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A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK • The forgotten story of a pioneering group of five Black ballerinas and their fifty-year sisterhood,…
a legacy erased from history—until now.&“This is the kind of history I wish I learned as a child dreaming of the stage!&” —Misty Copeland, author of Black Ballerinas: My Journey to Our Legacy &“Utterly absorbing, flawlessly-researched…Vibrant, propulsive, and inspiring, The Swans of Harlem is a richly drawn portrait of five courageous women whose contributions have been silenced for too long!&” —Tia Williams, author of A Love Song for Ricki WildeAt the height of the Civil Rights movement, Lydia Abarca was a Black prima ballerina with a major international dance company—the Dance Theatre of Harlem, a troupe of women and men who became each other&’s chosen family. She was the first Black company ballerina on the cover of Dance magazine, an Essence cover star; she was cast in The Wiz and in a Bob Fosse production on Broadway. She performed in some of ballet&’s most iconic works with other trailblazing ballerinas, including the young women who became her closest friends—founding Dance Theatre of Harlem members Gayle McKinney-Griffith and Sheila Rohan, as well as first-generation dancers Karlya Shelton and Marcia Sells.These Swans of Harlem performed for the Queen of England, Mick Jagger, and Stevie Wonder, on the same bill as Josephine Baker, at the White House, and beyond. But decades later there was almost no record of their groundbreaking history to be found. Out of a sisterhood that had grown even deeper with the years, these Swans joined forces again—to share their story with the world.Captivating, rich in vivid detail and character, and steeped in the glamour and grit of professional ballet, The Swans of Harlem is a riveting account of five extraordinarily accomplished women, a celebration of both their historic careers and the sustaining, grounding power of female friendship, and a window into the robust history of Black ballet, hidden for too long.By Steve Gleason, Jeff Duncan. 2024
From NFL player Steve Gleason, a powerful, inspiring memoir of love, heartbreak, resilience, family, and remarkable triumph in the face…
of ALSIn 2011, three years after leaving the NFL, Steve Gleason was diagnosed with ALS, a terminal disease that takes away the ability to move, talk, and breathe. Doctors gave him three years to live. He was thirty-three years old. As Steve says, he is now ten years past his expiration date.His memoir is the chronicle of a remarkable life, one filled with optimism and joy, despite the trauma and pain and despair he has experienced. Writing using eye-tracking technology, Gleason covers his pre-ALS life through the highs and lows of his NFL career with the New Orleans Saints, where he made one of the most memorable plays in Saints history, leading to a victory in the first post-Katrina home game, uplifting the city, making him a hero, and reflected in a nine-foot bronze statue outside the Superdome. Then came his heartbreaking diagnosis. Gleason lost all muscle function, he now uses Stephen Hawking-like technology to communicate, and breathes with the help of a ventilator. This book captures Gleason and his wife Michel&’s unmatched resilience as they reinvent their lives, refuse to succumb to despair, and face his disease realistically and existentially.This unsparing portrait argues that a person's true strength does not reside solely in one&’s body but also in the ability to face unfathomable adversity and still be able to love and treasure life.By Angel Au-Yeung, David Jeans. 2023
A Financial Times best business book of 2023In 1998, at the age of 24, Tony Hsieh sold his first company…
to Microsoft for $265 million.In 2009, at the age of 35, he sold his e-commerce company, Zappos, to Amazon for $1.2 billion.In 2020, at the age of 46, he died.Tony Hsieh revolutionized both the tech world and corporate culture. He was a business visionary. He was also a man in search of happiness. So why did it all go so wrong?Tony Hsieh’s first successful venture was in middle school, selling personalized buttons. At Harvard, he made a profit compiling and selling study guides. From there, he went on to build the billion-dollar online shoe empire of Zappos.The secret to his success? Making his employees happy.At its peak, Zappos’s employee-friendly culture was so famous across the tech industry that it inspired copycats and earned a cult following. Then Hsieh moved the Zappos headquarters to Las Vegas, where he personally funded a nine-figure campaign to revitalize the city’s historic downtown area. But as Hsieh fell deeper into his struggles with mental health and drug addiction, the people making up his inner circle began changing from friends to enablers.Drawing on hundreds of interviews with a wide range of people whose lives Hsieh touched, journalists Angel Au-Yeung and David Jeans craft a rich portrait of a man who was plagued by his eternal search for happiness and ultimately succumbed to his own demons.By Candice Bergen. 2015
