Alex Kirk grew up in the seaside town of Cleethorpes, which has brilliant beaches and the best fish and chips in the entire world. 
 
He has worked in a fish finger factory, as a plumber, a gardener, an English teacher, and for the last twenty-five years as a screenwriter, actor and comedian. Alex has written comedy shows for both radio and television, as well as being part of the writing team behind the wonderful Paddington 2 and Wonka. As an actor he has appeared in many TV productions such as My Family, Fresh Meat, The Detectorists and Coronation Street. 
 
He now lives in London with his family and a cat called Jonesey. This is his very first book.

Alex Kirk

Alex Laird is a medical herbalist with more than 20 years' experience. Trained in biomedicine and plant pharmacology, she treats patients in the only NHS herbal clinic based in a UK hospital at Whipps Cross. Alex is a visiting lecturer, and has published clinical research, and is the co-founder of the charity Living Medicine.

Alex Laird

Alex Latimer is an author and illustrator living in Cape Town, which is why he regularly has to shoo baboons out of his lounge. 
 
Alex's book Lion VS Rabbit won the Hampshire Picture Book Award 2014

Alex Latimer

Alex Livingston

Alex Manson-Smith is a journalist and copywriter. She has written lifestyle features for The Times, Telegraph, Guardian, Evening Standard and Observer, as well as award-winning commercials for Google, YouTube and Nike.

Alex Manson-Smith

Alex Marshall grew up in the area where London sinks into Essex. He's an award-winning journalist who has been writing about music and politics for over a decade, and who has been published in the Guardian and by the BBC, amongst others. He started investigating national anthems back in 2008. This is his first book.

Alex Marshall

Alex Maunder

Alex McBride is a criminal barrister. He is the author of the 'Common Law' column in Prospect magazine and has contributed to the New Statesman and various BBC programmes, including From Our Own Correspondent.

Alex McBride

Alex McCarthy was born in Cardiff and grew up in South Wales. An alumna of London Contemporary Dance School, she worked as a dancer and choreographer for a number of years on stage, TV and film. In 2017, following a career change and several years of writing, Alex began to write this novel. She has a daughter and stepdaughter, and lives in Wales.

Alex McCarthy

Alex Michaelides was born in Cyprus to an English mother and a Greek-Cypriot father. He has an M.A. in English from Trinity College, Cambridge University, and an M.A. in Screenwriting from the American Film Institute in Los Angeles. 
 
The Silent Patient, his first novel, was a Sunday Times bestseller, and debuted at no. 1 on the New York Times bestseller list, and has sold more than 7.5 million copies worldwide. The rights have been sold in a record-breaking 50 countries and it has been optioned for film by Plan B. His second novel, The Maidens, was an instant Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller and has been optioned for television by Miramax Television and Stone Village. His third thriller, The Fury, was an instant New York Times bestseller, a Sunday Times bestseller, and a Waterstones Thriller of the Month pick.

Alex Michaelides

Alex Montgomery

Alex Morris

Alex North was born in Leeds, where he now lives with his wife and son. He studied Philosophy at Leeds University, and prior to becoming a writer he worked there in their sociology department. The Whisper Man was a Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller, and is being published in more than 30 languages.

Alex North

Alex O. Imas is Professor of Behavioral Science and Economics at the University of Chicago School’s Booth School of Business. He is the recipient of the 2023 Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, the Review of Financial Studies Rising Scholar Award, the New Investigator Award from the Behavioral Science and Policy Association, the Hillel Einhorn New Investigator Award from the Society of Judgment and Decision Making, the Distinguished CESifo Affiliate Award, and the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. Previously, he was Assistant Professor of Behavioral Economics at Carnegie Mellon University.

Alex O. Imas

Alex Owen

Alex Patrick was born in the Kentish town of Dartford in the South-East of England and has been drawing for as long as he can remember. His lifelong love for cartoons, picture books and comics has shaped him into the passionate children’s illustrator he is today. Alex loves creating original characters - he brings an element of fun and humour to each of his illustrations and is often found laughing to himself as he draws.

