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The Reluctant Bride: One Woman's Journey (Kicking and Screaming) Down the Aisle
By Lucy Mangan. 2010
Will Lucy make it down the aisle? It's going to be an uphill struggle . . . The bride: A…
late starter in life, Lucy always swore she'd never get married. But now she has to find a caterer who doesn't charge a fortune for a cupcake, a dressmaker who doesn't make her cry and a way to bring Great-Auntie Betty down from Dundee for the sixpence she is willing to spend - isn't it meant to be HER special day? The groom: Christopher has spent twenty minutes compiling his guest list and checking his suit fits before returning to his newspaper - this wedding business isn't so hard after all. The mother of the bride: Armed with colour-coded wedding planning folders she is all set. However, twice-daily conversations with her daughter don't seem to be shortening the 'to-do' list she's drawn up. The father of the bride: A wedding? My daughter? Who's she marrying? The best friend: Gillian has stood by Lucy through thick and thin, but she is refusing to be a bridesmaid and wear a daft dress.Gypsy Princess: A touching memoir of a Romany childhood
By Violet Cannon. 2011
The true story of a Romany childhood... Gypsy Princess is a searingly honest account of what life is really like…
for travelling communities, for girls in particular, and captures a way of life that is slowly fading away. If you enjoyed the memoirs of Mikey Walsh and Jess Smith, you'll be enthralled by Violet Cannon's biography. 'A fascinating and enjoyable insight into Gypsy life' - CloserA true blooded Gypsy, Violet Cannon grew up the Romany way. Life was tough at times, living in a cramped one-roomed trailer, but, unbound by strict routines, Violet spent her days learning to keep home, playing and roaming the fields with a sense of freedom long lost to the rest of modern society. Immersed in the Gypsy way of life, her childhood set her apart from other children. Bullied by classmates, and segregated from 'gorgia' kids (all non-Gypsies), Violet eventually left school at the age of nine to live a life of travel, play and learning under generations-old Gypsy rules on the fringes of society. With traditional values at the heart of her childhood, the pressure of conforming and marrying young was intense. Violet was duty-bound to find a husband, but would her marriage lead to the 'happy ever after' she grew up believing in as a Gypsy girl? What readers are saying about Gypsy Princess:'A fascinating and realistic look at what it means to be a Gypsy in today's society. A little understanding of Gypsy traditions goes a long way and I hope we see more biographies like this one''Violet is so likeable and warm, and the stories are written so vividly that you can really imagine yourself there' 'I could not put this book down - from the first paragraph I was hooked. I would love to read more about this fascinating lady and her family. By the end of the book I felt as if I knew them all'Unbroken: My story of survival
By Beverley Callard. 2010
Beverley Callard has been loved by millions of viewers for the last twenty years in her role as feisty Rovers…
Return landlady Liz McDonald on Coronation Street. But behind the scenes her rollercoaster life has been even more colourful than her character’s.She has suffered from crippling depression, been divorced three times, and has had to start from scratch following infidelity and bankruptcy. But every time she’s been knocked down, Beverley has struggled through and steadfastly rebuilt her life. And it is that determination to cope with whatever life throws at her that has made Beverley’s story one of inspiration to women everywhere. She’s now ready to tell it for the first time.From growing up in Leeds, coping with family tragedy, and marrying for the first time just after her seventeenth birthday, Beverley’s childhood was at times tough. But she was always surrounded by the love and laughter of her family. Beverley talks candidly about the devastating impact of her three broken marriages and describes the happiness she has now found with her wonderful partner Jon.In this intimate and moving autobiography Beverley reveals a life of extraordinary highs – the wonderful times she’s had wearing the shortest skirts on the Street! - and devastating lows - including the she suffered last year.Heartfelt, funny and shockingly honest, Unbroken is the gripping story of a truly remarkable woman.The Great Philosophers: Hume
By Anthony Quinton. 1998
Beyond Belief
By Colm O'Gorman. 2009
'I was living in a world where a priest who spoke the words of God used me for sex, and…
there was no-one to tell. The world where this horror happened didn't exist for anyone else.' As a boy in Ireland where everyone -- from among his own neighbours to the powers of church and state -- chose to deny that a priest could sexually assault a child, Colm O'Gorman felt only shame, guilt and fear at the regular rape and abuse he suffered. But Colm would go on to make history, successfully suing the Roman Catholic Church, asking questions of the Pope himself and creating a watershed in history as hundreds more victims found the courage to report their abuse. Beyond Belief is a powerful story of a young man's shame turning to outrage, and demonstrates that -- whatever our past hurts -- there is hope for the future if we are prepared to stand for truth.Virginia Woolf And Vanessa Bell: A Very Close Conspiracy
