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Search Results for: true story

Showing 1-24 of 225 results for true story

Never Saw Me Coming

Never Saw Me Coming

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Tanya Smith

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£20
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Hardcover
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The true story of how a middle-class Black girl from Minneapolis became one of the single biggest threats to the United States banking system.

Tanya Smith fancied herself a folk hero, a kind of Robin Hood, using her powers of persuasion to buck the system and help the poor and needy.

It started innocently enough, with calls to celebrities’ houses with her teenage twin sister. Soon, Tanya realised she could convince utility companies to amend the balances of her friends, relatives and neighbours, clearing their overdue electricity bills with a single phone call. Eventually, as she tested the limits and realized she could get past any gatekeeper, she started to want the actual money herself.

By the time she was 18, Tanya had ‘confiscated’ some $40 million in cash and commodities from US banks, using hacked wire transfers. It didn’t take long before the FBI was on her tail. But when interviewing her, they made clear that they were using her to get to the person actually running things – clearly, she wasn’t smart enough to do this on her own (Black people she was told, rob people, they don’t hack computers).

Thus began a cat and mouse game with the authorities that would drive her to unthinkable limits, breaking the hearts of her parents, putting Tanya’s life in jeopardy, and costing her custody of two children before finally sending her to Federal prison (where she escaped twice) with the longest sentence ever given for a white-collar crime.

In the spirit of true crime narratives like Catch Me If You Can, Molly’s Game, and Ben Mezrich’s Bringing Down the House, Never Saw Me Coming is a gripping caper, but it’s also the deeply personal journey of a young Black woman finding her way in a world that underestimated her brilliance. For fans of movies like Hustlers and The Bling Ring, Never Saw Me Coming is a high-stakes, gritty tale of wild financial misdeeds.
Between Friends and Lovers

Between Friends and Lovers

Contributors

Shirlene Obuobi

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Price
£9.99
Format
Paperback

An absolute joy to read, with messy, realistic, and deeply lovable characters. . . Obuobi’s perfect balance of humor and wisdom made this one a true standout’ EMILY HENRY



Talia Hibbert meets Carley Fortune in this swoon-worthy story of love and friendship in the age of social media – where what you see might not be all you get.

Dr Jojo has it all figured out. Or so it seems to her Instagram followers, who love her no-nonsense advice about men, self-love, dating and sex.

But behind the camera, it’s a different story – she’s in love with her best friend, Ezra, and he doesn’t feel the same way.

Committed to moving on, Jo soon finds the perfect distraction – sweet, shy and sexy writer Malcolm. As the pair begin to date, sparks fly, and Jo’s hard exterior begins to soften.

But when she discovers her feelings for Ezra aren’t as unrequited as she thought, Jo finds herself with a tough decision to make. Will she seize the opportunity for romance with her best friend, or is new love the path to her happily ever after?

Praise for Shirlene Obuobi

You’re going to love this one‘ Beth O’Leary, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Wake-Up Call

‘On Rotation is a brilliant debut rom-com . . . It’s relatable and LOL funny’ Cosmopolitan

‘I couldn’t put down On Rotation‘ Meg Cabot, New York Times bestselling author

On Rotation is an original romance novel bursting with charm, humour and the most loveable characters‘ Lizzie Damilola Blackburn, author of Yinka, Where is Your Huzband?
Angel of the Mountains

Angel of the Mountains

Contributors

Paul Maunder

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£22
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Hardcover
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Charly Gaul is a forgotten cycling legend. Once a household name across Europe, the diminutive Luxembourger won the 1958 Tour de France and the Giro d’Italia twice. A unique rider, Gaul was supremely gifted at climbing and resilient even in the foulest weather. His pedalling style was smooth and swift, and he could set an unmatchable metronome rhythm on a mountain climb. ‘Mozart on two wheels,’ was how one contemporary writer described him; another dubbed him ‘The Angel of the Mountains’.

