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Putting the Rabbit in the Hat: the fascinating memoir by acting legend and Succession star
by Brian CoxThe long-awaited memoir by movie and theatre legend, Brian Cox.*Featuring a foreword by the executive producer of Succession, Frank Rich, an executive producer of HBO's Succession, a former chief drama critic of The New York Times, and the author of the memoir Ghost Light.* From Titus Andronicus with the RSC to media magnate Logan Roy in HBO's Succession, Brian Cox has made his name as an actor of unparalleled distinction and versatility. We know him on screen, but few know of his extraordinary life story.Growing up in Dundee, Scotland, Cox lost his father when he was just eight years old and was brought up by his three elder sisters in the aftermath of his mother's nervous breakdowns and ultimate hospitalization. After joining the Dundee Repertory Theatre at the age of fifteen, you could say the rest is history - but that is to overlook the enormous graft that has gone into the making of the legend we know today. This is a rags-to-riches life story like no other - a seminal autobiography that both captures Cox's distinctive voice and his very soul. Rich in emotion and meaning, with plenty of laughs along the way, it will be a classic in the vein of The Moon's a Balloon by David Niven and What's It All About by Michael Caine.PRAISE FOR PUTTING THE RABBIT IN THE HAT'A hugely readable memoir from a giant of stage and screen' - Mark Kermode'A life well lived and a story well told. From first page to last Brian Cox the great actor is Brian Cox the great storyteller, and nobody is spared his sharp eye and his caustic wit, himself and some big Hollywood names included' - Alastair Campbell'Laced with his characteristic generosity, self-deprecation and cut-the-crap wisdom' - Harriet Walter'Mesmerizing' - Peter Biskind
My Life with Hatti: Six Years With A Dog Who Does Everything
by Libby CleggLying at the very heart of Libby Clegg's life and achievements is the relationship with her Labrador Retriever cross guide dog, Hatti. A relationship primarily based on trust, with a healthy dose of respect and adoration.Libby Clegg is one of the UK's most popular, recognisable and respected Paralympic athletes, having won ten major gold medals, including two at the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games. As a sprinter who has only peripheral vision in her left eye, Libby runs with a guide runner while wearing a blindfold and, in 2021, she will defend her 100m and 200m titles at the Tokyo Paralympics.Libby is also well-known to the public from her ground-breaking appearance in Dancing on Ice where, in addition to her being the first registered blind person ever appear on the show, she managed to reach the final, winning her millions of new fans and making her a national hero all over again.From the moment Libby wakes up until the moment she goes to bed, Hatti will either be lying at her feet, sitting by her side or guiding Libby to wherever she needs to be. Hatti is there for Libby through both the highs and the lows and they have shared countless adventures together, from spending the day in the Royal Box at Wimbledon where Hatti overdid it on strawberries and cream to Libby trying to overcome a severe bout depression after the Rio Paralympic Games.Theirs is a partnership that works on every single level and, while its circumstances may be unique, its story will be reassuring and familiar to any dog lover. Libby and Hatti are a devoted couple helping each other through life.
The Last Good Funeral of the Year: A Memoir
by Ed O'LoughlinSoon, the lockdown would start. People would die alone, without any proper ceremony. Charlotte's death would be washed away, the first drop in a downpour. Nobody knew it then but hers would be the last good funeral of the year.It was February 2020, when Ed O'Loughlin heard that Charlotte, a woman he'd known had died, young and before her time. He realised that he was being led to reappraise his life, his family and his career as a foreign correspondent and acclaimed novelist in a new, colder light. He was suddenly faced with facts that he had been ignoring, that he was getting old, that he wasn't what he used to be, that his imagination, always over-active, had at some point reversed its direction, switching production from dreams to regrets. He saw he was mourning his former self, not Charlotte. The search for meaning becomes the driving theme of O'Loughlin's year of confinement. He remembers his brother Simon, a suicide at thirty; the journalists and photographers with whom he covered wars in Africa, the Middle East, the Balkans, wars that are hard to explain and never really stopped; his habit of shedding baggage, an excuse for hurrying past and not dwelling on things.Moving, funny, and searingly honest, The Last Good Funeral of the Year takes the reader on a circular journey from present to past and back to the present: 'Could any true story end any other way?'
