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Newborn: Running Away, Breaking with the Past, Building a New Family
by Kerry Hudson‘It was always going to be difficult to follow Lowborn, but Kerry Hudson is Kerry Hudson and she has done it – cleverly, honestly, brilliantly’ RODDY DOYLE'Filled with colour: food, Prague, illness, love, the challenges of having a baby in a foreign country and making your own story' AMY LIPTROTIn Newborn, prizewinning writer Kerry Hudson navigates trying to build a nourishing, safe and loving family - without a blueprint to work fromKerry Hudson is celebrated for her emotionally and politically powerful writing about growing up in poverty. Her books and journalism have changed the conversation and touched countless lives.In this new book she asks: what next, after a childhood like hers? What hope is there of creating a different life for herself, let alone future generations? We see how Kerry found love, what it took to decide to start a family of her own and how fragile every step of the journey towards parenthood was. All along the way, she faces obstacles that would test the strongest foundations, from struggles with fertility to being locked down in a Prague maternity hospital to a marriage in crisis. But over and over again, her love, hope, fight -- and determination to break patterns and give her son a different life -- win through and light her path.Newborn is a beautiful, empowering memoir about creating a family in the midst of chaos, and learning new ways to find happiness. It continues the journey Kerry started in her bestselling memoir Lowborn, illuminating her experiences of becoming a mother, reshaping her future and reclaiming her identity.PRAISE FOR KERRY HUDSON:‘It’s not just Kerry Hudson’s writing that is vibrant, authentic and true, it’s the person herself, it’s where the writing comes from; a wise and generous heart’ KIT DE WAAL'Hudson’s resilience, grace and humility are staggering. She’s an absolute inspiration’ DOUGLAS STUART‘Kerry Hudson blew me away, opened my eyes’ PHILIPPA PERRY
Knife: From the Booker Prize winning author of Midnight’s Children
by Salman RushdieA gripping account of survival and recovery from internationally renowned writer and Booker Prize-winner Salman RushdieOn the morning of 12 August 2022, Salman Rushdie was standing onstage at the Chautauqua Institution in upstate New York, preparing to give a lecture on the importance of keeping writers safe from harm, when a man in black – black clothes, black mask – rushed down the aisle towards him, wielding a knife. His first thought: So it’s you. Here you are.What followed was a horrific act of violence that shook the literary world and beyond. Now, for the first time, Rushdie relives the traumatic events of that day and its aftermath, as well as his journey towards physical recovery and the healing that was made possible by the love and support of his wife, Eliza, his family, his army of doctors and physical therapists, and his community of readers worldwide.Knife is Rushdie writing with urgency, gravity, and unflinching honesty. It is also a deeply moving reminder of literature’s capacity to make sense of the unthinkable. This an intimate and life-affirming meditation on life, loss, love, art – and finding the strength to stand up again.
Maurice and Maralyn: An extraordinary true story of love, shipwreck and survival
by Sophie Elmhirst**A Guardian, Observer & Waterstones Nonfiction Book of 2024**'One of those very special books that makes you put everything on hold so you can get back to it' RACHEL JOYCEWhat begins as an eccentric English love story turns into one of the most dramatic adventures ever recorded...Maurice and Maralyn couldn't be more different. He is as cautious and awkward as she is charismatic and forceful. It seems an unlikely romance, but it works.Bored of 1970s suburban life, Maralyn has an idea: sell the house, build a boat, leave England -- and its oil crisis, industrial strikes and inflation -- forever. It is hard work, turning dreams into reality, but finally they set sail for New Zealand. Then, halfway there, their beloved boat is struck by a whale and the pair are cast adrift in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.On their tiny raft, their love is put to the test. When Maurice begins to withdraw into himself, it falls upon Maralyn to keep them both alive. Filled with danger, spirit, and tenderness, this is a book about human connection and the human condition; about how we survive -- not just at sea, but in life.'Extraordinary . . . Elmhirst is a terrific writer' ELIZABETH DAY
Cloistered: ‘[A] beautifully written memoir…evolves into a spiritual thriller’ Observer