Alex Patrick

Alex Pavesi lives in Surrey, where he writes full time. He previously worked as a software engineer and before that obtained a PhD in Mathematics. He enjoys puzzles, long walks and recreational lock picking. His debut novel Eight Detectives has been published in more than twenty languages, and was picked by the Sunday Times and the New York Times as one of their books of the year.

Alex Pavesi

Alex Pellew

Alex Pole

Alex Renton is an award-winning writer and reporter whose career has ranged from theatre criticism, food writing and the investigation of child abuse to work as a political correspondent and war reporter in the Middle East, Africa and the Balkans. He is also the author of Planet Carnivore and Blood Legacy.

Alex Renton

Alex Richie

Alex Riley is an award-winning science writer and the author of A Cure for Darkness: The Story of Depression and How We Treat It, his first book. He received a best feature award at the 2019 Association of British Science Writers Awards for his reporting on The Friendship Bench, a project that began in Zimbabwe in 2006 and has since provided mental health care to thousands of people in New York. Since leaving academia in 2015, he began writing popular science articles for magazines such as New Scientist, PBS's NOVA Next, BBC Future, Mosaic Science, Aeon, and Nautilus Magazine. He lives in Bristol.

Alex Riley

Alex Scarrow used to be a rock guitarist, then he became a graphic artist, then he decided to be a computer games designer. Finally, he grew up and became an author. He has written a number of successful thrillers and several screenplays, but it's YA fiction that has allowed him to really have fun with the ideas and concepts he was playing around with designing games. Alex lives in Norwich.

Alex Scarrow

Alex Scott MBE is an award-winning broadcaster and former professional footballer. She helped Arsenal in their historic 'quadruple' season, in which they won all of their trophy competitions, and was later appointed as the team's captain. She represented England in 140 appearances with the Lionesses, retiring as the second most-capped England player across the men's and women's game. 
 
Alex is one of the UK's most in-demand presenters, appearing on The One Show, Children in Need, Sport Relief and ITV's The Games. In 2021, she made history as the first permanent female host of BBC's Football Focus. She is an ambassador for the BBC's mental health platform, Headspace, and holds honorary doctorates from the University of East London and University of Hertfordshire.

Alex Scott

Alex Sharp

Alex Shearer

Alex Soojung-Kim Pang, PhD, has spent two decades studying people, technology, and the worlds they make. A Silicon Valley-based futurist and consultant, he has worked with governments and Fortune 500 companies; spoken at venues ranging from CIA headquarters to Shakespeare's Globe Theatre to the Googleplex; and held academic positions at Stanford and Oxford universities. His is the author of the bestselling Rest and Shorter, a guide for companies on how to work less and get more done. Follow @askpang on Twitter and Instagram, or visit strategy.rest.

Alex Soojung-Kim Pang

Alex Stone

Alex Tapscott

Alex Thompson

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George Best

Michael Parkinson: 'What was the nearest to kick-off that you made love to a woman?'George Best: 'Er- I think it was half-time actually'George Best was the first celebrity footballer and to many the greatest British player ever. In Scoring at Half-Time he gathers together his favourite memories, stories and anecdotes from his experiences in and out of the game over the last forty years. No dressing room door is left unopened, no player's bar tale untold and no secret kept in this fond, humorous look at football's golden era from the man who was usually there when it happened. Inside stories and lurid tales about George, Bobby, Denis, Nobby and Fergie amongst others. Scoring at Half-Time will delight anyone who has ever wanted to spend time in the company of the footballing legend.

Scoring At Half-Time

Adventures On and Off the Pitch

Simon Cowell

No one can deny the impact that X Factor judge Simon Cowell has made. His acerbic put-downs and witty one-liners have sparked international debate whilst at the same time earning him a legion of admirers. Cowell's own story has all the brutal honesty you'd expect. I Don't Mean to be Rude, But... is as compulsive, entertaining and hard-hitting as his trademark insults. 
 
With tips and advice on becoming a star from the man who knows how to make it happen, this book is the ultimate through-the-keyhole view inside the music industry. But it wouldn't be complete without setting the record straight about those trousers, and the truth about the women in his life. In the fully updated paperback edition of I Don't Mean to be Rude, But... Simon predicts the future for the X Factor winners and dishes the dirt on American Idol. 
 