At the end of his cycling career Gaul disappeared, becoming a hermit living in a forest in Luxembourg. What drove Charly Gaul into a recluse’s life? In Angel of the Mountains, Paul Maunder seeks to uncover the truth about Gaul, his psychology and the circumstances of his withdrawal from society. In rediscovering Gaul’s enigmatic life, we find not only an unlikely hero but also a larger truth about the nature of sporting success.
SAS Great Escapes Three

SAS Great Escapes Three

Contributors

Damien Lewis

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£22
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Hardcover
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‘Damien Lewis is both a meticulous historian and a born storyteller’ Lee Child

SAS Great Escapes Three recounts how warriors of the world’s most famous fighting force, the SAS, carried out five of the most daring escapes of World War Two. Ranging from the very birth of the SAS, to the post D-day battles for Nazi-occupied Europe, these gripping true stories cover some of the most iconic operations of the Regiment, and its key characters, while also including untold tales of courage and endurance beyond compare.

Told in classic Damien Lewis style, each tale plunges the reader into the escapees’ experiences – sharing the most terrifying yet astounding moments of their lives. They include unimaginable accounts of survival in the face of staggering odds, episodes of nerve-wracking bluff and deception, plus knife-edge ambushes with enemy forces hellbent on wreaking vengeance.

In this new volume of incredible special forces feats, best-selling author Damien Lewis has worked closely with World War Two veterans and the families of those portrayed, accessing wartime diaries, letters, mission reports, interrogation transcripts and more, to relate how the men of the SAS were hunted by the enemy and forced to fight their way out of certain death or capture. Around every corner, upon every decision and every movement lurked the possibility of discovery. Yet with every step, breath and turn taken, these fugitives epitomized the do or die spirit of the SAS to overcome.
Someone You Can Build a Nest in

Someone You Can Build a Nest in

Contributors

John Wiswell

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Price
£20
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Hardcover
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“Do love stories often end this way?” “Why do you think it’s over?”

Shesheshen has made a fatal mistake for a monster: she’s fallen in love.

Shesheshen is a shapeshifter, who usually resides as an amorphous lump in the swamp of a ruined manor, unless impolite monster hunters invade intent on murdering her. Through a chance encounter, she meets a different kind of human, warm-hearted Homily, who mistakes Shesheshen for a human in turn.

Shesheshen is loath to deceive, but just as she’s about to confess her true identity, Homily reveals she’s hunting the shapeshifting monster that supposedly cursed her family. Shesheshen didn’t curse anyone, but to give them both a chance at happiness, she must figure out why Homily’s twisted family thinks she did. And the bigger challenge remains: surviving her toxic in-laws long enough to learn to build a life with the woman she loves.

A glorious, funny, occasionally slightly violent love story which asks us to examine – and re-examine – the meaning of legacy, family and love.

Readers love John Wiswell:

‘Like a warm hug’ – Goodreads reviewer on “Open House on Haunted Hill”

‘So very sweet . . . a perfect little story’ – Goodreads reviewer on ‘Open House on Haunted Hill’

‘Heart-aching . . . you shouldn’t miss this one’ – Goodreads reviewer on ‘Open House on Haunted Hill’

‘Cozy and charming and made my heart grow three sizes which cannot be healthy’ – Goodreads reviewer on “Open House on Haunted Hill”

‘Has such a unique view and voice in his writing that his work is literally incomparable. And I can’t wait for what comes next’ – Goodreads reviewer on ‘Open House on Haunted Hill’
Every Living Thing

Every Living Thing

Contributors

Jason Roberts

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£25
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Hardcover
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The dramatic, globe-spanning and meticulously-researched story of two scientific rivals and their race to survey all life.

In the 18th century, two men dedicated their lives to the same daunting task: identifying and describing all life on Earth. Their approaches could not have been more different. Carl Linnaeus, a pious Swedish doctor with a huckster’s flair, believed that life belonged in tidy, static categories. Georges-Louis de Buffon, an aristocratic polymath and keeper of France’s royal garden, viewed life as a dynamic, ever-changing swirl of complexities. Both began believing their work to be difficult, but not impossible–how could the planet possibly hold more than a few thousand species? Stunned by life’s diversity, both fell far short of their goal. But in the process they articulated starkly divergent views on nature, on humanity’s role in shaping the fate of our planet, and on humanity itself.

The rivalry between these two unique, driven individuals created reverberations that still echo today. Linnaeus, with the help of acolyte explorers he called “apostles” (only half of whom returned alive), gave the world such concepts as mammal, primate and homo sapiens–but he also denied species change and promulgated racist pseudo-science. Buffon coined the term reproduction, formulated early prototypes of evolution and genetics, and argued passionately against prejudice. It was a clash that, during their lifetimes, Buffon seemed to be winning. But their posthumous fates would take a very different turn.

