A. J. Liebling, born in Manhattan in 1904, joined the staff of the New Yorker in 1935 and contributed innumerable articles to the magazine throughout his lifetime, on subjects ranging from food to boxing and France to horse racing. As a war correspondent during the Second World War, he reported from France, England and Algeria, and participated in the Normandy landings. In later life he married the writer Jean Stafford, his third wife. He died in 1963.

A. J. Liebling

A. J. Rosen is an author of YA fantasy and is known as @agatharoza on Wattpad.

A. J. Rosen

A. K. Davidson

A. O. Scott has been a film critic at the New York Times since 2000. His writing has appeared in many other publications, including the New York Review of Books, Slate, the New Yorker and the Nation. A finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in criticism in 2010, Scott is currently Distinguished Professor of Film Criticism at Wesleyan University. He lives with his family in Brooklyn, New York. 
 
@aoscott

A. O. Scott

A.S. Byatt (1936-2023) was a novelist, short-story writer and critic of international renown. Her novels include Possession (winner of the Booker Prize 1990), the Frederica Quartet and The Children’s Book, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction. She was appointed CBE in 1990 and DBE in 1999, and was awarded the Erasmus Prize 2016 for her ‘inspiring contribution to life writing’ and the Pak Kyongni Prize 2017. In 2018 she received the Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award.

A. S. Byatt

A. T. Williams won the George Orwell Prize for Political Writing in 2013 for his book A Very British Killing: The Death of Baha Mousa. He lives in Warwickshire.

A. T. Williams

A. W. Chase

Dubbed ‘The new queen of spy fiction’ by the Guardian newspaper, and ‘the real thing’ by the Washington Post, A.C. 'Ava' Glass is the CWA Dagger-shortlisted author of Alias Emma (The Chase), The Traitor and The Trap. The Traitor was a 2023 Richard and Judy Bookclub pick. Alias Emma was a Barnes and Noble book of the month. A former crime reporter and communications consultant, for five years Ava worked closely with spies. Her time in that world fascinated her, and the people she met back then inspire every book she writes.

A.C. Glass

A.E. Housman

Arthur Edward Waite was the designer and co-creator of the now famous Rider Waite Tarot deck. 
 
An American-born British poet and scholarly mystic, his strong interest in all esoteric matters - divination, magic, Kabbalism, alchemy and Freemasony - led to him penning a number of books. These include the Key to the Tarot, The Book of Ceremonial Magic and A New Encyclopedia of Freemasony.

A.E. Waite

A.E. Warren is the author of the Tomorrow's Ancestors series, which consists of Subject Twenty-One, The Hidden Base, The Fourth Species and The Final Rising. 
 
After spending eight years working as a lawyer, she began to write in the evenings and early mornings as a form of escapism from life in a very small cubicle with lots of files. She self-published her first novels in her spare time, which were picked up by Del Rey UK which is the science fiction/fantasy imprint of Penguin Random House. 
 
 She is an avid reader, occasional gamer and fair-weather runner. She lives in the UK with her husband, daughter and hopefully, one day, a wise border terrier named Austen.

A.E. Warren

A.G.D. Maran

A.J. Ayer

A K Benedict writes crime and speculative fiction in a room filled with clowns, mannequins and Doctor Who figures. Her first novel, The Beauty of Murder, was nominated for an eDunnit award and is in development for a major 8-part TV series by Company Pictures. Her second, Jonathan Dark or The Evidence of Ghosts, came out in February 2016. She's written Torchwood audio dramas for Big Finish and her short stories have featured in anthologies including Great British Horror and Best British Short Stories. She lives in St Leonards-on-Sea with her dog, Dame Margaret Rutherford.

A.K.Benedict

A. L. Kennedy has twice been selected as one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists and has won a host of other awards – including the Costa Book of the Year for her novel Day. She lives in Essex.

