A. J. Liebling, born in Manhattan in 1904, joined the staff of the New Yorker in 1935 and contributed innumerable articles to the magazine throughout his lifetime, on subjects ranging from food to boxing and France to horse racing. As a war correspondent during the Second World War, he reported from France, England and Algeria, and participated in the Normandy landings. In later life he married the writer Jean Stafford, his third wife. He died in 1963.

A. J. Liebling

A. J. Rosen is an author of YA fantasy and is known as @agatharoza on Wattpad.

A. J. Rosen

A. K. Davidson

A. O. Scott has been a film critic at the New York Times since 2000. His writing has appeared in many other publications, including the New York Review of Books, Slate, the New Yorker and the Nation. A finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in criticism in 2010, Scott is currently Distinguished Professor of Film Criticism at Wesleyan University. He lives with his family in Brooklyn, New York. 
 
@aoscott

A. O. Scott

A.S. Byatt (1936-2023) was a novelist, short-story writer and critic of international renown. Her novels include Possession (winner of the Booker Prize 1990), the Frederica Quartet and The Children’s Book, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction. She was appointed CBE in 1990 and DBE in 1999, and was awarded the Erasmus Prize 2016 for her ‘inspiring contribution to life writing’ and the Pak Kyongni Prize 2017. In 2018 she received the Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award.

A. S. Byatt

A. T. Williams won the George Orwell Prize for Political Writing in 2013 for his book A Very British Killing: The Death of Baha Mousa. He lives in Warwickshire.

A. T. Williams

A. W. Chase

Dubbed ‘The new queen of spy fiction’ by the Guardian newspaper, and ‘the real thing’ by the Washington Post, A.C. 'Ava' Glass is the CWA Dagger-shortlisted author of Alias Emma (The Chase), The Traitor and The Trap. The Traitor was a 2023 Richard and Judy Bookclub pick. Alias Emma was a Barnes and Noble book of the month. A former crime reporter and communications consultant, for five years Ava worked closely with spies. Her time in that world fascinated her, and the people she met back then inspire every book she writes.

A.C. Glass

A.E. Housman

Arthur Edward Waite was the designer and co-creator of the now famous Rider Waite Tarot deck. 
 
An American-born British poet and scholarly mystic, his strong interest in all esoteric matters - divination, magic, Kabbalism, alchemy and Freemasony - led to him penning a number of books. These include the Key to the Tarot, The Book of Ceremonial Magic and A New Encyclopedia of Freemasony.

A.E. Waite

A.E. Warren is the author of the Tomorrow's Ancestors series, which consists of Subject Twenty-One, The Hidden Base, The Fourth Species and The Final Rising. 
 
After spending eight years working as a lawyer, she began to write in the evenings and early mornings as a form of escapism from life in a very small cubicle with lots of files. She self-published her first novels in her spare time, which were picked up by Del Rey UK which is the science fiction/fantasy imprint of Penguin Random House. 
 
 She is an avid reader, occasional gamer and fair-weather runner. She lives in the UK with her husband, daughter and hopefully, one day, a wise border terrier named Austen.

A.E. Warren

A.G.D. Maran

A.J. Ayer

A K Benedict writes crime and speculative fiction in a room filled with clowns, mannequins and Doctor Who figures. Her first novel, The Beauty of Murder, was nominated for an eDunnit award and is in development for a major 8-part TV series by Company Pictures. Her second, Jonathan Dark or The Evidence of Ghosts, came out in February 2016. She's written Torchwood audio dramas for Big Finish and her short stories have featured in anthologies including Great British Horror and Best British Short Stories. She lives in St Leonards-on-Sea with her dog, Dame Margaret Rutherford.

A.K.Benedict

A. L. Kennedy has twice been selected as one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists and has won a host of other awards – including the Costa Book of the Year for her novel Day. She lives in Essex.

A.L. Kennedy

A.M. Ellis is a speculative fiction author and lover of everything steeped in myth and mystery. Her stories often lean into diverse voices, not only in her identity as a Black woman, but in exploring neurodivergence and mental health. A proud introvert and nostalgic gamer, she lives in Maryland, USA, with her husband and three children. Angelica is also the author of Hunt A Killer, a PERFECT SCORE novel, under the pen name A.M. Ellis, which she wrote as an IP for Scholastic in the US.

A.M. Ellis

A.N. Wilson was born in 1950 and educated at Rugby and New College, Oxford. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, he holds a prominent position in the world of literature and journalism. He is an award-winning biographer and a celebrated novelist, winning prizes for much of his work. He lives in North London.

