Search Results for: true story

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. Replete with surprise, shock, action, heroic endeavour and glory, not to mention subterfuge, treachery and dismay, this is a classic combination of combat writing and breath-taking narrative non-fiction.

In the summer of 1944, the SAS were charged with the most crucial D-Day missions, taking on the might of the Nazi Reich deep behind enemy lines. Facing Hitler’s armoured legions – his fearsome Panzer divisions – with little more than raw courage and their nimble Willys jeeps, it would take maverick thinking and unconventional warfare in the extreme to survive and overcome. Hunted at every turn, theirs would become a bitter struggle to topple the dark power wielded from Berlin.

Increasingly, the war to seize The Fatherland would descend into a bitter and bloody struggle waged between the Nazi Fuhrer, and those he believed hunted him and his most senior commanders – Blair ‘Paddy’ Mayne’s SAS. No greater courage can be written, nor unconventional soldiering envisaged, than that evidenced by these renegade warriors as they dared all to bring the war to its final blood-soaked close.

‘You could not ask for a more eloquent guide than this book. Essential’ Sathnam Sanghera

An eye-opening book about how societies are designed to support those in power, at the expense of those without it.

COLONIAL POWER
In the 1950s, over 10,000 Kenyans were killed by the British during the Mau Mau uprising against a government determined to install a sympathetic post-independence regime and continue to exploit the resources of its former colonies.

PATRIARCHAL POWER
After the Iranian revolution in 1979, the Islamic Republic systematically removed freedoms from women, relegating them to second-class citizens in the name of religious teachings.

EDUCATIONAL POWER
There have been fifty-seven prime ministers of the United Kingdom, of whom forty-three have been privately educated, creating a society built by and for the privileged.

These are just some of the stories through which Dr Jack Davy illustrates the key factors that allow societies to create and sustain oppressive systems. Some are historical. Others have played out right before our eyes over the last decade. All are rooted in the systems in which we all participate. Read this book, and take action.

‘Sharp and insightful. Jack Davy makes complex ideas accessible in this powerful book about the roots of inequality’ Caroline Dodds Pennock, author of On Savage Shores: How Indigenous Americans Discovered Europe

‘A deeply humane book with true hope in its message’ Ray Mattinson, Blackwells

‘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.

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.

‘Warm, funny, and bursting with heart’ Rebecca Serle

‘Beautiful, moving, hopeful’ Emily Stone

Greta James is adrift. Literally.

Just after the sudden death of her mother – her most devoted fan – and weeks before the launch of her high-stakes second album, Greta James falls apart on stage. The footage quickly goes viral and she stops playing. Greta’s career is suddenly in jeopardy – the kind of jeopardy her father, Conrad, has always warned her about.

Months later, Greta – still heartbroken and very much adrift – reluctantly agrees to accompany Conrad on the Alaskan cruise her parents had booked to celebrate their fortieth anniversary. It could be their last chance to heal old wounds in the wake of shared loss. But the trip will also prove to be a voyage of discovery for them both, and for Ben Wilder, a charming historian who is struggling with a major upheaval in his own life.

In this unlikeliest of places – at sea and far from the packed venues where she usually plays – Greta must finally confront the heartbreak she’s suffered, the family hurts that run deep, and how to find her voice again.

‘Gorgeous, heartfelt’ Amanda Eyre Ward

‘Moving and beautiful’ 5* reader review

‘Thoughtful and tender and true’ Janelle Brown

‘Full of warmth, heart and music’ 5* reader review

‘Filled with music, passion, and love of all kinds’ Jill Santopolo

‘Wonderful, inspiring and delightful’ 5* reader review

‘A total delight!’ Christine Pride

‘A heartwarming story reminding you to really live’ 5* reader review

‘Full of hope . . . vibrant’ Linda Holmes

‘I have always been fascinated by that charismatic hero of the Resistance, Josephine Baker, but it turns out I didn’t know the half of it. Lewis’ story-telling blew my mind. Again.’ – Dan Snow

‘A story of incredible bravery in the face of tyrants who invaded a free and democratic nation, this will have powerful resonance today.’ – Tim Spicer

During WW2, Josephine Baker, the world’s richest and most glamorous entertainer, was an Allied spy in Occupied France. This is the story of her heroic personal resistance to Nazi Germany.

Prior to World War II, Josephine Baker was a music hall diva renowned for her singing and exotic dancing, her beauty and sexuality; she was the most highly-paid female performer in Europe. When the Nazis seized her adopted city, Paris, she was banned from the stage, along with all ‘negroes and Jews’. Yet, instead of returning to America, she vowed to stay and to fight the Nazi evil. Overnight she went from performer to Resistance spy.