by Catherine Coldstream'A profoundly moving memoir which gripped me' Mark HaddonDiscover Catherine Coldstream’s evocative account of life as a nun in the 1990s, and the dramatic events which led to her flight from the monastery.After the shock of her father’s death, twenty-four-year-old Catherine was left grieving and alone. A search for meaning led her to Roman Catholicism and the nuns of Akenside Priory.Here she found a tight-knit community of dedicated women and peace in an ancient way of life. But as she surrenders to her final vows, all is not as it seems behind the Priory’s closed doors. Power struggles erupt – with far-reaching consequences for those within.Catherine comes to realise that divine authority is mediated through flawed and all-too-human channels. She is faced with a dilemma: should she protect the serenity she has found, or speak out?A love song to a lost community and an honest account of her twelve years in the Order, Cloistered is also a cautionary tale about what can happen when good people cut themselves off from the wider world.‘Immersive, beautifully observed’ Katherine May'I admired [Cloistered] enormously' Sarah Perry‘An intense and often theatrical read’ Financial Times
The Martyr and the Red Kimono: A Fearless Priest’s Sacrifice and A New Generation of Hope in Japan
by Naoko AbeThe remarkable true story of Saint Maximilian Kolbe, and the two men in war-torn Japan whose lives he changed forever.On the 14th of August 1941, a Polish priest named Maximilian Maria Kolbe was murdered in Auschwitz.Kolbe's life had been remarkable. Fiercely intelligent and driven, he founded a movement of Catholicism and spent several years in Nagasaki, ministering to the 'hidden Christians' who had emerged after centuries of oppression. A Polish nationalist as well as a priest, he gave sanctuary to fleeing refugees and ran Poland's largest publishing operation, drawing the wrath of the Nazis. His death was no less remarkable: he volunteered to die, saving the life of a fellow prisoner.It was an act that profoundly transformed the lives of two Japanese men. Tomei Ozaki was just seventeen when the US dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki, destroying his home and his family. Masatoshi Asari worked on a farm in Hokkaido during the war and was haunted by the inhumane treatment of prisoners in a nearby camp. Forged in the crucible of an unforgiving war, both men drew inspiration from Kolbe's sacrifice, dedicating their lives to humanity and justice. Ozaki followed in his footsteps and became a friar. Asari created cherry trees as peace offerings.In The Martyr and the Red Kimono, award-winning author Naoko Abe weaves together a deeply moving and inspirational true story of resistance, sacrifice, guilt and atonement.
Only Say Good Things: Surviving Playboy and finding myself
by Crystal HefnerA fascinating demythologising of the Playboy brand and Hefner himself - Pandora Sykes'I was 21 years old when I found myself on the front stoop of the Playboy Mansion. I want to tell the real story of my time there - the good and the bad, the dark and the light.'In 2008 the Playboy mansion became Crystal Harris's sanctuary - a shimmering vestige of opportunity. Within months she had ascended its hierarchy to become Hugh Hefner's top girlfriend. But her new home came at a cost. Forced to follow strict rules that governed everything from her appearance to behaviour, she began to lose her identity. By the time she married Hef in 2012, the mansion had become her prison.Having made a promise to Only Say Good Things, for years Crystal suppressed the truth of what really happened behind the mansion's closed doors. Now, in this raw and honest memoir, she's finally ready to expose it all.Laying bare the devastating impact that a culture of relentless objectification and misogyny had on her health, Crystal's extraordinary story carries powerful lessons that are relevant to us all.
Guest Privileges: Queer Lives and Finding Home in the Middle East
by Gaar AdamsAn intimate and illuminating account of queer lives and migration, homemaking and community in the Gulf, from a brilliant new voice in narrative non-fiction'An eye-opening tour de force... an important and necessary contribution to queer literature and an essential one.' Alex EspinozaUpon moving to the Gulf States – where penalties for queer acts include deportation, imprisonment, torture and death – Gaar Adams wants to understand why LGBTQ+ migrants might choose to live amid such peril. From the UAE to Bahrain and Oman to Saudi Arabia – a region where four out of five residents are noncitizens – he begins riskily gathering interviews outside the tightly controlled state media, leading with what he thinks is a simple question:Isn't it harder for you to make a life here?But as unforgettable residents share a kaleidoscope of stories – from uproarious Filipino salon workers throwing secret drag parties to a courageous Pakistani farmhand helping his compatriots smuggle themselves across borders – cracks emerge in the framing of his enquiry, revealing disquieting assumptions about the motivations, places and identities of others.As Gaar begins his own clandestine queer relationship, fault lines and deeper questions begin to emerge: about what we perpetuate and refuse to examine, and how we balance opportunity, risk, subversion and assimilation.Weaving revealing memoir with unprecedented reportage, Guest Privileges is a decade-long journey of dislocation not just through the Gulf States – one of the most maligned and misunderstood regions in the world – but into the very nature of home, belonging and how we form a life and community.
