Search results for ""bloomsbury publishing""

'This book captures the magic of being in flow . . . Highly recommend' RONNIE O'SULLIVAN 'The perfect motivational read at the dawn of a new year' DAILY EXPRESS 'Entertaining and enlightening' MATTHEW SYED 'Simon has looked into something we actually all know or at least once did - the ability to live life more in the now' JASON FOX Simon Mundie, host of The Life Lessons podcast, draws on interviews with some of the world’s sporting legends to redefine how we understand – and pursue - success through 8 key lessons. As the sports reporter for BBC Radio 1 for the best part of a decade, Simon Mundie was pitch-side at many of the most high-profile sporting events in history. It was often thrilling, but the emphasis always seemed to be on results, tactics and the score. But as the saying goes, sport is a metaphor for life – so Simon set out to explore that. Drawing on interviews with sporting legends from Jonny Wilkinson to Kate Richardson-Walsh, Caitlyn Jenner to Goldie Sayers, along with psychologists, philosophers and world-renowned thinkers, Simon shares some of the tools and techniques that sportspeople have embraced to grow and evolve. From developing emotional intelligence to the power of true acceptance and the joy of getting in flow, he explores eight universal themes that are highlighted in sport, but that are all too easily overlooked. What can the careers of Gaël Monfils and Andy Murray teach us about exploring our potential? What can England’s Olympic gold-medal winning hockey team teach us about the power of being truly selfless? Wise and inspiring, Champion Thinking illustrates that the contentment we are all looking for isn’t somewhere ‘out there’ – it’s actually so close that we tend to overlook it. 'The intention behind this book is beautiful, and I highly recommend it' RUPERT SPIRA 'Mundie understands something most of us discover eventually: that the pursuit of sporting excellence is the best guide we have to what it means to be human' AMOL RAJAN

Read more less

A beautifully illustrated picture book with a powerful message about looking after our AMAZING planet! If I were the world, I’d want flowers and bees. A chorus of birds singing high in the trees. If I were the world, I’d want sparkling seas. If I were the world . . . would YOU look after ME? Today is the day to listen to our world! This beautiful and uplifting book will inspire us all to join hands and help our amazing planet. With an irresistible rhyming text by bestselling author Mark Sperring and stunning illustrations by rising star Natelle Quek, it's the perfect book to inspire children to ask questions and take action.

Read more less

In Long Players, fifty of our finest authors write about the albums that changed their lives, from Deborah Levy on Bowie to Daisy Johnson on Lizzo, Ben Okri on Miles Davis to David Mitchell on Joni Mitchell, Sarah Perry on Rachmaninov to Bernardine Evaristo on Sweet Honey in the Rock. Part meditation on the album form and part candid self-portrait, each of these miniature essays reveals music’s power to transport the listener to a particular time and place. REM’s Automatic for the People sends Olivia Laing back to first love and heartbreak, Bjork’s Post resolves a crisis of faith and sexuality for a young Marlon James, while Fragile by Yes instils in George Saunders the confidence to take his own creative path. This collection is an intoxicating mix of memoir and music writing, spanning the golden age of vinyl and the streaming era, and showing how a single LP can shape a writer’s mind. Featuring writing from Ali Smith, Marlon James, Deborah Levy, George Saunders, Bernardine Evaristo, Ian Rankin, Tracey Thorn, Ben Okri, Sarah Perry, Neil Tennant, Rachel Kushner, Clive James, Eimear McBride, Neil Gaiman, Daisy Johnson, David Mitchell, Esi Edugyan, Patricia Lockwood, among many others.

Read more less

**Longlisted Moore Prize for Human Rights Writing** 'A tragic portrait of a disappearing world, created with passion and literary grace' SALMAN RUSHDIE ‘Janine di Giovanni is a humane and persistent witness’ HISHAM MATAR 'Profoundly moving' MARK TULLY _______________________ The Vanishing reveals the plight and possible extinction of Christian communities across Syria, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine after 2,000 years in their historical homeland. Some of the countries that first nurtured and characterized Christianity - along the North African Coast, on the Euphrates and across the Middle East and Arabia - are the ones in which it is likely to first go extinct. Christians are already vanishing. We are past the tipping point, now tilted toward the end of Christianity in its historical homeland. Christians have fled the lands where their prophets wandered, where Jesus Christ preached, where the great Doctors and hierarchs of the early church established the doctrinal norms that would last millennia. From Syria to Egypt, the cities of northern Iraq to the Gaza Strip, ancient communities, the birthplaces of prophets and saints, are losing any living connection to the religion that once was such a characteristic feature of their social and cultural lives. In The Vanishing, Janine di Giovanni has combined astonishing journalistic work to discover the last traces of small, hardy communities where ancient rituals are quietly preserved amid 360 degree threats. Full of faith and hope, di Giovanni's riveting personal stories make a unique act of pre-archeology: the last chance to visit the living religion before all that will be left are the stones of the past.

Read more less

‘I would compare her to writers like Helen Dunmore, Elizabeth Strout, Jon McGregor’ BBC Radio 4 ‘Harding achieves a weighty sense of silence and things not said in this unsettling book about the aftershocks of trauma and the burdens of bearing witness’ Sunday Times 'A masterly achievement, illuminating with wisdom and compassion the darkest corners of the human heart' Guardian A farm in Norfolk in the 1970s. A Japanese girl comes to visit her English lover in the house where he was born. She arrives on a day of perfect summer, stands with his mother in a garden filled with roses, watches as his brother walks fields of ripening wheat. But between the two brothers lies the shadow of their father’s violent death almost twenty years before, the unresolved narrative of their childhood – a story that has gone untold, a story that began in the last war. In the presence of the girl, the old trauma begins to surface as the work of the harvest begins. ‘Taut and unsettling ... A fine meditation on war’s long reach’ Mail on Sunday