In The Flame of Resistance best-selling author Damien Lewis uncovers this little known history of the famous singer’s life. During the years of the war, as a member of the French Nurse paratroopers – a cover for her spying work– she participated in numerous clandestine activities and emerged as formidable spy. In turn, she was a hero of the three countries in whose name she served: the US, the nation of her birth; France, the land that embraced her during her adult career; and Britain, the country from which she took her orders, as one of London’s most closely-guarded special agents. Baker’s secret war embodies a tale of unbounded courage, passion, devotion and sacrifice, and of deep and bitter tragedy, fueled by her own desire to combat the rise of Nazism, and to fight for all that is good and right in the world.

Drawing on a plethora of new historical material and rigorous research, including previously undisclosed letters and journals, Lewis upends the conventional story of Josephine Baker, revealing that her mark on history went far beyond the confines of the stage.

‘An eye-opening, pulse-quickening history. Josephine Baker led a wartime double life of extraordinary jeopardy and Damien Lewis’s needle-sharp narrative is jagged with suspense. Yet he also writes with great warmth and sensitivity, creating a powerfully moving portrait of a woman who fought prejudice and hate in all its forms.’ – Sinclair McKay

‘A gripping true story of a remarkable heroine. The details of Josephine Baker’s espionage for the Deuxieme Bureau, the French military intelligence agency during the war, make for a fascinating read in Damien Lewis’s meticulously researched account’ – Deborah Cadbury

A Sunday Times Bestseller March 2022 (Ireland)

Soon, the lockdown would start. People would die alone, without any proper ceremony. Charlotte’s death would be washed away, the first drop in a downpour. Nobody knew it then but hers would be the last good funeral of the year.

It was February 2020, when Ed O’Loughlin heard that Charlotte, a woman he’d known had died, young and before her time. He realised that he was being led to reappraise his life, his family and his career as a foreign correspondent and acclaimed novelist in a new, colder light.

He was suddenly faced with facts that he had been ignoring, that he was getting old, that he wasn’t what he used to be, that his imagination, always over-active, had at some point reversed its direction, switching production from dreams to regrets. He saw he was mourning his former self, not Charlotte.

The search for meaning becomes the driving theme of O’Loughlin’s year of confinement. He remembers his brother Simon, a suicide at thirty; the journalists and photographers with whom he covered wars in Africa, the Middle East, the Balkans, wars that are hard to explain and never really stopped; his habit of shedding baggage, an excuse for hurrying past and not dwelling on things.

Moving, funny, and searingly honest, The Last Good Funeral of the Year takes the reader on a circular journey from present to past and back to the present: ‘Could any true story end any other way?’

A Financial Times Book of the Year 2023
A Daily Express Book of the Year 2023

‘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 winner – the 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

*A mesmeric, harrowing and ultimately uplifting childhood memoir about identity, family and mental health that has touched so many readers around the world*

‘So raw and full of so many emotions. I didn’t want the book to end’ @ftsworld

‘It’s hard to put into words how sacred this book is’ @lisainthecity27

‘I’ve literally read it in one sitting. Glued to every single word’ @lorencoles

‘Thank you for shining a light on ‘different’ children. Thank you for showing that there is no normal. But most of all thank you for proving that even when it’s hard to make friends…there is always someone looking out for you’ @gabrielle.rea

It was an ordinary day in 2016. In Gatwick Airport, Jonathan and his wife Anna were having breakfast with their two little children while waiting for their flight to be called. And then it happened, a familiar sensation that Jonathan hadn’t had for decades: an out-of-body experience that transported him to another place, the safe place he used to escape to in his mind when he was a boy.

Because growing up in conservative 1980s Dublin, where there was little tolerance for children who were ‘different’, Jonathan Joly was, indeed, a different sort of child: creative, expressive, and – on the inside – a girl. The limitations of the people around him to understand his differences led to years of tyrannical bullying and abuse, forcing him to withdraw within himself to the point of clinical absence. His only chance for survival was the inner world he created for himself, rich with loving and supportive friends and playmates, that only he could see. Jonathan’s invisible friends were his lifeline, and on that day at the airport, they came flooding back, and have remained with him to this day.

This extraordinary childhood memoir is not only an important, thought-provoking and exhilarating read, it gives hope and community for all those who have ever felt ‘other’, and proves how vital it is to provide children with the safe space to be themselves.

