Secondhand Biographies

This is an extraordinary account of one man's experiences of mental illness and institutions: a rare insight into a hidden world.John O'Donoghue was first admitted to Claybury asylum with manic...

'Extraordinary . . . a profound and beautiful book . . . a moving meditation on grief and loss, but also a sparky celebration of joy, wonder and the miracle...

'Highly engaging . . . The creeping escalation of oppression and rebellion is often thrillingly told . . . A powerful story of a history that remains far from settled'...

Gilda O'Neill's The East End traces the East End of London - cockneys, criminals, street markets, pub singalongs, dog racing, jellied eels. London's East End it is a place at...

'A triumph. Frankly is the most insightful and stylishly open memoir by a politician since Barack Obama's Dreams From My Father'Andrew O'Hagan'Nicola Sturgeon tells her remarkable story with great skill...

When Edwina Ashley, god-daughter of Edward VII, came out in 1920 she was the most intriguing and intelligent of the debutantes of her day. When her grandfather, Sir Ernest Cassell,...

The Life and Adventures of John Nicol, Mariner is a recently rediscovered text that vividly renders the unforgettable story of a man whom history had nearly forgotten.In his many voyages,...

An idea came to Simon Cowell one night as he watched an episode of The Sopranos. Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman were providing the background music singing 'Time to Say...

Jennie, Lady Randolph Churchill, mother of England's greatest statesman, was a single-minded and dynamic woman, who overcame the scandal of a criminal father and an upbringing spent largely in exile...

Most break-up bibles are full of the same old stories of woe, wrack and ruin...1. Crying into large glasses of Chardonnay2. A huge amount of retail therapy and some unwise...

When even his friends refer to him as 'a balding, bug-eyed opportunist with the looks of a beach ball, the charisma of a glove-puppet and an ego the size of...

Heartwarming, compelling and genuinely remarkable, More Than Just Coincidence is the true story of a mother who was reunited with her daughter, twenty years after she gave her up for...

The most authoritative life of Eliot ever written, by acclaimed biographer Lyndall GordonT. S. Eliot once spoke of a lifetime burning in every moment. He had the mind to conceive...

'One of the non-fiction books of the year.' Andrew O' Hagan A powerful, evocative and deeply personal journey into the world of missing people When Francisco Garcia was just seven...

I was self-invented, adapting myself minute by minute, a girl on the run. And yes, built for speed. 'When it comes to her portrait of LA in the 1960s and...

Annie Proulx, one of America's finest writers, invites us to share her experience in the building of her new home on a rich plot of untouched, unspoilt prairie and her...

Penny Lancaster counts herself as incredibly lucky. She had a loving upbringing, her life with husband Rod Stewart has spanned continents, she's made incredible friendships, become part of an amazing...

Today - six years after it was created in a Harvard dorm room - over 500 million people use Facebook regularly, in just about every country on earth. That a...

A fleet of modern rockets among the most powerful in the world. A lunar land rush that has sparked a competition over the strategic high ground. Scientific discoveries that could...

Alexei Sayle was born in Liverpool on the day egg rationing came to an end. His family ate salad. They read the Soviet Weekly. They travelled on transcontinental trains, and...

This title looks at Mahatma Gandhi: his life, his work and his legacy. It follows his early influences from Jainism to Buddhism, and focuses on his unique philosophy of non-violence...

By the time Laura Munson had turned 40, her life was not how she thought it would turn out. Career success had eluded her; her beloved father was no longer...