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Biography
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Undreamed Shores
In the first decades of the 20th century, five women - Katherine Routledge, Maria Czaplicka, Winifred Blackman, Beatrice Blackwood, and Barbara Freire-Marreco - arrived at Oxford to take the newly created Masters in Anthropology. Though their circumstances differed radically, all were intent on visiting and studying remote communities a world away from their own. Through their work, they resisted the prejudices of the male establishment, proving that women could be explorers and scientists, too. In the wastes of Siberia; in the villages and pueblos of the Nile and New Mexico; on Easter Island; and in the uncharted interior of New Guinea, they found new freedoms - yet when they returned to England, loss, madness and self-doubt awaited them. Frances Larson's masterful group biography is a revelatory portrait of five hidden heroines of British scholarship.
£10.99
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Five Love Affairs and a Friendship
Born in March 1896, Nancy Cunard was a great beauty, rich, promiscuous, with a mesmeric effect on men. She was also highly intelligent, reading widely and writing poetry. Of Nancy's many affairs the five included in this book are the ones with the American poet Ezra Pound, the novelists Aldous Huxley and Michael Arlen (who characterised her as Iris Storm in his best-selling novel 'The Green Hat'), Louis Aragon (the real founder of the Surrealist movement) and finally and controversially the black American pianist Henry Crowder, with whom she ran her printing press in Paris. The lifelong friendship was with George Moore, her mother's lover, one of the most acclaimed novelists at the time of her childhood. His death in 1933 marks the end of this tempestuous tale of passion and intrigue.
£22.00
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What Am I Bid?
When Philip Serrell - now well known for his television appearances - gave up teaching to become a professional auctioneer, he thought he was embarking on a sensible and safe career - a quiet life in the country with no surprises. How wrong he was. In 'What am I Bid?', he tells of life after the events he described in his previous books to bring his story up to date. From dodgy cars to fakes in the saleroom; angry livestock, mangled silverware and tortuous - not to mention muddy - experiences in local markets and farm sales, Philip has been there, done that and got the hoofprints on his suit to prove it.
£12.99
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Catch Your Breath
Ed Patrick is an anaesthetist. Strong drugs for his patients, strong coffee for him. But it's not just sleep - giving for this anaesthetist, as he navigates emergencies, patients not breathing for themselves and living with a terrifying sense of responsibility. It's enough to leave anyone feeling numb. But don't worry, there's plenty of laughing gas to be had.
£12.99
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Calypso
When he buys a beach house on the Carolina coast, David Sedaris envisions long, relaxing vacations spent playing board games and lounging in the sun with those he loves most. And life at the Sea Section, as he names the vacation home, is exactly as idyllic as he imagined, except for one tiny, vexing realisation: it's impossible to take a vacation from yourself. With 'Calypso', Sedaris sets his formidable powers of observation toward middle age and mortality.
£12.99
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£8.99
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Invention of Nature
Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) is the great lost scientist: more things are named after him than anyone else. There are towns, rivers, mountain ranges, the ocean current that runs along the South American coast, there's a penguin, a giant squid - even the Mare Humboldtianum on the moon. Taking us on a fantastic voyage in his footsteps, Andrea Wulf shows why his life and ideas remain so important today.
£14.99
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Down & Out In Paris & London
Written when Orwell was a struggling writer in his twenties, this book documents his 'first contact with poverty': sleeping in bug-infested hostels, working as a dishwasher in Paris, surviving on scraps and cigarette butts, living alongside tramps.
£8.99
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Society's Queen
At the age of 21, Edith Chaplin married one of the most eligible bachelors of the day, the eldest son of the sixth Marquess of Londonderry. A vibrant character and daughter of a leading politician, Edith soon found herself at the heart of politics both in Westminster and Ireland. This is her story.
£12.99
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Margot At War
An unconventional view of the First World War from inside the glittering social salon of Downing Street: a story of unrequited love, loss, sacrifice, scandal and the Prime Minister's wife, Margot Asquith.
£10.99
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Hooked
Here is Paul Merson's wonderfully moving and brutally honest memoir of battling addiction for three decades. For twenty-one years Paul Merson played professional football. He won two First Division titles with Arsenal and was one of the finest players of his generation. But for thirty years Paul Merson has also been an addict. Alcohol, drugs, gambling: a desperately unenviable cocktail of addictions and depression which has plagued his entire adult life and driven him to the verge of suicide. This book is absolutely unflinching in detailing his emotional and psychological troughs and in raking over the painful embers of an adult life blighted by such debilitating issues.
£12.99
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£7.99
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My Rock 'N' Roll Friend
In 1983, backstage at the Lyceum in London, Tracey Thorn and Lindy Morrison first met. Tracey's music career was just beginning, while Lindy, drummer for The Go-Betweens, was ten years her senior. They became confidantes, comrades and best friends, a relationship cemented by gossip and feminism, books and gigs and rock 'n' roll love affairs. Morrison - a headstrong heroine blazing her way through a male-dominated industry - came to be a kind of mentor to Thorn. They shared the joy and the struggle of being women in a band, trying to outwit and face down a chauvinist music media. Thorn takes stock of 37 years of friendship, teasing out the details of connection and affection between two women who seem to be either complete opposites or mirror images of each other. This important book asks what people see, who does the looking, and ultimately who writes women out of - and back into - history.
£9.99
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Coward
Tim Clare has suffered from anxiety and panic attacks for over a decade. At their worst, his attacks would see him curled on the floor, screaming to his wife for help. When they became more than he and his family could manage, Tim made a promise to himself - he would try everything he could to get better, every method and medicine. In 'Coward', Tim Clare explores all the possible treatments for anxiety, from SSRIs to hypnosis, running to extreme diets. He interviews experts and becomes a guinea pig, testing their methods on himself. At the end of a year of many ups and downs, Tim discovers what helps him (and what doesn't), and what might help others. Most of all, he comes to rethink anxiety and encourages all of us to do the same.
