Search Results for: true story

‘An incredible story, and so well told’ Bear Grylls

‘Honesty, integrity and real experience that puts you in the thick of the action.’ Billy Billingham

There were three patrols that fateful January 1991 morning: Bravo One Zero, Bravo Two Zero and Bravo Three Zero. It was the opening hours of the Gulf War and the SAS were flown deep behind enemy lines to hunt down Saddam’s Scud missiles, the use of which threatened a Third World War.

The men of Bravo One Zero stepped off the chopper, took one look at the flat desert devoid of any cover and decided no way were they deploying into all of that. But Andy NcNab’s famed Bravo Two Zero patrol did deploy, with fatal results – all bar one being captured or killed.

And then there was Bravo Three Zero. These men were different. Thought differently. Acted differently. Treating as gospel the SAS’s saying ‘any fool can be uncomfortable’, they deployed with vehicles, and while there was nowhere to hide they could make a dash for the border if desperate.

Even as warnings came in that McNab’s patrol was on the run, Bravo Three Zero remained undetected – the furthest Coalition forces behind Iraqi lines. Slipping through enemy positions, a string of targets were taken out. But with the desert turning bitter and snow starting to fall, they were forced to fight a running battle against the elements as much as the enemy.

Though overshadowed by the fate of Bravo Two Zero, the achievements of this highly-decorated patrol are the stuff of elite forces legend. Now, for the first time, SAS veteran Des Powell reveals their story in gritty, blow-by-blow detail. Written with acclaimed military author Damien Lewis, this is a tale of edge-of-the seat daring deep inside enemy lands. Brutal, savage, unrelenting – prepare to be blown away, in a tale that proves utterly the SAS motto – who dares wins.

From one of Britain’s best-loved comedians comes this wonderfully funny, sharp and touching memoir and a celebration of the bond between man and dog – an autobidography, if you will.

‘I loved The Lick of Love. It’s often insightful, sometimes hilarious, frequently filthy – I’m a cat person, but if anything were ever to convince me to get a dog, it would be this’ Joanne Harris

‘. . . wise and perceptive, and funny and moving. Each dog you meet marks a different chapter of your life and Julian writes about it so BEAUTIFULLY’ Joanna Cannon

‘A quirky and witty excavation of memory lane in the company of his furry canine friends’ Dame Joan Collins

The Lick of Love takes us on a tour of Julian’s colourful life – and wherever life has taken him, Julian has had a dog by his side. Fanny the Wonder Dog, who came into Julian’s life when he was somewhat adrift, propelled him up the ranks of the alternative comedy circuit and onto television. Valerie, the whippet cross-breed escorted Julian through his forties, the Germaine Greer to his Bernard Manning. Albert, a jaunty geezer type who was sent to acclimatise Julian to middle age and helped him seduce his now husband, before being joined by naughty but nice Gigi, an unpredictable fur bullet of a dog. These canine characters have been there, bearing witness, on and off stage.

Whether writing about encounters in seedy London nightclubs, finding success on television with Sticky Moments, the death of his partner, that Normant Lamont joke, a narrow squeak with a thwarted eastern European plot to kidnap him, his move to the country, or finally settling down, falling in love and getting married, Julian’s unique voice bounces off the page. Ultimately, The Lick of Love is the story of a fascinating life and a love letter to the dogs that have played a loving and near constant part of it. Told with humour and great honesty, this promises to be one of the best memoirs of the year.

‘Whatever else is going on, it is the water bowl in the kitchen, the dog hair on my jumper, the knowing gaze from the dog in the basket beside me that comforts me and tells me that all is well.’ JC

JOIN SAS LEGEND PHIL CAMPION AS HE SHARES HIS DEEPLY PERSONAL LIFE STORY, WARTS AND ALL

In WHO DARES WINS Big Phil Campion reveals his chequered past, from terrible abuse suffered in a string of kids’ homes to psychological abuse suffered at a top public school.

Phil guides you through his soldiering career, from the so called “green army” to the brutal trial of SAS selection and all that followed. This includes years spent providing private military services across war-torn and risk-laden Africa; in between he was body-guarded the likes of Led Zep, Oasis, Kasabian, Dizzy Rascal and Pro Green.

Phil takes you on his gripping, behind-the-scenes adventure acting as a roving reporter for Sky TV in Syria and Northern Iraq, more often than not under fire.