In this New York Times bestseller, acclaimed actress Candice Bergen “shows how to do a memoir right...The self-possessed, witty, and…
down-to-earth voice that made Bergen’s first memoir a hit when it was published in 1984 has only been deepened by life’s surprises” (The New York Times Book Review).“Candice Bergen is unflinchingly honest” (The Washington Post), and in A Fine Romance she describes her first marriage at age thirty-four to famous French director Louis Malle; her overpowering love for her daughter, Chloe; the unleashing of her inner comic with Murphy Brown; her trauma over Malle’s death; her joy at finding new love; and her pride at watching Chloe blossom. In her decidedly nontraditional marriage to the insatiably curious Louis, Bergen takes readers on world travels to the sets where each made films. Pregnant with Chloe at age thirty-nine, this mature primigravida also recounts a journey through motherhood that includes plundering the Warner Bros. costume closets for Halloween getups and never leaving her ever-expanding menagerie out of the fun. She offers priceless, behind-the-scenes looks at Murphy Brown, from caterwauling with Aretha Franklin to the surreal experience of becoming headline news when Dan Quayle took exception to her character becoming a single mother. Bergen tackles familiar rites of passage with moving honesty: the rigors of caring for a spouse in his final illness, getting older, and falling in love again after she was tricked into a blind date. By the time the last page is turned, “we’re all likely to be wishing Bergen herself—funny, insightful, self-deprecating, flawed (and not especially concerned about that), and slugging her way through her older years with bemused determination—was living next door” (USA TODAY).By Cat Marnell. 2017
From the New York Times bestselling author and former beauty editor Cat Marnell, a &“vivid, maddening, heartbreaking, very funny, chaotic&”…
(The New York Times) memoir of prescription drug addiction and self-sabotage, set in the glamorous world of fashion magazines and downtown nightclubs.At twenty-six, Cat Marnell was an associate beauty editor at Lucky, one of the top fashion magazines in America—and that&’s all most people knew about her. But she hid a secret life. She was a prescription drug addict. She was also a &“doctor shopper&” who manipulated Upper East Side psychiatrists for pills, pills, and more pills; a lonely bulimic who spent hundreds of dollars a week on binge foods; a promiscuous party girl who danced barefoot on banquets; a weepy and hallucination-prone insomniac who would take anything—anything—to sleep. This is a tale of self-loathing, self-sabotage, and yes, self-tanner. It begins at a posh New England prep school—and with a prescription for the Attention Deficit Disorder medication Ritalin. It continues to New York, where we follow Marnell&’s amphetamine-fueled rise from intern to editor through the beauty departments of NYLON, Teen Vogue, Glamour, and Lucky. We see her fight between ambition and addiction and how, inevitably, her disease threatens everything she worked so hard to achieve. From the Condé Nast building to seedy nightclubs, from doctors&’ offices and mental hospitals, Marnell &“treads a knife edge between glamorizing her own despair and rendering it with savage honesty.…with the skill of a pulp novelist&” (The New York Times Book Review) what it is like to live in the wild, chaotic, often sinister world of a young female addict who can&’t say no. Combining &“all the intoxicating intrigue of a thriller and yet all the sobering pathos of a gifted writer&’s true-life journey to recover her former health, happiness, ambitions, and identity&” (Harper&’s Bazaar), How to Murder Your Life is mesmerizing, revelatory, and necessary.By Arman Azadi. 2024
Arman is just a boy when he is forced to leave his home and embark on the most extraordinary journey.…
Separated from family and friends, he travels across mountains, land and sea to find refuge. After encountering bandits, war and wolves, and surviving a hazardous boat crossing, he arrives at Dover, clinging to the underside of a lorry. Little did he know, his journey had just begun.Unable to speak English, Arman battles loneliness, despair and the reawakening of his traumas in this new strange place. Memories of his family haunt him. The dark clouds almost consume him. And still he persists, step-by-step.What follows is a struggle for self-understanding, and the great strength it takes to overcome the trauma we carry. Running through is the long journey to find peace, and how education is the most powerful tool to seeing one's life through new eyes.This is the unforgettable, heartfelt and transformative story, from a child who deserved to live in safety, not flee in fear. Arman's is a powerful new voice you won't forget and Across Mountains, Land and Sea the perfect book for fans of I Am Malala, Educated and Butterfly.By Beth Nguyen. 2023
