Biography - General

When the author discovered that he knew very little about his grandparents he decided to write his memoirs, so that his granddaughters would be able to understand their Granddad a little better, and that they might learn from his mistakes. The book reflects his memories of Luton and other factors that impacted on his life, including his sight loss.

"Wonderful - insightful and compassionate" - Dr Richard Shepherd, author of Unnatural Causes. We ask so much of our doctors. To heal. To trust. To care. To listen. To tell a man he might be dead tomorrow. To help a man who doesn't want to live. To look into a parent's panicked eyes as their tiny daughter fights for every breath. To watch a 103-year-old woman slip away from a life well-lived. Doctors know our deepest secrets, our private worries and our most vulnerable moments. But they listen to all of us, and under their gaze we are all equally worthy of help.

One night in October 2015, twenty-year-old Morgan Hehir went out with friends and never came home.

In the aftermath of his funny, talented son's murder, Morgan's father Colin began to keep an extraordinary diary. It became a record of his family's grief, the ensuing trial, and his determined quest to uncover the shocking truth that the police had kept hidden.

Inspired by this diary, About A Son is a groundbreaking work of creative non-fiction that asks vital questions about the nature of justice and pays tribute to the unbreakable bond between a father and son.

When Luiz Schwarcz was a child, he knew very little about his grandfather Láios, a Hungarian Jew. Only later would he learn that Láios had ordered his son, Luiz's father, to leap from a train taking them to a Nazi death camp, while Láios himself was carried on to his death. What Luiz did know was that his father's melancholia haunted the house he grew up in. Compassionate and tender, The Absent Moon interrogates a personal story of inherited trauma through a family history of murder, silence and the long echo of the Holocaust across generations. 

The jaw-dropping and inspiring story of accidental queer icon Norman Scott (the hero of tv drama A Very English Scandal) and the part he played in one of the greatest political scandals of the twentieth century.

In October 1975 an assassin tried to murder Norman Scott on Exmoor but the trigger failed and he only succeeded in shooting Scott's beloved dog, Rinka. Scott subsequently found himself at the centre of a major political scandal and became an unlikely queer icon. But this was never his intention...

He was born in 1940 into a poor, dysfunctional and abusive family. Aged sixteen he began an equestrian career, animals having been the one source of comfort in his childhood. By the age of twenty he had run into debts and had suffered a nervous breakdown.

In 1960 Scott began a sexual affair with Jeremy Thorpe. By the time of the attempted assassination of Scott, Thorpe was married, leader of the Liberal Party and a figure at the heart of the establishment. He was embarrassed by their former relationship and wanted to cover it up. But he failed. The assassination attempt culminated in a sensational trial in 1979, where Thorpe was tried for conspiracy to murder. The press labelled Scott a madman and the establishment protected Thorpe, who was acquitted. Only recently has Scott's version of events been vindicated.

An Accidental Icon tells a story that is inspiring and jaw droppingly unbelievable: it is the tale of the courage and survival of one man who took on the establishment

The Sunday Times Top 10 bestseller by the shepherdess and star of Channel 5's Our Yorkshire Farm.

'With its fizzing energy and celebration of nature and community, this is perfect comfort reading for uncertain times' - Daily Mail

Amanda Owen loves her traditional life on her hill farm alongside her nine children and husband Clive. And, as readers of her previous bestsellers will know, every day at Ravenseat brings surprises. In Adventures of the Yorkshire Shepherdess Amanda takes us from her family's desperate race to save a missing calf to finding her bra has been repurposed as a house martin's nest, and from wild swimming to the brutal winter that almost brought her to her knees. As busy as she is with her family and flock though, an exciting new project soon catches her eye . . .

Ravenseat is a tenant farm and may not stay in the family, so when Amanda discovers a nearby farmhouse up for sale, she knows it is her chance to create roots for her children. The old house needs a lot of renovation and money is tight, so Amanda sets about the work herself, with some help from a travelling monk, a visiting plumber and Clive. It's fair to say things do not go according to plan!

Funny, evocative and set in a remote and beautiful landscape, this book will delight anyone who has hankered after a new life in the country.

