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Stunner: The Fall and Rise of Fanny Cornforth
by Kirsty Stonell WalkerFanny Cornforth was a Victorian supermodel whose face epitomised the vision and life of the Pre-Raphaelite artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti. In their twenty-five years together, she played many parts from muse, medium and lover to housekeeper and nurse. Due to her care of the artist, he was able to create some of the best known and celebrated art works of the nineteenth century, however at his death Fanny became an outcast, accused of stealing, lying and even murder. Her journey from rural poverty to celebrated beauty gave her a life she could never have dreamed of, but her choice of love above security saw her end her days in an asylum. Her afterlife, in the imagination of those who knew her and those that followed saw her cast as a villainess; Rossetti’s folly, an illiterate prostitute who could crack walnut shells in her teeth. It’s finally time that the truth is separated from the swirl of lies and that the life of one of the most infamous women of Bohemian London is told, from canvas to asylum.
Stuntman!: My Car-Crashing, Plane-Jumping, Bone-Breaking, Death-Defying Hollywood Life
by Hal NeedhamYep that's me, Hal Needham, on the cover doing a fire stunt. When you're on fire you don't dare breathe because if you do, you'll suck those flames right down your throat. I was Hollywood's highest paid stuntman so I should know. I wrecked hundreds of cars, fell from tall buildings, got blown up, was dragged by horses, and along the way broke 56 bones, my back twice, punctured a lung and knocked out a few teeth...I hung upside down by my ankles under a bi-plane in The Spirit of St. Louis, jumped between galloping horses in Little Big Man, set a world record for a boat stunt on Gator, jumped a rocket powered pick-up truck across a canal for a GM commercial, was the first human to test the car airbag-and taught John Wayne how to really throw a movie punch. Life also got exciting outside of the movie business. I had my Ferrari stolen right from under my nose, flew in a twin-engine Cessna with a passed out pilot, rescued the cast and crew from a Russian invasion in Czechoslovakia, and once took six flight attendants on a date. I owned the Skoal-Bandit NASCAR race team, the sound-barrier breaking Budweiser Rocket Car and drove a souped-up, fake ambulance in a "little" cross-country race called The Cannonball Run, which became the movie I directed by the same name. Oh yeah, I also directed Smokey and the Bandit, Hooper and several other action/comedy movies that I liked a bunch. I was a sharecropper's son from the hills of Arkansas who became a Hollywood stuntman. That journey was a tough row to hoe. I continually risked my life but that was the career I chose. I was never late to the set and did whatever I had to do to get the job done. Hollywood's not all sunglasses and autographs. Let me tell you a few stories...
Style and Manors: Rustic tales from a Suffolk country estate
by Rory ClarkContinuing his memoirs of his time on Sir Charles Buckley's estate, James Aden deals with obstacles from the discovery of Roman treasure to the tramp living in the attic of Frampton Hall; he finds his days varied, especially with the arrival of Sir Charles's heir, Sebastian who provides him with insights into the life of the traditional landed estates as they slowly come to terms with the twenty first century.
Style and Substance: Why What We Wear Matters
by Bay Garnett'Completely riveting . . . an eclectic compendium of style, subversion and literary snippets . . . all about the magical meaning of clothes'CALENDAR MAGAZINEMaya Angelou imagined she'd feel like a movie star in a dress of lavender taffeta. Rachel Weisz loves the democracy of denim. Zadie Smith's look differs depending on whether she's in New York or London, while Joan Didion always packed the same clothes. Jarvis Cocker found inspiration at jumble sales, Bella Freud in Colette's novels and Harris Reed in the gender fluidity of Virginia Woolf's Orlando. Oscar Wilde understood the importance of proportions, Stanley Tucci favours a narrow stripe and Chloë Sevigny delights in traditional, with a twist. For Bernardine Evaristo style is about a refusal to be stereotyped. Jilly Cooper and AJ Tracey appreciate retail therapy. Sienna Miller misses the freedom of a less self-conscious age. For Davina McCall, an outfit begins with underwear; for Sophie Dahl it's not complete without scent. Clothes allow Susie Cave to hide and Charlotte Tilbury to feel empowered.With over sixty pieces on everything from thrifting to modesty dressing, drag to vintage sportswear, Style and Substance is a gloriously eclectic celebration of self-expression.
