True stories of survival of abuse and injustice Books

Book SynopsisFascinating firsthand accounts of the Titanic—in a deluxe package with gorgeous graphic cover artThe Titanic, First Accounts graphic deluxe edition compiles first hand accounts, testimonies, and letters by notable Titanic survivors, including Archibald Gracie, Lawrence Beesley, Elizabeth W. Shutes, and the unsinkable Molly Brown. Full of historically accurate details and an afterword by the grandson of Lawrence Beesley, Titanic Survivors and author of The Loss of the S.S. Titanic, it will be the gift to give die-hard Titanic buffs. Authoritative, commemorative and in a striking, luxurious package with and introduction by Titanic enthusiast and expert, Tim Maltin, this will be the authoritative work on the disaster.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works tTrade Review"With its detailed stories from survivors of the disaster, Titanic, First Accounts is hugely engaging and adroitly debunks some of the event's great myths. ("Nearer, My God, to Thee" wasn't actually the last song played by the ship's band.) The eyewitness testimonies are equal parts illuminating and haunting, revealing intimate conversations with surviving passengers who didn't fully grasp the scope of the unfolding devastation until it was too late." — Entertainment Weekly

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Book SynopsisThe Force behind the Forces by Swapnil Pandey shares seven true stories of courage and sacrifice by army wives, highlighting their eternal love and dedication to the nation even after the soldiers are gone. These women stand strong behind the heroes at the borders, embodying unimaginable valor and resilience.

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Book SynopsisSets out the genetics, diet and exercise that enable humans to perform at their peak. The author analyses individual feats of survival and athletic prowess that illustrate the way the body functions at its best. He gives some tips on how to stay fit for life for those of us who find walking the dog an endurance challenge...Trade ReviewIlluminating... Mike Stroud, an Arctic explorer, medic and marathon-runner, explains how modern life-styles and diet have made us prone to a new array of diseases unknown until the industrial revolution. Demonstrating why it is essential for us to exercise, he also provides useful guidelines for changing our culturally-moulded bad habits' * Mail on Sunday *The ultimate sporting diet documented in mouth-watering detail * The Times *

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Book SynopsisDrawing on previously unpublished letters of journals of crew members, their descendants and, astonishingly, interviews with survivors, Jennifer Niven's book is a riveting account of one of the most ambitious - and disastrous - Arctic expeditions ever mounted. It is a story about unlikely heroes and unexpected villains - humans reduced to their primal needs by the infinite power and mystery of nature... 'For more than 30 years I have been reading polar survival stories, but none so gripping and meticulously based on the written accounts of the survivors as The Ice Master' Ranulph Fiennes, Daily Mail 'A powerful narrative' Independent 'Riveting and meticulously researched' Sunday Telegraph 'Niven's remarkable epic is something special...an astonishing read.' Publishing News 'With so much repetitive polar stuff on the market, it is a relief to come across something fr

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Book SynopsisIn the depths of Antarctic winter, hundreds of miles from land or rescue, a small fishing boat is swallowed by waves as high as houses. The captain is fatally slow to act, and then paralyzed by fear. The officers flee for their lives. Only the actions of Matt Lewis, a 23-year-old British marine biologist and one of the most inexperienced men aboard, will save the lives of the South African crew.Lewis is the last man off the sinking boat, and leads the escape onto three life rafts. There the battle for survival begins.Trade ReviewThis is brilliant . . Told with terrifying detail and heartfelt compassion -- Dermot O'LearyA story that reminds us of the unforgiving nature of the sea and the courage that lies within the everyday heroes that have found themselves in hell -- Bear GryllsA dramatic tale of survival in one of the most brutal situations on earth. Feels like reading the diary of a doomed man . . . so personal and chillingly real; totally takes you there in a way that is not always comfortable -- Steve BackshallReads like a sinister version of The Perfect Storm...Thrilling, compelling, unsettling, rewarding . . . This breakneck race of a book isn't just required reading for fans of waterborne peril; Harvard MBAs could also scour the pages as a case study in dysfunctional workplaces and woeful man management. It's like the Perfect Storm, but with gruesomely, even murderously, imperfect people * Sunday Times *A heart-thumping tale of tragedy and survival - minus the Hollywood ending * Daily Telegraph *A thrilling, horrifying and compelling portrait of human survival. Colossal terror unfolds on every page * The Bookseller, Books of the Year *For his compelling account of the hardships of fishing in remote Antarctic waters, and of what it means to abandon ship in a severe storm with inadequate equipment and a crew unprepared for survival. The book is objective but non-judgmental in its descriptiveness, so heightening the true sense of disaster. The style makes the book accessible to a wide public, but it is also essential reading for seafarers, fishermen and yachtsmen, as it concerns attitudes to safety and survival. A truly life-affirming and influential work. * The Mountbatten Maritime Award for best literary contribution - Certificate of Merit *