With elegant, propulsive prose grounded in more than a decade of research, bestselling author Jason Roberts tells an unforgettable true-life tale of intertwined lives and enduring legacies, tracing an arc of insight and discovery that extends across three centuries into the present day.
Palo Alto

Palo Alto

Contributors

Malcolm Harris

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£16.99
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Paperback
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‘Revelatory and illuminating’ New Yorker

The true, unvarnished history of the town at the heart of Silicon Valley.

Palo Alto is nice. The weather is temperate, the people are educated, rich, healthy, enterprising. Remnants of a hippie counterculture have synthesized with high technology and big finance to produce the spiritually and materially ambitious heart of Silicon Valley, whose products are changing how we do everything from driving around to eating food. It is also a haunted toxic waste dump built on stolen Indian burial grounds, and an integral part of the capitalist world system.

In Palo Alto, the first comprehensive, global history of Silicon Valley, Malcolm Harris examines how and why Northern California evolved in the particular, consequential way it did, tracing the ideologies, technologies, and policies that have been engineered there over the course of 150 years of Anglo settler colonialism, from IQ tests to the “tragedy of the commons,” racial genetics, and “broken windows” theory. The Internet and computers, too. It’s a story about how a small American suburb became a powerful engine for economic growth and war, and how it came to lead the world into a surprisingly disastrous 21st century.

Palo Alto is an urgent and visionary history of the way we live now, one that ends with a clear-eyed, radical proposition for how we might begin to change course.

SAS Great Escapes Two

SAS Great Escapes Two

Contributors

Damien Lewis

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£9.99
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Paperback
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‘Damien Lewis is both a meticulous historian and a born storyteller’ Lee Child

SAS Great Escapes Two recounts the hitherto untold stories of six of the most dramatic and daring escapes executed by the world’s most famous fighting force during WWII. From the very earliest SAS missions to the push into Nazi-occupied Europe, they cover some of the key figures in the Regiment, including its founder, David Stirling, plus other lesser-known heroes.

With each story comes an edge-of-the-seat, rollercoaster ride in classic Damien Lewis fashion, as readers are plunged into the escapees’ experiences – sharing their most terrifying yet inspiring moments. These stunning accounts of survival beggar belief, revealing nerve-racking bluff and deception, knife-edge encounters with enemy hunter forces hellbent on wreaking vengeance and murder, but also incredible acts of mercy and kindness from those who risk all to help the escapees on their way.

Each tale of breath-taking derring-do reveals how necessity really is the mother of all invention, as with every step and at every juncture these fugitives defied fate, snatching survival and freedom from the jaws of the enemy, and all the horrors that would have followed capture.

Damien Lewis has worked closely with the families of those portrayed, accessing wartime diaries, letters, mission reports, interrogation transcripts and more, to relate how the men of the SAS crossed blazing deserts, evaded enemy hunter forces and escaped through hostile lands, battling against seemingly insurmountable odds. But most of all, these uplifting tales of endurance beyond measure showcase the triumph of the human spirit and the will to survive.

‘Damien Lewis paints a uniquely vivid picture of the wartime SAS. Packed with detail, this fresh and dynamic book brings us as close to its remarkable members as we are ever likely to get.’ Joshua Levine, author of
Dunkirk

‘In these days when we are told to be scared of everything it is a relief to read of steely nerves and cold courage. Damien Lewis has collected examples of exactly these qualities from World War II and they are all thrillers, to be read with pleasure – and a bit of nostalgia!’ Frederick Forsyth

‘The fund of SAS escapes turns out to be too big for one book, and in Damien Lewis there is a writer of rare narrative gifts able to bring alive these epic stories for us today’ Mark Urban

‘An astonishing book: a collection of truly riveting stories of bravery, all brilliantly told. In terms of sheer drama and audacity, SAS: Great Escapes Two goes where no fiction writer would dare venture’ Alex Gerlis, author of Agent in the Shadows
The Great Modern Poets

The Great Modern Poets

Contributors

Michael Schmidt, Michael Schmidt

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£10.99
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Paperback
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An essential introduction to the most significant poems and their works since 1900

Reproduced within this collection are some of the greatest poems of the 20th century, featuring works from major writers such as T.S. Eliot and Sylvia Plath to Langston Hughes and W.B. Yeats. For each, Michael Schmidt provides an insight into their themes and the background to their work, opening for the reader a deeper understanding and enjoyment of these extraordinary poems.