By Jane Dunn. 1990
This is the story of a deep and close relationship between two sisters - Virginia Woolf and Vanessa Bell. The…
influence they exerted over each others lives, their competitiveness, the fierce love they had for each other and also their intense rivalry is explored here with subtlety and compassion. The thoughts, motives and actions of these two remarkably artistic women who jointly created the Bloomsbury Group is revealed with all its intricacies in this moving biography.The Forgotten Highlander: My Incredible Story of Survival During the War in the Far East
By Alistair Urquhart. 2010
Alistair Urquhart was a soldier in the Gordon Highlanders captured by the Japanese in Singapore. He not only survived working…
on the notorious Bridge on the River Kwai , but he was subsequently taken on one of the Japanese 'hellships' which was torpedoed. Nearly everyone else on board died and Urquhart spent 5 days alone on a raft in the South China Sea before being rescued by a whaling ship. He was taken to Japan and then forced to work in a mine near Nagasaki. Two months later a nuclear bomb dropped just ten miles away . . .This is the extraordinary story of a young man, conscripted at nineteen and whose father was a Somme Veteran, who survived not just one, but three very close separate encounters with death - encounters which killed nearly all his comrades.The Fight of my Life
By Barbara Clark. 2007
Barbara Clark is a former nurse, foster carer and mother of two children, one with special needs, and was diagnosed…
with an aggressive form of breast cancer in February 2005. During her treatment, she found that there was a drug existing, Herceptin, that would double survival chances for her particular form of cancer from 14%. However, it wasn't available on the NHS and therefore, for Barbara, unaffordable. In the midst of aggressive chemotherapy, Barbara, incredibly, found the strength to fight not just the NHS but the government, and to win the right to be prescribed the drug on the NHS, not just for herself but for thousands of other women. THE FIGHT OF MY LIFE will tell the story behind those headlines. It will tell how she first found her cancer, and what it was that gave her the will to battle on and take on, not just the disease but the authorities who were prepared to let her die for want of a drug. Barbara's reasons for living are her three children, two of whom she fosters and who have special needs: their stories and how they dealt with her cancer will also be central to this an amazing, uplifting, inspiring book. Herceptin has treated Barbara's cancer, but it doesn't guarantee a complete cure - rather, it buys her more time to care for the people who are most precious to her, to help other women and to pursue what she calls her 'passion for life'. THE FIGHT OF MY LIFE is the story of an extraordinary woman and of great human courage in the face of despair.Starman: David Bowie - The Definitive Biography
By Paul Trynka. 2011
Has there ever been a more charismatic and intriguing rock star than David Bowie?In Starman, Paul Trynka has painted the…
definitive portrait of a great artist. From Bowie's early years in post-war, bombed-out Brixton to the decadent glamour of Ziggy Stardust to the controversial but vital Berlin period, this essential biography is a celebration of Bowie's brilliance and a timely reminder of how great music is made - now with an update on the making and release of The Next Day.Michael Douglas: Acting on Instinct
By John Parker. 2011
In the shadow of his father Kirk's overpowering fame, Michael Douglas forged a career for himself and became recognised in…
his own right as an award-winning actor and producer. But fame has taken its toll on Michael's personal life. His struggles with sexual addiction, his treatment for alcoholism and drug dependency and the break-up of his first marriage show another side to Michael's success. In 2010, his troubled past came back to haunt him when Cameron, his eldest son, was sentenced to five years in prison for drug dealing. Yet, despite a rocky road, Michael has found happiness later in life. His marriage to Catherine Zeta Jones meant a second shot at fatherhood and gave him strength following a devastating diagnosis of advanced throat cancer at the age of 65. This is the compelling and remarkable story of a Hollywood son who waged a battle against the odds to achieve his fame and fortune, and has kept on fighting with every challenge he faces.Midwife on Call
By Agnes Light. 2011
Agnes Light trained as a nurse in the 1960s and went on to become a midwife - helping to bring…
new lives into the world for over thirty years.After fainting from shock at the first birth she attended as a student, Agnes grew to adore her job and the lifelong friends that worked with her on the maternity ward. In her enchanting memoir, she recalls how she struggled at first with the strict rules of hospital etiquette, and the expectation that she would always know the right thing to do - from dealing with hysterical fathers to miracle multiple births - Agnes quickly learnt she had to keep a cool head whatever the circumstances.This is a heartwarming portrait of a thoughtful and compassionate midwife. Funny, poignant and rich with period detail, Midwife on Call traces Agnes's touching journey from squeamish pupil to assured professional.Under The Eye Of The Clock
