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Britain’s best-loved psychic medium lifts the veil on connecting with hidden higher powers No one knows more about the secrets of the spirit world and the hidden energy that it holds than Britain’s favourite psychic Sally Morgan. And now, for the first time, she shares her knowledge with you. Secret Spirit is Sally’s ground-breaking guide to the power of spirit and how to harness it to improve life, love, health and happiness. She explores the world of spirit, dabbles with the dead and explains how we are all connected to a higher energy that we can plug in to in times of need. She investigates love and loss, recounting some of her most powerful, heart-breaking psychic encounters and reveals how everyone can use their own spiritual capital for better living. At a time when the world craves healing, Sally takes the reader on a journey of discovery to connect with the ancient power of spirit that resides in us all. Drawing on her own amazing encounters with the world of spirit and peppered with anecdotes about her crazy showbiz psychic life, Secret Spirit lifts the veil on life and death and positive spirit power. Sally recounts some of the emotional real-life readings she has had with the spirit world and uses these to tell the hidden story of spirit, providing advice, practical guidance and hope. Part memoir, part self-help guide, this fascinating book takes the reader through the history of spirituality, what it means in the world and how Sally’s version for the modern age can be harnessed in the personal space. Secret Spirit is an uplifting book about hope and happiness, that deals with the dead as well as a brighter way of living – and is told in Sally’s inimitable, lovable, no-nonsense style.

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Line of Duty holds its status as the defining TV crime drama of today. The conspiracy theme of the series chimes at a time when public institutions and representatives are distrusted. Ted Hastings, the show's head of anti-corruption, has emerged as the beating heart of the series. This book reveals how the compelling drama reflects real crimes, events and figures, most notably that of Robert Mark and his battle against Met corruption. ‘None of my people would plant evidence. They know I would throw the book at them… followed by the bookshelf’ Starting with a bang – ‘I’ll put you all back in uniform’ were his first words to his team. New Met Commissioner Robert Mark – the inspiration for Ted Hastings – took on his entire corruption-riddled detective branch in his first brutal speech. The scale of the problem facing Robert Mark was institutionalised corruption in CID. During his four years eleven months as commissioner, he saw 478 men leave the force following or in anticipation of criminal/disciplinary proceedings. Departures in the previous decade had averaged about 16 a year. Mark's extraordinary career established the need for a dedicated team to investigate corruption that lives on today.

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We live in an age of asymmetric warfare. Huge armies no longer face each other on the battlefield. Instead heads of major powers and lone assassins (or martyrs) target each other to pursue their agendas. President Donald Trump felt it necessary to use drones to blow away the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's Qasem Soleimani-a mastermind of terrorism in the Middle East who threatened the lives of US troops-and President Barack Obama felt fully justified in sending in US Navy SEALs to take out Osama bin Laden in Pakistan. This is the nature of modern warfare. And it is only going to get worse. When nineteen-year-old Gavrilo Princip assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian throne, in 1914, he triggered the First World War. Few assassinations have had such devastating consequences, but political assassinations have always changed the world – often in ways that the assassins and their cohorts could not have predicted. The murder of John F. Kennedy left Lyndon B. Johnson free to escalate the war in Vietnam. However, the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. while not derailing the demands for African American civil rights in the US, did lead many to abandoning his commitment to nonviolence and adopting more radical means. In a world globalized by social media, more lone-wolf assassins seek their fifteen minutes of fame by taking out a famous figure, while leaders of world powers have everything to gain by decapitating terrorist organizations, employing the latest surveillance technology to obliterate their leaders. There are forty-eight assassinations that changed the world in this book. Rest assured that in the coming years we will see many more.

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Like No Other Soldier continues the true story told in Fishers of Men of Rob Lewis’s life after he leaves the Force Research Unit (FRU). Staying on in Northern Ireland as a civilian after years of working on undercover missions against terrorists, Rob eventually gains employment in Bristol, undertaking security work, but things don’t work out and Rob ends up living in a squat. After a job offer from an old colleague, Rob heads to London to work in close-protection security for some of Hollywood’s royalty - Tom Cruise, Liam Neeson, Nicole Kidman and Mel Gibson among them - and later becomes involved in the rescue of some very well-connected people from a dangerous religious cult. Rob’s life seems to be getting back on track. But Rob’s work soon becomes more covert, and he ends up being on the wrong side of a police armed response unit whilst undertaking surveillance tasks, and is later arrested as a suspect when the ‘Stevens Enquiry’ building in Belfast - where detectives investigating the alleged collusion between his old unit and Loyalist paramilitaries are based - is set on fire. As Rob becomes involved in ever more shadowy surveillance and private security operations, he attracts further unwanted police attention, this time from the Serious Organised Crime Agency, and he is charged with fraud, found guilty and sentenced to prison at HMP Wandsworth. Can Rob prove his innocence and reclaim his life?

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“I was two when the woman I called Mummy told me, ‘You came out of another mummy’s tummy.’ I grew up thinking that my birth mother didn’t want me. I assumed there must’ve been something inherently wrong with me – why else would a mother give up her baby?” In 1974, Liz Harvie – born Claire Elaine Watts – was given up for adoption by her birth mother Yvonne. Claire was just eight weeks old when her adoptive parents took her in – and renamed her Elizabeth. Although brought up in a ‘perfect’ household, the emotional – and physical – trauma of being taken from her biological mother would never leave Liz. She constantly wondered: what does my real mum look like? Will she come back for me? Why did she abandon me? But whenever Liz voiced such questions, she invariably received the same response: “Your birth parents were not married. They couldn’t look after you.” Years later, aged twenty-eight, Liz reconnected with her birth mother – and finally learned the shocking truth surrounding her adoption. Yvonne had not abandoned her daughter. A social worker had snatched her ten-day-old baby from her arms. “I didn’t even get a final cuddle. She just took her away from me,” says Yvonne. Liz became one of 185,000 victims of forced adoption between 1949 and 1976 in England and Wales. As a young unmarried mum, Yvonne was deemed unfit as a parent by the government, churches, adoption agencies and her father – and made to give up her child against her will. Although reunited, Liz and Yvonne are still struggling to cope with the agony resulting from their devastating separation. As Liz says, “We can’t just skip hand in hand into the sunset. The trauma of being a forced adoptee is lifelong.”