Caliban Shrieks: The ‘breathless and dizzying’ rediscovered classic novel
by Jack HiltonA lyrical tour of life as a young working-class man born into the first days of the 20th century, Caliban Shrieks is a lost masterpiece of 1930s British literature.WITH NEW INTRODUCTIONS BY ANDREW McMILLAN AND JACK CHADWICKCaliban Shrieks’ narrator went from a childhood of poverty, yet joy and freedom, to the punishing grind of factory life and the idiocy of being sent blindly into war. He was turned out of the army a vagrant - seeing England from city to city, county to county - before being thrust back into an uncertain cycle of working life as it unfolded in the post-war years.A story of men and women lost, wandering – and angrily dreaming of a better, fairer England, Hilton’s autobiographical novel is a bold modernist retelling of the myth of how we find ourselves disenfranchised from the world and sold into a slavery of our making.Lost to time, only to be rediscovered again in the Salford's Working Class Movement Library in 2022, Caliban Shrieks is a working-class masterpiece of British literature, and continues to speak as brash and impassioned as it did on its first rave publication in 1935.'Witty and unusual' George Orwell'Magnificent' W H Auden
Change: A Novel
by Edouard LouisThe major new novel from the international bestselling author Édouard Louis - about social class, transformation, and the perils of leaving the past behind.One question took centre stage in my life, it focused all of my thoughts and occupied every moment when I was alone with myself: how could I get this revenge, by what means? I tried everything.Édouard Louis longs for a life beyond the poverty, discrimination and violence in his working-class hometown - so he sets out for school in Amiens, and, later, university in Paris. He sheds the provincial 'Eddy' for an elegant new name, determined to eradicate every aspect of his past. He reads incessantly; he dines with aristocrats; he spends nights with millionaires and drug-dealers alike.Everything he does is motivated by a single obsession: to become someone else. At once harrowing and profound, Change is not just a personal odyssey, a story of dreams and of 'the beautiful violence of being torn away', but a profound portrait of a society divided by class, power and inequality.
One Win a Day: 365 little steps to make a big difference
by Charlotte GreedyFrom the Sunday Times bestselling author of You Do You, an interactive workbook designed to bring a bit more magic into your everyday life, one day at a time.You can start at any point of the year. Every page contains a simple act of self-care to take on each day, that will make today just that little bit better than yesterday. It's the best friend by your bedside - a safe space to help you take stock, take a moment for yourself, and then get ready to take on the world!Try your hand at self-care bingo one day. Get back to nature the next. Learn how to heal yourself using your love language. Practice celebrating your daily success, whether this is making your bed or finally catching up with that friend you've been meaning to chat to for ages.With Charlotte's signature humour and heart, this book is here to cheer you on through the ups and downs the year may bring, and take small steps towards happiness a little more each day.
The In-Between: Unforgettable Encounters During Life's Final Moments – THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
by Hadley Vlahos*THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER* - 'Heartfelt ... Gentle, refreshingly forthright' New York TimesHospice nurse and TikTok star Hadley Vlahos shares moving stories, life lessons and wisdom from her patients in this heart-warming memoir about how end-of-life care can teach us just as much about how to live as it does about how we die.'The combined beauty, faith, and compassion found in each patient's death is meaningful and sublime' Theresa Brown, author of The Shift'Vlahos's compassionate, beautifully written book contains profound wisdom' Katy Butler, author of The Art of Dying Well***We don't often talk about dying, even in the medical field, but death is a universal part of life. An ardent advocate for compassionate end-of-life care, Hadley Vlahos, shows us that the end of our lives can be rich, beautiful and transformative by sharing moving stories about how her patients' final days have changed her life.Full of insights from real people, from the woman who never once questioned her faith until she was close to death, to the older man seeing visions of his late daughter, to the young patient who laments that she spent too much of her short life worrying about what others thought of her - each story raises vital questions about living, dying and the afterlife, inspiring us to live our lives to the fullest.***'Extraordinary ... helps dispel fear around death and dying - revealing it to be a natural part of our soul's evolution' Laura Lynne Jackson, author of The Signs'Tender and transformative . . . it makes dying feel like a peaceful, dynamic, and nourishing event' Christie Tate, author of Group
Breaking Through: My Life In Science