A.N. Wilson

A.T. Emerald

A.W. Priest

A.B.C. Merriman-Labor was a barrister, writer and munitions worker born in Freetown, Sierra Leone in 1877. His published works include A Series of Lectures on the Negro Race and The Story of the African Slave in a Nutshell. He also edited two editions of the Handbook of Sierra Leone. He arrived in the UK in 1904 to study law. In 1907, he organised a centenary commemoration of the abolition of the slave trade in Westminster Abbey. He later embarked on an 'entertainment-lecture' tour called Life and Scenes in Britain, travelling across thousands of miles of West, South West and Central Africa, which he expanded on to create Britons Through Negro Spectacles.

ABC Merriman-Labor

AJ Cronin

AJ Molloy

Aabria Iyengar is an American actress and author.

Aabria Iyengar

Aaliya Jaleel is a freelance illustrator, designer, and visual development artist, currently majoring in Animation at the University of Texas at Dallas. She is also the illustrator of Under My Hijab and Muslim Girls Rise. You can visit her online at www.aaliyamj.com.

Aaliya Jaleel

Aaron Allston

After more than fifteen years of experience as a clinical psychotherapist, Dr Aaron Balick has taken the amazing insights from psychology and psychotherapy out of the consultation room and made them accessible to the wider world. 
 
He has been an ‘agony uncle’ for many years for both CBBC and BBC Radio 1, as well as on television, including BBC Worldwide, BBC 3 and BBC Learning.

Aaron Balick

Aaron Carroll

Aaron Dignan is the founder of The Ready--a global organizational transformation and coaching practice--that helps companies large and small adopt new forms of self-organization and dynamic teaming. Clients include Johnson &amp; Johnson, Microsoft, Lloyds Bank, Citibank, Boeing, Mailchimp, Airbnb, Dropbox, and charity: water. 
 
He is also the founder of Murmur--a SaaS startup that helps teams scale culture through the magic of working agreements. The Murmur platform will allow every team on the planet to define and share their ways of working. 
 
Dignan is the author of Brave New Work (2019) and Game Frame (2011), co-host of the Brave New Work podcast, and a friend to misfit toys.

Aaron Dignan

Aaron Edwards is a senior lecturer in defence and international affairs at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, specialising in terrorism and counter-insurgency. He is the author and editor of several books, including Defending the Realm: The Politics of Britain’s Small Wars Since 1945, and has lectured all over the world on aspects of national and international security. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

Aaron Edwards

Aaron Robertson is a writer, an editor, and a translator of Italian literature. His translation of Igiaba Scego’s Beyond Babylon was short-listed for the 2020 PEN Translation Prize and the National Translation Award, and in 2021 he received a National Endowment for the Arts grant. His work has appeared in the New York Times, The Nation, Foreign Policy, n+1, The Point, and Literary Hub, among other publications. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Aaron Robertson

PublicationStatus

Brand

Format

AgeRange

Series

Imprint

CategoryLabel

Claire Guest

Claire Guest was walking her dogs when Daisy, a fox red Labrador, nudged her breast insistently and stared up into her face with her big brown eyes. Sensing something was wrong, Claire visited her GP and soon found out she had a very deep – and difficult to diagnose – form of breast cancer. Daisy had saved her life, simply by smelling her cancer. 
 
With her scientific background and deep love of dogs, Claire intuited that Daisy and her canine pals could save many more lives, and set up the charity Medical Detection Dogs. Though faced with many challenges, Claire and her dogs have proven to be a remarkable asset to cancer detection, and have changed the lives of many seriously ill people and their families. 
 
This is the story of how our relationship with dogs can unleash life-saving talents, changing not only the medical world, but our own lives too.

Daisy’s Gift

The remarkable cancer-detecting dog who saved my life

Tom Watkins

LONGLISTED FOR THE PENDERYN MUSIC PRIZE 2017 
 
The coke-fuelled mania behind pop’s greatest successes 
 
 
Tom Watkins is the famously entertaining pop Svengali with killer commercial instincts and prodigious talent for design. He propelled the Pet Shop Boys, Bros and East 17, among others, to global stardom, all whilst maintaining a savage hedonistic lifestyle and a stellar art collection. His fingerprints are all over British pop, and he’s decided the time has come for a tell-all autobiography about the business behind the stars that shaped your life in the 80s and 90s. 
 
Follow Tom’s journey from his humble boyhood in post-war South-East London, to his teenage misdeeds and the birth of Rock and Roll; his days as a design student under the tutelage of Terence Conran and Rodney Fitch, to the excesses of the 80s and 90s where he became one of the original boy band innovators – the driving force behind the pop icons plastered on the walls of teenage girls’ bedrooms. 
 
Funny, unstoppable and outspoken, a razor-sharp and greatly respected businessman, marketing visionary, designer and art collector, Tom takes us through his extraordinary and colourful life into the inner-circle of 80s pop-culture. From hobnobbing with Bruce Sprinsteen to bust-ups with Bros, Tom has seen it all. 
 