Read more less

Celebrate all things Hufflepuff with this glorious collection of beautifully crafted House Editions in hardback. The sumptuously foiled presentation case emblazoned with the Hufflepuff badger contains all seven novels from J.K. Rowling's classic series in a spectacular alternating colour scheme, with cover artwork and illustrations by artistic wizard and Kate Greenaway Medal winner Levi Pinfold. Home to those famed for their loyalty, Hufflepuff house has produced some of the most famous witches and wizards in history, including Hogwarts alumni Cedric Diggory and Auror Nymphadora Tonks. The seven lovingly designed covers are individually decorated with enchanting details that capture favourite house themes from each novel. Charming vignettes of the Hufflepuff badger in a series of playful poses across the seven book spines complete the decoration scheme. An exclusive artwork print depicting house founder Helga Hufflepuff holding the cup of Hufflepuff makes for a highly collectable keep

Read more less

Celebrate all things Hufflepuff with this glorious paperback collection of the iconic House Editions. The beautifully crafted slipcase emblazoned with the house emblem the Hufflepuff badger contains all seven novels from J.K. Rowling's classic series in a spectacular alternating colour scheme, with cover artwork and illustrations by celebrated Kate Greenaway Medal winner Levi Pinfold. Home to those famed for their loyalty, Hufflepuff house has produced some of the most famous witches and wizards in history, including Hogwarts alumni Cedric Diggory and Auror Nymphadora Tonks. The seven lovingly designed covers are individually decorated with enchanting details that capture favourite house themes from each novel. Charming vignettes of the Hufflepuff badger in a series of playful poses across the seven book spines complete the decoration scheme. The seven books in this collection are accompanied by a magical miscellany of exciting feature articles, quizzes and fascinating fact files p

Read more less

The first comprehensive account of the rise and fall of what historians consider to be the world’s very first empire: Assyria 'A work of remarkable synthesis. The range of its sources is truly extraordinary . . . Frahm punctures a fair share of myths too' Pratinav Anil, The Times At its height in 660 BCE, the kingdom of Assyria stretched from the Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. It was the first empire the world had ever seen. Here, historian Eckart Frahm tells the epic story of Assyria and its formative role in global history. Assyria’s wide-ranging conquests have long been known from the Hebrew Bible and later Greek accounts. But nearly two centuries of research now permit a rich picture of the Assyrians and their empire beyond the battlefield: their vast libraries and monumental sculptures, their elaborate trade and information networks, and the crucial role played by royal women. Although Assyria was crushed by rising powers in the late seventh century BCE, its legacy endured from the Babylonian and Persian empires to Rome and beyond. Assyria is a stunning and authoritative account of a civilisation essential to understanding the ancient world and our own.

Read more less

A hilarious book about the importance of ALWAYS covering your nose when you sneeze . . . and what happens if you don't! You probably know it’s good manners to ALWAYS cover your nose when you sneeze. But when Sid forgets this very simple rule, the consequences are WILDER than he could ever have predicted. Get ready for a laugh-out-loud, sneeze-driven joyride, featuring elephants, pirates, acrobats, giants, princesses and a whole lot of pandas. Sneezing will never be the same again! This joyfully anarchic, side-splittingly funny story is perfect for fans of You Can't Take an Elephant on the Bus and There's a Shark in the Bath. From the bestselling, award-winning author of YOU MUST BRING A HAT (Sainsbury's Children's Book of the Year 2016) and I REALLY WANT THE CAKE (shortlisted for the Waterstones Children's Book Prize 2018), and the illustrator of THINK BIG and INCREDIBLE YOU

Read more less

'I loved every page, and ended up admiring David Kynaston, our greatest social historian, even more than I already did' Nick Hornby Brimming with wisdom and humour, David Kynaston’s diaries written over one football season offer up his most personal take on social history to date. David Kynaston was seven and a half years old when he attended his first Aldershot match in the early months of 1959. So began a deep attachment to the game and a lifelong loyalty to an obscure, small-town football club. Though as he sits down to write his diaries almost sixty years on, he reflects that life might have been simpler if his father had never taken him to that first match at the Rec… Shots in the Dark is the diary David Kynaston kept in the football season of 2016/17, detailing the ups and downs of the ‘Shots’ in the year that saw a divisive referendum in the UK and the impending ascension of Donald Trump. Here Kynaston presents a social history of modern Britain with a difference – all through the prism of the beautiful game. A testament to the ways in which fandom gives solidity and security to our lives, particularly in these bewildering and rapidly changing times, Shots in the Dark gets to the heart of what it means to be a devoted follower of a sports team. This is a diary of the macro and the micro, as questions of loyalty, of identity, of liberalism and of nationalism all rub uncomfortably up against each other during nine charged months. ____________________ 'A master socioeconomic craftsman' Guardian '[A] delightful book … This is a book about football but, like all the best books, it is about a thousand other things as well … This thrilling, intimate, sometimes poignant, often wonderfully funny book shows the workings in real time of a deeply civilised, humane and tolerant mind in an age when those virtues are in short supply. Here is a man with whom you would want to go to a match, and even share a beer afterwards. David Kynaston is one of the good guys, and this is one of the very good books' Daily Mail 'A charming diary ... He’s the sort of fan I want to sit next to: partisan yet civil, eyes on the match but aware there are bigger things to worry about' Financial Times

