OPG Christmas Guide: Narrative Non-Fiction

Share Power

By Merryn Somerset Webb

Should companies care about climate change? Should they be vanquishing the gender pay gap and advancing human rights in their supply chains? And if we think they should – can we, as ordinary people, bring out these sorts of changes?

The answer is, technically, yes. In the UK, the majority of us now own shares in listed companies – whether that be through a stock and share ISA, a self-made investment or a work pension scheme. What few people know is that every share comes with a vote in company decisions, over everything from executive pay to corporate strategy. The technology exists to allow us to vote – all we need to do is learn how to use it.

In Share Power, Merryn Somerset Webb, Editor in Chief of MoneyWeek, takes us deep into the world of corporate capitalism – from the privatisation of state-owned companies in the 1980s to the financial crash of 2008 and the growth of the modern multinational – to show us how capitalism went wrong and how, with six simple recommendations, every one of us now has the power to make it work for us. *****

Merryn Somerset Webb is editor-in-chief of MoneyWeek, the UK’s best-selling financial magazine. She is also a columnist for the Financial Times and Saga magazine. Last year she was co-presenter of Channel 4's personal finance series Superscrimpers, and has previously published a book on personal finance, Love Is Not Enough: A Smart Woman's Guide to Money.

A vivid exploration, through a psychoanalytic lens, of the ghosts and buried traumas that hold us back and interfere with our lives.

Publication 03/02/2022

£14.99 Hardback 256 pages Demy

ISBN: 9781780725406

Emotional Inheritance

Moving beyond the legacy of trauma

By Galit Atlas

'Galit Atlas deftly shows why the hurts and stuckness that can plague us can be faced and, yes, dissolved. Contemporary psychoanalysis at its best.' – Susie Orbach, author of Fat Is a Feminist Issue

Dr. Galit Atlas, an internationally renowned psychoanalyst, draws on the emotional power of her patients' stories and her own life experiences to shed light on the extraordinary ways in which inherited family trauma affects our lives. The people we love and those who raised us live inside us; we experience their emotional pain, we dream their memories, and these things shape our lives in ways we don’t always recognise. Emotional Inheritance is about family secrets that haunst us and keep us from living to our full potential.

Through 11 remarkable case studies, Galit Atlas shows how it is only by engaging in delicate therapeutic detective work collecting reminiscences of childhood, following the traces that those ghosts leave, and identifying the links between our life struggles and the emotional inheritance we carry – that we can break the cycle and change our destiny. *****

Galit Atlas is a psychoanalyst and clinical supervisor in Manhattan. She is a faculty member of the New York University Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy & Psychoanalysis. As an essayist and author, Atlas has published numerous articles and book chapters that focus primarily on gender and sexuality. Atlas served on the board of directors of the Division of Psychoanalysis of the American Psychological Association. She is the recipient of the Andre Francois Research Award and the NADT Research Award.

A Sense of Belonging

How to find your place in a fractured world

By Dr Holan Liang

A sense of belonging – being liked, understood, accepted for who you are is vital for our mental health. Whether it is fitting in at school, struggling to connect with colleagues in a new job, or just feeling out of place in your own family, we all, at various stages in our lives, find ourselves questioning our identity.

For Dr Holan Liang, one of the UK's foremost psychiatrists, this crisis of identity cuts right to the heart of the modern epidemic of anxiety and depression.

In this ground breaking book, she draws on her own experience as an immigrant to the UK, and on 20 years of caring for patients suffering from a range of mental health conditions, from eating disorders to OCD, to explore a radical new perspective on mental health.

Warm, wise and full of humanity, A Sense of Belonging will help you to: understand the causes of loneliness, reprioritise the people and things that matter, stop people-pleasing, and learn how to accept yourself in order to find genuine connection.

A consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, Dr Holan Liang treats children with severe mental health issues from across the country. Born in Taiwan, she moved to the UK as a child and studied medicine and experimental psychology at Cambridge, before training in psychiatry at The Maudsley Hospital. As well as lecturing and teaching, Liang has written multiple peer-reviewed research papers and articles for the national press. A mother of two, she published Inside Out Parenting in 2017.

Tales from a Country Parish

A year in the life of the vicar of Pewsey

By Colin Heber-Percy

Colin Heber-Percy began writing a newsletter of daily reflections and uplifting stories to stay in touch with his parishioners during the unprecedented circumstances of Spring 2020. Word spread, and soon his bulletins were being eagerly consumed by readers around the country and beyond.

In Tales from a Country Parish, Heber-Percy draws upon a kaleidoscopic knowledge of art, nature and music, as well as religious texts, and interlaces them with amusing and touching vignettes from his Wiltshire parish from the many breakdowns of his clapped-out car, to the joys and agonies of leading worship on Zoom with interruptions from one parishioner's noisy budgie.

As he follows the changing seasons, Heber Percy moves from the seemingly small and mundane to ponder big life questions can you find heaven in a Londis shop, why the Bible is not the Highway Code, what on earth we are all doing here while gently offering up wisdom and sustenance for all, regardless of faith and creed.

Rev Dr Colin Heber Percy is the parish priest for Pewsey, Wiltshire, as well as a screenwriter and author. His screenwriting work has won many awards and been shown all over the world. He has a PhD in medieval metaphysics and has lectured on spirituality, faith, film, and fiction. He lives in Wiltshire with his wife and three children.

A revelatory book about death and mourning by a psychotherapist faced with sudden bereavement.

Publication

The State of Disbelief

By Juliet Rosenfeld

'A beautifully written, profoundly moving and immersive account of grief that will bring solace.' - Louise France, The Times

When Juliet Rosenfeld's husband dies of lung cancer only seven months into their marriage, everything she has learnt about death as a psychotherapist is turned on its head.

As she attempts to navigate her way through her own devastating experience of loss, Rosenfeld turns to her battered copy of Freud's seminal essay 'Mourning and Melancholia'. Inspired by the distinction Freud draws between the savage trauma of loss that occurs at the moment of death grief and the longer, unpredictable evolution of that loss into something that we call mourning, Rosenfeld finds herself dramatically rethinking the commonly held therapeutic idea of 'working through stages of grief'.

This is a beautifully written meditation on what the investment of love means and how to find your own path after bereavement in order for life to continue. *****

Juliet Rosenfeld read French and Italian at Oxford before working in advertising and briefly in the civil service. She began to retrain as a psychoanalytic psychotherapist 15 years ago. She works in London in private practice and has two sons. This is her first book.

The

Light to Life

miracle of photosynthesis and how it can save the planet

By Raffael Jovine

'A book about the magic of photosynthesis and how plants and algae turn sunlight into energy to make life on this planet possible. Read it!'

PAUL NURSE, Nobel Prize winner and author of What is Life?

Biologist Raffael Jovine takes us on a journey of discovery into the intricate, beautiful and often surprising processes that convert energy from the sun into life. Despite the unprecedented challenges the Earth faces from global warming, habitat loss and population growth, Jovine shows us that there is hope to be found. Photosynthesis is the very source of life: it has the power not just to produce food, but to reshape continents, drive biogeochemical cycles, stabilise the climate and regulate weather.

In this exciting, revelatory book, Jovine unveils a blueprint for the future: greening the desert, bringing the ocean on land, planting mangrove forests and growing algae for food and soil carbon... He demonstrates how, by harnessing photosynthesis, we can regenerate the planet and revise the way we interact with it.

Light to Life will help you to see the world in a different way, in all its wonderful detail – through the photosynthetic pigments in your eyes.

Raffael Jovine was born and raised in Munich, and educated in Britain and the US. He trained in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry at Yale, did his PdD in Marine Sciences, then researched the photosynthetic strategies that enable algae to outcompete other organisms at MIT. He is the founder and chief scientist for a company that uses seawater, sunlight and wind to grow food in coastal deserts, replicating algal blooms. He is married with five children and lives in London.

The Interior Silence

10 lessons from

monastic life

By Sarah Sands

Archdeacon

Suffering from information overload, unable to sleep, Sarah Sands, former editor of the BBC’s Today programme, has tried many different strategies to de stress… only to reject them because, as she says, all too often they threaten to become an exercise in self-absorption.

Inspired by the ruins of an ancient Cistercian abbey at the bottom of her Norfolk garden, she begins to research the lives of the monks who once resided there, and realises how much we may have to learn from monasticism.

Renouncing the world, monks and nuns have acquired a hidden knowledge of how to live: they labour, they learn and they acquire ‘the interior silence’. This book is a quest for that hidden knowledge a pilgrimage to ten monasteries round the world.

From a Coptic desert community in Egypt to a retreat in the Japanese mountains, we follow Sands as she identifies the common characteristics of monastic life and discovers, behind the cloistered walls, a clarity of mind and an unexpected capacity for solitude which enable her, after years of insomnia, to experience that elusive, dreamless sleep. *****

Sarah Sands is a journalist and author. A former editor of the London Evening Standard, she was editor of the Today programme on BBC Radio 4 from 2017 to September 2020.

A collection of thoughts and reflections on how to face the enormity of death from the world’s greatest writers, poets and thinkers, from Seneca to Tolstoy.

Publication 10/03/2022 £12.99 Hardback 208 pages B Format ISBN: 9781780724805

On Grief

Voices through the ages on how to manage death and loss

By Peter J. Conradi

How do you ‘prepare’ for bereavement? Religious faith can help, as can ritualised codes of dress and behaviour that recognise different stages of mourning. But many of us feel singularly unprepared when we lose someone. No one ‘theory’ can sooth the bereaved, precisely because grief so strips us naked and profoundly wounds us. Nothing pre-cooked helps. No quick fix, no one-shot deal.

In this inspirational book, Peter J Conradi draws on literature, history and philosophy to present a broad array of different voices and perspectives on grief. His carefully chosen stories, excerpts and poems offer wisdom and consolation, but they also make us think, break down taboos and sometimes even find humour and light amidst the painful, bewildering reality of death.

Everyone's experience of grief is different, but reading about the myriad different ways in which others have approached it can, while not necessarily easing our grief, certainly help us feel less alone. *****

Peter J. Conradi is the author of many books, including Iris Murdoch: A Life, the critically lauded biography of Iris Murdoch, and more recently of Going Buddhist and A Dictionary of Interesting and Important Dogs (Short Books) and At the Bright Hem of God: Radnorshire Pastoral.

I Bought a Mountain

By Thomas Firbank

WITH A FOREWORD

BY PATRICK BARKHAM

And an essay by Welsh hill farmer, Dafydd Morris-Jones

‘I first saw Dyffryn in a November gale... the old house was quivering under the thrusts of the wind, and the wild, remote setting had already captured my fancy, and I will hold it till I die.’

So begins the remarkable story of a 21-year-old man who, with no experience in agriculture, visited a sheep farm on a near barren Welsh mountainside in 1931 and that same day bought all 2,400 acres along with its 3000 sheep for £5,000.