It's a complusive read and as compelling as the man himself.

I Don't Mean To Be Rude, But...

The Truth about Fame, Fortune and My Life in Music

Adam Goodfellow

Nicole Golding

Adam Goodfellow and Nicole Golding run a stable in the Cotswolds and specialise in curing problem horses. It's never an easy task, and often requires changing the habits of the owner as much as the horse. The pair have travelled a long way to get where they are today - but they've been united by a common passion. 
 
After a chance meeting with Monty Roberts, they gave up everything to live out their dreams and show that it's possible for ordinary people to become 'horse whisperers'. Their world is extraordinary, particularly through their unusual methods of teaching, and as you meet the cast of characters, both animals and humans, that surround them, you'll find it impossible not to be won over by their life.

Whispering Back

Tales From A Stable in the English Countryside

Andrew Collins

Andrew Collins was born 37 years ago in Northampton. His parents never split up, in fact they rarely exchanged a cross word. No-one abused him. Nobody died. He got on well with his brother and sister and none of his friends drowned in a canal. He has never stayed overnight in a hospital and has no emotional scars from his upbringing, except a slight lingering resentment that Anita Barker once mocked the stabilisers on his bike. Where Did It All Go Right? is a jealous memoir written by someone who occasionally wishes life had dealt him a few more juicy marketable blows. The author delves back into his first 18 years in search of something - anything - that might have left him deeply and irreparably damaged. With tales of bikes, telly, sweets, good health, domestic harmony and happy holidays, Andrew aims to bring a little hope to all those out there living with the emotional after-effects of a really nice childhood. Andrew Collins kept a diary from the age of five, so he really can remember what he had for tea everyday and what he did at school, excerpts from his diary run throughout the book and it is this detail which makes his story so compelling.

Where Did It All Go Right?

Growing Up Normal in the 70s

Craig Brown

Craig Brown (no not the Scottish football manager) is the funniest, the most revered and the most prolific humorist we have. This book collects together for the first time the best of his wit from the vast archive of his work spanning the last twenty years, teaming it with brand new material. This collection of parody, satire, whimsy and wit, includes extracts and articles from Private Eye, The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, The Independent, Vanity Fair, The Mail on Sunday, The Spectator and many more. They capture the essence of British life - he is as funny on soaps, Posh Spice and Tony Blackburn as he is on Art and Politics.

This Is Craig Brown

Ted L Nancy

Spoof letter writing has a long history from Lazlo Toth to Henry Root but nothing can prepare you for the uniquely surreal and endearing world of Ted L Nancy. A kind of Trigger Happy correspondence, his innocent requests, queries, complaints, demands and suggestions to hotels, airlines, multi-national corporations, local government and department stores are so absurd it is amazing they fool anyone - but often the deadpan responses are even more hilarious.     Ted wants to know if he can graft his big toe onto his nose, why his wife left him while he was in a coma for another man in a coma, and if he can consummate his marriage in the administrative office of the chapel. He writes to hotels telling them he eats his mattress. He writes to casinos to ask if his band the 'Fat Beatles' can perform and if he can stay in their hotel dressed as a bladder. Utterly addictive and wet-yourself-in-a-public-place funny:    Dear Business Permits Dept: I want to apply for a business permit in your fine city... I operate the SOUP & SLEEP RESTAURANTS. You can either order soup or sleep. A hostess will greet you and you would say, "I'd like to sleep." She will lead you to a table where you can catch a few winks.    Dear Helena Ocean & Dog Licensing Dept: I will stage the play "MARK TWAIN WITH TOURETTE'S SYNDROME."... Let me know what arrangements I need to make to store my anchovy tank at your seaport. Thank you. I await large crowds.

Letters From A Nut

With An Introduction by Jerry Seinfeld

Vanessa Collingridge

A uniquely woven story encompassing three separate centuries and three different lives. Captain Cook, best known for his heroic voyages through the Pacific Ocean, is brought to life in vivid detail. We follow his humble beginnings as the son of a farm labourer, through his convention-shattering treatment of the indigenous groups he met on his travels, and then onto his final tragic voyage which signalled the end of his revered reputation. 
 