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Book SynopsisGabriel Garcia Marquez, winner of the 1982 Nobel Prize for Literature and author of One Hundred Years of Solitude, started his literary career with the publication of The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor . . . ''On February 22 we were told that we would be returning to Columbia''In 1955 eight crew members of Caldas, a Colombian destroyer, were swept overboard. Velasco alone survived, drifting on a raft for ten days without food or water. Marquez retells the survivor''s amazing tale of endurance, from his loneliness and thirst to his determination to survive. The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor was Marquez''s first major work, published in a Colombian newspaper, El Espectador, in 1955 and then in book form in 1970.''The story of Velasco on his raft, his battle with sharks over a succulent fish, his hallucinations, his capture of a seagull which he was unable to eat, his subsequent droll rescue, has all the grip of archetypal mythTrade ReviewThe story of Velasco on his raft, his battle with sharks over a succulent fish, his hallucinations, his capture of a seagull which he was unable to eat, his subsequent droll rescue, has all the grip of archetypal myth. Reads like an epic. * The Independent *

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Book SynopsisLama Yeshe didn''t see a car until he was fifteen. But everything changed with the arrival of Chinese army vehicles in 1959. In the wake of the deadly Tibetan Uprising, he escaped to India through the Himalayas as one of only 13 survivors out of 300 refugees.Now in his seventies and a leading monk at the Samye Ling monastery in Scotland, Lama Yeshe casts a hopeful look back at his momentous life - from his quiet early years and the moment his world changed to his time spent in America, experiencing the excesses of the Woodstock generation. And to his life now.Written with erudition and humour, From a Mountain in Tibet shines a light on how the most desperate of situations can help us to uncover vital life lessons and attain lasting peace and contentment.___________________________________________''Brilliant and riveting. This book shows us that freedom is a choice we can all make'' Gelong Thubten, author of A Monk''s Trade ReviewThis is a fascinating story of an incredible life, told with unflinching honesty * Dr John Sellars author of 'Lessons in Stoicism' *His jovial nature belies his harsh, if colourful, personal journey from hedonistic teen rebel to devoted abbot of the Kagyu Samye Ling monastery, and it's remarkable to comprehend from his new book [...] just how the monk survived to redeem himself * The Sunday Times *Despite everything he has suffered, his story is a hopeful one and that can inspire others. Spending just a short time in his joyful company, and hearing his extraordinary personal journey, makes his unmovable positivity, forgiveness and tranquillity even more inspirational * The Sunday Business Post *Beautifully written * Chloe Brotheridge author of The Anxiety Solution *Brilliant and riveting. This book shows us that freedom is a choice we can all make * Gelong Thubten, author of 'A Monk's Guide to Happiness' *

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Book SynopsisThe small ship making the Liverpool-to-New York trip in the early months of 1856 carried mail, crates of dry goods, and more than one hundred passengers, mostly Irish emigrants. Suddenly an iceberg tore the ship asunder and five lifeboats were lowered. As four lifeboats drifted into the fog and icy water, never to be heard from again, the last boat wrenched away from the sinking ship with a few blankets, some water and biscuits, and thirteen souls. Only one would survive. This is his story.As they started their nine days adrift more than four hundred miles off Newfoundland, the castaways--an Irish couple and their two boys, an English woman and her daughter, newlyweds from Ireland, and several crewmen, including Thomas W. Nye from Bedford, Massachusetts--began fighting over food and water. One by one, though, day by day, they died. Some from exposure, others from madness and panic. In the end, only Nye and his journal survived.Using Nye''s journal and his later newsp

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Book SynopsisIn 1973, Norma Cobb, her husband Lester and their five children, the oldest of whom was nine years old and the youngest, twins, barely one, headed north to Alaska to follow a pioneer dream of claiming land under the Homestead Act. This story tells of their survival and courage.

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Book SynopsisBear Grylls spent three years with the British Special Forces. During this time he had a horrendous parachuting accident in southern Africa, breaking his back in three places. Two years later he overcame the odds to become one of the youngest British climbers ever to reach the summit of Mount Everest, and this story forms the basis for his bestselling memoir, Facing Up. Bear Grylls is one of the most successful motivational speakers on the world circuit. Looking for another adventure, Bear tackled the treacherous North Atlantic seas in Facing the Frozen Ocean. Bear Grylls is one of the most recognized faces of survival and outdoor adventure and one of the most successful motivational speakers on the world circuit.Trade ReviewAn epic story of hardship, friendship and faith. * Daily Telegraph *Riveting. * Daily Express *Grylls is certainly proof that the age of great explorers has not completely passed us by. * Scotsman *

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Book SynopsisThe remarkable true story of Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger’s heroic crash landing in the Hudson River, as told by the passengers who owe him their lives. Millions watched the aftermath on television, while others witnessed the event actually happening from the windows of nearby skyscrapers. But only 155 people know firsthand what really happened on U.S. Airways Flight 1549 on January 15, 2009. Now, for the first time, the survivors detail their astounding, terrifying, and inspiring experiences on that freezing winter day in New York City. Written by two esteemed journalists, Miracle on the Hudson is the entire tale from takeoff to bird strike to touchdown to rescue, seen through the eyes and felt in the souls of those on board the fateful flight.Revealing many new and compelling details, Miracle on the Hudson dramatically evokes the explosion and smell of burning flesh as both engines were destroyed by geese, the viol

