Search results for ""PROFILE BOOKS""

Robert Wyatt started out as the drummer and singer for Soft Machine, who shared a residency at Middle Earth with Pink Floyd and toured America with Jimi Hendrix. He brought a Bohemian and jazz outlook to the 60s rock scene, having honed his drumming skills in a shed at the end of Robert Graves' garden in Mallorca. His life took an abrupt turn after he fell from a fourth-floor window at a party and was paralysed from the waist down. He reinvented himself as a singer and composer with the extraordinary album Rock Bottom, and in the early eighties his solo work was increasingly political. Today, Wyatt remains perennially hip, guesting with artists such as Bjork, Brian Eno, Scritti Politti, David Gilmour and Hot Chip. Marcus O'Dair has talked to all of them, indeed to just about everyone who has shaped, or been shaped by, Wyatt over five decades of music history.

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Against the odds, former steel worker Harry Perkins has led the Labour party to a stunning victory. Now he's going to dismantle Britain's nuclear warheads, bring finance under public control and dismantle the media empires. But the establishment isn't going down without a fight. As MI5 conspires with the city and press barons to bring Perkins down, he finds himself caught up in a no-holds-barred battle for survival. Described as 'the political novel of the decade' when it was first published, A Very British Coup is as fresh and relevant now as it ever has been.

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This is a book for managers who know that their organisations are stuck in a mindset that thrives on fashionable business theories that are no more than folk wisdom, and whose so-called strategies that are little more than banal wish lists. It puts forward the notion that the application of uncommon sense - thinking or acting differently from other organisations in a way that makes unusual sense - is the secret to competitive success. For those who want to succeed and stand out from the herd this book is a beacon of uncommon sense and a timely antidote to managerial humbug.

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Christ Church, founded by Cardinal Wolsey in 1525, and arguably the grandest college in the University of Oxford, has been the subject of only one previous history. Now Judith Curthoys, the college archivist, presents a new and fascinating account of this unique institution - a joint foundation of college and cathedral with its own peculiar constitution. Despite having been described as like cream ('rich, thick and full of clots'), Christ Church has never been just a refuge for the elite, and over the centuries it has produced a dazzling list of famous and learned men and (since 1980) women. We learn of its traditions and its eccentricities: from its early emphasis on prayer and discipline to the intricacies of its early plumbing; and from its strong associations with music, architecture and art to its battles (both ancient and modern) with student drunkenness. We learn too of the sometimes extraordinary power and influence of the Dean, the college's head, and at times of the reigning monarch too - Charles I even made it his headquarters during the Civil War. Above all, we see not an ivory tower, but a great institution that has survived all the vicissitudes of English history; adapting to, and often influencing, the constant tide of social, political, academic and ecclesiastical change.

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England, says Matthew Engel, is the most complicated place in the world. And, as he travels through each of the historic English counties, he discovers that's just the start of it. Every county is fascinating, the product of a millennium or more of history: still a unique slice of a nation that has not quite lost its ancient diversity. He finds the well-dressers of Derbyshire and the pyromaniacs of Sussex; the Hindus and huntsmen of Leicestershire; the goddess-worshippers of Somerset. He tracks down the real Lancashire, hedonistic Essex, and the most mysterious house in Middlesex. In Durham he goes straight from choral evensong to the dog track. As he seeks out the essence of each county - from Yorkshire's broad acres to the microdot of Rutland - Engel always finds the unexpected . Engel's England is a totally original look at a confused country: a guidebook for people who don't think they need a guidebook. It is always quirky, sometimes poignant and often extremely funny.

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It is difficult to think of a more quintessential symbol of the British countryside than the British Hedgerow, bursting with blackberries, hazelnuts and sloes, and home to oak and ash, field mice and butterflies. But as much as we might dream about foraging for mushrooms or collecting wayside nettles for soup, most of us are unaware of quite how profoundly hedgerows have shaped the history of our landscape and our fellow species. One of Britain's best known naturalists, John Wright introduces us to the natural and cultural history of hedges (as well as ditches, dykes and dry stone walls) - from the arrival of the first settlers in the British Isles to the modern day, when we have finally begun to recognise the importance of these unique ecosystems. His intimate knowledge of the countryside and its inhabitants brings this guide to life, whether discussing the skills and craft of hedge maintenance or the rich variety of animals, plants, algae and fungi who call them home. Informative, practical, entertaining and richly illustrated in colour throughout, A Natural History of the Hedgerow is a book to stuff into your pocket for country walks in every season, or to savour in winter before a roaring fire.

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Why is the Victoria Line so hot? What is an Electrical Multiple Unit? Is it really possible to ride from King's Cross to King's Cross on the Circle line? The London Underground is the oldest, most sprawling and illogical metropolitan transport system in the world, the result of a series of botch-jobs and improvisations.Yet it transports over one billion passengers every year - and this figure is rising. It is iconic, recognised the world over, and loved and despised by Londoners in equal measure. Blending reportage, humour and personal encounters, Andrew Martin embarks on a wonderfully engaging social history of London's underground railway system (which despite its name, is in fact fifty-five per cent overground). Underground, Overground is a highly enjoyable, witty and informative history of everything you need to know about the Tube.