Brave, riveting and truly revelatory, WHO DARES WINS is packed full of jaw-dropping stories to quicken the blood, while also telling of the psychological toll a life in conflict took on the author.

‘One of the best first-hand accounts of life in combat ever written’
Andy McNab on Born Fearless

A new book that will inspire children, by the global bestselling author of Stories for Boys Who Dare to be Different.

The words in Dare to be Different have great power.

Ben Brooks has brought together 100 people who have all in some way or another used words to do wonderful things. Some may have changed a single life, while others have changed the course of history for almost everyone on earth. But whether their effects were big or small, these individuals’ speeches, letters, poems, songs, stories, and advice prove one thing: words can make the world a better place. And they can make you feel better about yourself too.

This extraordinary compendium includes personal letters that were written for just one reader to help guide them through life’s journey; sometimes they were intended for millions of people to hear about grand declarations of war, peace or new discoveries. Most of the time, though, they are words of wisdom that children will love to hear, about kindness, bullying, or whether it’s OK to sometimes eat chocolate for breakfast.

From Plautus’ plays about the power of laughter to Selena Gomez’s speech about bullying; and from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s letters of encouragement to his daughter, Scottie, to Bambi, the mysterious graffiti artist who sprays words of truth on walls, there is something to be learned from every quote in this inspiring and illuminating book.

Children will be enthused and comforted by the wonderful true stories Brooks has brought from across history and from around the world. Each one is exquisitely illustrated by Quinton Winter, who made the Stories for Boys series so visually exciting.

In an exquisite personal pilgrimage, Corinne Hofmann delves into the slums of Nairobi to uncover the heart-warming and heart-breaking stories of unforgettable people and places, then treks 500 miles across the Namibian desert to discover the lives of the nomadic Himba people. Joined by her half-Kenyan daughter, Napirai, they travel to Nairobi together for the first time to discover Napirai s roots and finally meet her father and half-siblings. Africa, My Passion is a poignant, touching and exciting story about one woman’s love affair with a unique man, which led to a lifelong obsession with Africa. Moving, vividly recounted, eye-opening and, above all, filled with passionate hope and unparalleled detail, this is an extraordinary sequel to a bestselling series of memoirs.

Jamaican Usain ‘Lightning’ Bolt is arguably the most celebrated sportsman in the world. From the relative obscurity of being a world-class 200 metres runner and winner of the Athletics World Championship silver medal in 2007, Bolt has elevated himself to iconic stature with his incredible world record runs in the 100 metres and his unbelievable performances at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He is already being touted as the ‘saviour’ of track and field athletics and has been a fantastic ambassador for Jamaica, the Caribbean and the entire global African diaspora. This 22 year-old promises astonishing feats to come and his performances indicate that he is more than ready to fulfil those promises. Already a track phenomenon at the precocious age of twelve, this uncomplicated country boy leads the new generation of Caribbean stars who chose to stay at home, and train, study and work in familiar climes. His story is an inspiration to all and his instant celebrity shows the power of the media and the importance of the Olympic Games even in today’s crowded sports calendar.

Whilst on holiday in Kenya, Corinne Hoffman fell in love with a Masai warrior. Eventually she moved into a tiny shack with him and his mother and spent four years in Kenya.

However, slowly but surely, the dream began to crumble. She eventually fled back home with her baby daughter. From wild animals through starvation to ritual mutilation, this is a book steeped in humanity and one that tells a fascinating tale.

At once a hopelessly romantic love story and a gripping adventure yarn, The White Masai is a compulsive read.

Fourteen years after fleeing Kenya with her baby daughter, Corinne returned in the summer of 2004 to meet Lketinga and his family again in their village, Barsaloi. Nervous as she was, and uncertain as to how he would react on seeing her again, she found to her relief that she was welcomed unreservedly by all those who remembered her – by Lketinga, who still thought of her as his ‘wife number one’, by his brother, James, now a schoolteacher and especially by Lketinga’s mother, who had looked after Corinne with such care all those years before. Corinne Hofmann revisits an area of a country which she cares about passionately, describing in her immensely readable style the changes she saw after her time away, and once again bringing to life the atmosphere and characters in the Masai village.