By Christopher Nolan. 1987
A powerful and moving autobiography from a gifted writer who has been compared to Joyce and Yeats.'A book of sheer…
wonder. As an author he competes as an equal with the ablest of them' DAILY EXPRESSThis is the story of Joseph Meehan, born cruelly handicapped and known to the world as 'the crippled boy'. Filled with insight into the soul inside a broken body and warm with the beauties of the Irish landscape it is the story of Joseph's fight to escape the restrictions and confines of his existence.UNDER THE EYE OF THE CLOCK can also be read as the autobiography of its author, Christopher Nolan.Out of the Woods But Not Over the Hill
By Gervase Phinn. 2010
For Gervase Phinn growing old is not about a leisurely walk to the pub for a game of dominoes or…
snoozing in his favourite armchair. As this sparkling collection of his very best humorous writing shows, he may be ‘out of the woods’ but he is certainly not ‘over the hill’. Looking back over more than sixty years of family life, teaching, inspecting schools, writing and public speaking, Gervase never fails to unearth humour, character, warmth and wisdom from the most diverse of experiences, whether they be growing up in Rotherham with the most un-Yorkshirelike of names or describing why loud mobile phone users get his goat. Brimming with nostalgia, gently mocking life’s absurdities, never shy of an opinion, this is Gervase Phinn at his wittiest, twinkly-eyed best.Billy Brown, I'll Tell Your Mother
By Bill Brown. 2011
A riveting and hugely entertaining memoir of post-war London told through the eyes of a hilariously opportunistic little boy.By the…
time he was ten years old, Billy Brown was running a successful little business on the black market: whatever you needed, from bricks and firewood to dress material or machetes, Billy Brown could get it - or knew a man who could. And, for the right price, he would deliver it direct to your door in an old carriage pram.With energy and insight, Billy Brown paints a vivid and lively picture of Britain emerging from the ruins of the war, the hunger for opportunity, the growing pace of modernisation and the pride and optimism that held communities together. Londoners were intent on getting themselves back on their feet, and it provided the perfect opportunity for a boy with ambition and a lively imagination.Born in Brixton, south London, in 1942, Billy Brown was a lovable scamp with a nose for mischief. Left to his own devices while both his parents went out to work, if there was trouble to be had Billy would be in the thick of it. Ignoring the shaking of fists from his neighbours, his mother's scoldings and the regular thwack of the cane on his bottom at school, Billy wheeled and dealed, charmed Woolies' Girls, planned coronation celebrations, ran circles around circus performers and persuaded villains to work on his terms.Humble by Nature
By Kate Humble. 2013
In 2007, after twenty years of living in London, Kate Humble and her husband Ludo decided it was time to…
leave city life behind them. Three years later, now the owner of a Welsh smallholding, Kate hears that a nearby farm is to be broken up and sold off. Another farm lost; another opportunity for a young farmless farmer gone. Desperate to stop the sale, Kate contacts the council with an alternative plan - to keep the farm working and to run a rural skills and animal husbandry school alongside it. Against all odds, she succeeds.Here, in Humble By Nature, Kate shares with us a highly personal account of her journey from London town house to Welsh farm. Along the way we meet Bertie and Lawrence the donkeys, Myfanwy and Blackberry the pigs and goats Biscuit and Honey, not forgetting a dog called Badger and his unladylike sidekick Bella. And we are introduced to the tenant farmers Tim and Sarah, the locals who helped and some who didn't, and a whole host of newborn lambs. Full of the warmth and passion for the natural world that makes Kate such a sought after presenter, Humble By Nature is the story of two people prepared to follow their hearts and save a small part of Britain's farming heritage, whatever the consequences.I'm Still Here: 'A leading new voice on racial justice' LAYLA SAAD, author of ME AND WHITE SUPREMACY
By Austin Channing Brown. 2018
'A leading new voice on racial justice' LAYLA SAAD, author of ME AND WHITE SUPREMACYA REESE'S BOOK CLUB X HELLO…