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In 1187, nearly a century after the victorious First Crusade, Saladin captured Jerusalem. The Templars, headquartered on the Temple Mount, were driven from the city along with the Frankish population.The fall of Jerusalem was a turning point, the start of a narrative of desperate struggle and relentless loss. In little more than a century Acre would be destroyed, the Franks driven from Outremer, and the Templars themselves, reviled and disgraced, would face their final immolation. Michael Haag's new book explores the rise and fall of the Templars against the backdrop of the Crusader ideal and their settlement venture in Outremer. Haag argues that the Crusader States were a rare period when the population of Palestine had something approaching local rule, representing local interests - and the fall of Jerusalem to Saladin was a disaster. He contends that the Templars, as defenders of the Crusader States, were made scapegoats for a Europe whose newfound nationalism caused it to withdraw support for the Crusader venture. Throughout, he charts the Templars' rise and fall in gripping narrative, with their beliefs and actions set in the context of their time.

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The ruined silhouette of the Parthenon on its hill above Athens is one of the world's most famous images. Its 'looted' Elgin Marbles are a global cause celebre. But what actually are they? In a revised and updated edition, Mary Beard, award winning writer, reviewer and leading Cambridge classicist, tells the history and explains the significance of the Parthenon, the temple of the virgin goddess Athena, the divine patroness of ancient Athens.

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There are some mathematical problems whose significance goes beyond the ordinary - like Fermat's Last Theorem or Goldbach's Conjecture - they are the enigmas which define mathematics. The Great Mathematical Problems explains why these problems exist, why they matter, what drives mathematicians to incredible lengths to solve them and where they stand in the context of mathematics and science as a whole. It contains solved problems - like the Poincaré Conjecture, cracked by the eccentric genius Grigori Perelman, who refused academic honours and a million-dollar prize for his work, and ones which, like the Riemann Hypothesis, remain baffling after centuries. Stewart is the guide to this mysterious and exciting world, showing how modern mathematicians constantly rise to the challenges set by their predecessors, as the great mathematical problems of the past succumb to the new techniques and ideas of the present.

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For three centuries the capitalist system has shaped western society, informed its rulers, and conditioned the lives of its people. Has the time come to move beyond it? Using his unrivalled knowledge of the subject, Harvey lays bare the follies of the international financial system, looking at the nature of capitalism, how it works and why sometimes it doesn't. He examines the vast flows of money that surge round the world in daily volumes well in excess of the sum of all its economies. He looks at the cycles of boom and bust in the world's housing and stock markets and shows that periodic episodes of meltdown are not only inevitable in the capitalist system but essential to its survival. The Enigma of Capital is a timely call-to-arms for the end of the capitalism, and makes a compelling case for a new social order that would allow us to live within a system that could be responsible, just and humane

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This international bestseller, which foreshadowed a market crash, explains why it could happen again if we don't act now. Fractal geometry is the mathematics of roughness: how to reduce the outline of a jagged leaf or static in a computer connection to a few simple mathematical properties. With his fractal tools, Mandelbrot has got to the bottom of how financial markets really work. He finds they have a shifting sense of time and wild behaviour that makes them volatile, dangerous - and beautiful. In his models, the complex gyrations of the FTSE 100 and exchange rates can be reduced to straightforward formulae that yield a much more accurate description of the risks involved.

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'Why is there a world rather than nothing at all?' remains the most curious and most enduring of all metaphysical mysteries. Moving away from the narrower paths of Christopher Hitchens, Roger Penrose and Stephen Hawking, the celebrated essayist Jim Holt now enters this fascinating debate with his broad, lively and deeply informed narrative that traces all our efforts to grasp the origins of the universe. With sly humour and a highly original personal approach Holt takes on the role of cosmological detective. Suggesting that we might have been too narrow in limiting our suspects to God and the Big Bang, he tracks down, among others, an eccentric Oxford philosopher, a Nobel Laureate physicist, a French Buddhist monk, and John Updike just before he died, to pursue this cosmic puzzle from every angle. As he pieces together a solution - while offering useful insights into time, consciousness, and eternity - he sheds fascinating new light on the meaning of existence. A New York Times bestseller on first publication, this new paperback edition provides a much-needed new take on history's greatest conundrum, in the vein of previous bestsellers like Michael Brooks' 13 Things that Don't Make Sense.