‘This book should be mandatory reading for all young people’ – Pragya Agarwal

‘I wish this book had been around when I was a kid. . . If every child read it, the world would be transformed. This book will make the world a much better place for all of us’ – Mikaela Loach

‘Full of knowledge, cultural reference points and practical guidance, I will absolutely be referring to this in my own anti-racism journey and encourage others to do so too’ – Jeffrey Boakye
_________________

Me and White Supremacy has sold over 150,000 copies and was shortlisted for the Non-Fiction Book of the Year award at the British Book Awards. Now, with this YA edition, Layla will help younger readers to feel more confident talking about white supremacy and antiracism. Layla gives them the knowledge and practical tools they need to help change the world, now and for the generations that come after them.

Me and White Supremacy became one of the most talked about books of 2020. It isn’t just a book that you read, it is a book that you do, and it has the power to make you question the world you live in whilst giving you the tools to do something to change it. In this Young Adult edition, Layla has completely reworked the original to address readers of 11+ and of all races to help them explore and better understand racism. The book is based on the understanding that it is important for all young people to understand these topics, so they can grow into adults who know how to have conversations about race and racism as well as how to work together collectively to create an antiracist world.

Like the original book, this edition guides readers through the different concepts that contribute to white supremacy and explores how they can help dismantle it to create a fairer world. It is written in such a way that it can be worked through together as a group, in class, or individually, and over any period of time.

‘The Split has everything I love in a novel. It’s hilariously funny, it’s so uplifting, and its characters are irresistibly loveable’ – BETH O’LEARY

‘Full of humour, kindness, cake and a cat, this is the novel to turn to in difficult times’ – KATIE FFORDE

Following a brutal break up, Ally flees to her dad’s house in Sheffield with her ex’s cat (who always preferred her anyway). When she realises Emily isn’t coming to win back either her or the cat, Ally takes to the sofa to mourn the future she’d planned.

After a few days’ grace, her dad calls in reinforcements – Ally’s old friend and first beard, Jeremy. Reunited, the two find solace in each other’s heartbreak and an endless supply of baked goods. But jacked up on sugar and mutual delusion, they concoct a plan to run the half marathon and win back their exes…

This seems like the perfect example of their ability to commit and better themselves. But will their exes be waiting at the finish line, or is there a whole new future on the horizon?

A brilliant, heart-warming and intensely funny story of love, heartache, friendship and family. Perfect for fans of Marian Keyes and Beth O’Leary.

~*~ PRAISE FOR THE SPLIT ~*~
‘A warm, funny, comforting read with such loveable characters!’ – RUTH JONES

‘Uplifting, warm and heartfelt, with a cast of engaging characters who quickly became my friends. A feel-good depiction of love, friendship and family, which is very funny, but with moments of true poignancy too. An absolute must-read‘ – HOLLY MILLER

‘It’s like meeting Marian Keyes and Dawn O’Porter in a cosy gay pub in Sheffield!’ MATT CAIN

‘Wise, wonderful and so much fun. I loved it!‘ – HEIDI SWAIN

‘It was pure fun. Heart-warming and adorable‘ – JULIE COHEN

‘It’s rare that a book so important to the literary canon is, at the same time, entertaining, heart-warming, and funny‘ – ANSTEY HARRIS

‘I adored The Split – a hilarious but oh-so-relatable tale of how not to handle a break-up. It made me laugh and sigh and head out for a run’ – HOLLY HEPBURN

‘An absolute JOY from start to finish. If you’re after a smart, funny romcom with characters to root for, this is one for you’ – RICHARD ROPER

‘Fun, sassy and a joy to read. I loved it!’ – EMMA COOPER

‘Such a lovely and heart-warming book. And it’s hilarious! … You’d be hard pushed to find a better group of characters to spend time with’ – SUZANNE EWART

Love The Split? Then read Laura Kay’s new heartwarming romcom, Making It, available to pre-order now!

‘This searing debut from a retired social worker of 30 years could not be more timely – nor more true … Harrowing, moving and written with a fearsome authenticity, the story forces the reader to question where the truth lies’ Daily Mail

An evil monster exposed?

Or an innocent father condemned?

A scandal will shake a small community to its very foundations.


Two women have come forward to make historical sexual allegations against a pillar of the local community, Matthew Cooper.

