Thelma Madine, star of Channel 4’s Big Fat Gypsy Weddings and fairy godmother of extravagant wedding dresses, reveals the drama, secrets and surprises involved in ten incredible traveller weddings.Through the tales of ten elaborate gypsy wedding...
Ten Thousand Miles Without a Cloud is a beautifully written account of Sun Shuyun’s journey to retrace the steps of one of the most popular figures in Chinese history – the monk Xuanzang, who travelled to India searching for true...
A journey into the headspaces and workplaces of some of Britain’s most unique artists, from the co-author of the critically acclaimed Holloway.Bill Drummond. Richard Lawrence. Stanley Donwood. Jenny Saville. David Nash. Manic Street Preachers....
How much do you know about what really goes on at your local supermarket?We see them every week and they are privy to some of our most intimate secrets – those we wouldn't even share with our closest friends. To us they are the anonymous helpers...
Collected in one volume, here are the true life stories of London ambulance driver, Tom Reynolds.*Previously published as Sirens, after the Channel 4 TV show inspired by the book*On any given day Tom Reynolds might be attacked by strangers,...
Jonathan Franzen arrived late, and last, in a family of boys in Webster Groves, Missouri. ‘The Discomfort Zone’ is his intimate memoir of his growth from a ‘small and fundamentally ridiculous person’ through an adolescence both excruciating and...
The inside story of the campaign that rocked the United Kingdom to its foundations, and the implications of the Scottish independence movement for the future of British politics.Alex Salmond has been a passionate supporter of Scottish...
It would be hard to invent a group of personalities more extraordinary than the British Royal Family – known as 'The Firm' by Prince Philip. With an eye on the past, present and future, this book takes a look at how the family really operates...
As Aristotle understood it, ’there is no great genius without a mixture of madness’ and he may well have had a point: Einstein routinely forgot his way home when out walking the streets of Vienna, Nietzsche wound up in an insane asylum and Bobby...
The highly anticipated first book from award-winning comedian, writer, producer and actress, Amy Schumer.In The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo, Amy shares stories about her family, her relationships, her career, good – and bad – sex, recounting...
From football hooligan to opera singer, from the Cockney Reds to Catullus, from a hectic household to tranquility of spirit, Mark Glanville has travelled many paths, been many people – this is his remarkable story.The story of Mark Glanville’s...
‘Shocking, tender and funny… as gripping as a thriller’ Miranda SawyerMind-boggling, heart-rending and darkly comic, this is the full story for the first time, from the writer of the Guardian column Midlife Exwife….When her husband fell in love...
A witty memoir about the trials of adolescence, the tribulations of family life and the embarrassment that ensues from having larger-than-life parentsNeville and Liz Hodgkinson bought into the Thatcherite dream of home ownership, aspiration and...
This is the straight-talking, fascinating story of Viz magazine, founded in 1979 by Chris Donald – editor until 1999. Chris tells the remarkable story of the magazine, from the tatty rag produced in his Newcastle bedroom to becoming one of the...
An engaging and informative first-hand account of the last ‘grain race’ of maritime history, from respected travel writer Eric Newby.In 1939, a young Eric Newby – later renowned as a travel writer of exceptional talent – set sail aboard Moshulu,...
Saltire First Scottish Book of the Year 2012The story of the life of Simon Fraser, Lord Lovat : a clan chief of the Scottish nobility, rebel and Jacobite conspirator. He became the last British peer to go under the axe, marking a moment in...
The life of the complex, ruthless adversary of General Franco, whose life spanned much of Spain’s turbulence in the 20th century.From 1939 to 1975, the Spanish Communist Party, effectively lead for two decades by Santiago Carrillo, was the most...
The life of the complex, ruthless adversary of General Franco, whose life spanned much of Spain’s turbulence in the 20th century.From 1939 to 1975, the Spanish Communist Party, effectively lead for two decades by Santiago Carrillo, was the most...
From the author of the ever-popular Flashman novels, a collection of film-world reminiscences and trenchant thoughts on Cool Britannia, New Labour and other abominations.In between writing Flashman novels, George MacDonald Fraser spent thirty...
The Little Book of Zlatan is a celebration of one of the most charismatic, mercurial and talismanic footballers in the game, an individual so distinct, so talented and so perfect that he must refer to himself in the third person at all times. ...
The Lost Diaries is a wide-ranging anthology of the world's greatest diarists, each of them channelled onto paper through the considerable psychic force that is Craig Brown.Arranged on a day-to-day basis, spread throughout an entire year, these...
To wolf expert, Shaun Ellis, wolves aren’t just his work, they’re also his family. An extraordinary man, Shaun has been fascinated by wolves all his life, living as part of their pack for two years with no human contact. What he gained was a...
Nicknamed ‘The Anarchy' for its unprecedented levels of chaos and disorder, the succession crisis that followed the death of King Henry I in 1135 resulted in England's first civil war.‘The Medieval Anarchy: History in an Hour’ neatly covers all...
The never-before published letters of the legendary Mitford sisters, alive with wit, affection, tragedy and gossip: a charismatic history of the century’s signal events played out in the lives of a controversial and uniquely gifted family.Nancy,...
An inspiring and heart-warming short story of canine devotion and bravery.A stub-tailed Bull Terrier, Sergeant Stubby was recognised many times over for his bravery in the trenches of Flanders. His specially embroidered jacket, laden with...
