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Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its incredible range of best-loved, essential classics.In 1936, George Orwell volunteered as a soldier in the Spanish Civil War. In Homage to Catalonia, first published just before the outbreak of World War II, Orwell documents the chaos and bloodshed of that moment in history and the voices of those who fought against rising fascism.His experience of the civil war would spark a significant change in his own political views, which readers today will recognise in much of his later literary work; a rage against the threat of totalitarianism and control.

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Book Synopsis* From the No. 1 Sunday Times bestselling author of POLITICS ON THE EDGE and co-host of THE REST IS POLITICS *Rory Stewart spent nearly a decade as a MP of Britain's most rural constituency, Penrith and the Border. As he came to know and love this part of Cumbria, he found inspiration in the beauty of its landscape, its rugged history as a frontierland, and in the spirit of its people. Drawing on pieces originally written for a local newspaper, Debatable Land is an unforgettable portrait of rural Britain today a place caught in tensions between farming and the natural world, between the need to preserve and to grow, between local and national politics as well as a timeless evocation of the history, people and landscape of Cumbria.

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Book SynopsisJoe Sacco, one of the world's foremost cartoonists, is widely hailed as the creator of war-reportage comics. He is the author of Palestine, Safe Area Gorazde, The Fixer, Notes from a Defeatist and Footnotes in Gaza, all published by Jonathan Cape.Trade ReviewA political and aesthetic work of extraordinary originality, quite unlike any other in the long, often turgid and hopelessly twisted debates that have occupied Palestinians, Israelis, and their respective supporters... With the exception of one or two novelists and poets, no one has ever rendered this terrible state of affairs better than Joe Sacco -- Edward SaidThe bar is set extremely high when it comes to graphic books and the Middle East: one thinks of Joe Sacco's Palestine * Observer *Palestine is a unique take on the Isreali/Palestinian conflict… The illustrator/reporter provides a unique perspective: there is an intimacy to Sacco’s interviews that cannot be translated into photography and text. His drawings make his subjects relatable to in a way that I think is difficult to achieve with a photograph. * Bleeding Cool *Palestine is utterly compelling, and as affecting as the work of any war photographer or poet. -- Annie Forbes * Varsity *

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Book SynopsisIsobel Wylie Hutchison was many things: a botanist, traveller, poet and artist. She travelled solo throughout the arctic collecting plant samples, wrote and published extensive volumes of essays and poetry, and was - in short - one of the most remarkable Scottish figures of her time. However, since her death in 1982 her legacy has been forgotten compared with her male counterparts. Now Isobel can speak for herself again. While better known for her solo journeys across the Arctic, these essays detail Isobel's journeys across Scotland, including visits to Skye, John O' Groats and the various literary shrines across the country. Written with characteristic wit and a keen interest in both science and myth and folklore, the essays serve as important cultural markers not just of Scotland as it was and has developed, but of a woman's experience of travelling alone and a testament to the importance of cultural connection, exploration and communication.

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Book Synopsis***FEATURED ON BBC 2''s BETWEEN THE COVERS WITH SARA COX***The Faber Book of Reportage is John Carey''s remarkable collection of eyewitness accounts that draws on the voices and emotions of the people who experienced some of history''s most memorable events.''Stunning . . . There are descriptions in this book so fresh that they sear themselves into the imagination.''JEREMY PAXMAN''Fascinating - there's funny stuff, interesting stuff, loads of brilliant stuff really.''JO BRAND (on BBC 2''s Between the Covers)What was it like to be caught in the firestorm that destroyed Pompeii? To have dinner with Attila the Hun? To watch the charge of the Light Brigade? To see the Titanic slide beneath the waves? John Carey''s best-selling Faber Book of Reportage draws its eyewitness account from memoirs, travel books and newspapers. This is history with the varnish removed.

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Book SynopsisNo man is an island, wrote John Donne. BBC Home Editor Mark Easton argues the opposite: that we are all islands, and it is upon the contradictory shoreline where isolation meets connectedness, where 'us' meets 'them', that we find out who we truly are. Suggesting that a continental bias has blinded us, Easton chronicles a sweep of 250 million years of island history: from Pangaea (the supercontinent mother of all islands) to the first intrepid islanders pointing their canoes over the horizon, from exploration to occupation, exploitation to liberation, a hopeful journey to paradise and a chastening reminder of our planet's fragility. But that is only half of this mesmerising book: aided by the muse he names Pangaea, Easton also interweaves reflections on what he calls 'the psychological islands that form the great archipelago of humankind'. Taking readers on an enchanting adventure, he illustrates how understanding islands and island syndrome might help humanity get closer to the truth about itself. Brave, intelligent and haunting, Islands is a deep dive into geography, myth, literature, politics and philosophy that reveals nothing less than a map of the human heart.

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Book Synopsis'A brave writer whose books open up fundamental questions about life and art' – TelegraphIn this inspiring collection of essays, acclaimed writer and critic Olivia Laing makes a vivid and politically-engaged case for the importance of art – especially in the turbulent weather of the twenty-first century.We are often told art can’t change anything. In Funny Weather, Laing argues that it can. It changes how we see the world, it exposes inequality, and it offers fertile new ways of living.Across a diverse selection of essays, Laing profiles Jean-Michel Basquiat and Georgia O’Keeffe, interviews Hilary Mantel and Ali Smith, writes love letters to David Bowie and Freddie Mercury, and explores loneliness and technology, women and alcohol, sex and the body. Written with originality and compassion, Funny Weather is a celebration of art as a force of resistance and repair – and as an antidote to a frightening political moment.Trade ReviewA brave writer whose books open up fundamental questions about life and art * Telegraph *Olivia Laing is my new favourite non-fiction writer -- Nick HornbyLike all great critics, Olivia Laing combines formidable intelligence with boundless curiosity and fabulous taste, but she also has a rare quality of intimacy; an ability to connect the reader to a work of art or literature with a directness that lights it up like nothing else. It’s why I read her -- James LasdunHer observations and poetic incisiveness on art, writers and politics are a gift. This is a fascinating, excursive, tonic of a book -- Sinéad Gleeson, author of ConstellationsA thought-provoking, inspiring collection that you can go back to whenever the weather takes a funny turn * Evening Standard *Funny Weather gives the reader a tangible sense of the sprawling garden of work which Laing has planted. She is to the art world what David Attenborough is to nature: a worthy guide with both a macro and micro vision, fluent in her chosen tongue and always full of empathy and awe * Irish Times *Laing has acted as a kind of cultural sage for the past four years, an accidental literary grande dame of the emotional havoc wrought by late capitalism and digital disconnect * New York Magazine *Laing writes of her creative subjects in a winning, passionate voice that proves both soothing and galvanizing, especially amid a panic . . . It’s not just art we need in an emergency, but writers, like Laing, who gently guide our eyes to what’s out there -- Alina Cohen * Observer *The hospitality of world view in Olivia’s writing is a vital force in our disputatious present -- Maria Balshaw, director of TateLaing combines passion and curiosity in a collection of art-based essays and profiles that reflect the uncertainty of our age * Guardian *Never has a publication been more timely * Dazed *A warm, thinking, enticing sweep of a book, like spending the afternoon with your brainiest friend -- Kate Mosse, author of The Burning ChambersA fine writer’s embrace of the artists who preceded her, friendly visits with their lives and loving acknowledgement of their foundational contributions. A work of joy in recognition -- Sarah SchulmanThe book to help you make sense of the world . . . [a] mesmerizing collection of essays . . . this unique and compassionate book is a mind-expanding opportunity to rethink how we live, and what we can do to change things for the better. * Stylist *A light-footed tour of enriching stories, lives, and ideas * Dazed and Confused *Her gift as a critic is her ability to imaginatively sympathize with her subjects in a way that allows the art and life of the artist to go on radiating meaning after the book is closed * Elle *Breathtaking, beautiful, funny, shocking, sad, revealing, and timely -- Nina Stibbe, author of Love, NinaI yield to absolutely no one in my admiration of Olivia Laing; her essays are magical liberations of words and ideas, art and love; they're the essence of great 21st century literature: brilliantly expressed, wildly uncontained, wilful and wonderfully unbound. -- Philip Hoare, author of RISINGTIDEFALLINGSTAROlivia Laing shines the light for art writing. Funny Weather urges us to humanise art, and listen to what artists say about life, love and crisis. -- Charlie PorterAn incivisive meditation on the value of heartfelt, messy art in our paranoid times * Telegraph *It’s not just art we need in an emergency, but writers, like Laing, who gently guide our eyes to what’s out there * Observer *Vibrant commentary on art and society by a writer with a sharp eye for the offbeat * Kirkus *Laing’s essays are urgent, compassionate, enlivening and acutely perceptive, and that’s true whether or not we encounter them “in an emergency” * the arts desk *Her words seem balefully accurate, given what has now overtaken us * Financial Times *Laing is an intelligent and acute writer, and this book is certainly interesting and assuredly well-written * Scotsman *Laing’s arts writing is sharp-minded, and her manner is generous toward both subject and reader * Washington Post *

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Book SynopsisSarah Rainsford, the BBC's former Moscow correspondent who was expelled from Russia, reveals how Putin so transformed the country she once called home, that he was able to order the horrific invasion of Ukraine