Set amidst the rugged grandeur of Snowdonia, I Bought a Mountain follows the struggles and triumphs of this impulsive but hard-working man and his every-bit-as-tough wife, Esme, as they fight to build the farm into prosperity.

Firbank’s writing is guileless and immediate and ruthlessly honest. His paean to the traditional, Welsh hill-farming way of life transports you to a disappearing world, one ruled by the age-old rhythms of work, weather, livestock and a love of the land, and offers precious insights into conservation and sustainability.

Thomas Firbank (1910 2000) was a Canadian/Welsh author, farmer, soldier and engineer. He enlisted during the Second World War and was awarded a Military Cross. After his marriage to Esme Cummins ended, he gave her the Dyffryn farm. He only returned to Snowdonia in 1993 after a spell living in the Far East, and died in Llarnwst, North Wales.

Don't Put Yourself on Toast

By Freddy Taylor

'An utterly fresh, unconventional memoir about realising what is important in life – and seizing it while it is still there.'

Iona McLaren, The Telegraph

When Freddy was 21 years old, his dad, a larger than life, successful TV producer, was diagnosed with glioblastoma, a particularly aggressive type of brain cancer.

Collected and expanded from Freddy’s journal at the time and interspersed with entries from his stepmother’s medical notes, Don’t Put Yourself on Toast is a record of the last two years of his father’s life and Freddy’s attempt to hold his family together using all the fun he can muster.

In startlingly vivid snapshots Freddy takes us from the entertaining antics of ‘the most inappropriate wine gum toss competition ever attempted in a hospital ward’; to the comic-tragic deciphering of his father’s muddled riddles as his speech disintegrates; to painful moments of regret and self-loathing, as he squanders precious time.

This heartrending portrayal of a world turned upside down offers a reminder of the power of humour and laughter to provide, even in our darkest moments, sustenance, comfort and hope.

Freddy Taylor was brought up next to the ugly, white roundabout in Wandsworth, London. Now 31, he is living in Dorset and working as a copywriter for an advertising agency. This is his first book. http://freddytaylor.co.uk/

The Power of Women

By Dr Denis Mukwege

Nobel laureate, world renowned doctor and human rights activist, Dr Mukwege has dedicated his life to caring for victims of sexual violence. Over the past two decades living and working in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, he has stood up to soldiers and warlords, survived multiple assassination attempts, never swaying from his mission.

In this book, Dr Mukwege interweaves his own dramatic story with the experiences of a range of extraordinary characters: the women he has treated – many of whom, after suffering unspeakable brutality, have had the strength to heal and rebuild their lives as well as the people he has worked with, and survivors of sexual violence whom he has met during his years of advocating for women’s rights on the international stage.

Sexual violence is the most common, under-reported and least prosecuted crime in the world. It does not occur in a vacuum. We are all implicated – whether the violence occurs in war-torn countries, or on college campuses in the West.

The Power of Women is a rallying cry to rid our societies of violence against women, and to better learn from their strength and resilience. It challenges us to think about our own experiences and how all of us have a part to play in bringing about change.

Dr Denis Mukwege was born in the Belgian Congo in 1955. As a child and young man, he was a first hand witness to racial prejudices, as well as to the economic and moral decay of the Democratic Republic of Congo under dictatorship. Now a world renowned gynaecological surgeon, he is recognised as the world's leading expert on treating rape injuries, and his holistic approach to healing has inspired other initiatives around the world. In 2014, he was invited to the White House by Barack Obama. In Europe, he was awarded the prestigious Sakharov human rights prize award. In 2018, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize along with Yazidi human rights activist and sexual violence survivor, Nadia Murad.

See No Stranger: A Memoir and Manifesto of Revolutionary Love

By Valarie Kaur

'Stunning, timely and timeless.' - Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat Pray Love

Celebrated activist, filmmaker and civil rights lawyer Valarie Kaur made headlines when her 'Breathe and Push' speech on how to survive in a time of rage went viral with 30 million views worldwide. In this inspiring and timely debut, she shows you how to reclaim love as a force for justice.

When we practise love in the face of fear or rage, it has the ability to transform an encounter, a relationship, a community, a culture, even a country. Love becomes revolutionary.

Revolutionary love is the call of our time. A radical, joyful practice that extends in three directions: to others, to our opponents and to ourselves. It invites you to see no stranger but instead look at others and say: You are part of me I do not yet know.

Grounded in Valarie's own personal experience of practising love in the face of political oppression, sexual assault, wrongful arrest, detention, racism and murder, See No Stranger is an important and urgent manifesto that shows us a way to build movements that leave no one behind. You will learn to love others without prejudice or judgement, love your opponents through empathy and forgiveness, and ultimately to love yourself.

Valarie Kaur is a civil rights activist, lawyer, filmmaker, innovator and founder of the Revolutionary Love Project. She has won national acclaim for her story-based advocacy, helping to win policy change on issues ranging from hate crimes to digital freedom. Her speeches have reached millions worldwide and inspired a movement to reclaim love as a force for justice. A daughter of Sikh farmers in California, she earned degrees from Stanford University, Harvard Divinity School and Yale Law School, and holds an honorary doctorate. She lives in Los Angeles, USA, with her husband, son and daughter.

Website: Valariekaur.com

Instagram: @valariekaur

Twitter: @valariekaur

Sensitive

By Hannah Walker

Hannah Walker is a very sensitive person, along with at least a fifth of the population. Like many, she was conditioned to believe this was a weakness and a trait that she should try and overcome.

When she had her first child and realised that her little girl was sensitive too, Hannah decided to find out whether sensitivity might in fact be a positive trait. Her question led to some fascinating answers and ongoing research that suggests survival and thriving is not only limited to the fittest, but to the sensitive.

If you are someone, or know someone who sat at the edge of the party as a child, or waits to be sure about what you want to say only to never get a word in, or jumps at loud noises, or worries that you cry so easily at a beautiful piece of art, or that you just seem to feel so much (too much), this book reveals the strengths in these traits and also how we need to embrace them rather than be embarrassed by them. People who are highly sensitive are highly caring, they are observant and notice new ways of doing things in difficult circumstances, they are able to follow their gut instincts (a real, scientific thing), they bring teams together, they listen well and are far more resilient than we've often been led to believe. The problem is that in today's noisy world, they often suffer from lower self esteem and confidence levels.

Like Quiet, which showed the power of introverts in an extrovert world, Sensitive overturns old cliches and stereotypes and suggests a new way of looking at a trait that people so often feel ashamed of but that has so much untapped potential.

Hannah Jane Walker is a poet, broadcaster and playwright from Essex. She is currently an artist in residence at Cambridge Biomedical Campus, collaborating with scientists on outdoor poetic visual art installations. With playwright Chris Thorpe she has written, performed and toured around the world The Oh Fuck Moment and I Wish I Was Lonely. Solo, she has made This is Just to Say and Highly Sensitive. As a performance poet, she has gigged in theatres, bars, boats and festivals. Most recently she has begun working in broadcasting with BBC Radio 4 and now with her own theatre poetry podcast Human Resources.

Website: Hannahjanewalker.co.uk

Instagram: @hannahjanster

Twitter: @hannahjanster

SOLO

By Jenny Tough

'I had a big cry - then I kept going'

Growing up in the Canadian Rockies, the mountains have always been home for Jenny Tough. Travelling the world, she's always discovered commonalities with mountains - and mountain people. Her major project is to run solo and unsupported across a mountain range on every continent where indigenous mountain people live isolated from the outside, urban world. Running solo and unsupported comes with obvious logistical as well as physical challenges, but running is also a common language - all people around the world do it - and it has always helped build connections across barriers of language and nationality.

SOLO is the account of one woman's mission to run solo and unsupported across mountain ranges on six continents - overcoming obstacles, conquering fears and finding the joy in achieving her goals absolutely alone.

CHAPTERS INCLUDE:

Too Close to the Edge - details of my 25 day run across Kyrgyzstan

Running Sucks - a history of my bumpy start into running

I Don't Believe it Myself achieving my goal to run across Kyrgyzstan and returning home to adjust to the new me

Running Home - my 930km journey across the Canadian Rockies *****

Jenny Tough is an adventure traveller originally from Canada. She enjoys writing about her solo mountain expeditions and tales of world travel as a solo female. When she's not exploring the mountains of the world, she lives in Scotland, and occasionally wherever she parks her adventure van.

Website: JennyTough.com

Instagram: @jennytough

Twitter: @jennytough

The shocking story of how incest and sexual abuse is ever-present at the highest levels of French society, even among the most glamorous, powerful, bohemian, left wing intellectual Parisian élite.

Publication 05/05/2022 £10.99 Paperback 288 pages B Format

ISBN: 9781914240355

La Familia Grande

By Camille Kouchner

A devastating book... A lucid, universal story of the unspeakable.' Elle

'Her writing is punchy, elegant and interrogative, punctuated by dark asides and wry Gallicisms.' – Bookblast

In February 2017, Camille Kouchner gathered with family in Sanary-sur-Mer to bury her mother, who died with none of her five children present. Her death would bring up ghosts from the past, ultimately leading Camille to publicly confront a long-held and corrosive secret: her stepfather sexually abused her twin brother when they were adolescents. This violation of the parent-child relationship was compounded by the complicity of their mother, who learned of her husband's actions and stood by him, shifting blame to Camille and her twin.

La Familia Grande poignantly explores the family dynamics of abuse, and the questions of guilt and shame surrounding it. Camille grapples with her own sense of responsibility for not having stopped her stepfather at the time and for agreeing to keep silent as her brother asked. La Familia Grande also documents the wider prevalence of incestual abuse within French society that has allowed influential men to commit such crimes and avoid the consequences for so long.

Camille Kouchner was born in 1975 in Paris. She is the daughter of the late French writer and political scientist Évelyne Pisier and Bernard Kouchner, a cofounder of Doctors Without Borders. She is a lawyer and senior lecturer at the University of Paris with a specialization in labor, contract, and health law. La Familia Grande is her English debut.

Behind Bars

By Brenda Birungi

In 2008, 21-year-old Brenda got involved in a fight in a club while trying to protect her sister.

Serving 11 months of her prison sentence, her life changed completely. Inside, Brenda began to write, while battling with isolation, loneliness and the fear of being wrongly deported. These notes became powerful bars of poetry, capturing first hand the broken justice system and the racism rooted within it.

Wide-awake poetry, Behind Bars traces how Brenda's identity was irrevocably changed during her sentencing, time in prison and release.

Behind Bars proves there is life after prison.

Brenda Birungi is a poet, broadcaster, TEDx speaker, mentor and an advocate for life after prison. She is the founder and creative director of Unchained Poetry, a platform for artists with experience of the criminal justice system. She is also known as Lady Unchained.

Her mission is to prove that there is life after prison.

Publication

Self-Contained

By Emma John

'There is a piece of cod-wisdom regularly dispensed to single women: romance

arrive when you least expect it. I had assumed it would also make its own travel arrangements too.'