Read more less

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2023 ANDRE SIMON BEST COOKBOOK AWARD _______________ 'Ella Risbridger has a comforting talent for delivering deliciousness in a way that seems like an act of compassion' - NIGELLA LAWSON ‘An extraordinary, heartwarming book with gorgeous recipes. I loved it’ - NIGEL SLATER _______________ This cookbook is about a year in the kitchen. A year of grief and hope and change; of fancy fish pie, cardamom-cinnamon chicken rice, chimichurri courgettes, quadruple carb soup, blackberry miso birthday cake, and sticky toffee Guinness brownie pudding. A year of loss, and every kind of romance, and fried jam sandwiches. A year of seedlings and pancakes. A year of falling in love. A year of recipes. A year, in other words, of minor miracles. The Year of Miracles by bestselling author Ella Risbridger is more than just a cookbook; like her award-winning Midnight Chicken, every page is a transporting blend of recipes and life story. This is about what happens when you've lived through the worst thing you could have imagined – and how you can still cook, and eat, and love. _______________ 'Love, sorrow, grief and how cooking can get you through. Ella Risbridger has such a sincere and distinctive voice. A book full of wisdom.' - DIANA HENRY 'Gut-wrenching and beautiful' - VOGUE 'Both a beautiful memoir and a hugely comforting cookbook' - MARIAN KEYES

Read more less

Finalist for the NBCC Award for Criticism ‘Nothing about Jenny Diski is conventional. Diski does not do linear, or normal, or boring ... highly intelligent, furiously funny’ Sunday Times 'Funny, heartbreaking, insightful and wise' Emilia Clarke ‘She expanded notions about what nonfiction, as an art form, could do and could be’ New Yorker Jenny Diski was a fearless writer, for whom no subject was too difficult, even her own cancer diagnosis. Her columns in the London Review of Books – selected here by her editor and friend Mary-Kay Wilmers, on subjects as various as death, motherhood, sexual politics and the joys of solitude – have been described as ‘virtuoso performances’, and ‘small masterpieces’. From Highgate Cemetery to the interior of a psychiatric hospital, from Tottenham Court Road to the icebergs of Antarctica, Why Didn’t You Just Do What You Were Told? is a collective interrogation of the universal experience from a very particular psyche: original, opinionated – and mordantly funny.

Read more less

Spooky school is open, welcome everyone! Here you’ll learn to scare and creep while having lots of fun. Welcome to Spooky School! It's the scariest school around, where all the creepiest creatures come to dust off their skills and become the best they can be. Join your friends and learn how to fly like a wicked witch on a broomstick, howl like a werewolf and jiggle like a skeleton to all the best Halloween tunes. The friends you make will stay with you forever – because sometimes scaring is caring! Packed with Halloween delights from creepy spiders to stomping monsters, this brilliantly spooky and accessible board book is perfect for Halloween!

Read more less

Nia loves stories about dragons and unicorns, brave princesses and faraway lands. Every night, Mum tucks her into bed, and they lose themselves in another wonderful adventure. But what if, Nia asks, she gets kidnapped by a wicked witch? Or locked up by a terrible beast in a tower? Or stuck at the top of a beanstalk with a grouchy giant? Would Mum come and rescue her? The answer to that is … ‘YES, ALWAYS.’

Read more less

'A wise, intimate tale that is by turns joyful, sorrowful and explicit' Observer 'The author delves deep into Lottie’s psyche, shying away from nothing, to create a rounded and gripping portrait of a woman on the edge of change’ Daily Mail Lottie Kristin is independent from the start. Born in the middle of the century to a middle-class family in the very middle of America, Lottie is set apart by her smarts and sensuality. A girl who'd rather carry out dissections on a snowy back porch than join her family for Christmas dinner is a strange and exotic artifact in the town of Sleeping Bay. But by her early twenties, Lottie finds herself trapped in a marriage gone stale, with a daughter she adores but whose existence jeopardizes her place in the lab and her dream of becoming a scientist. How can a young woman make her way in a world determined to contain her brilliance, her will, and her longing to live? Bravely and wisely written, Artifact is an intimate and propulsive portrait of a whole woman, a celebration of her refusal to be defined by others’ imaginations, and a meditation on the glorious chaos of biological life.

Read more less

With over 30 fun, easy to follow and rewarding growing projects, foraging activities, experiments and arts and crafts activities, you'll never be bored again! From growing your own air plants to foraging for edible flowers, gardener, TV presenter and forager Alys Fowler will take you through a range of indoor and outdoor activities that are sure to ignite a lifelong passion for plants! You don't need a garden or any fancy equipment - a homemade pot and watering can, seeds from the kitchen cupboard and a sunny windowsill will do. With Alys's expert guidance you can grow your own avocado tree, make wildflower seed paper, forage for tasty roots to add to your favourite recipes and even grow neon pink beetroot in the dark! Welcome to the wonderful world of plants - what will you discover?

Read more less

BLACKWELLS' BOTM | A 2022 BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR: NEW SCIENTIST * WATERSTONES * SUNDAY TIMES 'A splendid idea, vividly carried out: I enjoyed this book enormously’ PHILIP PULLMAN 'A rich history of beautiful discoveries' ROBIN INCE 'An all-action thriller, laced with some of the most profound ideas humans have ever had’ BRIAN ENO How did a piece of gold foil completely change our understanding of atoms? What part did a hot air balloon play in the discovery of cosmic rays? How do we know all that we know about the world today? It’s not simply because we have the maths – it’s because we have done the experiments. Accelerator physicist Suzie Sheehy introduces us to the creative and curious people who, through a combination of genius, tenacity and luck, staged the groundbreaking experiments of the twentieth century. From the serendipitous discovery of X-rays in a German laboratory, to the scientists trying to prove Einstein wrong (and inadvertently proving him right), The Matter of Everything takes us on a journey through the history of experiments that transformed our world.