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Book SynopsisIn 1945, Indonesia's declaration of independence promised: 'the details of the transfer of power etc. will be worked out as soon as possible.' Still working on the 'etc.' seven decades later, the world's fourth most populous nation is now enthusiastically democratic and riotously diverse - rich and enchanting but riddled with ineptitude and corruption. Elizabeth Pisani, who first worked in Indonesia 25 years ago as a foreign correspondent, set out in 2011, travelling over 13,000 miles, to rediscover its enduring attraction, and to find the links which bind together this disparate nation. Fearless and funny, and sharply perceptive, she has drawn a compelling, entertaining and deeply informed portrait of a captivating nation.Trade ReviewPisani is relentlessly curious and her ability to pitch up anywhere and grasp the essence of the place is truly impressive. [Indonesia Etc.] gives a vivid sense of what Indonesia feels, smells and tastes like. For anyone about to visit the country, her book is an essential companion -- Misha Glenny * Guardian *Truly memorable... Pisani is a force of nature... vastly intelligent, doggedly curious, spectacularly multilingual... [This is] a treasure of a volume -- Simon Winchester * Wall Street Journal *Pisani takes on many big themes [but] her erudition is never dull... Beautifully written and richly entertaining * Economist *A sharply written, politically infused travelogue. [Full of] comic mishaps, punchy insights and [a] journalist's eye for the telling detail -- Ben Bland * Financial Times *Pisani writes well and has an outsider's eye for the extraordinary and the idiosyncratic... Sharp [and] enjoyable -- Richard Cockett * Literary Review *A lively condensation of some of her encounters with a country that is as disparate in its politics as it is in its geography and people * New Statesman *Pisani's perceptiveness is as honed as her wit is wise -- Tom Adair, ‘Travel book of the year’ * Scotsman *An affectionate portrait of a diverse, dynamic and eccentric country -- Tom Robbins * Financial Times *Lucidly analytical but affectionate... a colourful and entertaining travelogue -- Maria Misra * Prospect *Read it, even if you don't think you're interested in Indonesia-it's inspiring on so many levels, from the boundless curiosity and warmth of the author to the country's spectacular miracle of geo-political confidence and experimentation -- Emma Larkin, author * Everything is Broken *Pisani not only travels a dizzying amalgam of the 13,500 islands that comprise Indonesia, but she also follows their history from the seventh century forward with fluidity and ease. There are few other books - or authors - to attempt such a daunting task -- Eliza Griswold, author * The Tenth Parallel *Intrepid and passionate, Elizabeth Pisani takes readers on board a hilarious series of jury-rigged forms of transportation, from bustling, insane Djakarta to the smallest and remotest islands and country villages of Indonesia. By the end, exhausted, dusty, thirsty, and laughing, we feel we know this idiosyncratic country in all its moving complexity. Profound, lasting, a masterpiece of its genre-and so much fun! -- Amy Wilentz, author * The Rainy Season *A clear-eyed and smart look at a rising Asian giant that has defied all conventional wisdom -- Vali Nasr, author * The Dispensable Nation *A brave, lively writer opens up a wondrous, changing nation * Kirkus *Great * Wanderlust *Pisani is an erudite and adventurous travelling companion. This is a humane, intelligent travelogue that makes an initially daunting subject come gloriously alive * Sunday Business Post *A fascinating travelogue.... Indonesia Etc. is surely the richest account of contemporary Indonesia yet to be published * IndonesiaExpat *An absorbing 13,000-mile ramble around this sprawling, little-known archipelago -- Christopher Hirst * Independent *[Full of] clarity, wit and style -- Duncan Graham * Jakarta Post *Pisani brings to life a beguiling picture of Indonesia... [with] exquisite imagery * Sydney Morning Herald *Pisani is a one-woman word torrent -- Susan Mansfield * Scotsman *Accessible, entertaining [and] vividly described -- Sophie Ibbotson * Geographical Magazine *A warm and punchy travelogue -- Tom Chesshyre ‘Travel book of the year’ * Times *A richly entertaining account -- Books of the year * Economist *

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Book SynopsisPolitics looked straightforward when Patrick Kidd took over the reins of the daily political sketch in The Times in 2015. David Cameron had just won a general election and would clearly be Prime Minister for as long as he wanted; George Osborne was his obvious successor (rather than the editor of a free London evening newspaper); Theresa May was a slightly underwhelming Home Secretary and Jeremy Corbyn an anonymous Labour backbencher best known as a serial rebel against his own party. Then suddenly everything went a bit strange. In this anthology of his best columns from the past four years, Kidd plays the role of parliamentary theatre critic, chronicling the collapse of Cameron, the nebulous clarity of May, the rise and refusal to fall of Corbyn and Boris Johnson's repeated failure to keep his foot out of his mouth. Featuring a menagerie of supporting oddballs, such as Jacob and the Mogglodytes, Failing Grayling, Gavin `Private Pike' Williamson and the simpering lobby fodder that are Toady, Lickspittle and Creep, this is a much-needed antidote to the gloom of the Brexit years.Trade Review"The Weak are a Long Time in Politics is a gathering of, as it were, verbal Peter Brookes cartoons, a skewering of characters capable of unabashedly giving diametrically opposed answers in five minutes to the same important question."- Roger Lewis, The Times "Much more than a collection of parliamentary sketches for The Times, it coheres as a book - a masterpiece of satire." - The Spectator

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Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE 2024 PULITZER PRIZE SHORTLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE LONGLISTED FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE''A deeply immersive portrait of daily life in Israel and the West Bank'' The Best Books to Understand the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Financial Times''Brims over with just the sort of compassion and understanding that is needed at a time like this a book that speaks with deep and authentic truth of ordinary lives trapped in the jaws of history'' ObserverA gripping, intimate story of one heartbreaking day in Palestine that reveals lives, loves, enmities, and histories in violent collisionMilad is five years old and excited for his school trip to a theme park on the outskirts of Jerusalem, but tragedy awaits: his bus is involved in a horrific accident. His father, Abed, rushes to the chaotic site, only to find Milad has already been taken away. Abed sets off on a jour

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Book SynopsisIn Dreams of Leaving and Remaining, award winning journalist Meek explores a nation uneasy with itself. In the decades since the twilight of empire, Britain has struggled to find its place, and identity, in the world. This has come to the point of crisis since the 2008 financial crash. Meek meets the farmers and fishermen who wish Britain to turn its back on the world and restore its former glory, and are willing to lose the very support that their industry depends on. He reports on a Cadbury's factory that is to be shut down and moved to Poland in the name of free market economics, exploring the impact on the local community left behind. He charts how the NHS is coping with the twin burdens of austerity and an ageing population. Through his journey he asks what we can recover from the debris of an old nation as we head towards new horizons, and what we must leave behind. There are no easy answers, and what he creates instead is a masterly portrait of an anxious, troubled nation. Instead, he demands that we reconsider the power of the stories that we tell ourselves about who we are, a nation's alienated from itself.Trade ReviewMeek listens hard . His reportage . demonstrate[s] a sensibility and empathy that are his wont. * Financial Times *Provocative and persuasive. * the Herald *A beautiful collection by a renowned essayist. * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisAn important and honest book that will encourage better conversations about sex. I wish I read this when I was younger!' - Laura Whitmore'A must-read for anyone whose sexual expression has been used as a weapon against them' Ruby Rare'A fascinating deep dive into the history of slutshaming' - Service 95, Dua Lipa's Book ClubA 'taboo-smashing debut book' - CosmopolitanFrom award-winning journalist Beth Ashley comes a groundbreaking investigation into the history of slutshaming, how it continues to affect us today and what we can do to fight it. Whore. Hoe. Jezebel. Harlot. Slut. Five words. One meaning. But what exactly is a slut? How has the concept changed over time? And why is slutshaming so dangerous?In this groundbreaking investigation, Beth Ashley reveals the truth about slutshaming, gives us the tools to fight it, and encourages us all to have better conversations about sex. The fight starts now.

