Africa, Gillian Slovo has written a memoir that is far more than a story of her own life. For she is the daughter of Joe Slovo and Ruth First, South Africa's pioneering anti-apartheid white activists, a daughter who always had to come second to political commitment. Whilst recalling the extraordinary events which surrounded her family's persecution and exile, and reconstructing the truth of her parents' relationship and her own turbulent childhood, Gillian Slovo has also created an astonishing portrait of a courageous, beautiful mother and a father of integrity and stoicism.Trade ReviewA luminous achievement * OBSERVER *Wonderfully moving ... anger, frustration, and the hunger for sharing wash her pages, though they never swamp the admiration for her parents * GUARDIAN *Gillian Slovo has written a brave book, as unsparing of herself as it is of her parents ... a moving testimony * Christopher Hope, INDEPENDENT *An extraordinary expression of the very nature of loving, which illuminates, with the anger and tenderness of deep emotion, that human territory we all occupy, and where we conceal so much from ourselves * Nadine Gordimer *

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Book SynopsisHu Feng, the 'counterrevolutionary' leader of a banned literary school, spent twenty-five years in the Chinese Communist Party's prison system. But back in the Party's early days, he was one of its best known literary theoreticians and critics-at least until factional infighting, and his short fuse, made him persona non grata among the establishment.His wife, Mei Zhi, shared his incarceration for many years. F is her account of that time, beginning ten years after her and Hu Feng's initial arrest. She herself was eventually released, after which she navigated the party's Byzantine prison bureaucracy searching for his whereabouts. Having finally found him, she voluntarily returned to gaol to care for him in his rage and suffering, watching his descent into madness as the excesses of the Cultural Revolution took their toll.Both an intimate portrait of Mei Zhi's life with Hu Feng and a stark account of the prison system and life under Mao, F is at once beautiful and harrowing.With support from English PENThis book has been selected to receive financial assistance from English PEN's Writers in Translation programme supported by Bloomberg. English PEN exists to promote literature and its understanding, uphold writers' freedoms around the world, campaign against the persecution and imprisonment of writers for stating their views, and promote the friendly co-operation of writers and free exchange of ideas. For more information visit www.englishpen.org.Trade ReviewWhat kind of people are those we don't execute? We don't execute people like Hu Feng ... not because their crimes don't deserve capital punishment but because such executions would yield no advantage ... Counterrevolutionaries are trash, they are vermin, but once in your hands, you can make them perform some kind of service for the people. -- Mao ZedongA brilliant literary writer and critic ... [F: Hu Feng's Prison Years] is a vivid portrayal of the suffocating intellectual life of Mao's years. -- Ngeow Chow Bing * China Report *

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Book Synopsis‘A natural storyteller with a Sedaris-like eye for black humour. There are sharp splinters of comic relief … compelling and nuanced.” Edel Coffey, Irish Times Quick-witted, charismatic and generous; angry, vicious and hurt; in pubs all over Cork City, Noelle McCarthy's mother Carol rages against her life and everything she has lost. Soon after leaving college, in the early years of the millennium, Noelle flees. Even on the other side of the world, with fame and success within her grasp, Noelle cannot escape an appetite for self-destruction. Life spirals out of control until she too is in danger of losing everything. At thirty, she pulls back from the brink.Over a decade later, Carol is dying. Finally, it seems, mother and daughter will make peace. Except Carol has no interest in admitting her own mortality - she will die as she lived, entirely on her own terms. If there is any reckoning to be done between past and present, Noelle will be doing it on her own.Grand is the deeply moving and surprisingly funny outcome of Noelle's yearning to understand her mother, and to make sense of their lives, together and apart. Most of all, it is a dazzlingly honest memoir about becoming a modern woman._____2023 Non-Fiction Winner at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards‘Exquisitely written … profoundly moving. And like all great memoirs it is hilarious in parts. If, like, me, you love the personal essays of Sinéad Gleeson and Emilie Pine, you’ll adore this’ Sunday Independent'Desperately funny, hysterically sad, so beautiful and so humane. All of life is in it' Meg Mason'Hooked me like a fish' New York Times‘A really vivacious account of frayed family relationships across the decades and around the world’ Financial Times Podcast Trade ReviewA natural storyteller with a Sedaris-like eye for black humour. There are sharp splinters of comic relief . . . compelling and nuanced -- Edel Coffey * Irish Times *Desperately funny, hysterically sad, so beautiful and so humane. All of life is in it. I utterly adored it -- Meg MasonGrand hooked me like a fish . . . a tale of recovery and growth [and] deep, deep love * New York Times *Exquisitely written . . . profoundly moving. And like all great memoirs it is hilarious in parts. If, like me, you love the personal essays of Sinéad Gleeson and Emilie Pine, you'll adore this * Sunday Independent *A really vivacious account of frayed family relationships across decades and around the world * Financial Times *Remarkably funny, honest and often sad . . . there's a whole pile of un-maudlin heart and a whole lot of love here * Sunday Independent *A searingly honest memoir, as close to the bone as it is to the heart -- Maia DunphyDeeply moving and surprisingly funny * Irish Examiner *I loved it! The writing is stunning. Noelle McCarthy has an incredible knack for sharing the darkest of memories with a lightness of touch. You won't want to put this book down, but once you do, every gorgeous word will haunt you. Beautiful and compelling -- Tara FlynnSavagely brilliant * Business Post *A fierce and sometimes hilarious reflection on the maddening endurance of love between mother and daughter. McCarthy's prose sparkles in the darkness of addiction, shame, and inherited trauma. I devoured this book -- Aingeala FlanneryGrand is a love story and occasionally a hate story too. A vital, unexpected love letter to family, flaws, and the fact that none of us is perfect. McCarthy writes to remind us that sometimes you have to pull at the threads, perhaps unravel completely, to find your way back to a life a little less undone -- Cristín LeachAn eloquent exploration of generational trauma told with immense wit and candour. Compellingly readable -- Hilary FanninA rich, unsettling read - a bit like jumping on a moving train as it speeds through shifting landscapes. Enthralling, unnerving and above all, honest -- Lia MillsI really loved this book . . . beautifully endearing and candid -- June CaldwellHumane and wryly funny . . . so readable, relatable and ultimately uplifting -- Elizabeth BoyleAlready acclaimed in New Zealand, it doesn't hold back any punches in describing a difficult relationship with her alcoholic mother (and is insightful about the restraints imposed on an intelligent woman of her mother's generation living in conservative, Catholic Ireland.) * Irish Examiner *Terrific energy . . . sparkling and evocative -- Alannah Hopkin * Irish Examiner *