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Today we view Cézanne as a monumental figure, but during his lifetime (1839-1906), many did not understand him or his work. With brilliant insight, drawing on a vast range of primary sources, Alex Danchev tells the story of an artist who was never accepted into the official Salon: he was considered a revolutionary at best and a barbarian at worst, whose paintings were unfinished, distorted and strange. His work sold to no one outside his immediate circle until his late thirties, and he maintained that 'to paint from nature is not to copy an object; it is to represent its sensations' - a belief way ahead of his time, with stunning implications that became the obsession of many other artists and writers, from Matisse and Braque to Rilke and Gertrude Stein. Beginning with the restless teenager from Aix who was best friends with Emile Zola at school, Danchev carries us through the trials of a painter tormented by self-doubt, who always remained an outsider, both of society and the bustle of the art world. Cézanne: A life delivers not only the fascinating days and years of the visionary who would 'astonish Paris with an apple', with interludes analysing his self-portraits, but also a complete assessment of Cézanne's ongoing influence through artistic imaginations in our own time. He is, as this life shows, a cultural icon comparable to Monet or Toulouse.

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*** THE TIMES CRIME BOOK OF THE MONTH ***''A master storyteller '' - GUARDIAN''A writer at the top of his game... Sanctuary is a superlative chase thriller'' - THE TIMES''Disher is the gold standard for rural noir'' - CHRIS HAMMERNO ONE CAN RUN FOREVER... Grace is a thief - a good one. But she''s always on the move, always looking over her shoulder, always alone. It''s not the life she wants. Then a run-in with an old associate forces her to lie low in a small rural town, where she happens across an antiques shop. The owner Erin is timid but friendly, and has a room to rent. And Grace glimpses a different life, and perhaps a home. But there are dangerous men watching her, and Grace should know better than to let her guard slip. Because no matter how far she runs, her past is always just a few steps behind... From the multiple Ned Kelly Award-winning author of Consolation comes a stunning new standalone thriller for readers of Jane Harper, Ian Rankin and Chris Hammer.''Disher is one of

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Artificial Intelligence will create gigantic benefits for humankind but will become more powerful than many governments, with purposes and plans of its own, and the ability to alter the very basis of life on earth. Many believe that AI poses a threat to human dominance.In this punchy, follow-up to his bestselling The Future of (Almost) Everything, leading futurist Patrick Dixon has written an in-depth but accessible exploration of AI, looking at the future of the subject and assessing both threats and benefits - from health and education to cybersecurity, business and the world of work.How AI Will Change Your Life looks at likely outcomes for both individuals and businesses in all areas of life and provides advice for the reader and a charter for governments to exploit the benefits and avoid the risks.

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''The reigning Queen of Classics'' Spectator''Mary Beard is the best in the business'' Dan Snow''Excellent'' Guardian''Enthralling'' Sunday TimesBritain''s most famous classicist asks: what are civilisations?Central to this huge question are the ways in which we have depicted the human and the divine from prehistory to the present day. And across such iconic creations as Angkor Wat, the Ravenna mosaics and China''s terracotta army, one ancient representation of the human body still influences (or distorts) how people in the West see not only their own culture but that of others.From idolatry to iconoclasm, Mary Beard shines her spotlight on the artists who made art, and on those who have used, viewed, or interpreted it - and asked how to look with the eye of faith.

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'A must-read to take your team to the next level' - Marshall Goldsmith 'A compelling roadmap' Daniel H. Pink AN EXPERT GUIDE TO TRANSFORMING YOUR TEAMWORK AND RESULTS, ONE SMALL STEP AT A TIME WINNER OF BOOKPAL'S OUTSTANDING WORKS OF LITERATURE: MANAGEMENT AND CULTURE Habits are crucial for personal productivity. But we rarely work alone: achieving our goals depends on how well we work with others. And teams have their own habits that can accelerate - or block - success. In this essential handbook, productivity and teamwork expert Charlie Gilkey shows how to cultivate, implement and maintain the small habits that lead to big results for any team. From the Team Habits quiz, where you can identify the habits you need to build (or break) to a roadmap for putting them into practice, this book is full of clear, simple actions to: - run more productive meetings - eliminate pointless emails - make better, swifter decisions - create a stellar culture of belonging Team Habits is the difference between teamwork that feels like a struggle and collaboration that empowers everyone to deliver their best.

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'This book is funny, clever and, at times, heartbreaking. In other words, Jewish' David Baddiel '[Baum is] intellectually luminous, psychologically penetrating, existentially anxious, and wonderfully funny' Zadie Smith 'Hilarious and thought-provoking' David Schneider The Jewish joke is as old as Abraham, and like the Jews themselves it has wandered over the world, learned countless new languages, worked with a range of different materials, been performed in front of some pretty hostile crowds, but still retained its own distinctive identity. So what is it that animates the Jewish joke? Why are Jews so often thought of as 'funny'? And how old can a joke get? The Jewish Joke is a brilliant - and very funny - riff on Jewish jokes, about what marks them apart from other jokes, why they are important to Jewish identity and how they work. Ranging from self-deprecation to anti-Semitism, politics to sex, it looks at the past of Jewish joking and asks whether the Jewish joke has a future. With jokes from Amy Schumer, Lena Dunham and Jerry Seinfeld, as well as Freud and Marx (Groucho mostly), this is both a compendium and a commentary, light-hearted and deeply insightful.

