Aeschylus

Aesop lived in the early sixth century BC on the island of Samos, which lies off the coast of modern Turkey. He originally came from Thrace which was a separate country in those days, though it now forms part of Greece and Bulgaria. Very little is known about his life except that he worked as a slave on Samos for a master called Iadmon, and that he became a very famous storyteller. He was so famous that almost any fable which could have been told by him became attributed to him.

Aesop

Afsaneh Knight

Afsaneh Moqadam

Afua Hirsch is a writer, filmmaker, and journalist. She is the author of Brit(ish), the Sunday Times bestseller that explores Britishness, identity and belonging, for which she was awarded the Royal Society of Literature Jerwood Prize for Non-Fiction. She co-presented Enslaved, a 6-part series about the transatlantic slave trade with Samuel L Jackson. She is the presenter of the Audible podcast series We Need To Talk About the British Empire, and Africa Rising, an ongoing flagship series about art and culture for the BBC, through her production company Born in Me Productions. She is a longtime columnist for the Guardian and is a professor of journalism at the University of Southern California.

Afua Hirsch

AGAPI STASSINOPOULOS is an author, blogger and international speaker who inspires audiences around the world. She has spoken at many corporations and conferences, such as Nike Women, Starbucks,Time Inc., Virgin, Johnson &amp; Johnson and the American Heart Foundation. She was born in Athens and trained in London at RADA before gaining a Master’s in psychology at the University of Santa Monica. She has collaborated with her sister, Arianna Huffington, to develop talks and seminars, and has worked with the Oprah Winfrey network. She is currently hosting a new podcast series in collaboration with The Huffington Post, entitled ‘Sundays with Agapi’, which includes guided meditations and interviews with prominent guests. She lives in Los Angeles.

Agapi Stassinopoulos

Agatha Christie

Aggie MacKenzie

Aghnia Mardiyah is a London-based Illustrator and Character Designer with a passion for children's books and animation. She is drawn to fun, bright and vibrant colours. When she isn't disappearing under piles of work, she loves to travel! Exploring foreign places, exciting new sights and sensations is what inspires her the most!

Aghnia Mardiyah

Agnes Callard is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Chicago. Her primary areas of specialization are ancient philosophy and ethics. She has written for The New York Times, New Yorker, Atlantic, Harper’s, Boston Review, and penned a monthly column for the Point. From 2019 to 2020, she held a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship for the research that contributes to this book.

Agnes Callard

Agnes Jekyll

Agnes Bertha Marshall (24 August 1855-29 July 1905) was an English culinary entrepreneur who became a leading cookery writer, dubbed the 'Queen of Ices'. Her 1888 cookery book included a recipe for 'cornets with cream', possibly the earliest publication of the edible ice cream cone. Marshall was born in Walthamstow. She wrote four books: Ices Plain and Fancy: The Book of Ices (1885), Mrs A B Marshall's Book of Cookery (1888), Mrs A B Marshall's Larger Cookery Book of Extra Recipes (1891) and Fancy Ices (1894).

Agnes Marshall

Agnes Prus

Agri Ismaïl is a Kurdish author based in Sweden who has worked as a corporate lawyer in London, Dubai, and Iraqi Kurdistan. His work has been published in The White Review, The Rumpus, Litro, 3:AM Magazine, and Asymptote amongst other places. His piece 'Haunted Home' won the 2016 Stack award for best non-fiction for The Outpost, runner-up in the Lifted Brow &amp; RMIT non/fictionLab Prize for Experimental Non-Fiction, and he was longlisted for the 2017/2018 Galley Beggar Press Short Story Prize. Hyper is his first novel.

Agri Ismaïl

Aharon Appelfeld authored more than 45 acclaimed works of fiction and nonfiction and received many international awards including the MLA Commonwealth Award, the Independent Foreign Fiction prize, the prix Médicis étranger, the Israel prize, and the Nelly Sachs prize. Born in Czernowitz, Bukovina (now part of Ukraine) in 1932, he survived the Holocaust and passed away in Israel in 2018.