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Book Synopsis''Fascinating . . . a poignant book . . . an unusual and absolutely authentic view of those convulsive years'' OBSERVER ''Each story in Wave Me Goodbye is a relic of the Second World War'' SUNDAY TIMES ''This is as stark and acidic a collection of war stories as you will read . . . Stripped bare of the sentimentalism attached to love in wartime'' SCOTSMAN This collection of wartime stories includes some of the finest writers of a generation. War had traditionally been seen as a masculine occupation, but these stories show how women were equal if different participants. Here, war is less about progress on the frontline of battle than about the daily struggle to keep homes, families and relationships alive; to snatch pleasure from danger, and strength from shared experience. The stories are about saying goodbye to husbands, lovers, brothers and sons - and sometimes years later trying to remake their livesTrade ReviewFascinating ... a poignant book ... an unusual and absolutely authentic view of those convulsive years - ObserverThis is as stark and acidic a collection of war stories as you will read ... Stripped bare of the sentimentalism attached to love in wartime, writers such as Elizabeth Bowen, Jean Rhys, Beryl Bainbridge and Dorothy Parker provide poignant, wry, subversive tales ... Revelatory reading - ScotsmanEach voice is individual and unsentimental ... Molly Lefebure and Margery Sharp write succinctly of the Blitz, while in Miss Anstruther's Letters, Rose Macaulay brilliantly paints spiritual as well as material devastation - Daily TelegraphEach story in Wave Me Goodbye is a relic of the Second World War - Sunday TimesWritten in and about the decade 1939-1949, the stories in this high caliber anthology are the work of women, chiefly English (five Americans are represented), who were actively engaged in the war effort on the home front. The experience of war--the London blitz, evacuation, the fronts in Europe and Africa--become personalized in stories from Barbara Pym, Rosamond Lehmann, Sylvia Townsend Warner, and others as notable ... the stories poignantly illuminate the ''second war'' behind the frontlines. - Publishers WeeklyWritten in and about the decade 1939-1949, the stories in this high caliber anthology are the work of women, chiefly English (five Americans are represented), who were actively engaged in the war effort on the home front. The experience of war--the London blitz, evacuation, the fronts in Europe and Africa--become personalized in stories from Barbara Pym, Rosamond Lehmann, Sylvia Townsend Warner, and others as notable ... the stories poignantly illuminate the ''second war'' behind the frontlines. - Publishers WeeklyThis is as stark and acidic a collection of war stories as you will read ... Stripped bare of the sentimentalism attached to love in wartime, writers such as Elizabeth Bowen, Jean Rhys, Beryl Bainbridge and Dorothy Parker provide poignant, wry, subversive tales ... Revelatory reading - Scotsman

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Book SynopsisSoon to be a major film produced by Steven Spielberg and J. J. Abrams.This is the story of Doaa, an ordinary girl from a village in Syria, who in 2015 became one of five hundred people crammed on to a fishing boat setting sail for Europe. The boat was deliberately capsized, and of those five hundred people, eleven survived; they were rescued four days after the boat sank. Doaa was one of them - her fiancé Bassem, with whom she had fled, was not; he drowned in front of her. Melissa Fleming, the Chief Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, heard about Doaa and the death of 489 of her fellow refugees on the day she was pulled out of the water. She decided to fly to Crete to meet this extraordinary girl, who had rescued a toddler when she was nearly dead herself. They struck an instant bond, and Melissa saw in Doaa the story of the war in Syria embodied by one young woman. She has decided to tell Doaa''s story - the dangers she fled, and the journTrade ReviewMelissa Fleming's tale of a young Syrian woman's search for peace and safety is a book written for our times. Fleming captures the unremitting fear, the crushing despair, and the glint of hope for a better life that drive families to risk everything and sail the treacherous seas. On every page, loss and hope tangle. On every page, the human toll of the worst humanitarian crisis of our time is painfully, heartbreakingly brought home. This is an emotional read, at times painful, but it is above all a poignant tribute to hope, to resilience, and to the capacity for grace and generosity that dwells deep in the human heart -- Khaled Hosseini, bestselling author of The Kite RunnerIn a few years, when people will look back at our current time of conflicts, dislocation, and displacement, the story of Doaa al-Zamel - and of those she saw die, and of the new life she saved? . . . will stand out as one of its defining narratives -- Bruno Giussani, European director, TEDit should enable us to see beyond the cold weight of the numbers, and into an individual's own warm and vivid story . . . If A Hope More Powerful Than the Sea does push more people into action and solidarity, then it will have done vital work; the most important work, perhaps, that a book can do right now . . . Doaa al-Zamel is both ordinary enough to compel sympathy, and extraordinary enough to be unforgettable -- Natasha Walter * Observer *Fleming's account is as gripping as it is moving * Financial Times *Written by an official in the UN's refugee agency, this deeply affecting book recounts the story of a young Syrian, Doaa al Zamel . . . Fleming brings a moral urgency to the narrative. Doaa is now safe in Sweden, but Fleming pointedly asks, 'Why is there no massive resettlement program for Syrians - the victims of the worst war of our times?' * New Yorker *Fleming deftly illustrates the pain of those who choose to leave Syria . . .[She] recounts their narrative with compassion and without melodrama, and her book is ultimately a story of hope . . . The message is to try to humanize one young woman, to tell her tale so that the migrant crisis does not become a bunch of nameless, faceless people fleeing a war but human beings with families, with needs, and with desires * Newsweek *Stories like Doaa's, presented in the form of excellent storytelling, thrilling surprises, and powerful characters, do have an impact. This is a must-read book for everyone who is debating the refugee crisis, because it boils the entire war in Syria down to one family, one young woman: Doaa * New York Journal of Books *[Doaa's] inspiring story is urgently required reading * People *A Hope More Powerful than the Sea poignantly illuminates some of the reasons why our fellow humans embark on such perilous journeys to reach Europe . . . One can only hope that by sharing Doaa's story, her remarkable courage, Fleming will help people better understand why so many are prepared to risk so much in order to reach relative safety * Times Literary Supplement *

