Biography

"The Heart of the Dales" is the fifth volume in Gervase Phinn's bestselling "Dales" series. A teacher was reprimanding a child who (read more)

"The Heart of the Dales" is the fifth volume in Gervase Phinn's bestselling "Dales" series. A teacher was reprimanding a child who had drawn a very wobbly line freehand across his exercise book. 'Don't you know what the word "straight" means?' the teacher asked crossly.' 'Yes, miss,' came the reply, ' "without water"'.

Awkward teachers, pompous school governors and fearsome lollipop ladies occasionally make Gervase Phinn's hectic job as a school inspector more than difficult. But, for Gervase, the main challenge remains the frankly spoken children. The new school year doesn't get off to a good start after a teacher suggests that Gervase has let him and his school down. (hide)

I'm not on my own because I've been sitting crying into a handkerchief or apron over a lack of interested men. I've been made every (read more)

I'm not on my own because I've been sitting crying into a handkerchief or apron over a lack of interested men. I've been made every offer imaginable over the years. Men offer themselves, their sons...drunk fathers sometimes call me up and say things like: "Do you need a farmhand?" "I can lift the hay bales" "I can repair your tractors"...

Heida is a solitary farmer with a flock of 500 sheep in a remorseless area bordering Iceland's highlands. It's known as the End of the World. One of her nearest neighbours is Iceland's most notorious volcano, Katla, which has periodically driven away the inhabitants of Ljotarstadir ever since people first started farming there in the twelfth century. (hide)

Marcus Butler's irreverent YouTube channel has long combined laughs and comedy sketches with thoughts on more serious issues. What (read more)

Marcus Butler's irreverent YouTube channel has long combined laughs and comedy sketches with thoughts on more serious issues. What sets him apart from the rest is his ability to mix light-hearted banter with a deep empathy for the problems facing young people today. Thanks to his experiences of family illness, his parents' divorce, weight issues and catastrophic hair days, Marcus is in a unique position to share everything he has learned about healthy living, relationships and dealing with the daily pressures life throws at us all.

Working with journalist and writer Matt Allen, in HELLO LIFE! his part-autobiography, part-self help guide Marcus shares his trademark big-brotherly advice and unveils his roadmap to success for anyone navigating the trickier aspects of modern living. Funny, cool, fully illustrated and totally readable, this book is the ultimate must-have for fans of Marcus Butler. (hide)

RULES FOR BEING A MAN - Don't Cry; Love Sport; Play Rough; Drink Beer; Don't Talk About Feelings But Robert Webb has been wondering (read more)

RULES FOR BEING A MAN - Don't Cry; Love Sport; Play Rough; Drink Beer; Don't Talk About Feelings But Robert Webb has been wondering for some time now: are those rules actually any use? To anyone? Looking back over his life, from schoolboy crushes (on girls and boys) to discovering the power of making people laugh (in the Cambridge Footlights with David Mitchell), and from losing his beloved mother to becoming a husband and father, Robert Webb considers the absurd expectations boys and men have thrust upon them at every stage of life. (hide)

You become a footballer because you love football. And then you are a footballer, and you're suddenly in the strangest, most baffling (read more)

You become a footballer because you love football. And then you are a footballer, and you're suddenly in the strangest, most baffling world of all. A world where one team-mate comes to training in a bright red suit with matching top-hat, cane and glasses, without any actual glass in them, and another has so many sports cars they forget they have left a Porsche at the train station.

Even when their surname is incorporated in the registration plate. So walk with me into the dressing-room, to find out which players refuse to touch a football before a game, to discover why a load of millionaires never have any shower-gel, and to hear what Cristiano Ronaldo says when he looks at himself in the mirror. We will go into post-match interviews, make fools of ourselves on social media and try to ensure that we never again pay GBP250 for a haircut that should have cost a tenner.
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'The naughtiest, helpiest, laughieoutloudiest and goodest book I've ever done reading on. Give that girl a banana!' DAWN FRENCH *****THE (read more)