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''The funniest imaginable version of a grief memoir and brilliantly unpacks male vanity and insecurity'' GUARDIAN BOOK OF THE DAY''Stuart is made for baldness'' LARRY DAVID''A genuine tonic and very funny read'' NATHAN FILER''Excellent and should be read by vaguely vain men of all hair types'' SIMON USBORNEThis is a guide to life in the club that nobody wants to join.Nobody chooses to be bald. Nobody wants to look into the mirror and be confronted with an absence. Nobody gains any comfort from having a slightly better idea of what their skull looks like. Stuart Heritage has been bald for two years. But before he accepted the inevitable, he spent a number of years ineptly trying to conceal this fact with an array of expensive treatments and terrible haircuts. Can a man go bald with dignity? Maybe. But can a man go bald with more dignity than Stuart Heritage? Oh good god yes, and this book is his attempt to make that happen for you.Part-manual-part-tantrum, this is a self-deprecating,

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'F****** genius!' Stanley Tucci Some years ago, Ingrid Swenson began collecting found shopping lists from the same North London Waitrose. Enlightening and funny, fascinating, and poetic, these private notes to self-detailing someone's weekly shop-rocket and antibacterial wipes, treacle and prawns, fags and milk - invite us to speculate on and imagine the private universes of their authors. They are, in effect, domestic haikus, scribbled on the back of letters and bills. Having formed the basis of an exhibition at the Art Workers' Guild in 2017, Shopping Lists documents a consuming fascination - of both Swenson's and her subjects' - providing an amusing, insightful and occasionally profound insight into the lives of ordinary Londoners.

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''Every detail is sharply placed ... a scorching sense of humor and a soft spot for humanity down here on Earth'' The New York Times''Fleishman Is In Trouble, but in space'' Bobby PalmerA NEW YORK TIMES READERS'' FAVOURITE OF 2023LONGLISTED FOR THE 2023 SCOTIABANK GILLER PRIZEKevin is a thirtysomething homebody, happily committed to his hydroponics-expert girlfriend, Amber, as they grow weed in their basement in Vancouver.Out of the blue, Amber announces that she has been selected for a reality show where she will compete for one of two seats on the first human-led mission to Mars. If selected, she must stay on Mars for good, because the technology to come home doesn''t exist yet. Is this a suicide mission or a bold new frontier? Girlfriend on Mars is the story of love unravelling in a world where truth is dictated by Facebook ads and ''reality TV'' is as scripted as any politician''s speech. With rapt viewers voting for Amber to stay on the show and crates of Mars-mission branded p

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'A must-read for any executive seeking a re-set in a fast-changing world.' Grant Duncan, Senior Client Partner, Korn Ferry Whether setting out on your career or already ensconced in the boardroom, you will not succeed on your own. You need others to choose to listen, buy into and come with you. Global leadership expert Larry Robertson highlights communication as the most critical yet least well practised aspect of leadership, using his 3 Qualities of True Leadership: Authenticity (AQ), Empathy (EQ) and Intent (IQ). WHY YOU? is packed with stories, examples and tools to help you lift your game holistically, both as a true leader and a better person. Drawing on his own extensive experience of coaching the world's leading executives, Larry offers advice into many of the challenges that current and potential leaders face: Negotiating the near impossible deal Taking organisations to the top Invigorating teams Managing tensions Winning over sceptical stakeholders Leveraging the value of diversity Building a meaningful career Pitching ideas successfully Creating a personal legacy

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'An anthem! A permission slip! Freedom to be us in full glory and messiness ... a fun and freeing read' Melissa Hemsley 'What a powerful, freeing, thought-provoking read this is. I let out a breath I hadn't even realised I was holding' Anna Mathur You do not have to be good. At some point, you'll have absorbed the message that being good is to be calm, efficient and tidy. Wise and well-meaning people offer to help you become worthy, to be positive and productive and to always say 'yes, I can!' But what if this is wrong? And what if some of the things we've been told are bad, are just as useful as the good? Blending science, expert interviews and practical advice, here is the flipside of everything we've been told we should be - and how the bad parts are really not so bad after all. You'll discover: - Why it's helpful to feel angry - How it's counterproductive to always be productive - How laziness can improve your relationships - Why your body is, and has always been, absolutely fine - How clutter inspires creativity and enhances your sense of place - Why mindlessness is good for your mental health Be Bad, Better is not an invitation to start misbehaving but it is about taking what you think are your worst bits and asking what they could do to serve you. Examining how society polices our behaviour and artificially constructs the good and bad, here is a thoughtful and eminently helpful guide to reassessing your ideas of success, embracing every part of yourself and being bad, better.