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Book SynopsisIntended for the fans of Anthony Bourdain, this is a collection of his journalism. Containing stories from his worldwide misadventures, it talks about scrounging for eel in the backstreets of Hanoi, the unglamorous aspects of making television, calling for the head of raw food activist Woody Harrelson, and confessing to lobster-killing guilt.Trade Review'Fantastic: as lip-smackingly seductive as a bowl of fat chips and aioli.' Daily Telegraph 'Bawdie, bolshy and bursting with energy.' Daily Mail

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Book SynopsisThe Road to Wigan Pier is a book in two parts: the first half is Orwell’s description of working-class life in industrial communities of the north of England, the second examines his own political views.Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket-sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition is introduced by journalist and author Amelia Gentleman.The Road to Wigan Pier is an insightful and powerful account of lives lived in poverty and deprivation in a time of low wages and meagre government support. Orwell describes dismal housing (including the lodging house where he stays), harsh working conditions and the devastating effects of unemployment. And he also vividly describes the courage and dignity of the people he meets. In the second half of the book, Orwell examines his own political and social affiliations with an impressive ability to provoke and to question. He defends middle-class values whilst critiquing the failures of his own class, he advocates socialism whilst criticizing the socialist movement in England.Trade ReviewWith absolute confidence, after several false starts, the mature George Orwell takes charge of this idiosyncratic account of working-class life from his first page. -- Robert McCrum, '100 best nonfiction books of all time' * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisOne day in the spring of 2013, a box appeared outside a fourth-floor apartment door in Brooklyn, New York. The recipient, who didn't know the sender, only knew she was supposed to bring this box to a friend, who would ferry it to another friend. This was Edward Snowden's box-printouts of documents proving that the US government had built a massive surveillance apparatus and used it to spy on its own people-and the friend on the end of this chain was filmmaker Laura Poitras.Thus the biggest national security leak of the digital era was launched via a remarkably analog network, the US Postal Service. This is just one of the odd, ironic details that emerges from the story of how Jessica Bruder and Dale Maharidge, two experienced journalists but security novices (and the friends who received and ferried the box) got drawn into the Snowden story as behind-the-scenes players. Their initially stumbling, increasingly paranoid, and sometimes comic efforts to help bring Snowden's leaks to light, and ultimately, to understand their significance, unfold in an engrossing narrative that includes emails and diary entries from Poitras. This is an illuminating essay on the status of transparency, privacy, and trust in the age of surveillance.Trade ReviewI've read virtually all of the books about the Snowden leaks, but this one stands apart.A beautifully written, gripping new book. -- Cory Doctorow * Boing Boing *A short, yet fluent and well-researched, work from a duo of US-based investigative journalists...despite the title, 'Snowden's Box' is essentially not about the box as such, but, as the authors themselves, acknowledge, about some of the most powerful analogue technology in the world: human relationships. -- Vitali Vitaliev * Engineering & Technology *The story of Edward Snowden's disclosure of NSA secrets to the press has been told and retold in books, films, and countless articles. Left unreported has been the quiet role of [Jessica Bruder and Dale Maharidge] who literally had Snowden material mailed to them in a cardboard box.[In Snowden's Box], the duo finally tells their story of beginners' encryption, convoluted codewords, and extreme paranoia. -- Sam Biddle * The Intercept *A gonzo story, told with a sense of humour...Bruder and Maharidge tell a good yarn and make a strong case against government surveillance. They argue that everybody should have something to hide. * Morning Star *The simplest human connections are sometimes vitally important for journalists to carry out their work beyond the gaze of the spying agencies. Bruder and Maharige's book is a timely reminder of this fact. * Counterfire *

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewSuperbly translated... Alexievich's choice of truth as hero is the right one for the age of Putin and Trump -- Giles Whittell * The Times *As shattering and addictive as Chernobyl Prayer, this is a polyphonic tour de force that shines a light on war, the plight of heroes, and why post-Soviet Russia is as it is -- Kapka Kassabova * Herald Scotland *A masterpiece of reportage * New York Review of Books *Alexievich is like a doctor probing the scar tissue of a traumatised nation -- Guy Chazan * Financial Times *What Alexievich is doing is giving voice to the voiceless, exposing not only stories we wouldn't otherwise hear but individuals as well -- David Ulin * Los Angeles Times *The least well-known wonderful writer I've ever come across -- Jenni Murray * BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour *Alexievich serves no ideology, only an ideal: to listen closely enough to the ordinary voices of her time to orchestrate them into extraordinary books -- Philip Gourevitch * New Yorker *Alexievich has become one of my heroes -- Atul GawandeThe Belarusian writer has spent decades in listening mode. Alexievich put in thousands of hours with her tape recorder across the lands of the former Soviet Union, collecting and collating stories from ordinary people. She wove those tales into elegant books of such power and insight, that in 2015 she received the Nobel prize for literature -- Shaun Walker * Guardian *Alexievich's "documentary novels" are crafted and edited with a reporter's cool eye for detail and a poet's ear for the intricate rhythms of human speech. Reading them is like eavesdropping on a confessional. This is history at its rawest and most uncomfortably intimate -- Andrew Dickson * Evening Standard *Alexievich's artistry has raised oral history to a totally different dimension -- Antony Beevor

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Book SynopsisWinner of the Nobel Prize in Literature''Desperately important and impossible to put down. It is timeless. . . what shines clear from the testimonies is love - love which can make you do the most spectacular things '' Sheena Patel, Observer''- A new translation of Voices from Chernobyl based on the revised version -In April 1986 a series of explosions shook the Chernobyl nuclear reactor. Flames lit up the sky and radiation escaped to contaminate the land and poison the people for years to come. While officials tried to hush up the accident, Svetlana Alexievich spent years collecting testimonies from survivors - clean-up workers, residents, firefighters, resettlers, widows, orphans - crafting their voices into a haunting oral history of fear, anger and uncertainty, but also dark humour and love. A chronicle of the past and a warning for our nuclear future, Chernobyl Prayer shows what it is like to bear witness, and remember in a world that wants you to forget.''Beautifully written. . . heart-breaking'' - Arundhati Roy, Elle ''One of the most humane and terrifying books I''ve ever read'' - Helen Simpson, ObserverTrade ReviewAbsolutely essential and heartbreaking reading. There's a reason Ms. Alexievich won a Nobel Prize -- Craig Mazin, creator of the HBO series ChernobylDesperately important and impossible to put down. It is timeless and has sparked so much thought about infinity, sacrifice, love and unspeakable grief. . . what shines clear from the testimonies is love - love which can make you do the most spectacular things -- Sheena Patel * Observer *A beautifully written book, it's been years since I had to look away from a page because it was just too heart-breaking to go on. Give me beautiful prose and I'll follow you anywhere -- Arundhati Roy * Elle *A collage of oral testimony that turns into the psycho­biography of a nation not shown on any map... The book leaves radiation burns on the brain -- Julian Barnes * Guardian *Absolutely fantastic -- Karl Ove KnausgaardA searing mix of eloquence and wordlessness... From her interviewees' monologues she creates history that the reader, at whatever distance from the events, can actually touch -- Julian Evans * Daily Telegraph *One of the most humane and terrifying books I've ever read -- Helen Simpson * Observer *Alexievich's documentary approach makes the experiences vivid, sometimes almost unbearably so - but it's a remarkably democratic way of constructing a book... When you consider the extent to which she has been traversing the irradiated landscape, you realise she has put herself on the line in a way very few authors ever do -- Nicholas Lezard * Guardian *A moving piece of polyphony, skilfully assembled from what must have been a huge mass of material... We are living in Alexievich's 'age of disasters'. This haunting book offers us at least some ways of thinking about that predicament -- Lucy Hughes-Hallett * New Statesman *This masterly new translation by Anna Gunin and Arch Tait retains the nerve and pulse of the Russian * TLS *Alexievich assembles the previously silenced or unsung heroes into a chorus that has the power to move, stun and inspire awe. The result is a remarkable oral history, an essential read -- Malcolm Forbes * Herald Scotland *Not merely a work of documentation but of excavation, of revealed meaning. It is hard to imagine how anyone in the West will read these cantos of loss and not feel a sense of communion, of a shared humanity -- Andrew Meier * The Nation *Alexievich serves no ideology, only an ideal: to listen closely enough to the ordinary voices of her time to orchestrate them into extraordinary books -- Philip Gourevitch * New Yorker *Alexievich has become one of my heroes -- Atul GawandeAwarding the Nobel Prize for Literature to Svetlana Alexievich is a brilliant choice that recalibrates the status of "non-fiction" in the literary canon -- Arifa Akbar * Independent *Through her books and her life itself, Alexievich has gained probably the world's deepest, most eloquent understanding of the post-Soviet condition -- Masha Gessen * New Yorker *Alexievich retreats into the wings to let her subjects speak. But this is the art that conceals art. Her editor's flair for selection, contrast and emphasis, her almost cinematic touch with cuts, pans and close-ups, make her a documentary virtuoso -- Boyd Tonkin * Spectator *Her interviews go on for hours. She goes back for more. She transcribes. She discards three-quarters of her material. She polishes. She takes pains to convey the cadence of a person's words. It shows. The distilled work goes deep into the subject. She is after the ephemeral; the emotion behind written history; the "history of the soul." Here, she believes, is where the truth lies -- Vanora Bennett * Prospect *This masterly new translation by Anna Gunin and Arch Tait retains the nerve and pulse of the Russian, conveying the angst and confusion of the narrators -- Serguei Alex. Oushakine * Times Literary Supplement *The last book that made me cry... incredible -- Joe Dunthorne * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its incredible range of best-loved, essential classics.Three francs will feed you till tomorrow, and you cannot think further than thatAs a young man struggling to find his voice as a writer, George Orwell left the comfort of home to live in the impoverished working districts of Paris and London. He would document both the chaos and boredom of destitution, the eccentric cast of characters he encountered, and the near-constant pains of hunger and discomfort.Exposing the grim reality of a life marred by poverty, Down and Out in Paris and London, part memoir, part social commentary, would become George Orwell's first published work.