The Sty's the Limit: When Middle Age Gets Mucky
by Simon Dawson'An amazing story of love, laughter and the challenges of living from the land ... Simon's self-sufficient rural life is an inspiration to us all' - Ben FogleFollowing a drunken misunderstanding Simon Dawson gave up his job in the city, moved to the wilds of Exmoor and became an accidental self-sufficient smallholder with an array of animals. But that was years ago now. Following up on his first book, PIGS IN CLOVER, this is the story of what happens when he suddenly realises that his life is changing all over again. He's not quite the spring chicken that he used to be: he is, horror of horrors, getting older.With a cast of best friends (some more helpful than others) including Ziggy, a panicked soon-to-be father desperate to grow up, Garth, an annoying teenager, and a rather handsome pig called The General, a plan is hatched to help each other mature (or immature). Heartfelt discoveries and hilarious endeavours ensue as they work through their age-related angsts, all with a fair dose of pigs, chickens, lambs and animal madness along the way. This is Exmoor's uplifting laugh-out-loud antidote to middle age in the mud; a place where you truly realise that the sty's the limit!
Suarez, Messi, Neymar: Inside Barcelona's Unstoppable Strikeforce
by Luca CaioliBarcelona has long been regarded as a home of beautiful football. In July 2014, already boasting Lionel Messi and Neymar, Barça added Luis Suárez to complete a forward line that was undeniably special, even by their own high standards. They had taken greatly differing paths from South America to the starting line-up at the Nou Camp. Messi joined Barcelona aged just thirteen, Neymar served a spectacular apprenticeship in Brazil and Suárez enjoyed spells with Ajax and Liverpool – three prestigious educations with an emphasis on attractive play. Through exclusive testimonies from friends, families, managers and teammates, acclaimed football writer Luca Caioli documents their individual journeys and examines the phenomenal success of Barça’s ‘MSN’ years to date, including the 2015/16 league and cup double.
Subdued Fires: An Intimate Portrait of Pope Benedict XVI
by Garry O'ConnorOmaha Beach, June 6, 2004. A delegation sent by John Paul II from the Vatican to commemorate the 60th anniversary of D-Day is headed by Joseph Ratzinger, a former Nazi youth who, while resident in Rome for the previous 23 years, is known as ‘The Panzer Cardinal’. Ratzinger insisted on being at the commemoration. Garry O’Connor’s biography begins here. And what is revealed from that point is an extraordinary figure, a man who a year later would be Pope, something no one predicted, at the age of 78. How did 12 years of Nazi rule affect the young Ratzinger? Did it inform his stand on religious persecution; famine and poverty; war and its consequences; climate change; stem-cell research and biological engineering; marriage and the family; abuse by priests; abortion, contraception, women priests, homosexuality, declining ordinations and Church attendance in Western Europe? And is it relevant to his astonishing resignation in February 2013? There is no one better qualified than Gary O’Connor, author of the international best seller, Universal Father: a Life of Pope John Paul II, to tell this remarkable story.
Suburban Boy: Growing Up in South-East London in the 1930s
by Adrian BristowAdrian Bristow came not from a working- or upper class background, but from that great unsung mass - the lower middle-class. Adrian Bristow describes what it was like to grow up in the 1930s in an ordinary suburban family. He enjoyed a childhood radically different from that experienced by children today: so much that he took for granted has disappeared completely or changed utterly. What Adrian took for granted becomes, on reflection, quite extraordinary and it is the essence of this difference that he has recaptured in this book. Illustrated with a wide range of family photographs and images of south-east London, Suburban Boy will be a highly enjoyable read for anyone who delights in memoirs of childhoods past.