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The astonishing true story of the Scottish coal miner’s daughter who took on the Mafia-backed creators of the world’s biggest financial fraud and helped the FBI to convict them Soon to be a major Hollywood film directed by Scott Z Burns ‘In the 1990s, Erin Brockovich showed what a difference one smart, angry woman can make in a world that marginalized her. Jen McAdam stepped forward in our time to shut down a diabolical fraud that preys those most desperate.’ Scott Z Burns, Director (Contagion and The Bourne Ultimatum)As featured on the hit BBC podcast The Missing CryptoqueenJen McAdam was a victim of the OneCoin global cryptocurrency fraud, which stole an estimated $27 billion from ordinary people around the world. The evil genius of the scam was its target, society’s ‘unbanked,’ not wealthy investors, and it robbed millions of their livelihood and futures. The poor became poorer. The brutal plundering led by self-styled Cryptoqueen Ruja Ignatova defied all legal and banking barriers bamboozling financial authorities — until Jen McAdam fought back. With a £15,000 inheritance from her father, saved from a careful life in a west of Scotland mining town, Jen wanted to invest wisely for her family’s future and was enraptured by the possibilities offered by OneCoin’s promotional material and convincing endorsements from celebrities and financial institutions. They, like all Dr Ruja’s flamboyant promises, were bogus. Jen McAdam was the first victim brave enough to fight back and despite death threats and an intimidating campaign to shut her down, and through a debilitating illness, strived tirelessly for justice – for herself, her family and friends, and the millions around the world who lost everything. She created and continues to lead victims ’support groups and in 2023, as the OneCoin bandits were being punished by international courts, spearheaded a move to get financial compensation for the many whose life hopes were cruelly crushed by the Cryptoqueen. This is a true David-and-Goliath story. It shows us the power we can have as individuals, even when things seem hopeless.

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The ongoing war in Ukraine, between freedom and totalitarianism, has been brewing since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989: the great victory of liberal democracy over communism. In recent decades, authoritarian regimes have proliferated or become emboldened – from Myanmar and North Korea to Venezuela, Saudi Arabia and, of course, China. At the same time, we have seen wildly overpriced stock markets, the emergence of decentralised finance and its associated cryptocurrencies, and the idolization of inordinately expensive things, from watches and customised trainers to rare whiskies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The decoupling of capitalism from democracy, which gathered pace in the 1990s, has fostered an economic system powered by greed alone, able to prosper in brutal dictatorships, unchecked even by the financial crisis of 2007/8. Rampant inequality, fuelled by radically increased money supply, has been the result, with a tiny fraction of the world’s population owning more than the rest put together. This inequality has incited social unrest and contributed to the undermining of faith in the institutions of the democratic state. The citizens of Western democracies have been left to the mercy of unfettered capitalism, becoming data subjects, endlessly surveilled, marshalled and polarised. Today’s extreme capitalism, promoted by Milton Friedman and others, is exemplified by its modern monopolists – Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk, whose fortunes have been built on often immoral, if not illegal actions, and whose headline-grabbing antics appear to be motivated more by ego than any genuine desire to do good for humanity. In the 1990s, an understanding of social justice and an appreciation of democracy still survived, but public discourse has grown increasingly polarised and angry. The authors draw a line from the robber barons of the 1990s tech revolution to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, citing the marginalisation of democratic principles which has enabled the rise of authoritarian populists such as Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, Jair Bolsonaro and, of course, Donald Trump and Boris Johnson. An unanticipated fightback in Ukraine, with support from the EU and the West, has the potential to reclaim the lost spirit of freedom inherent in liberal democracy, but will it be enough?

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'It's the finish line, not the finish time.' In the late 80s, our Rachel was having a boss time as a podium dancer at the Pleasuredrome, Birkenhead. Fast forward several years and she's married, with the kids she's always dreamed of, but the body she's always dreaded. To make things worse, her husband Trevor begins to show his true controlling colours and Rachel blames herself, spiralling into depression. Until she discovers running. Buzzing from her epiphany, the 'Forrest Gump of the Mersey' is derided by Trevor, but catches the attention of some local women, all struggling and vulnerable in their own ways. These disparate women persuade Rachel to lead them in a running club, to get a bit of whatever she's on, where they all discover more than the mere chance to shed a few pounds in this burgeoning sisterhood. Dealing with the dark and many faces of depression with a refreshing lightness of touch unique to this working-class woman from the Wirral, Marathon Mum is an uplifting story of the healing to be found in community, and the corners we can turn when we push ourselves across the line.

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Get up to speed with the rules of the road. A fun collection of puzzles of various kinds, in colour, making use of content, including signs, from The Official Highway Code. An easy and entertaining way to revise for a driver’s licence test or improve your knowledge of The Highway Code. Many of us are hazy about the meanings of less common road signs, or are not up to date on changes to The Highway Code since we passed our test. On the other hand, there are those who are very proud of their encyclopaedic knowledge of UK road signs. These are puzzles for everyone to enjoy. If learning for a driver’s test, this book is the perfect solution for anyone looking for an easier and more enjoyable way to learn and test their Highway Code knowledge. A variety of word- and knowledge-based puzzle types based on the signs and markings of The Highway Code; they range from straightforward through to more challenging, but all are designed to be solvable by the average reader. Can you solve them all?

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'As inspiring as it is enraging, Emily Hunt turns trauma into action, exposing a criminal justice system that fails women, and a culture that enables violence against us. A rallying call for change, and a powerful lesson in perseverance from a woman who would not give up.' The Guardian Emily was in a restaurant, having lunch with her father – the next thing she remembers is waking up, naked, in a strange hotel room, next to a man she did not know. She suspected she had been drugged, raped and later found out she had been filmed without her consent. What happened to her that night could have happened to anyone. What came next happens to far too many victims, as failures by the police, CPS and other parts of the system, led to Emily doubting she would ever find justice. Six years after her attack, Emily is an adviser to the UK Government on sexual violence. Part memoir and part investigation, We Need To Talk looks at how rape is a mainstream, everyday problem deeply damaging victims, their families, their workplaces and the economy. This is a conversation starter about why we don’t talk about rape; that the only cause of rape is rapists, not rape victims; who commits rape and why; the reasons why society defaults to blaming the victim; and ultimately how we need to change and humanise the way we talk about rape in order to truly hear and support victims and end the current epidemic of sexual violence.