Expect a gripping, gossipy, meticulously researched memoir of the drug-addled 80s and 90s, layered on top of an insightful and intelligent portrait of a recent but very different age, from the singular perspective of a man who played a huge role in defining the era and paved the way for industry moguls like Simon Cowell and Louis Walsh.

Let's Make Lots of Money

My Life as the Biggest Man in Pop

Secrets of a Rich, Fat, Gay, Lucky Bastard

Guy Martin

‘I was never going to sleep in and take it easy, there were worms to catch.’ 
 
Breaking records on the world’s biggest Wall of Death, cycling 2,745 miles across the length of the United States (while sleeping rough), attempting to be the fastest person ever on two wheels and travelling to Latvia to investigate his family’s roots, it's been a busy year for Guy Martin. There’s been some thrilling racing too, including wild Harley choppers on dirt and turbo-charged Transit vans through the Nevada desert. And don't forget there’s the day job to get back to in North Lincolnshire – the truck yard and the butty van. 
 
Guy has done more in one year than most people do in a lifetime, and with his gift for story-telling, he takes you with him to the outer limits of human endurance, and on a dizzying adrenalin high, all in a day’s work.

Guy Martin: Worms to Catch

Ashlee Vance

Elon Musk is an inspirational role model for young entrepreneurs, breaking boundaries and revolutionising the tech-world. He is also the real-life inspiration for the Iron Man series of films, starring Robert Downey Junior. From his humble beginnings in apartheid South Africa, he showed himself to be an exceptionally bright child, and overcame brutal bullying to become the world’s most exciting entrepreneur, founding PayPal, SpaceX, Tesla and Solar City. 
 
He has emerged as something of a superhero-like figure for today’s generation of children. He’s not only seen as an entrepreneur in the spirit of a Steve Jobs but as an inventor and bold thinker. He’s the guy offering children the possibility of a brighter, more exciting future and has come to symbolize innovation and optimism.

Elon Musk Young Readers’ Edition

Hayley Westenra

Darren Henley

Hayley's first performance as 'Little Star' in a Christmas play was perfectly pitched, beautifully sung and enthusiastically received. She was six years old. 
 
Now, at the tender age of twenty, she is the fastest-selling debut classical artist ever. Her string of musical accolades is astonishing and her audiences range from royalty to premiers. 
 
This is her story, from her first performance, through later roles in major productions such as Annie, La Bohème and The Sound of Music, her decision at the age of eleven to busk for her lunch money, and the subsequent record deals, money, charity work and classical superstardom.

In Her Own Voice

Neil Brandwood

'One of the great British comedians and all-round entertainers of her generation' Guardian 
 
'Bittersweet but scalpel sharp' Radio Times 
 
'One of Britain’s finest ever performers ... a sublime and unparalleled crafter of words' Independent 
 
Victoria Wood's wit and humour endeared her to millions of TV viewers for over four decades. Writer, producer and actress of television shows such as As Seen on TV and Dinnerladies, Victoria was often voted the funniest woman in Britain. 
 
Her rise to stardom, from her early years in Lancashire to the successes of the sell-out shows at the Royal Albert Hall, is sympathetically and honestly portrayed by Neil Brandwood. This meticulously researched and written biography provides an insightful account of the life and career of one of Britain's best-loved comediennes.

Victoria Wood

The Biography

Drew Barrymore

'We all have stories to tell. These are mine.' Drew Barrymore 
 
Born into Hollywood royalty, Drew Barrymore is one of the biggest stars of her generation. Despite an unconventional childhood, she has built a life and career of her own that millions of fans admire. 
 
Wildflower is a portrait of Drew’s life in stories as she looks back on the adventures, challenges and incredible experiences she’s had. It will inspire, delight and show the true meaning of family, happiness and love.

Wildflower

'The maddest 12 months of my life. The journey starts with an oddball race up an American mountain and ends with me checking myself out of hospital with a broken back. Again …' 
 
As Guy’s Latvian grandfather frequently reminded him, ‘When you dead, you dead’. So before it’s all over, Guy Martin is making the most of the time he’s got. 
 
In this past year alone, Guy has raced the Isle of Man TT and finished on the podium; bike trekked through India; competed in solo 24-hour bicycles races; flown a stunt plane; broken a go-kart speed record down a French mountain and attempted to break the motorcycle land-speed record at Bonneville Salt Flats. And he’s done all this around his day job as a truck mechanic. 
 
But let Guy tell you about it himself: ‘This book starts in a Transit, ends in a Transit, and in between I’ve raced a few pushbikes, raced a few motorbikes and got a fair few stories to tell you.’ Spot on.