A.L. Kennedy

A.M. Ellis is a speculative fiction author and lover of everything steeped in myth and mystery. Her stories often lean into diverse voices, not only in her identity as a Black woman, but in exploring neurodivergence and mental health. A proud introvert and nostalgic gamer, she lives in Maryland, USA, with her husband and three children. Angelica is also the author of Hunt A Killer, a PERFECT SCORE novel, under the pen name A.M. Ellis, which she wrote as an IP for Scholastic in the US.

A.M. Ellis

A.N. Wilson was born in 1950 and educated at Rugby and New College, Oxford. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, he holds a prominent position in the world of literature and journalism. He is an award-winning biographer and a celebrated novelist, winning prizes for much of his work. He lives in North London.

A.N. Wilson

A.W. Priest

A.B.C. Merriman-Labor was a barrister, writer and munitions worker born in Freetown, Sierra Leone in 1877. His published works include A Series of Lectures on the Negro Race and The Story of the African Slave in a Nutshell. He also edited two editions of the Handbook of Sierra Leone. He arrived in the UK in 1904 to study law. In 1907, he organised a centenary commemoration of the abolition of the slave trade in Westminster Abbey. He later embarked on an 'entertainment-lecture' tour called Life and Scenes in Britain, travelling across thousands of miles of West, South West and Central Africa, which he expanded on to create Britons Through Negro Spectacles.

ABC Merriman-Labor

AJ Cronin

AJ Molloy

Aabria Iyengar is an American actress and author.

Aabria Iyengar

Aaliya Jaleel is a freelance illustrator, designer, and visual development artist, currently majoring in Animation at the University of Texas at Dallas. She is also the illustrator of Under My Hijab and Muslim Girls Rise. You can visit her online at www.aaliyamj.com.

Aaliya Jaleel

Aaron Allston

After more than fifteen years of experience as a clinical psychotherapist, Dr Aaron Balick has taken the amazing insights from psychology and psychotherapy out of the consultation room and made them accessible to the wider world. 
 
He has been an ‘agony uncle’ for many years for both CBBC and BBC Radio 1, as well as on television, including BBC Worldwide, BBC 3 and BBC Learning.

Aaron Balick

Aaron Carroll

Aaron Dignan is the founder of The Ready--a global organizational transformation and coaching practice--that helps companies large and small adopt new forms of self-organization and dynamic teaming. Clients include Johnson &amp; Johnson, Microsoft, Lloyds Bank, Citibank, Boeing, Mailchimp, Airbnb, Dropbox, and charity: water. 
 
He is also the founder of Murmur--a SaaS startup that helps teams scale culture through the magic of working agreements. The Murmur platform will allow every team on the planet to define and share their ways of working. 
 
Dignan is the author of Brave New Work (2019) and Game Frame (2011), co-host of the Brave New Work podcast, and a friend to misfit toys.

Aaron Dignan

Aaron Edwards is a senior lecturer in defence and international affairs at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, specialising in terrorism and counter-insurgency. He is the author and editor of several books, including Defending the Realm: The Politics of Britain’s Small Wars Since 1945, and has lectured all over the world on aspects of national and international security. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

Aaron Edwards

Aaron Robertson is a writer, an editor, and a translator of Italian literature. His translation of Igiaba Scego’s Beyond Babylon was short-listed for the 2020 PEN Translation Prize and the National Translation Award, and in 2021 he received a National Endowment for the Arts grant. His work has appeared in the New York Times, The Nation, Foreign Policy, n+1, The Point, and Literary Hub, among other publications. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Aaron Robertson

Aaron Shapiro

PublicationStatus

Brand

Format

AgeRange

Series

Imprint

CategoryLabel

Bill Bryson

#1 Bestseller in both hardback and paperback: SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2020 ROYAL SOCIETY INSIGHT INVESTMENT SCIENCE BOOK PRIZE 
_______ 
 
'A directory of wonders.' - The Guardian 
 
'Jaw-dropping.' - The Times 
 
'Classic, wry, gleeful Bryson...an entertaining and absolutely fact-rammed book.' - The Sunday Times 
 
'It is a feat of narrative skill to bake so many facts into an entertaining and nutritious book.' - The Daily Telegraph 
_______ 
 
'We spend our whole lives in one body and yet most of us have practically no idea how it works and what goes on inside it. The idea of the book is simply to try to understand the extraordinary contraption that is us.' 
 