Aharon Appelfeld

Ahmadou Kourouma

Ahmed Alnaouq is a Palestinian journalist and human rights activist based in London. He is the co-founder and director of We Are Not Numbers and a journalist with Palestine Deep Dive. Ahmed holds a degree in English Literature from Al-Azhar university in Gaza, and an MA in International Journalism from Leeds University, where he was a Chevening Scholar. 
 
Pam Bailey is a social-justice activist and journalist based in Washington DC. She lived and worked in the Gaza Strip following the 2008/9 Israeli assault, and co-founded We Are Not Numbers. Today, in addition to her ongoing dedication to the Palestinian cause, she dedicates herself to two nonprofits that advocate for people detained in American prisons -- including one she co-founded in 2020, called More Than Our Crimes.

Ahmed Alnaouq

Ahmed Errachidi

Ahmed Rashid

Ahmet Hamdi Tanpinar

Ahron Bregman is the author of four books about Israel and the Arabs: The Fifty Years War (with Jihan el Tahri), Israel's Wars, A History of Israel and Elusive Peace. He teaches at the Department of War Studies, King's College London.

Ahron Bregman

Ai Qing is regarded as one of the finest modern Chinese poets, whose free verse was influential in the development of new poetry in China.

Ai Qing

Ai Weiwei

Aidan Chambers was born in County Durham in 1934. After national service in the Royal Navy he became a teacher and then, for seven years, a monk. His young adult novels have been widely acclaimed, with POSTCARDS FROM NO-MAN'S LAND winning the prestigious Carnegie Medal and the US Michael L Printz Award. With his wife Nancy he ran Signal magazine and he has served as the president of the School Library Association. His devoted services to children's literature were recognised by his receipt of the Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2002.

Aidan Chambers

Aidan Higgins was born in 1927. Langrishe Go Down, his first novel, won the James Tait Black memorial Prize and the Irish Academy of Letters Award, and was later filmed for television with a screenplay by Harold Pinter. His second novel, Balcony of Europe, was shortlisted for the 1972 Booker Prize. The novel Lions of the Grunewald appeared in 1993 and a collection of shorter fiction, Flotsam and jetsam, in 1996. Donkey's Years and Dog Days were the first two volumes of the Higgins Bestiary which concludes with this volume.

Aidan Higgins

Aidan Mathews

Aidan Potts

Aidan Smith

Aidan Storey

Aidan Trimble is the Chief Instructor to the Federation of Shotokan Karate and a former British, European and World Karate Champion, winning the world title in Tokyo - the home of Karate. Aidan has trained with some of the world's leading teachers of 'traditional' and 'sport' karate and is now an award-winning instructor and teacher who is in demand throughout the world. He can be contacted via www.fsk-karate.com.

Aidan Trimble

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Julian Norridge

Long before Drake refused to interrupt his game of bowls when the Armada was sighted, the British have had a passionate relationship with sport. Julian Norridge goes through the stories of fourteen major sports from cricket to boxing to football, from their very beginning and throughout the British Isles, whether it&rsquo;s Welsh inventor and tobacco enthusiast Major Walter Clopton Wingfield coming up with a game that could use those new fangled rubber balls (modern tennis) or the Scots inventing the golf club &ndash; 500 years after the game. 
 
But this is far more than a book about sport, it takes a very funny, very British look at our popular history, mythology and most importantly the highly eccentric figures that made it. It chronicles the constant battle between fair play and gambling; between advances in the game and plain cheating (such as turning up with a cricket bat wider than the wicket). 
 
Can We Have Our Balls Back Please? proves that there is an awful lot to be proud of in our history and where that strange feeling of superiority really comes from. It shows why we get just so excited when we take on any other nation in any sporting event and are so disappointed when we lose...

Can We Have Our Balls Back, Please?

