Secondhand Biographies

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...

'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'...

Liara Roux is accustomed to being mislabelled and misunderstood. As a child, Liara's inquisitive, instinctive, and rebellious nature was frequently problematised in a world designed around the requirements of their...

The "searingly honest, brilliantly written" (Delia Ephron, New York Times bestselling author) memoir of a woman trying to reinvent her life who finds, after her divorce, that true freedom to...

Eye-opening and candid, David Bailey's Look Again is a fantastically entertaining memoir by a true icon.'Rollicking . . . with roguish tales as vivid as his era-defining photos' - Daily...

'So beautifully written, so insightful, so thoughtful, so honest, so vulnerable, so intimate ... A gift' JESMYN WARD'Wow. Just wow' ROXANE GAY'Unflinchingly honest' RENI EDDO-LODGE'An act of truth-telling unlike any...

Imagine living for an entire year without money. Where do you live? What do you eat? How do you stay in touch with your friends and family?Former businessman Mark Boyle...

A beautifully written and compelling memoir of a largely unexplored area of medicine: transplant surgery.Leading transplant surgeon Dr Joshua Mezrich creates life from loss, moving organs from one body to...

'A remarkable book . . . It's a powerful testament to the healing balm of gardening and the resilience of the human spirit in the direst of circumstances.' Financial Times'Not...

How do the French manage to raise well-behaved children and have a life! Who hasn't noticed how well-behaved French children are - compared to our own? - How come French...

EXTRAORDINARY MEMOIR OF A LIFE AND LOVE TORN APART BY DEMENTIAWhen her husband Tony was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2004, Steph Booth had to say goodbye to life as she...

Kate Garraway shares the raw and emotional story of the devastating impact that Covid-19 has had on her family - and how they are finding strength in hope.In March 2020,...

*THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER* - November 2021A deeply honest investigation of what it means to be a woman and a commodity from Emily Ratajkowski, the archetypal, multi-hyphenate celebrity of...

After ten years living abroad, Tarquin Hall wanted to return to his native London. Lured by his nostalgia for a leafy suburban childhood spent in south-west London, he returned with...

Pre-order the heart-wrenchingly honest new book about life and death from forensic pathologist and bestselling author of Unnatural Causes, Dr Richard Shepherd.'This book is about death, but in it I...

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER'With typical razor-sharp wit and candour, Paul tells of his rise to fame as Lily Savage . . . Riveting.' Daily MirrorFrom Britain's most beloved TV star,...

For once, these men are the objects; I am the subject. Me, me, me.Rosemary Mac Cabe was always a serial monogamist - never happier than when she was in a...

Describing the nature of the child and her method, Maria Montessori explains in this text her beliefs - that once the general principles of her method have been grasped, the...

The first volume of the 20th century's most phenomenally successful diaries, published alongside first paperback of THE LAST DIARIES.INTO POLITICS begins in 1973 with Clark's selection as Tory candidate for...

** Book of the Week on BBC Radio 4 **"Other things in the world are white but for me porcelain comes first"A handful of clay from a Chinese hillside carries...

Your perception of your body will change when you read this book. You will be pulling on your jeans or your black lace bra, & suddenly consider why you decorate...

In this acclaimed memoir from the award-winning author of Fragrant Harbour and Capital, John Lanchester pieces together his family's past and uncovers their extraordinary secrets - from his grandparents' life...

Hyok Kang was eighteen when he escaped from North Korea, a country locked away from the outside world. This personal, illustrated account of school days in a rigidly communist institution...

The almost universal conception is that the life of Princess Margaret (1930-2002) was a tragic failure, a history of unfulfilment. Tim Heald's vivid and elegant biography portrays a woman who...

ARE YOU READY TO BELIEVE IN YOU? "Game-changing. Authentic. A must-read for every woman! Jamie is the real deal-and that's rare." -Glennon Doyle, #1 New York Times bestselling author of...

A young girl is perched on the cold chrome of yet another doctor's examining table, missing yet another day of school. Just twelve, she's tall, skinny, and weak. It's four...

One forgotten street, 12 unforgettable women. ''Ang on boy, Joan's got sumfink to show yer.' She rummaged in a drawer for a moment, pulled out a piece of paper and...

Karen Blixen went to Kenya in 1914 to run a coffee farm; its failure in 1931 caused her to return to Denmark where she wrote this classic account of her...

The day Koren turned fourteen she tasted alcohol for the first time. At fifteen she was piecing together forgotten fragments of drink, men and misplaced clothes. At sixteen she was...

Marisa Meltzer was put on her first diet aged five: it was the beginning of a fraught relationship with food.Jean Nidetch was a housewife from Queens who defiantly lost 70...

A truly inspirational cancer survivor's story of an ordinary woman who decided to have a child even though doctors had told her she probably wouldn't survive to raise her. Having...

Featuring art and writing from her favourite photographers, poets, and friends alongside her own journal entries and snapshots, STILL HERE is an unedited look at Rowan Blanchard's inner life -...

Major's early life was extraordinary; his rise through Parliament meteoric. Soon a favourite of Margaret Thatcher, he became Foreign Secretary and then Chancellor of the Exchequher. When Thatcher fell, he...

The No. 1 Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller.Written by Naoki Higashida when he was only thirteen, this remarkable book provides a rare insight into the often baffling behaviour...

'Incredible. One of those rare books that should be dispensed on prescription to every household.' - Lucy Easthope, author of When the Dust Settles'Hilarious, bitter, poignant and profound . ....

In the summer of 1992, accompanied by Philip Marsden, the exiled poet Zofia Hinska stepped into the Belorussian village where she had spent her childhood. The Bronski House is in...

The Sunday Times Bestseller From the award-winning writer of The Times Magazine's 'Spinal Column': a deeply moving, darkly funny, inspirational memoir 'It's beautiful - full of love and light -...

The poignant account of a poverty-stricken childhood in Liverpool during the 1930s, and the brilliant first volume of autobiography. A bestseller ever since it was published in February 1993. One...

Beautiful and charismatic, the daughter of one of Pakistan's most popular leaders -- Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, hanged by General Zia in 1979 -- Benazir Bhutto is not only the first...

In a captivating and compelling voice that ranks with many of our greatest memoirists, Laura Bush tells the story of her unique path from dusty Midland, Texas to the world...

At the age of twenty, George Ritchie died in an army hospital. Nine minutes later, he returned to life. What happened to him during those minutes was so compelling, it...

20th Anniversary Edition with an introduction by Frances Wilson From a childhood of gothic proportions, through teenage pregnancy in the 1960s, Lorna Sage vividly and wittily brings to life a...