Other Non Fiction

The extraordinary story of how a simple tale of love and revolution, the poor and the downtrodden - Victor Hugo's beloved classic (read more)

The extraordinary story of how a simple tale of love and revolution, the poor and the downtrodden - Victor Hugo's beloved classic Les Miserables - conquered the world. There has never been a book like it. It is the most widely read and frequently adapted story of all time, on stage and on film.

But why is Les Miserables the novel of the century? David Bellos's remarkable new book brings to life the extraordinary story of how Hugo managed to write his epic novel despite a revolution, a coup d'etat and political exile; how he pulled off the deal of the century to get it published, and set it on course to become the novel that epitomizes the grand sweep of history in the nineteenth century. Packed full of information about the background and design of Les Miserables, this biography of a masterpiece nonetheless insists that the moral and social message of Hugo's ever-popular novel is just as important for our century as it was for its own. The Novel of the Century is a book as rich, remarkable and long-lasting as the novel at its heart.

Pub Date:26/01/2017 (hide)

What is it to be a stand-up comedian? To be funny, solo? You have no character-role, no double-act partner, and nowhere to look but (read more)

What is it to be a stand-up comedian? To be funny, solo? You have no character-role, no double-act partner, and nowhere to look but out into the darkness, with just a microphone, an audience and your imagination. This is a job without an annual appraisal; a job where you are publicly appraised every ten seconds. The results are harsh and obvious: if the audience isn't laughing, you 'died'; if they can't stop, you 'killed'.

Deborah Frances-White and Marsha Shandur unpack the inner-workings of the minds of comics, sharing their secrets, insecurities and successes; their betes noires and their biggest fears. Featuring interviews with a host of comedians including Eddie Izzard, Moshe Kasher, Sarah Millican, Jim Jeffries, Stewart Lee, Lewis Black, Jenny Eclair, Todd Barry, Richard Herring, Marc Maron, Stephen K Amos, Rich Hall, Zoe Lyons, Marcus Brigstocke, Phill Jupitus, Gary Delaney, Mark Watson, Greg Davies and many more, this excellent book lets you in to the hearts and minds of celebrated comedians, away from the stage and off the mic. (hide)

All seven series of Andy Hamilton's fiendishly funny award-winning comedy set in Hell Welcome to Hell - where Oliver Reed can never (read more)

All seven series of Andy Hamilton's fiendishly funny award-winning comedy set in Hell

Welcome to Hell - where Oliver Reed can never quite catch the barman's eye. In this 21 CD box set, which contains all seven series, get ready for some wicked one-liners and scorching satire. Satan is fed up after a millennia in charge of Hell, and the prospect of an eternity still running the damned place.

Duration: 21 hours approx. (hide)

Here, for the first time, is a completely authoritative guide on how to look after your old house - whether it's a timber framed (read more)

Here, for the first time, is a completely authoritative guide on how to look after your old house - whether it's a timber framed medieval cottage, an eighteenth century urban terrace or an example of Victorian or Edwardian speculative development. Taking their lead from the conservation approach of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (who have approved and authorised this volume), the approach is one of respect, restraint and repair rather than 'restoration' which can so easily and permanently destroy the rich historical legacy of any old building. This book provides richly and deeply informed practical guidance, with sections including: * Breathability and Damp * Structural Movement * Roofs * Timber and Carpentry * Windows Doors and joinery.

It will be essential reading for anyone with an old house in need of any kind of repair or maintenance. 'For any of us working on or living in old buildings, this brilliant and properly illustrated volume is the manual we've been waiting for. Thank you SPAB.' Kevin McCloud, Presenter of Grand Designs, Channel 4
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From the award-winning author of Ma'am Darling: 99 Glimpses of Princess Margaret comes a fascinating, hilarious, kaleidoscopic biography (read more)

From the award-winning author of Ma'am Darling: 99 Glimpses of Princess Margaret comes a fascinating, hilarious, kaleidoscopic biography of the Fab Four. John Updike compared them to 'the sun coming out on an Easter morning'. Bob Dylan introduced them to drugs.

The Duchess of Windsor adored them. Noel Coward despised them. JRR Tolkien snubbed them.
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The bestselling author of Seven Brief Lessons on Physics takes us on an enchanting, consoling journey to discover the meaning of (read more)

The bestselling author of Seven Brief Lessons on Physics takes us on an enchanting, consoling journey to discover the meaning of time. 'We are time. We are this space, this clearing opened by the traces of memory inside the connections between our neurons. We are memory.

We are nostalgia. We are longing for a future that will not come.'Time is a mystery that does not cease to puzzle us. Philosophers, artists and poets have long explored its meaning while scientists have found that its structure is different from the simple intuition we have of it. (hide)

The Ordnance Survey Puzzle Book was the biggest-selling puzzle book of 2018. And now it is back, with brand new maps, and bigger (read more)

The Ordnance Survey Puzzle Book was the biggest-selling puzzle book of 2018. And now it is back, with brand new maps, and bigger and better brainteasers!In The Ordnance Survey Puzzle Tour of Britain map your way around Britain in 40 new regional maps,with hundreds of puzzles, mind-boggling brainteasers, navigational tests, word games, code-crackers, anagrams and mathematical conundrums to keep you occupied as you go!
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Otters hold an almost unique place in the animal kingdom of the British Isles, being one of the very few creatures that give birth (read more)

Otters hold an almost unique place in the animal kingdom of the British Isles, being one of the very few creatures that give birth once every two years. They are the most secretive yet also the most popular mammals - they are found in every county but are so rarely seen that they have been raised to mythical status. When Simon Cooper bought an abandoned water mill that straddles a small chalkstream in southern England, little did he know that he would come to share the mill with a family of wild otters.

Yet move in they did, allowing him to begin to observe them, soon immersing himself in their daily routines and movements. He developed an extraordinary close relationship with the family, which in turn gave him a unique insight into the life of these fascinating creature.

Pub Date:23/03/2017 (hide)

Our Uninvited Guests perfectly captures the spirit of upheaval at the beginning of the Second World War when thousands of houses (read more)

Our Uninvited Guests perfectly captures the spirit of upheaval at the beginning of the Second World War when thousands of houses were requisitioned by the government to provide accommodation for the armed forces, secret services and government offices as well as vulnerable children, the sick and the elderly, all of whom needed to be housed safely beyond the reach of Hitler's Luftwaffe.

Julie Summers gives the reader a behind-the-scenes glimpse of life in some of Britain's greatest country houses that were occupied by people who would otherwise never have set foot in such opulent surroundings.Blenheim Palace was colonised by schoolboys who slept in the Long Library; Polish special agents trained in the grounds of Audley End House, learning to forge and lie their way into occupied Europe in the old nursery. (hide)

The owl has captivated the human imagination for millennia; as a predator, messenger, emblem of wisdom or portent of doom. Owl Sense (read more)

The owl has captivated the human imagination for millennia; as a predator, messenger, emblem of wisdom or portent of doom. Owl Sense tells a new story. On 'owl walks' with her teenage son, Benji, Miriam Darlington begins a quest to identify every European species of this elusive bird.

From Britain she travels to Spain, France, Serbia and Finland, and to the frosted borders of the Arctic. Along the way, however, Benji succumbs to a mysterious and disabling illness, and Miriam's endeavour soon becomes entangled with the search for his cure. Bringing the strangeness and magnificence of owls to life, Owl Sense is a book about wildness in nature but also in the unpredictable course of our human lives. (hide)