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‘A searingly honest account of her journey, from heartbreak to joy’ Daily Mail A mother’s candid and moving account of the challenges and joys of having a Down Syndrome child When Sarah Roberts’s son, Oscar, was born, he was unexpectedly diagnosed with Down Syndrome. Sarah had to rapidly come to terms with a new normal, as she suddenly found her life on a different path to the one she’d always hoped and believed she’d follow. For the Love of Oscar shares a mother’s real and very raw emotions as she comes to terms with that new path, in a story which is nevertheless both heart-warming and funny. Sarah writes candidly about the ups and downs not only of parenthood, but also of parenting a child who just happens to have additional needs. She describes, in vivid and heartbreaking terms, attitudes some have displayed towards her son and her, the often hurtful things said by some people. She describes the hospital appointments, the therapy sessions, the mountains of paperwork, the tantrums and the tears. And she reveals the choices and challenges she faced when she decided that she would like to have more children. Sarah is the author of a multi-award-winning blog called Don’t Be Sorry (www.dontbesorry.info), which aims to help others in a similar situation, but is also her very relatable take on parenting. She spends a great deal of time advocating for improved understanding of Down Syndrome.

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The global Black Lives Matter campaign has given greater exposure to the extent and insidious nature of the structural and systemic racism that exists in all strata of our society and has provided renewed impetus to the urgent need to challenge and eradicate racism in all its forms and wherever it is found. Sadly, sport has not been immune from this, especially so in the case of football. For too long, there were attempts to hide and mitigate racist attitudes and actions within the game, but thanks to the growing profile and visibility of black and minority ethnic (BAME) players both past and present – Viv Anderson, Cyrille Regis, Jimmy Carter, Les Ferdinand, Pat Nevin and Ruud Gullit to name just a few – and almost three decades of education and campaigning led by Kick It Out, attitudes have changed. However, now is not the time to be complacent – there’s still a great deal left to do. Throughout his entire journalistic career, leading sportswriter Harry Harris has championed the fight against racism in football. Now, within these pages, he shines a timely spotlight on the Beautiful Game, revealing the forces within football that have both helped expose and challenge racism – and, at times, sadly, hinder more rapid positive change. Over the years, Harris has gathered an impressively large network of contacts within the game – players, managers, media pundits and association personnel among them. Many of them, such as Greg Dyke, Glenn Hoddle, Ivor Baddiel, Mek Stein, and Jermain Defoe, have spoken exclusively to Harris for this book. Red Card to Racism is not only a welcome addition to the ongoing debate surrounding ending prejudice within football but also a timely and necessary addition to the wider discussion of the need within our evermore global multicultural society for all people, whatever their beliefs, gender, identity, sexuality or ethnic background, to be treated with equity, humanity and respect.

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The police believed Sutcliffe was operating only in the Greater Manchester Police, South Yorkshire Police and West Yorkshire Metropolitan Police force areas, using his car. In fact, Sutcliffe was operating nationally and internationally, using his employer’s lorry to commit attacks. Authors Chris Clark and Tim Hicks have meticulously researched Sutcliffe’s crimes and reveal many of his previously unknown victims for the first time. The police failed to deliver justice for the victims’ families, and the media has failed to hold the police to account for this failure – both in the original investigation and in subsequent cold-case investigations. The authors hope that by bringing more of the facts of the case into the public domain and by telling the victims’ stories, they can help to bring closure for friends and relatives of victims of the Yorkshire Ripper.

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“Enjoy this story. I already jumped to the parts about me.” - Boy George The extraordinary life story of David Hodge – the ‘Very Miss Dusty O’. "My story is one of laughter and hedonism, dressing up and showing off. I played Queen in a parallel universe of glamour, rhinestones and couture outfits. It’s also one of alienation and loneliness and of always being the odd one out. I lived through AIDS, Princess Diana and Thatcher but came out singing and dancing my way through Soho and the West End. I survived a murder attempt and bankruptcy. I am still here. Now I paint my feelings and not my face and once again feel as if my journey is beginning. This is my truth. Grubby at times but mine to tell. Here it is. Uncensored." - David Hodge From a skinny, ginger-haired kid from Walsall who was bullied at school, to the ‘Queen of Soho’, who would rule London’s drag scene in its most dazzling era. This gripping true story follows an unassuming boy, separated from other children and made to sit by the window, on to a remarkable career, with celeb buddies including Kylie Minogue, The Pet Shop Boys, Grace Jones, Cyndi Lauper and, of course, Boy George. But behind the glitter, there was a far darker reality. David worked simultaneously at London Lighthouse, the pioneering centre for the care of people living with HIV and AIDS. Here, the young David grew up fast and opened his eyes to the true impact of this terrifying pandemic. The contrast was stark between the life of David Hodge during the day and the life of Miss Dusty O after dark. After two decades in clubland, as drink and drugs started to take their toll and he feared he was developing his father’s alcoholic patterns, David changed his life yet again…

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In June 2004, 16-year-old Liam Kelly was lured to a location in Liverpool in the early hours of one morning and shot dead. The following year, another Liverpudlian, 22-year-old mother of three, Lucy Hargreaves, was shot dead in her own home. Her partner and their 2-year-old daughter escaped after the house was set alight by leaping from a first-floor bedroom window. For more than fifteen years, six-foot six-inch, broadly built, ginger-haired Kevin Parle has been wanted by the police for both murders. How could he have evaded national and international crime investigators for so long? Who is harbouring him? Author and former Scotland Yard detective and undercover cop, Peter Bleksley, is determined to find the answers. He has immersed himself again in the world of serious and organised crime, this time armed only with a pen, a notebook and a mobile phone. He has vowed not to rest until Parle is found.

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"My life will always be in danger. My beautiful sister Banaz Mahmod was murdered in an ‘honour killing’ ordered by our father and uncle. If those evil men find me, they will kill me too." Bekhal Mahmod was one of six siblings from a Sunni Muslim family in Iraqi Kurdistan who sought a new life as asylum seekers and arrived in London in 1998. When Bekhal's father tried to force her into an arranged marriage at 15, she ran away. This caused her father to ‘lose respect’ within the Kurdish community and Bekhal became the target of an honour killing and her younger sisters Banaz and Payzee were quickly married off to restore the family's reputation. When Banaz left her husband, claiming he'd beaten and raped her, Mahmod decided this 'shame' to the family meant Banaz must die. Within weeks, she had vanished. Her body was finally discovered, crammed into a suitcase and buried in a garden in Birmingham. Banaz, age 20, had been raped and killed in a sickening plot orchestrated by her father and uncle. Still fearing for her own life, Bekhal bravely faced her father and uncle in court - making her the first female in British legal history to give evidence against family members in an honour killing trial - and won justice for her beloved sister Banaz. Bekhal now has a new identity after entering the police witness protection programme. She lives in terror of her father’s release from jail. This is her story.