Emma John is in her 40s; she is neither married, nor partnered, with child or planning to be.

In her hilarious and unflinching memoir, Self-Contained, she asks why the world only views a woman as complete when she is no longer a single figure and addresses what it means to be alone when everyone else isn't.

The book is an exploration of being lifelong single and what happens if you don't meet the right person, don't settle down with the wrong person and realise the biggest commitment is to yourself.

Emma John is an award-winning author and journalist who writes regularly for the Guardian and Observer. Emma was the first woman to win a Sports Journalism Award in the UK, though she is known for her writing on music, theatre, film, books and travel.

Creator and host of the Guardian's cricket podcast The Spin, Emma is a regular voice on national radio, appearing on documentaries and comedy shows on BBC R4, as well as providing sports analysis for BBC Radio5Live and talkSPORT. Her previous books include Wayfaring Stranger: A Musical Journey Through The American South and Following On: A Memoir Of Teenage Obsession And Terrible Cricket.

Small

By Claire Lynch

"

Babies who are this small, he says, have a good chance of survival. Small is not good for babies. It is not whimsical or cute or the cause of admiration. It is the first time it occurs to us that they might not survive. Babies die from smallness."

Claire Lynch knew that having children with her wife would be complicated but she could never have anticipated the extent to which her life would be redrawn by the process.

This dazzling debut begins with the smallest of life's substances, the microscopic cells subdividing in a petri dish in a fertility treatment centre. She moves through her story in incremental yet ever growing steps, from the fingernail sized pregnancy test result screen which bears two affirmative lines to the premature arrival of her children who have to wear scale-model oxygen masks in their lifesaving incubators. Devastatingly poignant and profoundly observant - and funny against the odds Claire considers whether it is our smallness that makes our lives so big.

Claire works as a university lecturer and is author of two academic books and numerous scholarly articles and chapters. Small is her first book for a general audience.

Claire's Four Thought talk 'The Other Mother' was first broadcast on BBC Radio Four this year and her first piece of narrative non-fiction took second place in the Spread the Word Life Writing Prize in 2017.

She was a shortlisted writer on the Penguin Random House WriteNow scheme in 2018, and long-listed for the Hinterland non-fiction Prize in 2019. In 2020, her writing was shortlisted for the London Library Emerging Writer's Programme and the Arvon Short Story competition.

A Matter of Facts

By Shaun Williamson

Shaun Williamson is an addict. His main craving is for knowledge. The 'gateway' drug was the first edition (Genus 1) of Trivial Pursuit, a seemingly innocuous Christmas present from his unsuspecting parents. They might just as well have given him Ketamine. This innocent gift sent our author on a mind bending trip of ethereal highs and ignominious lows which, although now under control, can result in a relapse at a moment's notice.

Shaun Williamson is an actor and writer best known for playing Barry Evans in BBC1's 'Eastenders' from 1994 to 2004 and for extensive work with Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant on 'Extras', 'Life's Too Short' and 'The Invention Of Lying'. Other acting credits include 'Plebs', 'Mister Winner' and 'Houdini'. He has also appeared in numerous stage shows, most notably 'The Ladykillers', 'Guys And Dolls' and 'One Man Two Guvnors' for the National Theatre. He was the subject of 'This Is Your Life' in 2001.

Shaun's main passion though is Quizzing. He has been lucky enough to win 'Celebrity Mastermind' in 2003 (Specialist subject: Richard Burton), 'Celebrity Chase', 'Today's The Day', 'Celebrity Eggheads', 'Britain's Brightest Celebrity Family', 'Richard Osman's House Of Games' and 'Celebrity Pointless' a record four times (Three Jackpots).

He has channelled this passion into the writing of 'A Matter Of Facts', his literary debut, which details a year of his life immersed in the world of quizzing.

Brazen

By Julia Haart

Ever since she was a child, every aspect of Julia Haart's life - what she wore, what she ate, what she thought was controlled by the orders of ultra Orthodox Judaism. At 19, after a lifetime spent caring for her seven younger siblings, she was married off to a man she barely knew. For the next twenty-three years, he would rule her life.

Eventually, when her youngest daughter, Miriam, started to question why she wasn't allowed to sing, run or ride a bike, Julia reached breaking point. She knew that if she didn't find a way to leave, her daughters would be forced into the same unending servitude.

So Julia created a double life. When no one was looking, she'd sketch designs for the clothes she dreamed about wearing in the world beyond her orthodox suburb. In secret, she started selling life insurance to save her 'freedom' money. At 42, she finally mustered the courage to leave.

Within a week of leaving, Julia started a shoe brand and within nine months she was in Paris for fashion week. A year later, she became Creative Director of La Perla, the world leading lingerie brand. And now, she is the co owner and CEO of Elite World Group, and one of the most powerful people in the fashion industry. Propulsive and unforgettable, Julia's story is the journey from the world of 'no' to the world of 'yes'. She is an inspiration for women everywhere to find their freedom, their purpose and their voice.

Julia Haart is the star of the Netflix docuseries My Unorthodox Life. She is the CEO, Co owner and Chief Creative Officer of Elite World Group. Julia was previously the Creative Director of La Perla, the luxury Italian intimates brand. She launched her career as a designer with her namesake shoe collection. Julia lives in New York City. Instagram: @juliahaart

The incredible story of the Zaandam cruise ship which set sail at the start of the pandemic and became the setting for an extraordinarily dramatic tale on the high seas. A story of human kindness, peril and bravery.

Publication 16/06/2022 £12.99 Trade Paperback 320 pages Other ISBN: 9781913068745

Cabin Fever

By Jonathan Franklin and Michael Smith

On 7 March 1,200 tourists, including Americans, Australians, Canadians, Brits and Europeans, gathered on the dock in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to board Holland America's 780 foot long, ten story tall Zaandam for a 31 day South American cruise of a lifetime. Few on board had heard of the virus as they set sail. No one could imagine the extraordinary sequence of events that was about to unfold on the high seas.

The tension onboard rises as passengers hear news of the outbreak on land and the first signs of it appear on ship. As the pandemic takes hold, the Zaandam is prevented from docking in port after port. At one point their passage is blocked by a Chilean naval cutter with guns raised. Some of the crew try to mutiny and lock themselves in their cabins. Diplomats desperately try to negotiate for the Zaandam and the Rotterdam to sail down the Panama Canal in the dead of night.

Cabin Fever is a story layered with moments of kindness, peril and perseverance. A remarkable tale that is filled with individual acts of heroism, the struggles, and the tragedies of the crew and passengers.

Michael Smith is a staff investigative reporter for Bloomberg News. Smith has won dozens of awards over his 25 year career, including the prestigious George Polk, Maria Moors Cabot, Robert F. Kennedy and Overseas Press Club prizes. Cabin Fever is his first book.

Jonathan Franklin has worked as an investigative reporter for 25 years. He is the author 33 Men, a US bestseller and published in 18 languages, and 438 Days, which is now under development as a major motion picture.

Intrinsic

By Sharath Jeevan

We are in a motivational mess today. Many of us feel like we are going through the motions. But life doesn't need to be this way. Motivation thinking holds the key to this promise. Intrinsic uses motivation thinking not just to accurately diagnose these problems, but to find solutions. As a leading expert on motivation, Sharath Jeevan helps us see how we can achieve more lasting fulfilment and success in our work, careers, relationships, parenting, and as citizens.

Drawing on his incredible success helping to re-motivate thousands of teachers across India and Africa, Sharath Jeevan takes us on a journey around the world to find practical and inspirational answers to solving our motivational crisis. Intrinsic shows us how we can fall back in love with our lives, and create the lives we want.

Sharath Jeevan is one of the world's leading experts on re igniting our inner drive. He founded and led STIR Education arguably the world's largest intrinsic motivation initiative. STIR re-ignited the motivation of 200,000 teachers, 35,000 schools and 7 million children in emerging countries.

Sharath is currently the Executive Chairman of Intrinsic Labs, which supports organisations all around the world to solve deep motivational challenges, from governments to leading UK Universities and high-profile corporations.

Sharath holds degrees from Cambridge University, Oxford University and INSEAD. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate for his contributions to the field and has previously collaborated with the Malala Fund and the Obama Foundation. Visit intrinsic-labs.com to find out more about Sharath and his work.

The Cracks that Let the Light In

By Jessica Moxham

Jessica Moxham thought she was prepared for the experience of motherhood. Armed with advice from friends and family, parenting books and antenatal classes, she felt ready.

After giving birth, she found herself facing a different, more uncertain reality. Her son, Ben, was fighting to stay alive. When Jessica could finally take him home from hospital, the challenges were far from over.

Jessica shares her journey in raising Ben. His disability means he will never be able to move or communicate without assistance. Jessica has to learn how to feed Ben when he can't eat, wrestle with red tape to secure his education and defend his basic rights in the face of discrimination.

As Ben begins to thrive, alongside his two younger siblings, Jessica finds that caring for a child with unique needs teaches her about appreciating difference and doing things your own way.

This uplifting story is about the power of family love, finding inner strength and, above all, hope.

Jessica Moxham is a writer. Her eldest son, Ben, is severely disabled, and she writes a blog discussing how she and her family support him with and learn from - his disability. Her blog is read by parents, health professionals and educators, among others.

Jessica has given lectures to health professionals on her family's experience, from small groups of students to more than 100 doctors at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.

Jessica is also a qualified architect and has worked in London and the Middle East. She now lives in London with her husband and three children, in the house she redesigned to suit Ben.

Empire of Ants

By Susanne Foitzik & Olaf Fritsche

'Beautifully written and filled with mind-boggling wonders' - Dave Goulson, author of A Sting in the Tale

Ants have been walking the Earth since the age of the dinosaurs. Today there are one million ants for every one of us.

The closer you get to ants, the more human they look: they build megacities, grow crops, raise livestock, tend their young and infirm, and even make vaccines. They also have a darker side: they wage war, enslave rivals and rebel against their oppressors. From fearsome army ants, who stage twelve-hour hunting raids where they devour thousands, to gentle leaf-cutters gardening in their peaceful underground kingdoms, every ant is engineered by nature to fulfil their particular role.

Acclaimed biologist Susanne Foitzik has travelled the globe to study these master architects of Earth. Joined by journalist Olaf Fritsche, Foitzik invites readers deep into her world in the field and in the lab and will inspire new respect for ants as a global superpower.

Fascinating and action-packed, Empire of Ants will open your eyes to the secret societies thriving right beneath your feet. *****

Susanne Foitzik is an evolutionary biologist, behavioural scientist and international authority on ants. After completing her PhD in ant evolution and behaviour and conducting postdoctoral work in the US, she became a professor at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. Currently, she teaches at Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany, where she studies the behaviours of slaveholding ants and different work roles in insect colonies. Her findings have been published in over 100 scientific papers to date. Olaf Fritsche (Author) Olaf Fritsche is a science journalist and biophysicist with a PhD in biology. He was previously an editor at the German-language edition of Scientific American, is the author and co-author of many books, and has been published in a wide variety of newspapers and magazines.