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Book Synopsis''IF YOU CAN TAKE IT, YOU CAN MAKE IT''Louis Zamperini lived one of the most amazing lives imaginable. As a young boy he was a troublemaker but his will to succeed drove him on to become an Olympian at the 1936 Games. With the outbreak of war, Louis volunteered for the army and was thrust into the violent combat of the Second World War as a B-24 bombardier. While on a rescue mission Louis''s plane crashed in the Pacific Ocean, leaving him stranded and drifting 2000 miles in a small raft for 47 days. Against all the odds he survived. His struggle was just beginning: captured by the Japanese, Louis courageously endured torture in a series of prisoner-of-war camps for over two years. Not only did he survive this ordeal but he went on to spend the rest of his life helping others. Completed just days before Louis''s death at age 97, Don''t Give Up, Don''t Give In contains a lifetime of wisdom and humour. Louis shares the wonderful lessons he has leaTrade ReviewThis second memoir, dictated to co-writer Rensin during the last year of the author's life, brims with sage wisdom, learned advice and fond observations from his adventurous 97 years. Zamperini answers the most recurring questions asked of him during book signings and lectures, mostly pertaining to his adventures after his service in World War II, his secret to living honorably and what role his faith in God played . . . Stuffed with bolstering, life-affirmative reinforcement . . . the inspirational odyssey of an American hero * Kirkus *An extraordinary hero. * Publishers Weekly *One of the most incredible American lives of the past century. * People *

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Book SynopsisAnnabel Beam is one of three sisters raised in the Texas countryside by loving parents. But what should have been a happy, carefree childhood was blighted when Annabel developed a painful and seemingly incurable digestive disorder. Her parents spared no expense in the search for a cure, but medical experts assured them there was none. On a rare day when Annabel felt well enough to play outside, she was climbing an old hollowed-out tree when a branch snapped and she fell, head first, thirty feet down inside the tree. Miraculously, she survived the fall but was knocked unconscious. Rescued and later released from hospital, Annabel told her mother, ''you know I went to heaven when I was in that tree''. Annabel shared with her mother her amazing experience of talking to God, who told her that it wasn''t her time and that she must go back. What happened next was the greatest miracle of all. Annabel was inexplicably cured of her illness and her doctors could offer no explanation.

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Book Synopsis''An intriguing and mesmerising book'' Ben FogleMy life is free, random and spontaneous. This in itself creates enormous energy and clarity in body and mind - Miriam LancewoodMiriam Lancewood is a young Dutch woman living a primitive, nomadic life in the heart of the mountains with her New Zealand husband. She lives simply in a tent or hut and survives by hunting wild animals, foraging edible plants and using minimal supplies. For the last six years she has lived this way, through all seasons, often cold, hungry and isolated in the bush. She loves her life and feels free, connected to the land and happy.This book tells her story, including the very practical aspects of such a life: her difficulties learning to hunt with a bow and arrow, struggles to create a warm environment in which to live, attempts to cross raging rivers safely and find ways through the rugged mountains and dense bush. This is interwoven with her adjustment to a very slow pac

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Book SynopsisWinner of the National Outdoor Book Award and the Banff Mountain Book Award for Mountain Literature "Gripping, intense…Buried in the Sky will satisfy anyone who loved [Into Thin Air]." —Kate Tuttle, Boston GlobeTrade Review"Enthralling…phenomenal research and vivid writing create a memorable portrait not only of the events on the mountain but also of the people who make modern high-altitude climbing possible." -- Michael J. Ybarra - Wall Street Journal"Easily the most riveting and important mountaineering book of the past decade." -- Outside"An indispensable addition to the genre…a long-overdue historical correction to the familiar mountaineering story." -- Matthew Power - Men's Journal"An absorbing book that goes beyond the typical mountaineering tale…This book is mesmerizing." -- Sharon Haddock - Deseret News"It’s a testament to the thrills in this book that I scoured the notes, eager to learn how the authors wrote their account…The authors’ commendable documentary about the people who carry the gear is overtaken by the chilling adventure story of one terrible day on the mountain." -- Smithsonian Magazine"This compelling story brought back from K2’s slopes is a worthy tale about a little-known aspect of these high-stakes climbs." -- Colleen Kelly - Minneapolis Star Tribune"Through phenomenal research, Zuckerman and Padoan have dug deeper than anyone else into one of the most mysterious tragedies in mountaineering history. Thanks to their efforts, the heroism and humanity of the Sherpa climbers who saved lives shine through the chaos and grief of that awful day on K2." -- David Roberts, co-author of K2: Life and Death on the World's Most Dangerous Mountain and author of Limits of the Known"An informative and inspirational book…I couldn’t put it down." -- Jamling Tenzing Norgay, son of Tenzing Norgay, author of Touching My Father's Soul"Buried in the Sky reveals the heroic deeds of the Sherpa…[It] brings to light how immensely strong, loyal, and talented the Sherpa climbers are. Finally credit is given, where credit is due." -- Ed Viesturs, bestselling author of No Shortcuts to the Top and K2: Life and Death on the World’s Most Dangerous Mountain"I admired Buried in the Sky and enjoyed it, too. Because the authors did their homework and wrote their story well, and most of all, because credit is given at long last to those who deserve it most." -- Peter Matthiessen, author of The Snow Leopard"The Sherpas climb off the page and carry a narrative that is as fast and as gripping as their superhuman ascents." -- Michael Kodas, author of High Crimes: The Fate of Everest in an Age of Greed