SUNSHINE BOOK PICK * THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERThis book is my story about growing up in a Black girl's body. It's about surviving in a world not made for me. Austin Channing Brown's first encounter with a racialized America came at age seven, when she discovered her parents named her Austin to deceive future employers into thinking she was a white man. Growing up in majority-white schools and churches, Austin writes, 'I had to learn what it means to love Blackness,' a journey that led to a lifetime spent navigating America's racial divide as a writer, speaker and expert helping organisations practice genuine inclusion. In a time when nearly every institution (schools, churches, universities, businesses) claims to value diversity in its mission statement, Austin writes in breathtaking detail about her journey to self-worth and the pitfalls that kill our attempts at racial justice. Her stories bear witness to the complexity of America's social fabric and invite the reader to confront apathy, recognise God's ongoing work in the world and discover how Blackness-if we let it-can save us all.'An example of how one woman can change the world by telling the truth about her life with unflinching, relentless courage' GLENNON DOYLE, author of UNTAMED'Most people say, "that books has legs"; I measure the impact of a book by how often I throw it across the room. [Austin's book] has serious wings. It broke me open' BRENE BROWNMitka's Secret: A True Story of Child Slavery and Surviving the Holocaust
By Steven W. Brallier. 2021
The remarkable life story of Mitka Kalinski, who survived seven years of enslavement—while still a child—to a Nazi officer during…
and after World War II Mitka Kalinski had never revealed his past to anyone. Not even to his wife or his four children. But in 1981, three decades after it had all ended, Mitka finally broke his silence about the horrors he had endured during the Holocaust and in the years immediately afterward: not only German concentration camps and sadistic medical experiments but also seven years of enslavement in the household of a Nazi officer, &“Iron&” Gustav Dörr. Having been orphaned before the war, Mitka did not know his origins or even his name. Torture, slavery, and a false name stripped him of his identity entirely. Thus, when he immigrated to the United States in 1951, Mitka seized the opportunity to bury his past and forge a new life. He lived the American life in all its fullness and moved to Nevada with his beloved wife, Adrienne, and their children. But the secret he carried became an increasingly heavy burden, preventing wholeness and healing. This is Mitka&’s account of facing the past, confronting his captors, connecting with lost relatives, and finding peace in the rediscovery of his origins. For Mitka, this also meant reclaiming his Jewish heritage—a journey that gave him a new sense of purpose and freedom from the lingering effects of trauma that had filled his life to that point. By the end, Mitka&’s Secret is less a story of survival and more one of redemption and transformation—from hidden suffering to abundant joy.Defending A Serial Killer: The Right To Counsel
By Jim Potts. 2021
The Fifth and Sixth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States guarantee the right against self-incrimination, the right to…
remain silent, and the right to counsel.A crime wave swept California in the late 1970s. Several young girls were abducted, raped, and murdered. Michael Dee Mattson was convicted of these crimes and sentenced to death.Law clerk by day, family man by night.In 1982, Jim Potts—a brilliant, idealistic, African American law student—is honored when one of his professors recruits him to assist in writing a death penalty appeal on behalf of a serial killer.Potts discovers a loophole in the case that had somehow been overlooked. One that could not only get Mattson off death row, but once presented to the Supreme Court of California, could release him to rape and murder again. When Potts confides in his pregnant wife, she says if Mattson goes free, their marriage is over. But if Potts quits the case, or withholds information, he violates his duty to client and Constitution and risks his career before it even begins.A moral dilemma with no good way out.To avoid losing his family and releasing pure evil back into the world, Potts must be smarter than his options. He must find a way to keep his family together, fulfill his duties, and keep Mattson behind bars.But can he?Amkoullel, the Fula Boy
By Amadou Hampâté Bâ. 2021
Born in 1900 in French West Africa, Malian writer Amadou Hampâté Bâ was one of the towering figures in the…
literature of twentieth-century Francophone Africa. In Amkoullel, the Fula Boy, Bâ tells in striking detail the story of his youth, which was set against the aftermath of war between the Fula and Toucouleur peoples and the installation of French colonialism. A master storyteller, Bâ recounts pivotal moments of his life, and the lives of his powerful and large family, from his first encounter with the white commandant through the torturous imprisonment of his stepfather and to his forced attendance at French school. He also charts a larger story of life prior to and at the height of French colonialism: interethnic conflicts, the clash between colonial schools and Islamic education, and the central role indigenous African intermediaries and interpreters played in the functioning of the colonial administration. Engrossing and novelistic, Amkoullel, the Fula Boy is an unparalleled rendering of an individual and society under transition as they face the upheavals of colonialism.Where The Hell Have You Been?: Monty, Italy and One Man's Incredible Escape
By Tom Carver. 2009