An unbearably moving, intensely passionate, deeply personal account of life as seen through the eyes of one of America’s best-loved novelists.‘When I began writing this history, I let go of my doubts. I trusted the ghosts of my imagination. They...
An omnibus containing Austin Mitchell’s classic books THE HALF-GALLON QUARTER-ACRE PAVLOVA PARADISE and PAVLOVA PARADISE REVISITED, available for the first time in ebook.Austin Mitchell’s witty, seminal books, observing New Zealand, its people...
In 1938, with the Japanese army approaching from Nanking, Huan Hsu’s great-great grandfather, Liu, and his five granddaughters, were forced to flee their hometown on the banks of the Yangtze River. But before they left a hole was dug as deep as...
Love history? Know your stuff with History in an Hour.
Elizabeth II is the longest lived and, after Queen Victoria, second longest reigning monarch of the United Kingdom. From her coronation in 1953 to her Diamond Jubilee in 2012, Queen...
The hapless and hilarious tale of a life lived under the constant and ruthless reign of a chocolate biscuit…Lumped into 'the too fat for potatoes group' by her mother, carefree eating isn't something Arabella Weir had much experience of growing...
In the tradition of ‘Agent Zigzag’ comes a breathtaking biography of WWII’s ‘Scarlet Pimpernel’ as fast-paced and emotionally intuitive as the best spy thrillers. This celebrates unsung hero Robert de La Rochefoucauld, an aristocrat turned...
The Sunday Times and New York Times bestselling author of Damaged tells the true story of Donna, who came into foster care aged ten, having been abused, victimised and rejected by her family.Donna had been in foster care with her two young...
In 1992 Christina Lamb reported on the war the Afghan people were fighting against the Soviet Union. Now, back in Afghanistan, she has written an extraordinary memoir of her love affair with the country and its people.Long haunted by her...
‘I’m so sorry, Casey,’ my link worker John said, sounding weary. ‘I know this is probably the worst time I could ring you, but we desperately need someone to take a child tonight.’It’s the night before Christmas when Casey and Mike get the call....
The nostalgic memoir of a young man, eldest of fourteen, growing up in 40s Wednesbury. The heartbreaking true account of his son struggling to come to terms with his father’s dementia. A tribute to the unbreakable bond between father and...
A raw, intensely personal memoir of spiritual exploration from one of the world’s great commentators on religion.After seven years in a convent, which she left, dismayed by its restrictions, an experience recounted in ‘Through the Narrow Gate’,...
In 2012 the Rolling Stones celebrate their 50th anniversary. Their story – the band's meteoric rise to fame, the Marianne Faithfull, Brian Jones and Altamont scandals, the groundbreaking hits – is the stuff of twentieth century legend, and core...
An intense and emotive memoir of one girl’s difficult family upbringing in a Singaporean Chinese family during the Second World War.Lucy Lum was the third of seven children, born in Singapore in 1933 into a Chinese immigrant family ruled with an...
Obituaries of the most influential Victorians as profiled by The Times, including Dickens, Darwin, Ruskin, Peel, WG Grace and Florence Nightingale.For over 150 years, The Times obituaries have been providing the most respected and perceptive...
A classic of mountaineering literature, The White Spider tells the story of the harrowing first ascent of the Eiger’s North Face, one of the most legendary and terrifying climbs in recorded history.Heinrich Harrer, author of Seven Years in Tibet...
The extraordinary story of an indomitable 95-year-old woman – and of the most extraordinary century in Ethiopia’s history. A new Wild SwansA hundred years ago, a girl was born in the northern Ethiopian city of Gondar. Before she was ten years...
The key missing piece of Jon Krakauer’s multi million, multi territory bestseller and widely acclaimed Sean Penn film Into the Wild is finally revealed by his best friend and sister, Carine.The story of Chris McCandless, who gave away his...
The true story of Gerard Mercator, the greatest map-maker of all time, who was condemned to death as a heretic.‘Geographie and Chronologie I may call the Sunne and the Moone, the right eye and the left, of all history.’In ‘The World of Gerard...
A very special FREE collection of advice for our younger selves, compiled by Joanna Cannon – the author of THREE THINGS ABOUT ELSIE and THE TROUBLE WITH GOATS AND SHEEPIf you could send a message to your younger self, what three things would you...
A master of the innuendo and the raised eyebrow, Frankie Howerd – inimitable star of the classic ‘Carry On’ films – became a cult hero.As much at home in the Oxford Union as in high-camp pantomime, he was adored by millions, old and young alike....
From bestselling biographer Sean Smith comes the fascinating and tumultuous true story behind Sir Tom Jones, the nation’s treasure, sage of The Voice and living music legend.Celebrating his 75th birthday this year, Tom Jones’ life has been an...
This is the heart-breaking tale of Angell, a young girl desperately loved but inadequately cared for by her troubled mother Nicki.Abandoned and left barely clothed beneath a park bench on a freezing cold day in winter, the bewildered child is...
This major best-selling memoir of a poverty-stricken childhood in Liverpool is one of the most harrowing but uplifting books you will ever read.When Helen Forrester’s father went bankrupt in 1930 she and her six siblings were forced into utmost...