£16.99
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Before & Laughter
In his mid-twenties, Jimmy was bored, boring, unfulfilled and underachieving. He wasn't exactly depressed, but he was very sad. Think of a baby owl whose mum has recently died in a windmill accident. He was that sad. This book tells the story of how Jimmy turned it around and got happy, through the redemptive power of dick jokes. Written to take advantage of the brief window between the end of lockdown and Jimmy getting cancelled for saying something unforgivable to Lorraine Kelly, this book is as timely as it is unnecessary. Because you might be interested in Jimmy's life but he's damn sure you're a lot more interested in your own, 'Before & Laughter' is about both of you. But mainly him.
£12.99
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I Used to Live Here Once
'An absolute belter of a biography' MARINA HYDEA Times Literary Non-Fiction Book of the Year 2022An LA Times Best Book of the Year 2022An intimate, revealing and profoundly moving biography of Jean Rhys, acclaimed author of Wide Sargasso Sea.
£25.00
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Lyrics
Bryan Ferry's evocative lyrics of aspiration and romantic longing, introduced by the author and published on the 50th anniversary of the first Roxy Music album. Bryan Ferry's work as a singer and songwriter, both as a solo artist and with Roxy Music, is legendary. 'Lyrics' collects the words written for music across seventeen albums, from the first iconic Roxy album of 1972 via the masterpiece of Avalon to 2014's Avonmore, introduced by the author. As he writes in his preface, 'The low points in life so often produce the most keenly felt and best loved songs.' And, it might be added, some of the best poetry.
£20.00
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A Ray of Darkness
A Ray of Darkness, along with the previously unpublished The Nightingale Silenced, remains one of very few accounts of epilepsy written by a sufferer of this serious (but surprisingly common) disease. With a scholarly introduction by Jim Pratt, MBE, Evans? nephew.
£10.99
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The Secret Doctor
If you thought you knew about the life of a GP, think again. Let Dr Max Skittle take you on an unbelievable journey to the truth, through spilt urine bottles, the patients who should have been in hospital months ago, existential crises, utterly unexplainable health problems and awkward silences. This is a job that requires you to be a detective, relationship counsellor, social worker, friend, cage-fighter, parent-figure and sometimes, just sometimes, a doctor.
£9.99
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When Harry Met Minnie
There's a special camaraderie among early-morning dog walkers. Gathering at dog runs in the park, or strolling through the farmer's market at Union Square before the bustling crowd appears, fellow pet owners become familiar - as do the personalities of their beloved animals. In this special space and time, a chance encounter with an old acquaintance changed Martha Teichner's world. As fate would have it, her friend knew someone who was dying of cancer, and desperate to find a home for her dog, Harry. He was a Bull Terrier - the same breed as Martha's dear Minnie. Would Martha consider giving Harry a safe, loving new home? In short order, boy dog meets girl dog, the fairy tale part of this story. But there is so much more to this book. Through the heartbreak and grief of Carol's illness, the bond that develops changed Martha's life, Carol's life, Minnie's life, Harry's life.
£12.99
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We Could Be
Tracing the star's encounters with fellow icons throughout his life, 'We Could Be' offers a new history of David Bowie, collecting 300 short stories that together paint a portrait of humour, humility, compassion, tragedy and more besides.He embarrasses himself in front of Lennon and Warhol. He saves the life of Nina Simone. He is hated by Bob Dylan. He teaches Michael Jackson the moonwalk. Individually astonishing, together these stories - including details never before revealed - build a new picture of Bowie, one which shows his vulnerability, his sense of humour, his inner diva.
£20.00
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Bessie Smith
Bessie Smith lived a life of extremes, of success as a great blues singer, and of great personal tragedy. Jackie Kay's biography concentrates on her torrid personal and public life of female lovers, an unhappy marriage and hard drinking.
£12.99
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Really Saying Something
In the early eighties, best friends Sara Dallin and Keren Woodward arrived at the YWCA in London, with their sights set on careers in journalism and the media - but that wasn't to be. London was the most vibrant and culturally innovative of places, and within the whirl of clubs, parties and new friends, a chance meeting with former Sex Pistol Paul Cook changed everything. Moving into Malcolm McLaren's old office, they started rehearsing and singing background vocals for Paul's new band, before teaming up with Sara's college friend Siobhan, and forming their own group. It wasn't long before they'd made their first appearance on 'Top of the Pops,' wearing clothes they'd made themselves, and not sure which camera to look at. Who could have imagined that this would be the birth of one of the biggest-selling female bands of all time? Bananarama!
£16.99
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My Name Is Selma
Selma van de Perre was 17 when WWII began. Until then, being Jewish in the Netherlands had been of no consequence. But by 1941 this simple fact had become a matter of life or death. Several times, she avoided being rounded up by the Nazis. Then, in an act of defiance, she joined the Resistance movement, using the pseudonym Margareta van der Kuit. For two years 'Marga' risked it all. Using a fake ID, and passing as Aryan she travelled around the country delivering newsletters, sharing information, keeping up morale - doing, as she later explained, what 'had to be done'. In July 1944 her luck ran out. She was transported to Ravensbrück women's concentration camp as a political prisoner. It was only after the war ended that she was allowed to reclaim her identity and dared to say once again: my name is Selma. Now, at 98, Selma remains a force of nature. Full of hope and courage, this is her story.
£9.99
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