Guy Martin: When You Dead, You Dead

South African born Elon Musk is the renowned entrepreneur and innovator behind PayPal, SpaceX, Tesla, and SolarCity. Musk wants to save our planet; he wants to send citizens into space, to form a colony on Mars; he wants to make money while doing these things; and he wants us all to know about it. He is the real-life inspiration for the Iron Man series of films starring Robert Downey Junior. 
 
The personal tale of Musk’s life comes with all the trappings one associates with a great, drama-filled story. He was a freakishly bright kid who was bullied brutally at school, and abused by his father. In the midst of these rough conditions, and the violence of apartheid South Africa, Musk still thrived academically and attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he paid his own way through school by turning his house into a club and throwing massive parties. 
 
He started a pair of huge dot-com successes, including PayPal, which eBay acquired for $1.5 billion in 2002. Musk was forced out as CEO and so began his lost years in which he decided to go it alone and baffled friends by investing his fortune in rockets and electric cars. Meanwhile Musk’s marriage disintegrated as his technological obsessions took over his life ... 
 
Elon Musk is the Steve Jobs of the present and the future, and for the past twelve months, he has been shadowed by tech reporter, Ashlee Vance. Elon Musk: How the Billionaire CEO of Spacex and Tesla is Shaping our Future is an important, exciting and intelligent account of the real-life Iron Man.

Elon Musk

How the Billionaire CEO of SpaceX and Tesla is Shaping our Future

Don Borchert

The public library - a haven of calm, source of information, home to the student, the geek and the aging librarian. Or so you might think. 
 
Don Borchert's ten years as assistant librarian have taught him that a library is more than just a place to borrow books, it's also a place where people hide from the law, fall in love, fight, deal drugs, introduce their children to reading, look up porn and pursue their dreams. Borchett's hilarious memoir delves behind the bookshelves as he discovers the weird, dangerous and downright dirty world of a public library and the fearless civil servants who patrol its aisles.

Library Confidential

Oddballs, Geeks, and Gangstas in the Public Library

Will Barrow

Isabel George

The Sunday Times Top Ten Bestseller 
 
Thousands of lives have been saved by this spaniel. He is a best friend in dog’s clothing. An RAF dog with his mossy feet firmly on the ground. A brave dog who has served his colleagues and his country with unstinting devotion. A dog in a million. 
 
This is the story of the partnership of Buster and Will, told by Will himself, describing how each came to save the other’s life. This is a relationship that produced some heroic feats in the dust and desert heat of Afghanistan - and beyond. Buster, uniquely, has served five tours of duty - more than any other military dog. 
 
“With some dogs you share a boil in the bag breakfast and maybe a blanket on a cold desert floor. Some you wouldn’t leave in charge of your Grandma unless you wanted to find out just how fast the old girl could run. But, if you’re very, very lucky there will be the one dog you would lay down your life for – and for me that dog is Buster.” 
 
As told to Isabel George.

Buster

The dog who saved a thousand lives

Marcus Hearn

Celebrating over 50 years of the classic TV series, this beautiful, lavish hardback written by Thunderbirds expert Marcus Hearn. Contains exclusive, never before published behind the scenes material and interviews with cast and crew and tells the story of one of this enduring cult phenomenon. Thunderbirds are GO! 
 
 'A most enjoyable step back in time!' -- ***** Reader review 
'You can never have enough Thunderbirds' -- ***** Reader review 
'CHOCK FULL of pretty much everything there is to know about Thunderbirds' -- ***** Reader review 
'Unputdownable' -- ***** Reader review 
'If you are a fan, this is the ONE BOOK you must not miss out on' -- ***** Reader review 
'A treasure' -- ***** Reader review 
'Beautiful book full of all the information a real fan needs' -- ***** Reader review 
'F.A.B. (FLIPPING ACTUALLY BRILLIANT)' -- ***** Reader review 
 
*********************************************************************************************** 
On 30th September 1965, International Rescue successfully completed their first assignment, and the Tracy brothers imprinted themselves on a generation of captivated children. 
 
Thirty-two episodes, many repeats, sixty territories, two feature films, three albums, numerous comics, books, toys, videos and DVDs and over five decades later, Thunderbirds are still saving the world from the brink of peril. 
 
Thunderbirds: The Vault will be the first ever lavishly illustrated, definitive, beautifully packaged, presentation hardback telling the story of this enduring cult phenomenon. 
 
Packed with previously unpublished material, including prop photos, design sketches, production memos and other collectible memorabilia, plus specially commissioned photography of original 60s merchandise, and new interviews with cast and crew, this is a collectors' dream and a fantastic piece of British TV history.

