Biography - Diaries & Letters

Classic memoirs from the acclaimed English actor author playwright and screenwriter Alan Bennett is one of the country's most celebrated and best-loved authors. This unmissable collection of diaries and memoirs brings together for the first time Telling Tales Diaries: 1980-1990 the autobiographical section of Untold Stories which covers the period 1997-2004 and Keeping On Keeping On: The Diaries 2005-2014. In his earliest collection of diaries Alan Bennett offers a fascinating insight into his life in the eighties working on location for his early films and enjoying life at home in Camden. In the diaries of Untold Stories he enjoys the simple pleasures of nature and wonders about the state of religion and politics at the end of the twentieth century.

In Keeping On Keeping On he looks back at a busy decade that saw him write four highly acclaimed plays reflects on his life with his partner Rupert Thomas and considers his lately found status as 'kindly cosy and essentially harmless'. Telling Tales meanwhile provides ten childhood snapshots and reminiscences about his early years-charting his development from a schoolboy in Leeds to a doubtful agnostic teen as well as his undergraduate life at the University of Oxford. With wit wisdom sharp social commentary and perceptive impressions Alan Bennett's memoirs and diaries are a joy to discover and a delight to hear again. For those who want to listen to Alan Bennett read Untold Stories in its complete form Alan Bennett: Untold Stories is also available from BBC Audio.

Witty, candid and honest, the author's observations and anecdotes are a delightful and entertaining read.

The Anthropocene is the current geological age, in which human activity has profoundly shaped the planet and its biodiversity. In this remarkable symphony of essays adapted and expanded from his groundbreaking podcast, John Green reviews different facets of the human-centered planet - from the QWERTY keyboard and Staphylococcus aureus to the Taco Bell breakfast menu - on a five-star scale.

Complex and rich with detail, the Anthropocene's reviews have been praised as 'observations that double as exercises in memoiristic empathy.' John Green's gift for storytelling shines throughout this artfully curated collection that includes both beloved essays and all-new pieces exclusive to the book.

In this selection of autobiographical fragments and letters we hear the authentic voices of the Brontë family.

How did George Eliot's love life affect her prose? Why did Kafka write at three in the morning? In what ways is Barack Obama like Eliza Doolittle? Can you be over-dressed for the Oscars? What is Italian Feminism? If Roland Barthes killed the Author, can Nabokov revive him? What does 'soulful' mean? Is Date Movie the worst film ever made?

Collected Essays contains nearly eighty essays, reviews and occasional pieces composed between novels, plays and travel books over four prolific decades. From Henry James and Somerset Maugham to Ho Chi Minh and Kim Philby, the range of subjects is eclectic and stimulating; his subjects brought vividly to life. The resulting collection is as revealing as autobiography and characteristically rich in humour, insight and doubt.

Revealing and humourous thoughts on family, friends and Chatsworth from the diaries of Deborah, Duchess of Devonshire.

Lady Diana Cooper was an aristocrat, society darling, an actress of stage and early screen. Diana’s letters to her only son, John Julius Norwich, cover the period 1939 to 1952. As a portrait of a time and some of history’s most dramatic and important events, these letters are invaluable. But they also give us a vivid and touching portrait of the love between a mother and son, and the constraints of the time they lived in.

'De Profundis' is a bitter reproach, written from prison to his former love, Lord Alfred Douglas. 'The Ballad of Reading Gaol' is a deeply moving poem about the woes of prison life.

A unique series of letters between a young airman, Tony Ross, and Joan Charles, a girl he met briefly in England before he was posted to the Mediterranean during the Second World War. These letters trace the development of their relationship from friendship to long-lasting love.

In this exchange of personal letters, two of Britain's leading gardeners - Christopher Lloyd and Beth Chatto - share their successes and failures, and learn from each other's experiences in their two very different gardens.

The eighth volume of diaries from James Lees-Milne, written with his usual candour and wit, and highly readable.

Lena Mukhina was an ordinary teenage girl, living in Leningrad, keeping a diary in which she recorded her hopes and dreams. Then, on 22 June 1941, Leningrad was besieged and life became a living hell. Lena records her experiences: the desperate hunt for food, the bitter cold of the Russian winter and the cruel deaths of those she loved, in this truly remarkable account of a terrible era in modern history

Written between 1660 and 1669, as Pepys was establishing himself as a key administrator in the Navy Office, this is an intimate portrait of life in 17th-century England. Volume II covers some of the most famous events in his lifetime. Pepys was in London during the terrible Plague of 1665. And he was there during the Great Fire of London the following year, playing an active role in the actual event and its aftermath.

In the last three years of Pepys' diary, he was in his mid-30s and confident in his ability to deal with differing political factions within the Navy Office; his affection for his wife, Elizabeth, grew ever stronger, and he found he was worth £6,000 - a considerable sum for the son of a tailor, who started with nothing. But with fears for his eyesight, it was with some regret that he stopped writing his diary at the end of May 1669.

Written between 1660 and 1669, as Pepys was establishing himself as a key administrator in the Navy Office, this is an intimate portrait of life in 17th-century England, covering his professional and personal activities, including, famously, his love of music, theatre, food, wine and his peccadilloes. Volume I covers the opening years of the Restoration and introduces us to many of the key characters - family, government and royalty of the Stuart monarchy.

The diary of Doreen Bates is a candid, spellbinding portrait of a gutsy young woman working in London in the years before and during the Second World War, as well as an extraordinary account of her long affair with an older, married colleague - one that brazenly challenged the strict conventions of the day.

