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Biography
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Break a Leg
This is the story of amateur dramatics in Britain. In a triumphant mix of memoir, social history, interviews and manifesto, Jenny Landreth opens our eyes to am-dram and shows us a vibrant world that is a crucial part of our culture. Starting with the Mystery Plays of the Middle Ages, we move, via Shakespeare, to the Georgian aristocrats who built opulent private theatres in their own homes, then to the halcyon days of radical lefties taking political theatre to the streets, and on to the present day. Along the way, we visit several thriving theatres - across the country, and beyond our shores - and meet a cast of characters who tell us about the joy amateur theatre brings them.
£9.99
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Hell and Other Destinations
In this revealing, funny, and inspiring memoir, seven-time New York Times bestselling author and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright - among the world's most admired and tireless public servants - reflects on the challenge of continuing one's career far beyond the normal age of retirement.
£10.99
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Burning Man
D.H. Lawrence is no longer censored, but he is still on trial - and we are still unsure what the verdict should be, or even how to describe him. History has remembered him, and not always flatteringly, as a nostalgic modernist, a sexual liberator, a misogynist, a critic of genius, and a sceptic who told us not to look in his novels for 'the old stable ego', yet pioneered the genre we now celebrate as auto-fiction. But where is the real Lawrence in all of this, and how - one hundred years after the publication of 'Women in Love' - can we hear his voice above the noise? Delving into the memoirs of those who both loved and hated him most, 'Burning Man' follows Lawrence from the peninsular underworld of Cornwall in 1915 to post-war Italy to the mountains of New Mexico, and traces the author's footsteps through the pages of his lesser known work.
£12.99
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Dog Days
In 'Dog Days', join Andrew Cotter as he takes you behind the scenes and into the pages of his diary to reveal just how extraordinary a year it has been, and what really happened after his lockdown superstar Labradors chewed up the internet and found it was quite tasty. For Olive, Mabel, and Andrew, the last year has been like no other. With normal work cancelled or scaled back for so long, it has been a time to take stock and share experiences - both the everyday and the decidedly odd - with Olive and Mabel. Here Andrew takes a sharply-observed and often hilarious walk through the strangest of days for all of us, reflecting on how precious our time really is, especially the time we have with our dogs.
£9.99
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What Is Your Problem?
Too often today the emphasis in psychotherapy is on providing clients with a metaphorical hug when what they so clearly need is good slap. Taking matters into his own hands, Jack used lockdown to retrain online as a psychotherapist. After an incredibly gruelling four hours of study, he got his certificate of completion from The Ruislip College of Advansed Learning (sic). So, with training in hand, he's been expertly helping people with their problems ever since. 'What is Your Problem?' is a compilation of your varied problems, be they about relationships, finances, cross-dressing, nosey neighbours, coping with Christmas, teenagers or Mike from the accounts department.
£9.99
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Young Bloomsbury
Surprisingly little has been written about second-generation Bloomsbury who tantalised the original 'Bloomsburies' at Gordon Square parties with their captivating looks and provocative ideas. 'Young Bloomsbury' introduces us to an extraordinarily colourful cast of characters, including novelist and music critic Eddy Sackville-West, 'who wore elaborate make-up and dressed in satin and black velvet'; sculptor Stephen Tomlin; and writer Julia Strachey. Talented and productive, these larger-than-life figures had high-achieving professional lives and extremely complicated emotional lives.
£25.00
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And Away...
Bob Mortimer's life was trundling along happily until suddenly in 2015 he was diagnosed with a heart condition that required immediate surgery and forced him to cancel an upcoming tour. The episode unnerved him, but forced him to reflect on his life so far. This is the framework for this hilarious and moving memoir. This edition has been updated with a new chapter.
£9.99
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Diddly Squat
Clarkson trades in his fast cars and city living and takes on the life of a gentleman farmer at Diddly Squat farm, in a hilarious collection of stories and observations.
£10.99
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DANGEROUS FRIENDS
'Dangerous Friends' tells the fascinating true story of one man's connection to the Cambridge Spy Ring and his daughter's search for the truth.
£14.99
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ITS ALWAYS SUMMER SOMEWHERE
Felix White is cricket's flag waver. His passion for the game is at the fore on the BBC's number one cricket podcast and 5Live show, 'Tailenders,' which he co-presents with Greg James and Jimmy Anderson. 'It's Always Summer Somewhere' is Felix's funny, heart-breaking and endless engaging love letter to the game of cricket. Felix looks back at the last 20 years of the sport and unpacks the most poignant moments; both cultural touchstones for the game and unflinching personal events. He relives each, telling us how and what it taught him about life. In a fact-finding field trip in the name of catharsis, White hunts down the main players in said memory and hears about their own personal experience and recollections.
£12.99
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A Carnival of Snackery
Picking up where his previous volume of diaries, 'Theft By Finding', left off, David Sedaris chronicles the years 2003-2020.
£12.99
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WILL SHE DO
The story of a girl from a council estate in Tottenham, born in 1934 to an electric-meter reader and a seamstress, who was determined to be an actress. Candid and witty, this memoir takes her from her awkward performances in working-men's clubs at six years of age as dancing 'Baby Eileen', through the war years in London, to her breakthrough at thirty-two on Broadway with The Killing of Sister George, for which she received the first of five Tony Award nominations. She co-created 'Upstairs, Downstairs' and wrote the screenplay for 'Mrs Dalloway' (for which she won an Evening Standard Award). Characterised by an eye for the absurd, a terrific knack for storytelling and an insistence on honesty, 'Will She Do?' is a raconteur's tale about family, about class, about youthful ambition and big dreams and what really goes on behind the scenes.