Thunderbirds

The Vault: celebrating over 50 years of the classic series

Billy Crystal

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER 
 
"A book with a thousand laughs entwined with unknown stories about some of the most popular movies of the past decades." --Steve Martin 
 
"This book is kick-ass funny and truly unique. A Hollywood autobiography with only one wife, no rehab, a loving family and loyal friends." --Robin Williams 
 
"Billy Crystal is a national treasure. Thank God he wrote this hilarious and emotional book because now I don't have to and I'll still have something personal to give everyone at Christmas." --Bette Midler 
 
 
 
In this book Billy Crystal, currently starring in the new TV show THE COMEDIANS as an aging comic, gives a hilarious and heartfelt account of what it's REALLY like to get older. 
 
Billy Crystal is turning 65, and he’s not happy about it. With his trademark wit and heart, he outlines the absurdities and challenges that come with growing old, from insomnia to memory loss to leaving dinners with half your meal on your shirt. 
 
He also looks back at the most powerful and memorable moments of his long and storied life, from entertaining his relatives as a kid in Long Beach, Long Island, his years doing stand-up in the Village, up through his legendary stint at Saturday Night Live, When Harry Met Sally, and his long run as host of the Academy Awards. Readers get a front-row seat to his one-day career with the New York Yankees, his love affair with Sophia Loren, and his enduring friendships with several of his idols, including Mickey Mantle and Muhammad Ali. 
 
He lends a light touch to more serious topics like religion (“the aging friends I know have turned to the Holy Trinity: Advil, bourbon, and Prozac”), grandparenting, and, of course, dentistry. As wise and poignant as they are funny, Crystal’s reflections are an unforgettable look at an extraordinary life well lived.

Still Foolin' 'Em

Where I've Been, Where I'm Going, and Where the Hell Are My Keys?

Jessie Hartland

Enter the world of Steve Jobs -- disrupter, icon, hero -- and be inspired by his fascinating life presented here as a graphic novel. 
 
This fast-paced and entertaining biography is a perfect complement to text-heavy books on Steve Jobs like Walter Isaacson’s biography. Steve Jobs is the subject of a major movie project this Autumn, and this graphic telling of his life-story presents him as the ultimate American entrepreneur, who brought us Apple Computer, Pixar, Macs, iPods, iPhones and more. It's a unique and stylish book, sure to appeal to the legions of readers who live and breathe the perfect blend of technology and design that Jobs created. 
 
Jobs’s remarkable life reads like a history of the personal technology industry. He started Apple Computer in his parents’ garage and eventually became the tastemaker of a generation, creating products we can’t live without. Through it all, he was an overbearing and demanding perfectionist, both impossible and inspiring. 
 
Capturing his unparalleled brilliance, as well as his many demons, Jessie Hartland’s engaging biography illuminates the meteoric successes, devastating setbacks, and myriad contradictions that make up the extraordinary life and legacy of the insanely great Steve Jobs.

Steve Jobs: Insanely Great

Sir Richard Branson

In September 2012, a YOUGOV poll conducted in Britain found that the person British workers would most like as their manager was Sir Richard Branson. 
 
With over 40 years in business, Richard Branson is an inspiring pioneer of humanitarian projects and an iconic business leader. In The Virgin Way: How to Listen, Learn, Laugh and Lead, Richard shares and distils his secrets of leadership and success. Featuring anecdotes from his own business dealings, as well as his observations of many others who have inspired him – from politicians, business leaders, explorers, scientists and philanthropists – Richard reflects on the qualities he feels are essential for success in today’s world. 
 
This is not a conventional book on leadership. There are no rules – but rather the secrets of leadership that he has learned along the way from his days at Virgin Records, to his recent work with The Elders. Whether you’re at the beginning of your career, or head of a Fortune 500 company – this is your guide to being your own CEO (Chief Enabling Officer) and becoming a true leader – not just a boss.

The Virgin Way

How to Listen, Learn, Laugh and Lead

Chris Tarrant

The Sunday Times Top Ten Bestseller 
 
Chris Tarrant and his father Basil were very close, they played sport together, watched sport together and shared the same sense of humour. Chris loved and admired his father but it was only after his death he realised that he hardly knew him at all … 
 
 Basil Avery Tarrant grew up in 1920s Reading, where the smell of beer and biscuits from the local factories filled the air. He worked as an administrator in a local factory and spent his Saturday nights down at the music halls. But what happened to Basil during the war, and how he came to be awarded the Military Cross, remained a mystery to Chris and his family for nearly sixty years. 
 
 In this emotional journey, Chris discovers that Basil was involved in some of WWII’s most significant campaigns, including the Dunkirk evacuation and the D-Day landings, and also took part in some of the most brutal, close-range fighting in Cleve. 
 
 Dad's War is a profoundly moving and heartfelt tribute to a much-loved father, but it’s also a sincere and humble commemoration of the bravery and sacrifice of the soldiers of WWII.

Dad's War

The Phenomenal Sunday Times No1 Bestseller 
 
‘It was the start of the third lap of the 2010 Senior TT, the last race of the fortnight. The last chance to get a TT win for another year, and I was pushing hard. 
 