Poets include:

W.B. Yeats
Robert Frost
Edward Thomas
Philip Larkin
T.S. Eliot
Ted Hughes
Langston Hughes
Sylvia Plath
C.S Sisson
Derek Walcott
Ezra Pound
& many more!
California Dreamers

California Dreamers

Contributors

Belinda Jones

Price and format

Price
£9.99
Format
Digital (deliver electronic)

‘A perfect, sunny read’ – B magazine



‘Great fun from start to finish’ – Sunday Express

‘Makeup, sunshine, fabulous locations, a holiday romance . . . what more could you want in a summer read?’ – Novelicious

Ever wished you could make-over your life?


Make-up artist Stella is an expert at helping other people change their images, but when it comes to transforming herself, she doesn’t even know where to start.

So when her new friend, glamorous Hollywood actress Marina Ray, summons her a movie set in California, Stella can’t resist the chance to start afresh – it is the land of sunshine and opportunity after all!

But are they really friends or does Marina have an ulterior motive? What is the secret that both women are hiding about the nautical (but nice) men in their lives? And what will it take to really make both of their California dreams come true?

In a Pacific Coast journey that takes in Los Angeles, the world’s most romantic ranch and California’s very own castle in the sky – this story of friendship, long-distance love, kissing (and making up) is the perfect escapist read.

Readers love California Dreamers:
‘A great read set in stunning locations’ – 5* reader review
‘If you like make up, romance and twists this book is for you. Literally read it in a few days’- 5* reader review
‘Could not put it down. Loved it!’ – 5* reader review
Operation Certain Death

Operation Certain Death

Contributors

Damien Lewis, Damian Lynch

Price and format

Price
£29.99
Format
Audiobook Downloadable
Operation Certain Death chronicles the story of the single most daring Special Forces operation since World War Two – Operation Barras; the attempted rescue by the SAS of the British Forces who were being held captive by guerrilla gang the West Side Boys in the Sierra Leone jungle. The West Side Boys were a strange-looking bunch, wearing pink shades, shower caps, fluorescent wigs and voodoo charms they believed made them invulnerable to bullets – an impression re-enforced by ganja, heroine, crack cocaine and gallons of sweet palm wine. In 1999 a twelve man patrol of Royal Irish Rangers, who were training government troops in Sierra Leone, were captured and held hostage by the West Side Boys. They were held prisoner in a fortified jungle hideaway, with severed heads decorating the palisades, defended by some 400 heavily armed soldiers.

Operation Barras, the rescue mission, was a combined force of 100 Paras, twelve members of the Special Boat Squadron, helicopters from the Navy and RAF and, spearheading the operation, 40-strong D squadron of the SAS. Against amazing odds the hostages were rescued – over 150 of the enemy were killed. Operation Certain Death is a thrilling true story of all out war. No hostages taken. Blood-letting on a vast scale inflicted on a very blood-thirsty enemy.

A gripping piece of true military history, perfect for fans of action adventure stories and anyone interested in the top secret division of the British Army.

‘As good as any thriller I have ever read’ Frederick Forsyth

(P)2023 Quercus Editions Limited
SÍ SEÑOR

SÍ SEÑOR

Contributors

Roberto Firmino

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Price
£22
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Hardcover
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A revelatory memoir from Liverpool legend and global football star Bobby Firmino.

Master of the no-look goal and Anfield favourite, Roberto ‘Bobby’ Firmino, signed for Liverpool in July 2015. Over the next eight years – and seven winners’ medals – he established himself as one of the club’s most important players in recent years for his audacious skill, impressive goal scoring, and beaming smile.

Jürgen Klopp saw Firmino as the on-pitch ‘engine’ that drove the club’s counter-pressing strategy and together with Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mané, Firmino formed a formidable attacking trio. The Kop rewarded Roberto with the ultimate accolade – his own song: ‘Sí, Señor, give the ball to Bobby and he will score.’