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Over more than twenty years working as a plumber, Nick has shared thousands of mugs of tea with hundreds of fascinating people. Here he gives his plumber’s-eye view of society in a series of entertaining, amusing and outrageous beneath-the-kitchen-sink dramas. While fixing pipes, Nick was also looking for characters to write about. In his toolbox, in addition to spanners, he had a notebook, which wasn’t just for jotting down measurements. And ‘the secret plumber’ has some great stories to tell, about people who might just be your friends, family or neighbours. There’s the frankly terrifying high-court judge, whose wife calls the shots; the divorcing woman, using him to help her build a rather bizarre botox business; and all the wonderful people he meets when his number is posted on Grindr as an LGBTQ+-friendly plumber. This book is Tales of the Unexpected – in overalls. It shows London as it really is: one of the most diverse places on the planet, ranging from downright dangerous to preposterously posh. To Nick, London is a melting pot, filled with an extraordinary variety of fascinating people, who have one thing in common – they all need a plumber!

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There is something sinister about a British seaside town. On the surface they’re all funfairs and breezy promenades. Yet dig a little deeper in the sand and you soon uncover an underworld of murder, madness and mayhem… Murder by the Sea Vol 1 is a companion book to the long-running true-crime documentary series on CBS Reality. Since 2018 the programme has examined some of the most extraordinary murder cases in Britain’s seaside towns. From Blackpool to Bournemouth, Southport to Pembrokeshire, people love to be beside the seaside, but away from the piers, the arcades and beautiful beaches lurks some dark secrets. Ten of the series’ most powerful and shocking cases feature in Murder by the Sea Vol 1. From serial killers to a 1950s poisoner, from cruel husbands to an unusual murder by a mother and son, these are the true stories of wives, couples and families who had the misfortune to encounter a killer in their everyday lives. With complete access to the extensive interviews conducted by the TV production teams with detectives, forensic psychologists, witnesses and relatives, Murder by the Sea Vol 1 features exclusive additional material and insights that could not be included in the original episodes.

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‘Bobby called. He’s coming to California. He wants to see me.’ Drawing on secret police files, Marilyn Monroe’s private diary and never before published first-hand testimony, this book proves that Robert Kennedy was directly responsible for her death. It details the legendary star’s tumultuous personal involvement with him and his brother, President John Kennedy, and how they plotted to silence her. The new evidence and revelatory statements are provided by Mike Rothmiller who, as a detective of the Organized Crime Intelligence Division (OCID) of the LAPD, had direct personal access to hundreds of restricted LAPD files on exactly what happened at Marilyn Monroe’s Californian home on August 5, 1962. With his training and investigator’s knowledge, Rothmiller used that confidential information to get to the heart of the matter, to the people who were there the night Marilyn died – two of whom played major roles in the cover-up – and the wider conspiracy to protect the Kennedys whatever the collateral damage. There will be those with doubts, but to them, the lawman – who directed international intelligence operations targeting organized crime – says the printed, forensic and oral evidence are totally convincing. He insists: ‘If I presented my evidence in any court of law, I’d get a conviction.’

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The incredible true story of the only woman to have worked during the Second World War as a codebreaker at both Bletchley Park and the Pentagon Betty Webb is the only surviving codebreaker to have worked on both Nazi and Japanese codes at Bletchley Park during the Second World War. This is the tale of her extraordinary life. Betty has had a ringside seat to history. Born one hundred years ago, she spent her childhood in the Shropshire countryside during the 1920s – without heating, electricity or running water. As a schoolgirl, thanks to her mother’s desire for her to learn to speak German proficiently, she took part in an exchange programme and spent time in Nazi Germany. It was 1937 and Germany was on the cusp of war. As a small act of rebellion, she refused to give the Nazi salute alongside her classmates. Back in England, after graduating from school, Betty faced the usual limited opportunities for employment on offer to women at the time. However, with the war in full swing, fate intervened and in 1941, wanting to play her part in the war effort, Betty joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service (Women’s Army). After being interviewed by an intelligence officer, she found herself at Euston station with her kit-bag, a travel warrant in her pocket and instructions to get off the train at Bletchley Park. There, having signed the Official Secrets Act with a gun laid next to her on the table highlighting the enormous importance of the work she was about to do, she joined the ranks of the other men and women ‘codebreakers’. Between 1941 and 1945 Betty Webb played a vital role in the top-secret efforts being made to decipher the secret communications of the Germans and later the Japanese. In 1945, as other members of the forces returned home from the war in Europe, she was sent to the Pentagon and was in Washington DC when the atomic bombs fell and when Eisenhower announced the end of the war. Betty was unable to reveal the true nature of her work, even to her parents, until years later. In this fascinating book, she revisits the key moments of her life and recounts the incredible stories from her time at Bletchley Park.

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This is no ordinary parish, and no ordinary priest - a true story of poverty, haunting, exorcism, birth, death and murder. Seth was a priest. He served for 10 years and 163 days. Then he decided to die. “Have you ever questioned whether you are doing the right thing?” Beginning with his bungled suicide attempt, Faithless charts the incidents within Seth's ministry that led him to that point. From dealing with a cult leader to performing exorcisms in haunted houses, Seth has seen the unimaginable. He has escaped from the clutches of a man who showed signs of being possessed and helped rebuild families after unthinkable tragedy. These incidents in his life have one common thread. A young man struggling to find the right thing to do in some of the most desperate situations. All the time, his once boundless faith was dwindling. Will Seth be forced to take a different path?

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Following Kate Marshall’s first year in the mortuary at a north of England NHS hospital, with each month exploring the people she meets, in life and death, as well as her own growing awareness of life behind the veil. Meet Mr X Found in his apartment months after his death, Mr X has no relatives that can be traced. He is the longest-serving resident of the mortuary, having been there for almost a year while the search for his elusive family continues. The staff talk to him like an old friend, but Mr X is disintegrating and a decision has to be made soon. Meet Mary Her baby girl has been lost in the 15th week of pregnancy, Mary’s last chance to have a child. Mary won’t allow Abigail to leave the mortuary until she has finished reading a book to her. She visits twice each day, sitting with her baby, reading to her, speaking to no one, until she finally opens up to Kate. Meet Joe A loving husband and father who has died suddenly of a heart attack. Joe is visited by his wife, his children – and his mistress. On the day that all his worlds collide, Kate witnesses how death can finally reveal the truth of years of lies. Sorry for Your Loss is haunting, uplifting and informative, with many moments of laughter, and shows us that the way we approach death can make life all the more precious.