Read more less

'Timely and important' THE TIMES 'Considered and nuanced ... A must-read' The Rt Hon. Sajid Javid MP 'Compelling and moving' Tom Holland, author of Dominion __________________ Islam is the fastest-growing faith community in Britain. Domes and minarets are redefining the skylines of towns and cities as mosques become an increasingly prominent feature. Yet while Britain has prided itself on being a global home of cosmopolitanism and modern civilisation, its deep-rooted relationship with Islam – unique in history – is complex, threatened by rising hostility and hatred, intolerance and ignorance. There is much media debate about embracing diversity in our communities, but what does integration look like on the ground, in places like Dewsbury, Glasgow, Belfast and London? How are Muslims, young and old, reconciling progressive values – of gender equality, individualism, the rule of law and free speech – with literalist interpretations of their faith? And how is this tension, away from the public gaze, unfolding inside mosques today? Ed Husain takes his search for answers into the heart of Britain’s Muslim communities. Travelling the length and breadth of the country, Husain joins men and women in their prayers, conversations, meals, plans, pains, joys, triumphs and adversities. He tells their stories here in an open and honest account that brings the daily reality of British Muslim life sharply into focus – a struggle of identity and belonging, caught between tradition and modernity, East and West, revelation and reason.

Read more less

Let the magic of J.K. Rowling’s classic Harry Potter series transport you to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. This Slytherin House Edition of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix celebrates the noble character of the Hogwarts house famed for its pride, ambition and cunning. Harry’s fifth year at Hogwarts is packed with more great Slytherin moments and characters, including Harry’s eventful Occlumency lessons with Severus Snape and the inauspicious arrival of Professor Dolores Umbridge … Each Slytherin House Edition features vibrant sprayed edges and intricate silver foiling. The Order’s iconic phoenix symbol rises from the flames at the very centre of the front cover, framed by stunning iconography of number twelve, Grimmauld Place, the historic Black family residence. In addition to a bespoke introduction, the book also includes new illustrations by Kate Greenaway Medal winner Levi Pinfold, including an imposing portrait of Slytherin alumna Dolores Umbridge. All seven books in the series will be issued in these highly collectable, beautifully crafted House Editions, designed to be treasured and read for years to come. A must-have for anyone who has ever imagined sitting under the Sorting Hat in the Great Hall at Hogwarts waiting to hear the words, ‘Better be SLYTHERIN!’

Read more less

Let the magic of J.K. Rowling’s classic Harry Potter series transport you to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. This Hufflepuff House Edition of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix celebrates the noble character of the Hogwarts house famed for its dedication, patience and loyalty. Harry’s fifth year at Hogwarts is packed with more great Hufflepuff moments and characters – not least the colourful Auror Nymphadora Tonks, whose powers as a Metamorphmagus make her an invaluable member of the Order of the Phoenix. Each Hufflepuff House Edition features vibrant sprayed edges and intricate silver foiling. The Order’s iconic phoenix symbol rises from the flames at the very centre of the front cover, framed by stunning iconography of that grand hive of industry, the Ministry of Magic. In addition to a bespoke introduction, the book also includes new illustrations by Kate Greenaway Medal winner Levi Pinfold, including an arresting portrait of Hufflepuff student Justin Finch-Fletchley. All seven books in the series will be issued in these highly collectable, beautifully crafted House Editions, designed to be treasured and read for years to come. A must-have for anyone who has ever imagined sitting under the Sorting Hat in the Great Hall at Hogwarts waiting to hear the words, ‘Better be HUFFLEPUFF!’

Read more less

AS FEATURED ON THE ZOE BALL RADIO 2 BOOK CLUB SUNDAY TIMES CRIME BOOK OF THE MONTH 'Wonderful' Lee Child 'Outstanding' Nadine Matheson 'Riveting' Harriet Tyce 'Brilliant' Janice Hallett 'We know you know. Talk and you’re next.' Bishop Jeremiah Dawodu, pastor of a Nigerian megachurch, has been arrested and charged with the murder of his wife, Folasade, the 'First Lady' of the church. The arrest was public, humiliating and sensational - sending shockwaves through Lagos - but throughout it all, Bishop Dawodu maintains his innocence. Philip Taiwo, an acclaimed investigative psychologist, is asked by his sister, a member of the church's congregation, to clear the pastor’s name. With no actual body, it looks to be a simple case and despite Philip’s dislike of organised religion, he agrees to take it on as a favour to his sister. Then the First Lady's body is found in a nearby lake just as Philip’s beloved family come under attack from someone warning him off the case, and he realises that nothing to do with this investigation will be straightforward. Was it murder or suicide? Is someone framing the Bishop or the First Lady? Gaslight is the sensational follow up to Femi Kayode's acclaimed debut, Lightseekers, picked as a Book of the Month by the Times, Sunday Times, Independent, Guardian, Observer, Financial Times and Irish Times 'Femi Kayode is an unparalleled wordsmith' S. A. Cosby 'Deftly plotted, with strong characterisation and a great sense of place' Guardian

Read more less

'Remarkable ... nimble, lyrical and wispy' Sunday Times 'An utterly riveting, frequently moving, and staggeringly well-written book' Daily Mail 'Breathtaking' Guardian ________________________ This novel opens on a battlefield: trudging back from the front through a ravaged and icy wasteland, their horses dying around them, their own hunger rendering them almost savage, the Russian soldiers are exhausted as they reach the city of Ufa, desperate for food and shelter. They find both, and then music and dance. And there, spinning unafraid among them, dancing for the soldiers and anyone else who'll watch him, is one small pale boy, Rudolf. This is Colum McCann's dancer: Rudolf, a prodigy at six years old, who became the greatest dancer of the century, who redefined dance, rewrote his own life, and died of AIDS before anyone knew he had it. This is an extraordinary life transformed into extraordinary fiction by one of the most acclaimed writers of his generation. One kind of masculine grace is perfectly matched to another in Colum McCann's beautiful and daring new novel.