How the British Invented Sport

Chris Yates

Though an enthusiastic sea-fisher as a child, Chris Yates has concentrated on freshwater throughout his fishing life. In Out of the Blue he describes his return to the sea after half a life-time and his increasing passion for its changeable moods and habits. Remaining faithful to his fundamental angling ethic &ndash; fishing simply with the minimum of tackle and always using his old split cane carp rod &ndash; he nets a mass of singular experiences, from the quiet magic of a Dorset tide-pool to the strange delight of casting into the midnight sun off the Norwegian Island of Senja.

Out of the Blue

On Fishing at Sea

Richard Preston

When Steve Sillett was 19 years old, he free-climbed &ndash; with no safety equipment and no training &ndash; one of the tallest trees on earth, in the redwood forests of Prairie Creek, California. 30 storeys above the ground he glimpsed an undiscovered ecosystem, and his passion for that astonishing world would transform the rest of his life. Over the next twenty years, Sillett and a close group of friends charted this system, discovering mosses and lichen never seen before, and travelling among branches so densely interwoven they form incredible sky-high walkways. 
 
There are only twenty people on earth who have climbed the world&rsquo;s tallest trees and who know their location. In writing The Wild Trees, Richard Preston not only managed to gain access to this group, but began to climb these hidden giants himself, putting his life in danger in order to understand the powerful connection between the massive trees and the world&rsquo;s last great explorers.

The Wild Trees

A Story of Passion and Daring with the World's Last True Explorers

Jack O'Connor

When Jack O'Connor took over as Kerry football manager in 2004, he was a relative unknown. Three All-Ireland finals, and two titles, later, he stepped down, having established himself as one of the greats. Keys to the Kingdom is his vivid account of those three seasons in the most high-pressure job in Irish sport.

Keys to the Kingdom

David Goldblatt

The Ball is Round

A Global History of Football

Lawrence Booth

What's the difference between short leg and deep midwicket? When would you be thinking about bowling a yorker? What's so great about the sound of leather on willow? Cricket&rsquo;s vocabulary is a mixture of jargon and clich&eacute;, poetry and prose, misty-eyed romanticism and old-gits&rsquo; cynicism. Arm-ball to Zooter is a witty guide to the peculiarities of the game, its history and major figures; cricket-lovers might find their own pet hates confirmed; cricket newcomers might be amazed at what cricket-lovers have been up to all these years.

Arm-ball to Zooter

A Sideways Look at the Language of Cricket

Micheal O Muircheartaigh

Miche&aacute;l &Oacute; Muircheartaigh is best known as the voice of the GAA. But his interests and enthusiasms &ndash; sporting and non-sporting &ndash; go far beyond the fields of Gaelic games. In his new book, the follow-up to his bestselling memoir From D&uacute;n S&iacute;on to Croke Park, Miche&aacute;l brings us along on his travels around the world, and to the villages, townlands and sporting fields of the four provinces of Ireland. He recalls great days at the races and in sporting stadiums big and small, and great nights in the dance halls. Above all, he tells the stories of these places and the people he has encountered there &ndash; stories told as only Miche&aacute;l can tell them.

From Borroloola to Mangerton Mountain

Travels and Stories from Ireland's Most Beloved Broadcaster

Tom Humphries

Dublin and Kerry. They were the aristocrats of Gaelic football, with over fifty All-Ireland titles between them, but as the 1974 season dawned, the fans of these two great counties could not have guessed what lay ahead. For the first time, Tom Humphries tells the full story of Dublin and Kerry, on and off the field, over the decade that followed &mdash; a decade defined by a rivalry that lifted the sport to heights of drama and popularity that it had never known before.

Dublin v Kerry

Iain Sinclair

In 1841 the poet John Clare fled an asylum in Epping Forest and walked eighty miles to his home in Northborough. He was searching for his lost love, Mary Joyce &ndash; a woman three years dead &hellip; 
 
In 2000 Iain Sinclair set out to recreate Clare&rsquo;s walk away from madness. He wanted to understand his bond with the poet and escape the gravity of his London obsessions. Accompanied on this journey by his wife Anna (who shares a connection with Clare), the artist Brian Catling and magus Alan Moore &ndash; as well as a host of literary ghosts, both visionary and romantic &ndash; Sinclair&rsquo;s quest for Clare becomes an investigation into madness, sanity and the nature of the poet&rsquo;s muse.