The harrowing story of Shirin-Gol, an Afghan woman who fought against the poverty and fear she had known since childhood. War and life as a refugee increased her problems but she remained solid in her support for her husband and children.

Alistair Cooke held a unique position as a commentator on American life and politics. This is a record of sixty years of Anglo-American misunderstanding and Cooke's efforts to put the record straight.

As a retired brain surgeon, Henry Marsh thought he understood illness, but he was unprepared for the impact of his diagnosis of advanced cancer. And Finally explores what happens when someone who has spent a lifetime on the frontline of life and death finds himself contemplating what might be his own death sentence. As he navigates the bewildering transition from doctor to patient, he is haunted by past failures and projects yet to be completed, and frustrated by the inconveniences of illness and old age. But he is also more entranced than ever by the mysteries of science and the brain, the beauty of the natural world and his love for his family. Elegiac, candid, luminous and poignant, And Finally is ultimately not so much a book about death, but a book about life and what matters in the end.

Non-fiction Award Winner. Author's memoirs of his father told in a tender, funny and powerfully written observation.

Lorna Byrne is a modern-day mystic. As a child, people thought Lorna was 'retarded' because she did not seem to be focussing on what was around her, but she remembers seeing not just the world around her but seeing, equally vividly, angels and spirits. In this book, Lorna recounts her life story.

Anti-Social is the diary of a council worker whose job is to keep his community happy, or at least away from each other's throats. That's hard enough at the best of times but when government cuts mean that hospitals, social services and police are all at breaking point, the possibility of complete chaos is never far away. This is an urgent, timely but, most of all, hysterically funny true story of a life spent working with the people society wants to forget and the problems that nobody else can resolve. This book will make you laugh, cry and boil with rage within a single sentence.

In July 2018, twelve boys and their football coach disappeared into Tham Luang Cave in Thailand. Trapped miles beneath the surface, not even the Thai Navy SEALs had the skills to bring them to safety. With the floodwater rising rapidly, time was running out . . . Any hope of survival rested on Rick Stanton, a retired Midlands firefighter with a living room full of homemade cave-diving equipment. As unlikely as it seemed, to those in the know, Rick and his partner, John Volanthen, were regarded as the A-team for exactly this kind of mission. The Thai Cave Rescue was the apex of a lifelong obsession, requiring every ounce of skill and ingenuity accumulated by Rick through a near forty-year pursuit of the unknown. 

While the world held its breath, Rick, John and their assembled team raced against time in the face of near impossible odds. There was simply no precedent for what they were attempting to do . . . In Aquanaut Rick reveals the real story of the cave rescue for the first time. And of a life lived without compromise in which any mistake could have been his last. It's an edge-of-your-seat story of courage and conviction that will take you deep into the most remote and unforgiving places on the planet, told with humour, unflinching honesty, and a relentless drive for adventure.

Essential life lessons from the world's most famous monk. Through a beautiful collection of autobiographical stories and teachings, At Home in the World tells the remarkable life of the beloved Zen Master, Thich Nhat Hanh. With his signature clarity and warmth, he shares tales from his childhood in rural Vietnam through to his travels teaching the world the art of mindfulness.

For over twenty years auctioneer Philip Serrell has uncovered many priceless antiques, and has done business with people from some odd corners of English life.

For decades now, Pico Iyer has been based for much of the year in Nara, Japan, where he and his Japanese wife, Hiroko, share a two-room apartment. But when his father-in-law dies suddenly, calling him back to Japan earlier than expected, Iyer begins to grapple with the question we all have to live with: how to hold on to the things we love, even though we know that we and they are dying.

In a country whose calendar is marked with occasions honouring the dead, this question has a special urgency and currency. Iyer leads us through the autumn following his father-in-law's death, introducing us to the people who populate his days. And as the maple leaves begin to redden and the heat begins to soften, Iyer offers us a singular view of Japan, in the season that reminds us to take nothing for granted.

After a childhod in rural Ireland, Tom Pey became a high-flying financial consultant in London and New York. Suddenly he lost his sight due to an almost forgotten childhood accident. After initial anger and despair he has now rebuilt his life.