Named a Best Memoir of 2023 by Oprah Daily Selected by Time , NPR, and BookPage as a Best Book…
of 2023 "This book...is what memoir writing in the hands of a caring, curious wunderkind can be." —Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy From the award-winning author of Stealing Buddha's Dinner, a powerful memoir of a mother-daughter relationship fractured by war and resettlement. At the end of the Vietnam War, when Beth Nguyen was eight months old, she and her family fled Saigon for America. Only Beth's mother stayed—or was left—behind, and they did not meet again until Beth was nineteen. Over the course of her adult life, she and her mother have spent less than twenty-four hours together. Owner of a Lonely Heart is "a portrait of things left unsaid" ( The New York Times ), a memoir about parenthood, absence, and the condition of being a refugee: the story of Beth's relationship with her mother. Framed by a handful of visits over the course of many years—sometimes brief, sometimes interrupted, some alone with her mother and others with the company of her sister—Beth tells an "unforgettable" ( People ) coming-of-age story that spans her childhood in the Midwest, her first meeting with her mother, and her own experience of parenthoodBy Ronda Rousey. 2024
From New York Times bestselling author and trailblazing athlete Ronda Rousey, an unfiltered chronicle of loss, resilience and finding meaning…
in life's journey. From the moment she burst onto the MMA scene, Ronda Rousey was unbeatable. She repeatedly strung together back-to-back flawless victories, racking up a collection of records and forever changing the face of sports as the UFC's first female champion. A superstar in her sport, she transcended athletics, appearing in blockbuster films and becoming a role model for women everywhere. Then, on November 15, 2015, it all came crashing down. In OUR FIGHT, Rousey explores the greatest challenge of her life and, ultimately, how she rebuilt her life into something better in the aftermath. She recounts how she replaced her pursuit of perfection with the pursuit of happiness and found an opportunity in disguise amongst the wreckage. Following Rousey's relatable journey, OUR FIGHT is a courageous narrative of career changes, marriage, motherhood, and facing your fearsThe Sunday Times bestseller and winner of the Sunday Times Sports Book Awards Autobiography of the Year 2023Fully updated paperback…
edition, with two new chaptersBeth Mead is one of the world's most talented footballers - Golden Boot winner and Player of the Tournament at the UEFA Euro 2022, England Player of the Year 2021-22, Arsenal Player of the Season 2021-22, and nominee for the 2022 Ballon d'Or. But long before this, Beth was just an ordinary kid from Hinderwell, North Yorkshire who wanted to play football. Now, Beth shares the challenges that shaped her, what she faced on the journey to the top, and the life events that made her stronger - from being dropped from the England squad and receiving devastating family news, to finding her best form under the guidance of Jonas Eidevall and Sarina Wiegman. Filled with positive lessons and an exclusive account of England's triumphant Euros campaign, Beth offers readers of all ages a heartfelt, behind-the-scenes look into her remarkable journey to glory. Empowering, inspirational and honest, this is Beth's story.This paperback edition has been fully updated to include the details of the 2022-23 season, Beth's ACL injury and her recovery, her thoughts on the 2023 Women's World Cup, as well as overcoming devastating personal challenges and how this has made her even stronger.By Denise Chong. 2024
From the bestselling author of The Concubine&’s Children and The Girl in the Picture, a gripping story of a domestic assault…
that shocked the world, of the exercise of power and political influence, and of the Bangladeshi woman whose irrepressible spirit found light in sudden darkness.From the outside, Rumana seemed an unlikely victim of domestic abuse: married to a man of her own choosing and progressing in her career as a professor of international relations at Dhaka University. But in 2011, on return from graduate studies at the University of British Columbia, her husband attacked and blinded her in front of their young daughter. As Rumana's horrifying story garnered international headlines, and connections brought her to Vancouver in an attempt—ultimately futile—to restore her sight, her plight underscored the fact that there are no typical victims of intimate-partner violence. Denise Chong goes behind the headlines to reveal the devolution of a love story into a tale of tyranny behind closed doors, and the pursuit of justice that proved all the more elusive during the rise of social media. Out of Darkness tells a globe-spanning narrative of loyalty, perseverance and a woman&’s determination to face the future and rebuild a life with meaning.By Air Commodore John Mitchell, Sean Feast. 2010