Through a Vet’s Eyes: How we can choose a better life for animals

By Dr Sean Wensley

Starlings and Sausages confronts our relationship with animals: how we treat them, what it feels like from their perspective, how we get it wrong and what we can do to fix it.

More than 900 million animals are reared for food every year in the UK, excluding many millions of farmed fish and the 74 billion reared globally. We each have an animal welfare footprint, akin to a carbon footprint, the size of which is linked to our everyday decisions and purchases. However, many of us are removed from the facts of our food production, such as the quarter of UK adults who don't know that bacon comes from pigs and the quarter of children aged 8 11 years who think cheese comes from a plant. Economics Professor Richard Bennett found that 72 per cent of UK respondents were concerned about the welfare of farmed animals, but only 38 per cent felt well-informed about how they are treated. This book aims to turn that around.

Dr Sean Wensley is a leading UK vet and recent President of the British Veterinary Association (BVA). In 2006 he represented the veterinary profession in Europe, lobbying to end the unsustainable and inhumane trade of wild-caught birds to be kept as pets in the EU, which was banned in 2007.

Dr Wensley currently chairs the Animal Welfare Working Group of the Federation of Veterinarians of Europe (FVE), which represents veterinary organisations from 40 European countries and in 2017 he received the inaugural World Veterinary Association (WVA) Global Animal Welfare Award for Europe. He is also Senior Veterinary Surgeon for Communication and Education at the national UK veterinary charity, the People's Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA).

The Love That Dares

By Rachel Smith & Barbara Vesey

A good love letter can speak across centuries, and reassure us that the agony and the ecstasy one might feel in the 21st century have been shared by lovers long gone. This is all the more true of LGBTQ+ love letters: love affairs and relationships that, until very recently, had to survive within sealed envelopes and behind closed doors.

In The Love That Dares, queer love speaks its name through the words of lovers from years gone by. Alongside the more famous names coexist beautifully written letters by lesser-known lovers, giving us an insight into queer love outside of the spotlight of fame or fortune. These letters give us a glimpse into the passion and courage it took to continue a gay relationship in times when it was at best improper, and at worst illegal. Enlightening introductions to each set of letters give readers an idea of the historical context in which they were written.

Including letters written by: John Cage, Audre Lorde, Benjamin Britten, Lorraine Hansberry, Walt Whitman, Eleanor Roosevelt, Vita Sackville-West, Radclyffe Hall, Allen Ginsberg.

Rachel Smith and Barbara Vesey are archivists at the Bishopsgate archive in London, which houses the Lesbian and Gay Newsmedia Archive (LAGNA).

Divide

By Anna Jones

This book is a call to action. It warns that unless we learn to accept and respect our social, cultural and political differences as town and country people, we are never going to solve the chronic problems in our food system and environment.

As we stare down the barrel of climate change, only farmers - who manage two thirds of the UK's landscape - working together with conservation groups can create a healthier food system and return nature to diverse abundance. But progress is hindered and hamstrung by simplistic debates that still stoke conflict between conservative rural communities and the liberal green movement.

Each chapter, from Family and Politics to Animal Welfare and the Environment, explores a different aspect of the urban/rural disconnect, weaving case studies and research with Anna's personal stories of growing up on a small, upland farm. There is a simple and strong message running throughout the book - a plea to respect our differences, recognise each other's strengths and work together to heal the land.

Anna Jones is a journalist, broadcaster, blogger and Nuffield Farming Scholar. She is a familiar voice on BBC Radio 4's Farming Today, On Your Farm, Costing the Earth, Food Programme and BBC World Service, and a freelance producer/director on BBC One's Countryfile and writes for The Guardian. Growing up on the Welsh Borders, from at least five generations of farmers on her father's side and a long line of butchers and farm labourers on her mother's, Anna's heritage is deeply rooted in working class, conservative, rural values.

One Thousand Days and One Cup of Tea

By Vanessa Moore

'A book that appeals to different audiences. It will reach out to those who have lost loved ones and need the comfort and solace of knowing that they are not alone in their suffering.' - Luisa Stopa, Professor of Clinical Psychology, University of Southampton

Vanessa’s husband Paul dies suddenly and tragically on their regular Sunday morning swim. How will she cope with her dilapidated house, her teenage children, the patients who depend on her? Will therapy help? Why do mysterious white feathers start appearing in unexpected places?

'This book is about a period of great loss in my life, a time when the tables were completely turned on me. I was a qualified therapist who suddenly found myself needing psychological therapy. I was a trained researcher who became my own research subject, as I tried to make sense of what was happening to me. I was an experienced manager who now struggled to manage the events taking place in my own life. Yet, throughout all this turmoil, my patients were always there, in the background, reminding me that there are many different ways to deal with loss and trauma and search for a way forwards.’ – Vanessa Moore *****

Vanessa Moore is a clinical psychologist. Her career in the NHS has involved clinical, teaching, research and senior management roles. She specialised in working with children and families early in her career and has published extensively in academic journals, mainly in the field of child psychology.

Things You Can't Ask Yer Mum

By Lindsey Holland and Lizzy Hadfield

Heartbreak, grief, falling in love, falling out of love, friendships, disastrous sex anecdotes - this book is filled with everything you don't want to ask your mum.

The duo behind the chart-topping podcast Things You Can't Ask Yer Mum take a deep-dive into the ups and downs of life. Lizzy and Lindsey share the twists and turns of their own experiences in their usual hilariously honest style, offering reassurance on all the questions you just might be too afraid to ask.

The book embodies what Lindsey and Lizzy have had through their friendship: the ability to honestly pass on their own experiences in life in order to help the other. With never-heard-before anecdotes and bite-sized chunks of content to return to, this valuable book will be a friend to you - one that shares reassuring stories of losing their virginity using a blueberry flavoured condom, losing friends and losing inhibitions. It is a book for anyone, at any stage of life.

Lizzy Hadfield and Lindsey Holland have been friends for the last seven years after meeting at London Fashion Week and it's been soulmate central between them ever since. London-based fashion influencer and brand consultant Lizzy is behind the hugely popular blog Shot from the Street, with a 569k Instagram following and a YouTube channel which boasts an excess of 18 million views. Together with Lindsey, she created the number one podcast Things You Can't Ask Yer Mum in 2019.

@lizzyhadfield | @lindseyholland_

The Grove: A Nature Odyssey in 19 ½ Front Gardens

By Ben Dark

'I wrote The Grove to celebrate the extraordinary background to everyday life and to show that any walk is an odyssey when we connect with the plants around us. Each tree or flower tells a tale. Some are deeply personal, others older than human time. Mundane 'suburban' shrubs speak of war and poetry, of money, fashion, love and failure. Every species in this book was seen from one pavement over twelve months and there is little here that could not be found on any road in any town, but they recount stories of such weirdness, drama, passion and humour that, once discovered, familiar neighbourhoods will be changed forever.' Ben Dark

Recent times have seen a renewed interest in urban nature, as can be seen in the work of amateur botanists, old and young, identifying wildflowers and chalking their names on pavements. But beyond the garden wall lies a wealth of cultivated plants, each with a unique tale to tell. In The Grove award winning writer and head gardener Ben Dark reveals the remarkable secrets of twenty commonly found species - including the rose, wisteria, buddleja, box and the tulip -observed in the front gardens of a typical London street on daily walks over the course of a year. We discover how that plant found its way into our gardens, the cast of characters who played their part in its story - from eccentric plant hunters to gardening grand dames - and what each one tells us about our obsession with gardening and the urge to cultivate our own patch of nature. As Ben writes, In those small front gardens 'are stories of ambition, envy, hope and failure.'

Ben Dark is a head gardener, award-winning broadcaster and landscape historian working at the top of British horticulture. He graduated with a degree in History from Bristol University and went on to study Horticulture at Capel Manor College, before completing his education with a traineeship at the Garden Museum and an MA in Garden and Landscape History at the University of London's Institute of Historical Research. As the creator and host of the popular Garden Log Podcast he frequently speaks to gardening groups and industry events. Ben has written about plants for the Telegraph and has been featured in the Independent, Gardens Illustrated and the Financial Times.

Beazley

A Waiter in Paris

By Edward Chisholm

Inspired by Orwell, a brilliant portrait of the underbelly of contemporary Paris through the eyes of a young waiter scraping a living in the city.

A waiter's job is to deceive you. They want you to believe in a luxurious calm because on the other side of that door...is hell.

Edward Chisholm's spellbinding memoir of his time as a Parisian waiter takes you below the surface of one of the most iconic cities in the world and right into its glorious underbelly.

He inhabits a world of inhuman hours, snatched sleep and dive bars; scraping by on coffee, bread and cigarettes, often under sadistic managers, with a wage so low you're fighting your colleagues for tips. Colleagues - including thieves, narcissists, ex Legionnaires, paperless immigrants, wannabe actors and drug dealers - who are the closest thing to family that you've got.

It's physically demanding, frequently humiliating and incredibly competitive. But it doesn't matter because you're in Paris, the centre of the universe, and there's nowhere else you'd rather be in the world.

Edward Chisholm was born in Dorset, England, and moved to Paris in 2012 after graduating from the School of Oriental and African Studies, London.

A resident there for seven years, Chisholm spent the first four of them working all manner of low-paid jobs, from waiting and bar work to museum security and market hand, while trying to build a career as a writer.

Now, Chisholm makes a living as a copywriter/pen for hire, with ambitions of writing novels. His work has appeared in The New York Times, the Guardian and the Financial Times magazine.

DON'T PANIC!

By George Lewis

THE ESSENTIAL NEW BOOK FOR FIRST TIME DADS

'So funny you'll be glad you're having a baby!' - Josh Widdicombe 'Great advice - funny enough to read if it wasn't.' - Romesh Ranganathan

Are you ready for fatherhood?

DON'T PANIC - dad and comedian George Lewis is here with all the seriously useful practical and emotional advice that you need to keep you (and your partner) sane!

From birth to pre-school, EVERYTHING you need to know is here. And even better, it's packed with useful tips, inside knowledge and hilarious real-life stories from dads and medical professionals who know exactly what it's like to take your first steps as a new father.

With contributions from fellow comedians Adam Kay, Romesh Ranganathan, and many others this book will get you totally prepared for the biggest thing to even happen in your life!

WITH HELP FROM

ADAM KAY ANDY PARSONS CARL DONNELLY ELIS JAMES IAIN STIRLING IVO GRAHAM - JEN BRISTER -JOSH WIDDICOMBE - KERRY GODLIMAN - MATT CROSBYRICH HALL - ROMESH RANGANATHAN - RUSSELL KANE - SINDHU VEE & The Midwife

George Lewis is an award-winning comedian and writer. His writing credits include Have I Got News for You, 8 out of 10 Cats, various work for BBC Comedy, Radio 4, Dave, Comic Relief and his own weekly football column - Funny Old Game - in the Times. He has recently appeared on the Stand Up Sketch Show (ITV2), Top Gear Extra Gear (which he hosted), Celebrity Mastermind (which he won) and he presents the Britpopcast for Radio X. Before he became a comedian, he worked as a copywriter. He lives in Manchester with his wife and his two children, a boy and a girl, fourteen months apart.