Edge of the Orison

In the Traces of John Clare's 'Journey Out of Essex'

When Saturday Comes

The best chants, the funniest nicknames, the greatest headlines and enough little-known facts to keep the average football supporter entertained - and entertaining - for several seasons. This is the story of the greatest game on earth, from 'abandoned matches' to 'Yeovil Town', via celebrity fans, mascots, punditry and superstitions, written from the fan's point of view and with a separate entry for every club in the English and Scottish leagues. 
 
Who cares why, if Torquay United's strikers had been more prolific in the 1950s, England may never have won the World Cup; or where football hooliganism actually began; or who the hell Captain Henry Blythe Thornhill Wakelam is? 
 
We do. Because as every true student of the game knows: it's important.

The Half Decent Football Book

Ellen MacArthur

Just after 10.00 on the night of February 7th 2004, Ellen MacArthur crossed an imaginary line in the sea off Brittany to become the fastest person ever to sail solo round the world.  The record was held by a frenchman, Francis Joyon.  He'd slashed over 20 days off the previous record and many thought his extraordinary new benchmark would stand for 10 years or more.  Most experts thought that the record would be beyond MacArthur.  But in a superhuman effort that forced her to dig deeper than ever before, she proved the doubters wrong.  Her effort captured the world's imagination and the scenes that greeted her return to Falmouth were euphoric.  She had become, some claimed, the finest sailor her country had every produced.  Drawing on logs, emails, sound and video diaries, this beautifully designed, fully illustrated book captures the drama, excitement, danger, joy and tears of a truly extraordinary achievement - in Ellen's own words.

Race Against Time

Griff Rhys Jones

In the summer of 2002, two profoundly amateur sailors, Griff and Bob, set off in an elderly yacht for Russia, because, on the map, it looked easier than sailing to Cornwall. They took Baines with them, as he knew how to mend the engine. And this is their story. 
 
Over four long months of applied bickering in a vessel no bigger than a London taxi, they visited most of the geographically interesting restaurants on the Baltic seaboard. They sailed, over, and, even at one point, onto the mysterious heart of the Nordic world. They pushed themselves to the very limits of human endurance, before finally agreeing to wash their sleeping bags on a cool cycle at number six. 
 
To the Baltic with Bob is the full account of their stirring journey through the longest heat wave the frozen north has ever suffered; of three men in search of the answer to a troubling question: can you really outmanoeuvre a mid-life crisis by running away to sea?

To the Baltic with Bob

An Epic Misadventure

Nasser Hussain

Nasser Hussain was acclaimed as England's best cricket captain since Mike Brearley. Under his leadership, a side more famous for its batting collapses and ability to seize defeat from the jaws of victory discovered its backbone. With coach Duncan Fletcher he put some steel into the side; they became a difficult team to beat. 
 
Hussain wore his heart on his sleeve: railing against complacency, defying critics of his place in the batting line-up and making a principled stand at the last World Cup when the ECB seemed incapable of it. 
 
Expect passion, integrity, insight and candour in his eagerly awaited autobiography.

Playing With Fire

Eugen Herrigel

The path to achieving Zen (a balance between the body and the mind) is brilliantly explained by Professor Eugen Herrigel in this timeless account. 
 
This book is the result of the author&rsquo;s six year quest to learn archery in the hands of Japanese Zen masters. It is an honest account of one man&rsquo;s journey to complete abandonment of &lsquo;the self&rsquo; and the Western principles that we use to define ourselves. Professor Herrigel imparts knowledge from his experiences and guides the reader through physical and spiritual lessons in a clear and insightful way. 
 
Mastering archery is not the key to achieving Zen, and this is not a practical guide to archery. It is more a guide to Zen principles and learning and perfect for practitioners and non-practitioners alike.