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Book SynopsisHaving Irvine Welsh as one of your best mates was not without its problems. Sandy Macnair and Irvine Welsh were friends long before fame and fortune arrived by train, and their adventures and Welsh's novels have obvious parallels. Their adventures were certainly extraordinary. Irvine Welsh was always the instigator, the free spirit who would act on a whim and deal with the consequences later. Sandy Macnair was his loyal wing man, there to enjoy the ride and to help pick up the pieces when things, as they usually did, went wrong. In "Carspotting", Sandy Macnair now presents an affectionate portrayal of their adventures together and the highs and lows of the rollercoaster ride that was their late teens and twenties. As well as a highly entertaining read, Sandy also reveals nuggets that will fascinate all Irvine Welsh fans, like the real role model for Begbie, the true Gorgie/Dalry Oyster Bar, the real location of various scenes from Trainspotting and the story behind Marabou Stork Nightmares that none of the critics spotted, which makes this a fascinating and entertaining account of one of our best-loved authors.

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Book SynopsisLegendary Sheriff Irvine Smith QC is one of the most formidable criminal lawyers of his generation. Called to the Bar in 1953, he was involved as Counsel in some of Scotland's biggest cases, including the 'Glasgow Bank Raid', known at the time as 'the crime of the century'. He also defended five capital murder trials before the abolition of the death penalty and knew the full responsibility of trying to keep defendants from the gallows. He later became a Sheriff, quickly building a reputation as a no-nonsense judge with a sharp intellect and a dry and ready wit. He presided over the test case in the Ibrox Disaster. He was also one of the finest after dinner speakers of his generation, especially on the theme of St Andrew and Burns. This talent took him to many venues across the world. Irvine Smith's personal recollections are both frank and entertaining, charting the highs and lows of a remarkable life and career lived to the full.

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Book SynopsisAged thirteen, Martha is rescued by the courts from the clutches of her evil stepfather, Jackser, and her feckless mother, Sally. After numerous arrests for shoplifting, a judge rules that she is to be sent to a convent school with the instruction that she is to get an education. Her initial relief at escaping the abuse and neglect she suffered at home is, however, short-lived, as she soon realises that there are many forms of cruelty in this life. As she says, 'You can have a full belly, but your heart can be very empty.' Ostracised by the other children for being a 'street kid' and put to back-breaking work by the nuns, she leads a lonely existence, her only joy coming from the books she devours and her mischievous sense of humour. Desperate for love and a little place where she feels she belongs, despite all that she has suffered Martha retains her compassion for others and still continues to hope for a brighter future when she will be free to make her own way in life.Trade Review[Martha's] humour, verve and inextinguishable spark of hope always shine through, which is what makes her book so appealing * Irish Independent *A born survivor, Martha is undoubtedly also a born storyteller * The Star *

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Book Synopsis'ONE OF THE FIRST POLITICAL CLASSICS OF THE 21st CENTURY'- Observer'EXTRAORDINARILY POWERFUL, POIGNANT AND AFFECTING. I WAS GREATLY MOVED' Michael PalinFOREWORD BY CHRISTINA LAMBJournalist Samar Yazbek was forced into exile by Assad's regime. When the uprising in Syria turned to bloodshed, she was determined to take action and secretly returned several times. The Crossing is her rare, powerful and courageous testament to what she found inside the borders of her homeland.From the first peaceful protests for democracy to the arrival of ISIS, she bears witness to those struggling to survive, to the humanity that can flower amidst annihilation, and why so many are now desperate to flee.Trade ReviewPowerful and moving…bears comparison with George Orwell’s Homage To Catalonia as a work of literature, Yazbek is a superb narrator…it may be that [she] has written one of the first political classics of the 21st century * Observer *Brave, rebellious and passionate…Yazbek is no ordinary Syrian dissident * Financial Times *An eloquent, gripping and harrowing account of the country’s decline into barbarism by an incredibly brave Syrian * Irish Times *Gripping... Does the important job of putting faces to the numbing numbers of Syria’s crisis... * Economist *Sheds valuable light on day-to-day life inside Syria, something of which we know little…a sobering glimpse of the wreckage that will be discovered when the war is over * Sunday Times *