Suburban Shaman: tales from medicine's frontline
by Cecil HelmanMedicine is not just about science. It's also all about stories, and about the mingling of narratives among doctors, and between them and their patients.' So writes Cecil Helman after 27 years as a family practitioner in and around London interlaced with training and research as a medical anthropologist, comparing a wide variety of medical systems and other forms of healing. This unique combination of frontline health worker and detached academic informs the many stories that make up this fascinating book. It also informs the author's insights into what human suffering can teach us about ourselves and our own attitudes to health and illness, whether we are deliverers or recipients of health care. With insight and compassion, Dr Helman's stories take the reader on a journey from apartheid South Africa, where he did his medical training, to the London of the early 1970s, where for a short time he foreswore medicine to become an anthropologist and poet; from ship's doctor on a Mediterranean cruise to family practitioner in London; from observing curative trance dances in the favelas of Brazil to interviewing sangomas in South Africa. While trained in the Western tradition and with many years of practice in that system, Dr Helman's anthropological insight leads him to view illness in a wider personal, social and cultural context, considering elements beyond the purely physical. In pleading for this holistic approach he celebrates family medicine which 'in its quiet and unassuming way, and every day of the week, is still at the very frontline of human suffering'.
The Subversive Simone Weil: A Life in Five Ideas
by Robert ZaretskyKnown as the “patron saint of all outsiders,” Simone Weil (1909–43) was one of the twentieth century’s most remarkable thinkers, a philosopher who truly lived by her political and ethical ideals. In a short life framed by the two world wars, Weil taught philosophy to lycée students and organized union workers, fought alongside anarchists during the Spanish Civil War and labored alongside workers on assembly lines, joined the Free French movement in London and died in despair because she was not sent to France to help the Resistance. Though Weil published little during her life, after her death, thanks largely to the efforts of Albert Camus, hundreds of pages of her manuscripts were published to critical and popular acclaim. While many seekers have been attracted to Weil’s religious thought, Robert Zaretsky gives us a different Weil, exploring her insights into politics and ethics, and showing us a new side of Weil that balances her contradictions—the rigorous rationalist who also had her own brand of Catholic mysticism; the revolutionary with a soft spot for anarchism yet who believed in the hierarchy of labor; and the humanitarian who emphasized human needs and obligations over human rights. Reflecting on the relationship between thought and action in Weil’s life, The Subversive Simone Weil honors the complexity of Weil’s thought and speaks to why it matters and continues to fascinate readers today.
The Succession: A Magnus Short Story
by Robert FabbriRome 51 AD. When a secretive astrologer is found murdered, Marcus Salvius Magnus, leader of the South Quirinal Crossroads Brotherhood, suspects that there is more to the brutal slaughter in his district than it seems. As Magnus pieces together the motives behind the plot, it emerges that the astrologer had been drawing up illegal horoscopes for the powerful and wealthy in Rome, including Magnus' patron, Senator Gaius Vespasius Pollo. But knowledge of this kind can be deadly. With Magnus' enemies closing in, danger from both within the Brotherhood's ranks and from rival gang the West Viminal threatens everything he has fought for. Magnus must use every trick known to him to survive, and to try to come out on top...______________________________________________Don't miss Robert Fabbri's epic new series Alexander's Legacy
Such, Such Were the Joys: A Graphic Novel
by George OrwellOne of the most famous writers of all time, George Orwell's life played a huge part in his understanding of the world. A constant critic of power and authority, the roots of Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four began to grow in his formative years as a pupil at a strict private school in Eastbourne. His essay Such, Such Were The Joys recounts the ugly realities of the regime to which pupils were subjected in the name of class prejudice, hierarchy and imperial destiny. This graphic novel vividly brings his experiences at school to life. As Orwell earned his place through scholarship rather than wealth, he was picked on by both staff and richer students. The violence of his teachers and the shame he experienced on a daily basis leap from the pages, conjuring up how this harsh world looked through a child's innocent eyes while juxtaposing the mature Orwell's ruminations on what such schooling says about society. Today, as the private school and class system endure, this is a vivid reminder that the world Orwell sought to change is still with us.