Drinking Custard

By Lucy Beaumont with interruptions by Jon Richardson

"Jon went away for two weeks today. When he left, our daughter shut the door and turned to me and said, hands on hips, 'right, I'm in charge now'. I said 'I don't think so' but we both knew she was right."

Lucy Beaumont, star of Meet the Richardsons and co writer of Channel 4's Hullraisers, shares the unpredictable craziness of being a mum in this in this brilliant and hilarious 'mumoir'. Mum's everywhere will recognise the madness of it all. Like when Lucy was hospitalised with indigestion in her third trimester (blame the burrito), or when she was this close to slapping her hypnobirthing instructor.

Heart warming and laugh out loud funny, Drinking Custard also captures Lucy's marriage to comedian Jon Richardson, as they navigate Lucy's raging pregnancy hormones and balk at pram prices together.

This is a diary of what it's like to be a mum: not the wonderful 'spiritual journey' but the confusing, embarrassing and extremely funny truth. A perfect gift for mums everywhere.

Lucy Beaumont is an award-winning stand-up, writer, and comedy actress. She is the writer and star of BBC Radio 4's 'To Hull and Back' co starring Maureen Lipman; Dave's highly rated TV show, Meet the Richardsons, co written with Car Share's Tim Reid and also starring husband Jon Richardson; and co writer of Channel 4's new sitcom Hullraisers.

She has also appeared on numerous TV shows including 8 out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, Jonathan Ross, QI, and Joe Lycett's Got Your Back.

Lucy is passionate about her hometown of Hull and lives with her husband and daughter in West Yorkshire.

Inspiring mountaineer takes a group of abused young women on an epic trek to Mount Everest Base Camp, before climbing the mountain herself, and healing her own trauma.

Publication 03/02/2022 £14.99 Trade Paperback 320 pages Royal ISBN: 9781913183783

In The Shadow of the Mountain

By Silvia Vasquez-Lavado

"Silvia Vasquez-Lavado is a warrior. I'm in awe of her strength and courage that she has captured so beautifully in this memoir." Selena Gomez

YOU DON'T CONQUER A MOUNTAIN. YOU SURRENDER TO IT ONE STEP AT A TIME.

Despite a high flying career, Silvia Vasquez Lavado knew she was hanging by a thread. Deep in the throes of alcoholism, and hiding her sexuality from her family, she was repressing the abuse she'd suffered as a child.

When her mother called her home to Peru, she knew something finally had to change. It did. Silvia began to climb.

Something about the sheer size of the mountains, the vast emptiness and the nearness of death woke her up. And then, she took her biggest pain to the biggest mountain: Everest. The 'Mother of the World' allows few to reach her summit, but Silvia didn't go alone. Trekking with her to Base Camp, were six troubled young women on an odyssey that helped each confront their personal trauma, and whose strength and community propelled Silvia forward...

Beautifully written and deeply moving, In the Shadow of the Mountain is a remarkable story of compassion, humility, and strength, inspiring us all to find have faith in our own heroism and resilience.

Silvia Vasquez-Lavado is a humanitarian, mountaineer, explorer, social entrepreneur, and technologist living in San Francisco. In 2014, she launched Courageous Girls to help survivors of sexual abuse and trafficking find their own inner strength. Courageous Girls has had projects in Nepal, the United States, and Peru. Vasquez-Lavado was recognized by Fortune magazine as one of the Corporate Heroes of 2015.

On Bloody Sunday

By Julieann Campbell

In January 1972, a peaceful civil rights march in Northern Ireland ended in bloodshed. Troops from Britain's 1st Battalion Parachute Regiment opened fire on marchers, leaving 13 dead and 15 wounded. Seven of those killed were teenage boys. The day became known as 'Bloody Sunday'.

The events occurred in broad daylight and in the full glare of the press. Within hours, the British military informed the world that they had won an 'IRA gun battle'. This became the official narrative for decades until a family-led campaign instigated one of the most complex inquiries in history.

In 2010, the victims of Bloody Sunday were fully exonerated when Lord Saville found that the majority of the victims were either shot in the back as they ran away or were helping someone in need. The report made headlines all over the world.

While many buried the trauma of that day, historian and campaigner Juliann Campbell whose teenage uncle was the first to be killed that day felt the need to keep recording these interviews, and collecting rare and unpublished accounts, aware of just how precious they were. Fifty years on, in this book, survivors, relatives, eyewitnesses and politicians, shine a light on the events of Bloody Sunday, together, for the first time.

As they tell their stories, the tension, confusion and anger build with an awful power. ON BLOODY SUNDAY unfolds before us an extraordinary human drama, as we experience one of the darkest moments in modern history - and witness the true human cost of conflict.

An award-winning author, Julieann Campbell's seventeen-year-old uncle, Jackie Duddy, was the first person to be killed on 30 January 1972. For more than a decade, Julieann has worked to document and archive the collective experiences of that day. As a former Chair of the Bloody Sunday Trust, she took on the role of family press officer ahead of the Bloody Sunday Inquiry in 2010.

She is a PhD Researcher at Ulster University's School of Law exploring impact of postconflict storytelling and is a director of the Pat Finucane Centre for Human Rights.

OPEN

By Rachel Krantz

When Rachel Krantz met and fell for Adam, he told her that he was looking for a committed partnership just one that did not include exclusivity.

Excited but a little trepidatious, Rachel set out to see whether love and a serious relationship can coexist beyond the familiar borders of monogamy. This is her open and honest true story.

Now, in her debut memoir, she chronicles her dive into non monogamy. With fly on-the-wall detail and extraordinary perceptiveness, OPEN takes us inside Brooklyn parties and into the wider swinger and polyamory community. Armed with her journalistic instincts, detailed journal entries and interviews with experts and therapists, Krantz also breaks new ground in confronting the unique ways tacit abuse and gaslighting can manifest when things get so complex.

Unflinching and brazen, OPEN asks what liberation really looks like, and whether the pleasure really is worth the pain.

Rachel Krantz is a journalist and one of the founding editors of Bustle, where she served as senior features editor for three years. Her work has been featured on NPR, The Guardian, Vox, Vice, and many other outlets. She's the recipient of the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award, the Investigative Reporters and Editors Radio Award, the Edward R. Murrow Award, and the Peabody Award for her work as an investigative reporter with YR Media.

The Fourth Man

By Robert Baer

For the first time ever, New York Times bestselling author and former CIA operative Robert Baer tells the explosive story of how insiders believe a KGB mole rose to the highest ranks of the CIA.

In the aftermath of the Cold War, US intelligence caught three high profile Russian spies. However, these arrests left major questions unanswered, and rumours have long swirled of another mole, often referred to as the Fourth Man. Three pioneering female veterans of counterintelligence were tasked with unearthing him. With steadfast determination and expertise, they came to a shocking conclusion, one which had, and continues to harbour, dramatic consequences for American security.

In this gripping insider account, Baer tells a thrilling story of Russian espionage and American intelligence. With profound implications for the rise of Vladimir Putin and international relations with Russia, The Fourth Man is a real life spy thriller with echoes of John Le Carré.

Robert Baer is one of the most accomplished agents in CIA history and a winner of the Career Intelligence Medal. Security Analyst for CNN, he is considered one of the world's most foremost authorities on the Middle East and had contributed to TIME, Vanity Fair, The Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post. He is the author of four New York Times bestsellers, including See No Evil which was adapted into the acclaimed film Syriana, earning George Clooney an Academy Award for his portrayal of Baer - and, most recently, The Perfect Kill: 21 Laws for Assassins.

The Island House

By Mary Considine

Welcome to Looe Island off the south coast of Cornwall, maximum population six, a tiny slice of the wild at just 22 acres.

Mary tells the story of her lifelong relationship with the island, its rich, eccentric history and rugged beauty. This is a book about a call to the wild, of deciding to leave an old life behind, of the challenges of renovating a house and running a business with no mains services and sporadic access to the mainland, of surviving isolation and illness.

We are fascinated by islands, with ever growing concerns about sustainability, and our desire to live our lives more closely connected to nature and the elements. The Island House promises to be A Year In Provence for modern times.

The Storm Is Upon Us

By Mike Rothschild

'A chilling overview of a movement that should arguably have no place in any healthy, well educated society.' The Telegraph

'A compelling book.' The Guardian

'The Storm Is Upon Us is an impressive piece of research and a gripping read. Rothschild's book reads like a thriller, with cliffhangers that leave you eager for the next episode. The trouble, of course, is that it's not fiction.'The Times

'An ideal tour guide for your journey into the depths of the rabbit hole that is QAnon, and even shows you a glimmer of light at the exit.' - Cullen Hoback, director of HBO's Q: Into the Storm

In 2017, President Trump made a cryptic remark at a gathering of military officials, describing it as 'the calm before the storm' then refused to explain himself to puzzled journalists. But on internet message boards, a mysterious poster called 'Q Clearance Patriot' began an elaboration all of their own.

Conspiracy culture expert Mike Rothschild is uniquely equipped to explain QAnon, from the cults that first fed into it, to its embrace by Trump and the right wing media. With families torn apart and with the Capitol under attack, he argues that mocking the madness of QAnon will get us nowhere. Instead, he argues that QAnon tells us everything we need to know about global fear after Trump and that we need to understand it now, because it's not going away.

Mike Rothschild is a journalist, author, and the foremost expert in this ever changing QAnon conspiracy theory. Mike has been interviewed by the New York Times, the Washington Post, CNN and Yahoo - among many others. He is also a frequent speaker, and podcast and radio guest on the topic of conspiracy theories, including NPR's weekly show "On the Media" and a Vice documentary.

Three Days In June

By James O'Connell

40TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION

'If

When 3 Para began their assault under cover of darkness on Mount Longdon in June 1982, nobody knew what to expect. The three platoons of B Company each approached the mountain silently, treading carefully through a series of defensive minefields. But following an explosion, fighting quickly escalated with shocking speed and severity, resulting in some of the bloodiest close hand fighting, terrible injuries and shocking loss of life experienced by British troops since the Korean war.

Forty years on, James O'Connell - who fought there and was injured himself - recreates this bloody battle in a gut-wrenching 360 degree classic.

Frustrated by highly inaccurate books about the battle, O'Connell decided to set the record straight. He revisited the Falkland's five times with comrades and Argentine soldiers and literally walked through the battle with them, step-by-step, creating an unprecedented masterpiece of immersive military publishing.

Combined with rare access to the Battalion's records and radio logs, the resulting book is the last word in Mount Longdon, and might be the most harrowingly realistic description of modern warfare you will ever read.