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Book SynopsisIt was the last of the ebbing days, the brink of the new season. It was the murky hours, the clove between sunset and sunrise. It was a tall tree with deep roots and it had been bleeding for a long while.As summer falls into autumn, Hollie Starling is hit by the heart-stopping news that her father has died by suicide. Thrust into a state of 'grief on hard mode', Hollie feels underserved by current attitudes toward grief and so seeks another way through the dark.Following her first year without her father, Hollie embraces her lifelong interest in folklore and turns to the healing power of nature, the changing seasons and the rituals of ancient communities. The Bleeding Tree is an unflinching year-zero guidebook to grief that shows us that by looking back to past traditions of bereavement we can all find our own way forward.'Starling's account of family life is riveting and narrated with grace and honesty, counterpointing the personal with the mythic.' - Irish Times

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Book SynopsisHer central themes are the classics, universities and teaching - and much else besides. In this second collection following on from the success of It's a Don's Life, Beard ponders whether Gaddafi's home is Roman or not, we share her 'terror of humiliation' as she enters 'hairdresser country' and follow her dilemma as she wanders through the quandary of illegible handwriting on examination papers and 'longing for the next dyslexic' - on whose paper the answers are typed, not handwritten. Praise for It's a Don's Life 'Delightful... it has the virtues of brevity, eclecticism and learning worn lightly... if they'd had Mary Beard on their side back then, the Romans would still have their empire' Daily MailTrade Review"'Delightful... it has the virtues of brevity, eclecticism and learning worn lightly... if they'd had Mary Beard on their side back then, the Romans would still have their empire' (Daily Mail)"

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Book SynopsisThis is the story of Giles Darby, a former British banker who was extradited and jailed on account of his entanglement in a $7m wire-fraud case. In 2001, Giles and his co-defendants — branded the ‘NatWest Three’ — became the subject of extensive media coverage when the US government demanded their extradition in regards to the financial collapse of energy giant Enron, noted as one of the biggest bankruptcy filings in history. They found themselves the centre of national debate which sought to question why three British citizens accused of defrauding a British bank should be tried in America — a question that found itself in the hands of Prime Minister at the time, Tony Blair. However, after 10 gruelling years of appeal, they each pled guilty to one count of wire fraud, facing up to 37 months in a US prison. Focusing on the emotional aftermath of extradition and his life in prison, Inside Allenwood is an eye-opening appraisal of the American justice system, and one man’s profound story of how he managed to keep his health and sanity intact during the drudgery of lockdown, the dangers of routine violence and the agony of being separated from his young family in UK.Trade ReviewFascinating, dark and sometimes grotesquely comic * The Daily Mail *This intriguing look at the American justice system will appeal to true crime fans as well as those who enjoy a good fish-out-of-water story. * Publishers Weekly *

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Book SynopsisA Drink at the Bar: A memoir of crime, justice and overcoming personal demons is the witty, opinionated and revealing memoirs of Judge Graham Boal QC, a criminal barrister for thirty years before serving as a judge for nine years until his retirement as a Permanent Judge at London’s Central Criminal Court, the Old Bailey, in 2005. Boal's career highlights included his being the legendary George Carman's junior in the Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe's trial for conspiracy to murder in 1979, leading for the Crown at the Appeal of the Birmingham Six in 1991 and becoming First Senior Treasury Counsel. His memories of key cases in his career are fascinating but his day-to-day experiences, and the underlying legal issues and happenstance, are every bit as revealing and interesting. Boal has been described as ‘clubbable’, a man who enjoys cricket, golf and life in a Norfolk village, but as his brilliant career progressed he found himself increasingly dependent on the demon alcohol. He went into treatment for alcoholism and depression in 1993, and has been a recovering alcoholic ever since, including his years as a judge at the Old Bailey, the court at which most of the most serious criminal cases in the country are tried. This intriguing memoir reveals the many inside stories of classic criminal cases and the author is unstinting in his analysis of his professional achievements and personal struggles. This will be an essential read for all those interested in legal and political issues and the toll that the pressures of high office can put on one’s personal life and wellbeing. The author is now a trustee and board member of WDP, a leading addiction charity.Trade ReviewWitty and engaging. It offers a fascinating ringside seat at some of the most high-profile trials in modern English legal history, together with a brutally honest account of the writer’s descent into alcoholism and depression — and his rise out of it.As you would expect from a former Old Bailey judge, Graham Boal QC is searingly honest about the challenges he has faced — and overcome. Well aware that, as he puts it, “there are few more boring experiences than ploughing through the reminiscences of retired barristers and judges”, Boal takes us through his early life and career at a reasonably brisk pace. Writing about one’s human frailties is entirely commendable and Boal, 77, dedicates his book to the Westminster Drug Project, where he serves as a trustee and board member. While later chapters of Boal’s book make for painful reading, this is a story with a happy ending. Boal recovered. Despite everything, then, [he] considers himself to be a very lucky man indeed. -- Joshua Rozenburg * A Lawyer Writes *...a searingly honest and engaging account of failings and redemption.Offering readers a candid portrayal of his alcoholism and depression, which were inevitably intertwined, this book’s appeal extends beyond the narrow readership of practising lawyers and fellow judges. His angst may regularly punctuate the narrative, washed down with recollections of tumblers full of whisky, but they do not dominate Boal’s story. Instead, they are neatly interwoven with his 30-year stretch as a criminal barrister, during which time he became First Senior Treasury Counsel. -- Dominic Carman * Reports Legal *This book is marvellous fun and gloriously entertaining. A thoroughly enjoyable read.