One hundred years on from the death of Cook, another great man, George Collingridge begins his own adventure. He, like Cook was oblivious to the implications his journey would have. Along the way he unfolds ancient maps, secret tales and unearths hidden lands and buried treasure. He is also said to have realised that it was not Cook who discovered Australia - it was the Portugese. This firm belief was the eventual cause of his self-destruction. 
 
 Another hundred years later Vanessa Collingridge, is searching for books on her lifelong hero Captain Cook in a university library. She discovers the name of a distant cousin, George Collingridge, in a dusty card index. And so a new journey of discovery begins - in the footsteps of her hero and his nemesis.

Captain Cook

Michael J. Fox

In September 1998, Michael J. Fox stunned the world by announcing that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease - in fact, he had been secretly fighting it for seven years. In this candid book, with his trademark ironic sensibility and sense of the absurd, he tells his life story - from his childhood in western Canada to his meteoric rise in film and television and, most importantly, the years in which - with the unswerving support of his wife, family and friends - he has dealt with his illness. He talks about what Parkinson's has given him: the chance to appreciate a wonderful life and career, and the opportunity to help search for a cure and spread public awareness of the disease.  He feels as if he is a very lucky man indeed.

Lucky Man

A Memoir

Colin McRae

Derick Allsop

Colin McRae is a legendary name in rally driving. He was born in 1968, the son of Rally King Jimmy McRae. This is the full, personal story of the sport's greatest talent, and highest paid driver (-3million a year). It has been a dramatic and dangerous climb to the pinnacle of success and his fearless driving style and fierce determination have turned him into a hero of the sport. And it was this charisma, and his inimitable driving style, that led Playstation to call their bestselling driving game Colin McRae Rally. This is a gripping and passionate life story that takes us from his close family upbringing, through his early success with Subaru, through to his wins with Ford, the much hyped competition with Richard Burns and his current incredible lifestyle. It's all in here - the skill, the speed, the danger, the friendships, the rivalries and the adrenalin - The Real McRae: The Autobiography.

The Real McRae

The Autobiography of the Peoples Champion

Ludwig Bemelmans

If there is such a thing as a comfort food book, Bemelmans' stories are it. His evocative tales of grand hotel life have a reporter's eye for sensory detail, yet he always manages to bathe his world and it's lovable characters in the mood of a fairytale. Meet the girl-hungry hotel Magician, Kalakobe the African cook, Mr Sigsag, Monsieur Victor, Mespoulet and an unforgettable cast of down but not yet out hotel employees. A feast of food writing. And once you've read one Bemelmans' tale you fall in love and want to read the lot.

Hotel Bemelmans

Robbie Williams

Mark McCrum

Once in a while a book is produced that captures the energy and spirit of the world of rock. Somebody Someday was published to massive popular and critical acclaim in September 2001. It shot straight to No 1 in the bestseller lists and proceeded to spend 14 weeks in the top 3. The insight, honesty and humour of the book was unprecedented. The photographic quality and design innovation; no more than this pop icon deserved. In short it was a triumph. For the paperback edition Robert P. Williams and Mark McCrum have delved even further into the phenomenon that is Robbie - covering his million selling 2001 album and looking at changes in his professional, family, social and love lives. Dynamically repackaged in a tempting trade paperback and including new photographs, this is a fitting follow up 2001's most successful hardback - Somebody Someday.

Robbie Williams: Somebody Someday

George Best needs little introduction. A legend in his own lifetime, he is undoubtedly the greatest footballer the UK has ever produced. Blessed with an extraordinary gift he brought a beauty and grace to the game never before seen. But Best was unable to cope with the success and fame his football genius brought. His fabled story is littered with tales of women and sex and, of course, alcohol. 
 
Much has been written about Best, but very little substantiated by the man himself. That is until George Best opened his heart and engaged us in one of the most exhilarating life stories for years, Blessed. In his own words George recounts the halcyon days at Manchester United, the big games and European Cup win of '68. And then there's the heartbreaking truth about the death of his mother and his struggles with alcohol that forced him to face up to a life without drink. 
 