In All My Friends are Invisible, Jonathan Joly, known widely as one of social media’s most successful content creators, shares the secret he’s kept hidden these many years. He shows the beautiful world he retreated to time and time again when life was unbearable for his ‘skin machine’. Most importantly, he introduces us to his invisible friends, and in so doing you may be transported back to the friends you had as a child that no one else could see, and who may have saved you, too.

‘This will blow you away’- Stylist

‘Joly’s prose is sensitive and heartbreaking…darkly compelling’ – Business Post

‘An extraordinary and thought-provoking memoir’ – Belfast Telegraph

‘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.

‘An uproariously funny collection of true stories from one of the comedy greats’ – BILL BAILEY

‘I loved this book. Absolutely adored it. I devoured it and savoured every word. A wild and wonderful love letter to comedy’ – ADAM HILLS

‘It’s rare for comedians to be as funny on paper as they are on stage, but Rich Hall nails it‘ – CARL HIAASEN

A collection of hilarious and often absurd epiphanies in the legendary comedian’s life that defined him – more in a for worse than for better kind of way – and all delivered in his unique deadpan style.

Growing up, Rich Hall aspired to be a writer, and after school he trained to be a journalist. But after a stint at the Knoxville News Sentinel in Tennessee, he found himself trying to impress a girl by doing a one-man show in a state university campus in Kansas, armed with a bucket, a loudhailer and some dog biscuits. It wasn’t exactly a triumph, and he didn’t get the girl, but he had found his true calling.

Nailing It is a collection of true stories from both Hall’s professional and personal life where he really had to nail it. They’re not about glitz, or fame, or how he met his seventh wife at the rehab clinic and found spiritual direction. None of that happened to him.

They’re about accidentally melting Kraft cheese at his first Edinburgh Fringe Festival, alienating an entire convention of RV holiday-makers in Las Vegas, singing The Who’s ‘You Better You Bet’ at a charity gig and turning his performance into a legendary rock ‘n’ roll disaster, and attempting to seduce Karen, which must have been successful because she is now his wife. And other such escapades.

Hall doesn’t always come out of them all covered in glory – far from it – but if someone propped him up at the end of the comedy bar and put a 50p coin in him, these are the tunes he would spin. And you’d be laughing all night.

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.

Originally published as Relish, a fully revised and updated edition of the eye-opening story of one woman’s incredible appetite for life: Dame Prue Leith, judge of hit show GREAT BRITISH BAKE OFF, tells all from childhood in South Africa to becoming a DBE.

‘What a terrific tale it is – of a South African girl who could stand the heat and made the kitchen into a remarkable career’ Telegraph

Prue Leith describes herself as greedy in all senses of the word. Cook, caterer, restaurateur, food writer, journalist, novelist, businesswoman, teacher, television presenter, charity worker, lover, wife and mother, she has certainly lived life to the full. Prue came to London in the early 1960s and, not long afterwards, opened Leith’s Restaurant. By the mid-seventies she was a food columnist on the Daily Mail, had published several cookbooks and opened Leith’s School of Food and Wine.

But it wasn’t all work. Prue writes with honesty of her love life, her longing for children, the birth of her son, the adoption of her daughter and much else besides. In this fully revised and updated edition she tells of how she met, fell in love with and married John Playfair as well as her exciting role as a judge on Great British Bake Off, now a hit show in the United States as well as the UK. Prue’s down-to-earth attitude to life and her remarkable energy are an inspiration to women readers everywhere.

‘Life is too short to waste time on second-class ambitions. Go for the big ones.’

Now in his late seventies, Sir Ranulph Fiennes looks back on a lifetime of exploration, and draws powerful, inspiring lessons that we can all use when faced by the tribulations of everyday life.

Having crossed both Polar ice caps on foot, climbed Everest and the Eiger, served in the SAS and circumnavigated the world along its polar axis – a 53,000 mile odyssey that has never been repeated – ‘Ran’ looks back from the summit of an incredible life and teaches us how to:

– Learn self-discipline, and master fear
– Plan for success, and make your own luck
– Learn from failure and strive to succeed
– Keep going, whatever life throws at you

‘A truly page-turning, compulsive and also profoundly moving narrative. Superb.’ JAMES HOLLAND

‘Gripping, urgent, superbly reported and brilliantly written’ DAN JONES

‘A gripping and pacey book that reads like a thriller. I found it shocking in a world where I didn’t think I could be shocked any more. Henry Hemming wears his extensive research very lightly and manages to shape a great narrative from a complex and dark episode from our recent history. An important and skilfully crafted book.’ JOHN O’FARRELL

HOW THE DEATH OF A SPY IN THE IRA LED TO ONE OF THE BIGGEST MURDER INVESTIGATIONS IN BRITISH HISTORY.