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Book SynopsisLand of Milk and Honey is the long-awaited sequel to Red Rag to a Bull. Author Jamie Blackett finds himself in danger of losing the family estate as his beef business encounters difficulties and the spectre of Brexit bears down on the farming community. Meanwhile he feels under threat from extreme environmentalists attacking the very concept of livestock farming and by resurgent Scottish nationalism threatening the break-up of the United Kingdom. The book is the honest and forthright account of how he copes with the crisis by following the example of New Zealand farmers in similar circumstances and successfully embracing the new creed of regenerative agriculture and switching the farm into pasture-based dairying. Through Jamie’s struggles the reader comes to understand the crossroads facing the British countryside as it attempts to adapt to free trade after eighty years of agricultural subsidies. We are also guided through the complexities and contradictions in the quest to reach Net Zero carbon and reverse biodiversity loss as he explores the current craze for re-wilding the land and puts some of its ideas into practice for the benefit of wildlife on the estate. Along the way Jamie becomes an outspoken newspaper columnist and establishes an unlikely political alliance with the maverick socialist George Galloway in an attempt to break the stalemate in Scottish politics and defeat Nicola Sturgeon’s SNP in the Holyrood election. The book contains humour, vivid passages of nature writing and numerous polemical digressions on a wide range of countryside issues.Trade Review‘Jamie Blackett crucially and eloquently stands up for real farming, real conservation and the real countryside, managing to be both lyrical and fearless at the same time.’ -- Kate Green, Country Life'a fascinating read for those interested in the countryside and the country...Well worth buying''Blackett’s engaging style and lightness of touch belie the complexity of the issues with which he must contend, and make this a compelling read.''Land of Milk and Honey is a book with great variety and change of pace. the description of rural life, its seasonal rhythms, the grandeur of nature and all its creatures are a joy to read.''another highly readable and thought provoking work from Jamie Blackett.''superbly acerbic'The author writes with admirable candour and detachment about his battle to save his farm in the face of adverse balance-sheets. As well as being an eloquent manifesto for saving the countryside from the unhappy fate that has overtaken large parts of urban Britain, this is a stirring evocation of rural life.

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Book SynopsisFood is our most intimate and vital commodity, yet too many of us have lost touch with the reality of where it comes from and how it is produced. Farm to Fork: The Challenge of Sustainable Farming in 21st Century Britain attempts to address this knowledge gap by taking the reader on a seasonal tour of a British lowland family farm to explain the realities of modern agricultural life. Drawing on a lifetime of experience, the author illustrates how our food is produced and why our farmed landscape looks the way it does. Along the way, he addresses issues around the environment, climate change, trade and why Britain’s exit from the European Union is such a significant moment for UK food production. Agriculture is the core of a £122bn food and farming sector, and Farm to Fork demonstrates the pride, hard work and heart which goes into every mouthful of Great British produce.Trade Review'This book offers a compelling insight into the challenges and rewards of farming. A must-read for any agriculture student, it will also appeal to those with an interest in their food, as well as the farmers who produce it.'For now, the battle to defend farming against cavalier politicians, unscrupulous capitalists and ignorant environmentalists continues to be waged in the media by its champions, notably NFU president Minette Batters, who has written the foreword. Mr Stanley has made a heartfelt contribution to that fight.'A wonderfully-detailed and candid account of the life of a British farmer. Farm to Fork offers something for everyone, no matter their background.''The book gives an insight into the hundreds of decisions affecting what ends up on our plate, how farming life has changed, and how it might look in years to come.''It is, at its core, a love letter from one farmer, to an entire industry.''Author Joe Stanley writes with pride and knowledge, and his book is a great read.' -- NFU Countryside Magazine, September 2023'Joe Stanley’s Farm to Fork is a straightforward and enlightening journey through Britain’s farming year.' -- Keeping the Balance, Winter 2023

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Book SynopsisGeorge Orwell’s vivid memoir of his time living among the desperately poor and destitute, Down and Out in Paris and London is a moving tour of the underworld of society. Written when Orwell was a struggling writer in his twenties, it documents his ‘first contact with poverty’. Here, he painstakingly documents a world of unrelenting drudgery and squalor – sleeping in bug-infested hostels and doss houses of last resort, working as a dishwasher in Paris’s vile ‘Hôtel X’, surviving on scraps and cigarette butts, living alongside tramps, a star-gazing pavement artist and a starving Russian ex-army captain. Exposing a shocking, previously-hidden world to his readers, Orwell gave a human face to the statistics of poverty for the first time – and in doing so, found his voice as a writer.