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Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE SAMUEL JOHNSON PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION A spectacular, definitive portrait of ordinary life within one of the world's most repressive states - North Korea. 'A most perceptive and eye-opening account of everyday life in North Korea' Jung Chang North Korea is Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four made reality: it is the only country in the world not connected to the internet; where Gone with the Wind is a dangerous, banned book; and where during political rallies, spies study your expression to check your sincerity. Nothing to Envy weaves together the stories of adversity and resilience of six residents of Chongin, North Korea's third-largest city. From extensive interviews and with tenacious investigative work, Barbara Demick has recreated the concerns, culture and lifestyles of North Korean citizens in a gripping narrative, and vividly reconstructed the inner workings of this extraordinary and secretive country. Includes an updated afterword by the author. 'Impossible to put down ... helps restore humanity to some of the world's most oppressed people' ObserverTrade ReviewA rare and valuable insight ... Nothing to Envy is a searchlight shining on a country cloaked in darkness -- Alastair Mabbott * Herald *Barbara Demick's achievement is to restore a measure of humanity to 23 million human beings. Many scholars have pored over North Korea's atrocious history, its fearful politics, abysmal economics and blood-curdling propaganda. No writer I know has done a better job of clothing these academic concerns with the rich detail of the lives of ordinary people - explaining, simply, what it feels like to be a citizen of the cruellest, most repressive and most retrograde country in the world -- Richard Lloyd Parry * The Times *A most perceptive and eye-opening account of everyday life in North Korea -- Jung ChangThis report on the lives of six of the citizens of totalitarian penal colony is unputdownable and deeply affecting, a worthy winner this week of the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-fiction -- David Sexton * Evening Standard *Taking the cases of six individuals and their families, Demick constructs a harrowing narrative of the North's slide into famine following the death of the elder Kim in 1994 ... The Kim dynasty, whose Stalinist cruelty Demick graphically chronicles, has shown remarkable staying power -- Simon Scott Plummer * Daily Telegraph *I loved it - I couldn't pull myself away. This is the first book I've read which tells me about the inner lives of individual North Koreans and the universal cruelty of that regime. Reading this book, I've learnt something about how it feels to be North Korean - it's not unimaginable anymore, but it's even more painful than I could have predicted -- Lindsey Hilsum, International Editor, Channel 4 NewsDemick weaves stories derived from interviews and conversations, conducted over a number of years, into a compelling narrative. Her book is a reminder that oral history is one of our greatest resources. Its use in Nothing to Envy makes for a valuable contribution to the literature on North Korea -- Charlotte Middlehurst * New Statesman *A fascinating study in the oral history of Korea in the last decade of the twentieth century ... Nothing to Envy is a fascinating work which highlights in the lives of the individuals concerned the triumph of the human spirit in the face of overwhelming adversity -- Oliver Rafferty * Irish Times *The shroud of silence and misinformation surrounding North Korea means these stories of six lives inside the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, as told to Los Angeles Times journalist Barbara Demick by "defectors", are a revelation -- Emmanuelle Smith * Financial Times *Barbara Demick, the Beijing bureau chief of the Los Angeles Times, has occasionally been to the north, but on visits so strictly controlled as to be worthless. Talking with émigrés and escapees now living in the south has provided the material for this terrific, often gruelling work of reportage. It gives a harrowing, surreal glimpse of what she calls "this hermit kingdom", which is so secretive and little known that it is the only country on earth not connected to the internet -- Christopher Hart * Sunday Times *A fair, modest and informative book about North Korea, a country little known and less understood ... most of what her informants say is repeated in indirect speech, and I found their testimonies varied and convincing ... There is much to learn form this carefully written book that draws few conclusions beyond well-grounded individual cases. Barbara Demick says that in satellite pictures of the Far East, North Korea is an "area of darkness". She makes this black hole at least medium grey -- Jonathan Mirsky * Literary Review *Beijing-based journalist Demick draws on extensive interviews with North Koreans who have defected to the South, revealing the truth of ordinary life within Kim Jong-Il's bizarre and repressive Stalinist state * New Humanist *A lovely work of narrative non-fiction ... that offers extensive evidence of the author's deep knowledge of this country while keeping its sights firmly on individual stories and human details -- Dwight Garner * Scotland on Sunday *Eye-opening portrait of the downtrodden and monochrome lives of six ordinary citizens of North Korea ... Granta's comparisons with Stasiland are apt and you keep having to remind yourself this isn't fiction -- Caroline Sanderson * Bookseller *Nothing To Envy is based on her in-depth interviews with defectors - and their accounts are as harrowing as you would expect -- Siobhan Murphy * Metro *Writing a properly researched book on North Korea seems next to impossible. But in Nothing to Envy, Barbara Demick has done it ... Demick is thorough and fair on the troubled history of Korea -- Roger Hutchinson * Scotsman *In a detailed account of North Korea, Demick looks beyond the country's politics to engage with the human experience and suffering of its residents * Sunday Times *This remarkable book confirms our fears but does much more and is the deserving winner of the 2010 BBC Samuel Johnson Prize ... Barbara Demick is a reporter of impressive tenacity and thoroughness ... Many of those who defected have found their freedom hard to handle. Theirs have been lives twice blighted. But Demick does them proud -- Joan Bakewell * The Times *Barbara Demick, who has an easy winning style, introduces us to a county of suppressed impulses and state propaganda ... This compelling book, a worthy winner of the BBC Samuel Johnson prize, details the experiences of six North Koreans who defected to China or South Korea -- Ian Pindar * Guardian *I've never read anything quite like it ... Demick has unearthed some heartbreaking human stories -- William Leith * Evening Standard *Awarded this year's Samuel Johnson Prize for non-fiction, this book by the former Korea correspondent of the Los Angeles Times uses the accounts of six defectors to reconstruct everyday life under the secretive communist regime * New Statesman *A fascinating portrait of a population bred from birth to be state automatons ... Alongside the daring prison breaks and midnight escapes through icy rivers to reach China, the tales of everyday love and loss make Nothing to Envy impossible to put down ... Demick's important book, by illuminating previously hidden aspects of North Korean life, helps restore humanity to some of the world's most oppressed people -- Imogen Carter * Observer *This is an extreme book ... I've never read anything like it ... Demick has unearthed some heartbreaking human stories * Scotsman *This compelling account of life and death in Korea is eye-opening and often heart-rending. Demick's perceptiveness in describing the inner life of individual North Koreans both enthrals and horrifies. One of the most fascinating books of the year * Independent on Sunday *An elegant, honourable and meticulously referenced account of a country the author calls "grimly dysfunctional". It is an inspiring read. -- Celia Brayfield * The Times *Thoroughly deserving winner of the Samuel Johnson Prize. * Independent on Sunday *Much-praised 2010 winner of the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction, this is a painstakingly researched and gruelling account of the hardships and cruelties of life in the world's most isolated, eccentric and oppressive state -- Gideon Rachman * Financial Times *A story of epic stoicism and suffering and illuminated by such jaw-dropping details as the doctors who have to donate their own skin to conduct operations -- Brian Schofield * Sunday Times *A brilliant, timely work of very modern history and a deserving winner of the 2010 BBC Samuel Johnson prize -- Rob Attar * BBC History Magazine *Amy Bloom turned her unflinching gaze on the map of the human heart, finding solace in our ability to love no matter what -- Claire Allfree * Metro *gripping, revealing, enraging and unexpectedly inspiring -- Ursula Doyle, editorial director of Virago as the 2010 book she wished she had published * Guardian *A vivid picture of life in the Hermit Kingdom. It deserved the awards it has been winning * The Times *Redolent and disturbing, an account of real lives drawn from interviews with defectors from the shadowy (actually dark) and sinister world of North Korea -- Pete Irvine * Scotland on Sunday *A rare light on so hidden a country, and all the more remarkable for its unfailingly engaging humanity * Guardian *

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Book Synopsis**Winner of the Lionel Gelber Prize 2024****A Financial Times Best Book of 2023**''A moving love letter to Europe'' Lea Ypi, author of FreeDrawing from the people who lived it, Homelands explores how Europe slowly recovered and rebuilt from World War Two. And then faltered.Timothy Garton Ash, our greatest writer about Europe, has spent a lifetime studying Europe and this deeply felt book is full of vivid experiences: from his father''s memories of D-Day and his own surveillance at the hands of the Stasi to interviewing Albanian guerrillas in the mountains of Kosovo and angry teenagers in the poorest quarters of Paris, as well as advising prime ministers, chancellors and presidents.Homelands is at once a living, breathing history of a period of unprecedented progress, a clear-eyed account of how so much then went wrong and an urgent call to the citizens of this great old continent to understan

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Book SynopsisThe best, the fastest, the hippest and the most unorthodox account ever published of the US presidential electoral process in all its madness and corruption.In 1972 Hunter S. Thompson, the creator and king of Gonzo journalism, covered the US presidential campaign for Rolling Stone magazine alongside the establishment newsmen of Washington. The result is a classic piece of subversive reportage and a fantastic ride on the rollercoaster of Hunter's uniquely savage imagination. In his own words, written years before Watergate: It is Nixon himself who represents that dark, venal and incurably violent side of the American character almost every other country in the world has learned to fear and despise.'Trade Review‘The best stuff on the campaign I’ve read anywhere.’Nicholas Von Hoffman, Washington Post ‘Obscene, horrid, repellent … driving, urgent, candid, searing … a fascinating, compelling book!’New York Post ‘Hunter S. Thompson is the most creatively crazy and vulnerable of the New Journalists. His books are brilliant and honorable and valuable … the literary equivalent of Cubism: all rules are broken.’Kurt Vonnegut Jr ‘Gaze in awe … Hunter Thompson does in his own mad way betray a profound democratic concern for the polity. And in its own mad way, it’s darned refreshing.’New York Times ‘Shocks you into laughter.’Detroit Free Press ‘Unnerving!’Newsweek