Vere Hodgson worked for a Notting Hill Gate charity during the Second World War ; being sparky and unflappable, she was not going to let Hitler make a difference to her life, but the beginning of the Blitz did, which is why she began her published diaries on 25 June 1940 after the first air raid of the war on London. The war continued for five more years, but Vere's comments on her work, friends, what was happening to London and the news combine to make Few Eggs and No Oranges unusually readable.

In August 1947, Diana Athill travelled to Florence by the Golden Arrow train for a holiday with her friend Pen. In this playful diary of that trip, she recorded her observations and adventures - admiring architectural sights, sampling delicious pastries, eking out their budget and getting into scrapes.

Using previously unpublished material from the family archive, Helen Fry sheds light on the Freuds’ family life in pre-war Vienna and during the war in Britain.

Galileo's daughter became a cloistered nun but continued to correspond with her father. These intelligent letters have been translated for the first time and are used to bring Galileo, his times and his beliefs to life as never before.

In Gathering Blossoms Under Fire, Walker offers a passionate, intimate record of her intellectual, artistic and political development. She also intimately explores - in real time - her thoughts and feelings as a woman, a writer, an African American, a wife, a daughter, a mother, a lover, a sister, a friend, a citizen of the world. The personal and the political are layered and intertwined in the revealing narrative that emerges from Walker's journals.

In her twenties Rachel Kushner went to Mexico in pursuit of her first love - motorbikes - to compete in the notorious and deadly race, Cabo 1000. As fellow racers died on the roadside, bikes were stolen and friends abandoned one another in the heat of the chase, she crashed at 130mph and miraculously survived; soon after, she decided to leave her controlling boyfriend and manoeuvred her way into a freer new life.

The Hard Crowd is a white-knuckle ride through that life; a book about muscling your way through, finding your own path and, as she says in the hair-raising opening piece, 'completing the ride without dying'. In nineteen razor-sharp essays she explores friendship, loss, social justice, art and more, taking us into the world of truckers, a Palestinian refugee camp, the American prison system and the San Francisco music scene, via the work of Jeff Koons, Marguerite Duras and the Rolling Stones. Fearless and bold, The Hard Crowd is an electrifying book about living fast and free in a crowded world.

9th volume of his diaries. Sequel to 'Deep Romantic Chasm' (5841). More sharp observation, at times cruel, of the people and places in his life.

A year in and out of lockdown as experienced by Alan Bennett. The diary takes us from the filming of Talking Heads to thoughts on Boris Johnson, from his father's short-lived craze for family fishing trips, to stair lifts, junk shops of old, having a haircut, and encounters on the local park bench. A lyrical afterword describes the journey home to Yorkshire from King's Cross station via fish and chips on Quebec Street, past childhood landmarks of Leeds, through Coniston Cold, over the infant River Aire, and on.

The witty and entertaining correspondence between Deborah, Duchess of Devonshire, and the writer and war hero, Patrick Leigh Fermor. The letters include glimpses of national and international events as well as life at both Chatsworth and on the southernmost peninsula of Greece.

Diana Athill's letters to the American poet Edward Field reveal a sharply intelligent woman with a brilliant sense of humour, a keen eye for the absurd, a fierce loyalty and a passionate zest for life. The letters cover 30 years of Diana's life.

John wrote letters and postcards all of his life; to his friends, family, strangers, newspapers, organisations and lawyers - most of which were funny, informative, campaigning, wise, mad, poetic, anguished and sometimes heartbreaking. For the first time, John's widow, Yoko Ono, has given permission to publish a collection of his letters.

Helene Berr was a Jewish girl living in Paris at the time of the German occupation. During this time she kept a diary, a moving account of the profound anguish and fear which marked each day. In March 1944 she was arrested and sent to Auschwitz.

This collection of letters forms a fascinating day-by-day account of Steinbeck's writing of EAST OF EDEN, his longest and most ambitious novel. The letters, ranging over many subjects - textual discussion, trial flights of workmanship, family matters - provide an illuminating perspective on Steinbeck, the creative genius, and a private glimpse of Steinbeck, the man.

18th Century journals kept by William Wordsworth's sister reveal much of their lives.

Kenneth Williams gives a glimpse of his world and profession through his diaries.

A unique diary of life in Wiltshire and the Welsh Borders by a Victorian village clergyman.

Gathering pieces written between 2003 and 2020, including several never previously in print, Languages of Truth chronicles a period of momentous cultural shifts. Across a wide variety of subjects, Rushdie delves into the nature of storytelling as a deeply human need, and what emerges is a love letter to literature itself. Throughout, Rushdie shares his personal encounters, on the page and in person, with storytellers from Shakespeare and Cervantes to Samuel Beckett, Eudora Welty, and Toni Morrison, and revels in the creative lines that can join art and life.

Always attuned to the malleability of language, Rushdie considers the nature of truth, and looks anew at migration, multiculturalism and censorship. Written with the author's signature wit and energy, Languages of Truth offers pleasure and insight in equal measure, confirming Rushdie's place as one of the most original and important thinkers of our time.

A wonderful collection of correspondence received by Jennifer Worth, author of the Call the Midwife series, offering a fascinating glimpse into a long-lost world. This is also a portrait of Jennifer herself, complete with a moving introduction by her family about the woman they knew and loved.

After her mother, Brenda, passed away and her father sold the family home, broadcaster and writer Emma Kennedy found herself floundering, unable to make peace with the complex, charismatic woman who had been her mum. And then they found the letters . . .

This heartbreakingly funny book about the impact of discovering lost letters is a celebration of correspondence; those lost acts of penned love, the vivid snapshots in time scattered back through a life.

It is also about a childhood shrouded in shame, the lies Brenda told her family, the madness that set in, and ultimately what it means to be a daughter and a mother. Finally, Emma allows herself to explore what she couldn't while she was growing up: the question of who her mother really was.