This is a true story of the author's time as a soldier serving in Iraq. He was almost killed twice and finally won the Victoria Cross for bravery rescuing his colleagues from danger.

A remarkable insight into the life and work of the late Cardinal Hume, written by some of his closest friends.

Amy Chua's daughters, Sophia and Louisa (Lulu) were polite, interesting and helpful, they had perfect school marks and exceptional musical abilities. The Chinese-parenting model certainly seemed to produce results. But what happens when you do not tolerate disobedience and are confronted by a screaming child who would sooner freeze outside in the cold than be forced to play the piano?

Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother is a story about a mother, two daughters, and two dogs. It was supposed to be a story of how Chinese parents are better at raising kids than Western ones. But instead, it's about a bitter clash of cultures, a fleeting taste of glory, and how you can be humbled by a thirteen-year-old.

Journalist and writer, Martha Gellhorn, was always involved in radical politics. She became a war correspondent during the Spanish Civil War, after her marriage to Ernest Hemingway, and covered many other major conflicts up to the 1980's.

This was the abyss where, unguided, black boys were swallowed whole, only to re-emerge on corners and prison tiers.

Ta-Nehisi Coates grew up in the tumultuous 1980's in Baltimore known, back then as the murder capital of the United States. With seven siblings, four mothers, and one highly unconventional father: Paul Coates, a larger-than-life Vietnam Vet, Black Panther, Ta-Nehisi's coming of age story is gripping and lays bare the troubled, often violent life of the inner-city, and the author's experience as a young black person in it.

With candor, Ta-Nehisi Coates details the challenges on the streets and within one's family, especially the eternal struggle for peace between a father and son and the important role family plays in such circumstances.

In China she was the daughter of professors. In Brooklyn her family is illegal. Qian is just seven when she moves to America, the 'Beautiful Country', where she and her parents find that the roads of New York City are not paved with gold, but crushing fear and scarcity. Unable to speak English at first, Qian and her parents must work wherever they can to survive. Qian Julie Wang's memoir is an unforgettable account of what it means to live under the perpetual threat of deportation and the small joys and sheer determination that kept her family afloat in a new land. Told from a child's perspective, in a voice that is intimate, poignant and startlingly lyrical, Beautiful Country is the story of a girl who learns first to live - and then escape - an invisible life.

Hugo Vickers has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the royal family, and has had a fascination with the story of the Duchess of Windsor since he was a young man. There have been a number of books about the duchess, but this book brings a new perspective on the story by focusing on the later years of exile.

From adventures at Central Saint Martins to The Great British Sewing Bee, go behind the scenes of Esme Young's amazing life... At age five, Esme was asked to write in her notebook, but instead, she filled it with drawings - the only way she knew to express herself. At seven, when it was discovered she was partially deaf, she found refuge in her sketchbooks. Shortly after, Esme made her first garment and a passion for sewing and designing was born. As a teenager, she made her way to London where her creative journey truly began. Living in a squat with other young creatives, Esme made the most of her time; studying at Central Saint Martins, launching a clothing line called Swanky Modes with three friends and GBP50 each, watching Notting Hill Carnival with David Bowie, and altering a dress for Cher. The '90s saw a career move into costumes for films, where she designed outfits for Trainspotting, Bridget Jones's Diary and The Beach, before she moved onto the small screen herself. A celebration of a creative life lived differently, Behind the Seams is a reminder that it's never too early, or too late to pick up a needle and start stitching in a new direction.

Paralyzed from polio at eighteen months, Judy Heumann began her struggle for equality early in life. From fighting to attend grade school after being described as a "fire hazard" to later winning a lawsuit against the New York City school system for denying her a teacher's license, to leading the section 504 sit-in that led to the creation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, Judy's actions set a precedent that fundamentally improved rights for disabled people around the globe.

Oliver Popplewell was one of England's most distinguished lawyers who rose to the highest ranks of the judiciary. His interests go far beyond the legal system and he writes about his life in a witty, intelligent way.