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Book SynopsisTHE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER*** From the co-host of the hilarious new podcast with Richard Osman, The Rest is Entertainment *** Now includes ELEVEN new columns and a whole THREE new prime ministers.Relive the delusional fever-dream of the modern era.'Thank f*ck for Marina Hyde: the most lethal, vital, screamingly funny truth-teller of our time.'PHOEBE WALLER-BRIDGE'The most brilliantly funny columnist of our time.'GARY LINEKER'It's a scientific FACT: Marina Hyde is Britain's funniest writer.'CAITLIN MORANDrawn from her spectacularly funny Guardian columns, What Just Happened?! is a welcome blast of humour and sanity in a world where reality has become stranger than fiction. Join Hyde as she revisits every moment of magic, from David Cameron to Theresa May to Boris Johnson to Rishi Sunak. Did we miss anyone? Boggle at the cast of characters: Hollywood sex offenders, populists, sporting heroes (and villains), media barons, reality TV monsters, police officers, wicked advisers, philanthropists, fauxlanthropists, frostbitten princes and (naturally) Gwyneth Paltrow. It's the full state banquet of crazy - and you're most cordially invited.'A joyous rallying voice in British journalism.'GRAYSON PERRY'An infinite number of gag-writers, working all day in a gag factory, couldn't come up with any of the perfectly-formed one-liners that populate Marina Hyde's hilarious writing . . . But behind the wit lurks real anger, argument, exasperation and intelligence. Her writing is more than a gentle poke in the ribs: it's a well-wrought and deftly aimed smash in the teeth.'ARMANDO IANNUCCI

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Book SynopsisTHE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERONE OF BARACK OBAMA''S FAVOURITE BOOKS OF 2023 A searing study of American poverty from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of EvictedThe United States is the richest country on earth, yet has more poverty than any other advanced democracy. One in seven Americans live below the poverty line, a line which hasn''t shifted over the last fifty years, despite the efforts of successive governments. Why is there so much scarcity in this land of dollars?In Poverty, by America, acclaimed sociologist Matthew Desmond examines American poverty today and the stories we tell ourselves about it. Spanning social isolation, mass incarceration, the housing crisis, domestic violence, crack and opioid epidemics, welfare cuts and more, Desmond argues that poverty does not result from a lack of resources or good policy ideas. We already know how to eliminate it. The hard part is getting more of us to care.To do so, we need a new story. As things stand, liberals explain poverty through insurmountable structural issues, whereas conservatives highlight personal failings and poor life choices. Both abdicate responsibility, and ignore the reality that the advantages of the rich only come at the expense of the poor. It is time better-paid citizens put themselves back in the narrative, recognizing that the depth and expanse of poverty in any nation reflects our failure to look out for one another. Poverty must ultimately be met by community: all this suffering and want is our doing, and we can undo it.

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Book Synopsis*WINNER of the BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION****AN INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER**** A Pulitzer Prize Finalist * A National Book Award Finalist * A Writers'' Trust Award Finalist *''No book feels timelier than John Vaillant''s Fire Weather . . . an adrenaline-soaked nightmare that is impossible to put down'' Cal Flyn, The Times''Superb and terrifying . . . it reads with pace and flair and a rich, furious clarity'' Katherine Rundell, author of Super-InfiniteA gripping account of this century''s most intense urban fire, and a panoramic exploration of the rapidly changing relationship between humanity and fire''s fierce energy.In May 2016, Fort McMurray, Alberta, the hub of Canada''s oil industry, was overrun by wildfire. The multi-billion-dollar disaster turned entire neighbourhoods into firebombs and drove 90,000 people from their homes in a single afTrade ReviewNo book feels timelier than John Vaillant's Fire Weather, a deeply reported narrative of one of Canada's most destructive recent wildfires . . . an adrenaline-soaked nightmare that is impossible to put down . . . The drama of the unfolding action and the righteous anger of the polemic concealed within are engrossing -- Cal Flyn * The Times *'All-consuming . . . Vaillant's urgent disaster story [is] meticulous in its detail, both human and geological in its scale, and often shocking in its conclusions -- Tim Adams * Observer *Superb and terrifying . . . it reads with pace and flair and a rich, furious clarity -- Katherine Rundell * Guardian *It reads like a thriller. It's a page turner. I could not put it down . . . This is an important book, serious in its focus but utterly compelling in its narrative pace, and it's beautifully written -- Andrea Wulf, author The Invention of NatureRiveting, spellbinding, astounding on every page. John Vaillant is one of the great poetic chroniclers of the natural world, and here he captures the majesty and horror of one of its great disasters - and what made it tragically possible -- David Wallace-WellsPage-turning and pacy -- Paul Nuki * Daily Telegraph *All-too-timely . . . This book is both a real-life thriller and a moment-by-moment account of what happened [in the Fort McMurray fire] - and why, as the climate changes and humans don't, it will continue to happen again and again -- *The 10 Best Books of 2023* * New York Times *Could not be a more timely work . . . Eloquent . . . his powerful book is a must read for anyone interested in our collective future -- Nick Rennison * Daily Mail *What makes Fire Weather so good is its in-depth analysis of the moral, political, environmental and even anthropological background to both the climate crisis and our relationship with fire in all its forms . . . We all need to heed this powerful book -- Mark Cocker * Spectator *Mesmerizing . . . meticulous and meditative -- David Wallace-Wells * New York Times *Provides a refreshingly clear explanation of this hazy, uncanny moment in the earth's history . . . Vaillant is the type of journalist who picks a single narrative and monomaniacally researches it, plunging himself deeper and deeper into the murky details, and then emerges, many years later, with a small universe cupped in his hands . . . by turns heart-racing and horrifying -- Robert Moor * New York Magazine *Riveting . . . Fire Weather is notable for its vivid descriptions of the destructive power of a wildfire so big it creates its own weather . . . Using the drama of the wildfire as a way in, Vaillant gives a damning history of the Canadian oil sands industry and the environmental damage it has wrought on Alberta's forests and waters . . . The book's descriptions of the scale of the industry required to distil something usable from such a material are nearly as astonishing as its renderings of the fire -- James Dinneen * New Scientist *In John Vaillant's vivid anatomy of the apocalyptic Fort McMurray inferno, the histories of humankind's ever-accelerating consumption of fossil fuel, and of our ever-increasing vulnerability to extreme wildfire, converge with the relentlessness of fate - and the urgency of prophecy -- Philip GourevitchA forensic account of the contradictions and costs of Canada's ill-fated tar sands adventure. Explosive reportage at its best -- Ben Rawlence, author of The TreelineThis book is fuelled by Vaillant's genius for storytelling, ignited by intelligence both virtuosic and profound, and burns with the hell of a world on fire -- Jay Griffiths, author of Wild: An Elemental JourneyFire Weather is a compulsively readable journey into our fiery times - by turns a propulsive account of the Fort McMurray Fire burning an oil town to ash; an investigation into the gas-guzzling economic systems that make wildfires so hot they melt steel (and so large they form their own weather); and a meditation on the human relationship with combustion. At the centre, Vaillant gives us fire itself as a character - fast, hungry, and evolving to shape the warming decades to come -- Bathsheba Demuth, author of Floating CoastThe Fort McMurray fire was a vortex of people, ideas, institutions, forest, oil, city, and wind, the quirky and the existential, all mutating under the wanton impress of the Anthropocene Age. Fire Weather offers a compelling account of that tragedy, and a reimagining of a pyric infection that threatens to remake the planet -- Stephen Pyne, author of The PyroceneA riveting exploration of fire and humankind. While for millennia, fire has been a partner in our evolution, Vaillant shows to devastating effect that in our age of climate change, we are seeing its destructive power unleashed in ways never before witnessed * The Bookseller *Stunning and powerful ... Scrupulously and thoroughly researched ... one of the finest books of the year. Despite its density and the disturbing nature of many of its scenes, Fire Weather is an absolutely compelling read -- Robert J. Wiersema * Toronto Star *Searing . . . Vaillant's exploration of fire draws on physics and chemistry, philosophy and symbolism . . . His robust and vivid writing, detailed reporting, and urgent concern for the environment make for sizzling reading * Booklist *Gripping . . . Vaillant's exploration of this material is rich and illuminating, and his prose punchy and cinematic . . . The result is an engrossing disaster tale with a potent message * Publishers Weekly *There's a lot of good Elizabeth Kolbert-level popular science writing here along with grittier portraits of the lives of the people who make their living among the tar sands and scrub . . . A timely, well-written work of climate change reportage * Kirkus *Dramatic . . . Captivating . . . a fascinating history of regional exploitation and illustrative absurdities * Scientific American *A tale of terror from a climate change frontline . . . Fire Weather includes a lot about the science of fire and weather. But it is also a book about the cognitive dissonance in climate change discourse . . . Epic -- Derek Brower * Financial Times *Impressive . . . a great piece of storytelling, well paced and relentlessly gripping . . . a remarkable, often thrilling book -- Nigel Andrew * Literary Review *Riveting . . . A deserved winner of this year's Baillie Gifford nonfiction prize -- Steven Poole, Books of the Year * Guardian *John Vaillant's Fire Weather reveals to readers a character as ruthless, creative, and destructive as any in modern literature: fire itself. Through dynamic prose, deep research, and a profound sense of the stakes on a planet beset by climate change, Vaillant traces how Canada's geological and economic history have converged to transform fire from a useful tool into an existential threat to our way of life. In the process, he crafts a narrative pulsing with beauty and annihilation, hubris and desire, and the unsettling revelation that what humanity has long considered its most important tool is no longer under our control. -- Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction juryA towering achievement; an immense work of research, reflection and imagination . . . Fire Weather is extraordinary in terms of its scope and range; it also sings and surprises at the level of the sentence. It grips like a philosophical thriller, warns like a beacon, and shocks to the core -- Robert Macfarlane