Such, Such Were the Joys: A Graphic Novel
by George OrwellOne of the most famous writers of all time, George Orwell's life played a huge part in his understanding of the world. A constant critic of power and authority, the roots of Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four began to grow in his formative years as a pupil at a strict private school in Eastbourne. His essay Such, Such Were The Joys recounts the ugly realities of the regime to which pupils were subjected in the name of class prejudice, hierarchy and imperial destiny. This graphic novel vividly brings his experiences at school to life. As Orwell earned his place through scholarship rather than wealth, he was picked on by both staff and richer students. The violence of his teachers and the shame he experienced on a daily basis leap from the pages, conjuring up how this harsh world looked through a child's innocent eyes while juxtaposing the mature Orwell's ruminations on what such schooling says about society. Today, as the private school and class system endure, this is a vivid reminder that the world Orwell sought to change is still with us.
Suddenly Single: How to Overcome Heartbreak and Find Your Way to a New Happy Ever After
by Denise ChiltonSuddenly Single is a practical guide aimed at women who find themselves experiencing a painful relationship breakup and are struggling to let go and move on. It shares real life stories, including the author’s own, of women at each stage of the breakup cycle along with insights to help them make sense of their situation. A range of simple and practical coping strategies are shared to help women successfully navigate their break up journey so they come out the other side feeling optimistic about the future and with confidence to move forward and create their own happy ever after.
Sue’s Story (Individual stories from WISH YOU WERE HERE! #5)
by Lynn Russell Neil HansonOne of seven touching true stories from Wish You Were Here!, the tale of Butlin’s holiday camps.
Suffer The Little Children: The True Story Of An Abused Convent Upbringing
by Frances ReillyThe heartbreaking yet inspiring account of a young girl who suffered at the hands of nuns in the Nazareth House Convent in Northern Ireland.Frances Reilly and her sisters were abandoned by their mother outside Nazareth House Convent - a Belfast orphanage run by nuns. Little did they know the unimaginable cruelty they'd endure within its walls.Frances suffered horrifically at the hands of the Sisters: brutally beaten, worked like a slave, abused and molested, the convent regime stripped her of everything - education, innocence and childhood. But the hope of rescue or escape never left her.Years later, Frances would face her demons in court, bringing to account those who so viciously stole her youth. SUFFER THE LITTLE CHILDREN is a gripping and moving story of one child's spirit of survival.
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
Suffragette: The Battle for Equality
by David RobertsAn exquisitely illustrated history of the women's suffrage movement, created by the New York Times-bestselling David Roberts and introduced by BBC presenter Lauren Laverne.It is over a century since the first women won the vote in the United Kingdom, and Suffragette tells the story of their fight. This is a tale of astounding bravery, ingenuity and strength.David's writing is accessible and his artwork full of rich detail, bringing to life the many vivid characters of the women's suffrage movement – from the militant activist and wheelchair user Rosa May Billinghurst to the world-famous Emmeline Pankhurst, Millicent Fawcett and Emily Wilding Davison.Covering the whole range of female and male suffragist experiences – from aristocrats to the middle and working class as well as a look at the global struggle for universal suffrage, Suffragette: The Battle for Equality makes a fantastic introduction to a fascinating topic. David Roberts' exquisite artwork and clear, exceptionally well-researched text make this the perfect gift.This 128 page book is fully colour illustrated on every page, and has been completed with advice from June Purvis, Emeritus Professor of Women's and Gender History at the University of Portsmouth.