The Gladiator Mindset: Push Your Limits. Overcome Challenges. Achieve Your Goals.
by Adam PeatyThink like Britain's greatest living Olympian: Ten steps to push your limits and achieve the impossible from the one of the world's greatest swimmers'The most dominant sportsperson in Great Britain today - and perhaps ever' TelegraphFrom one of the best elite athletes on the planet comes a book bursting with no-nonsense advice on how to locate your inner gladiator, and first-hand wisdom to help you push yourself beyond what you thought was possible.We are all capable of locating greatness within us and achieving hitherto unimaginable feats. Whether you are old and wise or young and bursting with energy, there are limits you are imposing on yourself that this book will help you reconsider.Adam Peaty shows you how to take more control of your life and helps you both discover and develop your talents. He shares his own ten secrets to a winning mental attitude, whether it be at home, at work, on the sports field, or within ourselves.This is an inspirational handbook for personal achievement and positive living. THE GLADIATOR MINDSET will inspire you to find and develop your talent and have the confidence to believe in yourself.Let's be better than we were yesterday."Hopefully, this is a catalyst for not only Team GB but also the people back home to go to another gear, to say: 'We've been through a tough time, there's been a lot of complaining, a lot of excuses, a lot of negative things, but now we've got to switch our mindset.'" - Adam Peaty
Black Sheep: A Story of Rural Racism, Identity and Hope
by Sabrina Pace-Humphreys'Honest and authentic - I could not put it down' Michelle Griffith Robinson OLY'Black Sheep is powerful testimony for anyone seeking to deepen their own anti-racist journey. This is passionate, raw writing, with moments of reflection that we can all learn from. It's a story that had to be told, and must be heard' Jeffrey BoakyeSabrina Pace-Humphreys is a 44-year-old mother of four and grandmother of three, an award-winning businesswoman, an ultrarunner, a social justice activist and a recovering alcoholic. She is a mixed-raced woman, the daughter of a white Scottish Roman Catholic woman and a Black man. When she was two, her parents separated and Sabrina, her mother and her white-presenting younger sister moved to a small market town where no-one looked like her. From as young as she can remember, she was the subject of verbal and physical racist abuse.In Black Sheep, Sabrina reveals how she got from there to here: about growing up in a home, a school and a town where no-one looked like her and her subsequent struggle to understand and find her identity; about her lived experience of rural racism; about becoming a teenage mother and her determination to break that stereotype; about her battle with alcoholism and her mental health; about how running saved her life; and ultimately about how someone can not only survive but thrive in spite of their past. Sabrina's experience will chime with anyone who has felt like an outsider. Poignant and eye-opening, and exploring themes of trauma, identity, mental health and addiction, Black Sheep is a tale of triumph: of grit and determination, of hope over despair.
Answered Prayers: England and the 1966 World Cup
by Duncan HamiltonEngland. 1966. The World Cup.Duncan Hamilton watched England beat West Germany as an eight-year-old boy in the company of his father and grandfather. He recalls 'Wembley, spread out in the sun; the waving flags; the delirious, joy-of-all-joys moment of the final whistle; the trophy sparkling in the late afternoon light'.But, seeing the whole game again during the misery of the first Covid lockdown, finally made him realise what Alf Ramsey and his players had no inkling of, which was what came next for them. How, for many of those boys of summer, almost everything after that shimmering moment amounted to an anti-climax or a setback. How '66 was not a beginning, a guaranteed path towards more success, but a slow decline and fall, and also a disproportionate number of disappointments. And how the triumph of '66 was dulled through constant repetition, the same images always flashed before us.Hamilton recognised, too, how many myths and misconceptions had grown around the match. He decided to revisit '66, tracing the very roots of a story - as well as the hidden figures within it - that really began during the era of post-War austerity.Answered Prayers provides, at last, a full account of English football's greatest achievement and the failures that followed it. We see the institutional inability to appreciate Ramsey and his players, who were taken for granted; the political machinations of the blazered fools who ran the Football Association; the short-sighted blunderers of the Football League.With his matchless insight and descriptive power, Hamilton tells history afresh and shows us, for the first time, the scale of what was won and what was lost.PRAISE FOR DUNCAN HAMILTON'Hamilton has a perceptively humane understanding of men for whom football was never just a game' Guardian'A marriage of prose and detail so fine and fastidious that it takes the breath away' Independent'Justifiably prize-winning' Mail on Sunday
All My Friends Are Invisible
by Jonathan Joly*A mesmeric, harrowing and uplifting childhood memoir that will open up much-needed conversations about identity and mental health*'An extraordinary and thought-provoking memoir' - Belfast TelegraphIt was an ordinary day in 2016. In Gatwick Airport, Jonathan and his wife Anna were having breakfast with their two little children while waiting for their flight to be called. And then it happened, a familiar sensation that Jonathan hadn't had for decades: an out-of-body experience that transported him to another place, the safe place he used to escape to in his mind when he was a boy. Because growing up in conservative 1980s Dublin, where there was little tolerance for children who were 'different', Jonathan Joly was, indeed, a different sort of child: creative, expressive, and - on the inside - a girl. The limitations of the people around him to understand his differences led to years of tyrannical bullying and abuse, forcing