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Book SynopsisFor over thirty years, Mark Austin has covered the biggest stories in the world for ITN and Sky News. As a foreign correspondent and anchorman he has witnessed first-hand some of the most significant events of our times, including the Iraq War, during which his friend and colleague Terry Lloyd was killed by American 'friendly fire', the historic transition in South Africa from the brutality of apartheid to democracy, the horrors of the Rwandan genocide, and natural disasters such as the Haiti earthquake and the Mozambique floods.The stories themselves will be familiar to many people, but less well known are the often extraordinary behind the scenes tales of a newsman's life on the road; the problems encountered in some of the most dangerous places on earth; the days when things go badly wrong; the moments of high drama and raw emotion and, quite often, the hilarious happenings the viewer never imagines and only seldom sees. Based on decades of experience on the frontlines, this candid and revealing memoir gives a startling insight into one man's extraordinary career and lifts the lid on the world of television news.Trade ReviewMark Austin is one of the very finest television journalists anywhere, and his charming, insightful view of the world, as laid back yet gutsy as the man himself, is a delight to read. -- John SimpsonMark Austin made his name as a distinguished journalist and one of the popular news anchors on Independent Television News... His great good fortune was to get sent to Washington to report on the Trump administration, surely one of the most unorthodox presidencies of our time. For this alone his book is a must read. -- Sir Trevor McDonaldAuthoritative, searching and honest - Austin writes as brilliantly about the personal as about the professional encounters he's had. -- Emily MaitlisThis is a riveting book for those who love news by one of the best in the business. -- Piers MorganThis insightful and superb book takes you to World Cups, to conflicts in war-torn countries, to division in Trump's America... A terrific read. -- Gary LinekerMark Austin is a brilliant journalist and a great guy. Read this book to be informed, entertained - and moved. -- Jeremy Bowen

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Book Synopsis"[An] incredibly moving collection of oral histories . . . important enough to be added to the history curriculum" Telegraph"Essential reading" History Today"A moving evocation . . . An illuminating if harrowing insight into life in a totalitarian state." Clarissa de Waal, author of ALBANIA: PORTRAIT OF A COUNTRY IN TRANSITION"Albania, enigmatic, mysterious Albania, was always the untold story of the Cold War, the 1989 revolutions and the fall of the Berlin Wall. Mud Sweeter Than Honey goes a very long way indeed towards putting that right" New EuropeanAfter breaking ties with Yugoslavia, the USSR and then China, Enver Hoxha believed that Albania could become a self-sufficient bastion of communism. Every day, many of its citizens were thrown into prisons and forced labour camps for daring to think independently, for rebelling against the regime or trying to escape - the consequences of their actions were often tragic and irreversible. Mud Sweeter than Honey gives voice to those who lived in Albania at that time - from poets and teachers to shoe-makers and peasant farmers, and many others whose aspirations were brutally crushed in acts of unimaginable repression - creating a vivid, dynamic and often painful picture of this totalitarian state during the forty years of Hoxha's ruthless dictatorship.Very little emerged from Albania during communist times. With these personal accounts, Rejmer opens a window onto a terrifying period in the country's history. Mud Sweeter than Honey is not only a gripping work of reportage, but also a necessary and unique portrait of a nation.With an Introduction by Tony Barber*Winner of the Polityka Passport Prize**Winner of the Koscielski Award*Translated from the Polish by Zosia Krasodomska-Jones and Antonia Lloyd-JonesTrade Review"A moving evocation of the 'everyday terror' systematically perpetrated over 41 years of Albanian communism. The author brings together survivors' accounts of life under Albania's ruthless dictator, Enver Hoxha. Despite the inevitable bleakness, the author's skillful interviewing allows those recounting their experiences to engage us in their absorbing narratives. An illuminating if harrowing insight into life in a totalitarian state. -- Clarissa de Waal * author of ALBANIA: PORTRAIT OF A COUNTRY IN TRANSITION *Beautifully researched, the book brings back to life sufferings and hopes of traumatized families and individuals that fell victim to the heartless cogwheels of a totalitarian regime. It will help a younger generation who has not lived under Communism to understand the past, and inspire them to work to build a better future -- Gjergj Erebara * Balkan Investigative Reporting Network *Like Nobel laureate Svetlana Alexievich, whose oral histories have documented political oppression, Rejmer allows the voices of everyday Albanians to reveal the privations and fear under which they lived . . . A gripping book of starkly revealing testimony * Kirkus Review *In the style of Svetlana Alexievich, Margo Rejmer uses interviews to approach the suffering of a still little-known people . . . Rejmer's poignant book rescues memory before it fades -- MARTA REBÓN * El País *Albania, enigmatic, mysterious Albania, was always the untold story of the Cold War, the 1989 revolutions and the fall of the Berlin Wall. Mud Sweeter Than Honey goes a very long way indeed towards putting that right. -- Charlie Connelly * New European *[Rejmer] lets the lived experience of Albanians speak for themselves, until the whole spectrum comes into view . . . a seamless translation -- Filip Noubel * Asymptote Journal *Tells, in their own words, the stories of Albanians during communism and especially those of prisoners of the regime. One word wrong or a friend who tries to flee and whole lives are ruined. Rejmer's is a fine collection. -- Tim Judah * Financial Times *[An] incredibly moving collection of oral histories . . . important enough, to be added to the history curriculum -- Tim Stanley * Telegraph *A pioneering, necessary book of such uncompromising clarity that even readers familiar with the broad outlines of Albania's recent past are likely to find its contents shocking. -- Roderick Bailey * Literary Review *Margo Rejmer, the Polish writer who assembled this extraordinary book, offers a 'polyphonic' account of victims of Albanian communism in the style of Svetlana Alexievich's Chernobyl Prayer -- Ian Thomson * Spectator *This outstanding record of recollections of those who lived through it makes for chilling reading . . . It is impossible to imagine a title that better captures the squalid and sinister horror of life in Albania under communism * Strong Words *Essential reading for anyone wishing to understand Communist Albania where, whether outside or inside prison, no one was every able to feel free -- Enriketa Papa-Pandelejmoni * History Today *

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Book Synopsis'Uplifting and utterly defiant' Matt Nixson, Daily Express 'Immediate and important ... This is an insider's account of how an ordinary life became extraordinary' Helen Davies, The Times'At first we did not understand what war was. You can't understand it until you see it and hear it.'As Russian forces build up beyond the Ukrainian borders and the prospect of war becomes a devastating reality, Andrey Kurkov chronicles the shocking impact of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Part political and historical commentary, part personal journal, Kurkov explores the fraught interrelation of Russian and Ukrainian history, the complicated coexistence of their languages, and in describing how a peaceful society defies occupation, the author builds an image of a culture which, contrary to Putin's claims, is unique and democratic, liberal and diverse, one that will 'resist to the end'.Redirecting his satirical flair to paint a defiant portrait of his compatriots, Kurkov tells of a people united against erasure. Bread is baked and shared in the ruins. An amputee is carried aboard an evacuating train, grandmothers escape occupied towns with their noisome roosters. And despite the networks of toloka, of community work for common good, being stretched to breaking point, and the embittering reticence of some European nations to make good their promises of aid and armaments, hope channels its perennial resistance: children are born deep within besieged cities and farmers go on working the fields made lethal by unexploded shells. Kurkov braids his personal story with those of other displaced Ukrainians and the communities that have gone to extraordinary lengths to care for them. Showing an irrepressible spirit, they 'wait for the moment when it will be safe to return,' he writes, 'just as I am waiting.'Trade ReviewA vivid, moving and sometimes funny account of the reality of life during Russia's invasion -- Marc Bennetts * The Times *No-one with the slightest interest in this war, or the nation on which it is being waged, should fail to read Andrey Kurkov -- Dominic Lawson * Daily Mail *Andrey Kurkov [is] one of the most articulate ambassadors to the West for the situation in his homeland -- Sam Leith * Spectator *Immediate and important. . . From the grim incredulity at Russians massing on the border to the displacement of millions of people, this is an insider's account of how an ordinary life became extraordinary. It is also about survival, hope and humanity -- Helen Davies * The Times *The author's on-the-ground account is packed with surprising details about the human effects of the Russian assault. . . His voice is genial but also impassioned, never more so than when deploring Putin's efforts to erase Ukrainian culture and history. Ukraine, he says, 'will either be free, independent and European, or it will not exist at all'. That's why the war has to be fought, with no concession of territory. And he remains quietly hopeful that it will be won -- Blake Morrison * Guardian *Probably the first important literary work to emerge from a conflict that appears likely to alter the course of world history, Diary of an Invasion is a thoughtful and humane memoir by one of Ukraine's most prominent living authors -- Simon Caterson * Sydney Morning Herald *Kurkov's diaries. . . make the early days of the war vivid for the reader. He writes stirringly of the notes people begin leaving in their cars offering lifts to the border; of his sudden longing for the comforting sweetness of honey; of the cigarettes required to bribe Russian soldiers at checkpoints in the east. Here are the kind of stories you don't see on the television news -- Rachel Cooke * Observer *Uplifting and utterly defiant -- Matt Nixson * Daily Express *It is little wonder. . . Kurkov, known for his keen eye for the absurdities of life, would pack his diary of the war withfascinating and eccentric details. . . yet what makes Kurkov's diary memorable is its departures into the more quotidian gossip-filled trips to the sauna, Ukraine's morale-boosting victory in the Eurovision Song Contest, ruminations on the status of Ukrainian literature amid paper shortages, and ploys to protect animals in the country's shuttered zoos -- Megan Gibson * New Statesman *Kurkov, an internationally-lauded novelist, is strongest when he writes on cultural matters. And this, he demonstrates convincingly, is a cultural war -- Ed O’Loughlin * Irish Times *With the sort of eye-witness detail missing from even the most rigorous newspaper account, this book makes for essential reading -- Claire Allfree * Metro *

