Biography - General

When he worked in the Met, Mike Pannett was used to dealing with riots, drug gangs and even staring at the wrong end of a sawn-off shotgun. Now, as a bobby in rural North Yorkshire he finds himself chasing bullocks and solving country crimes. Here he amusingly describes his first year on his new patch.

After visiting Japan in 1902 and then discovering two magnificent cherry trees in the garden of his family home in Kent, Collingwood 'Cherry' Ingram, fell in love with cherry blossoms, or sakura, and dedicated much of his life to their cultivation and preservation. Ingram became one of the world’s leading sakura experts and every spring we enjoy his legacy.

Sequel to 'Angela's Ashes' (4853). After his heart-rending childhood, the author moved back to post-war New York where he had a number of jobs before qualifying as a teacher. He continues his tale with charm and humour.

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.

In November 2012, Salvador Alvarenga left the coast of Mexico on a fishing trip. A vicious storm killed his engine and the current dragged his boat out to sea, carrying him deep into the heart of the Pacific Ocean. Alvarenga would not touch solid ground again for 14 months. When he was washed ashore in January 2014, he had drifted over 9,000 miles.

1943: Five Army aviators left Alaska's Ladd Field on a routine flight to test their B-24 Liberator in harsh winter conditions. The mission ended in a crash that claimed all but one - Leon Crane. With only a parachute for cover and an old Boy Scout knife in his pocket, Crane found himself alone in subzero temperatures. Crane knew that his chance of survival dropped swiftly with each passing day. This is his story.

Joan Park recounts her childhood years growing up in Liverpool from 1927 to 1936. The daughter of a ship steward and a housewife, she captures the atmosphere of ordinary family life in pre-war Britain .

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

This is the story of two modest parents who rebelled against the apartheid regime knowing they were putting themselves and their family in grave danger. Peter Hain, MP and former Cabinet minister, tells the story of his parents - campaigners, fighters, exiles - in this searing and inspiring account.

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.

For over 25 years, Daphne Sheldrick and her husband, David, the famous founder of the Tsavo National Park in Kenya, raised and rehabilitated back into the wild orphans of many wild species. As one of Africa's greatest living conservationists, in 2006 she was made Dame Commander of the British Empire by the Queen.

Book 2 of the ‘Joan Park’ series. Sequel to ’86 SMITH STREET’ (8680). In this continuation of her memoirs, Joan takes us back to the early years of the War. The family have moved to a new housing estate on the edge of Liverpool and there are new schools and new friends to cope with.

This is Martin Spinelli's inspiring story of finding purpose in his life after the tragic death of his wife in a car crash, and the story of his son's miraculous recovery.

On a chill December night in 1942, a Nazi parachutist landed in a Cambridgeshire field. His mission: to sabotage the British war effort. His German masters called him Fritz, or Fritzchen. The British police knew him as Eddie Chapman. Within weeks Chapman was in the hands of MI5 and operating as Agent Zigzag.

The author was just eighteen years old when he enlisted in the RAF as a pilot. After training he served in the Middle East for four years with no home leave. This is the account of one man's war.

In the first part of this book Lessing explores the lives of her parents, Alfred and Emily, in a fictional world spared the misery of World War I. It ends with a short biographical piece on how these two people actually met and lived, their lives defined and ruined by this same event..

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.

Klara Andersen was born in Germany in 1924. She came to Britain in 1950 and has constantly asked been about how ordinary Germans viewed Hitler and Nazism. Viewed through a young persons eye, this volume covers the years 1932 - 1948.

A collection of childhood memories from the 1930s to the present day. It includes contributions from many famous names: Judi Dench, Richard Burton, Frank Muir to name but a few.

Nancy Durrell has always been an enigma. To her husband Lawrence, she was his introduction to bohemian London, his companion during his formative years and the inspiration for some of his finest poetry. Nancy’s story shines new light on an extraordinary group of people.

The gentle and sharply-observed diary of the young James Lees-Milne who, invalided out of the Army before the end of the Second World War, joins the tiny staff of the National Trust, visiting stately homes to discover whether they are suitable for acquisition by the Trust.

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.

A moving account of how the author's quest to learn more about his grandfather revealed the shocking truth about a family he thought he knew; a truth that had been hidden for nearly a hundred years.

Sad, funny and bittersweet memoir of growing up in New York in the 30s and Ireland in the 40s.

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.

An account of the life and work of the Princess Royal.

Sequel to 'A Kind Of magic'. Molly Harris describes her journeys over the hills and through the villages of the Cotswolds. Her extensive knowledge of the area and the Cotswold way of life is entertaining and captivating.

In one of the funniest autobiographies ever written, the author recalls the earlier years of his life.

A marvellous insight into the mind of a devout Christian, a colossal figure of the nineteenth century. It is, moreover, a great spiritual autobiography, laying out the development of John Henry Newman's religious opinions up to the year 1845 when he finally converted to Roman Catholicism.

In 1937, five-year-old Colette Rossant arrived in Cairo from Paris with her Egyptian Jewish father and beautiful French mother. She soon settles into the luxuriant, food centred lifestyle - spending afternoons in the spice filled kitchen; accompanying her grandmother to the bazaar; and feasting on the delicious Egyptian food. In this charming, funny, and moving memoir, accompanied by mouth watering recipes, she evokes an Egypt lost, to her and to us, forever.

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.