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Book Synopsis"A deeply moving, funny, and brilliantly written account from one of India’s most original new voices." —Katherine BooTrade Review"Important [and] powerful." -- San Francisco Chronicle"As raw and disturbing as it is wryly humorous and poignant." -- Christian Science Monitor"A Free Man makes no promise of a happy ending. Perhaps no book about contemporary Indian society can. But it delivers more. It takes readers on a journey they might otherwise not go on. And that the destination is neither secret nor hidden shows that sometimes what matters isn’t what’s beyond our reach. It’s what’s before our eyes." -- Sonia Faleiro - New York Times Book Review"Funny, poignant, and deeply moving, A Free Man is an extraordinary vignette into an extraordinary life." -- Siddhartha Mukherjee, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Emperor of All Maladies"Starred Review. A moving and irrepressible work of narrative reporting." -- Publishers Weekly"A brilliant capturing of the language and bloodstream of a city. Aman Sethi has made a book that’s remarkable in its voice and evocation." -- Michael Ondaatje, author of The English Patient"Stunning. It reminds me of that Victorian masterpiece of investigative journalism, Henry Mayhew’s London Labour and London Poor. Aman Sethi ‘gets’ modern India better than any other journalist I know. Not only is he a remarkable reporter and storyteller, but he possesses a novelist’s ear for language, sense of the absurd, and perfect pitch. I’m bowled over, totally." -- Sylvia Nasar, author of A Beautiful Mind and Grand Pursuit: The Story of Economic Genius"A Free Man is a beautiful work of journalism, sympathetic and graceful. The author follows, and progressively befriends, a homeless day laborer in Delhi. What starts as classic ethnography becomes a gripping story, and ends as a homage to a lost friend." -- Esther Duflo, author of Poor Economics and MacArthur Fellow"With A Free Man, Aman Sethi comes to the forefront of an extraordinary new generation of Indian nonfiction writers. His compassion and humor is matched by a fierce determination to tell the stories of ordinary Indians, too often forgotten in the scramble for the spoils of the economic boom." -- Hari Kunzru, author of Gods Without Men

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Book SynopsisSome of them make uncomfortable reading - survival is rarely pretty. But all of them are tales of eye-watering bravery, death-defying resilience and extraordinary mental toughness by men and women who have one thing in common: true grit.What readers are saying about True Grit:***** 'Exhilarating .

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Book SynopsisIn 1967, twelve young men attempted to climb Alaska's Mount McKinley known to locals as Denali, The High One' one of the most popular and deadly mountaineering destinations in the world. Only five survived.Journalist Andy Hall grew up in the mountain's shadow, the son of the ranger on duty at the time of the tragedy, and has spent years tracking down survivors, lost documents and recordings of radio communications to piece together the chain of events. In Denali's Howl, Hall reveals the full story of an expedition facing conditions conclusively established here for the first time: At an elevation of nearly 20,000 feet, these young men endured an arctic super blizzard, with howling winds of up to 300 miles an hour and wind chill that freezes flesh solid in minutes. All this without the high-tech gear and equipment climbers use today.As well as the story of the men caught inside the storm, Denali's Howl is the story of those caught outside it trying to Trade ReviewPowerful and profound, Denali's Howl is an extraordinary account of an extraordinary tragedy. With devastating insight and a forensic eye for detail, Andy Hall puts you right there on the mountain, alongside the brave men who risked everything to reach the summit. * Bear Grylls *A white-knuckle story told for the first time in shocking detail. * Daily Mail *Hall's book is often gripping ... its research is meticulous: it feels like a final verdict. -- David Rose * Mail on Sunday *A vivid revisitation of a historic mountain climbing expedition. * Kirkus *Skillfull, heartrending. * Publishers Weekly *

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Book SynopsisPigeons carrying vital messages to and from the beleaguered city during the Siege of Paris; horses and mules struggling through miles of fetid mud to bring ammunition to the front in the Great War; dogs sniffing out mines for the British invasion force in the Second World War - countless brave animals have played their part in the long, cruel history of war. Some have won medals for gallantry - like G.I. Joe, the American pigeon who saved 100 British lives in Italy, and Rob, the black and white mongrel who made over twenty parachute jumps with the SAS. Too many others have died abandoned, in agony and alone, after serving their country with distinction. Jilly Cooper has here written a tribute to the role of animals in wartime. It is a tragic and horrifying story - yet it has its lighter moments too: a hilarious game of musical chairs played on camels during the Desert Campaign; and the budgie who remarked, when carried from a bombed-out East End tenement, ''This is my night out''. ThisTrade ReviewI laughed out loud - and had a little cry * Sunday Telegraph *Fascinating and by no means without humour * Glasgow Herald *Cooper brings her considerable gifts to a neglected area of military history * Horse and Hound *