him to withdraw within himself to the point of clinical absence. His only chance for survival was the inner world he created for himself, rich with loving and supportive friends and playmates, that only he could see. Jonathan's invisible friends were his lifeline, and on that day at the airport, they came flooding back, and have remained with him to this day. This extraordinary childhood memoir is not only an important, thought-provoking and exhilarating read, it gives hope and community for all those who have ever felt 'other', and proves how vital it is to provide children with the safe space to be themselves. In All My Friends are Invisible, Jonathan Joly, known widely as one of social media's most successful content creators, shares the secret he's kept hidden these many years. He shows the beautiful world he retreated to time and time again when life was unbearable for his 'skin machine'. Most importantly, he introduces us to his invisible friends, and in so doing you may be transported back to the friends you had as a child that no one else could see, and who may have saved you, too. "When you find yourself living in a world that doesn't understand you, and you lack any connection to anyone or any place, you are faced with few options. You can choose to leave this world and hope whatever lies beyond ends up being better, or you can create your own. It will require grit, hardship, pain and suffering, but the rewards will be great, and the journey will be greater, and the adventures will be endless. So, at a very young age and faced with these options, I chose the latter." All My Friends are Invisible will be one of the most talked about books of 2022.
Living My Best Life, Hun
by London Hughes'A hilarious must read.' - Jameela Jamil'Funny, frank and inspiring' - Lenny HenryAll her life, London longed to be a badass, an awesome bulletproof star nobody could mess with - someone who takes no shit - and in Living My Best Life, Hun, she lifts the lid on how she went from secretly writing Frasier fan fiction alone in her bedroom to taking Hollywood by storm.It hasn't been an easy journey; from birthday parties gone wrong and dealing with bullies every step of the way, to getting blocked by Foxtons (long story) and being mistaken for the cleaner at a comedy competition (true story), London leaves no stone unturned. It took London some time to find her voice and her people, but now that she has, she's mentally high-fiving her fourteen-year-old self every day.Frank, fearless and funny, Living My Best Life, Hun will inspire you to ditch the self-loathing, start the self-loving and engage with your inner winner.
The Anxiety Project
by Daan Heerma Voss"The most interesting Dutch writer of his generation" Herman Koch"Vivid and moving. A marvellous hybrid of a book about one of the major contemporary causes of sickness and unhappiness. In it we recognise ourselves, our restlessness and insecurity" George SzirtesSomething inside will not let me be . . . Daan Heerma van Voss is not just anxious. According to tests on the cortisone levels in his hair, he is seventy-four times as anxious as the average person. And that makes him hard to live with. When another relationship is broken by his crippling fears, the only way to cope is to get to the roots of his condition. But he also wants to dig deeper and tackle the big questions. Why are 264 million people worldwide suffering from anxiety, and why is this number growing every day? Is it hereditary? Is there a link with creativity? And how can you love when you're living in a constant state of fear? In his quest for answers, he takes us on a profoundly moving journey from his apartment in Amsterdam to France, Jakarta and San Francisco. Along the way we'll meet philosophers, artists, writers and other fascinating individuals from around the world. But this is also a journey through literature, the classics, the history of anxiety and the science behind it. Timely, learned and heartfelt, The Anxiety Project fuses the sharp musings of a curious mind with a raw and honest dissection of a relationship undercut by fear. It will appeal to anyone trying to remain calm on our very nervous planet.Translated from the Dutch by David Doherty
Lessons in Life: What we can all learn from the world’s best teachers
by Andria ZafirakouWhat can the best teachers in the world tell us about our children? What advice can they give to help us raise happy, confident and caring kids? Teachers spend a lot of time with their pupils - talking and listening to them, observing and guiding them. What can we learn from teachers about helping kids become compassionate, contented and successful grown-ups, as well as conscientious global citizens? In Lessons in Life, Andria Zafirakou - the 2018 Global Teacher Prize winner - talks to 30 of the best teachers in the world willing to share their insight and wisdom, gained from years of working with children of all ages.They include:Ranjitsinh Disale (Global Teacher Prize winner 2020), a primary teacher who turned a cattle shed in the drought-prone village of Paritewadi in India into a school. His many skills include showing his pupils how to broaden their horizon, and to become advocates for change;Peter Tabichi (Global Teacher Prize winner 2019), a maths and physics teacher in the Rift Valley Province in Kenya, regularly impacted by famine, who has found a way to make his students care about their studies and believe in a future they can be part of, despite the hardship all around them.Esther Wojcicki (California Teacher of the Year 2002), a leading American teacher who challenged traditional school rules in her lessons to allow her students to take control, learn to believe in themselves and feel empowered.Andrew Moffat (MBE for services to equality in education 2017), a primary teacher in Birmingham who created a teaching resource called 'Challenging Homophobia in Primary Schools' to help his pupils understand the importance of tolerance and open-mindedness. The result is an inspiring, moving and fascinating read that will help parents identify a child's potential and give them the tools to shine. To know what these incredible teachers know and see what they see is a privilege and a gift.