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Book Synopsis'During the Tang dynasty, the Chinese artist Wu Tao-tzu was one day standing looking at a mural he had just completed. Suddenly, he clapped his hands and the temple gate opened. He went into his work and the gates closed behind him.' Thus begins Sven Lindqvist's profound meditation on art and its relationship with life, first published in 1967, and a classic in his home country - it has never been out of print. As a young man, Sven Lindqvist was fascinated by the myth of Wu Tao-tzu, and by the possibility of entering a work of art and making it a way of life. He was drawn to artists and writers who shared this vision, especially Hermann Hesse, in his novel Glass Bead Game. Partly inspired by Hesse's work, Lindqvist lived in China for two years, learning classical calligraphy from a master teacher. There he was drawn deeper into the idea of a life of artistic perfectionism and retreat from the world. But when he left China for India and then Afghanistan, and saw the grotesque effects of poverty and extreme inequality, Lindqvist suffered a crisis of confidence and started to question his ideas about complete immersion in art at the expense of a proper engagement with life. The Myth of Wu Tao-tzu takes us on a fascinating journey through a young man's moral awakening and his grappling with profound questions of aesthetics. It contains the bracing moral anger, and poetic, intensely atmospheric travel writing Lindqvist's readers have come to love.

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Alice Taylor remembers her childhood home – the farm with all its tools and animals, the home with its equipment for living, its daily challenges, constant hard work, and its comforts too. She describes the huge open fireplace where all the cooking was done, where the big black kettle hung permanently from the crane over the flames; here the family sat in the evenings, talking, knitting, going over the events of the day, saying the rosary. She experienced the sow being brought indoors to have her precious brood of bonhams. She recalls the faithful, beloved horses and their wonderfully varied outfits – one set of tackle for each job they did on the farm; the ritual of lighting the oil lamps – from the fancy one in the parlour to the tiny one under the Sacred Heart picture; the excitement of threshing day and the satisfaction of a good harvest – the stations, the neighbours, and later the local dancehall and cinema. All the jobs and tools of a way of life long gone live on in the hearts of those who were formed by it. Here Alice Taylor celebrates them all with love. 'magical … reading the book, I felt a faint ache in my heart … I find myself longing for those days … it is essential reading.' Irish Independent

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Book SynopsisRelax with Alice, sit and chat over a cup of tea, as she invites you into her life. See an old press overflowing with the linen collection of two generations, the oil lamps and clocks inherited and collected over many years, and the books of people who once lived here. Alice tells you of the sad loss of her beautiful dogs Kate and Lolly, friends of the heart, and takes you around her village to meet her neighbours, join a meitheal to plant trees, and visit the fairy doors in the nearby wood. But Alice’s home and community are not a perfect place: hear about the split in the local GAA club, blocked off rights of way, the donations of the local canine population on the footpaths! Visit a restored famine graveyard and hear about the landlords who once owned this village and the landmarks they left on the landscape and the people. This is life in a small Irish village in 2016, one hundred years after the Rising. This Bestselling book is coming in paperback edition.Trade Reviewone of this country’s best-loved authors … I got great satisfaction from reading your book because you make perfect sense and you write in such a beautiful way … a fantastic read … this book is all about village life and rural life and it also highlights the importance of neighbours and community and volunteerism and parish … it’s a great read and it’s that time of year when we’re thinking: imagine the Christmas stocking is all ready, and it’s a must as far as I’m concerned … the people of this wonderful country of ours could identify with her every word -- The Joe Finnegan Show, Shannonside Northern Sounda fascinating read -- Southern Starone to warm the heart this winter -- Galway City Tribuneone of the country’s most accomplished storytellers -- Irish Mail on Sundayone to warm the heart this winter -- Connacht Tribunea surefire hit with older members of the family -- Belfast Telegraphnot alone is the writing beautiful … most fantastic pictures -- MidWest Radio’s Tommy Marren ShowOne of the lovely things is that you invite readers in the book into your garden and into your house … such a positive message about what life can be like in rural Ireland … beautiful … gorgeous photographs -- Clare FM’s Morning Focusa delight -- The Sean O’Rourke Show, RTE Radio 1like all her previous books, it’s a truly beautiful read that left me feeling warm and fuzzy … of all the villages, if I could pick a village to live in, it’s Innishannon … I loved it from cover to cover … it made me smile -- The Patricia Messenger Show, Cork’s C103

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Book SynopsisAs a first-time visitor to London, De Amicis was awestruck by the bustle and magnificence of the Victorian metropolis and wrote a number of sketches in his trademark witty, observational style, which made him one of the best-selling travel writers of his age. Originally conceived as a series of newspaper articles and later published in volume form, De Amici's 'Memories of London' brings back to life all the bygone charm of the capital of the British Empire. De Amici's impressions are paired here with a piece written by one of his contemporaries, the French writer Louis Laurent Simonin, which leaves the city's opulence and granduer behind and offers an uncompromising look at the poverty and squalor of its most deprived areas.Trade Review[De Amicis] recounts his adventures in the capital with a relish and perspicacity that still resonates today. * The Good Book Guide *His descriptions of London in the 1870s have so many parallels today, even if there are not so many oyster shells lying about. * TLS *

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Book SynopsisUnder the pressure of his boss, the intransigent Riviere, the airmail pilot Fabien attempts a perilous flight during a heavy night-time thunderstorm in Argentina. As conditions get worse and the radio communication with Fabien becomes increasingly difficult, Riviere begins to question his uncompromising methods, and his distress turns to guilt when the pilot's wife comes to find him in search of answers. Based on Saint-Exupery's own experiences as a commercial pilot, Night Flight is a haunting and lyrical examination of duty, destiny and the individual, as well as an authentic and tragic portrayal of the intrepid early days of human air travel.Trade ReviewWhat gives this book an authentic and inimitable flavour is the personal confrontation with a recurrent peril... Quite aside from its literary merits, which I much admire, this book is valuable as a document; and it is the unusual combination of these two qualities which makes Night Flight so exceptionally important. -- Andre Gide