The case lands on the desk of inexperienced Social Worker, Kit Goddard, who must remove Cooper from his home and family while the investigation is carried out. Although intrepid and intuitive, she is ill-prepared for such a high-profile case.

Kit finds herself navigating a local minefield of connections and class, reputations and rumour. Unsure whether her interference is a heroic intervention or a hurtful intrusion, she knows one thing: it will have an impact. The question is whether this impact will be to expose a lie, or destroy an innocent life…


Reader reviews

***** Brilliant
***** An absorbing read
***** Well written and ultimately very cathartic
***** Couldn’t put this book down

Inventive, electrifying and daring, True Story is a novel like nothing you’ve ever read before.

‘A mind-blowing page-turning un-put-downable heartwarming empathetic formally inventive horror suspense thriller, with a life-affirming and timely feminist message‘ Elif Batuman, author of The Idiot

‘Where our obsession with true-life crime meets page-turner’ Stylist, The best summer reads for 2020
‘Provocative’ Red

‘Clever and inventive, this is a supremely accomplished debut about the nature of truth in a world littered with monsters both real and imagined. It’s up to the reader to decide which is which’ Daily Express


After a college party, two boys drive a girl home: drunk and passed out in the back seat. Rumours spread about what they did to her, but later they’ll tell the police a different version of events. Alice will never remember what truly happened. Her fracture runs deep, hidden beneath cleverness and wry humour. Nick – a sensitive, misguided boy who stood by – will never forget.

That’s just the beginning of this extraordinary journey into memory, fear and self-portrayal. Through university applications, a terrifying abusive relationship, a fateful reckoning with addiction and a final mind-bending twist, Alice and Nick will take on different roles to each other – some real, some invented – until finally, brought face to face once again, the secret of that night is revealed.

Startlingly relevant and enthralling in its brilliance, True Story is by turns a campus novel, psychological thriller, horror story and crime noir, each narrative frame stripping away the fictions we tell about women, men and the very nature of truth. It introduces Kate Reed Petty as a provocative new voice in contemporary fiction.

Everyone knows the story of Joan of Arc, a peasant girl who put Charles VII on the throne – before being burned by the English as a heretic and witch.

But things are not always as they appear.

Jeanne d’Arc was only five when three angels and saints first came to her. Shrouded by a halo of heavenly light, she believed their claim to be holy. The Archangel Michael and Saint Margaret told her she was the foretold Warrior Maid of Lorraine, fated to free France and put a king upon his throne.

Saint Catherine made her promise to obey their commands and embrace her destiny; the three saints would guide her every step. Jeanne bound herself to these creatures without knowing what she’d done. As she got older, Jeanne grew to mistrust and fear the voices, and they didn’t hesitate to punish her cruelly for disobedience. She quickly learned that their cherished prophecy was more important than the girl expected to make it come true.

Jeanne is only a shepherd’s daughter, not the Warrior Maid of the prophecy, but she is stubborn and rebellious, and finds ways to avoid doing – and being – what these creatures want. Resistance has a terrifying price, but Jeanne is determined to fight for the life she wants.

But when the cost grows too high, Jeanne will risk everything to save the three people she loves most in all the world.

Not everyone is destined to be a hero. Sometimes you have no choice.

‘Unforgettable’ The Times


‘Grippingly told and brilliantly reported’ Mail on Sunday


‘Startlingly intimate’ Sunday Times


‘Fascinating’ Daily Mail


‘Groundbreaking’ Evening Standard


‘Exceptional and moving’ Spectator


“Hidden Valley Road contains everything: scientific intrigue, meticulous reporting, startling revelations, and, most of all, a profound sense of humanity. It is that rare book that can be read again and again.”
-David Grann, author of Killers of the Flower Moon

One of the New York Times‘ “20 most anticipated books of 2020”: the heartrending story of a mid-century American family with twelve children, six of them diagnosed with schizophrenia, that became science’s great hope in the quest to understand the disease.

“An extraordinary case study and tour de force of reporting.”
-Sylvia Nasar, author of A Beautiful Mind

Don and Mimi Galvin seemed to be living the American dream. After World War II, Don’s work with the Air Force brought them to Colorado, where their twelve children perfectly spanned the baby boom: the oldest born in 1945, the youngest in 1965. In those years, there was an established script for a family like the Galvins – aspiration, hard work, upward mobility, domestic harmony – and they worked hard to play their parts. But behind the scenes was a different story: psychological breakdown, sudden shocking violence, hidden abuse. By the mid-1970s, six of the ten Galvin boys, one after the other, were diagnosed as schizophrenic. How could all this happen to one family?