£12.99
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Letters to Camondo
Count Moïse de Camondo lived a few doors away from Edmund de Waal's forebears, the Ephrussi, first encountered in his bestselling memoir 'The Hare with Amber Eyes'. Like the Ephrussi, the Camondos were part of Belle Époque high society. They were also targets of ugly anti-semitism. Camondo created a spectacular house and filled it with the greatest private collection of French eighteenth-century art for his son to inherit. But when Nissim was killed in the First World War, it became a memorial and, on the Count's death, was bequeathed to France. The Musée Nissim de Camondo has remained unchanged since 1936. Edmund de Waal has explored this beautiful palace; the lavish rooms, exquisite objects and detailed archives. In a haunting series of letters, he writes to the Count, and gets to know the boy who journeyed from Constantinople and became a model French citizen, before all that was gained was torn away.
£9.99
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Swan Dive
Throwing open the doors of the closed world of ballet, Swan Dive does for dancers what Kitchen Confidential did for professional chefs.
£9.99
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A Funny Life
A funny, charming autobiography by one of our biggest and best-loved comedians, Michael McIntyre.
£10.99
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How We Might Live
Suzanne Fagence Cooper explores the lives and legacies of Jane and William Morris, finally giving Jane's work the attention it deserves and taking us inside two lives of unparalleled creative artistry.
£30.00
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Philip
This is the story of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh - the longest-serving consort to the longest-reigning sovereign in British history. It is an extraordinary story, told with unique insight and authority by an author who knew the prince for more than forty years. Philip - elusive, complex, controversial, challenging, often humorous, sometimes irascible - is the man Elizabeth II once described as her 'constant strength and guide'. Who was he? What was he really like? What is the truth about those 'gaffes' and the rumours of affairs? This is the final portrait of an unexpected and often much-misunderstood figure. It is also the portrait of a remarkable marriage that endured for more than seventy years.
£13.99
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The Island House
Mary and Patrick's dream was to live in London, have children, the nice house, the successful jobs. But life had other plans, and in one traumatic year that all came crashing down. Bruised and battered, Mary finds herself pulled towards Cornwall and dreams of St George's Island, where she spent halcyon childhood summers. So, when an opportunity arises to become tenants if they renovate the old Island House, they grab it with both hands. Life on the island is hard, especially in winter, the sea and weather, unforgiving. But the rugged natural beauty, the friendly ghosts of previous inhabitants, and the beautiful isolation of island life bring hope and purpose, as they discover a resilience they never knew they had.
£16.99
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The Unusual Suspect
Stephen Jackley was a young, British geography student with Asperger's. When the global financial crisis hit in 2007, he became obsessed with the idea of Robin Hood. With no prior experience, he resolved to become a bank robber. He would steal from the rich and give to the poor. Against all likelihood, his plan actually worked. Jackley used disguise, elaborate escape routes and replica pistols to successfully hold up a string of banks, making away with thousands of pounds. He committed ten robberies in south-west England over a six-month period. Bank notes marked with 'RH' - 'Robin Hood' - began finding their way into the hands of the homeless. The police, despite their concerted efforts, had no idea what was going on or who was responsible. That is until Jackley's ambition got the better of him. This is his story.
£9.99
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Odd Boy Out
'I am what my childhood made me.' But what is that exactly, Gyles? Who are you? And why? In this book, Gyles Brandreth provides an extraordinarily revealing account of growing up and coming of age in an apparently well-to-do but always strapped-for-cash middle-class English family. It is a story about the ordinary things - family life, happiness, ambition, and love, but it is also about adventures - meeting princes and presidents, visiting Death Row in America, exploring the sex clubs of Copenhagen. It is a story of a boy blessed with wit and what he got up to and the people he met growing up in the most wonderful city in all the world in those extraordinary years after the Second World War.
£12.99
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Shackleton
To write about Hell, it helps if you have been there. In 1915, Sir Ernest Shackleton's attempt to traverse the Antarctic was cut short when his ship, Endurance, became trapped in ice. The disaster left Shackleton and his men alone at the frozen South Pole, fighting for their lives. Their survival and escape is the most famous adventure in history. 'Shackleton' is an engaging account of the adventurer, his life and his incredible leadership under the most extreme of circumstances.
£12.99
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My Life in Dire Straits
Dire Straits filled giant stadiums around the world and sold hundreds of millions of records. Throughout the eighties they were one of the biggest bands on the planet. Their classic songs - 'Sultans of Swing', 'Romeo and Juliet', 'Money for Nothing', 'Brothers In Arms' - formed the soundtrack of a generation and live on today: still racking up sales, still being played on the radio on every continent. In 'My Life in Dire Straits', John Illsley - founding member, bassist and mainstay - evokes the spirit of the times and tells the story of one of the great live acts of rock history.
£11.99
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The Lighted Window
Homecoming, haunting, nostalgia, desire: these are some of the themes evoked by the beguiling motif of the lighted window in literature and art. In this innovative combination of place-writing, memoir and cultural study, Peter Davidson takes us on atmospheric walks through nocturnal cities in Britain, Europe and North America.
£25.00
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The Storyteller
The long-awaited autobiography of the legendary Nirvana and Foo Fighters rock star, Dave Grohl
£10.99
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