On 26th May 1986, the body of an undercover British agent was found by the side of a muddy lane, with a rope
tied around its wrists and tape over each eye. Years later, it was reported that this murder might have been carried out by another undercover British agent, known as ‘Stakeknife’. In 2016, a detective began to investigate this case, and would soon find himself running the largest murder investigation in British history.

In a compulsive blend of investigative journalism and true crime thriller, Henry Hemming exposes the parallel worlds of the IRA and British intelligence through the lives of those inextricably bound up in both. He reveals the bravery of those who were crucial in ending the Troubles in Northern Ireland, the bloodiest and longest-running conflict in recent British history, and the determination of one detective in his dogged search for justice and the truth.

‘a compelling story’ – The Times

‘[a] gripping and consistently surprising true-life thriller’ – Observer

‘The Night Manager meets Narcos‘ Saul David

‘To catch this criminal took incredible courage and skill. This is James Bond meets Jason Bourne’ Bear Grylls

‘This is the book that warned us years before the Ukraine invasion about the power and reach of Moscow’s Merchants of Death… Should be on the bookshelf of every Western anti-narcotics officer and not a few spies. No cliché this time – this is truth which really does trump fiction’ Euan Grant, UK former intelligence analyst for ex-Soviet states.

Russian billionaire Viktor Bout was the world’s foremost arms dealer. Known as the ‘Merchant of Death’ he was both “Public Enemy No. 1” to the global intelligence agencies who hunted him and a ruthless criminal worth a fortune. He was also a former KGB officer and a tool of the Kremlin.

For decades Bout had eluded capture, building up a labyrinthine network of airlines rushing weapons to dictators, rebels, despots and terror groups worldwide. An enemy of the free nations of the world and a top global sanctions buster, Bout was hunted by MI6, INTERPOL, the CIA, the NSA and more. Holed up in Moscow – from where he masterminded the sale of anything from AK47s to state-of-the-art helicopter gunships and anti-aircraft missiles – he was shielded by a Russian state that was a partner in his dark dealings. In short, Bout appeared utterly invulnerable and beyond hope of capture.

Step forward former SAS man Mike Snow, AKA ‘The Bear’. After serving in the world’s most famous special forces unit, Snow had worked as a bush pilot in war-torn Africa, where he’d got to know Bout well. Via a secretive, shadow network, Snow was approached by the US Drugs Enforcement Agency. The DEA agents had one question for him: was Snow able to get Bout – the Lord of War?

This is the incredible tale of OPERATION RELENTLESS, the top-secret mission masterminded by Snow and a handful of DEA operatives – a manhunt that ranges from the steamy jungles of Colombia to the ice-bound streets of Moscow, and from horrific bloodshed and tyranny in Afghanistan to a snatch operation like no other. Based upon the first hand testimonies of those who were there, award-winning author Damien Lewis reveals a story that reads like an impossible thriller, but every word is true

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

**NOW A MAJOR NETFLIX FILM**

Every ending is also a new beginning . . .

On the night before they leave for college, Clare and Aidan have only one thing left to do: figure out whether they should stay together or break up. In twelve hours, they’ll be heading to opposite ends of the country, and they’re anxious to resolve things before they go.

But the quiet night they had planned quickly turns into an unexpected adventure, a roller-coaster ride through their past that leads to family and friends, familiar landmarks and unexpected places, hard truths and surprising revelations. . . .

And as the clock winds down and morning approaches, so does their inevitable goodbye. The question is, will it be goodbye for now or goodbye forever?

Full of wisdom, heart, and hope, Jennifer E. Smith’s irresistible novel explores what happens when life and love lead in different directions.

Praise for Jennifer E. Smith:

‘A sweet story of summer love’ Sunday Express
‘Packed with fun and romance, this uplifting You’ve Got Mail-style story is totally charming’ Closer
‘A gorgeous, heartwarming reminder of the power of fate’ New York Times Book Review

‘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

‘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

An inspirational can-do book from the star of Channel 4’s SAS: Who Dares Wins.

In Hero Living Rudy Reyes 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.

Rudy draws on his own heroic story of how he triumphed over harrowing childhood experiences of poverty and abandonment.

Rather than giving up hope, he lived 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 TV star.

Find your inner hero through Rudy’s tried and tested method.

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.