Read more less

SHORTLISTED FOR THE AUTHORS' CLUB BEST FIRST NOVEL AWARD 'What a ride!' India Knight, Sunday Times Summer reads ‘Thrilling… a sumptuous feast of plotting and intrigue’ Mail on Sunday ‘A complete joy’ Bettany Hughes ‘Gloriously immersive’ Guardian ------------------------------------------------- Frances Howard has beauty and a powerful family – and is the most unhappy creature in the world. Anne Turner has wit and talent – but no stage on which to display them. Little stands between her and the abyss of destitution. When these two very different women meet in strange circumstances, a powerful friendship is sparked. Frankie sweeps Anne into a world of splendour that exceeds all she imagined: a Court whose foreign king is a stranger to his own subjects; where ancient families fight for power, and where the sovereign’s favourite may rise and rise – so long as he remains in favour. Anne and Frankie dare to seek a little happiness for themselves in this extravagant, savage hunting ground. But as they gain notice, they also gain enemies; what began as a search for love and safety leads to desperate acts that could cost them everything. Based on the true scandal that rocked the court of James I, A Net for Small Fishes is the most gripping novel you'll read this year: an exhilarating dive into the pitch-dark waters of the Jacobean court.

Read more less

A hilarious book from bestselling author and stand-up comic James Campbell, who has visited over 3,000 primary schools to tell stories and encourage children to write their own. Ever wondered why sharks have such a bad reputation? Are they dangerous, human-munching monsters? Or have we got it all wrong? In fact, only SIX people get attacked by sharks every year across the WHOLE WORLD. And how many sharks are eaten by humans every year? ONE HUNDRED MILLION! So maybe sharks are more afraid of us … Take a deep dive into the ridiculously funny life of sharks (and some things that have nothing to do with sharks but are still splendidly funny) according to James Campbell, comedian extraordinaire. This face-achingly funny book will also teach you about great white sharks, tiger sharks and hammerhead sharks, just how incredibly old sharks are, and why sharks are SO important for the environment and how to look after them. So, whether you’re seriously afraid of sharks or love them so much you want to invite a shark to your next birthday party, this HILARIOUS book is for you. Prepare to roll around the floor laughing with the snot-inducingly brilliant The Funny Life of Sharks, with side-splittingly funny illustrations from Rob Jones.

Read more less

THE AWARD-WINNING MASTERPIECE THAT DEFINED ROCK'N'ROLL MEMOIR AND CAPTURED AN ERA Now richly illustrated with new material and never-before-seen photographs 'Sharp, elegiac and finely crafted' SUNDAY TIMES 'So honest and pure as to count as true rapture' JOAN DIDION 'Tender, harrowing, hilarious' VOGUE 'A poetic masterpiece' JOHNNY DEPP Patti’s Smith’s exquisite prose is generously illustrated in this full-color edition of her classic coming-of-age memoir, Just Kids. New York locations vividly come to life where, as young artists, Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe met and fell in love: a first apartment in Brooklyn, Times Square with John and Yoko’s iconic billboard, Max’s Kansas City, or the gritty fire escape of the Hotel Chelsea. The extraordinary people who passed through their lives are also pictured: Sam Shepard, Harry Smith, William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg. Along with never-before-published photographs, drawings, and ephemera, this edition captures a moment in New York when everything was possible. And when two kids seized their destinies as artists and soul mates in this inspired story of love and friendship.

Read more less

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER From the National Book Award-winning author of Just Kids Selected as Book of the Year by the Daily Telegraph, i paper, Metro and Harper's Bazaar ‘Magical’ GUARDIAN 'A gripping tale of the search for meaning in times of turbulence - expressed with Smith’s signature poetic flair' VOGUE 'Extraordinary ... A tense, teasing mix of reality and dream' Sunday Times 'A melancholy mood and poetic language distinguish Smith’s third memoir' BBC ‘Her willingness to look closely at life’s closing chapters makes for a magical book' WASHINGTON POST, 'The 10 books to read in September' Following a run of New Year’s concerts at San Francisco’s legendary Fillmore, Patti Smith finds herself tramping the coast of Santa Cruz, about to embark on a year of solitary wandering. Unfettered by logic or time, she draws us into her private wonderland, with no design yet heeding signs, including a talking sign that looms above her, prodding and sparring like the Cheshire Cat. In February, a surreal lunar year begins, bringing with it unexpected turns, heightened mischief, and inescapable sorrow. In a stranger’s words, “Anything is possible: after all, it’s the year of the monkey.” For Patti Smith - inveterately curious, always exploring, tracking thoughts, writing the year evolves as one of reckoning with the changes in life’s gyre: with loss, aging, and a dramatic shift in the political landscape of America. Smith melds the Western landscape with her own dreamscape. Taking us from Southern California to the Arizona desert; to a Kentucky farm as the amanuensis of a friend in crisis; to the hospital room of a valued mentor; and by turns to remembered and imagined places - this haunting memoir blends fact and fiction with poetic mastery. The unexpected happens; grief and disillusionment. But as Patti Smith heads toward a new decade in her own life, she offers this balm to the reader: her wisdom, wit, gimlet eye, and above all, a rugged hope of a better world. Riveting, elegant, often humorous, illustrated by Smith’s signature Polaroids, Year of the Monkey is a moving and original work, a touchstone for our turbulent times.

Read more less

The latest heart-warming book in the Guinea Pig Classics series. ‘‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house, Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse’ But sit down by the fire with some chocolates to hand, And you’ll be welcomed into a magical land. There is snow and some moonlight; St Nick in his sleigh; There are reindeer and elves, and guinea pigs! Hooray! This classic Christmas poem, now told by guinea pigs, Will surely delight all with their costumes and wigs. For nothing’s more charming than a pig in a hat, Especially a Christmas one, that’s just a fact.