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Book SynopsisWhen Souad was seventeen she fell in love. In her village, as in so many others, sex before marriage was considered a grave dishonour to one''s family and was punishable by death. This was her crime. Her brother-in-law was given the task of arranging her punishment. One morning while Souad was washing the family''s clothes, he crept up on her, poured petrol over her and set her alight. In the eyes of their community he was a hero. An execution for a ''crime of honour'' was a respectable duty unlikely to bring about condemnation from others. It certainly would not have provoked calls for his prosecution. More than five thousand cases of such honour killings are reported around the world each year and many more take place that we hear nothing about.Miraculously, Souad survived rescued by the women of her village, who put out the flames and took her to a local hospital. Horrifically burned, and abandoned by her family and community, it was only the intervention of a EurTrade Review'The terrifying memoir of a young Palestinian woman...Her ordeal reveals the scandalous treatment of women that is the real human rights abuse in the West Bank' -- Sunday Telegraph

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Book Synopsis''Exquisite, powerful . . . I can think of no better way of commemorating British exploration''s culminating triumph.'' Simon Winchester? Coronation Everest offers a breathtakingly intimate evocation of the most famous of all mountaineering exploits - and of perhaps the last great old-fashioned Fleet Street scoop. ''It was Morris who broke the news that a British-led expedition had conquered Mount Everest the day before the Queen''s coronation in 1953 . . . Allied to physical courage in getting down the mountain and a dogged resourcefulness in getting the news home, Morris scooped the world and was launched on one of the most remarkable literary careers in the second half of the twentieth century.'' Guardian Jan Morris''s collection of travel writing and reportage spans over five decades and includes such titles as Venice, Coronation Everest, Hong Kong, Spain, Manhattan ''45, A Writer''s World and the Pax Britannica Trilogy. Trade Review'Morris scooped the world'. Guardian

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Book SynopsisA House in the Sky is the dramatic and redemptive memoir of Amanda Lindhout, a woman whose curiosity led her to the world''s most beautiful and remote places, its most imperiled and perilous countries, and then into fifteen months of harrowing captivity-an exquisitely written story of courage, resilience, and grace.As a child, Amanda Lindhout escaped a violent household by paging through issues of National Geographic and imagining herself in its exotic locales. At the age of nineteen, working as a cocktail waitress, she began saving her tips so she could travel the globe. Aspiring to understand the world and live a significant life, she backpacked through Latin America, Laos, Bangladesh, and India, and emboldened by each adventure, went on to Sudan, Syria, and Pakistan. In war-ridden Afghanistan and Iraq she carved out a fledgling career as a television reporter. And then, in August 2008, she traveled to Somalia-the most dangerous place on earth. On he

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Book SynopsisOriginally published in weekly instalments, Nine Suitcases is the Hungarian writer Béla Zsolt''s harrowing memoir of his experiences in the ghetto of Nagyvarad and as a forced labourer in the Ukraine. Written with exceptional freshness and a devastating blend of angry despair and cool detachment, Zsolt - one of the earliest writers on the Holocaust - provides not only a rare insight into Hungarian fascism, but a shocking exposure of the cruelty, indifference, selfishness, cowardice and betrayal of which human beings - the victims no less than the perpetrators - are capable in extreme circumstances. Interspersed with moments of grotesque farce, grim irony and occasional memories of human kindness, Zsolt''s nightmarish but meticulously realistic chronicle of smaller and larger crimes against humanity is as riveting as it is horrifying.Trade Review[A] heartbreaking memoir... Unbearably immediate -- Laurence Phelan * Independent on Sunday *A sombre yet strangely beautiful account, devoid of sentimentality...the recent publication of his work in English is long overdue -- Phil Baker * Sunday Times *Remarkable...exceptional -- Caroline Moorehead * Times Literary Supplement *This is by far the best book I've come across on the subject of the extermination of Hungary's Jews -- Tibor Fischer * Guardian *Very, very rarely you read something that knocks the breath out of you... This masterpiece does -- Carole Angier * Literary Review *

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Book SynopsisWhen Ernest Shackleton resolved to cross Antarctica in 1915, he knew the task would require two parties of men. Shackleton and his crew aimed to cross the continent - but were to meet with disaster when their ship, the Endurance, was frozen into the ice of the Weddell Sea. Meanwhile a smaller group - the Ross Sea party, led by the impetuous one-eyed captain Aeneas Mackintosh and the hard-headed Ernest Joyce - went before them and landed on the opposite side of the continent. Their mission was to haul sledges almost 2,000 miles across the harsh interior in order to set up a lifeline of depots for the coming Shackleton party. However, like the men of the Endurance, this group also lost their ship, the Aurora - along with their supplies - when a ferocious polar gale ripped it from its moorings. But Mackintosh and his men, who knew that their failure would doom Shackleton''s party to starvation, refused to give up. They scavenged supplies from an earlier expeditionTrade ReviewThis journey is without parallel in the annals of polar exploration...a task almost beyond human endurance -- Ernest Mills JoyceNo more remarkable story of human endeavour has been revealed than the tale of that long march -- Sir Earnest Shackleton