Sí, Señor celebrates Firmino’s cherished years in a red shirt and will remind fans why they fell in love with him in the first place.
Great Rides According to G

Great Rides According to G

Contributors

Geraint Thomas

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£20
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Hardcover
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Across the UK, into Europe and further afield, these are the training rides, races and journeys closest to his heart. From one-day classics in the Peak District and Snowdonia to the rolling roads of Tuscany and the wide-open vistas of New Zealand’s South Island, these are the routes you’ll want to ride alongside Britain’s favourite cycling superstar.

We ride out with him from his winter home in the south of France, and around his old Tuscan training base as a GB Olympic hopeful at the very start of his career. We take in the valley roads of the Tour de Suisse (overall winner, 2022), and the sinuous coastal roads of Milan – San Remo.

We go long in Mallorca and bounce along the short cobbled secteurs of Belgium; we take in the vineyards around Adelaide and the bright blue skies of southern California.

And we have guest rides too: from world champion Remco Evenepoel and his favourite winter training ride in Calpe, Spain; around Yorkshire, with Olympic mountain bike champion, world cyclo-cross champion and newly crowned winner of Strade Bianche, Tom Pidcock; in the wilds of western Ireland from champion sprinter Sam Bennett.

Twenty rides, twenty adventures you’ll never forget. All of this in a small-size hardback that can slide just as easily into your hand luggage as the back pocket of your jersey.
Come Back in September

Come Back in September

Contributors

Darryl Pinckney

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Price
£14.99
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Paperback
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WINNER OF THE JAMES TAIT BLACK PRIZE FOR BIOGRAPHY 2023
A Times Best Literary Non-Fiction Book of the Year

Critic and writer Darryl Pinckney recalls his friendship and apprenticeship with Elizabeth Hardwick and Barbara Epstein and the introduction they offered him to the New York literary world.

At the start of the 1970s, Darryl Pinckney arrived in New York City and at Columbia University and enrolled in Elizabeth Hardwick’s writing class at Barnard. After he graduated, he was welcomed into her home as a friend and mentee, and he became close with Hardwick and her best friend, neighbor, and fellow founder of The New York Review of Books, Barbara Epstein. Pinckney found himself at the heart of the New York literary world. He was surrounded by the great writers of the time, like Susan Sontag, Robert Lowell, and Mary McCarthy, as well as the overlapping cultural revolutions and communities that swept New York: the New Wave in film, rock, and writing; the art of Felice Rosser, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Lucy Sante, Howard Brookner, and Nan Goldin; the influence of feminism on American culture and literature; the black arts movement confronted by black feminism; and New Negro veterans experiencing the return of their youth as history. Pinckney filtered the avant-garde life he was exposed to downtown and the radical intellectual tradition of The Review through the moral values he inherited and adapted from abolitionist and Reconstruction black culture.

In Come Back in September, Pinckney recalls his introduction to New York and the writing life. The critic and novelist intimately captures this revolutionary, brilliant, and troubled period in American letters. Elizabeth Hardwick was not only the link to the intellectual heart of New York, but also a source of continual support and inspiration-the way she worked, her artistry, and the beauty of her voice. Through his memories of the city and of Hardwick, we see the emergence and evolution of Pinckney himself: as a young man, as a New Yorker, and as one of the essential intellectuals of our time.
Erotic Vagrancy

Erotic Vagrancy

Contributors

Roger Lewis

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Price
£30
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Hardcover
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‘The book of the year’ SUNDAY TIMES
‘One of the very best biographies I have ever read’ STEPHEN FRY
‘A hot thunderstorm of a book’ DAVID HARE
Erotic Vagrancy gave me a week of pure joy’ CRAIG BROWN
‘Unputdownable’ TONY PALMER
‘A genius writer’ LYNN BARBER

‘ABSOLUTE MASTERPIECE . . . ONE OF THE GREAT READING EXPERIENCES OF MY LIFE’ MARINA HYDE
A TOP 25 BEST BOOK OF 2023 (INDEPENDENT)

Thirteen years in the writing, Erotic Vagrancy doesn’t only surpass every other biography of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton yet to appear, this rich, vital and passionately articulated book, which is as extravagant and wayward as its two subjects, is also about celebrity, creativity, being flawed, being brilliant, sexuality, the intermingling of a low and a highbrow existence, pride, insecurity, attraction and repulsion, and devilry.