What took place inside the house on Hidden Valley Road was so extraordinary that the Galvins became one of the first families to be studied by the National Institutes of Mental Health. Their story offers a shadow history of the science of schizophrenia, from the era of institutionalization, lobotomy, and the schizophrenogenic mother, to the search for genetic markers for the disease, always amidst profound disagreements about the nature of the illness itself. And unbeknownst to the Galvins, samples of their DNA informed decades of genetic research that continues today, offering paths to treatment, prediction, and even eradication of the disease for future generations.

With clarity and compassion, bestselling and award-winning author Robert Kolker uncovers one family’s unforgettable legacy of suffering, love and hope.

“This book tore my heart out. It is a revelation-about the history of mental health treatment, about trauma, foremost about family-and a more-than-worthy follow-up to Robert Kolker’s brilliant Lost Girls.”
-Megan Abbott, Edgar Award-winning author of Dare Me and Give Me Your Hand

** The phenomenal Indian bestseller **
**Winner of the Tata Lit Live Best First Book of the Year Award **

‘Intense, lyrical, and powerful. This is a remarkable debut’ Jeet Thayil, author of Narcopolis and The Book of Chocolate Saints

‘Latitudes of Longing is a book to be savoured’ The Hindu

‘Bold and imaginative’ India Today


A prizewinning literary epic of the subcontinent, for readers of Yaa Gyasi’s HOMEGOING and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s HALF OF A YELLOW SUN

In the feverish tropics of the Andaman Islands, a young botanist tends to a fragile rose he has imported to welcome his bride. Hoping their marriage will bloom in this strange life, hundreds of miles from the east coast of India, he is entranced by Chanda Devi’s fierce nature and unusual gifts; speaking to trees and the ghosts of former colonialists. These islands, she tells her adoring husband, rest on a faultline, cracked so deep into the earth that spirits cross the boundary freely. But it is not this fracture that takes a tragic bite out of their happiness.

With the family riven by heartbreak, their maid takes the chance to resolve her own past mistakes. Having abandoned her son many years before, she now traces him to Myanmar, only to find him in prison – the enemy of a brutal regime. The faultline she followed over the Indian Ocean now cuts north into Nepal, where the prisoner’s ally, an itinerant drug dealer, tries to rescue a young woman from the dancing bars of Kathmandu. It shadows his footsteps into the Karakoram mountains, where a scientist looks deep into the abyss between India and Pakistan. It rises all the way to the snow deserts, beyond the reach of nation or war, where an elder of the village waits for the return of his true love, bringing all their journeys full circle.

A breathtaking epic, Latitudes of Longing possesses the reader with a blazing sense of wonder. Shubhangi Swarup’s vision goes deeper than the human stories of the subcontinent to reveal the conscious history of the earth itself. Tender in every detail, touched with humour and profound humanity, this is a novel brimming with life, an original masterpiece.

‘Riveting, twisty, page-turning stuff‘ Guardian

A ‘best books of 2020’ pick for BBC Radio 4 Open Book, the Guardian, the Telegraph and Good Housekeeping

‘The page turner you’ve been looking for. Sly, witty and gripping . . . I devoured it’ Naomi Alderman
‘An utter joy . . . wonderfully skilled’ Sarah Perry
‘Beguiling, brilliantly creepy, and an utterly compelling read’ Claire Fuller
‘Tender, creepy and gripping’ Sunday Times
‘Spellbinding and spooky . . . a dazzling high wire act, superbly absorbing’ Sunday Mirror

When the eight-year-old daughter of an Oxford College Master vanishes in the middle of the night, police turn to the Scottish nanny, Dee, for answers.

As Dee looks back over her time in the Master’s Lodging – an eerie and ancient house – a picture of a high achieving but dysfunctional family emerges: Nick, the fiercely intelligent and powerful father; his beautiful Danish wife Mariah, pregnant with their child; and the lost little girl, Felicity, almost mute, seeing ghosts, grieving her dead mother.

But is Dee telling the whole story? Is her growing friendship with the eccentric house historian, Linklater, any cause for concern? And most of all, why is Felicity silent?