Bill Bryson sets off to explore the human body, how it functions and its remarkable ability to heal itself. Full of extraordinary facts and astonishing stories The Body: A Guide for Occupants is a brilliant, often very funny attempt to understand the miracle of our physical and neurological make up. 
 
A wonderful successor to A Short History of Nearly Everything, this new book is an instant classic. It will have you marvelling at the form you occupy, and celebrating the genius of your existence, time and time again. 
 
'What I learned is that we are infinitely more complex and wondrous, and often more mysterious, than I had ever suspected. There really is no story more amazing than the story of us.' Bill Bryson

The Body

A Guide for Occupants - THE SUNDAY TIMES NO.1 BESTSELLER

Jo Baker

---A GUARDIAN BEST SUMMER READ--- 
 
'A very modern interrogation of violent fiction. Fiendishly readable' SARAH MOSS, GUARDIAN 
'Powerful and moving' ERIN KELLY, author of He Said/She Said 
______________ 
 
When a young writer accepts a job at a university in the remote countryside, it's meant to be a fresh start. But when one of her students starts sending in chapters from his novel that blur the lines between fiction and reality, the professor recognises herself as the main character in his book - and he has written her a horrific fate. 
 
Will she be able to stop life imitating art before it's too late? 
 
At once a breathless battle-of-wits and a disarming exploration of sexual politics, The Body Lies is an essential book for our times. 
___________________ 
 
'Outstanding' CLARE MACKINTOSH 
 
'A literary exploration of consent, entitlement and how narratives can be bent, misappropriated and wrested back. I loved it' SARAH VAUGHAN 
 
'A propulsive #MeToo thriller.' GUARDIAN 
 
'Gripping. The perfect marriage of risky literary fiction and full-on thriller' MARIA SEMPLE 
 
'Page-turning thriller and examination of how women's bodies are treated, in life and in fiction.' THE BOOKSELLER 
 
'A novelist with a gift for intimate and atmospheric storytelling' FINANCIAL TIMES 
 
'Baker's heroine is one of the most believable I've seen on the page in a long time...nuanced, non-linear, lifelike' TLS 
 
'Gripping and fast-paced' GOOD HOUSEKEEPING

The Body Lies

‘A propulsive #Metoo thriller’ GUARDIAN

Anna Hope

THE MUST-READ SUMMER 2020 RICHARD AND JUDY BOOK CLUB PICK 
 
'If you wished Normal People had tackled female friendship, try Expectation' GRAZIA 
'Profoundly intelligent and humane. Deserves to feature on many a prize shortlist' GUARDIAN 
'A brilliant exploration of friendship, feminism and thwarted ambition' PANDORA SYKES 
______________________ 
 
What happened to the women we were supposed to become? 
 
Hannah, Cate and Lissa are young, vibrant and inseparable. Living on the edge of a common in East London, their shared world is ablaze with art and activism, romance and revelry - and the promise of everything to come. They are electric. They are the best of friends. 
 
Ten years on, they are not where they hoped to be. Amidst flailing careers and faltering marriages, each hungers for what the others have. And each wrestles with the same question: what does it take to lead a meaningful life? 
 
The most razor-sharp and heartbreaking novel of the year, EXPECTATION is a novel about finding your way: as a mother, a daughter, a wife, a rebel. 
 