We see Taylor the child actress exchanging dogs and horses for husbands. We see Burton emerging from the mists and brimstone of Wales to be the greatest theatrical animal of his generation. The pair come together in Rome during the making of Cleopatra, which gives Lewis the opportunity for a major farcical set-piece. We then enter a world of jewels and private jets, vodka, yachts and furs – the splendid vulgarity of the Sixties, where the narrative of Taylor and Burton becomes a Pop Art story.

Then, inevitably, it all goes wrong, with alcoholism, violence, recrimination and divorce ( twice ) – with Burton, whom Lewis depicts as a Faustus figure, damned by fame, dead at fifty-eight.

Stephen Fry has said, ‘It is one of the very best biographies I have ever read. One of the best books about fame, desire, Hollywood and mid-to-late twentieth century culture ever written. Inside which, brilliant, hilarious and sensitive insights on all manner of subjects fizz and froth. Magnificent, terrible, tragic, triumphant.’
Apache Dawn

Apache Dawn

Contributors

Damien Lewis

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£10.99
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Paperback
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‘Damien Lewis is both a meticulous historian and a born storyteller’ Lee Child

In the summer of 2007 the British Army’s 662 Squadron deployed its most potent weapons system in combat for the very first time – the iconic Apache attack helicopter. This is the definitive story of the aircraft and of the crew who fly her, and of their baptism of fire in the battle for Helmand Province, Afghanistan. Under the call-sign Ugly, four of the Army Air Corps’ finest pilots flew a relentless series of missions during their 100-day deployment, stretching the aircraft, and themselves, to the limit. Apache Dawn recounts these operations from the perspective of the aircrew, plus the soldiers on the ground who owe their lives to the Apaches’ intervention during the white-hot heat of battle. Bestselling author Damien Lewis has been given unprecedented access to the pilots of the Apache Attack Squadrons – an elite band of warriors operating at the very limits of modern warfare. Apache Dawn is their story, and it is one of untold bravery and resilience against all odds.

‘As good as any thriller I have ever read’ Freddie Forsyth

‘Reveals a true story of British courage and daring’ The Sunday Times

‘Riveting’ Richard & Judy Show

‘The most dramatic story of a secret wartime mission ever’ News of the World
SAS Forged in Hell

SAS Forged in Hell

Contributors

Damien Lewis

Price and format

Price
£22
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Hardcover
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A Waterstones Best History Book of 2023

The incredible true story of the SAS’ daring mission to liberate Europe

In the summer of 1943, the largest invasion fleet ever assembled sailed for fortress Europe, aiming to bulldoze its way onto Nazi shores. At its vanguard went a few hundred elite forces soldiers, the Royal Navy warship carrying them bearing the iconic winged dagger emblem on its prow, plus the motto ‘Who Dares Wins’.

Led by the legendary SAS commander Blair ‘Paddy’ Mayne, these war-bitten, piratical raiders were tasked to do the impossible – to bludgeon their way through the most heavily defended enemy shoreline, so enabling the ensuing forces to follow on.

If they succeeded, it would mark the turning point in the war. If they failed, the consequences were unthinkable. Against all odds, outnumbered some fifty-to-one, and facing a ferocious series of cliffside defences, they would have to dare all as never before.

So begins the incredible true story of the SAS’s mission to liberate Europe.

Action-packed and filled with heroic endeavour, SAS Forged in Hell is breath-taking combat writing at its best, in true Damien Lewis style.
Hero Living

Hero Living

Contributors

Rudy Reyes

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£20
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Hardcover
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In Hero Living Rudy Reyes, the latest recruit in Channel 4’s smash-hit SAS Who Dares Wins introduces his philosophy to life – part Homer, part Bruce Lee and part Spider-Man. He outlines various stages towards revealing your inner hero: recognising the hero’s call, following the hero’s path and returning from life’s battlefield with the hero’s hard-earned wisdom.