Nailing It
by Rich Hall'An uproariously funny collection of true stories from one of the comedy greats' - BILL BAILEY'I loved this book. Absolutely adored it. I devoured it and savoured every word. A wild and wonderful love letter to comedy' - ADAM HILLS'It's rare for comedians to be as funny on paper as they are on stage, but Rich Hall nails it' - CARL HIAASENA collection of hilarious and often absurd epiphanies in the legendary comedian's life that defined him - more in a for worse than for better kind of way - and all delivered in his unique deadpan style. Growing up, Rich Hall aspired to be a writer, and after school he trained to be a journalist. But after a stint at the Knoxville News Sentinel in Tennessee, he found himself trying to impress a girl by doing a one-man show in a state university campus in Kansas, armed with a bucket, a loudhailer and some dog biscuits. It wasn't exactly a triumph, and he didn't get the girl, but he had found his true calling.Nailing It is a collection of true stories from both Hall's professional and personal life where he really had to nail it. They're not about glitz, or fame, or how he met his seventh wife at the rehab clinic and found spiritual direction. None of that happened to him.They're about accidentally melting Kraft cheese at his first Edinburgh Fringe Festival, alienating an entire convention of RV holiday-makers in Las Vegas, singing The Who's 'You Better You Bet' at a charity gig and turning his performance into a legendary rock 'n' roll disaster, and attempting to seduce Karen, which must have been successful because she is now his wife. And other such escapades.Hall doesn't always come out of them all covered in glory - far from it - but if someone propped him up at the end of the comedy bar and put a 50p coin in him, these are the tunes he would spin. And you'd be laughing all night.
The Daughter of Auschwitz
by Tova Friedman Malcolm Brabant'Every so often a book arrives that demands to be read' John Humphrys'An unforgettable and deeply moving story' Jeremy Bowen'I read this book with gratitude and urgency' Fergal Keane '[A] vividly written and compelling story' Lindsey HilsumAN INCREDIBLE STORY OF COURAGE, RESILIENCE AND SURVIVAL 'I am a survivor. That comes with a survivor's obligation to represent one and half million Jewish children murdered by the Nazis. They cannot speak. So I must speak on their behalf.' Tova Friedman was one of the youngest people to emerge from Auschwitz. After surviving the liquidation of the Jewish ghetto in Central Poland where she lived as a toddler, Tova was five when she and her parents were sent to a Nazi labour camp, and almost six when she and her mother were forced into a packed cattle truck and sent to Auschwitz II, also known as the Birkenau extermination camp, while her father was transported to Dachau. During six months of incarceration in Birkenau, Tova witnessed atrocities that she could never forget, and experienced numerous escapes from death. She is one of a handful of Jews to have entered a gas chamber and lived to tell the tale. As Nazi killing squads roamed Birkenau before abandoning the camp in January 1945, Tova and her mother hid among corpses. After being liberated by the Russians they made their way back to their hometown in Poland. Eventually Tova's father tracked them down and the family was reunited.In The Daughter of Auschwitz, Tova immortalizes what she saw, to keep the story of the Holocaust alive, at a time when it is in danger of fading from memory. She has used those memories that have shaped her life to honour the victims. Written with award-winning former war reporter Malcolm Brabant, this is an extremely important book. Brabant's meticulous research has helped Tova recall her experiences in searing detail. Together they have painstakingly recreated Tova's extraordinary story about one of the worst ever crimes against humanity.