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Book SynopsisBy the age of six, Nicolai Lilin had been given his first 'pike knife' by an uncle, and by the age of twelve, he had been convicted of attempted murder . . . Nicolai Lilin gained his 'education' as a member of the Siberian Urkas - a small and tight-knit community of 'honest criminals' in a forgotten corner of Eastern Europe . . . Siberian Education is his tale of an extreme childhood - exotic, violent and completely unique.Trade ReviewLilin's astonishing account of his life takes you into some very strange worlds; frightening, violent and yet with spirited moments of redemption which both offer hope and keep you reading . . .a breath-taking memoir. -- Misha Glenny * * Mail on Sunday * *Terrifying, fascinating, horrific and violent - Lilin's memoir is an eye-opening and gripping account of a childhood spent in the brutal Siberian underworld. -- Simon Sebag-Montifiore, author of Young StalinForce yourself to forget about categories of good and evil, you have to just be there and read . . . produces a thrill of pleasure that is hard to forget. -- Roberto Saviano, author of GomorrahLilin's tale pulls no punches...a highly recommended account. * * Sunday Business Post * *Nicolai Lilin's Siberian Education (Norton) paints a phantasmagorical picture of Transnistria, a former Soviet region where a subculture of "honest criminals" has long flourished. Lilin writes of this ritualized, xenophobic, gun-and-cross-toting milieu, "Our philosophy of life has a close relation to death; children are taught that taking someone else's life or dying are perfectly acceptable things, if there is a good reason. -- Lisa Shea * * Elle * *With its exhaustive descriptions of ritual and tradition, Siberian Education at times resembles a work of cultural anthropology . . . Lilin has constructed Siberian Education as a Russian nesting doll, with stories unfolding inside of other stories, which yield yet more stories. -- Joshua Yaffa * * Wall Street Journal * *

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In 2013, Úna-Minh Kavanagh, a young journalist and content creator, was racially abused and spat upon in Dublin’s city centre. Having dealt with racism throughout her young life, this proud Kerrywoman had finally had enough. In the days that followed, she took to Twitter to call out the ‘land of a thousand welcomes’ for its naivety and cowardice in dealing with racism. The incident was widely shared in the media and her story went viral. But Úna-Minh’s story actually begins in Hanoi, Vietnam, in 1991, when she was adopted at just three days old by a single woman from Kerry. Raised in a loving, Irish-speaking home by her mother and grandfather, Úna-Minh was instilled with an enduring sense of her multi-faceted Irish identity. In her first book, she writes honestly and humorously about tackling racism, language elitism and online trolls and the joy of turning her love of the internet, video games and accessible Irish-language content into a healthy work/life balance. Sprinkled throughout with Úna-Minh’s own #FrásaAnLae, Anseo is the heartwarming story of a diverse and contemporary Irish life.

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Book SynopsisIn early 2018, Erin Darcy created an online art project, In Her Shoes – Women of the Eighth, to safely and anonymously share private stories of the real and devastating impact of the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution of Ireland. In the five months leading up to the referendum on abortion, the project asked a simple question of undecided voters: put yourself in her shoes. Within weeks, Erin was receiving hundreds of stories from a broad spectrum of experiences of planned and unplanned terminations. By the time Ireland historically voted Yes to Repeal the Eighth on 25 May 2018, the page had gathered over 100,000 followers, was reaching over four million readers each week and had been featured by international news outlets. What began as a solo act of grassroots activism by a mother and an artist had unleashed a national conversation on human rights that would change Ireland forever. Where once there had been silence and shame, now there was honesty and empathy. For 43 per cent of voters, it was ‘stories in the media’ that influenced their decision to vote Yes. But for Erin Darcy, In Her Shoes was also a distraction from her own heartbreaking loss, loneliness and depression as she grieved her mother’s death and sought a community of her own. In time, it became an act of healing, as she connected with other women, mothers and campaigners who felt the same overwhelming need to do something. Here, In Her Shoes: Women of the Eighth reproduces thirty-two of those anonymous stories, representing the entire island of Ireland. Published with their authors’ consent and illustrated by Erin, they are powerful testimonies to storytelling as salvation from heartache, stigma and threat. Together, they record lived truths previously omitted from history and signal a monumental change in the social landscape of our country.