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Book SynopsisIn 2017, the remains of 796 babies were found in a septic tank on the site of the Tuam Mother and Baby Home, a home run by nuns which took in orphans and unmarried mothers until it closed in 1961. Bridget Dolan gave birth to two boys there. Her daughter Anna puts on the record the life of Bridget and all the forgotten women and children of the home

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Book SynopsisMary Elmes was a brilliant young woman from Cork who ventured into war zones to rescue children in trouble.When she learned that children in war-torn Europe were getting hurt, she wanted to help. She wasn't a doctor or a nurse, but she was a great organiser and soon she was running several hospitals, where she made sure there was always time for toys and play.Knowing that Jewish people were in grave danger, she even risked everything to smuggle children to safety in the boot of her car. She was arrested and imprisoned but nothing could stop her from returning to the children as soon as she was released.Through the voices of real children she saved, Miss Mary tells the magical story of one woman's love for children, and the lengths Miss Mary went to protect and comfort them.

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Book SynopsisTwenty women share their incredible stories of surviving and thriving in the remote Australian ''Gulf Country'', near the Gulf of Carpentaria.Gulf women are self-sufficient, generous, and can cope with almost anything that life and the environment throws at them: floods, drought, sickness, emergencies. Whether they are graziers, fisherwomen, ringers, women in tourism, aviation and education, Indigenous women or descendants from early women settlers, this powerful book gives these women a voice to tell their own stories.There are stories of new mothers on properties isolated and inaccessible for months in the wet season; women giving birth at home with only neighbours to assist; reminiscences from last century and World War II, and accounts of fishing in the Gulf in sometimes unimaginable conditions.From the kids wanting a baby croc for a pet to the terror of a snake bite with a flooded airstrip and impassable roads, these women treat the extraor

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Book SynopsisWhen Samuel Johnson unicycled around Australia, he met some awesome people. And before we had to lock down, he and his other sister, Hilde, were travelling the country talking at schools, community groups and at the side of busy streets to spread their message about how to kick cancer in the face hole. But in the process they connected and listened as people shared their own stories - not just about how cancer impacted them, but about love, fighting fires, making families out of choice not blood, knitting, being there and being surprised by life and finding solace from strangers. They decided those stories should be shared and the idea for Heroes Next Door was born. The result is a moving, funny, irreverent, inspiring and big-hearted book that shows us all that resilience and kindness are what make the difference, and that you don''t have to travel far to find good people ... often they are right next door.

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Book SynopsisThis powerful memoir gives extraordinary insight into a secretive sect, and the horror Dassi Erlich had to survive. Dassi''s resilience and fight for justice is inspiring. As a young girl growing up in a strict ultra-Orthodox family, Dassi''s life was preordained - marry young, live a devout life and raise children within the Adass community''s religious rules. This righteous path would keep her safe from the immodest, secular world just a few blocks away in suburban Melbourne.But the Adass community was not safe for Dassi.She was fifteen when her revered school principal, Malka Leifer, started to single her out. Dassi''s cloistered and harsh upbringing meant she didn''t have the words for what was happening to her, but she knew it was very, very wrong. It would take her years to break free of the secrecy which pervaded the community and tell the police of her betrayal. And only then would she find out others, including two of her sisters, had also bee

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Book SynopsisThe Watts Memorial to Heroic Self-Sacrifice in Postman’s Park, London, is a Victorian monument containing fifty-four ceramic plaques commemorating sixty-two individuals, each of whom lost their own life while attempting to save another.

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Book SynopsisThe shocking true story of five fishermen sentenced to 104 years for a crime they didn’t commit

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Book SynopsisA collection of tragic and forgotten historic disasters around Britain, from the 1800s to the twenty-first century

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Book SynopsisEverest - the highest mountain in the world and the ultimate climbing challenge. In 2006, 11 people died attempting to reach the summit, the most fatalities since 1996. But unlike 1996, 2006 saw no surprise blizzard, only the constant dangers posed by unstable ice, merciless cold, thin air - and human nature.Nick Heil tells the shocking true stories of David Sharp, a young British solo climber, who was passed by 40 mountaineers as he lay dying on the slopes of the mountain, and Lincoln Hall who was left for dead yet miraculously survived, and asks: what does climbing the world''s highest peak really mean for those who take on the challenge? And how far will they go in their single-minded pursuit of the ultimate mountaineering prize?Trade ReviewPaints an alarming picture of modern arrogance in the face of nature * Sunday Express *Heil is good on the nature of obsession...even better on the hallucinatory effects of hypothermia...the truths he reveals are harsh * Geographical *If you couldn't put down Into Thin Air, you must read Dark Summit to understand what it means to climb Everest today and why anyone might accept the risk. -- Peter Athans, seven-time Everest summiter and The North Face athleteAuthoritative ... Through rock-solid reporting and vital prose, Heil leads us up into this rarefied world, step by hypoxic step. -- Hampton Sides, author of Ghost Soldiers and Blood and Thunder Hampton Sides, author of Ghost Soldiers and Blood and ThunderI consider this book not a sequel to Krakauer's Into Thin Air, but an equal -- Bob Shacochis, author of The Immaculate Invasion

