Biography

NIGEL - One of Britain's favourite dogs! When Monty Don's golden retriever Nigel became the surprise star of BBC Gardeners' World (read more)

NIGEL - One of Britain's favourite dogs! When Monty Don's golden retriever Nigel became the surprise star of BBC Gardeners' World inspiring huge interest, fan mail and his own social media accounts, Monty Don wanted to explore what makes us connect with animals quite so deeply. In many respects Nigel is a very ordinary dog; charming, handsome and obedient, as so many are. He is also a much loved family pet.

He is also a star. By telling Nigel's story, Monty relates his relationships with the other special dogs in his life in a memoir of his dogs past and very much present. Witty, touching and life-affirming, Nigel: My family and other dogs is wonderfully heart-warming.

Monty Don is a great writer coming out of the garden and into the hearts and homes of every dog lover in the UK. 'I have always had a dog, or dogs. I cannot imagine life without them.

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Beloved American hero Buzz Aldrin reflects on the wisdom, guiding principles, and irreverent anecdotes he's gathered through his (read more)

Beloved American hero Buzz Aldrin reflects on the wisdom, guiding principles, and irreverent anecdotes he's gathered through his event-filled life - both in outer space and on earth. No Dream Is Too High whittles down Buzz Aldrin's event-filled life into a short list of principles he values, each illustrated by fascinating anecdotes and memories, such as: Second comes right after first. NASA protocol should have meant he was first on the moon, but rules changed just before the mission.

How he learned to be proud of being the second man on the moon. Look for opportunities, not obstacles. Buzz was rejected the first time he applied to be an astronaut.

Failure is an opportunity to learn to do better. Always maintain your spirit of adventure. For his 80th birthday, Buzz went diving in the Galapagos and hitched a ride on a whale shark. (hide)

Born and raised in the South Yorkshire mining village of Hoyland Common, Richard Hines remembers heaps of coal dust, listening out (read more)

Born and raised in the South Yorkshire mining village of Hoyland Common, Richard Hines remembers heaps of coal dust, listening out for the colliery siren at the end of shifts and praying for his father's safe return. When he failed his eleven-plus it seemed all too likely that he would follow in his father's footsteps and end up working in the pits - unlike his older brother Barry, who had passed the exam to grammar school and seemed to be heading for great things. Crushed by this, Richard spent his time in the fields and meadows beyond the slag heap.

One morning, walking in the grounds of a ruined medieval manor, he came across a nest of kestrels. Instantly captivated, he sought out ancient falconry texts from the local library and pored over the strange and beautiful language there. With just these books, some ingenuity and his profound respect for the hawk's indomitable wildness, Richard learned to 'man', or train, his kestrel, Kes, and in the process found the passion that would shape his future. (hide)

In his New York Times bestselling memoir, A Work in Progress, Connor Franta shared his journey from small-town Midwestern boy to (read more)

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 astounding insight, Connor reminded his fans of why they first fell in love with him on YouTube-and revealed to newcomers how he relates to his millions of dedicated followers. Now, two years later, Connor is ready to bring to light a side of himself he's rarely shown on or off camera.

In this diary-like look at his life since A Work In Progress, Connor talks about his battles with clinical depression, social anxiety, self-love, and acceptance; his desire to maintain an authentic self in a world that values shares and likes over true connections; his struggles with love and loss; and his renewed efforts to be in the moment-with others and himself. Told through short essays, letters to his past and future selves, poetry, and original photography, Note to Self is a raw, in-the-moment look at the fascinating interior life of a young creator turning inward in order to move forward.
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'A deeply honest and brave portrait of of an individual sensibility reckoning with her country's violent role in the world.' Hisham (read more)

'A deeply honest and brave portrait of of an individual sensibility reckoning with her country's violent role in the world.' Hisham Matar, New York Times Book ReviewIn the wake of the 11th September attacks and the US-led invasion of Iraq, Suzy Hansen, who grew up in an insular conservative town in New Jersey, was enjoying early success as a journalist for a high-profile New York newspaper. Increasingly, though, the disconnect between the chaos of world events and the response at home took on pressing urgency for her. Seeking to understand the Muslim world that had been reduced to scaremongering headlines, she moved to Istanbul.Hansen arrived in Istanbul with romantic ideas about a mythical city perched between East and West, and with a naive sense of the Islamic world beyond.