Ballagarey. The kind of corner that makes me continue road racing. A proper man’s corner. You go through the right-hander at something like 170mph, leant right over, eyes fixed as far down the road as I can see. 
 
But this time something happened. This time the front end tucked …’ 
 
Guy Martin, international road-racing legend, maverick star of the Isle of Man TT, truck mechanic and TV presenter, lives on the edge, addicted to speed, thoroughly exhilarated by danger. 
 
In this book we’ll get inside his head as he stares death in the face, and risks his life in search of the next high. 
 
We’ll discover what it feels like to survive a 170mph fireball at the TT in 2010, and come back to do it all again. He’ll sweep us up in a gritty sort of glory as he slogs it out for a place on the podium, but we’ll also see him struggle with the flipside of fame. 
 
We’ll meet his friends and foes, his family, his teammates and bosses and we’ll discover what motivates him, and where his strengths and weaknesses lie. 
 
For the first time, here is the full story in Guy’s own words. From the boy who learned to prep bikes with his dad, to the spirited team mechanic, paying his way by collecting beer glasses in pubs, to the young racer at the start of his first race and the buzz he’s been chasing ever since. 
 
This thrilling autobiography is an intense and dramatic ride.

Guy Martin: My Autobiography

Francesca Martinez

If you grow up in a world where wrinkles are practically illegal, going bald is cause for a mental breakdown, and women over size zero are encouraged to shoot themselves (immediately), what the hell do you do if you’re, gasp … DISABLED? 
Whatever body you’re born into, the pressure to be normal is everywhere. But have you ever met a normal person? What do they look like? Where do they live? What do they eat for breakfast? 
And what the **** does normal mean anyway? 
This is the award-winning wobbly comedian Francesca Martinez’s funny, personal, and universal story of how she learned to stick two shaky fingers up to the crazy expectations of a world obsessed with being ‘normal’.

What the **** is Normal?!

Shane Filan

As a lead singer of Westlife, one of the most successful pop acts of all time, Shane Filan was on top of the world. Together with the band, he achieved an incredible 14 No.1 singles (a record beaten only by the Beatles) sold 44 million records and was adored by fans the world over. 
 
Everything he touched turned to gold, or so it seemed. Like many others, he had piled his fortunes into the Irish property boom and when the bubble burst, Shane struggled with mounting debt. Just ten days after Westlife’s final farewell concert, in front of a sold-out crowd of 80,000 fans, Shane was declared bankrupt with debts of £18 million – losing everything. 
 
But this wasn’t the end for Shane Filan – a devoted singer and family man, Shane circled back to his roots and a year later he launched his solo career. In My Side of Life Shane shares his story for the first time – his early years growing up as part of a large Irish family in Co. Sligo, the phenomenal success of Westlife and the ups and downs of their time together, the breakup of the band, his financial devastation, and finally going it alone as a solo artist. 
 
This is Shane’s side of the story.

My Side of Life: The Autobiography

Phil Jackson

For fans of the hit Netflix docuseries The Last Dance. 
 
During his storied career as head coach of the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers, Phil Jackson won more championships than any coach in the history of professional sports. Even more important, he succeeded in never wavering from coaching his way, from a place of deep values. Jackson was tagged as the 'Zen master' half in jest by sportswriters, but the nickname speaks to an important truth: this is a coach who inspired, not goaded; who led by awakening and challenging the better angels of his players’ nature, not their egos, fear, or greed. 
 
This is the story of a preacher’s kid from North Dakota who grew up to be one of the most innovative leaders of our time. In his quest to reinvent himself, Jackson explored everything from humanistic psychology and Native American philosophy to Zen meditation. In the process, he developed a new approach to leadership based on freedom, authenticity, and selfless teamwork that turned the hyper-competitive world of professional sports on its head. 
 
In Eleven Rings, Jackson candidly describes how he: 
 
- Learned the secrets of mindfulness and team chemistry while playing for the champion New York Knicks in the 1970s 
 
- Managed Michael Jordan, the greatest player in the world, and got him to embrace selflessness, even if it meant losing a scoring title 
 
- Forged successful teams out of players of varying abilities by getting them to trust one another and perform in sync 
 
- Inspired Dennis Rodman and other 'uncoachable' personalities to devote themselves to something larger than themselves 
 
- Transformed Kobe Bryant from a rebellious teenager into a mature leader of a championship team. 
 
Eleven times, Jackson led his teams to the ultimate goal: the NBA championship six times with the Chicago Bulls and five times with the Los Angeles Lakers. We all know the legendary stars on those teams, or think we do. What Eleven Rings shows us, however, is that when it comes to the most important lessons, we don’t know very much at all. This book is full of revelations: about fascinating personalities and their drive to win; about the wellsprings of motivation and competition at the highest levels; and about what it takes to bring out the best in ourselves and others.