Read more less

'I really, really loved it' - Marian Keyes 'Absolute heaven - I am cackling out loud!' - Nina Stibbe 'The most exciting new heroine I've read in a very long time' - Katie Fforde ‘Blows apart the South African society with one of fiction’s most dynamic heroines’ - Stylist Shortlisted for the Comedy Women in Print Prize ___________________________ Blessed [pronounced bles-id] The state of being blessed, often referring to a person, usually female, who lives a luxurious lifestyle funded by an older, often married partner Young, beautiful and ambitious, Bontle Tau has Johannesburg wrapped around her finger. Her admirers are falling over themselves to pay for her Mercedes, her penthouse, and her Instagrammable holidays. She’s come a long way, and it's been far from easy. Yes, Bontle gets the blues from time to time. The shrink keeps wanting to talk about a past she's put behind her. But what she doesn't think about can't hurt her, can it? Darkly comic and razor-sharp, The Blessed Girl is an international bestseller about men, mental health, and getting rich by any means necessary...

Read more less

AN IRISH TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023_______________''A blade-sharp coming-of-age novel'' SPECTATOR''Confirms Flattery as a bracingly original writer'' IRISH INDEPENDENT''In enviably elegant prose, she manages to be both arch and deadly serious'' LOUISE KENNEDY_______________A wildly original debut novel about two young women navigating the complex worlds of Andy Warhol''s Factory, and coming of age in 1960s New YorkNew York City, 1966. Seventeen-year-old Mae lives in a run-down apartment with her alcoholic mother and her mother''s sometimes-boyfriend, Mikey. She is turned off by the petty girls at her high school, and the sleazy men she typically meets. When she drops out, she is presented with a job offer that will remake her world entirely: she is hired as a typist for the artist Andy Warhol.Warhol is composing an unconventional novel by recording the conversations and experiences of his

Read more less

SHORTLISTED FOR THE BARBELLION PRIZE 2021 'A manifesto for recalibrating' DAILY MAIL 'I can’t think of many books where the reader feels so passionately on the side of the narrator' GUARDIAN 'A profound redefinition of the very idea of vitality' FINANCIAL TIMES Josie George lives in a tiny terraced house in the urban West Midlands with her son. Since her early childhood, she has lived with the fluctuating and confusing challenge of disabling chronic illness. But Josie’s world is surprising, intricate, dynamic. She has learned what to look for: the routines of her friends at the community centre; the neighbourhood birds in flight; the slow changes in the morning light, in her small garden, in her growing son, in herself. In January 2018, Josie sets out to tell the story of her still life, over the course of a year. As the seasons shift, and the tides of her body draw in and out, Josie begins to unfurl her history. And against a world which values progress and productivity above all else, Josie sets out a quietly radical alternative: to value and treasure life for life itself, with all its great and small miracles. 'Full of kindness, A Still Life will make you a better person' CLARE MACKINTOSH 'A Still Life is joy-lit: vivid, lovestruck, hopeful and wise' MELISSA HARRISON 'Josie George is the kind of writer I strive to be ... A tough, tender, beautiful book about existing in a body in the world' ELLA RISBRIDGER 'Could not be more timely ... An immensely talented writer' LINDA GRANT

Read more less

''Significantly more engaging and inspiring than the rival Rebel Girls'' GUARDIAN''It''s hard to imagine any group of primary-aged children who wouldn''t be inspired'' BOOKSELLER''An absolute must-have for every young person's bookshelf'' HUFFINGTON POSTCelebrate some of the most extraordinary women and their remarkable lives with this gorgeous gift set of the wildly successful Fantastically Great Women picture books!Written and illustrated by bestselling author and illustrator, Kate Pankhurst - descendent of suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst - this will make the perfect Christmas gift or birthday present for curious little minds. This brilliant collection includes:Fantastically Great Women Who Changed The WorldFantastically Great Women Who Made HistoryFantastically Great Women Who Worked WondersMarvel at some of the world''s leading game changers and go-getters, read about the suffragettes and their fight

Read more less

WINNER OF THE SCOTIABANK GILLER PRIZE ‘Spellbinding’ i ‘Breathtaking’ Elle ‘Powerhouses of feeling and depth’ Mary Gaitskill ‘Sharp and vital’ Daisy Johnson 'Excellent' Margaret Atwood on Twitter An ex-boxer turned nail salon worker falls for a pair of immaculate hands; a mother and daughter harvest earthworms in the middle of the night; a country music-obsessed housewife abandons her family for fantasy; and a young girl's love for her father transcends language. In this stunning debut, Souvankham Thammavongsa captures the day-to-day lives of immigrants and refugees in a nameless city, illuminating hopes, disappointments, love affairs, and above all, the pursuit of a place to belong. 'There is not a moment off in these affecting stories' Sheila Heti

Read more less

A hilarious fill-in activity book that encourages you to unleash your inner rage and scribble down your deepest annoyances. The Little Book of Bad Moods is an irreverent adult activity book that lets you unleash all your pent-up anger and say the things that you can’t say out loud. Fun fill-in activities for all those minor, daily annoyances include: – What's Wrong With Everyone? Name all the fools you encountered at home, at work and in public. – What's Wrong With My Life? And whose fault is it? – Had a Bad Week. Please, vent. – Retrospective Comebacks. List all the things you should have said at the time. – General Gripes. Here is a space for longheld grudges and pet peeves. Funny, outrageous and shockingly cathartic, this is a bad little book that actively encourages you to have a really good moan. Put pen to paper and embrace your inner git (and just remember to hide your copy from anyone you happen to care about).

Read more less

In a new, practical format - the stunning book celebrating British wild flowers by award-winning garden writer Sarah Raven. Inspired by childhood excursions with her botanist father, Sarah Raven has travelled the length and breadth of the British Isles to find 500 of our most breathtakingly beautiful wild flowers. This lavishly illustrated book is divided by habitat, covering woods, downs and dales, lanes and hedgerows, meadows, coast, marshes and streams, moors and mountains, and wasteland. Sarah introduces a wide range of plants, telling you their names and something about them. Discover pulsatillas, fritillaries, bluebells, wild garlic, harebells, forget-me-nots, foxgloves, wood spurge, silverweed,purple cranesbill, deadly nightshade, St John's wort, comfrey, orchids,wood sorrel, snowdrops and more. There are glorious landscape photographs by Jonathan Buckley throughout, and one of his stunning plant portraits accompanies each of Sarah's authoritative, captivating species descriptions. Informative and lovely, Sarah Raven's Wild Flowers is a botanical marvel.