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'Beautifully written, full of wisdom and wonderful secondary characters. I loved it' Daily Mail 'A glowing, generous novel' Irish Times 'A warm, unsentimental and beautifully-observed book for our times' Lucy Caldwell, author of These Days Grace lives alone in Ballybrady, a little village on the sublimely beautiful east coast of Northern Ireland. She fills her days with swimming, fishing, quilting, and baiting the tourists who arrive from the city with more money than sense. She hasn't left the village since a traumatic stay in London as a young woman at the end of the 1980s. One of the tourists is Evan, taking an enforced holiday from his family and work in Belfast after breaking down after the death of his daughter in infancy. He has come to try to process his grief and make himself desirable again as a husband, a father and a business partner. But he hasn't been there a week until he gets trapped by lockdown. When Grace saves his life in a kayaking accident - if it was an accident - and Evan's troubled son arrives to stay, all three are drawn together in a way that forces a reckoning with their personal traumas and draws them back into society. This is a moving and funny debut novel set in a quirky coastal community you will be desperate to visit after reading. It will appeal to readers of Elizabeth Strout, Maggie O'Farrell and Alice Munro.

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Trees have played countless roles in human history - by turns hopeful symbols of freedom, pioneering space travellers, keepers of ancient history and accessories to murder. From art to politics, science to crime, these are the stories of the trees that have shaped life on Earth.Neurobiologist and philosopher Stefano Mancuso brings his signature charm and eye for unforgettable detail to tell eight stories of trees that have rooted themselves in human history - from the red spruces that were made into Stradivarius'' violins to the wooden ladder that solved ''The Crime of the Century''. Combining scientific vigour with his inimitable voice, Mancuso reveals the amazing ways that the world''s green-print has shaped the course of our lives, issuing a passionate rallying cry for greater care and attention towards the plants that have helped us survive and thrive.

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''Irresistible - a funny, sexy romp that''s also smart, even wise'' Kirkus starred review''Pure elegance, subtlety and wit. A triumph of a novel'' - Francesca Segal, author of Mother ShipIt is 1954, and prostitution is legal in the tropical haven that is Verona Island. Here, among gangsters and corrupt lawmen, Lila Gulliver runs a brothel that promises her exclusive clientele privacy and discretion. When nineteen-year-old Carità, beautiful and blind since birth, comes to her door seeking employment, Mrs Gulliver sees a business opportunity and takes a chance. Carità is mesmerising, sharp and a mystery to her employer, always holding herself at a distance.One night, the son of a wealthy judge patronises Mrs Gulliver''s establishment, immediately falling madly in love with Carità. This is Ian Drohan - young, idealistic and cushioned by wealth and family connections. Mrs Gulliver mistrusts him, and worries for Carità''s future. Carità, on the other hand, is fearless, headstrong and a forc

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''Cats love to play: here is THE book that shows you how to join in! And your cat will thank you for it'' John Bradshaw, Sunday Times bestselling author of In Defence of Dogs and Cat Sense''Trust me, Play with your Cat is an indispensable addition to any cat lover''s library!'' Jackson Galaxy, New York Times bestselling author and star of My Cat from HellWhat does a cat need besides food, a comfortable home and access to a good vet? PLAY!This practical guide from leading cat behaviour scientist Mikel Delgado explains how interactive play is at the centre of your cat''s overall health. Revealing how it mimics the hunting experience that shaped cats'' evolution, Play With Your Cat! includes:- Advice on selecting toys and setting up your home environment for the perfect play session - Guidance on specific play techniques to exercise your cat''s body and mind - Tips on engaging nonchalant, anxious and uninterested kitties - How to use play to address behavioural issues like aggression and

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'A superb debut novel... Anyone who enjoyed The White Lotus will love Thomas's scalpel-sharp skewering of the mores and idiocies of the idle rich' Observer' 'A classy thriller that will appeal to fans of Leila Slimani's Lullaby . . . A hot holiday read to brighten up the last few weeks of winter' Sunday Times Queen K is as compulsive as a Netflix binge, but it also asks timely questions about status and what constitutes a dignified life' Sheena Patel, Guardian 'Balzac in Balenciaga... Queen K lures you in with escapist, beach-read vibes, then bares its teeth with a devastating portrait of the emotional cost of greed' Times 'Patricia Highsmith-esque ... an untrustworthy narrator judging her employer's life of excess and desperate attempts to infiltrate a glittering world' Evening Standard, 'The Debuts You'll Love in 2023' 'A dark and brilliant read . . . our bet is that this is going to be on the small or big screen' Glamour On a balmy evening in late March, an oligarch's wife hosts a party on a superyacht moored in the Maldives. Tables cover the massive deck, adorned with orchids, champagne bottles, name cards of celebrities. Uniformed staff flank a red carpet on the landing dock. This is what Kata has wanted for a long time: acceptance into the glittering world of high society. But there are those who aim to come between Kata and her goal, and they are closer to home than she could have imagined. Witness to the corruption and violence underneath the shiny surfaces is Mel, a young English woman employed to tutor Kata's precocious daughter and navigate her through the class codes of English privilege. Now the closest Mel gets to such privilege is as hired help to the wealthy, and she is deeply resentful. Exquisitely written and deliciously unreliable, Queen K takes the reader to some of the most luxurious places in the world. But a dark refrain sounds from the very beginning of the story and grows towards its operatic finale: a novel about insatiable material desire can only ever be a tragedy. 'A world of butter-cream-beige luxury, brimming with toxicity and darkness, that pulls you in, and under' Calla Henkel, author of Other People's Clothes