An RAF pilot who flew around the world with Winston Churchill during World War II tells his story. An…
RAF Volunteer Reserve officer, John Mitchell was mobilized on the outbreak of war—and just missed going to join a Battle Squadron in France where he would have undoubtedly been killed. Instead, he was posted to No. 58 Squadron flying Whitleys, surviving a tour of operations in 1940–41 that included ditching in the North Sea. Awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, he was sent to the US, becoming involved in the development of the first navigation training simulators with the famous Link Trainer factory. There, he was awarded the US Legion of Merit, signed by Harry S. Truman. Then, returning to the UK in 1942, he was personally selected to join the crew of Winston Churchill&’s private aircraft, one of the early prototype Avro Yorks called Ascalon. For two years he navigated Churchill to conferences around the world—from North Africa to Italy, the Middle East to Moscow, including the famous Teheran and Yalta conferences. He also flew &“General Lyon&” (aka His Majesty George VI) on several occasions. After the war, he enjoyed an eventful career as an air attaché, including an intelligence posting to Moscow, and was senior navigation officer for the long range exercises over the Pole in the converted Lincoln, Aries III. His is an exceptional story, told with wit and verve to military aviation historian Sean Feast, who adds authoritative and informed insights.By Billy Connolly. 2021
In his first full-length autobiography, comedy legend and national treasure Billy Connolly reveals the truth behind his windswept and interesting…
life.Born in a tenement flat in Glasgow in 1942, orphaned by the age of 4, and a survivor of appalling abuse at the hands of his own family, Billy's life is a remarkable story of success against all the odds.Billy found his escape first as an apprentice welder in the shipyards of the River Clyde. Later he became a folk musician - a 'rambling man' - with a genuine talent for playing the banjo. But it was his ability to spin stories, tell jokes and hold an audience in the palm of his hand that truly set him apart.As a young comedian Billy broke all the rules. He was fearless and outspoken - willing to call out hypocrisy wherever he saw it. But his stand-up was full of warmth, humility and silliness too. His startling, hairy 'glam-rock' stage appearance - wearing leotards, scissor suits and banana boots - only added to his appeal.It was an appearance on Michael Parkinson's chat show in 1975 - and one outrageous story in particular - that catapulted Billy from cult hero to national star. TV shows, documentaries, international fame and award-winning Hollywood movies followed. Billy's pitch-perfect stand-up comedy kept coming too - for over 50 years, in fact - until a double diagnosis of cancer and Parkinson's Disease brought his remarkable live performances to an end. Since then he has continued making TV shows, creating extraordinary drawings... and writing.Windswept and Interesting is Billy's story in his own words. It is joyfully funny - stuffed full of hard-earned wisdom as well as countless digressions on fishing, farting and the joys of dancing naked. It is an unforgettable, life-affirming story of a true comedy legend.'I didn't know I was Windswept and Interesting until somebody told me. It was a friend who was startlingly exotic himself. He'd just come back from Kashmir and was all billowy shirt and Indian beads. I had long hair and a beard and was swishing around in electric blue flairs.He said: "Look at you - all windswept and interesting!"I just said: "Exactly!"After that, I simply had to maintain my reputation...'By Rachel Lloyd. 2011
"Powerfully raw, deeply moving, and utterly authentic. Rachel Lloyd has turned a personal atrocity into triumph and is nothing less…
than a true hero.... Never again will you look at young girls on the street as one of 'those' women—you will only see little girls that are girls just like us." —Demi Moore, actress and activist With the power and verity of First They Killed My Father and A Long Way Gone, Rachel Lloyd’s riveting survivor story is the true tale of her hard-won escape from the commercial sex industry and her bold founding of GEMS, New York City’s Girls Education and Mentoring Service, to help countless other young girls escape "the life." Lloyd’s unflinchingly honest memoir is a powerful and unforgettable story of inhuman abuse, enduring hope, and the promise of redemption.By Jennifer Sey. 2008