Bad Influence: The hotly-anticipated debut memoir about growing up online - 'An ideal summer read' EVENING STANDARD
by Oenone Forbat'An ideal summer read' EVENING STANDARD'Equal parts insightful and entertaining - whatever your take on influencers, Bad Influence is a great read' YOMI ADEGOKEOenone didn't set out to become an influencer. The word barely existed when she started posting on Instagram at university to document her 'fitness journey' after a toxic relationship came to a messy end.In this humorous meditation on her digitized life, Oenone chronicles the pits and peaks of coming of age online. Grappling with modern-day issues on a public stage - from body image and personal boundaries to the limitations of online activism, Bad Influence examines what happens when your day-to-day reality becomes #content - and that #content pays your bills.It asks: can you truly be authentic online? Can social media be a force for good? Is it necessarily bad for our mental health?Written with wit, warmth and honesty, this is a candid account of what it really means to be an influencer, from someone still figuring it out: the good, the bad and the instagrammable.'Warm, juicy, and eye-opening, like having a chat with a best friend' ANNIE LORD'If ever a book captured the zeitgeist, this is it' GRACE CAMPBELL'Funny, warm and brilliantly engaging' LUCY VINE
Did I Ever Tell You?: The most moving memoir of 2024
by Genevieve Kingston'Compelling and heartbreaking' Ann NapolitanoA deeply moving memoir of a young daughter, her dying mother - and the trail of letters and gifts she left behind.'Her messages met me like guideposts in a dark forest; if her words couldn't point the way, at least they offered the comfort of knowing someone had been there before'Ten days before Gwen Kingston turned twelve, her beloved mother - with whom she shared a birthday - died. She left behind two chests - one for Gwen and one for her brother - filled with lovingly wrapped presents and letters marking the milestones she would miss: driver's licences, graduations and every one of their birthdays until the age of thirty. Each gift a chance to reach back into the past and, for the briefest moment, hear her voice again.Over the last twenty years, the chest of treasures has travelled with Gwen across a continent, from state to state and apartment to apartment, growing lighter with each passing birthday. And now, just three gifts remain . . .In this beautiful and heart-rending memoir, Gwen describes growing up in the shadow of loss, guided by what her mother left behind. Woven in is her mother's own story, and that of their whole family - tragedies foreseen and unforeseen, paths taken and not taken. It's about a mother's love for her daughter, but more than that, it is a story of marriage, family, inheritance and everything that shapes a life.
Once Upon a Raven's Nest: a life on Exmoor in an epoch of change
by Catrina Davies'This is a rich, beautiful and deeply moving book' GEORGE MONBIOT'I loved this book' CLOVER STROUDOnce Upon a Raven's Nest is the story of a working class man, one Thomas Hedley of Exmoor, and of the planet during the period of its great acceleration towards the current climate emergency.Born in 1955 to a poor family in Devon Thomas refused to conform. His fierce independence, recklessness and contrariness led not only to scrapes and self-inflicted dangers but to a life enriched by the love of women. Catrina Davies came to know him in his last years and has given his life and times in his own words, creating a rich, pungent language in a knowing, poetic and poignant voice.We learn of his accumulation of engines, tools and guns, the complexity of his connection to nature, the animals he loved and his desire to hunt them. He recounts the terrible consequences of his fatal attraction to risk and machinery which led to his being paralysed for the last years of his life, confined to a wheelchair, hopelessly dependent but still watching, noticing, recording, loving the world.The narrative is interwoven with a sequence of factual entries that chart the impending climate catastrophe and the consequences of our collective choices to ignore the warning of an environment on the verge of collapse.Once Upon A Raven's Nest is an unforgettable history of a life that is almost lost and an account of the destruction man has wrought on the earth in the time that Hedley worked the land.'Stunning. Urgent. Unforgettable' TANYA SHADRICK'This has the unmistakable smell of a classic' CHARLES FOSTER
The Imposters
by Tom RachmanThe Imposters is the first novel in stories that Tom Rachman has written since his international bestseller The Imperfectionists.'An astonishing achievement - brutally funny, humane, dizzying - will win Rachman the readership he deserves' Patrick Gale'Clever and full of tricks from start to finish' SpectatorIt's set during a crisis in democracy, a society in lockdown linked digitally but convulsed by a social media frenzy, and is told by a little-known, little-read Dutch novelist named Dora Frenhofer who has decided that her life as an old woman in this post-truth pandemic world has become too much.But like a twenty-first century Scheherazade Dora spins stories to fend off the evil day, conjuring connections from her past to give meaning to the present. She imagines the fate of her missing brother, lost on the hippie trail in India in the sixties; the loneliness of her estranged daughter Beck, whose career writing stand-up shows for Netflix dramatizes the culture wars; Danny, an almost equally unfashionable writer she meets at a festival; the tortured history of the van driver who takes her unwanted books away; the nonchalant courier who nearly ran her over in the rain; her former lover, the sophisticated food critic; her last remaining friend. And finally, Dora's own last chapter.The Imposters is Rachman at his inimitable best, a writer whose formal ingenuity and flamboyant technique is matched by his humanity and generosity.