Taking readers step-by-step through his tried and tested program, Rudy draws from his own heroic story of how he triumphed over harrowing childhood experiences of poverty and abandonment. Rather than giving up hope, he heeded the hero’s call to live up to his full potential – first as a martial-arts champion, then as an elite warrior in the mountains of Afghanistan and on the sands of Iraq and finally in his post-Marines life as a personal trainer, actor, motivational speaker and now TV star.
Bloody Heroes

Bloody Heroes

Contributors

Damien Lewis, Matt Bates

Price and format

Price
£29.99
Format
Audiobook Downloadable
The most explosive true war story of the 21st Century.

It is the winter of 2001. A terror ship is bound for Britain carrying a horrifying weapon. The British military sends a crack unit of SAS and SBS to assault the vessel before she reaches London.

So begins a true story of explosive action as this band of elite warriors pursues the merchants of death from the high seas to the harsh wildlands of Afghanistan. The hunt culminates in the single greatest battle of the Afghan war, the brutal and bloody siege of an ancient mud-walled fortress crammed full of hundreds of Al-Qaeda and Taliban.

Fighting against impossible odds and bitter betrayal, our handful of crack fighters battle to rescue their fellow soldiers trapped by a murderous, fanatical enemy.

‘The most dramatic story of a secret wartime mission you will ever read’ News of the World

‘The author has been given unprecedented access’ Zoo

‘Gripping’ Eye Spy


(P)2023 Quercus Editions Limited
Living My Best Life, Hun

Living My Best Life, Hun

Contributors

London Hughes

Price and format

Price
£20
Format
Hardcover
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‘A hilarious must read.’ -Jameela Jamil

‘I loved the chutzpah and the honesty.’ – Graham Norton

‘Funny, frank and inspiring.’ – Lenny Henry

All her life, London longed to be a badass, an awesome bulletproof star nobody could mess with – someone who takes no shit – and in Living My Best Life, Hun, she lifts the lid on how she went from secretly writing Frasier fan fiction alone in her bedroom to taking Hollywood by storm.

It hasn’t been an easy journey; from birthday parties gone wrong and dealing with bullies every step of the way, to getting blocked by Foxtons (long story) and being mistaken for the cleaner at a comedy competition (true story), London leaves no stone unturned. It took London some time to find her voice and her people, but now that she has, she’s mentally high-fiving her fourteen-year-old self every day.

Frank, fearless and funny, Living My Best Life, Hun will inspire you to ditch the self-loathing, start the self-loving and engage with your inner winner.
Answered Prayers

Answered Prayers

Contributors

Duncan Hamilton

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Price
£25
Format
Hardcover
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‘Magnificent, moving, often funny and deeply researched account . . . Is this just a book for those who know football? Far from it: this is a story of glory and the impermanence of fame’ Sunday Times (Book of the Week)

‘Like Alf Ramsey’s 1966 team, this book has depth, it has riches and it’s a winnerthe finest piece of sports writing I have read in ages and a superb piece of contemporary history’ Peter Hennessy

England. 1966. The World Cup.

Duncan Hamilton watched England beat West Germany as an eight-year-old boy in the company of his father and grandfather. He recalls ‘Wembley, spread out in the sun; the waving flags; the delirious, joy-of-all-joys moment of the final whistle; the trophy sparkling in the late afternoon light’.

But, seeing the whole game again during the misery of the first Covid lockdown, finally made him realise what Alf Ramsey and his players had no inkling of, which was what came next for them. How, for many of those boys of summer, almost everything after that shimmering moment amounted to an anti-climax or a setback. How ’66 was not a beginning, a guaranteed path towards more success, but a slow decline and fall, and also a disproportionate number of disappointments. And how the triumph of ’66 was dulled through constant repetition, the same images always flashed before us.

Hamilton recognised, too, how many myths and misconceptions had grown around the match.
He decided to revisit ’66, tracing the very roots of a story – as well as the hidden figures within it – that really began during the era of post-War austerity.

Answered Prayers provides, at last, a full account of English football’s greatest achievement and the failures that followed it. We see the institutional inability to appreciate Ramsey and his players, who were taken for granted; the political machinations of the blazered fools who ran the Football Association; the short-sighted blunderers of the Football League.

With his matchless insight and descriptive power, Hamilton tells history afresh and shows us, for the first time, the scale of what was won and what was lost.

