Secondhand Biographies

Kevin Lewis grew up on a council estate in South London. Beaten and starved by his parents, ignored by the social services and bullied at school, he was offered a...

A SUNDAY TIMES, THE TIMES, DAILY TELEGRAPH, SPECTATOR, FINANCIAL TIMES, GUARDIAN, BBC HISTORY BOOK OF THE YEAR'This is the biography we have been awaiting for 400 years' Hilary Mantel'A masterpiece'...

This title presents a timely and heartfelt memoir from movie legend Patrick Swayze and wife Lisa Niemi, about his remarkable career and battle against pancreatic cancer. In September 2009 movie...

Hoping to improve her Chinese and broaden her cultural horizons, Rachel DeWoskin went to work for an American PR firm in China. Before she knew it, she was not just...

Kate Garraway shares the raw and emotional story of the devastating impact that Covid-19 has had on her family - and how they are finding strength in hope.In March 2020,...

'Vivid and compelling and so moving... Kit's depiction of her parents' dynamic is both painful and comforting to read' Marian Keyes*Soon to be broadcast on BBC Radio 4*From the award-winning...

Adventures in advice with some of the world's most remarkable people.President Bill Clinton, Clare Balding, Stephen Fry, Dame Judi Dench, James Corden, Margaret Atwood, Sir David Attenborough, Annie Lennox, Andy...

After ten years living abroad, Tarquin Hall wanted to return to his native London. Lured by his nostalgia for a leafy suburban childhood spent in south-west London, he returned with...

A stunning and poignant account of an extraordinary teacher's determination never to abandon a child in need from the internationally bestselling author of 'One Child' and No. 1 bestseller 'Ghost...

`A gripping detective story, a stirring epic, a tale of ghosts and dark marvels, a thrilling display of scholarship, a meditation on the unfathomable mystery of good and evil, "The...

Paulo Coelho is a worldwide phenomenon. At a time when he is coming up to the fantastic achievement of 100 million copies sold worldwide across all his books, his fans...

Today, I'm starting a 'rent a person who does nothing' service . . . Except for very simple conversation, I'm afraid I can do nothing.Shoji Morimoto was constantly being told...

'For the past half-century Frank Field has been an outstanding parliamentarian, social reformer and champion of the disadvantaged. He joined the Labour Party at the age of 16 and was...

In this entertaining and insightful biography, award-winning writer Andrew Morton, author of Diana, Her True Story and Elizabeth & Margaret: The Intimate World of the Windsor Sisters, takes you behind...

Describing the nature of the child and her method, Maria Montessori explains in this text her beliefs - that once the general principles of her method have been grasped, the...

'With originality and subtlety, Diarmuid Hester examines how the gay imagination deals with place and with displacement, allowing for mystery and a kind of magic' Colm Toibin'Hester is a fizzingly...

The first volume of the 20th century's most phenomenally successful diaries, published alongside first paperback of THE LAST DIARIES.INTO POLITICS begins in 1973 with Clark's selection as Tory candidate for...

I had spent most of my childhood thinking I was a dog, and suspect I had aged in dog years. By the time I was ten I had discovered the...

Hyok Kang was eighteen when he escaped from North Korea, a country locked away from the outside world. This personal, illustrated account of school days in a rigidly communist institution...

The almost universal conception is that the life of Princess Margaret (1930-2002) was a tragic failure, a history of unfulfilment. Tim Heald's vivid and elegant biography portrays a woman who...

ARE YOU READY TO BELIEVE IN YOU? "Game-changing. Authentic. A must-read for every woman! Jamie is the real deal-and that's rare." -Glennon Doyle, #1 New York Times bestselling author of...

The day Koren turned fourteen she tasted alcohol for the first time. At fifteen she was piecing together forgotten fragments of drink, men and misplaced clothes. At sixteen she was...

Marisa Meltzer was put on her first diet aged five: it was the beginning of a fraught relationship with food.Jean Nidetch was a housewife from Queens who defiantly lost 70...

Tucker Max drinks to excess at inappropriate times, disregards social norms, indulges every whim, takes no responsibility for his actions, rebels against any authority, mocks idiots and posers, sleeps with...

As Meghan Markle once said: 'With fame comes opportunity, but it also includes responsibility - to advocate and share, to focus less on the glass slipper and more on pushing...

As Prime Minister for three years and Home Secretary for six years, Theresa May confronted a series of issues in which the abuse of power led to devastating results for...

'I want to eat everything in this book every single day for the rest of my life.' James AcasterFrom Spaced and Hot Fuzz to Paul and Truth Seekers, Nick Frost...

Dave Pelzer's bestselling autobiographical trilogy are an international phenomenon. Distressing, heartbreaking and yet inspirational, the fourth in the series guarantees the same level of success.His next book centres on his...

In his New York Times bestselling memoir, A Work in Progress, Connor Franta shared his journey from small-town Midwestern boy to full-fledged Internet sensation. Exploring his past with humor and...

The brilliant first biography of the man President Nixon called 'the most dangerous man in America'. Timothy Leary was one of the most controversial and divisive figures of the twentieth...

A journey through the most unlikely of gardens: the oases of peace people create in the midst of warIn this millennium, we have become war weary. From Afghanistan to Iraq,...

In her bestselling book Losses and Gains, Lya Luft draws on her own experiences of loss and gain in marriage and family to address the universal themes of childhood, love...

In the 1960s Charlie Richardson's "manor" was a profitable empire stretching from South London scrapyards and West End drinking clubs to mining in South Africa. Then, on the brink of...

The world needs new ideas, new products, new kinds of associations and institutions, new initiatives, new art and new designs. But these new things seldom come from established organisations. They...

John and Jenny were just beginning their life together. They were young and in love, with a perfect little house and not a care in the world. Then they bought...

'Confidence is about empowerment. It's about valuing who you are, not what you want to do or how you look. It's about finding the courage to live the life you...

A unique biography of a homeless man and a complete portrait of the hidden underclass. 'So here it is, my attempt at the story of Stuart Shorter, thief, hostage taker,...

'wonderful, moving, humorous ... extremely poignant' Charlie Mortimer, Dear Lupin'...by turns acidly funny, exasperating and poignant, painting a moving portrait both of mental illness and of a father in denial....

Buzbee celebrates the unique experience of the bookstore - the smell and touch of books, getting lost in the deep canyons of shelves, the silent community of readers - sharing...