Born in Bootle, Merseyside, where he still lives, James O'Connell enlisted in the Parachute Regiment in 1979. In April 1982, after a posting in Cold War Germany and a tour of Northern Ireland, the call came to take part in the British Task Force to recapture the Falklands. During the attack on Mount Longdon, James was shot in the face. A bullet passed through his nose, destroying his right eye, cheekbone and front teeth. Though he survived, five years of reconstructive surgery followed, and James left the army in 1985 as a result of his injuries.

Following the conflict, transition to civilian life was a difficult and James suffered from what was likely undiagnosed PTSD. He eventually married his long-term girlfriend Maureen, who he met in 1981, and they have two sons.

Trouble

By Marise Gaughan

Marise was nine when she first realised there was trouble, 14 when her Dad tried to end it all, and 23 when he finally succeeded.

In a turmoil of conflicting emotions Marise runs - from Dublin to Amsterdam to Los Angeles, leaving a trail of sex and self-destruction in her wake. Until finally, she finds herself facing what she's become in a California psych ward, a girl imploding through trying to make sense of her father's suicide.

As she retells her unravelling, from child to adult, Marise strips back her identity and her relationship with her father, layer by layer, until she starts to understand how to live with him, years after he has gone.

Written beautifully, with wit and unflinching honesty, Marise has produced one of the most profound coming-of-age memoirs of recent years, a stunning new voice in Irish writing.

Irish writer and comedian Marise Gaughan started her comedy career in the open mic nights of Los Angeles and quickly made waves with her dark and honest style. Now based in London and Dublin, Marise continues to perform in all the major UK clubs, and has supported Rob Delaney, Ari Shaffir and Jim Norton on tour. She also presents a weekly radio segment on Ireland's lyric.fm and has written features for The Irish Times and The Journal.ie as well as online American magazines including Tasteful Rude, Windmill, (mac)ro(mic) and Hobart.

Her debut show Drowning discusses her father's (successful) suicide attempt and her own (unsuccessful one). It premiered at the Dublin Fringe Festival in September 2018 and was awarded the Women's Irish Network Arts Bursary to take it to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Unmasking Autism: The Radical Power of Embracing Our Neurodiversity

By Devon Price

Have you, a friend or family member been living with undiagnosed autism?

For every visibly Autistic person you meet, there are countless 'masked' people who pass as neurotypical. They don't fit the stereotypical mould of Autism and are often forced by necessity to mask who they are, spending their entire lives trying to hide their Autistic traits. In particular, there is evidence that Autism remains significantly undiagnosed in women, people of colour, trans and gender non-conforming people, many of whom are only now starting to recognise those traits later in life.

Blending cutting edge research, personal insights and practical exercises for self expression, Dr Devon Price examines the phenomenon of 'masking', making a passionate argument for radical authenticity and non-conformity. A powerful call for change, Unmasking Autism gifts its readers with the tools to uncover their true selves and build a new society one where everyone can thrive on their own terms.

Devon Price, Ph.D. is a social psychologist, professor, author and proud Autistic person. Their writing has appeared in outlets such as the Financial Times, HuffPost, Slate, Jacobin, Business Insider, LitHub and on PBS and NPR. Price is also the author of Laziness Does Not Exist (S&S). They live in Chicago, where they serve as Assistant Professor at Loyola University Chicago's School of Continuing and Professional Studies.

The untold story of how three friends formed Global Witness, fighting highly organised worldwide criminality, kleptocracy and corruption.

Publication 17/03/2022 £14.99 Trade Paperback 320 pages Royal ISBN: 9781913183493

Very Bad People

By Patrick Alley

'The story told in this book of three youthful idealists who go from eating cold baked beans in a drafty London flat to the Thai-Cambodian border where they posed as traders in illegally felled timber is simply riveting. Don't miss it.' - Misha Glenny, Author of McMafia

Arms trafficking, offshore accounts and luxury property deals. Super yachts, private jets and super-car collections. Blood diamonds, suspect oil deals, deforestation and murder. This is the world of Global Witness, the award-winning organisation dedicated to rooting out worldwide corruption. And this is co-founder Patrick Alley's revealing inside track on a breath-taking catalogue of modern super-crimes - and the 'shadow network' that enables them.

VERY BAD PEOPLE is about following the money, going undercover in the world's most dangerous places, and bringing down the people behind the crimes. Case by case we see maverick investigators pitched against warlords, grifters and super-villains who bear every resemblance to The Night Manager's Richard Roper. One dictator's son spent $700 million in just four years on his luxury lifestyle.

As they unravel crooked deals of labyrinthine complexity, the team encounter wellknown corporations whose operations are no less criminal than the Mafia. This network of lawyers, bankers and real estate agents help park dirty money in London, New York, or in offshore accounts, safe from prying eyes.

Patrick Alley's book is a brilliant, authoritative and fearless investigation into the darkest workings of our world - and an inspiration to all of us who want to fight back.

Patrick Alley is one of the three founders of Global Witness, one of the world's leading organisations dedicated to routing out corruption and environmental abuse around the world. Founded in 1995, Global Witness has since become a global leader in its field, with Patrick taking part in over 50 field investigations in South East Asia, Africa and Europe and in subsequent advocacy activities. Patrick conceived several of Global Witness's campaigns and focusses on corruption, conflict resources, forests and land, and environmental defenders. He is a board director of Global Witness and is involved in the organisation's strategic leadership. Alongside his two co founders, Patrick received the 2014 Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship.

Where Did I Go Right?

By Geoff Norcott

'Few people walk the line of thought provoking and laugh out loud funny like Geoff Norcott.' Romesh Ranganathan

Comedian Geoff Norcott should have been Labour through and through. He grew up on a council estate, both of his parents were disabled, and his Dad was a Union man. So, how was it that he grew up to vote Tory?

In this courageously honest and provocative memoir, Geoff unpicks his workingclass upbringing and his political journey from left to right. Raised by a fierce matriarch and a maverick father on a South London council estate where they filmed scenes for The Bill, Geoff spends his youth attempting to put out kitchen fires with aerosols and leaping in and out of industrial skips. But as he reaches adolescence, his political views begin to be influenced by major events including the early 90s recession, the credit crunch, and a chance encounter with Conservative PM John Major.

As an adult, Geoff begins to have the gnawing feeling that the values and traditions he grew up with no longer match Labour's. And, as Brexit appears, he feels even more like a double agent operating behind enemy lines.

Written with warmth, wit and often laugh-out-loud humour, Where Did I Go Right? is Geoff's attempt to understand why he ended up voting 'for the bad guys', and why blue-collared conservatism could be here to stay.

Comedian and writer Geoff Norcott is well known for his regular appearances on BBC2's The Mash Report, BBC1's Mock The Week, and Radio 4's The News Quiz. In 2019, he fronted his own BBC2 documentary How The Middle Class Ruined Britain and he has four Radio 4 specials to his name, one of which won the BBC Radio Award for Best Comedy Production. A satirical commentator in many national newspapers, Geoff has also been profiled in The Times and the Guardian. He lives with his wife and son in Cambridgeshire.

Behind Bars

By Brenda Birungi

In 2008, 21 year old Brenda got involved in a fight in a club while trying to protect her sister.

Serving 11 months of her prison sentence, her life changed completely. Inside, Brenda began to write, while battling with isolation, loneliness and the fear of being wrongly deported. These notes became powerful bars of poetry, capturing first hand the broken justicesystemand the racismrooted within it.

Wide-awake poetry, Behind Bars traces how Brenda's identity was irrevocably changed during her sentencing, time in prison and release.

Behind Bars proves there is lifeafter prison.

Brenda Birungi is a poet, broadcaster, TEDx speaker, mentor and an advocate for life after prison. She is the founder and creative director of Unchained Poetry, a platform for artists with experience of the criminal justice system. She is also known as Lady Unchained.

Her mission is to prove that there is lifeafter prison.

Remember Me? is a heartbreakingly courageous and tender memoir on losing a parent to dementia which captures memory at its most fragile and its most revealing. The book tells the story of a mind unravelling and the hidden stories that lay within it.

Publication 07/07/2022

Remember Me?

By Shobna Gulati

Afterword by Alzheimer's Research UK.

'Shobna Gulati is the Northern heroine of a nation' Lemn Sissay

Remember Me? is a memoir about caring for a parent with dementia and the memories that resurfacein the process.

In her first book, Shobna Gulati sets out to reclaim her mother's past after her death, and in turn, discovers a huge amount aboutherself and their relationship.

Remember Me? captures the powerful emotions that these memories hold to both Shobna and her mother; secrets they had collectively buried and also the concealment of her mother's condition. What ensues is a story of cultural assimilation, identity and familial shame.

Shobna became a household name for her role as Anita in Victoria Wood's Dinnerladies and as Sunita, in Coronation Street. She also appeared as a presenter on Loose Women (ITV), and most starred in Series 1 of the BBC One television show River Walks. On radio, Shobna hosted her own late night show on BBC Radio Manchester, and has appeared in many plays for BBC Radio 4, most recently in the sitcom'The Break'.

She trained at Manchester University, Trinity Laban Conservatorie of Music and Dance, Goldsmith's College, London, Darpana Academy for Performing Arts, India, and has also completed a post graduate diploma in teaching dancefrom Middlesex University.

A Normal Family

By ChrystaBilton

"I thought my family was complicated until I read Chrysta Bilton's wonderful memoir about the unique collection of irresistible characters in her life. Bilton has a big heart, gentle wisdom, keen eye and lovely wit. She's a gifted writer with an astonishing story to tell." -David Sheff, author of Beautiful Boy

For most of her life, Chrysta Bilton was one member of a small, if dysfunctional, family of four. Then, in her twenties, she discovered that her father had secretly donated his sperm over 500 times - and that she potentially had over 150 siblings!

Initially, Chrysta tucked this revelation away and ignored any questions, unable to deal with its impact. But as the years wore on, her curiosity grew and she began to unearth a picture of who her parents really were and the secrets they both held about her identity.

A Normal Family is a funny and captivating coming of age memoir about Chrysta's surreal childhood in LA in the '80s and '90s, and her reckoning as an adult with the family she never knew she had. A bold and compelling read, it is, above all, a story about forgiveness, making peace with your family and where you came from.

CHRYSTA BILTON graduated from Barnard College in New York and studied classical drawing and painting at the Florence Academy of Fine Art. She currently lives in Los Angeles with her husband, the writer Nick Bilton, their two children, Emerson and Somerset, their dogs, Pixel and Pine Cone, and their cat, Piano. She runs her own public relations firm. A Normal Family is Chrysta’s firstbook.

The Cracks that Let the Light In

By Jessica Moxham

'Powerful, moving and inspiring.' ESTHER FREUD

Jessica thought she was prepared for the experience of motherhood. Armed with advice from friends and family, parenting books and antenatal classes,shefelt ready.

After giving birth, she found herself facing a different, more uncertain reality. Her son, Ben, was fighting to stay alive.