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Book SynopsisA collection of 100 stories of kindness, proving just how awesome people can be One person being awesome is all it takes to change the world. People Are Awesome brings you an array of inspiring stories of good deeds, from everyday acts of gentle compassion to heroic deeds of altruism that will restore your faith in humanity. In a world that can all too often feel entrenched in doom and gloom, these heart-warming stories will teach, inspire, restore hope, and, most importantly, serve as a simple reminder to be awesome to each other. In a time where people often experience high stress and anxiety levels, readers are craving good-news stories in order to lift their spirits. This is especially true during a time when news stories tend to focus on the bad over the good. With internet trolls, cancel culture and general nastiness on social media, there has been a call for the need to be kin

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Book SynopsisBrought up in a violent Muslim household, where family honour is all, Saira is watched 24 hours a day. However, an innocent friendship with a boy is uncovered and Saira is sent to Pakistan, punished for dishonouring her family. There, the nightmare really begins. Forced to marry an older stranger who rapes her repeatedly and makes her his round-the-clock sex slave, she eventually plots her escape but, destitute, has to return to the family home in England. Once there, she discovers that one of her brothers has run up huge drug debts and Saira must earn money in the only way she can: by selling her body. Disgraced is the true story of an innocence ruined and a life shattered. But it is also a tale of survival told by a woman who has finally discovered her true voice.

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Book SynopsisCynthia Owen grew up in Ireland, went to the local convent school, said her prayers and took her first communion with all the other girls in her class. But behind the façade of respectability lurked a hideous reality.Cynthia was just eight years old when she was sexually abused by her father amongst others. Shortly before her eleventh birthday she was made pregnant and, minutes after giving birth to the baby, Cynthia watched in horror as her own mother murdered the tiny infant, named Noleen, by repeatedly stabbing her with a knitting needle. Cynthia''s mother then wrapped the baby girl in a plastic bag, dumped her in an alleyway and made her daughter go back to school and pretend nothing had ever happened.After enduring many more years of rape and violence, Cynthia came forward and reported her abuse and Noleen''s death.Finally, in 2007, after a fifteen-year legal fight to have her baby girl formally identified, the jury at the ''Dun Laoghaire Baby'' inquest

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Book SynopsisThe inspirational story of a woman who moved mountains to provide medical care for an Iraqi girl badly burned during a roadside attack, Barbara Marlowe’s determination to fight for her future daughter highlights the way love can reach across both cultures and continents.

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Book SynopsisThe shocking true story of a baby illegally sold at birth and her relentless journey to find her birth family, help fellow victims, and expose the hidden secrets of the Hicks Clinic.

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Book SynopsisWhen Ben Duncan chronicled his evolution from a Depression-era orphan in Alabama to an Oxford educated writer and commentator in England in 1962, he was unable to tell his whole story. In this book, he tells his story anew, weaving throughout his original memoir italic passages that reveal the true circumstances of his life.

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Book SynopsisPresents a succession of reminiscences that weave together a shimmering tapestry depicting a lost world. This title is set in Lodz, Poland, in the years between the author's childhood and early maturity, a period overtaken by the cataclysmic events of the 1930s and early 1940s.Trade ReviewEast of Time is the most honest book about the nature of humankind that I have ever read.... Reading it has changed my life. - Alex Miller ""This exquisite memoir chronicles suffering, but also asserts and epitomizes the human spirit's power of creative regeneration. East of Time is a masterpiece."" - Richard Freadman ""East of Time and Lives and Embers are clearly poet's books, advancing not by plot and character psychology, but by image and language. Nevertheless, both manage to create a complete world and to entice the reader into that world.... Part of Rosenberg's importance, I think, is that, though a witness and a survivor, he is not shy about placing art on a hierarchical scale above historical testimony, defying the self-censoring wisdom of the Adornos and the Weisels, and the fears of those who worry that, in this way, he plays into the hands of the deniers. In this way, he serves as a hinge figure between the memoirists and the fictionists, honoring both."" - Joesph Skibell, author of A Blessing on the Moon

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Book SynopsisA rediscovered mountaineering classic and the extraordinary true story of a daring escape up Mount Kenya by three prisoners of war.When the clouds covering Mount Kenya part one morning to reveal its towering peaks for the first time, prisoner of war Felice Benuzzi is transfixed. The tedium of camp life is broken by the beginnings of a sudden idea - an outrageous, dangerous, brilliant idea.There are not many people who would break out of a P.O.W. camp, trek for days across perilous terrain before climbing the north face of Mount Kenya with improvised equipment, meagre rations, and with a picture of the mountain on a tin of beef among their more accurate guides. There are probably fewer still who would break back in to the camp on their return.But this is the remarkable story of three such men. No Picnic on Mount Kenya is a powerful testament to the human spirit of revolt and adventure in even the darkest of places.The hiTrade ReviewFelice Benuzzi's tale is a real joy. An extraordinary adventure written with a light, deft, humorous touch that makes it irresistibly readable. And it certainly shows that the British don't have a monopoly of eccentricity. -- Michael PalinBenuzzi's sketches and his glorious writing and humour make this an incomparable tribute to camaraderie and daring. -- Jane Manaster * San Francisco Book Review *

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