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Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its range of best-loved, essential classics.

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Book SynopsisA riveting read that skips along at pace. Illuminating and concerning, it lifts the lid on the tawdry world of Westminster powerbroking' Tim Shipman, The TimesThe explosive behind-the-scenes account of the plot to bring down Boris JohnsonYOU THINK YOU LIVE IN A WORLD WHERE THE ELECTED ARE CHOSEN BY THE PEOPLE.THINK AGAIN.When Boris Johnson came to power in 2019, he united a party with the largest Conservative majority since Margaret Thatcher. And yet, just three years later, he was ousted by the same members who had once greeted his leadership so rapturously.What had gone so wrong?The Plot is the seismic, fly-on-the-wall account of how a Prime Minister was driven from office, revealing a devastating fault line within government stretching back decades. Told with unparalleled access, from multiple inside sources, it unearths the shocking truth about powerful and unaccountable forces operating behind the scenes in the heart of Westminster, whose deception and political dark arts threaten to topple the very fabric of our democracy.

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Book SynopsisTHE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER, WINNER OF THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE A Pulitzer Prize FinalistA National Book Award FinalistA Writers'' Trust Award FinalistLonglisted for the Wainwright Conservation PrizeA Guardian Book of the YearA New York Times Book of the Year ''No book feels timelier . . . an adrenaline-soaked nightmare that is impossible to put down'' Cal Flyn, The Times''Superb and terrifying''Katherine Rundell, Guardian''It reads like a thriller . . . utterly compelling''Andrea Wulf, author of The Invention of Nature''Astounding on every page''David Wallace-Wells, author of The Uninhabitable Earth''A towering achievement . . . extraordinary''Robert Macfarlane, author of UnderlandIn May 2016, a Canadian oil town was overrun by wildfi

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Book Synopsis‘A vaulting triumph of a book’ Isabella Tree, author of Wilding'A master storyteller, Weidensaul communicates so much joy in the sheer act of witnessing and such exhilaration in the advances of the science behind what he sees that we are slow to grasp the extent of the ecological crisis that he outlines.' ObserverBird migration remains perhaps the most singularly compelling natural phenomenon in the world. Nothing else combines its global sweep with its inherent ability to engender wonder and excitement.The past two decades have seen an explosion in our understanding of the almost unfathomable feats of endurance and complexity involved in bird migration – yet the science that informs these majestic journeys is still in its infancy.Pulitzer Prize-shortlisted writer-ornithologist Scott Weidensaul is at the forefront of this research, and A World on the Wing sees him track some of the most remarkable flights undertaken by birds. His own voyage of discovery sees him sail through the storm-wracked waters of the Bering Sea; encounter gunners and trappers in the Mediterranean; and visit a forgotten corner of north-east India, where former headhunters have turned one of the grimmest stories of migratory crisis into an unprecedented conservation success.As our world comes increasingly under threat from the effects of climate change, these ecological miracles may provide an invaluable guide to a more sustainable future for all species, including us. This is the rousing and reverent story of the billions of birds that, despite the numerous obstacles we have placed in their path, continue to head with hope to the far horizon.Trade ReviewA vaulting triumph of a book. Scott Weidensaul unravels the miracles and mysteries of bird migration like an ace detective. Compelling and often deeply moving, this is a summons for international co-operation and global conservation like no other. -- Isabella Tree, author of WildingAs much as the book is upbeat and celebratory, Weidensaul is fearless in describing the acute challenges that face the birds he loves . . . a superb globetrotting survey of avian restlessness that reaches one core conclusion. Migrants may seem like here-today-gone-tomorrow nomads but they are really inhabitants of a single place and one living system, on which they and humans depend equally: the entire Earth. -- Mark Cocker * Spectator *A master storyteller who is also profoundly involved in scientific ornithology . . . Weidensaul communicates so much joy in the sheer act of witnessing and such exhilaration in the advances of the science behind what he sees, that we are slow to grasp the extent of the ecological crisis that he outlines * Observer *In vivid prose that conjures up the rich spell of each landscape, Scott Weidensaul takes us on exhilarating expeditions that crisscross the globe and travel deep into the heart of nature. For lifelong experts and backyard birders alike, he’s a superb guide to the winged marvels that share our planet and our lives. -- Diane Ackerman, author of The Zookeeper’s WifeWeidensaul’s dispatches are fascinating. Chapter by chapter, my jaw dropped and my eyes widened. The science of bird migration has reached a golden age, and we’re lucky to have such a graceful guide. This book is instantly among my all-time favorites, and one I’ll keep to re-read. -- Noah Strycker, author of Birding Without BordersThe miracle of birds meets the miracle of technology in Scott Weidensaul’s wondrous new book A World on the Wing. While there are huge gaps in our knowledge of migration, and despair in our race to save species, advances in technology from microscopic transmitters to agile drones are changing the equation and making the future look hopeful. This is a book you won’t want to put down. -- Jane Alexander, actress, writer and wildlife conservationistScott Weidensaul, one of our finest nature writers, has produced another instant classic. In A World on the Wing he takes a pair of highly complex subjects—global patterns of bird migration, and the research into those patterns—and brings them to life with his own amazing adventures around the world. Here is proof that a book of solid science can also be a page-turner. Highly recommended for anyone curious about the natural world. -- Kenn Kaufman, author of the Kaufman Field GuidesA World on the Wing brims with spectacle . . . As the birds flit through these pages, but with ever less frequency through our lives, we can only hope that birders and non-birders alike take inspiration and a call to action from A World on the Wing. This is the kind of book we’ve been waiting for. * New York Times *Mr. Weidensaul takes us to places we’ll likely never go, then deftly steps back to let us experience the scene. In an era when travel, for most, has sputtered to a stop, A World on the Wing is a bracing tonic. The author slips in facts and figures so painlessly, so richly embedded in emotional context, that you can absorb and truly appreciate their import * Wall Street Journal *Many mysteries of bird life and migration are revealed in this compelling and illuminating in-the-field narrative complete with maps and photographs. * Booklist *Based on recent scientific research and his own research and bird observations . . . Each chapter on the different bird species and migration experiences will vibrantly inform readers about the habits of migratory birds * Library Journal *As in many of his previous books, Weidensaul is a peerless guide, sharing his intoxicating passion and decadeslong experience with countless bird species all over the world . . . Another winner from Weidensaul that belongs in every birder’s library * Kirkus Reviews *Remarkable . . . Bird enthusiasts and fans of nature writing shouldn’t miss this * Publishers Weekly *

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Book SynopsisRafah, a town at the southernmost tip of the Gaza Strip, is a squalid place. Raw concrete buildings front rubbish-strewn alleys. The narrow streets are crowded with young children and unemployed men. Situated on the border with Egypt, swaths of Rafah have been reduced to rubble. Rafah is today and has always been a notorious flashpoint in this most bitter of conflicts.Buried deep in the archives is one bloody incident, in 1956, that left 111 Palestinian refugees dead, shot by Israeli soldiers. Seemingly a footnote to a long history of killing, that day in Rafah - coldblooded massacre or dreadful mistake - reveals the competing truths that have come to define an intractable war. In a quest to get to the heart of what happened, Joe Sacco arrives in Gaza and, immersing himself in daily life, uncovers Rafah, past and present. Spanning fifty years, moving fluidly between one war and the next, alive with the voices of fugitives and schoolchildren, widows and sheikhs, Footnotes in Gaza captures the essence of a tragedy.As in Palestine and Safe Area Goražde, Joe Sacco's unique visual journalism has rendered a contested landscape in brilliant, meticulous detail. Footnotes in Gaza, his most ambitious work to date, transforms a critical conflict of our age into intimate and immediate experience.Trade ReviewSacco has produced a series of extraordinary comic books that convey, with unusual attentiveness to the details of everyday life, the impact that war has on civilians * Boston Globe *Sacco is Art Spiegelman's most talented artistic descendant... [He] is tipped to win the comics world a second Pulitzer * The Economist *There is virtually no precedent for what he does... Sacco is legitimately unique * The New York Review of Books *Joe Sacco's brilliant, excruciating books of war reportage are potent territory... He shows how much that is crucial to our lives a book can hold -- Margo Jefferson * The New York Times Book Review *