Jessica shares her journey raising Ben. His disability means he will never be able to move or communicate without assistance. Jessica has to learn how to feed Ben when he can't eat, wrestle with red tape to secure his education and defend his basic rights in the face of discrimination. But the act of reading to Ben enriches both their lives and brings them joy.

As Ben begins to thrive, alongside his two younger siblings, Jessica finds that caring for a child with unique needs teaches her about appreciating difference and doing things your own way.

This uplifting story is about the power of family love, finding inner strength and, above all, hope.

Jessica Moxham is a writer with interest in the areas of parenting and disability. Jessica writes a blog discussing her experiences raising Ben. Her blog is read by parents, health professionals and educators.

Jessica has given lectures to health professionals on her family's experience, from students to doctors at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. Her work has appeared in Mail on Sunday's You Magazine, Good Housekeeping, the Guardian, the Scottish Herald and Irish Independent.

Testosterone

By CaroleHooven

'With all the talk about testosterone in sex, sports and politics, we need a good explanation of the science and its implications, and this one is outstanding.' STEVEN PINKER

Through riveting personal stories and the latest research, Harvard evolutionary biologist Carole Hooven shows how testosterone drives the behaviour of the sexes apart and how understanding the sciencebehind this hormone is empowering for all.

The science is clear: testosterone is a major, invisible player in our relationships, sex lives, athletic abilities, childhood play, gender transitions, parenting roles, violent crime, and so much more. But there is still a lot of pushback to the idea that it does, in fact, contribute to sex differences and significantly influencebehaviour.

Hooven argues that acknowledging testosterone as a potent force in society doesn't reinforce stifling gender norms or patriarchal values. Testosterone and evolution work together to produce a huge variety of human behaviour, and that includes a multitude of ways to be masculineand feminine.

Understanding the science sheds light on how we work and relate to one another, how we express anger and love, and how we fight bias and problematic behaviour to build a fairer society.

Carole Hooven, PhD is Lecturer and Co-director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University. She earned her PhD at Harvard, studying sex differences and testosterone, and has taught there ever since. Hooven has received numerous teaching awards, and her popular Hormones and Behaviour class was named one of the Harvard Crimson's 'top ten tried and true.' Twitter: @hoovlet. Website: carolehooven.com

Sherpa

By Pradeep Bashyal and Ankit Babu Adhikari

'Tendi Sherpa had been on the summit of Everest twelve times already before 2019. He was guiding a 60 year old American climber during one of the busiestperiods the mountain had ever seen. On the faceof it, his task was simple:to make surethat he and his client did not end up dead on the mountain...'

Amid all the foreign adventurers that throng to Nepal to scalethe world's highest peaks there exists a small tribeof mountain people at the foothills of Himalayas, in north eastern Nepal. Sherpa tells their story. It's the story of endeavour and survival atthe roof of the world.The story dives into their cultureand tells of their existence at the edge of lifeand death. It traces their story pre and post mountaineering revolution, their evolution as climbing crusaders with never previously published stories fromthe most notable and incredibleSherpas of the last50 years.

This is the story of the Sherpas.

Ankit Babu Adhikari is a writer, social scienceresearcher and a musician based in Kathmandu. For his musical endeavours, The Diplomatprofiled Ankit, labeling him as 'Nepal's singing storyteller'. Hehas worked with major national dailies The Kathmandu Postand The Himalayan Times in capacity of reporter and editor. He is also a freelance contributor for The Washington Post.

Pradeep Bashyal is a bi lingual BBC World Servicecorrespondent based in Kathmandu. He has been covering mountains and mountaineering for nearly a decade. Prior to joining theBBC, he wrote for Nepal Magazineand The Washington Post.

Sherpa

By Pradeep Bashyal and Ankit Babu Adhikari

'Tendi Sherpa had been on the summit of Everest twelve times already before 2019. He was guiding a 60 year old American climber during one of the busiest periods the mountain had ever seen. On the face of it, his task was simple: to make sure that he and his client did notend up dead on the mountain...'

Amid all the foreign adventurers that throng to Nepal to scale the world's highest peaks there exists a small tribe of mountain people at the foothills of Himalayas, in north eastern Nepal. Sherpa tells their story. It's the story of endeavour and survival at the roof of the world. The story dives into their culture and tells of their existence at the edge of life and death. It traces their story pre and post mountaineering revolution, their evolution as climbing crusaders with never previously published stories from the most notableand incredibleSherpas of the last50 years.

This is the story of the Sherpas.

Ankit Babu Adhikari is a writer, social science researcher and a musician based in Kathmandu. For his musical endeavours, The Diplomat profiled Ankit, labeling him as 'Nepal's singing storyteller'. He has worked with major national dailies The Kathmandu Post and The Himalayan Times in capacity of reporter and editor. He is also a freelance contributor for The Washington Post.

Pradeep Bashyal is a bi lingual BBC World Service correspondent based in Kathmandu. He has been covering mountains and mountaineering for nearly a decade. Prior to joining the BBC, he wrote for Nepal Magazineand The Washington Post.

Something To Live For

By Laura Canty

"It's staggeringly honest but also really funny I laughed out loud several times. It felt like hearing from a friend. A book that will make a difference, I am sure of it" The Unmumsy Mum

"Funny, brutally honest- but uplifting too." - The Telegraph

What readers are saying:

‘A genuine joy to read’ • ‘Made me laugh, made me cry. I couldn't put it down’ • ‘Could be the message of hope you need’

Laura Canty is a new mum. She has a beautiful baby boy, Arthur, and a wonderful husband. She has new mum friends on the local WhatsApp group, and everyone in her lifeis supportiveand happy for her. But Laura doesn't see itthis way.

In the weeks since her baby was born, like 1 in 5 women, Laura has developed Postnatal Depression. In fact, she has decided that the only way out of her current situation is for her to kill herself, or her baby...

A moving and refreshingly honest memoir to finally lift the lid on PND and the mental health problems so many mums face. Full of truth and hope, Something to Live For is a special book about the little discussed realities of the illness and how Laura overcame it.

Laura Canty was diagnosed with acute PND in 2018 and spent 10 weeks in The Barberry National Centre for Mental Health with baby Arthur. She now volunteers as an Expert by Experience for the NHS and is passionate about fighting the taboo around PND.

Girlcrush

By Florence Given

GIRLCRUSH is a dark feminist comedy by bestselling author FlorenceGiven.

In Given's debut novel, we follow Eartha on a wild, weird and seductive modern day exploration as she commences life as an openly bisexual woman whilst also becoming a viral sensation on Wonder Land, a social media app where people project their dream selves online.

But as her online self and her offline self become more and more distanced, trauma from her pastcomes back to haunt and destroy her present.

Eartha must make a choice:which version of herself should shekill off?

Florence Given is a 23 year old international, bestselling, feminist author and illustrator based in London. She grew up in Plymouth and attended London College of Fashion for one year, leaving to pursue art and writing. Boasting over 600k followers on Instagram, her work confronts oppressive attitudes towards women and their bodies and she uses her platform to raise awareness of issues surrounding sexuality, consent, race and gender.

Girlcrush

By Florence Given

GIRLCRUSH is a dark feministcomedy by bestselling author FlorenceGiven.

In Given's debut novel, we follow Eartha on a wild, weird and seductive modernday exploration as she commences life as an openly bisexual woman whilst also becoming a viral sensation on Wonder Land, a social media app where people project their dream selves online.

But as her online self and her offline self become more and more distanced, trauma from her past comes back to haunt and destroy her present.

Eartha must make a choice:which version of herself should shekill off?

Florence Given is a 23 year old international, bestselling, feminist author and illustrator based in London. She grew up in Plymouth and attended London College of Fashion for one year, leaving to pursue art and writing. Boasting over 600k followers on Instagram, her work confronts oppressive attitudes towards women and their bodies and she uses her platform to raise awareness of issues surrounding sexuality, consent, race and gender.

Backable

By Suneel Gupta with Carlye Adler

'This remarkable book can be your secret weapon for bringing your idea to life.' DAN PINK

‘A must-read.’ REID HOFFMAN, CO-FOUNDER OF LINKEDIN

No one makes it alone. But there's a reason why some people can get investors or bosses to believe in them while others cannot. And that reason has little to do with experience, pedigree or a polished business plan. Backable people seem to have a hidden quality that inspires others to take action.

After getting rejected by every investor he pitched to, Suneel Gupta had a burning question: could this 'it' factor be learned?

Inside the book are long held secrets from producers of Oscar winning films, venture capitalists, founders of unicorn status startups, and executives at iconic companies like Lego, Method and Pixar. Suneel used these invaluable lessons to become the New York Stock Exchange's 'New Faceof Innovation'.

Backable reveals how to successfully persuadeothers to take a chance on you.

Suneel Gupta is on the faculty at Harvard University where he teaches students how to be 'backable'. His ideas have been backed by firms like Greylock and Google Ventures, and he has invested in startups including Airbnb, Calm and SpaceX. His work has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Fortune and Vanity Fair. Twitter: @suneel. Website: suneelgupta.com

Carlye Adler is an award winning journalist and four time New York Times bestselling co author collaborator.

The Real Prime Suspect

By Jackie Malton

Jackie Malton was a no nonsense girl from Leicestershire who joined the police force when women were kept apart from the men. Feisty and determined, Jackie worked in CID and the famous flying squad before rising to become one of only three female detective chief inspectors in the Metropolitan Police.

Malton describes the struggles she faced as a gay woman in the Metropolitan Police, where sexism and homophobia were rife. She dealt with rapists, wife beaters, murderers, blackmailers and armed robbers but it was tackling the corruption in her own station that proved the most challenging. Ostracised and harassed by fellow officers furious thatshe reported the illegality of some colleagues, Malton turned to drink.

A chance meeting with writer Lynda La Plante five years later changed the course of her life. Together they worked on shaping Jane Tennison, one of TV’s most famous police characters, in the ground breaking series Prime Suspect. Not long after, Malton recovered from alcoholism and now works as an AA volunteer in prison and as a TV consultant.Jackiehas spenther lifeworking in crime. Now she’s ready to shareher story.

Jackie Malton was a police officer for 28 years. During her career she worked in the drugs squad, CID, the flying squad, fraud squad and as a hostage negotiator. Jackie acted as an adviser on Prime Suspect and has consulted on many popular police dramas including Cracker, The Bill and Life on Mars. She presented the documentary series, The Real Prime Suspect and appeared in Bent Coppers. Jackie regularly gives talks on policing and works in a male prison to support offenders recovering from addiction. Twitter: @thursley.

The Real Prime Suspect

By Jackie Malton

Jackie Malton was a no nonsense girl from Leicestershire who joined the police force when women were kept apart from the men. Feisty and determined, Jackie worked in CID and the famous flying squad before rising to become one of only three female detective chief inspectors in the Metropolitan Police.