While on a year of study in Paris in 1927, Liebling acquired the friendship and tutelage of Yves Mirande, 'one of the last great Gastronomes of France', beginning a joyous apprenticeship in the fine art of eating. Told with gluttonous joie de vivre, Between Meals expounds on the delights and pitfalls of a life dedicated to food, from bad rosé ('a pinkish cross between No-Cal and vinegar') to lobster a l'Américaine ('I have never personally inquired into the mysteries of its fabrication; I am content to love a masterpiece of painting without asking how the artist mixed his colors'), to a memorable stay at a Swiss slimming-clinic with a masseur named Sprudli. Witty, grouchy and full of gusto, Between Meals has the exquisite sensuality of a Michelin-starred meal and the delicious, catty wit of the perfect dinner guest. It is a lovesong to food, wine and Paris.

At just twenty-two, on the cusp of adult life, Suleika Jaouad was diagnosed with leukemia and given a 35 per cent chance of survival. For the next five years, her world comprised four white walls, a hospital bed, fluorescent lights, tubes and wires. She became patient 5624. At twenty-seven, and celebrating her first year of remission, Suleika realized that, having survived, she now had no idea how to live. And so she set out to meet some of the many strangers who had written to her about their experiences of life, death, healing and recovery in response to her Emmy-Award winning New York Times column, 'Life Interrupted'. Between Two Kingdoms is the result. Drawing on Suleika's TED Talk 'What almost dying taught me about living' with over 4 million views, it illuminates universal questions about how we live, mourn, heal and grow up, and what it means to begin again.

The Durrell family returns to live on the island of Corfu, and already an ardent naturalist at the age of ten, the young Gerald lives in an unconventional and disordered household with his mother, sister and two brothers. Gerald spends hours observing and marvelling at the natural environment around him describing the island's beauty with a child-like wonder that he never fails to impart to his reader. Book 2 of series.

At four years old, Richard Wright set fire to his home in a moment of boredom; at five his father deserted the family; by six Richard was - temporarily - an alcoholic. Moved from home to home, from brick tenement to orphanage he had had, by the age of twelve, only one year's formal education. But gradually he learned to play Jim Crow in order to survive in a world of white hostility, secretly satisfying his craving for books and knowledge until the time came when he could follow his dream of justice and opportunity in the north.

Dillibe was the second black boy to study at Eton - joining in 1965 - and the first to complete his education there. Written at just 21, this is a deeply personal, revelatory account of the racism he endured during his time as a student at the prestigious institution. He tells in vivid detail of his own background as the son of a Nigerian judge at the International Court of Justice at The Hague, of his arrival at the school, of the curriculum, of his reception by other boys (and masters), and of his punishments. He tells, too, of the cruel racial prejudice and his reactions to it, and of the alienation and stereotyping he faced at such a young age. A Black Boy at Eton is a searing, ground-breaking book displaying the deep psychological effects of colonialism and racism.

In twelve intensely personal, interconnected essays, Emily Bernard sets out to tell stories from her life that enable her to talk about truth, race, family and relationships, and much more. She observes the complexities and paradoxes, the haunting memories and ambushing realities of growing up black in the South with a family name inherited from a white man, of getting a PhD from Yale, of marrying a white man from the North, of adopting two babies from Ethiopia, of teaching at a white college and living in America's New England today. Ultimately, she shows us that it is in our shared experience of humanity that we find connection, happiness and hope.

Frank Gardner had a love of all things Arabic and after studying Arab and Islamic studies at university, he became a banker then a journalist with the BBC. Ironic then that he was shot and left for dead in Riyadh by a passing group of Islamic extremists. His bravery in the face of his injuries and subsequent disabilities is outstanding.

Tom Reynolds is an Emergency Medical Technician with the London Ambulance Service. Based on his blog, this book reveals the stories behind the flashing blue light and is by turns moving, funny, heart-rending and compassionate.

Set in Cardiff a child suffers a devastating brain injury. The story traces the journey of his mother into a world where she battles against the odds to heal him. Through her intimate day by day musings, the book explores the impact of the tragedy on the mother's thoughts and feelings as the most extraordinary relationship unfolds.