by Katalin KarikóFrom butcher's daughter in Communist Hungary to winner of the Nobel Prize in Medicine 2023, this is the story of one woman's extraordinary determination through decades of obscurity and rejection – and her breakthrough discovery that saved millions of lives.'Riveting. A true story of a brilliant biochemist who never gave up or gave in' BONNIE GARMUS, author of Lessons in Chemistry'Anyone who has ever doubted that science, innovation and persistence can change the world should read this book' BILL GATESKatalin Karikó began life as a butcher’s daughter in post-war Communist Hungary: a hand-to-mouth existence in a single-room house of clay and straw with no running water. But even as a child she understood two crucial things: for those who can see it, the world is full of fascination and wonder, and whatever challenges she faced, she could overcome them with her boundless appetite for learning.Breaking Through is Karikó’s extraordinary memoir of how she achieved her dream of becoming a scientist, first in Hungary and then in the USA, and pursued her belief – despite so many telling her not to – that an elusive molecule called mRNA could transform our ability to prevent disease. For three decades she worked in obscurity, battling cockroaches in a windowless lab, enduring demotion, the derision of her colleagues, even threats of deportation. But in 2020, Karikó’s vision was spectacularly vindicated when her work made possible a staggering achievement that changed all our lives: the production of the vaccines that protected millions from COVID-19, bringing an end to the pandemic and paving the way for similar vaccines against HIV, malaria and other life-threatening diseases.As frank, wise and fearless as Karikó herself, Breaking Through is a remarkable story of tenacity, friendship and loyalty, and one woman’s unshakeable commitment to her values.‘A riveting testament to resilience and the power of unwavering belief’ JENNIFER DOUDNA, Nobel Prize laureate in chemistry‘The rousing story of a remarkable woman and her lifesaving contributions to medicine’ Publishers Weekly‘An outstanding memoir with a happy ending’ Kirkus Reviews
More: A Memoir of Open Marriage
by Molly Roden WinterThe instant New York Times bestselling memoir that everyone is talking about'This book about open marriage is going to blow up your group chat' The Washington PostMolly Roden Winter was a mother of small children with a husband, Stewart, who often worked late. One night when Stewart missed the kids’ bedtime—again—she stormed out of the house to clear her head. At a bar, she met Matt, a flirtatious younger man. When Molly told her husband that Matt had asked her out, she was surprised that Stewart encouraged her to accept.So began Molly’s unexpected open marriage and, with it, a life-changing journey of self-discovery. Molly signs up for dating sites, enters into passionate flings, and has sex in hotels and public places around New York City. For Molly it’s a mystery why she wants what she wants. In therapy sessions, fuelled by the discovery that her parents had an open marriage, too, she grapples with her past and what it means to be a mother and a whole person.Molly and Stewart, who also begins to see other people, set ground rules: Don’t date an ex. Don’t date someone in the neighbourhood. Don’t go to anyone’s home. And above all, don’t fall in love. In the years that follow, they break most of their rules, even the most important one. They grapple with jealousy, insecurity, and doubts, all the while wondering: Can they love others and stay true to their love for each other? Can they make the impossible work?More is an electric debut that offers both steamy fun and poignant reflections on motherhood, daughterhood, marriage, and self-fulfilment. With warmth, humour, and style, Molly Roden Winter delivers an unputdownable journey of a woman becoming her most authentic self.
Letters to His Son, 1766-71 / On the Fine Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a Gentleman
by Earl of Philip Dormer Stanhope ChesterfieldEarl of Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield was an 18th century British aristocrat best known for his wit and for being a man of letters. His works offer a great insight into what life was like during the time period in England.
Letters to His Son, 1752 / On the Fine Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a Gentleman
by Earl of Philip Dormer Stanhope ChesterfieldEarl of Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield was an 18th century British aristocrat best known for his wit and for being a man of letters. His works offer a great insight into what life was like during the time period in England.
Letters to His Son, 1749 / On the Fine Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a Gentleman
by Earl of Philip Dormer Stanhope ChesterfieldEarl of Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield was an 18th century British aristocrat best known for his wit and for being a man of letters. His works offer a great insight into what life was like during the time period in England.
Letters to His Son, 1746-47 / On the Fine Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a Gentleman
by Earl of Philip Dormer Stanhope ChesterfieldEarl of Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield was an 18th century British aristocrat best known for his wit and for being a man of letters. His works offer a great insight into what life was like during the time period in England.
Letters to His Son, 1753-54 / On the Fine Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a Gentleman
by Earl of Philip Dormer Stanhope ChesterfieldEarl of Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield was an 18th century British aristocrat best known for his wit and for being a man of letters. His works offer a great insight into what life was like during the time period in England.