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A classic poem with a timeless message, presented in a small and beautiful gift book. Rose Milligan never intended to publicly share her poem 'Dust If You Must', but a series of events led her to publish it in The Lady magazine in 1998. Her charming message about what we value in life resonated with audiences, and it has since been read on BBC radio, posted on Instagram, printed on tea towels, read at funerals and put to music. Now appearing as a book for the first time, beautifully illustrated throughout by illustrator Hayley Wells, Dust If You Must is a timeless reminder to focus on the things we can enjoy in the world, rather than the things we think we need to do.

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Salomé was bullied for years and no one did a single thing to help her. One day she finally snapped. Now at just sixteen years old, she's being held in a secure unit for young offenders Salomé's counsellor, the man whose good opinion is key to her release, is best known for his racist gaffes on reality TV. Her father has recently been diagnosed with liver cancer and her elder sister Miriam's main preoccupation is to get out of their small, close-minded village as soon as possible. Both at home and in the unit, things are unbearably tense. Salomé finds it hard to keep her temper and harder still to think about the crime she is charged with committing. But as time passes, she finds new strength to delve into the reasons for her rage and arrive at her own understanding of punishment, penitence and the paradoxical demands made on her existence as a Black woman. Raw and unsentimental, Confrontations is a powerful depiction of racism and resilience from one of the Netherlands' most exciting new literary voices.

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'The Long Answer is a triumph of human portraiture, as subtle as it is seething' Sunday Times 'A startling meditation on grief and family and betrayal and the stories we tell about ourselves ... introspective, psychologically astute, and engaging' Kirkus starred review 'There were other women, how many other women, who had felt and wanted what I'd felt and wanted, and felt and wanted differently too. Anywhere I've been and will go next, there they will be.' Twelve weeks pregnant for the first time, Anna speaks to her sister on the other side of the country and learns she has just miscarried her second child. As this loss strains their bond, and complications with Anna's own pregnancy emerge, her tenuous steps towards motherhood are shadowed and illuminated by the women she meets along the way, whose stories of the babies they have had, or longed for, or lost, crowd in. The Long Answer is a stunning novel of secrets kept and secrets shared. Deeply empathetic and hugely absorbing, it unravels the intimate dynamics of female friendship, sisterhood, motherhood and grief, and the ways in which women are bound together and pulled apart by their shared and contrasting experiences of pregnancy, abortion, miscarriage and infertility.

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Anat Levit never considered herself a cat lover, but when her life was thrown into upheaval, she found herself adopting one cat at the suggestion of her daughters, and then six more in quick succession. She recounts how each cat came into her life, their distinct demeanours and curiosities, and their ability to live fully in each moment. Anat falls in love with the furry creatures, whose escapades and tribulations lead her into deep friendships, difficult decisions and unexpected insight into her relationships. The cats love her in the way she wishes she could love others: intensely yet independently, without renouncing their unique personalities. By caring for these cats, Anat comes to a deeper understanding of her connections with former lovers, her daughters and her own body. In Seven Cats I Have Loved, she delves into the feline mind with sensitivity, gentleness and compassion, while also revealing a moving human story.

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Anat Levit never considered herself a cat lover, but when her life was thrown into upheaval, she found herself adopting one cat at the suggestion of her daughters, and then six more in quick succession. She recounts how each cat came into her life, their distinct demeanours and curiosities and their ability to live fully in each moment. Anat falls in love with the furry creatures, whose escapades and tribulations lead her into deep friendships, difficult decisions, and unexpected insight into her relationships. The cats love her in the way she wishes she could love others: intensely yet independently, without renouncing their unique personalities. By caring for these cats, Anat comes to a deeper understanding of her connections with former lovers, her daughters and her own body. In Seven Cats I Have Loved, she delves into the feline mind with sensitivity, gentleness, and compassion, while also revealing a moving human story. translated by Yardenne Greenspan

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'A legendary writer entirely on his own account' Observer 'Stunningly good' Guardian Gloria Goltz's intellectual ambitions are derailed when she meets Leonard at college. Self-taught, blue-collar, possessor of an aggressive intelligence, Leonard claims to hold the key to unlocking her potential. After making her pregnant, he disappears. Her son Corey grows up without a father, looking for a male role model ­- and restless, dreaming of a great adventure. Instead, when Corey is fifteen, Gloria is diagnosed with motor neuron disease, and his estranged father - this man of domineering charisma and dubious moral character - returns. Determined to be his mother's hero at any cost, Corey begins shouldering responsibility for her expensive medical care, pushing himself to his physical and emotional limits as her disease progresses. And as Leonard's influence over son and mother grows, Corey must dismantle the myth of his father's genius and confront the evil that lurks beneath it. Atticus Lish won a Pen/Faulkner award for his debut Preparation for the Next Life, a novel 'described as the finest and most unsentimental love story of the new decade' in The New York Times. His second novel confirms Lish as a beguiling storyteller and a prose stylist of extraordinary emotional reach and beauty.

