This is the heart-breaking tale of Angell, a young girl desperately loved but inadequately cared for by her troubled mother Nicki.Abandoned and left barely clothed beneath a park bench on a freezing cold day in winter, the bewildered child is rescued by police and passed into the loving and compassionate care of the Lewis family.But when foster carer Rosie takes Angell into her home and heart, she…
The rags-to-riches story of one of the world’s greatest dancers, from his difficult beginnings living in poverty in the backstreets of Cuba to his astronomical rise to international stardom.In 1980, Carlos Acosta was just another Cuban kid of humble origins, the youngest son in a poor family named after the planter who had owned his great-great-grandfather. With few options and an independent spir…
Previously published in hardback as Hey Jo, this is a moving and candid memoir from the woman who married the most controversial member of the Rolling Stones, and had the strength and courage to bounce back from heartbreak.When young model and mother Jo met rock star Ronnie Wood, she had no idea what her brief flirtation with this brilliant, charismatic musician would become.A raw and rollicking n…
On 27 August 1979, Paul Burns's life changed for ever. Travelling through Warren Point in Northern Ireland when the IRA detonated two massive bombs, he was involved in a devastating explosion – eighteen soldiers were killed that day; Paul was one of only two who survived.Newly recruited to the Parachute Regiment, Paul was performing a tour of duty in Northern Ireland when a four-tonne truck in whi…
A dramatic and heartwarming story from foster carer, Rosie Lewis.Ellen, a 28-year-old office worker is so shocked by the sudden birth of her baby that she abandons the newborn in hospital. Foster carer Rosie Lewis begins visiting baby Hope in hospital, then a week later she is released into her care.At first Rosie struggles to understand how any mother could abandon a small baby, but when Ellen be…
This is the story of Alex James’s transition from a leading light of the Britpop movement in the 1990s, to gentleman farmer, artisan cheese-maker and father of five.All Cheeses Great and Small is the follow-up memoir to Alex James's first book, Bit of a Blur, the story of his excessive pop star lifestyle during the nineties. But now Alex has grown up, fallen in love and got married. He has also fa…
Five boys, five months, one incredible dream.It's crazy to think that five months ago we didn't know each other at all. We were just five guys from different corners of the country, who dreamed of being popstars. Now we've not only found the best friends we've ever had, but we've made it to the final of The X Factor and got a recording contract too! It's been such a wild ride that it's hard to bel…
Clarkston, Georgia, was a typical Southern town until it was designated a refugee settlement centre in the 1990s, becoming home to scores of families in flight from the world's war zones – from Liberia and Sudan to Iraq and Afghanistan. Suddenly Clarkston's streets were filled with women wearing the hijab, the smells of cumin and curry, and kids of all colours playing football in any open space th…
Paddy Crerand's eagerly-awaited autobiography recounts the previously untold story of one of post-war football's fieriest characters. As a defensive midfielder, famed for his tough tackling, for Scotland, Celtic and Manchester United from 1957 to 1972, he was the Roy Keane of his day and this book holds nothing back on or off the field.As a Catholic born in the then infamous Gorbals area of Glasgo…
The harrowing true story of one boy’s experiences in a brutal ‘approved’ school for young offenders in ‘50s London, run by Catholic monks where violence and abuse were rife.Beaten from an early age by his abusive, father, John struggled to fit in at school where his poverty marked him out. When, aged 13, his father brought a charge against him in order to remove him from the family home, John foun…
An urgent call to action from one of Europe’s most well-regarded political thinkers. How to Lose a Country: The Seven Warning Signs of Rising Populism is a field guide to spotting the insidious patterns and mechanisms of the populist wave sweeping the globe – before it’s too late.‘It couldn’t happen here’Ece Temelkuran heard reasonable people in Britain say it the night of the Brexit vote.She hear…
This Sunday Times Bestseller is the memoir of Britain’s best loved food writer, Nigel Slater.TOAST is Nigel Slater’s truly extraordinary story of a childhood remembered through food. Whether relating his mother’s ritual burning of the toast, his father’s dreaded Boxing Day stew or such culinary highlights of the day as Arctic Roll and Grilled Grapefruit (then considered something of a status symbo…
A moving and personal account of a young woman’s experiences of the Second World War from the mother of Sir Tim Rice.Joan Rice had the same ambitions as many young women of her generation: she wanted to write; wanted to travel; wanted to be famous. With the outbreak of World War II she hurried to enlist – aged 20 – in the Women's Auxillary Air Force, hoping for change, for adventure, and for the c…
This coming-of-age memoir, set during the Iranian Revolution, tells the story of a young girl who moves to Tehran from the U.S. and has to adjust to living in a new country, learning a new language, and starting a new school during one of the most turbulent periods in Iran's history. Includes a foreword from best-selling author Firoozeh Dumas.This compelling true story of Nioucha Homayoonfar offer…
A biography exploring J.R.R. Tolkien’s wartime experiences and their impact on his life and his writing of The Lord of The Rings.“To be caught in youth by 1914 was no less hideous an experience than in 1939 … by 1918 all but one of my close friends were dead.”So J.R.R. Tolkien responded to critics who saw The Lord of the Rings as a reaction to the Second World War. Tolkien and the Great War tells …