Updated With a New Introduction“I am grateful to Jennifer Sey for sharing such an honest account of her experiences as…
an elite gymnast. She has eloquently and fairly exposed a dark side to our sport that parents have long needed to be made aware of.”—Dominique Moceanu, Olympic Gold Medal Winning GymnastFanciful dreams of becoming the next Nadia Comaneci led Jennifer Sey to become a gymnast at the age of six. Her early success propelled her family to sacrifice everything to help her become, by age 11, one of America’s elite. But as she set her sights higher and higher, Jennifer began to change, setting her needs, her health, and her well-being aside in the name of winning. And the adults in her life refused to notice her downward spiral.Now, Sey reveals the tarnish beneath her gold medals. A powerful portrait of intensity and drive, eating disorders and stage parents, abusive coaches and manipulative businessmen, Chalked Up is the story of a young girl whose dreams would become subsumed by the adults around her.By Shannon Molloy. 2020
Optioned for a major film and adapted to the stage, Fourteen is this generation&’s Holding the Man – a moving coming-of-age…
memoir about a young man&’s search for identity and acceptance in the most unforgiving and hostile of places: high school. This is a story about my fourteenth year of life as a gay kid at an all-boys rugby-mad Catholic school in regional Queensland. It was a year in which I started to discover who I was, and deeply hated what was revealed. It was a year in which I had my first crush and first devastating heartbreak. It was a year of torment, bullying and betrayal – not just at the hands of my peers, but by adults who were meant to protect me. And it was a year that almost ended tragically. I found solace in writing and my budding journalism; in a close-knit group of friends, all growing up too quickly together; and in the fierce protection of family and a mother&’s unconditional love. These were moments of light and hilarity that kept me going. As much as Fourteen is a chronicle of the enormous struggle and adversity I endured, and the shocking consequences of it all, it&’s also a tale of survival. Because I did survive.Longlisted for the 2021 ABIA Biography Book of the Year &‘Teenagers should read this book, parents should read this book. Human beings, above all, should read this book.&’ Rick Morton, bestselling author of One Hundred Years of Dirt &‘I love this book … a beautifully written account of a young man struggling with his sexuality, overcoming shocking abuse and finding his way to pride.&’ Peter FitzSimons, bestselling author &‘Shannon is unflinching in recounting the horror, but he is also funny, empathetic and, above all, full of courage.&’ Bridie Jabour, author of The Way Things Should Be &‘A slice of life as experienced quite recently in the &“lucky country&”.&’ The Hon Michael Kirby, AC CMG &‘Shannon's bitter struggle is painfully recognisable and happening in playgrounds around the world. But he not only triumphs, he relives his past using his best weapon: beautiful words.&’ Australian Women&’s Weekly &‘A stunning memoir about heartbreak and acceptance … a unique, hilarious and bittersweet insight into the heart of a boy, the courage of survival, and the fierce love of a mother.&’ Frances Whiting, Courier Mail &‘Australia hasn&’t changed all that much from what Shannon describes in Fourteen. Marriage equality isn&’t the end; there is still such a long way to go, and books like this are an important part of that journey.&’ FIVE STARS. Good Reading &‘Intensely raw and incredibly moving.&’ OUTinPerth 'A book in which many will undoubtably see themselves and take solace' The AgeBy Jennifer Craig. 2011
'What is your name?' she asks, staring at me.'Jennifer Ross.''Jennifer Ross, Sister. Well, Nurse Ross, you are dressed in the…
uniform of a nurse from the Leeds General Infirmary. Such a uniform is not worn with a cardigan. Take it off at once.''Yes Sister.' I can feel my face turn red.A trainee nurse in the 1950s had a lot to bear. In Jennifer Craig's enchanting memoir, we meet these warm-hearted yet naïve young girls as they get to grips with strict discipline, long hours and bodily fluids. But we also see the camaraderie that develops in evening study sessions, sneaked trips to the cinema and mischievous escapades with the young trainee doctors. The harsh conditions prove too much for some girls, but the opportunity to help her patients in their time of need is too much of a pull for Jenny. As she commits to her vocation and knuckles down to her exams, she is determined that when she reaches the heights of Ward Sister herself she will not become the frightening matron that struck fear into her student heart ...Rich in period detail, and told with a good dose of Yorkshire humour, Yes Sister, No Sister is a life-affirming true story of a life long past.By Marguerite Penrose. 2022
