The Personals reveals how classified ads are not just a few commercial lines of text in print or online - they can be a treasure trove of fascinating human stories; stories of love, loss, loneliness, redemption and hope.
'Captures both Barbara and her writing so miraculously' JILLY COOPERPicked as a Book to Look Forward to in 2021 by the Guardian, The Times and the ObserverA Radio 4 Book of the Week, April 2021Barbara Pym became beloved as one of the wittiest novelists of the late twentieth century, revealing the inner workings of domestic life so brilliantly that her friend Philip Larkin announced her the era's own Jane Austen.
A NEW STATESMAN BOOK OF THE YEARIn the vein of the Costa-winning Dadland, with the biographical elements of H is for Hawk, The Fragments of my Father is a powerful and poignant memoir about parents and children, freedom and responsibility, madness and creativity and what it means to be a carer.
Control Alcohol, Find Freedom, Discover Happiness & Change Your Life'Brilliant' - Stella DuffyMillions of people worry that drinking is affecting their health, yet are unwilling to seek change because of the misery and stigma associated with alcoholism and recovery.
The Sunday Times BestsellerFrom the award-winning writer of The Times Magazine's 'Spinal Column': a deeply moving, darkly funny, inspirational memoir'It's beautiful - full of love and light - and an exploration into not only how, but why we survive, despite everything' Christie Watson, author of The Language of KindnessOn Good Friday, 2010 Melanie Reid fell from her horse, breaking her neck and fracturing her lower back.
Michael Chabon, author of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, Manhood for Amateurs and Moonglow, returns with a collection of heartfelt, humorous and insightful essays on the meaning of fatherhood.
WINNER OF THE RSL ONDAATJE PRIZE 2019AN ECONOMIST BOOK OF THE YEARA CBC BOOK OF THE YEARThe extraordinary story of an indomitable 95-year-old woman - and of the most extraordinary century in Ethiopia's history.
From one of the most important chroniclers of our time, come two extended excerpts from her never-before-seen notebooks-writings that offer an illuminating glimpse into the mind and process of a legendary writer.
From New York Times bestselling author Amy Tan, a memoir on her life as a writer, her childhood and the symbiotic relationship between fiction and emotional memory.
'The best poet in America' Jean Genet'He brought everybody down to earth, even the angels' Leonard CohenThe definitive collection from a writer whose transgressive legacy and raw, funny, acutely observant writing has left an enduring markHere is Bukowski eating walnuts and scratching his back, rolling a cigarette while listening to Brahms, showering with Linda in the mid-afternoon.
From one of the greatest political journalists of recent times, an insider's account of four decades of covering the British political scene, packed with tales of the biggest political happenings of the last half century.
A Times and Sunday Times Best Book of 2020'Radical Wordsworth deserves to take its place as the finest modern introduction to his work, life and impact' Financial Times'Richly repays reading .
'Riveting, tragic tale' New Yorker'Anna Pasternak has produced an irresistible account of joy, suffering and passion' Financial TimesThe heartbreaking story of the passionate love affair between Boris Pasternak and Olga Ivinskaya - the tragic true story that inspired Doctor Zhivago.
'Compassionate and compelling, this is not a political story but a quest for love in the heart of darkness' Simon Sebag Montefiore'A biography on an epic scale, with a combination of tragedy and history worthy of a Russian novel' Independent'Superbly well told' Sunday TimesWho was Svetlana Alliluyeva?
A biography of Gaius Valerius Catullus, Rome's first great poet, a dandy who fell in love with another man's wife and made it known to the world through his verse.
Aristocrat, literary celebrity, 'Rose Queen', devoted wife, lesbian, recluse, iconoclast - Vita Sackville-West was many things, but she was never straightforward.
A book like no other - the tale of a gripping quest to discover the identity of history's most notorious murderer and a literary high-wire act from the legendary writer and director of Withnail and I.
'It's comfort reading at its most soothing' Independent'Funny, heartfelt and very readable' Good HousekeepingIn this reimagined modern classic, prepare to meet a young woman who thinks she knows everything.
The compelling autobiography of one of the great and most committed newsmen of our time: full, frank, and occasionally very funny, Jon Snow's memoirs are as revealing about the great and the not-so-good as about his own passionate involvement in the reporting of world affairsRead by the author.
The inside story of the one of the most successful British stand-up comedians, as told by the person best qualified to reveal all about the man behind the comic, his wife of over 20 years - Pamela Stephenson.
A short life of Dickens which celebrates the impact of the theatre on his life and workAcclaimed actor and writer Simon Callow captures the essence of Charles Dickens in a sparkling biography that explores the central importance of the theatre to the life of the greatest storyteller in the English language.