Eleven Rings

Ed Stafford

‘I stood on the beach truly alone for the first time. I would not see another person for sixty days. I was on an uninhabited tropical island and I had nothing with me to help me survive. No food, no equipment, no knife and not even any clothes. All I had was my camera kit so that I could intimately record my self-inflicted sentence.’ 
 
 What if you were abandoned on a tropical island with no food or water, no basic equipment, not even a knife, and no clothes – could you survive? Extreme adventurer Ed Stafford isn’t sure, but he’s about to find out as he pushes himself to the limit in this gripping and inspirational test of human survival. 
 
 For sixty days, with only his explorer’s instinct and a video camera to record his experiences, Ed faces the ultimate feat of physical and mental endurance. He confronts blazing heat and brutal loneliness; eats snails to escape starvation and battles illness, dehydration and fatigue in what is his most dangerous, and at times life-threatening, challenge to date. 
 
 This epic story of survival, full of exhilarating highs and devastating lows, is told with raw emotion and captivating honesty. This book will leave you amazed and exhausted.

Naked and Marooned

One Man. One Island. One Epic Survival Story

Britney Fuller

‘To start: it was just me and my mom. I am an only child, and she is a single parent. My mother is a trash hoarder. Ever since I can remember the house was always messy and stunk. At around age 9ish I noticed that something was wrong. I started throwing bags of trash away every day, just to have my mom freak out when she got home. We didn’t eat at home anymore because the fridge was disgusting, and she used the sink as a trash can, so it got clogged. We always ate out, we never had a home-cooked meal, and I’ve never had a family dinner at a dinner table. I had a stool in the corner of the living room. That is what I sat on, and that alone. I kept that corner as clean as I could. Made sure there was foot space, and that there wasn’t dust on the walls. That was my corner, my space. It never seemed to matter though, eventually that spot would get overrun with trash too...’ 
 
Trash is Britney Fuller's shocking account of growing up in the house of a hoarder.

Trash

An Innocent Girl. A Shocking Story of Squalor and Neglect.

Nick Jans

A Wolf Called Romeo is the remarkable story of a wolf who returned again and again to interact with the people and dogs of Juneau, Alaska, living on the edges of their community, engaging in an improbable, awe-inspiring inter-species dance and bringing the wild into sharp focus. 
 
 At first the people of Juneau were guarded, torn between caution and curiosity. But as Romeo began to tag along with cross-country skiers on their daily jaunts, play fetch with local dogs, or simply lie near author Nick Jans and nap under the sun, they came to accept Romeo, and he them. For Nick it was about trying to understand Romeo, then it was about winning his trust, and ultimately it was about watching over him, for as long as he or anyone could. 
 
Written with a deft hand and a searching heart, A Wolf Called Romeo is an unforgettable tale of a creature who defied nature and thus gave humans a chance to understand it a little more.

A Wolf Called Romeo

Olive Dent

Starring Oona Chaplin as a V.A.D. (Voluntary Aid Detachment), and Suranne Jones and Hermione Norris as trained nurses, The Crimson Field is a gripping drama set in a tented hospital on the coast of France, where plucky real-life V.A.D. Olive Dent served two years of the Great War, and kept this extraordinarily vivid diary of day-to-day life – ever cheerful through the bitter cold, the chilblains, hunger and exhaustion. 
 
Resilient, courageous and resourceful, nurses, doctors and patients alike do their best to support each other. A Christmas fancy-dress ball, a concert performed by a stoic orchestra covered in bandages, church services held in a marquee and letters from Blighty all keep spirits up in camp, as wounded soldiers suffer terribly with quiet dignity on the makeshift wards, and nurses rush round tirelessly to make them as comfortable as possible. 
 
With original illustrations throughout by fellow V.A.D.s, Olive’s memoir is a fascinating period piece, a rare first-hand account of this little-known story, which will resonate very strongly with viewers of The Crimson Field.

A Volunteer Nurse on the Western Front

Memoirs from a WWI camp hospital

Jane Plume

'I’m glad I could do her this one last favour. If it had been the other way round, I know Gina would have done the same for me.’ 
 
Jane and Gina were the best of friends. When Gina’s husband Shaun was diagnosed with terminal cancer in 2009, Jane vowed to do everything she could to help her best mate and her two small sons through the awful time to come. 
 
But things were about to take a tragic turn for the worse. In 2010, Gina was killed in a shock car crash. Though devastated by her own grief, Jane knew that Gina needed her now more than ever – to help with the boys she had left behind. And after cancer claimed Shaun's life, Jane stepped in to care for the two orphans, becoming the mother her best friend could no longer be. 
 
This is the moving true story behind an incredible act of love.

Please Don't Cry

A family torn apart by grief. An incredible act of love.