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Book SynopsisDuine de shárscéalaithe na Gaeilge In Eanáir 1952, sé bliana sula bhfuair Peig Sayers bás, thionscain Coimisiún Béaloideasa Éireann agallaimh léi agus í in ospidéal Naomh Anna, Baile Átha Cliath. Bhí Peig thar a bheith sásta labhairt lena cuairteoirí a raibh Gaeilge Chiarraí ar a dtoil acu agus seanaithne aici orthu. Foilsítear den chéad uair in Níl Deireadh Ráite na hagallaimh sin mar aon le réamhrá tathagach, tráchtaireacht agus aistriúchán Béarla ar an iomlán. Cuireann Peig i láthair anseo seanscéalta idirnáisiúnta, scéal Fiannaíochta, finscéalta taistealacha, seanchas stairiúil agus sísheanchas, roinnt paidreacha, agus tá cúpla léaráid óna mac, Mícheál Ó Gaoithín, mar anlann leo. Léiríonn na taifeadtaí a bua mar scéalaí oilte, a hacmhainn grinn, a móreolas ar scéalta traidisiúnta agus a cumas máistriúil á gcur i láthair trí shúile mná. Buanaíonn an saothar seo ionad Pheig mar dhuine de shárscéalaithe na Gaeilge agus cinntíonn sé go bhfuil a cuid scéalaíochta le háireamh ar scoth na healaíne béil sa tír seo. Among the first rank of Irish storytellers In January 1952, six years before she died, Peig Sayers was interviewed by a team from the Irish Folklore Commission in St Anne’s Hospital, Dublin. She was more than happy to be recorded, and pleased to be visited by old friends, all of whom spoke fluent Kerry Irish. In Not the Final Word these interviews are published for the first time, in both Irish and English, along with a substantial introduction and detailed annotation. Here Peig tells her versions of international folktales, a Fenian tale, some prayers, migratory legends and historical and supernatural lore, illustrated in paintings by her son, Mícheál Ó Gaoithín. She emerges as a warm and authentic storyteller, with a ready sense of humour, a deep knowledge of traditional narrative and highly skilled in its presentation. This collection reaffirms Peig Sayers’s position in the first rank of Irish storytellers and firmly establishes her tales in the canon of Irish oral literature.Trade ReviewThe rescuing of the great storyteller Peig Sayers from the bored contempt of generations of school students is one of the noblest causes in Irish letters. Any remaining doubts about her status as an artist are banished by Bo Almqvist and Pádraig Ó Héalaí[s] wonderful bilingual edition of interviews she gave in 1952, complete with two CDs of the recordings, Níl Deireadh Ráite/Not the Final Word. -- Fintan O'Toole * Irish Times *

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Book SynopsisMichael Viney and his wife Ethna lived in the city, had successful jobs in the media and had just turned forty when they made a life-changing decision: to give up everything for a self-reliant existence on a remote cottage farm in County Mayo, on the West Coast of Ireland. This enchanting chronicle of life on the land follows the highs and lows of one year in the Irish countryside. Since then, for sixty years, Michael Viney's weekly columns in The Irish Times have established his reputation as a uniquely compassionate and informed commentator on the natural world, and undoubtedly one of Ireland's greatest nature writers.Trade ReviewOne of the most beautiful books I've read. * Sunday Tribune *Magnificent * The Sunday Times *

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Book SynopsisWhy is it that the more advanced our society becomes, the unhappier we are?Seeking an answer from the only honest perspective, Tobias Jones and his wife opened up their family home and ten acre woodland to those going through crises in their lives, or suffering from depression, addiction and loneliness.They will encounter extraordinary people: from 'Roadkill Kev' to 'Mary Poppins'; build a chapel, raise pigs and encounter both violent antagonism and astounding generosity. At the same time, they will open themselves, their children and their ideals up to the most demanding of judgements and transformations.Five years on, they think they are on to something. To sit down to eat together, to work on the land, to have no tolerance for drugs but a lot of tolerance for change – it takes time and many mistakes, but they have found a way to help people.This is the story of how.Trade ReviewThis is no Hollywood-style tale of redemption and transformation. It is something much more honest: a warts-and-all account of what it is like to try a radically different way of living, and to not only survive, but have real triumphs . . . Thanks to Jones's sense of humour the book rarely feels "worthy", in the pejorative sense, despite the subject matter . . . Admirably erudite, charming and reflective . . . To read this book is to imagine, even if only briefly, that a different way of living might be possible. -- Alice O'Keefe * Guardian *Fascinating and remarkable . . . a study of compassion in action * Sunday Times *This is an enjoyable book * Mail on Sunday *[I was] Amused and moved by this book . . . The Joneses' desire to rescue lost people is both magnificent and astonishing * The Times *Chosen as a summer read by Julian Baggini * Observer *Extremely gripping and moving . . . Often very funny . . . Jones writes beautifully about the changing seasons . . . Each night I looked forward to reading this book. Clearly there is something in our psychological make-up that longs to be part of an 'extended household', breaking bread with strangers. Or - at least - to experience it voyeuristically through the pages of a captivating memoir * Independent *There is much beauty in the story of Windsor Hill Wood, the rural idyll that Jones and Fra create together. He manages to take us with him into it . . . Jones is a sublime writer, who has the ability to bring tears to the eye * Daily Telegraph *It's a gentle meditation on a brave venture that leaves the reader uplifted and even a little enlightened * Press Association *It is Jones's humanity and gift for characterisation that make his book so captivating . . . His account rings with universal truths . . . A Place of Refuge asks difficult questions about how often mental illness is connected with the fact that 'community', as it's currently understood, is delivered through a screen * Financial Times *A wonderful book describing the bosky - sometimes bolshie - community he and his wife set up for allcomers: recovering alcoholics, addicts and anoxerics. It is written with the keenest eye for nature - human and leafy - and a wisdom learned the hard way (perhaps there is no other way) -- Kate Kellaway * Observer *