Come Back in September: A Literary Education on West Sixty-Seventh Street, Manhattan
by Darryl PinckneyCritic and writer Darryl Pinckney recalls his friendship and apprenticeship with Elizabeth Hardwick and Barbara Epstein and the introduction they offered him to the New York literary world.At the start of the 1970s, Darryl Pinckney arrived in New York City and at Columbia University and enrolled in Elizabeth Hardwick's writing class at Barnard. After he graduated, he was welcomed into her home as a friend and mentee, and he became close with Hardwick and her best friend, neighbor, and fellow founder of The New York Review of Books, Barbara Epstein. Pinckney found himself at the heart of the New York literary world. He was surrounded by the great writers of the time, like Susan Sontag, Robert Lowell, and Mary McCarthy, as well as the overlapping cultural revolutions and communities that swept New York: the New Wave in film, rock, and writing; the art of Felice Rosser, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Lucy Sante, Howard Brookner, and Nan Goldin; the influence of feminism on American culture and literature; the black arts movement confronted by black feminism; and New Negro veterans experiencing the return of their youth as history. Pinckney filtered the avant-garde life he was exposed to downtown and the radical intellectual tradition of The Review through the moral values he inherited and adapted from abolitionist and Reconstruction black culture.In Come Back in September, Pinckney recalls his introduction to New York and the writing life. The critic and novelist intimately captures this revolutionary, brilliant, and troubled period in American letters. Elizabeth Hardwick was not only the link to the intellectual heart of New York, but also a source of continual support and inspiration-the way she worked, her artistry, and the beauty of her voice. Through his memories of the city and of Hardwick, we see the emergence and evolution of Pinckney himself: as a young man, as a New Yorker, and as one of the essential intellectuals of our time.
Climb Your Mountain: Everyday lessons from an extraordinary life
by Sir Ranulph Fiennes'Life is too short to waste time on second-class ambitions. Go for the big ones.' Now in his late seventies, Sir Ranulph Fiennes looks back on a lifetime of exploration, and draws powerful, inspiring lessons that we can all use when faced by the tribulations of everyday life. Having crossed both Polar ice caps on foot, climbed Everest and the Eiger, served in the SAS and circumnavigated the world along its polar axis - a 53,000 mile odyssey that has never been repeated - 'Ran' looks back from the summit of an incredible life and teaches us how to: - Learn self-discipline, and master fear - Plan for success, and make your own luck - Learn from failure and strive to succeed - Keep going, whatever life throws at you
Water and Peace: A journey through the world's most explosive conflict zones in search of deep water
by Dr Alain GachetIn countries where scarce surface water causes disease and conflict, an abundance of water can bring peace.With the growing impact of climate change, an estimated one third of the world's population lacks fresh water. By 2050 it could well be over half, some five billion people.Alain Gachet, known as the "Wizard of H2O", explores and unravels the interrelated humanitarian, environmental, scientific and geo-political concerns generated by water scarcity. An archaeological explorer and mining engineer, Gachet has developed a technology (using Nasa satellite imagery) to identify massive aquifers beneath the earth's surface using a mathematical algorithm that could completely change our future.As well as exploring our current environmental crisis (and offering some solutions), Gachet gives an account of his extraordinary adventures as a mining engineer both before and since he became an expert in deep groundwater - in Congo; in Libya, where he has an audience with Colonel Gaddafi; in Darfur, where he works alongside refugee agencies to provide water to vast camps, often at risk to his life; in Iraq and in Kurdistan, where he encounters both the Peshmerga and the Yazidi people; and in the Turkana region of Kenya, where his discoveries of vast underground reservoirs have been transformative to the lives of the people in an area plagued by drought and disputes over livestock for generations.Gachet discusses the critical issues of climate change and desertification, melting glaciers and rising sea levels, but this is also a book about the people he meets in some of the world's most challenging zones of conflict and deprivation. Ultimately this is a book of hope as we explore some of the solutions for the future."If the quest to find high-quality water for millions has a superstar, that person is Alain Gachet. Living a truly adventurous life in a scientific field where underground water is hidden and elusive, he has advanced the science and, at the same time, uniquely served society. This is an exciting story of risk, daring, hydrophilanthropy, and reflection on one of the most important challenges facing humankind." DAVID K. KREAMER, President, International Association of Hydrogeologists