Laila Morse

The reigning queen of Albert Square, Laila Morse shares her incredible story for the first time. This is a book that will shock, humble and inspire.

Just a Mo

My Story

Looking for advice on setting up your own company, improving your career prospects, or developing your leadership skills? Why not ask Richard Branson? 
 
In Like a Virgin: Secrets They Won't Teach You in Business School, Richard distils and shares the wisdom and experience that have made him one of the world's most recognised and respected entrepreneurs. From his 'Top 5 secrets of Business Success', to hard hitting discussions about the global financial crisis, this book brings together his best advice on all things business. 
 
It's business school, the Branson way.

Like A Virgin

Secrets They Won’t Teach You at Business School

Ray Davies

As a boy in post-War England, legendary Kinks singer/songwriter Ray Davies fell in love with America – its movies and music, its culture of freedom fed his imagination. 
 
 In Americana, Davies tries to make sense of his long love-hate relationship with the country that both inspires and frustrates him, and where he nearly lost his life in a street shooting. 
 
 Some of the most fascinating characters in pop culture and the British Invasion make appearances, from the famous to the behind-the-scenes players. The book is interspersed with lyrics and also includes photographs from Davies's own collection and the Kinks’ archive. 
 
 From his quintessentially English perspective, Davies – with candour, humour, and wit – takes us on a very personal road trip through his life and storied career as a rock star, and reveals what music, fame and America really mean to him.

Americana

The Kinks, the Road and the Perfect Riff

Jamal Edwards

From the iBooks Number 1 bestselling ebook series. 
 
 Jamal Edwards will forever be remembered as an inspiring and pioneering figure in the music industry. His book Self Belief: The Vision will show you how this trailblazing music entrepreneur beat the system and made it big in business in his own way. 
 
 At the age of 15, with only a hand-held camera and a Wi-Fi connection, Jamal started to build his media empire. The videos he made showcased undiscovered talent on the underground music scene. 
 
 By the age of 20 Jamal signed a deal with Sony RCA to become CEO of his own record label, Just Jam Records and was named one of Richard Branson's Virgin Media Pioneers 2012. Jamal Edwards was founder and CEO of the UK's most successful online youth broadcaster SB.TV which helped launch the careers of artists like Stormzy, Ed Sheeran and Dave. 
 
 The book features six levels, in which Jamal sets tasks and challenges to help the reader get to where they want to be. Along the way the reader will come across Decision Points where they will have to choose a path through their business journey. 
 
 Each level features a foreword by one of Jamal's friends or mentors, including successful people in music, media and business such as Sir Richard Branson, Emeli Sandé, JacksGap, Ed Sheeran, Jessie J and Idris Elba. 
 
 Level 1 - Take Control is where you'll step outside your comfort zone and find out your strengths and weakness. 
 
Level 2 - The Knowledge is where you'll start researching your ideas. 
 
 Level 3 - Building the Foundations is where you'll build your team and learn how to market and promote you and your idea. 
 
 Level 4 - Launch Time will show you how best announce your idea to your audience. 
 
 Level 5 - Going Large is where you'll learn how to grow and develop your idea. 
 
 Level 6 - Keep It Fresh is about building the momentum, keeping your focus and looking to the future. 
 
A mix of inspirational business book, memoir and game, Self Belief: The Vision shares Jamal's own story and some of the things he learned, in order to inspire other young people to get some self-belief and turn their dreams and ideas into reality.

Self Belief: The Vision

How to Be a Success on Your Own Terms

Cliff Goodwin

Covering Sid's early years in South Africa and life as a ladies' hairdresser, his obsession with gambling and women, his questioning by Scotland Yard in a murder case, Hancock's Half Hour and the Carry On films, and Sid's death on stage at the age of 63, Cliff Goodwin reveals the amazing truth behing the legend.

Sid James: A Biography

A Private Thriller

A series of children's modern classic novels by renowned 20th century children's writers. All the titles in this series have the A Puffin Book logo, contemporary-style covers, and child-friendly endnotes.

A Puffin Book

A Ripley Novel

A Slice of the Moon

A Victorian Mystery

A Walk in...

A Women’s Murder Club Thriller

A chef Paul Delamare Mystery

Aberrations

Across the Universe

Actiphons

Adelia Aguilar

Adrian Mole

Adventures in Time

Aftermath

Against War

Age of X

Agent 21

Agent Z

Detective Aidan Waits is a troubled junior detective haunted by his past. Facing an uncertain future, and disconnected from his history, DC Waits and his partner, Detective Inspector Peter 'Sutty' Sutcliffe work on Manchester's streets to uncover the city's worst criminals among the grime of the underworld.

Filters

Category

Publication Date

Format

Imprint

Follow penguin

Follow ladybird

Follow puffin

Sign up to the Penguin newsletter