'An engrossing, urgent, and entertaining read. I couldn't put it down' Roddy Doyle______Marguerite Penrose's is an extraordinary story of making…
a great life from complicated beginnings. Marguerite was born in a Dublin mother-and-baby home in 1974, the daughter of an Irish mother and a Zambian father. Severe scoliosis indicated a future of difficult medical procedures. She was a little girl who needed a break. And she got it at three when she was fostered - and later adopted - by a young couple, Mick and Noeline, and acquired a mam, dad, sister, Ciara, and loving extended family. Growing up, Marguerite's appearance was occasionally remarked on by strangers, but it wasn't until her teens that she understood that her skin colour was a provocation for some. The progressive city that she knew was revealed to have an unpleasant undercurrent. So, she became an expert in shaping her life around anything that marked her out as 'different'.Marguerite's story is one of facing some big questions - Who am I? How do I live in world made for people with bodies different to mine? Why does anyone care about my skin colour? - with intelligence, humour, courage and common-sense. She writes about coming to terms with the circumstances of her birth and, like so many in her position, looking for answers. About navigating the world as an active woman with a disability. About what it means to be both Irish and Black, particularly at a moment when the conversation is becoming mainstream in Ireland and she is thinking about it in new ways herself. Mostly, she writes about embracing life in a spirit of openness and positivity.Yeah, But Where Are You Really From? is a captivating, wise and inspiring memoir by a truly remarkable woman.___________'Beautiful, moving, tender and informative' SINÉAD MORIARTY'Wonderful' MIRIAM O'CALLAGHANBy Harry Redknapp. 2019
THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER'The beautiful game has taught me a lot, but I’ve had quite a life outside of football…
too. This book is full of my best stories – kickabouts with jumpers for goalposts with Bobby Moore, mine and Sandra’s disastrous honeymoon to Torquay in a dodgy car and my funniest ‘Mr Pastry’ moments – as well as my thoughts on the important things in life. I’m finally sharing what I’ve learned on and off the pitch: from growing up poor in Poplar to the heights of the Premiership and even lying in a coffin with a load of rats on national television. It’s everything I know about true team spirit, hard work, tough times, why family are so important and why everyone deserves respect no matter whether they’re royal or sleeping rough – and, of course, the real joy of a jam roly-poly.'If there's one thing that everyone has an opinion about it's how to bring up a child - especially your…
child. Kate Konopicky found herself an embattled mother, knowing that however hard she worked everything was wrong. If she went back to full-time employment she was neglecting her child. If she stayed at home the child would be clingy and shy. So, she became a combination of teacher, nurse, nutritionist, psychologist, entertainer and mind reader. She didn't get weekends off and never phoned in sick when she wanted a lie-in. The boss was illogical, demanding, incapable of undertaking the simplest task. Yes, we've all had jobs like that but at least we got paid for them. Kate Konopicky is an anarchic voice in the face of regimented parenting books. With brilliant humour, she'll make you believe you're not a failure when your fairy cakes don't rise, and you'll slowly come to realise that you may not be perfect but that you are doing your best.'A wildly irreverent look at the parenting game. This riotous look back over her first five years of motherhood will come as a relief to imperfect parents everywhere - in other words, to all parents.' You MagazineBy Rick Glanvill. 1996
Ian Wright is one of the English game's great football heroes. He is an England international and the leading marksman…
and trophy-winner for Arsenal. Yet he also regularly collects yellow cards, and is rarely out of the headlines.From humble beginnings to the heights of international stardom, this is the story of the rise of a boy from South London who has as many enemies as he has friends; of a role model who never forgot his roots; of a superstar, hungry for success, but almost denied the chance to play professional football by blatant discrimination and his own hot-headedness.