PRAISE FOR DUNCAN HAMILTON

‘Hamilton has a perceptively humane understanding of men for whom football was never just a game’ Guardian
‘A marriage of prose and detail so fine and fastidious that it takes the breath away’ Independent
Justifiably prize-winning’ Mail on Sunday
The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight

Contributors

Jennifer E. Smith

Price and format

Price
£9.99
Format
ebook
NOW A MAJOR NETFLIX FILM STARRING HALEY LU RICHARDSON

Who would have guessed that four minutes could change everything?



Today should be one of the worst days of Hadley’s life. Her father is getting married in London to a woman she’s never even met, and she’s just missed her flight.

Hadley has never believed in destiny or fate before. But, stuck at the airport in New York, today is also the day she meets Oliver. He’s British. He’s cute. And he’s on her new flight.

Set over twenty-four hours, Hadley and Oliver’s story will make you believe that true love finds you when you’re least expecting it.

Readers love The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight

‘A warm and witty book about destiny, first loves, soul mates and perfect timing’ 5* reader review

‘One of those books that you just want to keep reading and reading’ 5* reader review

‘So amazing! A beautiful love story’ 5* reader review
The Lodger

The Lodger

Contributors

Helen Scarlett

Price and format

Price
£9.99
Format
Paperback
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Other formats available

London, 1919: a city of ghosts and absences, haunted by the men who marched away but never came back.



‘A poignant and readable mystery’ THE TIMES

Grace Armstrong believes that she has come to terms with her own loss, the death of her dazzling fiancé who was declared Missing in Action. But soon he starts to reappear both in her waking life and dreams.

To make matters worse, a body, dragged from the Thames, is identified as Elizabeth Smith, who lodged with Grace and her family for the last eight years before suddenly disappearing.

Elizabeth had been more than a lodger; she had become a close friend to Grace, who feels compelled to uncover the true circumstances of her death. In doing so, she is drawn reluctantly into the sordid and dangerous underbelly of London and a scandal that rocked Edwardian society.

Will Grace find the answers she so desperately craves, or will she lose herself in the search?

********************

Praise for The Lodger

‘A deliciously Gothic page-turner’ BEST

‘A gripping historical mystery‘ A. J. WEST

‘[Helen Scarlett] has a gift for pulling readers into the twists and turns of her story’ SUNDAY TIMES

‘A devastating reveal and a tangled web I won’t forget’ AMANDA GEARD
Chased by Pandas

Chased by Pandas

Contributors

Dan Martin

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Price
£10.99
Format
Paperback
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‘This is Dan Martin’s long-awaited autobiography, full of ‘the warmth, sharp insights and vivid colour of his 14-year career’ Guardian

Known, thanks to his racing style and attitude, for being one of road cycling’s last romantics, Dan has always shied away from revealing too much about himself and his story. Now, having retired at the end of the 2021 season aged 35 and no longer bound by the constraints of the racing circuit, Dan feels the time is right to tell his story in the same forthright and honest manner that he rode his bike.

This book reflects Dan’s generous and outspoken spirit, his resilience to pain, crashes, bad luck and, finally, his acceptance of destiny. Each chapter’s title has a sub-title based on a typical cyclist’s fear: the fear of losing a race, the fear of retiring from the sport, the fear of mountains or downhills, the fear of doping and, ultimately, the fear of death. Dan also discusses every aspect of the professional cyclist’s life – food, discipline, money, dreams, friendship and betrayal. Dan is unashamed when it comes to exposing these dark feelings, his weaknesses and how he tried to deal with them, his attitude exemplifying Mark Twain’s quote: ‘Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear’.

Written with his long-time friend and best-selling author Pierre Carrey, this is the story of a rider who never sought to conform to modern cycling’s norms and someone who, in many ways, embodies an age in cycling which has long since disappeared.

This is the celebration of a true cyclist’s career, which will appeal to anyone who’s embraced the weekend ride whilst dreaming of the mountains.

‘[Chased by Pandas] is not a conventional study of wins, losses and conquering mountains but overcoming the mental challenges of a sport into which he was seemingly born’ The Times

‘Records the brave and tough journey of ‘one of road cycling’s last romantics’ Irish Independent

‘Chronicles the former Irish road champion’s journey through the ranks of professional cycling’ Cycling Weekly
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