Blessed reveals the man behind the up-for-a-laugh, boozy, womanizing stereotype that had dogged George Best for so long. Open and honest about his mistakes, George is also incredibly candid about his triumphs, his regrets, and, only three years before his death, what he had hoped for the future. 
 
'Don't coach him, he's a genius' Sir Matt Busby 
 
'Unquestionably the greatest' Sir Alex Ferguson

Blessed - The Autobiography

Jim Davidson

'People will be surprised by the honesty of this book. There will be no holds barred'  Jim Davidson. Somehow the last decade saw Jim Davidson transformed from foul-mouthed stand-up comic to being the face of BBC light entertainment, Chairman of the British Forces Foundation and close friend of Prince Charles.  Close To The Edge details this remarkable change in a fresh and deeply intimate style.  Jim comes clean about himself, his actions and his motives.  From the times he spent in the rehabilitation clinic to the full story of the break up of his four marriages, he re-evaluates his life in a critical and self-aware manner - making Close to The Edge an entertaining and unusually powerful autobiography.

Close to the Edge

My Autobiography

Wladimir Kaminer

Born in Moscow, Wladimir Kaminer emigrated to Berlin in the early '90s when he was 22. Russian Disco is a series of short and comic autobiographical vignettes about life among the émigrés in the explosive and extraordinary multi-cultural atmosphere of '90s Berlin. It's an exotic, vodka-fuelled millennial Goodbye to Berlin. The stories show a wonderful, innocent, deadpan economy of style reminiscent of the great humorists. [Several of his European editors make a comparison with current bestseller David Sedaris.] Kaminer manages to say a great deal without seeming to say much at all. He speaks about the offbeat personal events of his own life but captures something universal about our disjointed times.

Russian Disco

Alan Baker

Alan Baker weaves an extraordinary, vivid picture of Roman life as his compelling and evocative history tells the story of Rome's most notable gladiators. They were condemned and feared by emperors, slaughtered and adored by the masses and worshipped by their female fans, yet their lives were invariably violently short. 
 
Whether their enemy was a starved tiger or a battle-hardened criminal, their numbered days were dark and bloody. Yet men gave up their wealth and freedom to become gladiators and noble-women gave up their positions to be with them. The Gladiator illuminates the extraordinary lives of Spartacus, Commodus, Eppia and others - bringing the same energy and passion to the page that Ridley Scott's cinematic triumph bough to the screen.

The Gladiator

The Secret History of Rome's Warrior Slaves

Ronan Keating

'Brilliant' OK!  'Engagingly warm'  Heat  'Sensational' The Mirror'Ronan Keating demolishes his 'Mr Perfect of Pop image in a new warts-and-all book of his amazing ride to stardom.'  The MirrorRonan Keating is a very real idol. In a life-story that received extensive press and ecstatic reviews as  'a classic - honest, funny and gripping', Ronan Keating tells the full story of his incredible journey. He may be only 23 but he has lived an extraordinary life so far, from playing football on a housing estate in North Dublin to headlining Madison Square Garden with Elton John. But Ronan has never forgotten it's his fans that got him there.     It's an inspirational story of a boy from modest beginnings who confounded the critics and made his mark with talent, boyish good looks and, above all, an integrity that has helped him move from the teen market to a broader, adult audience. In a surprisingly honest, remarkably frank style he talks openly of his background and his beloved mother, Boyzone's extraordinary catapult to fame, his friends and band-mates and his new solo career and his wife and son.      Brimming with anecdote and revelation, this is a brilliantly written book by a true star - Ronan.

Life Is A Rollercoaster

Cybill Shepherd

If you only ever buy one Hollywood autobiography make it this one. Sassy, shocking, funny and totally revealing this is Cybill Shepherd's unexpurgated life-story, told with the wit and honesty you'd expect from the star that's seen it all and knows it all. She has been 57 kinds of disobedient and she has never held back from doing or saying what she wants. Cybill Disobedience is a limit-breaking, open-top car ride down Hollywood's Hall of Fame. From top model to movie siren, sex with Elvis to Bruce Willis's appeal, The Last Picture Show to Taxi Driver, the Cybill disaster and the Moonlighting phenomenon, it's all in here; every boyfriend, every affair, every good film and bad film. But most of all it's about a strong woman's determination to survive. The whole shebang - from Hollywood's mouthiest queen.