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The 'Chalet des Anglais' on Mont Blanc, home to the longest-running university reading party, is a unique survivor from Victorian and Edwardian Oxford, established in 1891 and continuing today. The story of this remarkable institution has never previously been reported. Oxford University on Mont Blanc: The Life of the Chalet des Anglais records the life of the reading parties and of the notable personalities involved in them, including Harold Macmillan and Lord Hailsham. The writers Evelyn Waugh, Rupert Brooke and John Betjeman also feature in the history of the Chalet. The book explores the effects within the background of a collegiate university that this unique institution has had on the lives of those involved. The chalet is a unique lens through which to understand what is meant by a collegiate university and also to illustrate the implications of close student-tutor relationships over the last century.

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A dark and magnificently inventive upmarket thriller about the lengths a lone woman will go to protect her home, and the family history it hides within its walls.

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In Floor Sample, the author of the international bestseller The Artist's Way weaves an honest and moving portrayal of her life. From her early career as a writer for Rolling Stone magazine and her marriage to Martin Scorsese, to her tortured experiences with alcohol and Hollywood, Julia Cameron reflects in this engaging memoir on the experiences in her life that have fuelled her own art as well as her ability to help others realise their creative dreams. She also describes the fascinating circumstances that led her to emerge as a central figure in the creative recovery movement - a movement that she inaugurated and defined with the publication of her seminal work, The Artist's Way. Julia Cameron is a passionate and wry observer of the world and describes her life as a 'floor sample' for all she teaches in her brilliant books on creativity. Floor Sample is an absorbing literary memoir that will surprise, entertain, and inspire Julia's many fans and win her new admirers.

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'Haunting and atmospheric' - DAILY MAIL 'Tina Baker's best yet' - JANICE HALLETT 'Compelling and suspenseful' - LISA HALL Everyone brings their secrets to the island... On the beautiful and windswept island of Tresco, two worlds live side by side. The wealthy visitors come by helicopter to stay at their lavish time-share properties. The estate staff travel by boat, and work all hours to keep them happy, to keep the money flowing in. But while the blue skies and savage waves make the island seem a wild paradise, under the surface the inhabitants are concealing more than they dare reveal. The truths about their marriages, their love affairs, and what they do in the darkness while their neighbours are sleeping. As black clouds come rolling in and a storm hits the island, truths and rumours begin to tumble out, wreaking terrible damage. In the midst of the tempest, two women are attacked and one goes missing. The secrets of this fragile community can no longer be hidden if it hopes to survive. The islanders must finally reveal what they did in the storm, no matter the cost. From the #1 bestselling author of Call Me Mummy comes a dark and luscious thriller, perfect for readers of Harriet Tyce, Amanda Jennings and Louise Candlish. 'An irresistible read' - LESLEY KARA 'Clever and complex' - HELEN FIELDS

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'Moving, dramatic and darkly humorous' - DAILY MAIL 'Brings a whole new meaning to domestic noir' - THE TIMES 'Funny, grim and very touching' - HARRIET TYCE She will leave your surfaces sparkling. But she may well leave you dead... Maria is a good woman and a good cleaner. She cleans for Elsie, the funny old bird who's losing her marbles, with the terrible husband. She cleans for Brian, the sweet man with the terrible boss. She cleans for the mysterious Mr Balogan with the terrible neighbours. But if you're thinking of hiring her, you should probably know that Maria might have killed the terrible husband, the terrible boss and the terrible neighbours. She may also have murdered the man she loved. She didn't set out to kill anyone, of course, but her clients have hired her to clean up their lives, and she takes her job seriously - not to mention how much happier they all are now. The trouble is, murder can't be washed out. You can only sweep it under the carpet and pray no one looks too closely... Darkly funny and completely gripping from the first page to the last, Make Me Clean is one thriller you won't be able to scrub from your mind. Perfect for fans of Harriet Tyce, Fiona Cummins and My Sister the Serial Killer.

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'A wild, darkly comic nightmare set on the borderlines of creativity, imagination and madness.' Guardian 'Thompson's prose, contaminated by Bacon's unflinching view of the human animal, makes for vital, unsettling reading' - Will Maclean, author of The Apparition Phase In this shocking, and at times darkly comic, novel, a psychiatrist hired to write a short piece on Francis Bacon becomes obsessed with the artist, his life, and the characters who surrounded him. As he becomes consumed with the need to understand Bacon, and to create his own art, his grip on reality becomes increasingly tenuous, and he is haunted by disturbing figures. This short, bold piece of fiction, explores how the passion needed to create art can also destroy the artist.