___________________ 
'Thoughtful, beautifully written, honest. A sensual book. I URGE YOU TO READ IT' MARIAN KEYES 
 
'Beautiful, sharp, moving. I urge you to read it'' ELIZABETH DAY 
 
'A brilliant exploration of friendship, feminism and thwarted ambition' PANDORA SYKES 
 
'I loved it ... 10 out of 10' BRYONY GORDON 
 
'Will resonate with approximately 99% of women' RED MAGAZINE summer pick 
 
'One of the most intensely readable novels this year' METRO 
 
'One of our most gifted contemporary writers' WATERSTONES 
 
'SO GOOD. A 'What they did next' story of characters from a Sally Rooney novel' SARAH FRANKLIN 
 
'The story of 3 college friends, if you're a fan of Sally Rooney, you'll love EXPECTATION' IRISH EXAMINER 
 
'A must-read' FABULOUS MAGAZINE 
 
'A generation-defining book on motherhood, ambition and sex. Like NORMAL PEOPLE with female friendship under the microscope.' ERIN KELLY 
 
'Few novels leave me so genuinely breathless with their brilliance' HANNAH BECKERMAN 
 
'Sublime' GOOD HOUSEKEEPING, Book of the Year 
 
'A marvellously tangy London novel' DAILY MAIL 
 
'A grown-up, honest take on female camaraderie. Packed with talking points' MAIL ON SUNDAY 
 
'Hugely absorbing, massively enjoyable' LISSA EVANS 
 
'Totally unputdownable, immersive, sharp, FAB' HARRIET EVANS 
 
'Beautifully observed study of female friendship and a moving account of the collision between aspiration and reality' DAILY MAIL MUST-READ 
 
'Fantastically well-realised portrait of female friendship's joys and pains from an exciting new voice in British fiction' DAILY TELEGRAPH

Expectation

The most razor-sharp and heartbreaking novel of the year

Neil Oliver

"Everyone should have two copies - one for the car and one for the house to plan journeys. . . a reminder to think more about the places you pass and less about your route, because every British journey is through rich history." (Edward Stourton) 
 
From much-loved historian Neil Oliver, comes this beautifully written, kaleidoscopic history of a place with a story like no other. 
 
The British Isles, this archipelago of islands, is to Neil Oliver the best place in the world. From north to south, east to west it cradles astonishing beauty. The human story here is a million years old, and counting. But the tolerant, easygoing peace we enjoy has been hard won. We have made and known the best and worst of times. We have been hero and villain and all else in between, and we have learned some lessons. 
 
The Story of the British Isles in 100 Places is Neil’s very personal account of what makes these islands so special, told through the places that have witnessed the unfolding of our history. Beginning with footprints made in the sand by humankind’s earliest ancestors, he takes us via Romans and Vikings, the flowering of religion, through civil war, industrial revolution and two world wars. From windswept headlands to battlefields, ancient trees to magnificent cathedrals, each of his destinations is a place where, somehow, the spirit of the past seems to linger.

The Story of the British Isles in 100 Places

David Hepworth

_________ 
 
‘Hepworth’s knowledge and understanding of rock history is prodigious … [a] hugely entertaining study of the LP’s golden age’ The Times 
_________ 
 
The era of the LP began in 1967, with ‘Sgt Pepper’; The Beatles didn’t just collect together a bunch of songs, they Made An Album. Henceforth, everybody else wanted to Make An Album. 
 
The end came only fifteen years later, coinciding with the release of Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’. By then the Walkman had taken music out of the home and into the streets and the record business had begun trying to reverse-engineer the creative process in order to make big money. Nobody would play music or listen to it in quite the same way ever again. 
 
It was a short but transformative time. Musicians became ‘artists’ and we, the people, patrons of the arts. The LP itself had been a mark of sophistication, a measure of wealth, an instrument of education, a poster saying things you dare not say yourself, a means of attracting the opposite sex, and, for many, the single most desirable object in their lives. 
 
This is the story of that time; it takes us from recording studios where musicians were doing things that had never been done before to the sparsely furnished apartments where their efforts would be received like visitations from a higher power. This is the story of how LPs saved our lives.