Cybill Disobedience

Peter Maas

On the eve of World War II, the Squalus, America's newest submarine, plunged to the bottom of the North Atlantic. Miraculously, thirty-three crew members still survived in the stricken vessel. While their loved ones waited in unbearable tension onshore, their ultimate fate would depend upon one man, US Navy officer Charles 'Swede' Momsen - an extraordinary combination of visionary, scientist and man of action. In this thrilling true story, prize-winning author Peter Maas vividly re-creates a moment-by-moment account of the disaster and the man at its centre. Could he actually pluck those men from a watery grave? Or had all his pioneering work been in vain?'Gripping' New York Times'A white knuckle read' Publishers Weekly

The Terrible Hours

Noddy Holder

Lisa Verrico

As lead singer and extraordinary frontman of SLADE, Noddy Holder was one of the most successful musicians of the '70s and '80s. The epitome of the Glam Rock look and lifestyle, they released anthem after anthem as they mixed pure pop madness with football chant choruses. Seemingly on a mission to corrupt the spelling of a generation, the hits are songs we still hold dear today: MAMA WEER ALL CRAZEE NOW, LOOK WOT YOU DUN, CUM ON FEEL THE NOIZE. . . In a short few years they had 12 top five hits, 6 of them making #1 spot. Their albums also topped the charts and their huge Christmas anthem MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY has entered the top twenty over 7 times. In the '80s Slade made a brilliant revival with even more hits, especially RUN RUN AWAY and the classic MY OH MY. Today Noddy is as loved by the British public as he has ever been and in this hilarious autobiography he will tell us his complete life story, from growing up in the Midlands, to performing in the working men's clubs. The information of their first group, The N'Betweens and the mutation into an unlikely skinhead group, Ambrose Slade. And then, of course, Glam Rock and all the excesses of lifestyle that accompanied the outrageous clothes, not to mention guitarist Dave Hill's incredible hair style.

Who's Crazee Now?

David Lee Roth

'I WAS THERE WITH THESE TWO GIRLS ONCE; THEY WERE STRIPPERS. THEY SAID 'DAVE, WE'D LIKE YOU TO GO UPSTAIRS, THE TWO OF US, WITH YOU. ' SO I SAID, 'OKAY'. IT WAS ANGUS, AND IT WAS HOT AND SWEATY AND HUMID, AND WE COMMENCED TO DELIVER THE GROCERIES AT 138 BEATS PER MINUTE OR MORE. ONE OF THE GIRLS HAD $1500 IN SINGLES AND FIVES AND TENS, HER END-OF-THE-WEEK TIPS AND PAY AND EVERYTHING IN HER G-STRING. NOBODY NOTICED, YOU KNOW, WHEN THE G-STRING CAME UNDONE -- WELL, I NOTICED -- NOBODY NOTICED THE MONEY, LIKE, FLOATING AROUND. I WOKE UP AT SOME POINT AROUND DAWN, THE TWO OF THEM WERE ASLEEP, AND ALL THREE OF US WERE COVERED WITH MONEY, EVERY SQUARE INCH OF SKIN HAD A DOLLAR BILL PASTED TO IT -- THERE WAS NOTHING BUT. THE WHOLE BED WAS COVERED WITH BILLS. OUR BODIES WERE COVERED WITH BILLS. THERE WAS BILLS IN MY UNDERWEAR. TAKE A LITTLE PICTURE OF THAT. ' So begins perhaps the ultimate rock autobiography. Throughout the late-seventies and eighties Van Halen were the archetypal American rock group. Whats more they were also the highest paid band in the history of show business, taking a cool $1 million for a night's work at a festival in 1983 and making the Guiness Book of Records.

Crazy From The Heat

Caitlin Moran

Columns Volume Three

John Tayman

On any given day two million fugitives roam the United States. Among them lurk the FBI’s deadliest targets: the Ten Most Wanted. And any of us can join the manhunt. 
 