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Book SynopsisIn a ranch south of Texas, the man known as The Executioner dumps five hundred body parts in metal barrels. In Brazil's biggest city, a mysterious prisoner orders hit-men to gun down forty-one police officers and prison guards in two days. In southern Mexico, a crystal meth maker is venerated as a saint while imposing Old Testament justice on his enemies.A new kind of criminal kingpin has arisen: part CEO, part terrorist, and part rock star, unleashing guerrilla attacks, strong-arming governments and taking over much of the world's trade in narcotics, guns and humans. Who are these new masters of death? What personal qualities and life experiences have made them into such bloodthirsty leaders of men? What do they represent and stand for? What has happened in the Americas to allow them to grow and flourish?Author of the critically acclaimed El Narco: Inside Mexico''s Criminal Insurgency, Ioan Grillo has covered Latin America since 2001, and gained access to every level of the carTrade ReviewGrillo’s investigations into the cokehead brokers, dealers and professional killers who manage the supply and demand of cocaine involves him in a degree of danger ... An absorbing work of reportage * Daily Telegraph *Grillo is a breathtakingly intrepid reporter, diving in where police fear to tread, seeking out men who wouldn’t hesitate to kill him ... A grim, gripping book **** * Francis Wheen, Mail on Sunday *Grillo has done sterling work on the front lines ... His portraits of gangster societies living beyond law or even reason are starkly persuasive * Spectator *Grillo makes it clear that gang members like Montana, cartel leaders, sicarios, and powerful member soft crime organizations exist all over Latin America and the Caribbean – not just Mexico ... Gangster Warlords is a step-up for the writer, documenting a very grim reality that’s unfolding in real time * Vice *Grillo’s strength is that while he draws the broad patterns of the raging conflict, he also zooms in on the particularities of each front ... He even offers a few prescriptions for tackling what he calls this “cocaine-fuelled holocaust”: decriminalising marijuana ... Investing money in the lost-cause neighbourhoods where drug gangs are seen as heroes and police are the enemy * The Times *A vitally important book * Library Journal *As Mr. Grillo unfolds the complex and often gruesome stories of the drug trade, it becomes clear that this terror is comprehensible. It is the result of ossified policies … that are wholly inappropriate for the globalized world … It is an exhausting and often nerve-wracking job … Grillo scores some spectacular successes … [and shows] how drug violence is not so much senseless but the devastating result of economic calculations taken to their brutal extreme -- Misha Glenny * New York Times *In these vivid and engrossing books, Ioan Grillo proves himself a master of reportage, exploring territory few journalists have tread before him, and exposing the homicidal and hypocritical nature of America’s battlefields * Irish Examiner *

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Book Synopsis'A cat is only ITSELF, representative of the strong forces of life that won't let go'For Charles Bukowski there was something majestic and elemental about cats. He considered them to be sentient beings, whose searing gaze could penetrate deep into our being. Cats see into us; they are on to something. An illuminating portrait of one very special writer and a lifelong relationship with the animals he considered his most profound teachers, On Cats brings together Bukowski's reflections on the ruthless, resilient, indigent and endearing creatures he so admired.Trade ReviewThe best poet in America * * Jean Genet * *A laureate of American low life * * Time * *He shocks you on one page and moves you on the next * * Washington Post * *His was the hard-found music of the streets * * New York Times * *

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Book SynopsisDip Lit is an anthology not just of wild swimming writing, but also of stories of how a jump into deep waters can change us. From gentle dips in calm waters to fights for survival in stormy seas and moments of revelation amidst the waves.Gasp at the cold with Amy Liptrot, marvel at the 19th century sea-cure craze with Jane Austen, be transfixed by Iris Murdoch's monster rising from the waves, slip into the river with Mark Twain.Learn how to swim with the frogs with John Muir, fight the rapid tide with Lord Byron, let go of everything with Tove Jansson.Open water swimming plays a pivotal role in many great stories, from Homer's Odyssey to contemporary poetry and memoir. There is adventure here and playfulness. Love and desire spark between characters at the edge of the water, as well as freedom from constraint.It's a dip into the deep sea of words. Slide in.

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Book SynopsisSet in and around the city of Veracruz in Mexico, This Is Not Miami delivers a series of devastating stories – spiralling from real events – that bleed together reportage and the author’s rich and rigorous imagination. These crónicas – a genre unique to Latin American writing that blends reportage, narrative non-fiction and novelistic forms – probe deeply into the motivations of murderers and misfits, into their desires and circumstances, forcing us to understand them – and even empathize – despite our wish to disdain them as monsters. As in her hugely acclaimed novels Hurricane Season and Paradais, and once again brilliantly translated by Sophie Hughes, Fernanda Melchor’s masterful stories show how the violent and shocking aberrations that make the headlines are only the surface ruptures of a society on the brink of chaos.Trade Review‘The result is an absorbing, compassionately rendered portrait of a place, its people and its ills. The stories are punctuated by brief but telling allusions to the material conditions that sustain the moral degradation she describes: police corruption, social security cuts, prison overcrowding, unscrupulous building contractors. Melchor’s macabre aesthetic has shades of gothic horror, but she is a Dickensian at heart.’ — Houman Barekat, Sunday Times‘Melchor evokes the stories of Flannery O’Connor, or, more recently, Marlon James’s A Brief History of Seven Killings. Impressive.’ ― Julian Lucas, New York Times‘Fernanda Melchor has a powerful voice, and by powerful I mean unsparing, devastating, the voice of someone who writes with rage and has the skill to pull it off.’ ― Samanta Schweblin, author of Fever Dream‘Time spent with her writing leaves no doubt: the unholy noise she creates is the work of someone who knows exactly which notes to hit.’ — Chris Power, Guardian‘Don’t get too hung up on what exactly This Is Not Miami is, though, and you’ll find its world filthy, disquieting and compulsive.’ — Pippa Bailey, New Statesman‘She isn’t holding a Stendhalian mirror up to Mexican society; she’s dissecting its body and its psyche at the same time, unafraid of what she might find. ... In Melchor’s world, there’s no resisting the violence, much less hating it. All a novelist can do, she seems to suggest, is take a long, unsparing look at the hell that we’ve made.’ — Juan Gabriel Vázquez, New Yorker‘In addition to bravely presenting dark truths, Melchor writes from a good heart…Melchor makes her point (not without sorrow and gruesome humor), then gets out of the way, so that her subjects can speak.’ — William T. Vollmann, New York Times‘Melchor isn’t inventing anything in broad strokes…She’s not playing with facts so much as how facts are delivered — oral history, first person, second person, ghost story, legend. A lesser journalist massages details to more perfectly fit a narrative. Melchor is doing something more like the opposite: playing with form to expose the lies, hypocrisies, hatreds and oversights that soften or avoid the reality of human evil. Melchor isn’t claiming to know the whole story. But what she means to say is that we should think twice before we do as well.’ — Mark Athitakis, Los Angeles Times‘Skillfully translated by Hughes, this is a book that’s as gorgeous as it is dark, and it proves that Melchor is one of the finest writers working today. Absolutely stunning.’ —Kirkus starred review‘Melchor resists the seductive burden of explaining the realities (or exaggerations) of such non-European regions in blistering, true-crime detail. Though based on real events, these relatos are decidedly not journalistic, and not even realist. Melchor’s prose blooms under that strange light.’ — Lisa Yin Zhang, Frieze‘Translator Sophie Hughes has performed another heroic feat in rendering Melchor’s winding sentences into breathtakingly stylish English. These stories, packed with dismembered limbs and immolation, are not for the faint-hearted, but Melchor’s writing offers a special, twisted kind of beauty.’ — Michael Delgado, i News‘In finding a narrative for those who are rarely given literary or any other kind of airtime, and in writing in a vernacular that acknowledges the cruelty that lurks in the language of neutral observation, Melchor writes a new kind of folklore that allows us to hear the ferocious reality of contemporary violence.’ — Jess Cotton, Jacobin‘Seamlessly translated by Sophie Hughes from the initial Spanish, This Is Not Miami is a compelling read. However, be warned; these tales may well devour your dreaming.’ — Annie Hayter, Big Issue‘In a country where corruption runs rampant, where the official story from the police or the government is tainted, inadequate, or missing altogether, This Is Not Miami functions as a counternarrative: Melchor presents a corrective simply by getting close to her subjects and telling their stories one by one, often in their own voices.…This Is Not Miami makes clear just how grounded the heightened drama of Hurricane Season and Paradais is. The connections between Melchor’s fiction and nonfiction go beyond the subject matter—poverty and superstition, misogyny and sexual violence—and include how a story can be corrupted as it passes from person to person.’ — Laura Adamczyk, The Nation

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