Malton describes the struggles she faced as a gay woman in the Metropolitan Police, where sexism and homophobia were rife. She dealt with rapists, wife beaters, murderers, blackmailers and armed robbers but it was tackling the corruption in her own station that proved the most challenging. Ostracised and harassed by fellow officers furious thatshe reported the illegality of some colleagues, Malton turned to drink.

A chance meeting with writer Lynda La Plante five years later changed the course of her life. Together they worked on shaping Jane Tennison, one of TV’s most famous police characters, in the ground breaking series Prime Suspect. Not long after, Malton recovered from alcoholism and now works as an AA volunteer in prison and as a TV consultant.Jackiehas spenther lifeworking in crime. Now she’s ready to shareher story.

Jackie Malton was a police officer for 28 years. During her career she worked in the drugs squad, CID, the flying squad, fraud squad and as a hostage negotiator. Jackie acted as an adviser on Prime Suspect and has consulted on many popular police dramas including Cracker, The Bill and Life on Mars. She presented the documentary series, The Real Prime Suspect and appeared in Bent Coppers. Jackie regularly gives talks on policing and works in a male prison to support offenders recovering from addiction. Twitter: @thursley.

TheAccidental Detectorist

By Nigel Richardson

When a travel writer is stuck on home soil in the middle of a pandemic he meets Kris Rodgers, one of Britain's eminent metal detectorists. Dipping a toe in the hobby, Nigel quickly finds himself swept up in the world beneath the surface. Above the ground are a cast of fascinating and passionate people who open Nigel's eyes to a subterranean world of treasure and stories thatbring the history of the island to life.

Scouring the country from Cornwall to Scotland in search of treasure and the best detectorists, Nigel finds himself more immersed in the culture than he bargained for and makes his own personal journey from cynicism to obsession in his trail through the heartlands of metal detecting. From women's groups who react against the hobby's male bias, to the 'Nighthawks' who risk jail time in their pursuits, he finds his preconceptions disabused and gets to the heart of what makes this quiet community so obsessed with happy beeps.

Nigel Richardson is a British journalist and author of five books who has worked at the top level for more than twenty five years (thirteen of them on the staff of the Daily Telegraph in London). He writes about history, archaeology, landscapes, culture and wildlife conservation and has won numerous awards and commendations (UK Travel Journalist of the Year, Sunday Times Children’s Book of the Week, BBC Radio 4 Pick of the Week etc). Previous books include the travelogues Breakfast in Brighton: Adventures on the Edge of Britain and (with the actor Richard Wilson) Britain’s Best Drives: Journeys Back to the Golden Age of Motoring.

Life and Death Decisions

By Dr Lachlan McIver

Lachlan was sixteen when he found his father dead on the side of a dirt road in North Queensland, Australia. His father had suffered a heart attack and died alone, without warning, in the middle of nowhere. This tragedy motivated Lachlan to train as a doctor and specialise in providing medical care for people living in remote, resource-deprived locations.

Lachlan’s work has since taken him to over thirty countries, from the sinking islands of the Pacific to civil war zones in Africa. His experiences caring for patients and tackling health problems in some of the most extreme environments on Earth have highlighted some horrendous dilemmas. Why do many Indigenous communities have lower life expectancies than non-Indigenous people? How can we stop the alarming increase in infectious diseases that are resistant to antibiotics? Why aren’t we taking urgent action on climate change, when it is already killing hundreds of thousands of people every year? Life and Death Decisions details Lachlan’s experiences as a doctor working in the most challenging conditions, treating patients and battling global health crises, whilestruggling with the personal toll such work can take.

Dr Lachlan McIver is a rural medicine and public health specialist with a PhD in the health impacts of climate change. He currently works as the Tropical Diseases and Planetary Health Advisor at the headquarters of Médecins Sans Frontières in Geneva. Lachlan is an Associate Professor at James Cook University and is the founder and past Chair of Rocketship Pacific Ltd – an international health non profit organisation dedicated to improving health in Pacific island countries. He regularly speaks at international conferences on health.

How to Tell a Story

By The Moth

(Meg Bowles, Catherine Burns, Jenifer Hixson, Sarah Austin Jenness and Kate Tellers)

Storytelling is vital to being alive. So you’re not getting out of this! You will be telling stories. In fact, you have been telling stories. Every day. Since you started talking. This book will help you tell better stories.

Most of us have a few fun anecdotes that we tell again and again, the greatest hits that we pull out at parties and work functions and across kitchen tables. In How to Tell a Story, The Moth – a non profit group of storytelling coaches and radio hosts that helps people from around the world to hone their stories and perform them at packed-out live events will teach you how to uncover and craft your own unique tales.

Whether your goal is to deliver the perfect wedding toast, wow clients at a business dinner, give a moving eulogy, ace a job interview, change the world, or simply connect more deeply to those around you, stories are essential. Sharing secrets of their time honed process and using examples from beloved storytellers, The Moth will show you how to:

• mine your memories for your best stories

• explorestructures that will boostthe impactof your story

• deliver your stories with confidence

• tailor your stories for any occasion

Filled with empowering, easy to followtips, this book is the definitiveguide to learning how to tell an unforgettable story in any setting.

The Moth is an acclaimed non-profit organisation dedicated to the art and craft of storytelling. Since its launch in 1997, The Moth has presented more than 50,000 stories and a Peabody Award for The Moth Radio Hour, which airs on over 550 US stations. The Moth Podcast is downloaded 90 million times annually. Meg Bowles, Catherine Burns, Jenifer Hixson, Sarah Austin Jenness, and Kate Tellers, along with The Moth’s artistic and workshop teams, have directed tens of thousands of stories told on stages worldwide.

Consumed

By Aja Barber

'The book is a blueprintfor anyone who wants to do better' VOGUE 'SUCH integrity. Aja is no bullsh*t.' - Florence Given

Aja Barber wants change.

In the 'learning' first half of the book, she will expose you to the endemic injustices in our consumer industries and the uncomfortable history of the textile industry; one which brokered slavery, racism and today's wealth inequality. And how these oppressive systems have bled into the fashion industry and its lack of diversity and equality. She will also reveal how we spend our money and whose pockets it goes into and whose it doesn't (clue: the people who do the actual work) and will tell her story of how she came to learn the truth.

In the second 'unlearning' half of the book, she will help you to understand the uncomfortable truth behind why you consume the way you do. She asks you to confront the sense of lack you have, the feeling that you are never quite enough and the reasons why you fill the aching void with consumption rather than compassion. And she makes you challenge this power disparity, and take back ownership of it. The less you buy into the consumer culturethe more power you have.

CONSUMED will teach you how to be a citizen not a consumer.

Aja Barber is a hugely influential voice and one that you will be hearing a lot more from. She is passionate about racial justice and exposing endemic injustices in our consumer and fashion industries.Shehas pledged to never take a dollar fromfastfashion.

She is no stranger to campaigning for change. Her Instagram video 'Why Performative Allyship is Triggering', which called out brands and influencers for monetising the Black Lives Matter movement, has accumulated over one million views. The video also put a spotlight on the disparity between fast fashion brand billionaires and their unpaid factory workers during the Covid 19 economic downturn.

Waypoints

By Sam Heughan

In this journey of self discovery, Sam Heughan sets out along the West Highland Way to explore his heritage and reflect on the personal waypoints that define him. The result is a love letter to the wild Scottish landscape that means so much to Sam, and a charming, funny, wise, and searching insight to the world through his eyes.

Travelogue forms the spine of the narrative, which tells the story of Sam’s life while exploring his outlook, values and interests. Sam is a figure of fascinating contrasts. A Hollywood star with deep roots in rural Scotland, he’s both outgoing and content in his own company. He has strong connections with his fans while recognising the fragility and value of anonymity, and in My Peak Challenge has effectively created a social network that brings people together as they chase individual goals. In his new book, while charting a path through a stunning wilderness, Sam maps out the moments that shaped his outlook on dreams and ambition, family, friendships, love and life.

Roots is a deeply personal journey that reveals as much to Sam about himself as it does to his readers.

Sam Heughan is an award winning actor and philanthropist, best known for his starring role as Jamie Fraser in the hit TV show Outlander. From his early days at the Royal Court Theatre, Sam has enjoyed a career in theatre, television and film spanning almost two decades. With his growing success and fame, Sam has also lent his voice and platform to raise funds and awareness for many notable charities, including Marie Curie UK and Blood Cancer UK. In recent years he has raised over $5 million for blood cancer research, hospice care and testicular cancer awareness education. Due to his outstanding contribution to charitable endeavours and artistic success he was bestowed by the University of Glasgow and the University of Stirling with an honorary doctorate in 2019.

Tales of a Country Parish: from the vicar of Savernake Forest

By Colin Heber-Percy

During the unprecedented circumstances of Spring 2020, Colin Heber Percy began writing a daily newsletter of reflections and uplifting stories to stay in touch with his parishioners. Word spread, and soon his bulletins were being eagerly consumed by readers around the country and beyond.

In this thought provoking and invigorating book, Heber Percy draws upon a kaleidoscopic knowledge of nature, philosophy, poetry and music, as well as religious writings, and interlaces them with amusing and touching vignettes from his Wiltshireparish.

As he follows the changing seasons, Heber Percy moves from the seemingly small and mundane to ponder big life questions can you find heaven in a Londis shop, why is the Bible not like the Highway Code, what on earth are we all doing here while gently offering up wisdomand sustenancefor all, regardless of faith and creed.

Rev Dr Colin Heber-Percy is the parish priest for Savernake Forest, Wiltshire, as well as a screenwriter and author. His screenwriting work has won many awards and been shown all over the world. He has a PhD in medieval metaphysics and has lectured on spirituality, faith, film, and fiction.He lives in Wiltshirewith his wifeand three children.

I Bought a Mountain

By ThomasFirbank

‘Vitally convincing and exhilarating.’ Observer

‘One of the most compelling and successful 20th century versions of the urge to escape to the country… deeply inspiring… highly pertinent.’ Patrick Barkham

Written on the eve of the Second World War, this memoir tells the remarkable story of 21 year old Thomas Firbank’s impulsive purchase of a 2,400 acre hill farm in the rugged, inhospitable mountains of Snowdonia, and how he and his wife struggled to build it back into prosperity.

A thrilling human tale of tragedy and triumph, as well as a portrait of a lost era when farming was a communal endeavour, I Bought a Mountain offers precious insights into conservation and sustainability relevant for today.

The book became an international bestseller, selling over half a million copies worldwide and pioneered the genre of ‘good life’ rural escape literature. This new, illustrated edition is introduced with a foreword by the celebrated nature writer, Patrick Barkham, as well as an afterword by contemporary Welsh hill farmer,Dafydd Morris-Jones.

Thomas Firbank (1910 2000) was a Canadian/Welsh author, farmer, soldier and engineer. He enlisted during the Second World War and was awarded a Military Cross. After his marriage to Esme Cummins ended, he gave her the Dyffryn farm. He only returned to Snowdonia in 1993 after a spell living in the Far East, and died in Llarnwst, North Wales.