Chased By Pandas: My life in the mysterious world of cycling
by Dan MartinThis is Dan Martin's long-awaited autobiography.Known, thanks to his racing style and attitude, for being one of road cycling's last romantics, Dan has always shied away from revealing too much about himself and his story. Now, having retired at the end of the 2021 season aged 35 and no longer bound by the constraints of the racing circuit, Dan feels the time is right to tell his story in the same forthright and honest manner that he rode his bike.This book reflects Dan's generous and outspoken spirit, his resilience to pain, crashes, bad luck and, finally, his acceptance of destiny. Each chapter's title has a sub-title based on a typical cyclist's fear: the fear of losing a race, the fear of retiring from the sport, the fear of mountains or downhills, the fear of doping and, ultimately, the fear of death. Dan also discusses every aspect of the professional cyclist's life - food, discipline, money, dreams, friendship and betrayal. Dan is unashamed when it comes to exposing these dark feelings, his weaknesses and how he tried to deal with them, his attitude exemplifying Mark Twain's quote: "Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear".Written with his long-time friend and best-selling author Pierre Carrey, this is the story of a rider who never sought to conform to modern cycling's norms and someone who, in many ways, embodies an age in cycling which has long since disappeared.This is the celebration of a true cyclist's career, which will appeal to anyone who's embraced the weekend ride whilst dreaming of the mountains.
Sufferah: Memoir of a Brixton Reggae Head
by Alex Wheatle"One of the big memoirs of the summer" i news"Alex is a truly gifted storyteller, and the way he details his own story here is no exception" JEFFREY BOAKYE In this breathtaking memoir, acclaimed writer Alex Wheatle shows how music became his salvation through a childhood marred by abuse.Abandoned as a baby to the British care system, Alex grows up with no knowledge of his Jamaican parentage or family history. Later, he is inexorably drawn to reggae, his lifeline through disrupted teenage years, the challenges of living as a young Black man in 1980s Britain and his imprisonment for protesting against systemic racism and police brutality.Alex's youth was portrayed in Oscar Award-winning director Steve McQueen's Small Axe series. In Sufferah, he tells his own story, urgently, vividly and unsentimentally. His award-winning fiction - and this memoir - are a call to never give up hope. They remind us that words can be our sustenance, and music our heartbeat. "Alex Wheatle is the real deal; he writes with heart and authenticity, books that make you laugh and worry and cry and hold your breath" KIT DE WAAL"Alex Wheatle is an inspirer. He sheds light in dark places . . . He is a vital writer" LEMN SISSAY"Alex Wheatle writes from a place of honesty and passion" STEVE McQUEEN, director of Small Axe
On Days Like These: The Lost Memoir of a Goalkeeper
by Tim Rich'Emotional, insightful, beautifully written. A story of making saves and being saved. The best football book I have read this year.' Henry WinterJoe Sealey was watching his son play for Manchester United's Under-14s when a man came up to him and said: "I've got your dad's book."Joe's father, Les, had been Manchester United's goalkeeper but had died of a heart attack in 2001 at the age of 43. His death tormented Joe, who had been West Ham's reserve keeper. Joe had given up on football, slipping into an alcohol and drug addiction that almost killed him. He had forgotten what his father's voice sounded like. Now, here it was in form of a Tupperware box full of cassette tapes. The centrepiece of the tapes is the most important game in the modern history of Manchester United, the 1990 FA Cup final. After three barren years at Old Trafford, Alex Ferguson was on the brink of dismissal. There was just the FA Cup final left. He knew that, if it was lost, he would almost certainly be sacked. After the first game against Crystal Palace was drawn 3-3, he dropped his goalkeeper, Jim Leighton, who had been with Ferguson for most of his managerial career, and replaced him with Sealey, who had played just two matches in a year. The replay was won and by the time Sealey left Old Trafford in 1994, Manchester United had become the dominant force in English football. On Days Like These is an intimate portrait of a club dragged from the brink. It is also the story of Joe Sealey's journey to the edge and back. Many years later Joe met Ferguson. 'Your father saved my career,' Ferguson said. 'And you saved his,' was the reply. On Days Like These is a story of two rescues.