A Fabulous Creation

How the LP Saved Our Lives

Paul Ham

After the fall of Singapore in 1942, the conquering Japanese Army transferred some 2500 British and Australian prisoners to a jungle camp on the north-eastern coast of Borneo: Sandakan. 
 
There they were beaten, broken, worked to death, thrown into bamboo cages on the slightest pretext and subjected to tortures so ingenious and hideous that the victims were driven to the brink of madness. But this was only the beginning. 
 
 In late 1944, Allied aircraft began bombing the coastal towns of Sandakan and Jesselton, and the Japanese resolved to abandon the prison camp and move the prisoners 250 miles inland. The journey there became known as the Sandakan Death marches. More than a thousand prisoners set out on the epic marches. Only six survived. 
 
This is the story of the survivors and the fallen.

Sandakan

John Lewis-Stempel

The Times and Irish Independent: BEST NATURE BOOKS OF THE YEAR 
 
Great nature writing needs to be informative, detailed, accurate, lyrical, and, above all, to instil a sense of gratitude and wonder. John Lewis-Stempel succeeds in all these things triumphantly. From amorous toads to the eye-popping mating habits of water boatmen, a magical celebration of pond life by one of our finest, most evocative nature writers.' Daily Mail 
 
Ponds: small bodies of water, both naturally formed and artificial, home to wondrous, multitudinous life-forms. Ponds define our childhood: frogspawn, goldfish, feeding the ducks, but also our village life, our farms, our landscape. And they are multi-layered - from carp circling the bottom to water boatmen, coot, and birds dragonflies overhead. In Still Water, John immerses himself in the murky depths, both literarily and figuratively, to explore the still waters of the British countryside through each month of the year.

Still Water

The Deep Life of the Pond

Dr Sabrina Cohen-Hatton

'An inspirational memoir from an extraordinary woman . . . A humbling, jaw-dropping read' Viv Groskop 
 
'This book will change the way you think. Forever' Cosmopolitan 
 
Dr Sabrina Cohen-Hatton has been a firefighter for eighteen years. She decides which of her colleagues rush into a burning building and how they confront the blaze. She makes the call to evacuate if she believes the options have been exhausted or that the situation has escalated beyond hope. 
 
Taking us to the very heart of firefighting, she immerses us in this extraordinary world; from scenes of devastation and crisis, through triumphs of bravery, to the quieter moments when she questions herself. Revealing her own story for the very first time, she recounts her years spent sleeping rough and her passion for a career that allows her to rescue others as she was never rescued herself. 
 
This book is the result of everything she has learnt about how we respond in our most extreme moments. 
 
'This book challenges assumptions about who firefighters are, and about what women can do' The Guardian

The Heat of the Moment

A Firefighter’s Stories of Life and Death Decisions

Monty Lyman

- Shortlisted for the Royal Society Science Book Prize 2019 
- A Sunday Times 'MUST READ' 
- 'An exciting introduction to a little-known microscopic universe.' Sunday Times 
- 'A seriously entertaining book.' Melanie Reid, The Times 
- As read on RADIO 4's BOOK OF THE WEEK 
_______________ 
 
How does our diet affect our skin? What makes the skin age? And why can’t we tickle ourselves? 
 
 Providing a cover for our delicate and intricate bodies, the skin is our largest, fastest growing and yet least understood organ. We see it, touch it and live in it every day. It's a habitat for a mesmerizingly complex world of micro-organisms and physical functions that are vital to our health and our survival. It’s also one of the first things people see about us and is crucial to our sense of identity. Our skin plays a central role in our lives. And yet how much do we really know about it? 
 
Through the lenses of science, sociology and history, Dr Monty Lyman leads us on a journey across our most underrated and unexplored organ. Examining our microbiome, our love of tattoos and whether or not beauty products really work, he reveals how the skin is far stranger and more complex than you’ve ever imagined.