The world’s most notorious top 10 list was first unveiled in 1950. As soon as he saw the photos, a Mississippi boy realised that the vagrant he’d seen holed up in a cave was in fact William Nesbit, the ‘Dynamite Killer’. He smoked him out. 
 
The list quickly became the FBI’s leading crime-fighting tool, leading to the capture of mobsters, serial killers and now terrorists. The Wanted traces the history of the Most Wanted through seven thrilling manhunts – full of close detective work, psychological profiles and chases – and the fugitives, agents and innocents drawn into its web. With rare access to FBI records and agents, this is both an epic true crime saga, and the story that shaped modern America.

The Wanted

Aaron Vallance

SHORTLISTED FOR THE JANE GRIGSON AWARD 2025 
 
'Aaron’s heartfelt memoir will leave your heart and mind full … but your stomach craving latkes.' Tim Anderson, chef & award-winning writer 
 
'Beautifully written. A book which reminds us that food is the language of love.' Asma Khan, chef & bestselling author 
 
In this captivating coming-of-age memoir, Aaron Vallance gives you a seat at the enchanting and delectable meals that shaped his understanding of the world, growing up in an Ashkenazi Jewish family in 1980s Manchester. 
 
Through exceptional storytelling, Aaron re-creates the particularities of his childhood - one where he would have chicken on a Friday, eat Challah every Saturday, bagels every Sunday, and then a smattering of chopped herring, chremsls, chrain, and latkes in between. With a stomach full, he explores the traditions, rituals, festivals and meaning behind these foods we might all recognise, celebrating the nuances of a tight-knit, if often insular, Jewish community along the way. 
 
Written with warmth and joy, Friday Night Chicken then is a one-of-a-kind story for all lovers of food and personal stories to delight in. 
 
'Aaron is such a lyrical writer. I always learn something new.' Ruby Tandoh, bestselling author of Eat Up! 
 
'Full of heart and warmth. A joy to read!' Angela Hui, author of Takeaway

Friday Night Chicken

Eric Idle

Idle In Provence

A Brief History of Thyme

How to Be Hopeful

My year of living joyfully

Kiyoshi Tanimoto

The whole city was covered with dark clouds, and conflagrations were breaking out in various directions. Could all of this have happened at once? It was then that black drops of rain, as big as blackberries, began to fall – rain caused by the atomic bomb. I wondered what had happened to my home and church. With a pale face, I ran down the Koi highway… 
 
When the atomic bomb fell on Hiroshima at 8.15am on 6 August 1945, Methodist minister Kiyoshi Tanimoto was just beginning his day with the usual bowl of soybean and rice bran porridge. Unbeknownst to him at that moment, the aftermath that will unfold before him over days and weeks is full of horror, but through his courageous determination to save his family, church and city from total devastation, Tanimoto would become internationally recognised as a hero of Hiroshima. In 1946, he featured in American journalist John Hersey’s seminal book Hiroshima which catapulted Tanimoto into global fame – but it is only now that we have discovered the manuscript that he wrote in his own words. 
 
What Divides Us is his remarkable eyewitness account of this devastating moment of history. Although written only a couple of years after the bomb, the manuscript had been lost for many decades and was only recently discovered in a university archive. 
 
Today, over eighty years later in a world fraught with conflict, Tanimoto’s story is a moving and powerful reminder of how the strength, love and resilience of the human spirit will always triumph over the things that divide us.

What Divides Us

A Memoir of Hiroshima

Nigel Fletcher

A ground-breaking and revelatory exploration of the remarkable relationship between Queen Elizabeth II and Winston Churchill, two of Britain’s greatest leaders. 
 
In February 1952, when the young Elizabeth returned to London after her sudden accession to the throne, it was Churchill who was first to greet her as she stepped off the aircraft. The image was a striking one – an elderly statesman in the twilight of his career paying homage to a young sovereign just embarking on what would become the longest reign in the history of the British monarchy. He already had a lifetime of experience to share, while she had a lifetime of service still to come. 
 