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A stolen past, a search for the truth, two lives changed forever Born out of wedlock in Dublin in 1937, Phyllis grew up in a tough, church run orphanage. She thought by fulfilling her dream to become a nurse in England, her life might change, but her loveless childhood predisposed a loveless marriage and things began to spiral out of control for her and for her daughter, Sally. Looking for the answers to why both their lives went so spectacularly wrong, led Sally to ask questions about the real identity of her mother: “Who was she? Why was she abandoned... I needed to find answers before it was too late.” After a mission lasting nearly a decade of searching archives and contacting various organisations, charities and anyone who would listen, Sally finally uncovered the truth.

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A must-read biography of one of the greatest football managers of all time. Sir Alex Ferguson CBE, born 31 December 1941, is a former Scottish football player and was manager of Manchester United from 1986 to 2013. During his 26 years in charge of United, he won more trophies than any other manager in the history of football. Packed with nearly 80 entertaining and exclusive interviews from those who know Ferguson best – friends, colleagues, associates and those who worked with him at both Aberdeen and Manchester United share their unique insight into the innermost secrets of Ferguson’s fascinating life and hugely successful career.

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Throughout the occupied territories, Catholic sisters were active in resistance to the Nazis Based on letters and documents – not seen for seventy years – written by the Catholic Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur during the Nazi occupation of Belgium, this book tells the remarkable story of these brave and faithful women, and how they resisted the German forces. In great detail, these letters document the lives of the sisters and convents under the Nazi regime, revealing the hardships of being bombed and constant hunger, and the executions of innocents. But they also tell the story of how these remarkably courageous women worked to help defeat the Nazis. Throughout the occupied territories, Catholic sisters were active members of the resistance. From running contraband to hiding resisters and Jews, and from spying for the allies to small acts of sabotage, these extraordinary women risked their lives to save others and to help bring an end to the war. This is a story that deserves to be told.

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If we seal off the past, how will we ever know the truth? In 1942, in Nazi-occupied Poland, a Jewish child was smuggled out of the Warsaw ghetto in a backpack. That child was Karen Kirsten’s mother, but she knew nothing about this extraordinary event until one day a letter arrived from a stranger. After Karen eventually discovered the grandparents she loved dearly were in fact not her biological grandparents, she travelled the globe to uncover her family’s past and to find the answers to baffling questions: why did her adoptive grandmother treat Karen’s mother so unkindly? Why did she hide the truth that she was her mother’s aunt? And why, if she appeared to dislike Karen’s mother, did she risk her life to save her and bring her to Australia? Irena’s Gift weaves together a mystery, history and memoir to tell the story of a family torn apart by war. From the glittering concert halls of interbellum Warsaw to the vermin-infested prison where a Jewish woman negotiates with an SS officer to save her sister’s child, Irena’s Gift is about the lies we tell to survive and what happens when those lies unravel. It is about the extraordinary resilience of three generations of women, and the sacrifices made for love.

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Short, quick-fire jokes have been popular for centuries. Indeed the world’s oldest surviving joke book, the Philogelos, which was written in Ancient Greek, contains this classic doctor joke: Patient: “Doctor! When I wake up I’m all dizzy. Then after half an hour I feel fine.” Doctor: “Well, wait half an hour before waking up.” Meanwhile in Rome, they had a gag for every occasion, from senate orations and lavish feasts to throwing Christians to the lions. A Cicero stand-up gig was the hottest ticket in town. Shakespeare readily slipped one-liners into his comedies, while medieval jesters used pithy quips to amuse the royal court, well aware that if the joke backfired and somehow offended the monarch, their next audience might be with the executioner. “Dying on stage” carried a more sinister meaning for comedians in those days. It’s not hard to see why one-liners remain in vogue with today’s comedians. They are easy to remember, quick to deliver and if one gag dies on its feet, the next is waiting in the wings, hopefully to a better reception. Here is a compilation of the best one-liners around – a heady mix of old and new favourites, Dad jokes, thoughtful musings, corny puns and witty observations, covering a vast range of topics from Families to Fish, Money to Music, Relationships to Religion and Technology to Travel. They can be used to brighten up business conferences where the delegates are as tired as the sandwiches; dinner parties where the conversation is threatening to slide into a discussion about spreadsheets; seemingly interminable Zoom calls; and, of course, speeches at weddings that are so emotional that even the cake is in tiers.

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"He's the toughest street fighter alive." Freddie Foreman Picture a man, he’s tall, not excessively so, yet as wide as he is high. This man is a spitting and growling street brawler; a tank full of ready to blow, muscle-fuelled aggression. Imagine, if you will, the comic book style Bulldog of Great British stamp. Well, there you have him! The prototypical face taken from the terraces of an ’80s football fan’s rolled-up newspaper cosh; a poster-boy of malevolence left over from Thatcher’s post-punk Britain. Stormin’ Norman’s his name and when this storm is erupting, he’s like a force-nine gale fused with a hurricane. In his heyday, Norman saw off a plethora of gangland minders, and with his own style of hands-on education, taught Glasgow’s prolific hitman, Billy McPhee, the laws of the Guv’nor’s land. He’s the Godfather of Aylesbury, former British Bare-Knuckle Champion, and undefeated European Boxing Federation ‘Guv’nor’. The loveable lunatic with the heart of a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Yes, this my accidental friends, is the new Guv’nor. He is the man who rebuked many a heathen, but was also everyone’s friend, and for all the right reasons. So, settle in with your favourite tipple, and let us regale you with a lifetime of fronting the doors, serving at Her Majesty's pleasure, righting wrongs, and brutal bare-knuckle tear-ups.

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‘Few would’ve survived Rusty’s ordeal – an incredible story of hope and resilience’ - Stephen McGown, author of Six Years a Hostage Rusty Labuschagne has been through a trauma few have experienced and disclosed. In 2003, the successful Zimbabwean businessman, who ran a safari outfit, flew his own aircraft and had a fishing resort on Lake Kariba, was framed by a poacher, the police, and the courts and wrongfully convicted of drowning a poacher. He served ten years in Zimbabwe’s prisons, including the notorious Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison, where he suffered through food shortages, no running water, and people dying around him daily. Rusty lost everything he had worked so hard for, but most of all, his freedom. His story is a testament to his extraordinary resilience in conditions most would find unbearable. He shares the life lessons he learned – how to harness your inner strength, how to forgive, and how to show gratitude – as he found true freedom through sincerity and humility. Rusty’s is an inspiring story of true grit in the face of great adversity, of a man who loses everything as he is broken by a corrupt political system, but who then rises to fight that system on his own terms. In doing so he rebuilds himself from the inside out.