Zen in the Art of Archery

Training the Mind and Body to Become One

A brilliant voyage of discovery into the deeply unfashionable fringes of London. 
 
'It isn't often that one reads a book and is convinced that it's an instant classic, but I'm sure that LONDON ORBITAL will be read 50 years from now. This account of his walk around the M25 is on one level a journey into the heart of darkness, that terrain of golf courses, retail parks and industrial estates which is Blair's Britain. It's a fascinating snapshot of who we are, lit by Sinclair's vivid prose, andon another level a warning that the mythological England of village greens and cycling aunts has been buried under the rush of a million radial tyres' 
J. G. Ballard, Observer

London Orbital

When Ellen finished the Vendee Globe, yachting's toughest race aged just 24 the nation took her to it's heart. The depth of the affection for Ellen is extraordinary - she makes people feel like they can do anything! 
 
This is her story, written intrue Ellen style, in her own words, without the help of a ghost writer. 
 
Passionate, dramatic and and deeply affecting, her story will move and inspire all who read it.

Taking on the World

Tim Ecott

A brilliant mix of vivid reportage, history and science. Historical diving bells, greek sponge divers, world war two frogmen and record-setting breath hold divers compete for space with misunderstood sharks, weeping turtles, smiling dolphins and erotically shaped sea slugs. From Ireland to Florida, Papua New Guinea to Vienna and the Bahamas to Seychelles, Neutral Buoyancy is travel writing of the most fascinating, readable kind; providing a window - or a view from a glass bottomed boat - on a rich, unfamiliar and unique destination. Travel writing of this quality makes Neutral Buoyancy a must for all armchair travellers, not just divers.

Neutral Buoyancy

Adventures in a Liquid World

Paul Theroux

Paul Theroux invites us to join him on one of his most exotic and tantalizing adventures exploring the coasts and blue lagoons of the Pacific Islands, and taking up residence to discover the secrets of these isles. 
 
Theroux is a mesmerizing narrator &ndash; brilliant, witty, keenly perceptive as he floats through Gauguin landscapes, sails in the wake of Captain Cook and recalls the bewitching tales of Jack London and Robert Louis Stevenson. Alone in his kayak, paddling to seldom visited shores, he glides through time and space, discovering a world of islands, their remarkable people, and in turn, happiness. 
 
&lsquo;A sharp, fascinating and highly entertaining book &hellip; Theroux at his best&rsquo; Daily Telegraph.

The Happy Isles of Oceania

Paddling the Pacific

Dick Francis

DICK FRANCIS was one of the most successful post-war National Hunt jockeys and author of forty-three bestselling novels, a volume of short stories (Field of 13), the biography of Lester Piggott and his own autobiography (The Sport of Queens). He was rightly acclaimed as one of the greatest thriller writers in the world. 
 
 Since his death, his son FELIX FRANCIS has taken over the literary reigns from his father and Dick's legacy lives on through the Dick Francis novels. The Francis flair is clear for all to see in these national treasure thrillers, and readers will appreciate the sporadic reappearance of beloved series characters Sid Halley and Jeff Hinkley.

Valentine, a blind, confused and dying old man, seeking his peace with God, makes his last confession to a visiting friend, Thoms Lyon, mistaking him for a priest. Thomas, in Newmarket to research for a new film, is placed in a moral dilemma. Wild horses wouldn't drag from a priest the secrets of the confessional - but then Thomas is not a priest. Should he tell what he knows from the confession, or not? He discovers that the solution to his quandary could mean the difference between life and death. WILD HORSES is a masterly mix of convincing characters, fine writing and an inscrutable and ingenious plot.

Wild Horses

Robert Glover

In this completely revised and expanded edition of the must-have runner's reference book Bob Glover and Shelly-Ann Florence Glover outline everything you need to train successfully. From the official training program for the New York City Marathon to specific training programs for all levels of runners. Sections on how to prepare your own training schedules make this the definitive guide to training to compete as a runner.