Sugar and Slate (Black Britain: Writing Back #12)
by Charlotte Williams'In its exploration of geographical, racial and cultural dislocation, Sugar and Slate is in the finest tradition of work to have emerged from the black diaspora in recent times' Gary Younge, GuardianA powerful, radiant memoir from writer Charlotte Williams exploring the intertwined history of Wales, Africa and the CaribbeanThe daughter of a white Welsh-speaking mother and a Black father from Guyana, Charlotte Williams' childhood world was one of mixed messages, dominated by the feeling that 'somehow to be half Welsh and half Afro-Caribbean was always to be half of something but never quite anything whole at all'.Sugar and Slate tells the fascinating story of her journey of self-discovery, toing and froing between the small north Wales town where she grew up, Africa and the Caribbean. Blending memoir with historical research, Sugar and Slate delves deep into Black Welsh history, revealing the nation as home to one of the first interracial marriages in Britain in 1768, and a site of Britain's first major race riots in 1919.Powerful, lyrical and intimate, Williams' experience casts light on Wales and Welshness, illuminating what it is to be racially marginalized within a community, which is itself marginalized within Britain, and offering a unique insight into the complex Black history of Wales.A title in the Black Britain: Writing Back series - selected by Booker Prize-winning author Bernardine Evaristo, this series rediscovers and celebrates pioneering books depicting black Britain that remap the nation.
Sugar Daddy Diaries: When a Fantasy Became an Obsession
by Helen CroydonFrustrated with her stalled career as a broadcast journalist and uninspired by dating naive and needy guys her own age, Helen Croydon joins a website to seek an older man. She expects it to be just a few fun dates in some fancy bars but finds herself propelled into a world of Prada shopping trips, fine dining, first-class travel and fascinating, powerful men.Helen's soul-searching dating adventures take her to New York, Malaysia, highbrow sex parties, top ski resorts and London's finest hotels. When one of her dates alludes to a monthly allowance, she is shocked, but how long will her resistance to the idea last?Sugar Daddy Diaries is a confessional true story that questions modern ideals about relationships, examines the attraction of power and asks if money can ever be the currency of love.
The Sugar Girls: Tales Of Hardship, Love And Happiness In Tate And Lyle's East End Factories
by Duncan Barrett Nuala CalviTales of Hardship, Love and Happiness in Tate & Lyle’s East End Factories. The Sugar Girls went straight to No.10 in the Sunday Times Bestseller List, spending five weeks in the top ten.
The Sugar Girls – Ethel’s Story: Tales Of Hardship, Love And Happiness In Tate And Lyle's East End
by Duncan Barrett Nuala CalviDuring the Blitz, the Sugar Girls kept Britain sweet. The work was back-breakingly hard, but the Tate & Lyle factory was more than just a workplace - it was a community, a calling, a place of love and support and an uproarious, tribal part of East London. This is Ethel’s story, one of four stories from The Sugar Girls.
The Sugar Girls - Gladys’s Story: Tales Of Hardship, Love And Happiness In Tate And Lyle's East End
by Duncan Barrett Nuala CalviThis is Gladys’s story, one of four stories from The Sugar Girls. During the Blitz and the years of rationing, the Sugar Girls kept Britain sweet. The work was back-breakingly hard, but the Tate & Lyle factory was more than just a workplace - it was a community, a calling, a place of love and support and an uproarious, tribal part of East London.
The Sugar Girls - Joan’s Story: Tales Of Hardship, Love And Happiness In Tate And Lyle's East End
by Duncan Barrett Nuala CalviThis is Joan’s story, one of four stories from The Sugar Girls.During the Blitz and the years of rationing, the Sugar Girls kept Britain sweet. The work was back-breakingly hard, but the Tate & Lyle factory was more than just a workplace - it was a community, a calling, a place of love and support and an uproarious, tribal part of East London.
The Sugar Girls - Lilian’s Story: Tales Of Hardship, Love And Happiness In Tate And Lyle's East End
by Duncan Barrett Nuala CalviThis is Lilian’s story, one of four stories from The Sugar Girls. During the Blitz and the years of rationing, the Sugar Girls kept Britain sweet. The work was back-breakingly hard, but the Tate & Lyle factory was more than just a workplace - it was a community, a calling, a place of love and support and an uproarious, tribal part of East London.