My Family and Other Seedlings: A Year on a Dorset Allotment
by Lalage SnowA few years ago Lally Snow moved to a Dorset village with her husband and three small children, having spent over a decade as a war photographer, foreign correspondent and film maker living in Kabul. She covered the conflict there as well as other wars from Gaza to Eastern Ukraine, and Iraq.In the late winter of 2021-22, Lally decided to rent an allotment, despite having only a rudimentary knowledge of gardening. She was starting from scratch and setting herself the dual challenge of growing an allotment at the same time as growing a family.This is a heart-warming, wry and at times tearful account of Lally's travails as a mother and novice allotment holder, counterpointing horticultural progress with the perils of parenting. Along the way she reflects on the drudgery of English rural domesticity after a professional life chasing war and adventure, the history of the allotment since Saxon times, and the wonderful moment when gardening becomes fun rather than just feeding a family.
SAS Great Escapes Two: Six Untold Epic Escapes Made by World War Two Heroes
by Damien Lewis'Damien Lewis is both a meticulous historian and a born storyteller' Lee ChildSAS Great Escapes Two recounts the hitherto untold stories of six of the most dramatic and daring escapes executed by the world's most famous fighting force during WWII. From the very earliest SAS missions to the push into Nazi-occupied Europe, they cover some of the key figures in the Regiment, including its founder, David Stirling, plus other lesser-known heroes.With each story comes an edge-of-the-seat, rollercoaster ride in classic Damien Lewis fashion, as readers are plunged into the escapees' experiences - sharing their most terrifying yet inspiring moments. These stunning accounts of survival beggar belief, revealing nerve-racking bluff and deception, knife-edge encounters with enemy hunter forces hellbent on wreaking vengeance and murder, but also incredible acts of mercy and kindness from those who risk all to help the escapees on their way. Each tale of breath-taking derring-do reveals how necessity really is the mother of all invention, as with every step and at every juncture these fugitives defied fate, snatching survival and freedom from the jaws of the enemy, and all the horrors that would have followed capture.Damien Lewis has worked closely with the families of those portrayed, accessing wartime diaries, letters, mission reports, interrogation transcripts and more, to relate how the men of the SAS crossed blazing deserts, evaded enemy hunter forces and escaped through hostile lands, battling against seemingly insurmountable odds. But most of all, these uplifting tales of endurance beyond measure showcase the triumph of the human spirit and the will to survive.'Damien Lewis paints a uniquely vivid picture of the wartime SAS. Packed with detail, this fresh and dynamic book brings us as close to its remarkable members as we are ever likely to get.' Joshua Levine, author of Dunkirk'In these days when we are told to be scared of everything it is a relief to read of steely nerves and cold courage. Damien Lewis has collected examples of exactly these qualities from World War II and they are all thrillers, to be read with pleasure - and a bit of nostalgia!' Frederick Forsyth'The fund of SAS escapes turns out to be too big for one book, and in Damien Lewis there is a writer of rare narrative gifts able to bring alive these epic stories for us today' Mark Urban'An astonishing book: a collection of truly riveting stories of bravery, all brilliantly told. In terms of sheer drama and audacity, SAS: Great Escapes Two goes where no fiction writer would dare venture' Alex Gerlis, author of Agent in the Shadows
SAS Great Escapes Three: Gripping True Escape Stories Executed by World War Two Heroes
by Damien Lewis'Damien Lewis is both a meticulous historian and a born storyteller' Lee ChildFIVE OF THE MOST DARING ESCAPES CARRIED OUT BY THE SAS DURING WORLD WAR TWOSAS Great Escapes Three recounts how warriors of the world's most famous fighting force, the SAS, carried out five of the most daring escapes of World War Two. Ranging from the very birth of the SAS, to the post D-Day battles for Nazi-occupied Europe, these gripping true stories cover some of the most iconic operations of the regiment, and its key characters, while also including untold tales of courage and endurance beyond compare.Told in classic Damien Lewis style, each account plunges the reader into the escapees' experiences - sharing the most terrifying yet astounding moments of their lives. They include unimaginable accounts of survival in the face of staggering odds, episodes of nerve-wracking bluff and deception, plus knife-edge ambushes withenemy forces hell-bent on wreaking vengeance.In this new volume of incredible special forces feats, bestselling author Damien Lewis has worked closely with World War Two veterans and the families of those portrayed, accessing wartime diaries, letters, mission reports, interrogation transcripts and more, to relate how the men of the SAS were hunted by the enemy and forced to fight their way out of certain death or capture. Around every corner, upon every decision and every movement lurked the possibility of discovery. Yet with every step, breath and turn taken, these fugitives epitomized the do-or-die spirit of the SAS to overcome.