The Competitive Runner's Handbook

Eamon Dunphy

"The best book about football I have read by someone who has actually played the game...everyone who has ever dreamt of a sporting career should read it" Nick Hornby 
 
The season began so well for the Republic of Ireland international midfielder Eamon Dunphy at Millwall -- and ended in disillusionment and being on the transfer list. In this classic memoir, he charts the progress of the team during a season that begins with such high hopes and is filled throughout with high drama. Populated with extraordinary characters -- and with access to the dressing room that would be impossible today -- Only a Game? is both a riveting read and an exceptional insight into professional sport.

Only a Game?

The Diary of a Professional Footballer

Donegan Lawrence

In this very funny sports book (a cross between Nick Hornby and Bill Bryson) young journalist Lawrence Donegan tells the story of the summer he spent caddying for Scottish golfer Ross Drummond, ranked over 400 in the world,on the European Tour. Thisis the inside story of the geniuses,the cheats, the gurus and the hangers-on that make up the golf scene. 
 
&quot;A joy to read. Not since Bill Bryson plotted a random route through small-town America has such a breezy idea for a book had a happier or funnier result&quot; - Lynne Truss, The Times 
 
&quot;Funny, beautifully observed and it tells you things about sport in general and golf in particular that nobody else had thought to pass on&quot; - Patrick Collins, Mail on Sunday

Four Iron in the Soul

John Updike

As a golfer for almost forty years, John Updike has written frequently about the game. This gathering of his pieces covers everything from the peculiar charms of bad golf and the satisfactions of an essentially losing struggle to the camaraderie of good golf and its own attendant perils.

Golf Dreams

Jeremy Paxman

Jeremy Paxman has created the perfect literary catch for fellow angling enthusiasts in this rich and varied anthology. Ten thoroughly entertaining themed chapters include 'Ones That Got Away', 'Ones That Didn't Get Away' and 'Fish That Bit Back'. Each is introduced by Paxman's own sharp, humorous observations and features both contemporary and historical writing about fishing in prose and verse, covering everything from tench tickling to piranha attacks. Some pieces are well known favourites, others are obscure, every one is a delight. 
 
'A superb compilation because it roams from carp to cod, trout to tarpon and does not regurgitate the same old clippings. Paxman has clearly read widely and wisely in putting this together ... probably the definitive anthology of angling writing.' Keith Elliott, Independent on Sunday.

Fish, Fishing and the Meaning of Life

Meg Jones

Eight years ago, tennis stars Ruari Reilly and Noemi De Rosa played more than just matches at the Olympic camp. One fiery fling. One broken heart. One unforgettable romance that ended too soon.Now the Scottish rebel and Italy’s golden girl are back on the same court, battling for glory. The chemistry’s still electric, the competition fierce, and the stakes higher than a Grand Slam final.He’s serving charm. She’s returning fire. But when love’s in play, even champions can lose control.Game. Set. Second chance.

Match Point

J.K. MacLaren

When Juliette Marchmont becomes the first female driver in F1, she knows it’s her one shot to prove she has what it takes to win. She has sceptical managers, rivals, and fans to prove wrong, all while driving the worst car on the grid...and her teammate is the man who broke her heart. 
 
Dominic Hastings is the Prince of Racing, but all his composure and accolades couldn't stop his own father from firing him after a disastrous performance last season. He's desperate to show his distant, secretive father and the rest of the racing world that he's far from finished...but can he survive working with the woman who destroyed his life? 
 
Forced to train in close quarters, Dominic and Juliette butt heads on and off the racetrack. As the competition grows ever more heated, and their connection undeniable, they start to wonder if the bruised love between them might be repaired after all...but they can't afford distractions. Teammates or no, only one driver can emerge as world champion, and each is willing to do whatever it takes to cross the finish line first.