Roaming Oxford’s secret passages and hidden graveyards, Magpie Lane explores the true meaning of family – and what it is to be denied one.

‘Enthralling . . . creepy and compelling’ The Times
‘Deliciously dark’ Alexandra Shulman
‘A gorgeously satisfying triumph’ Lucy Mangan
‘A rare thing . . . simply stunning’ Daily Express
‘I was gripped . . . highly original’ Alex Clark
‘Creepy, suspenseful’ Independent
‘One of the most intriguing narrators since Notes on a Scandal‘ Sara Collins
‘Grown-up and cleverly written . . . a dizzying sense of uncertainty’ Literary Review
‘Keeps you guessing . . . a real sense of menace’ Good Housekeeping
‘Wholly beguiling’ Mick Herron
‘Dazzlingly good’ Diane Setterfield
‘Beautiful writing’ Polly Samson
‘Clever, tense and twisty’ Amanda Craig
‘Highly intelligent’ Sarah Vaughan
‘Simply brilliant!’ JP Delaney
‘Darkly atmospheric’ Jane Fallon
‘Clever and creepy’ Erin Kelly
‘Highly recommended’ Louise Candlish

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks meets Get Out in this landmark investigation of racial inequality at the core of the heart transplant race.

In 1968, Bruce Tucker, a black man, went into Virginia’s top research hospital with a head injury, only to have his heart stolen out of his body and put into the chest of a white businessman. Now, in The Organ Thieves, Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist Chip Jones exposes the horrifying inequality surrounding Tucker’s death and how he was used as a human guinea pig without his family’s permission or knowledge. The circumstances surrounding his death reflect the long legacy of mistreating African Americans that began more than a century before with cadaver harvesting and worse. It culminated in efforts to win the heart transplant race in the late 1960s.

Featuring years of research and fresh reporting, The Organ Thieves is a story that resonates now more than ever, when issues of race and healthcare are the stuff of headlines and horror stories.

Marcelo Bielsa is one of football’s greatest eccentrics and greatest enigmas. This will be the first English biography of one of football’s most contradictory characters.


He has coached some of the greatest names in world football – Gabriel Batistuta, Carlos Tevez, Javier Mascherano, Juan Sebastian Veron and Ander Herrera. He has been cited as a mentor by Pep Guardiola, Mauricio Pochettino and Diego Simeone.

Yet Marcelo Bielsa remains one of the great enigmas of world football – a fabulously innovative and obsessive coach, who has transformed Leeds United, Marseille and Athletic Bilbao. He also lasted two days at Lazio and led Argentina to their greatest footballing disaster.

Featuring interviews from across South America, Europe and Yorkshire, The Quality of Madness is a comprehensive and compelling biography, tracing Bielsa’s story from growing up as a member of one of Argentina’s most remarkable families to his revival of Leeds.

Bielsa has long been known as ‘El Loco’ – the Madman – and yet as Tim Rich’s revelatory study reveals, there is mercurial method and audacious logic to the madness.

The incredible and heart-breaking true stories of victims of a notorious adoption scandal – inspired by No.1 bestselling novel Before We Were Yours

From the 1920s to 1950, Georgia Tann ran a corrupt baby business at the Tennessee Children’s Home Society in Memphis. She offered up more than 5,000 orphans tailored to the wish lists of eager parents – hiding the fact that many weren’t orphans at all, but stolen sons and daughters of poor families, desperate single mothers, and women told in maternity wards that their babies had died.

In Before and After, many survivors set out to trace their roots and find their birth families. Before and AFter includes moving and shocking accounts of the ways in which adoptees were separated from their first families. Often raised as only children, many have joyfully reunited with siblings in the final decades of their lives. There are stories of first meetings that are all the sweeter and more intense for time missed, and of families from very different social backgrounds reaching out to embrace brothers, sisters, and cousins.

WHAT READERS ARE SAYING ABOUT BEFORE AND AFTER

‘What a truly amazing book’ *****

‘Riveting’ *****

‘Captivating and emotional’ *****

‘A real tear-jerker’ *****

Tender, moving, heartfelt and warm (and sporadically scandalous and outrageous too), these are the private messages between people in love. Yet they are also correspondence between the rulers of nations.