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New York Post and Toronto Sun crime reporter and author of Cold Blooded Murder, Brad Hunter has spent over thirty years writing about some of America’s most horrific crimes. In this new book he enters the mind of John Wayne Gacy, the real-life ‘Killer Clown’, often said to be the inspiration for Stephen King’s evil Pennywise in It. Gacy lured victims to his home with the promise of work or a warm bed and then duped them into putting on handcuffs, claiming he wanted to show them a magic trick. He would then rape and torture his victims before killing them by suffocating or strangling them. Twenty-six were buried in the crawl space beneath his home; others were buried elsewhere on his property, while a handful were dumped in the Des Plaines River. While Gacy was executed for his sickening crimes in 1994, his terrifying spectre continues to haunt us. At least five of his victims remain unidentified and detectives have always suspected that the known victims were just the tip of the iceberg. Gacy even told one detective that his tally of murders was closer to forty-five victims. How many victims were there? Did Gacy act alone? And what drove John Wayne Gacy to murder? Was it his alcoholic, abusive father or was it something deep within him that caused the seemingly normal Gacy to sexually assault, torture and murder at least thirty-three young men and boys? And who was the John Wayne Gacy who regularly performed at children’s hospitals and charitable events as Pogo, or Patches, the Clown? The Gacy who was a player in local Democratic Party circles? Drawing on his many years’ experience as a crime reporter, investigating and interviewing perpetrators of terrible crimes, Hunter seeks to understand what drove Gacy to unleash a reign of terror in suburban Chicago.

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"My mentor and former boss Alf Wight said that the life of a vet is never dull and how true he was. It is funny looking back that he found fame through his James Herriot books, and now his former surgery and myself have been taken to the nation’s heart once again through our show The Yorkshire Vet. "It just shows what a nation of animal lovers we are and these past few years have been particularly challenging for all of us with the Coronavirus outbreak. But what it has shown me is the comfort and support our pets give us in times like these. All the same, it was this, along with recent changes to my working life that gave me an opportunity to reflect, so I want to look back at some of my favourite cases and share them with you."

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As a child I was always advised to run away from the police rather than seek their assistance and it was with some irony, not to mention family disappointment, that in years to come I would become a lawyer. I have been working in the field of crime for 20 years. From my roots as a local lad from the sticks, I fought all the way to the bottom to become a criminal barrister and, in so doing, faced challenges that I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. Throughout my career I have amassed a corpus of tales which will offend, surprise and hopefully amuse in equal measure. This book is unapologetically rude and irreverent as it recounts my tumultuous journey through a busy London criminal law firm, mental health practice, police stations, magistrates’ courts and the crown courts. It also visits the Court of Appeal and Old Bailey whilst stopping to doff its cap to some of the most notorious and terrifying Judges of the land and does so without any affectation of superiority. At times I question my moral judgement, the status of my own mental health and tackle the commonly asked question: ‘How do you represent somebody you know is guilty?’

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The Sunday Times Bestseller “I was born and broken in Birkenhead, abused from infancy by a network of every kind of pervert from ‘thinks it’s love’ to ‘show it hurts’. I was unwanted, beaten, sold, swapped, photographed, filmed, left for dead, corrupted, blamed, betrayed, ignored and orphaned. But I was also born with a fire inside me. I call it my Phoenix Fire. I am no victim – that word only describes what happened to me. Nor am I a survivor because that implies I am over it. I am a Phoenix – a work in progress. This is my story…”

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"He is the greatest fighter alive today" Daily Express Tyson Fury is colossal - six feet nine inches tall and a whisker under 20 stones in weight. He is spectacularly fast. He has a punch that could knock over a rhino and he can dance and weave like no one since the great Muhammad Ali. When he destroyed the fearsome Deontay Wilder in Las Vegas to become two-time world heavyweight champion in February 2020, the world held its breath. Fury was born in 1988 and named after Mike Tyson, who was then the world heavyweight champion. Tyson comes from a long line of gypsy bare knuckle fighters. His father, Gypsy John Fury and grandfather, Tiger Gorman, both fought as professionals. Tyson's success has not come easily, but he has fought the terrible battles of his personal life as bravely as those in the ring. In this extraordinary biography you will read how he overcame addiction to cocaine and alcohol and lost a staggering eight stone in weight to make his comeback. His bravery in talking about his mental health problems is an inspiration to many. Now he is happy and at the top of his game. There seems little doubt that, for Tyson Fury, Gypsy King of the World, the best is yet to come...

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It was said of the young Frank Sinatra that he came across as ‘St Francis of Assisi with a shoulder holster’. In Frank Sinatra and the Mafia Murders Mike Rothmiller and Douglas Thompson draw on previously secret Los Angeles Police intelligence files, a cache of FBI documents released to the authors in 2021 and extensive interviews with prime sources, including many who worked with Frank Sinatra and many more who tracked his long and fatal association with the American Mafia, notably his ongoing connection, after his original godfather was assassinated: Sam ‘Momo’ Giancana, who shared a lover with President John F. Kennedy. Sixteen days after the assassination of John F. Kennedy on 30 November 1963, nineteen-year-old Frank Sinatra Jr. was kidnapped at gunpoint from his hotel room in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. A $240,000 ransom was demanded from his father. While the FBI and Nevada and California law-enforcement agencies sprang into action, Frank secretly contacted his Mafia friends for help. The Mafia believed they could free young Frank much more quickly through their underworld connections. Some of those they questioned died. Revealed here as never before is the extent to which Sinatra was adopted by the Mafia. They promoted his career and ‘watched his back’ and, in return, Sinatra danced to their tune. New information disclosed here shows that Sinatra also offered to spy for the CIA. Inside sources say Sinatra wanted the CIA to intercede to stop an investigation into his gaming licence in Las Vegas. But the CIA declined because they were already working with the Mob and were concerned Sinatra would learn of the Mafia’s connection to the CIA and leak it.