Read more less

THE NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER * UPDATED WITH NEW REPORTING * 'It’s all here in this stunning first draft of the history of the presidency of Donald Trump' Sydney Morning Herald ‘An icy, Iago-like glimpse of the emotional and moral nullity that may be the source of Trump’s power’ Observer ‘A damning, well-reported, well-sourced and clearly written haymaker’ Sunday Times Drawing on nearly three years of reporting, hundreds of hours of interviews and more than two hundred sources, including some of the most senior members of the administration, friends and first-hand witnesses who have never spoken before, Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig take us inside some of the most controversial moments of Trump’s presidency. They peer deeply into Trump’s White House – at the aides pressured to lie to the public, the lawyers scrambling to clear up norm-breaking disasters, and the staffers whose careers have been reduced to ashes – to paint an unparalleled group portrait of an administration driven by self-preservation and paranoia. Rucker and Leonnig reveal Trump at his most unvarnished, showing the unhinged decision-making and incompetence that has floored officials and stunned foreign leaders. They portray unscripted calls with Vladimir Putin, steak dinners with Kim Jong-un, and calls with Theresa May so hostile that they left her aides shaken. They also take a hard look at Robert Mueller, Trump’s greatest antagonist to date, and how his investigation slowly unravelled an administration whose universal value is loyalty – not to country, but to the president himself. Grippingly told, A Very Stable Genius is a behind-the-scenes account of Trump’s vainglorious pursuit of power in his first term.

Read more less

CHOSEN AS ONE OF 2019'S MOST ANTICIPATED TITLES FOR BY ELLE, THILLIST, USA TODAY, LITHUB, KIRKUS AND LA TIMES 'Ambitious and dazzling ... entertaining and thought-provoking too' Daily Mail 'Impressive' The Times 'Voraciously intelligent, heartrending ... Amanda Lee Koe is a brilliant writer' Garth Greenwell ________________ When a photographer captures Marlene Dietrich, Anna May Wong and Leni Riefenstahl in one frame at a party in Berlin in 1928, no one realizes the extent to which their lives will reflect the tumultuous decades that follow. Marlene crosses the Atlantic to find fame in Hollywood, the town that eats out of the palm of her hand till her wrinkles begin to show. After establishing her position as a filmmaker, Leni watches her fame turn to notoriety following the defeat of Nazi Germany. In 90 per cent of the films she appears in, the side characters played by Anna May must die so the white male lead can be returned to his white paramour on the screen. In the murky world these women navigate, their choices will be held up to the test of time. And the real question is, how much has anything changed? This fierce and exquisite debut about womanhood, ambition, and art, played out against the shifting political tides of the twentieth century, introduces a mesmerizing new literary talent for our times.

Read more less

There's more than one to way to take a life in this masterful thriller from one of the greatest voices in American contemporary fiction Dana sits in a courtroom with her legs shackled as a long list of charges is read out, many of them dangerous. But the panic that grips her is not because she has been caught. She knows there has been a terrible mistake - she didn't commit any of these crimes. As Dana and her lover Bridger set out to clear her name and find the person who is living a blameless life of criminal excess at her expense, they begin to test the life they have built together to its limits.

Read more less

A dazzlingly written and wickedly sexy read from one of the giants of American contemporary fictions; 'Boyle just gets better and better' (Daily Mail) In 1939, on the campus of Indiana University, a revolution has begun. The stir is caused by Alfred Kinsey, a zoologist who is determined to take sex out of the bedroom. John Milk, a freshman, is enthralled by the professor's daring lectures and over the next two decades becomes Kinsey's right hand man. But Kinsey teaches Milk more than the art of objective enquiry. Behind closed doors, he is a sexual enthusiast of the highest order and as a member of his ‘inner circle' of researchers, Milk is called on to participate in experiments that become increasingly uninhibited ...

Read more less

'Wickedly funny' Country Life 'Hilarious and candid' Observer _____________________________ London in the 1950s. Lottie is a reluctant typist at MI5 and the even more reluctant daughter of the organisation's most illustrious spy. Now she has had the bad luck to fall in love with Harry, a handsome if frustrated young actor, who has also been press-ganged into the family business, acting as one of her father's undercover agents in the Communist hotbed of British theatre. Together the two young lovers embark on a star-studded adventure through the glittering world of theatre - but, between missing files, disapproving parents, and their own burgeoning creative endeavours, life is about to become very complicated indeed...

Read more less

Discover the highly acclaimed historical fiction series set within the glittering and ruthless House of Romanov. ‘Gripping … Who would not want to spend more time in the mad, bad world of the Romanovs?’ The Times ‘A delicious hotbed of greed, lust and envy’ Heat ----------- When they took everything from her, they didn't count on her fighting to get it back... Born into the House of Romanov to the all-powerful Peter the Great and Catherine I, beautiful Tsarevna Elizabeth is the world’s loveliest Princess and the envy of the Russian empire. Insulated by luxury and as a woman free from the burden of statecraft, Elizabeth is seemingly born to pursue her passions. However, a dark prophecy predicts her fate as inexorably twined with Russia. When her mother dies, Russia is torn, masks fall, and friends become foes. Elizabeth’s idyllic world is upended. By her twenties she is penniless and powerless, living under constant threat. As times change like quicksand, an all-consuming passion emboldens Elizabeth: she must decide whether to take up her role as Russia’s ruler, and what she’s willing to do for her country – and for love. ----------- Praise for Tsarina ‘It makes Game of Thrones look like a nursery rhyme’ Daisy Goodwin ‘A vivid page-turner of a debut’ The Times ‘Tsarina should come with a health warning – once you start reading, it’s impossible to stop’ Hannah Rothschild