From Henry VIII’s lovelorn notes to Anne Boleyn and George IV’s impassioned notes to his secret wife, to Queen Victoria’s tender letters to Prince Albert and Edward VIII’s extraordinary correspondence with Wallis Simpson – these letters depict romantic love from its budding passion to the comfort and understanding of a long union (and occasionally beyond to resentment and recrimination), all set against the background of great affairs of state, wars and the strictures of royal duty.

Here is a chance to glimpse behind the pomp and ceremony, the carefully curated images of royal splendour and decorum, to see the passions, hopes, jealousies and loneliness of kings and queens throughout history. By turns tender, moving, heartfelt and warm (and sporadically scandalous and outrageous too), these are the private messages between people in love. Yet they are also correspondence between the rulers of nations, whose actions (and passions) changed the course of history, for good and bad.

This morning I received your dear, dear letter of the 21st. How happy do you make me with your love! Oh! my Angel Albert, I am quite enchanted with it! I do not deserve such love! Never, never did I think I could be loved so much. Queen Victoria to Prince Albert (28 November 1839)

Banish boredom with this bumper book of perfectly pitched puzzles for the whole family to enjoy.

Fear not, The Great Big Indoor Family Puzzle Book has self-isolation, rainy days and long school holidays covered with over 200 puzzles suitable for 12 to 120-year-olds.

Jam-packed with mazes, dot-to-dot, picture puzzles, sudoku, word games and much, much more, discover hours of entertainment between these pages. The puzzles will give little and large brains a workout (and provide precious moments of household calm).

Pencils at the ready, as you work your way together towards the solution.

‘SMART, EMOTIONAL, INTRIGUING AND COMPELLING – I LOVED IT!’ JILL MANSELL

Dannie Kohan has held true to her meticulously crafted 5-year plan since she understood the concept. On the day that she nails the most important interview of her career and gets engaged to the perfect man, she’s well on her way to fulfilling her life goals.

But that night Dannie falls asleep and dreams of a night five years in the future where she’s engaged to another man. It was just a dream, she tells herself when she wakes, but it felt so real.

Determined to ignore the odd experience, she files it away in the back of her mind. That is, until five years later, when Dannie turns down a street and there, standing on the corner, is the man from her dream…

Perfect for fans of Me Before You and One Day, this heart-breaking story of love, loss and life will have you questioning everything you thought you knew about destiny.
————————————-

‘What a clever, beautiful, special book. The writing is stunning, the concept is so original – it just has everything going for it. I loved every page!’ Beth O’Leary, author The Flatshare and The Switch

‘Such a touching, soulful experience’ Goodreads reader

‘In Five Years is a stunningly beautiful, brilliant and insightful love story‘ Goodreads reader

‘Heartbreaking and poignant’ Glamour

‘I loved In Five Years. A beautiful, intelligent story about friendships and love’ Clare Mackintosh, author of After the End

‘Full of twists and turns, this is a heart-breaking yet uplifting story about love and friendship‘ Heat magazine ****

*IF YOU LOVED IN FIVE YEARS, REBECCA’S NEXT HEARTBREAKER EXPIRATION DATES IS AVAILABLE TO PREORDER NOW!*

New York Times bestseller, March 2020

Once inseparable, Joel and Nina haven’t spoken in twenty years.

When Joel’s mother Monika develops dementia, he has no choice but to return to his home town. Monika needs specialist care, and that means Pineshade – which also means Joel is going to have to deal with his one-time best friend, for Nina works there.

It’s not long before Monika’s health deteriorates – she starts having violent, terrifying outbursts, and worse, she appears to know things she couldn’t possibly know. It’s almost as if she isn’t herself any more . . . but of course, that’s true of most of the residents at Pineshade.

Only Nina and Joel know Monika well enough to see the signs; only by working together can they try to find answers to the inexplicable . . .

The Home is an eerie story about love, friendship and the greatest fear of all: losing control of ourselves . . .

Three of the greatest football clubs: Celtic, Liverpool and Manchester United. Their three greatest managers: Jock Stein, Bill Shankly and Matt Busby.

Three men born within a 20-mile radius of each other in the central lowlands of Scotland; forged in mining communities to subsequently shape the course of modern football. From a BAFTA-winning documentary film maker and the people who brought us AMY, I BELIEVE IN MIRACLES and SENNA, this is a book for anyone who loves football and its history.