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"Stunningly descriptive, compelling writing. I was moved close to tears on several occasions.” - Peter James, international bestselling crime writer 'A fabulous story guaranteed to capture people’s imagination' - Mail on Sunday In 1930, at the age of twenty-seven, Liesl Herbst was the Austrian National Tennis Champion, a celebrity in Vienna. Liesl, her husband David and their daughter Dorli came to Britain after escaping the Nazis. In London, though initially stripped of their Austrian passports and rendered stateless aliens, both Liesl and her daughter Dorli competed at Wimbledon. They remain the only mother and daughter ever to have played doubles together at Wimbledon. This moving story of escape and survival is told by Liesl’s grand-daughter. It is as much a search for the author’s own identity as for her own children and grandchildren to ensure that their remarkable family history is never lost again. Illustrated throughout with family photographs and original documents, this is a story of survival against terrible odds, an inspiring tale of resilience and hope.

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A stolen past, a search for the truth, two lives changed forever Born out of wedlock in Dublin in 1937, Phyllis grew up in a tough, church run orphanage. She thought by fulfilling her dream to become a nurse in England, her life might change, but her loveless childhood predisposed a loveless marriage and things began to spiral out of control for her and for her daughter, Sally. Looking for the answers to why both their lives went so spectacularly wrong, led Sally to ask questions about the real identity of her mother: “Who was she? Why was she abandoned... I needed to find answers before it was too late.” After a mission lasting nearly a decade of searching archives and contacting various organisations, charities and anyone who would listen, Sally finally uncovered the truth.

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Georgia Williams’ murder at the hands of college pal Jamie Reynolds was a crime that shocked the nation: chillingly executed and horrific in its sexual depravity. But when Georgia’s devastated mother, Lynnette, and father, Steve, questioned the events leading to their daughter’s death, they discovered it was also entirely preventable. At the time of Georgia’s disappearance, Steve was – ironically – a highly-commended murder squad detective serving with West Mercia Police. The same force, Steve and Lynnette discovered, had had Reynolds in its sights for years before Georgia’s murder, but let him slip their net. Drawing on Steve’s inside police knowledge, the couple exposed the litany of failures that let Reynolds infiltrate their daughter’s life, and allowed him to kill. Now, in her powerful and moving memoir, Lynnette tries to get beyond the platitudes of ‘mistakes made and lessons learned’ to effect real change, and also details the heartbreaking aftermath of a crime that should never have happened.

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End of Innocence is the first in a non-fiction series ('Truly Unforgotten') exploring UK cold cases. The book focuses on the 1978 disappearance of Genette Tate. The 13-year-old schoolgirl vanished while out delivering newspapers on her bicycle in the Exeter countryside; no trace of her was ever discovered. With new and rarely seen comments from family, police and inside the courtroom, the story links her case to the earlier abductions of April Fabb (also 13), Christine Markham (9) and Mary Boyle (6). None of these unsolved cases was assumed to be linked until 1990, when a man was apprehended having just kidnapped a six-year-old girl. That man was Robert Black, a notorious murderer about whom relatively little has been written. The majority of Black’s victims were working-class girls, whose parents lacked the resources to mount private investigations. Genette’s disappearance was by far the most publicised, and the book uses dramatic, fictionalised descriptions based on facts and interviews to compare her case with the others. The book also spotlights the vast difference in police work/co-operation and note-sharing in the 60s and 70s. When Black was eventually caught, he was charged with four murders and sentenced to life, though the true number of his victims was very likely far higher. Police were preparing to charge Black with Genette Tate’s abduction and murder when he died in prison in 2016.

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A fun and informative trip around the highways (not forgetting the low ways) and byways of Great Britain. Within its pages you will find love and romance, murder and mayhem, royalty, aristocrats and commoners, politics and politicians, sex and scandal, sporting triumphs and sporting disasters, millionaires and eccentrics, film stars and train robbers and much more besides. Why were some customers at Harrods offered cognac or smelling salts during their visit to the store? What links DJ “Whispering Bob” Harris to a split pair of velvet trousers? Which high street store issued a patent for a drug to treat syphilis? The staff of which shop had uniforms by Mary Quant and hairstyles by Vidal Sassoon? Who placed a sign on her bedroom door bearing the legend ‘Chief Chick’? Did you know that the cashpoint was invented while someone was having a bath?

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The global smash-hit Netflix documentary mini-series, Tiger King, introduced viewers to the weird, crazy and chaotic life of private zoo owner and big cat breeder, Joe Exotic, and his war against Carole Baskin. Baskin, who runs the Big Cat Rescue in Florida, a sanctuary for abused and abandoned wild cats, waged a long legal battle to have Joe’s exotic animal park in Oklahoma shut down for the maltreatment of his animals. But Carole had her own dark past and Joe wasn’t going down without a fight; he responded by plotting to have her murdered. Tiger Wars delves deeper into this stranger-than-fiction tale and tells the shocking story of this big cat war, the cult-like characters involved and the spiral of obsession that landed Joe Exotic in jail and exposed the dark heart of America’s big cat obsession.

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"Amazing adventures. Apparently I was there." Richard Hammond For over 12 years Phillipa Sage worked alongside Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May as their PA, gofer, and fixer where she saw the boys at their best and, hilariously, at their worst. A closet petrol head, Phillipa started working in the motor industry on live events over 20 years ago and first worked with Jeremy Clarkson in 1997. She proved to be a loyal, trusted friend and colleague to all the presenters—from back in the beginning with Tiff Needell, Vicki Butler-Henderson and Quentin Wilson—to the now infamous trio of Clarkson, Hammond and May, and was a key member of what became known as 'The Bubble', the exclusive, dysfunctional working family that toured the world. With an enormous budget, they travelled like rock stars—with super cars, yachts, private jets, helicopters, and five-star wining and dining—taking their unique brand of motoring madness to 18 countries, 31 cities and to over 2 million fans in arenas and at festivals from New Zealand to Norway. Supported by a large crew and their personal entourage, Clarkson, Hammond and May, when not performing in their extraordinary, high octane, live action, motoring theatre, indulged in extravagant holidays. They and their 'Bubble' family relaxed in luxury resorts or private houses entertaining themselves with pool parties, drinking, heli-sightseeing, drinking, private motorboat cruises, drinking, jet skiing, sailing, drinking and eating, and drinking. In Off-Road with Clarkson, Hammond & May, Phillipa shares the tour highs, lows and laughter of three clever, funny, and very stupid motoring journalists.