Full Throttle

Robert Kurson

In 1991, sixty miles off the coast of New Jersey, at the incredible depth of 230 feet underwater, two amateur divers, John Chatterton and Richie Kohler, find what divers dream about: an undisturbed wreck that they soon identify as a German U-boat.Week by week – and then year by year – these two polar-opposite figures and their team of daredevil divers seek to identify the vessel that in the meantime they call “U-Who”; three divers, including a father and son, die while trying to do so. No historian or government can solve the puzzle and official records agree that there couldn’t be a U-boat there.But after increasingly perilous diving…and painstaking archival research…and gaining the trust of retired U-boat crew…these two polar-opposite divers, who move from being rivals to comrades, finally identify it as U-869 and work out what on earth it’s doing there.Then they trace the families of the men who died on U-869, whose bones they’d agreed they wouldn’t touch, in an ending worthy of Steven Spielberg.It’s a story of – among other things – persistence, ingenuity and a shared obsession…

Shadow Divers

The True Adventure of Two Daredevils who Found Hitler’s Lost Submarine

MK Hardy Ltd

Drown your ghosts… or die trying?Autumn 2006. Low-rise jeans are in, grunge is out, and all Spencer Brown should be worrying about is his new job as Assistant Swim Coach at Crestwood University. It’s been 10 years since that fateful night in the university’s wellness centre, but Spencer is determined to sink his skeletons and focus on a winning season for his team.? 
 
Until two swimmers are found dead in the pool the first night of training. While everyone assumes it was an accidentally tragedy, Spencer is overcome with an ominous sense of déjà vu – this isn’t the first-time blood was spilt in the wellness centre. As freak accidents turn into something more sinister, the pool echoes with the ghosts of Spencer’s past, this time demanding to be heard.

Splasher

S. Rena

I have one shot to build a better life—not just for me, but for my little brother still stuck in the dump I escaped from. Now that I’ve gotten to Sovereign Kings University, I have to make it worth it. Keep my head down, ignore the rich kids, and graduate. 
 
At least that was my plan before I busted a hockey player’s knee and became public enemy number one. Now the team’s golden boy captain, Alexander, leads the charge against me. Kane, the brooding defenseman never misses a chance to humiliate me. Yet, being painfully ignored by Mountain, the reserved giant of a goalie, may just hurt the most. 
 
Beneath their hostility I find sparks of desire and unexpected depth, but can I risk losing my heart to one hockey player—let alone all three? I’m certainly in for a long, hard season.

On Thin Ice

Harry Sidebottom

Bestselling author Harry Sidebottom takes readers on a thrilling journey through a day in the life of the most iconic figure of the ancient world: the Roman gladiator 
 
'Wonderfully panoramic … endlessly informative, rich with unexpected detail but never heavy to read' Literary Review 
 
'Blends extensive research with a talent for vivid storytelling to distil 700 years of gladiator history into the 24 hours around match day, from eve-of-fight rituals to stripping the corpses' 
The Times 
 
'Grippingly original' Tom Holland, Sunday Times bestselling author of Dominion 
'Thrilling... every page sizzles' Alice Loxton, Sunday Times bestselling author of Eighteen 
'Fascinating' Matthew Kneale, Sunday Times bestselling author of Rome 
 
Dressed in armour and clutching a bloody sword, the Roman gladiator is the most iconic figure of the ancient world. Both fascinating and repulsive to us now, he was in his own time a deeply controversial character, by turns hated and idealized – and always at the heart of Roman culture. But what did he really mean to the Romans? What did they see in the gladiator and the spectacle of the games? And what does he reveal to us today about the Roman way of life? 
 
Brilliantly written and meticulously researched, this book tells the stories of the gladiators and those who observed them – from grand emperors to lowly slaves – illuminating and analysing the all-consuming passion of the Roman Empire for the spectacle of mortal combat. In doing so, it reveals Roman ideas about everything from freedom and servitude to sex and desire, from courage and cowardice to death and the afterlife. 
 
Taking readers on an unforgettable twenty-four-hour adventure – beginning the night before the games and ending the evening after – Those Who Are About To Die gives a blow-by-blow account of what life was really like in the brutally unforgiving arena of the ancient world.

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