Read more less

'Speckled with anecdotes, insights and surprises. It is great fun - and utterly timely' Sunday Times 'Standage writes with a masterly clarity' New York Times 'The product of deep research, great intelligence and burnished prose . . . It is rare that I encounter a non-fiction author whose prose is so elegant that it is worth reading for itself. Standage is a writer of this class' Wall Street Journal Beginning around 3,500 BC with the wheel, and moving through the eras of horsepower, trains and bicycles, Tom Standage puts the rise of the car – and the future of urban transport – into a broader historical context. Our society has been shaped by the car in innumerable ways, many of which are so familiar that we no longer notice them. Why does red mean stop and green mean go? Why do some countries drive on the left, and some on the right? How did cars, introduced only a little over a century ago, change the way the world was administered, laid out and policed, along with experiences like eating and shopping? And what might travel in a post-car world look like? As social transformations from ride-sharing to the global pandemic force us to critically re-examine our relationship with personal transportation, A Brief History of Motion is an essential contribution to our understanding of how the modern world came to be.

Read more less

BY THE WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION _______________ 'I can’t recommend A God in Every Stone by Kamila Shamsie too strongly ... Exciting and, in the end, profoundly moving, this will solace you during the grimmest holiday' - Antonia Fraser, Guardian Summer Reading 'A magnificent novel: beautiful, terrible, true … It reads already like a classic' - Ali Smith 'A moving story of love and betrayal, generosity and brutality, hope and injustice, full of characters that stay with you' - Financial Times _______________ Shortlisted for the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction Summer, 1914. Young Englishwoman Vivian Rose Spencer is in an ancient land, about to discover the Temple of Zeus, the call of adventure, and love. Thousands of miles away a twenty-year-old Pathan, Qayyum Gul, is learning about brotherhood and loyalty in the British Indian army. Summer, 1915. Viv has been separated from the man she loves; Qayyum has lost an eye at Ypres. They meet on a train to Peshawar, unaware that a connection is about to be forged between their lives – one that will reveal itself fifteen years later when anti-colonial resistance, an ancient artefact and a mysterious woman will bring them together again.

Read more less

Meet Sonny and his friends Honey, Meemo and Boo! They're having fun in the playground when … OOH! Sonny finds a box. Sonny says, 'A present!' Sonny can't resist opening it ... and then he can't resist what he finds inside. It's a DELICIOUS chocolate cake! But what if the present wasn't for Sonny? Can Sonny say sorry before it's too late? Join Sonny and friends in this bright and funny series that's perfect for preschoolers and great for reading aloud. Fans of Pip and Posy will adore this stylish board book, ideal for little ones learning how to play with friends. Also available: Sonny Says 'MINE!' - Perfect for toddlers learning to share!

Read more less

Gafferty Sprout is a Smidgen. A Smidgen looks like a human, sounds like a human, and loves chips with curry sauce like a human – if humans were three inches tall. If you took a human and shrunk it in the washing machine on a very hot spin cycle, you might get something like a Smidgen. Generations ago there were lots of them, living in a maze of tunnels beneath the human village of Dundoodle. But then something happened and they just … disappeared. Now Gafferty, her parents and her little brothers Gobkin and Grub are the only ones left, and the tunnels are forbidden territory. And then Gafferty finds an old map. A map that shows a place deep within the maze where Smidgen tribes can go to meet. Smidgen tribes! Gafferty knows that she has to try to find them. But the tunnels are dangerous. And soon Gafferty discovers she’s not the only one looking for the lost tribes, and that three inches of Smidgen hold more power than she ever imagined. The first book in a funny, magical adventures series for 7+ readers who love Terry Pratchett, Max and the Millions and The Borrowers.

Read more less

It's a VERY hot day. Monster is THIRSTY. He wants a drink! But UH-OH! Where is he going to find one? Hold on tight – Monster is in for another wild ride! This laugh-out-loud picture book is perfect for anyone who’s ever wanted a long, cool drink on a long, hot day. With bold, bright illustrations by the talented Fred Benaglia, it’s a hilarious picture-book treat and ideal for fans of Oi! Frog.

Read more less

The Map from Here to There is an unforgettable story of identity and the companion novel to the stellar The Start of Me and You, which was a Zoella Book Club pick for WHSmith. It’s senior year, and Paige Hancock is finally living her best life. She has a fun summer job, great friends, and a super charming boyfriend who totally gets her. But senior year also means big decisions. Feeling the weight of 'the rest of her life' Paige starts to panic. Everything is exactly how she always wanted it to be – how can she leave it all behind next year? In her head, she knows there is so much more to life after high school. But in her heart, is it so terrible to want everything to stay the same forever? Emery Lord’s signature storytelling shines with lovable characters and heartfelt exploration of life’s most important questions. There will be break-ups, make-ups, a road trip, and even a wedding. Through it all, can Paige figure out what happens in the after part of happily ever after? Fans of Rainbow Rowell, Jennifer Niven and Nicola Yoon should look no further than this unforgettable story of friendship and connection.

Read more less

With friends like these, who needs enemies? 'Devilishly clever' Alice Clark-Platts 'Chillingly relatable' Sarah J Naughton 'A true single-sitting read' Alex Marwood Liv Travers never knew real friendship until she met fellow mums Beth and Binnie. The three women become soulmates as they muddle through early parenthood together. They understand Liv like no one else does, not even Liv's husband, Pete. Then along comes Ange... Ambitious, wealthy and somehow able to do it all under Ange’s guiding presence, the group finds new vigour and fresh aspirations – bigger houses, better schools, dinners at exclusive restaurants. But Liv is struggling to keep up with this expensive new lifestyle. When the four families holiday together on a beautiiful Greek island, Liv seizes the opportunity to reclaim her place at the heart of the group. But she is soon to discover the true, devastating cost of a friendship with Ange...

Read more less