Letters to His Son, 1750 / On the Fine Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a Gentleman
by Earl of Philip Dormer Stanhope ChesterfieldEarl of Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield was an 18th century British aristocrat best known for his wit and for being a man of letters. His works offer a great insight into what life was like during the time period in England.
Letters to His Son, 1748 / On the Fine Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a Gentleman
by Earl of Philip Dormer Stanhope ChesterfieldEarl of Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield was an 18th century British aristocrat best known for his wit and for being a man of letters. His works offer a great insight into what life was like during the time period in England.
Life and Writings of Sir Thomas More: Lord Chancellor Of England And Martyr Under Henry Viii
by T. E. BridgettAfter this review of More’s public life and period of prosperity, the reader will be interested to know what was his interior life before God. In addition to what has been said of this by his biographers, especially Roper and Stapleton, as related in previous chapters, we have a picture of a holy statesman drawn by his own pen, in which he has unconsciously described himself; or rather we have an account given of a method of sanctification, which we know from other sources to have been the one so successfully adopted by himself.
The Pendulum: A Granddaughter's Search For Her Family's Dark Nazi Past (PDF)
by Julie LindahlThis gripping memoir traces Brazilian-born American Julie Lindahl’s journey to uncover her grandparents’ roles in the Third Reich as she is driven to understand how and why they became members of Hitler’s elite, the SS. Out of the unbearable heart of the story—the unclaimed guilt that devours a family through the generations—emerges an unflinching will to learn the truth. In a remarkable six-year journey through Germany, Poland, Paraguay, and Brazil, Julie uncovers, among many other discoveries, that her grandfather had been a fanatic member of the SS since 1934. During World War II, he was responsible for enslavement and torture and was complicit in the murder of the local population on the large estates he oversaw in occupied Poland. He eventually fled to South America to evade a new wave of war-crimes trials. The pendulum used by Julie’s grandmother to divine good from bad and true from false becomes a symbol for the elusiveness of truth and morality, but also for the false securities we cling to when we become unmoored. As Julie delves deeper into the abyss of her family’s secret, discovering history anew, one precarious step at a time, the compassion of strangers is a growing force that transforms her world and the way that she sees her family—and herself.
The New One: Painfully True Stories from a Reluctant Dad
by Mike BirbigliaWith laugh-out-loud funny parenting observations, the New York Times bestselling author and award-winning comedian delivers a book that is perfect for anyone who has ever raised a child, been a child, or refuses to stop acting like one.In 2016 comedian Mike Birbiglia and poet Jennifer Hope Stein took their fourteen-month-old daughter Oona to the Nantucket Film Festival. When the festival director picked them up at the airport she asked Mike if he would perform at the storytelling night. She said, "The theme of the stories is jealousy."Jen quipped, "You're jealous of Oona. You should talk about that."And so Mike began sharing some of his darkest and funniest thoughts about the decision to have a child. Jen and Mike revealed to each other their sides of what had gone down during Jen's pregnancy and that first year with their child. Over the next couple years, these stories evolved into a Broadway show, and the more Mike performed it the more he heard how it resonated—not just with parents but also people who resist all kinds of change.So he pored over his journals, dug deeper, and created this book: The New One: Painfully True Stories From a Reluctant Dad. Along with hilarious and poignant stories he has never shared before, these pages are sprinkled with poetry Jen wrote as she navigated the same rocky shores of new parenthood.So here it is. This book is an experiment—sort of like a family.
Me & Patsy Kickin' Up Dust: My Friendship with Patsy Cline
by Loretta Lynn Patsy Lynn RussellMe & Patsy Kickin' Up Dust shares the"important and inspiring" (Miranda Lambert) never-before-told complete story of the remarkable relationship between country music icons Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn. Loretta Lynn and the late Patsy Cline are legends--country icons and sisters of the heart. For the first time ever Loretta tells their story: a celebration of their music and their relationship up until Patsy's tragic and untimely death.Full of laughter and tears, this eye-opening, heartwarming memoir paints a picture of two stubborn, spirited country gals who'd be damned if they'd let men or convention tell them how to be. Set in the heady streets of the 1960s South, this nostalgia ride shows how Nashville blossomed into the city of music it is today. Tender and fierce, Me & Patsy Kickin' Up Dust is an up-close-and-personal portrait of a friendship that defined a generation and changed country music indelibly--and a meditation on love, loss and legacy.