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Book Synopsis150 Station Road, Wheeldon Mill - a short stride across the Chesterfield Canal in the heart of Derbyshire - was home to the Nash family and their corner shop, serving a small mining community with everything from Brasso to Dolly Blue, from cheap dress rings to Lemon Sherbets.However, this was no ordinary home and no ordinary family. Three generations were adopted - Lynn Knight's great grandfather, a fairground boy given away when his parents left for America in 1865, her great aunt, rescued from an Industrial School in 1909, and her mother, adopted in London as a baby and brought north in 1930. Their story spans centuries and the changing society of twentieth century Britain. But more than that it is a story of community and of love. Full of colour, light and life, Lemon Sherbet & Dolly Blue is a story of what it really means to be family.Trade ReviewA book to recommend with all one's heart... It's a book you want to hug at each turn of fortune... Knight tells her tale scintillatingly. * The Times *A warm, human and well-written book, a slice of social history which throws a strong light on personal experiences. * Hilary Mantel *A treasure trove... Lynn Knight's vivid evocation of people who started with nothing, but lived lives rich in generosity and love makes a fascinating and thought-provoking story * Daily Mail *

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Book Synopsis#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ? In her long-awaited memoir, Ina Garten?aka the Barefoot Contessa, author of thirteen bestselling cookbooks, beloved Food Network personality, Instagram sensation, and cultural icon?shares her personal story with readers hungry for a seat at her table. A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New York Times Book Review, Time, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Town & CountryHere, for the first time, Ina Garten presents an intimate, entertaining, and inspiring account of her remarkable journey. Ina?s gift is to make everything look easy, yet all her accomplishments have been the result of hard work, audacious choices, and exquisite attention to detail. In her unmistakable voice (no one tells a story like Ina), she brings her past and her process to life in a high-spirited and no-holds-barred memoir that chronicles decades of personal challenges, adventures (and misadventures) and unexpected career twists, all delivered with her signature combination of playfulness and purpose.From a difficult childhood to meeting the love of her life, Jeffrey, and marrying him while still in college, from a boring bureaucratic job in Washington, D.C., to answering an ad for a specialty food store in the Hamptons, from the owner of one Barefoot Contessa shop to author of bestselling cookbooks and celebrated television host, Ina has blazed her own trail and, in the meantime, taught millions of people how to cook and entertain. Now, she invites them to come closer to experience her story in vivid detail and to share the important life lessons she learned along the way: do what you love because if you love it you?ll be really good at it, swing for the fences, and always Be Ready When the Luck Happens.

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Book SynopsisThe fourth volume of memoirs from the author who inspired the BBC and Channel 5 series All Creatures Great and Small. Finally home from London after his wartime service in the RAF, James Herriot is settling back into life as a country vet. While the world has changed after the war, the blunt Yorkshire clients and menagerie of beasts with weird and wonderful ailments remain the same. But between his young son, Jimmy, trailing him around copying his every move, stubborn farmers refusing to try his ‘new-fangled’ treatments and a goat that has eaten 293 tomatoes, Darrowby is far from quiet. And with another baby on the way, life is about to get even more chaotic . . . Since they were first published, James Herriot’s memoirs have sold millions of copies and entranced generations of animal lovers. Charming, funny and touching, The Lord God Made Them All is a heart-warming story of determination, love and companionship from one of B

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewGorgeously written, humorous, compelling, life affirming -- Justin Webb * Mail on Sunday *Beautifully written and disarmingly candid . . . leavened with telling asides, poignant vignettes, painterly character sketches and an occasional corker of a joke -- Tony Allen-Mills * The Sunday Times *As a work of political literature A Promised Land is impressive. Obama is a gifted writer -- Gary Younge * Guardian *Barack Obama is as fine a writer as they come . . . the prose gorgeous in places, the detail granular and vivid -- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie * The New York Times *What is unexpected in A Promised Land is not its literary elegance but the former president's candour -- David Olusoga * Observer *I loved A Promised Land . . . President Obama is unusually honest about his experience in the White House, including how isolating it is to be the person who ultimately calls the shots. It's a fascinating look at what it's like to steer a country through challenging timesDeeply enjoyable . . . Obama is such a fluent and warm writer and so good at describing events and people * Daily Express *Beautifully written . . . it's probably the best volume of autobiography from a former president in modern times -- Sean O'Grady * Independent, ***** *Remarkably candid and beautifully written . . . It should bring inspiration for we Brits who want to build our own version of inclusive patriotism here at home -- David Lammy * i *Gives a very human insight into the White House * Stylist *To keep company with his elegant prose, complex conscience and unmistakable intelligence is a cool drink of water after four years of the other guy . . . -- Sam Leith * Spectator *Elegantly written ... Obama comes across as literary, tolerant and dignified. A gifted writer, he maintains the reader's interest for over 700 pages -- Eric Foner * TLS *Deeply enjoyable...Obama is such a fluent and warm writer and so good at describing events and people * Daily Express *His ability to put himself in the shoes of others - even those who treat him with open contempt - is admirable -- Financial TimesHonest, powerful and personal...a must read * OK! magazine *Table of Contents 1: PREFACE 2: PART ONE | THE BET 3: PART TWO | YES WE CAN 4: PART THREE | RENEGADE 5: PART FOUR | THE GOOD FIGHT 6: PART FIVE | THE WORLD AS IT IS 7: PART SIX | IN THE BARREL 8: PART SEVEN | ON THE HIGH WIRE 9: ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 10: PHOTOGRAPH CREDITS 11: INDEX

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Book Synopsis

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