'The naughtiest, helpiest, laughieoutloudiest and goodest book I've ever done reading on. Give that girl a banana!' DAWN FRENCH *****THE NO.1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERSARAH MILLICAN'S AUTOBIOGRAPHY WILL MAKE YOU LAUGH, FEEL NORMAL AND PROBABLY SNIFF YOUR LEGGINGS. Part autobiography, part self help, part confession, part celebration of being a common-or-garden woman, part collection of synonyms for nunny, Sarah Millican's debut book delves into her super normal life with daft stories, funny tales and proper advice on how to get past life's blips - like being good at school but not good at friends, the excitement of IBS and how to blossom post divorce. (hide)

Life is always better backstage, isn't it?'Who better than Caitlin Moran to bring fame down to earth with a bump' - Helen Fielding, (read more)

Life is always better backstage, isn't it?'Who better than Caitlin Moran to bring fame down to earth with a bump' - Helen Fielding, bestselling author of Bridget Jones's DiaryThe Sunday Times Number One bestseller about a young women making it in a world where men hold all the power ----------------------------------------------------I'm Johanna Morrigan, and I live in London in 1995, at the epicentre of Britpop. I might only be nineteen, but I'm wise enough to know that everyone around me is handling fame very, very badly. My unrequited love, John Kite, has scored an unexpected Number One album, then exploded into a Booze And Drugs HellTM - as rockstars do.

And my new best friend - the maverick feminist Suzanne Banks, of The Branks - has amazing hair, but writer's block and a rampant pill problem. So I've decided I should become a Fame Doctor. I'm going to use my new monthly column for The Face to write about every ridiculous, surreal, amazing aspect of a million people knowing your name. (hide)

Pub Date:27/02/2015 - At the age of twenty-one, Monica Baldwin - the niece of Stanley Baldwin - entered one of the oldest and most (read more)

Pub Date:27/02/2015 - At the age of twenty-one, Monica Baldwin - the niece of Stanley Baldwin - entered one of the oldest and most strictly enclosed contemplative orders of the Roman Catholic Church. At the age of forty-eight, and after struggling with her vocation for many years, she obtained a special rescript from Rome and left the convent. But the world Monica had known and forsaken in 1914 was very different to the world into which she emerged at the height of the Second World War ...This is the fascinating account of one woman's two very different lives, with revealing descriptions of the world of a novice, the duties of a nun's day, and the spiritual aspects of convent life.

Interwoven with these are the trials and tribulations of coping with a new and alien world, as the author is confronted with fashions, interventions, politics and art totally unfamiliar to her. Written in the post-war years, this re-issue is as fresh and engaging today as it ever was. Humour, intelligence, an endearing humility and a searing honesty all characterize this remarkable classic, giving readers both a glimpse into a hidden world and a unique view on one more familiar. (hide)

'I was crying so much I couldn't breathe. The thought of leaving the shopping centre without him was crushing. I knew that walking (read more)

'I was crying so much I couldn't breathe. The thought of leaving the shopping centre without him was crushing. I knew that walking away from the place where he had gone missing, without any idea where he now was, meant that things were really bad.

James had been right by my side and then he was gone forever.'On 12th February 1993, Denise Fergus' life changed forever. As she was running errands at New Strand Shopping Centre, she let go of her two-year-old son's hand for a few seconds to take out her purse. Denise never saw her son again.
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Break-ups, make-ups, groupies, band politics, court battles, the tragic death of Rick Parfitt . . . This is Francis Rossi as you (read more)

Break-ups, make-ups, groupies, band politics, court battles, the tragic death of Rick Parfitt . . .

This is Francis Rossi as you have never seen him before. Status Quo have sold over 100 million records worldwide, including 65 hit singles and 32 hit albums. The legendary band's career has mirrored the evolution of rock music.

From the struggles of the flower-power '60s, the highs of the denim-clad '70s, the coke- and tequila-induced blur of the '80s, to fighting for musical integrity in the '90s and '00s and a fresh lease of life from new band members in recent years, Rossi has been there for the entirety of Quo's turbulent history. In I Talk Too Much, Rossi will reveal the truth behind one of the biggest rock bands of all time, as well as the personal highs and lows of a career spanning over 50 years. (hide)