Secondhand Biographies

Born in Tenby in 1878, Augustus John studied at the Slade with his sister Gwen, and in Paris. He lived a passionate and unruly life and died in 1961. The...

_______________'A triumph' - New York Times Book Review'A startling, tender-hearted tribute to a woman for whom the expression tough love might have been invented' - The Times'As lively as a...

Listed in Time's 100 Must-Read Books of 2019'A gripping and beautiful book about the power of love in the face of unimaginable loss' Cheryl Strayed'Extraordinary . . . both heartbreaking...

The Smart is a true drama of eighteenth-century life with a mercurial, mysterious heroine. Caroline is a young Irishwoman who runs off to marry a soldier, comes to London and...

Catherine Macaulay represented everything the 18th century abhorred in a women. She was learned, politically-minded, actively engaged with public and philosophical issues of the day. Her private life, and especially...

'Memoirs of such richness are rare . . . a joy' JAMES NAUGHTIE'A remarkable personal journey, by one of the great political correspondents of our world - eloquent, enlightening, exhilarating'...

A compelling biography of a family, and a portrait of an era. Each of the seven Garman sisters were strikingly beautiful, artistic and wild. Born around the turn of the...

Aged just 12, Patrick Sheedy placed his first bet for 10p and devised his first scam, marking the beginning of his life as a compulsive gambler and one of Ireland's...

'I Never Said I Love You is one of the most electric, enchanting, engrossing and energising memoirs of self-harm, self-loathing, grief, eating disorders, suicide - and sex - that you...

In December 1991, Allende's daughter Paula, aged 28 fell gravely ill and sank into a coma. This book started as a letter to Paula written during the hours spent at...

Karren Brady is an inspiration to women everywhere, and her incredible success is borne of her passion, impressive business instinct, ambition, and her very genuine, honest, down-to-earth outlook. This is...

'The political memoir of the decade' Sunday Times The referendum on Britain's membership of the EU is one of the most controversial political events of our times. For the first...

Andrew Collins was born 37 years ago in Northampton. His parents never split up, in fact they rarely exchanged a cross word. No-one abused him. Nobody died. He got on...

Fast approaching his fortieth birthday, Andrew is cornered at a family gathering by the nine-year-old son of his brother-in-law's sister. Having seen him as a talking head on TV, the...

In the brilliant AWKWARD SITUATIONS FOR MEN, Danny Wallace entertained us with wonderfully funny true stories from his often embarrassing and bewildering everyday life as a man.Well, Danny is back...

'A joy to read' Daily TelegraphAlexandra Heminsley thought she could swim. She really did. It may have been because she could run. It may have been because she wanted to...

At the time of his death from cancer on 1 March 2001, journalist and broadcaster John Diamond had completed six chapters of what was to be "an uncomplimentary look at...

**THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER**'Flawless... Poetic... Superbly portrayed... [Faulks's] feat of imagination...is phenomenal' Daily TelegraphChristopher Wood, a beautiful young Englishman, decided to be the greatest painter the world had seen. He...

'Once upon a time there was a father who, because he had grown old, called together his sons and daughters - four, five, six, eight in number - and finally...

David Bellamy is a natural story teller whose memoir is packed full of funny anecdotes and observations. He depicts wonderfully a childhood of discovery and adventure growing up in Carshalton...

Sick of reality TV, scriptwriter Jane Bussmann (South Park, The Fast Show, Brass Eye and Smack the Pony) moved to Hollywood to do something better. But stranded outside the system,...

'I don't remember seeing a flash. I didn't hear the blast -- I was too close. Like a distorted film, my vision stretched and turned yellow. I was just three...

In the late 1980s, when she began keeping a diary, Edwina Currie was the second most prominent woman in British politics - after Margaret Thatcher. Indeed, she was often spoken...

In this paperback of her long-awaited sequel, we find Karr once again trying to run from the thrills and terrors of her psychological and physical awakening by violently crashing up...

Sir Walter Raleigh is well-know as an explorer, pirate, lover, poet, courtier, philosopher and political prisoner, a man of timeless fascination. An essential part of the nation's history he embodies...

FEAR OF FIFTY is an incendiary book, more controversial and more personal than anything Jong has previously written - this is the real story behind her life, the truth behind...

Born in 1917, the year of the Russian Revolution, the eighty-five years of Eric Hobsbawm's life are backdropped by an endless litany of wars, revolutions and counter-revolutions. He has led...

The riveting memoirs of the outstanding moral and political leader of our time, LONG WALK TO FREEDOM brilliantly recreates the drama of the experiences that helped shape Nelson Mandela's destiny....

Separated from her brother Bryan, and passed from caretaker to caretaker, Jenny discovers -- as she rebels her way through high school and into adulthood -- that the past can...

This informative and entertaining look at our past and present explores the pleasantries, pardons, interrogations and arguments that have passed between the likes of Jackie Kennedy and Princess Diana, Lew...

On 17 April 1986 John McCarthy was kidnapped in Beirut. For the next five years he was cut off from everything and everybody he knew and loved, from family, friends,...

Part of the ever popular SAS and special forces book market. 'A gripping read, it is full of action, exotic locations and haunting images' -The Scotsman A surprisingly humble and...