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‘A searingly honest account of her journey, from heartbreak to joy’ Daily Mail Sarah’s first book, For the Love of Oscar, tells the story of her first child Oscar’s birth, his postnatal diagnosis of Down Syndrome and his adventures up to the age of four. Don’t Be Sorry continues Oscar’s story, from age four to nine. It covers Oscar’s life in a local mainstream infant school, with all its challenges and triumphs, including friendships and how the other children respond to Oscar. Sarah describes her struggles navigating medical appointments and hospital admissions, all the while maintaining her mission gently to educate others. There are many preconceived ideas and misconceptions about what it means to have a child like Oscar in one’s life. Sarah’s story is one for any parent; it is not just about the highs and lows of having a child with additional needs, but also simply as a mum of three. She talks candidly about coming to terms with the decision to move Oscar to a SEN (Special Educational Needs) school, another big milestone in Oscar’s young life. Whilst Sarah may have found herself on a different path to the one she’d imagined for herself, it has not been a bad one. There is sadness, certainly; and there have been struggles along the way; but there has been so much laughter and happiness, too.

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January, 1945. 14-year-old Moshe Kessler steps off the train at Buchenwald concentration camp. Having endured the horrors of Auschwitz-Birkenau, lost touch with his entire family, and survived the death march in the freezing European winter, he has seen more than his share of tragedy. Moshe knows only one thing about Buchenwald. Everyone knows it. If you want to survive, you have to get to Block 66. The Germans are cruel and determined – but they are not prepared for Buchenwald’s secret resistance, which rises up with one mission only: to protect the camp’s children from harm. This is the incredible true story of Moshe Kessler and Block 66 – the children’s block that was at the forefront of one of the most shocking and inspiring stories of Holocaust survival.

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Conraad de Rosner is a pioneering game ranger, working with dogs to protect wildlife against poachers – both ‘bushmeat’ poachers, who use cruel snares to trap animals, and criminal syndicates killing for rhinoceros horn and capturing critically endangered pangolins, the most trafficked animal in the world. Con’s life – constantly at risk from poachers, wildlife and even his own fellow rangers – has been saved on numerous occasions by his devoted canine companions. His first dog, Zingela, a Weimaraner, saved Con from near certain death at the hands of two fellow rangers; on another occasion, Zingela alerted Con to a concealed wounded buffalo, one of Africa’s most dangerous animals, about to charge. When Zingela was tragically killed, hit by a car while Con was away, the only meagre consolation was that Con had kept Landa, one of the nine puppies sired by Zingela. Landa followed in his father’s footsteps as the leader of the canine anti-poaching team that is still operating today. Con’s story is an epic of modern-day African wildlife conservation, filled with courage, adventure and romance.

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"The highlights of my extraordinary journey with Mr Clarkson included pizza with Harry and Wills; dancing with Mick Jagger on the private island of Mustique (Mick had to pull me up after, shamefully, I could not recover from the twist!); and having happy birthday sung to me by Brian Ferry and Richard E. Grant. I was asked out by Hugh Grant (and went!); partied at what I called Jimmy Carr’s celebtastic weekly house parties attended by Sir Elton John, James Corden and the like; and, at Jerry Hall and Rupert Murdoch’s engagement party, I received the ultimate compliment on my outfit from the Dame Joan Collins. The adventures, laughter, drama and excitement were neverending. Party after party, celeb after celeb, private villas, palaces, MPs and royalty adorned our crazy life on this road less travelled. From the low-budget, dark, smoke- and fume-filled halls of Earls Court Exhibition Centre and the NEC in Birmingham, where the highlights of our nights out were a good curry and gallons of beer followed by ridiculous games of girl-on-girl arm wrestling and the Celebrity Loo Roll Challenge – this entailed Clarkson, Hammond, May or The Stig having to return from the bathroom with loo roll tucked down their trousers, trailing a length of loo paper from cubicle to table without it breaking – Jeremy ascended to great heights, both in his professional career and his personal life. So too did our relationship, leading us both into a social circle that most can only dream of." In The Wonderful World of Jeremy Clarkson, Phillipa Sage shares her continuing adventures – the ongoing highs, lows and constant mayhem – she shared for so many years with Clarkson and his fellow presenters, Hammond and May, some of which she had begun to detail in her first book, Off Road with Clarkson, Hammond and May.

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My mother once said to me, ‘I wish you could feel the way I do for eighteen seconds. Just eighteen seconds, so you’d know how awful it is.’ I thought about it. Realised we could all learn from being in another person’s head for eighteen seconds. Eighteen seconds inside Grandma Roberts’ head as she sat alone with her evening cup of tea, us girls upstairs in bed. Eighteen seconds inside one-year-old Colin’s head when he woke up in a foster home without his family. Eighteen seconds inside the head of a girl waiting for her bedroom door to open.Writer, Louise Beech, looks back on the events that led to the day her mother wrote down her last words, then jumped off the Humber Bridge. She missed witnessing the horror herself by minutes. Louise recounts the pain and trauma of her childhood alongside her love for her siblings with a delicious dark humour and a profound voice of hope for the future. Early Praise for Eighteen Seconds ‘Upsetting, uplifting and inspiring’ John Marrs ‘Authentic, unflinching and moving. Written with compassion and humanity and a great deal of love’ S. E. Lynes ‘A powerful memoir making sense of a complicated childhood’ Madeleine Black ‘Haunting, brave and brilliant’ Gill Paul ‘A heart-breaking, heart-warming story – what courage to tell it, and tell it so well’ Liz Nugent ‘I loved every word of this haunting memoir’ Amanda Prowse

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'An unmissable insight into the true lives behind the county lines gangs. You should read this.' Pippa Crerar, Daily Mirror Top Girl is the tell-all, true story of a grammar school girl turned county lines drug dealer. Danielle has a safe, happy childhood growing up in West London, but her bright future fades as she turns her back on school for gang life and crime. Betrayed by the police after a brutal gang rape, she finds protection under the wing of organised criminals and falls in love with the local ‘top boy’. However, her allegiances bring terror to her doorstep when gun-toting rivals target her flat – and the authorities answer by taking away her baby. Heartbroken, Danielle spirals deeper into gang life and becomes a key player in a sprawling county lines operation, running drugs to satellite towns all over the UK from the gang’s London HQ. The Harrods shopping sprees, designer handbags and hedonistic lifestyle are the envy of her friends, but the good times and cash mask the grim realities of her life. A turning point comes when Danielle is arrested and – with the help of a probation officer – she begins to question whether she really is ‘top girl’ after all. But after five years deep in the high-earning street hustle, can she really leave it all behind? Danielle’s gritty, emotional, no-holds-barred memoir lays bare the reality of a county lines insider and reveals the truth about life on the frontline of Britain’s biggest drug threat for a generation.

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