Winston Churchill and Queen Elizabeth II were the two most famous Britons of the 20th century, and rank alongside the most iconic historical figures of all time. They defined the ages in which they lived, and exerted enormous influence on the lives of millions around the globe. But even more extraordinary than their individual achievements is the unique partnership that developed between them, with Churchill helping the Queen to shape the start of her reign, and Elizabeth in turn helping him to retire with dignity and grace, cementing his legacy at the end of his career. 
 
Using previously unpublished material from government files and private archives, this book sheds new light on this historic relationship, revealing how their fruitful collaboration shaped the monarchy and the nation.

Churchill’s Queen

Minette Batters

Minette Batters was the first female president of the National Farmers’ Union in its 109-year history. During that time, she fought tooth and nail for the interests of farmers, never afraid to put her head above the parapet. 
 
But Minette’s expertise in British farming spanned many more years than her presidency. In fact, the union was the third act of a life lived at the heart of the farming community: first, she was born and raised on a farm and, even after her father warned her there was no future in farming, her heart brought her home to take over the family farm. In her third act, as advocate for the UK’s farming industry, she became not only a life-long farmer but the most visible agriculture expert in the UK, at a time when Brexit, Covid and international conflict has pushed our farms, and our food production, to a state of crisis. So, who better to understand how British farming really works? 
 
Blending memoir and manifesto, this book will be a powerful insight into the real life of farmers, a love letter to British rural life, and a rallying cry to save it – and how.

Harvest

Inspector Maigret

DI Tony McLean of the Lothian and Borders Police knows Edinburgh like the back of his hand - an invaluable advantage when simultaneously pursuing depraved and dangerous criminals, and dodging overbearing superiors. Alongside a few trusted colleagues like DS 'Grumpy Bob' Laird and DS Kirsty Ritchie, McLean is an unorthodox force to be reckoned with . . .

Inspector McLean

Inspector Sejer

Inspector Taleb Series

Inspector Webb

Instinct Series

Intercrime

Invisible Series

Irish Classics

Iron Seas

Charismatic, handsome, and fiercely loyal, Isaac Bell is a no-nonsense private detective at the Von Dorn Detective Agency. Travelling all over early 20th century America in pursuit of justice for his clients, chasing down a steam train in a sports automobile is all in a day's work for Bell. And while he's on the trail of thieves, killers, and sometimes much worse, he'll have to use his every last wit to stay ahead of those he seeks, and to stay alive. . .

Isaac Bell

Witness the political struggles and tragedies of Queen Isabella, King Ferdinand and their children as ambitions take over in a time of civil war.

Isabella & Ferdinand Trilogy

It's Time to...

Izzy Dobson

I’m Sorry I’ll Read That Again

Mo Hayder's Jack Caffery series is not for the faint-hearted. 
DI Jack Caffery specialises in the most gruesome, twisted and terrifying crimes. Against the clock to find the killer before the next murder is committed, Caffery is young, unshockable and driven.

Jack Caffery

Jack Reacher is a former major in the US Military Police who, since leaving the army, has drifted round the wide open spaces of America, hitchhiking or on buses, wherever the whim takes him. He has no permanent address, no job, no family ties, no car, no luggage, no mobile phone, no credit card - all he carries with him is a folding toothbrush. 
Reacher is never looking for trouble, but somehow trouble always find him. He is the ultimate hero for our troubled times, with a keen moral compass and sense of justice, even if he is often prepared to take the law into his own hands: he says he doesn't want to put the world to rights, he just doesn't like people who put it to wrongs.

Jack Reacher

Jack Reacher Short Stories

Jack Ryan

Jack Ryan Jr

Jack Slater

Jack Stalwart

Jack Tanner

Jack and Millie

Jackson Brodie is a private investigator, originally from Yorkshire. A former soldier and policeman he now makes his money working from investigating infidelity and finding missing cats. Jackson's tough-guy exterior belies a deeply empathetic heart. He's unable to resist coming to the rescue and increasingly he becomes a magnet for the bereaved, the lost and the dysfunctional. His ability to connect comes from his own tragic childhood that still haunts him. 
 
Jackson Brodie has appeared in four of Kate Atkinson's novels. Each can be read in isolation but are best enjoyed in order of publication: Case Histories, One Good Turn, When Will There Be Good News?, Started Early, Took My Dog.

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