Over the course of her many years of living in Turkey and traveling in Greece, Egypt, Afghanistan, and Iran, she learned a great deal about these countries and their cultures and histories and politics. But the greatest, most unsettling surprise would be what she learned about her own country?and herself, an American abroad in the era of American decline. It would take leaving her home to discover what she came to think of as the two Americas: the country and its people, and the experience of American power around the world. (hide)

Uncovering the mystery of her mother's disappearance as a child: Laura Cumming, prize-winning author and art critic, takes a closer (read more)

Uncovering the mystery of her mother's disappearance as a child: Laura Cumming, prize-winning author and art critic, takes a closer look at her family story. In the autumn of 1929, a small child was kidnapped from a Lincolnshire beach. Five agonising days went by before she was found in a nearby village.

The child remembered nothing of these events and nobody ever spoke of them at home. It was another fifty years before she even learned of the kidnap. The girl became an artist and had a daughter, art writer Laura Cumming. (hide)

Wilbur Smith has lived an incredible life of adventure, and now he shares the extraordinary true stories that have inspired his fiction. (read more)

Wilbur Smith has lived an incredible life of adventure, and now he shares the extraordinary true stories that have inspired his fiction. I've been writing novels for over fifty years. I was lucky enough to miss the big wars and not get shot, but lucky enough to grow up among the heroes who had served in them and learn from their example.

I have lucked into things continuously. I have done things which have seemed appalling at the time, disastrous even, but out of them has come another story or a deeper knowledge of human character and the ability to express myself better on paper and write books which people enjoy reading. Along the way, I have lived a life that I could never have imagined. (hide)

'Axel Linden is a shepherd-philosopher with James Herriot's knack for mishap and an almost Chekhovian deadpan humour.' Observer'Endearing (read more)

'Axel Linden is a shepherd-philosopher with James Herriot's knack for mishap and an almost Chekhovian deadpan humour.' Observer'Endearing and liberating.' Idler Magazine'A sublime little book.' Cotswold LifeWhy do we keep sheep? Alex Linden ruminates as he watches his sheep ruminating. Naive and inexperienced, he has ditched his doctoral studies in order to move to a fully working farm in the country with his family, where he is tasked with the responsibility of caring for a herd of sheep. Linden records his new life in his diary, as he tries to manage life on the farm, the ever-escaping sheep and the trials and tribulations that come with being a shepherd - shearing, lambing and confronting the slaughterhouse. (hide)

James Naughtie, the acclaimed author and BBC broadcaster, now brings his unique and inquisitive eye to the country that has fascinated (read more)

James Naughtie, the acclaimed author and BBC broadcaster, now brings his unique and inquisitive eye to the country that has fascinated him and drawn him across the Atlantic for half a century. In looking at America, from Presidents Nixon through to Trump, he tells the story of a country that is grappling with a dream.

What has it come to mean in the new century, and who do Americans now think they are? Drawing on his travels and encounters over forty years in the 'Land of the Free', On The Road is filled with anecdotes, memories, tears and laughter reflecting Naughtie's characteristic warmth and enthusiasm in encountering the America of Washington, of Broadway, of the small town and the plains. As a student, Naughtie watched the fall of President Richard Nixon in 1974, and subsequently as a journalist followed the story of the country - its politicians, artists, wheeler-dealers and the people who make it what it is, in the New York melting pot or the western deserts. (hide)

4o years with the krays is the untold, intimate history of the twins and the woman who raised them. Told with humour and insight, (read more)

4o years with the krays is the untold, intimate history of the twins and the woman who raised them. Told with humour and insight, it looks back across the decades at the life of this close knit, notorious East End family. Maureen Flanagan, a then 20 year old hairdresser started visiting the Kray family home in Vallance Road each week to give the twins' mother, Violet, her weekly shampoo and set.

Over the cups of tea and the rollers and hairpins, Violet began to confide in 'Flan' about her life, her incredible pride in her twins, the celebrities who visited her at their humble East End home - and her troubled relationship with her husband. (hide)