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The new gripping and witty thriller from the author of You'd Look Better as a Ghost, winner of the Crime Fiction Lover Best Debut Novel 2023.

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* WINNER OF THE CRIME FICTION LOVER BEST DEBUT NOVEL AWARD *''A welcome addition to darkly humorous female serial killer novels'' - GUARDIAN''Utterly unique, an absolute rollercoaster of a read'' - DAILY MAIL''Splendidly funny and buoyant'' - DAILY EXPRESSI have a gift. I see people as ghosts before they die.Of course, it helps that I''m the one killing them.The night after her father''s funeral, Claire meets Lucas in a bar. Lucas doesn''t know it, but it''s not a chance meeting. One thoughtless mistyped email has put him in the crosshairs of an extremely put-out serial killer. But even before they make eye contact, before Claire lets him buy her a drink, before she takes him home and carves him up into little pieces, something about that night is very wrong. Because someone is watching Claire. Someone who is about to discover her murderous little hobby.The thing is, it''s not sensible to tangle with a part-time serial killer, even one who is distracted by attending a weekly bereavemen

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'Demystifies the Sikh way of living a good life in seven simple steps' Vogue India Think of any scene of disaster and you'll find Sikh volunteers rallying to the site to perform seva - pronounced 'say-va', meaning selfless service - feeding migrant workers, helping riot victims, and cleaning up after earthquakes and floods. Why has this 30 million strong community become the world's Good Samaritan? What is it about their values that makes so many of them do so much good? And how is it that they're also able to channel so much joy and laughter while serving others? Through science-based studies, interviews with Sikhs and a look at history and fables, Seva unlocks seven Sikh-inspired rules to help anyone become kinder, happier and lead a more meaningful life. A secular handbook for the modern world, Seva is a beautiful, inspiring and moving book that will change you from the inside out.

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'Devil-may-care daring and biting humour . . . Think Rachel Cusk's autofiction on skunk and OxyContin and you're in the right ballpark' The Times 'In a literary culture swamped by clenched, worthy fiction and the writer as activist, her satirist's misanthropy and taste for provocation are a tonic' Observer 'Enjoyably mischievous and daring' Financial Times 'Ruthless, very funny' New York Times 'A wicked satire of the literary elite and an exploration of art and violence' New Yorker Mona is a Peruvian writer based on a Californian campus, open-eyed and sardonic, a connoisseur of marijuana and prescription pills. In the humanities she has discovered she is something of an anthropological curiosity - a female writer of colour treasured for the flourish of rarefied diversity that reflects so well upon her department. When she is nominated for 'the most important literary award in Europe', Mona sees a chance to escape her sunlit substance abuse and erotic distraction, and leaves for a small village in Sweden. Now she is stuck in the company of her competitors, who arrive from Japan, France, Armenia, Iran and Colombia. The writers do what writers do: exchange flattery, nurse envy and private resentments, stab rivals in the back and go to bed together. But all the while, Mona keeps stumbling across traces of violence on her body, the origins of which she can't - or won't - remember.

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One of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies, the Swiss multinational Novartis traces its history and that of its predecessor companies back to the first dye factories in Basel in the early 19th century. This second edition of the company's history covers early exports and expansion abroad, the unparalleled upsurge of the chemical industry in Basel during the First World War and then the emergence of pharmaceuticals in the interwar years. The enormous challenges of the Second World War were followed by an economic boom in the 1950s and 60s, the merger of CIBA and Geigy, the numerous diversifications in the 1970s and 80s, the merger of Ciba and Sandoz to found Novartis, and finally the first 25 years of Novartis. Those 25 years have included innovations in pharmaceuticals and medicine, and game-changing technologies such as the modification of T-cells. In addition to the running text, fifteen thematic articles outline the company's widely different innovations: from CIBA's early hormone preparations to the outstanding graphic design of Geigy Design, from revolutionary drugs like Sandimmune or Gleevec right through to the Novartis Campus project.

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'A rollicking cultural adventure... fascinating and true' Grayson Perry This funny and personal memoir is the account of an audacious attempt by James Birch, a young British curator, to mount the ground-breaking retrospective of Francis Bacon's work at the newly refurbished Central House of Artists, Moscow in 1988. Side-lined by the British establishment, Birch found himself at the heart of a honey-trap and the focus for a picaresque cast of Soviet officials, attachés and politicians under the forbidding eye of the KGB as he attempted to bring an unseen western cultural icon to Russia during the time of 'Glasnost', just before the fall of the Berlin Wall. Bacon in Moscow is the story of the evolution of an exhibition that was at the artistic and political heart of a sea of change that culminated with the fall of the USSR. 'A rollicking cultural adventure before the fall of the Berlin Wall and the meteoric rise of contemporary art in the nineties' Grayson Perry

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