The Remarkable Life of the Skin

An intimate journey across our surface

Hallie Rubenhold

THE MULTI AWARD-WINNING NUMBER ONE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 
A TIMES Top Ten Best True Crime book: 'Groundbreaking. Extraordinary' 
 
'Terrific' Ian Rankin 
'Gripping' NEW YORK TIMES 
'At last, the Ripper's victims get a voice... An eloquent, stirring challenge to reject the prevailing Ripper myth' MAIL ON SUNDAY 
 
WINNER OF THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION 
____________ 
Polly, Annie, Elizabeth, Catherine and Mary-Jane are famous for the same thing, though they never met. 
 
They came from Fleet Street, Knightsbridge, Wolverhampton, Sweden and Wales. They wrote ballads, ran coffee houses, lived on country estates, they breathed ink-dust from printing presses and escaped people-traffickers. 
 
What they had in common was the year of their murders: 1888. 
 
Their murderer was never identified, but the name created for him by the press has become far more famous than any of these five women. 
 
Now, in this devastating narrative of five lives, historian Hallie Rubenhold finally sets the record straight, and gives these women back their stories. 
____________ 
 
PRAISE FOR THE FIVE 
 
'Devastatingly good. The Five will leave you in tears, of pity and of rage.' LUCY WORSLEY 
'Fascinating, compelling, moving.' BRIDGET COLLINS, author of The Binding 
'An angry and important work of historical detection, calling time on the misogyny that has fed the Ripper myth. Powerful and shaming.' GUARDIAN 
'Haunting' SUNDAY TIMES 
'What a brilliant and necessary book' JO BAKER, author of Longbourn 
'Beautifully written and with the grip of a thriller, it will open your eyes and break your heart.' ERIN KELLY 
'An outstanding work of history-from-below ... magnificent' SPECTATOR 
'Deeply researched' THE NEW YORKER 
 
**NOW BUY THE BRAND NEW WORK BY HALLIE RUBENHOLD: STORY OF A MURDER

The Five

The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper

Anne Youngson

**As read on BBC Radio Four** 
 
Uplifting, joyous, hopeful - a novel about late love and second chances, shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award and winner of the Paul Torday Memorial Prize 
 
'A moving tribute to friendship and love, to the courage of the ordinary, and to starting again' RACHEL JOYCE, author of Miss Benson's Beetle 
'Full of grace and humanity' Sunday Times 
________________________ 
 
This story begins with a letter 
From a housewife 
to the gentle curator 
Of an extraordinary museum 
Where lies peacefully 
An ancient exhibit 
That holds the key 
To Everything 
We are. 
 
Meet Me at the Museum tells of a connection made across oceans and against all the odds. Through intimate stories of joy, despair, and discovery, two people are drawn inexorably towards each other, until a shattering revelation pushes their friendship to the very edge. 
 
This deeply affecting debut novel by seventy-three year-old Anne Youngson won the Paul Torday Memorial Prize and was dramatized on BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour 
 
******************************* 
'Tender, wise and moving, Meet Me at the Museum is a novel to cherish.' JOHN BOYNE 
 
'Insightful, emotionally acute and absorbing' DAILY EXPRESS 
 
'Beautiful and affecting' NINA STIBBE 
 
What readers are saying: 
'I loved this book. It was so different from anything else I have read'***** 
'I just loved this book and read it in one sitting. There were times when I felt like underlining the sentences that resonated with me'***** 
'I read this book one letter at a time, just to let the contents sink in. Tears came to my eyes'*****

Meet Me at the Museum

Shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award 2018

'A concise study of one of the most fascinating and evil men in history... Essential for anyone interested in military history' - Soldier 
 
Millions of words have been spent and misspent on Adolf Hitler. But there remains one aspect as yet insufficiently explored: the impact of the First World War on the man who would go on to indelibly shape the Second. 
 
Hitler fought at First Ypres and he saw something on the battlefields that eluded his fellow soldiers, something that would become the cornerstone of his later life. He saw this war as heroic, noble and natural – the last act of the fittest in the great drama of the human race. 
 
Where did it all start? This is the story of how Hitler became the Fuhrer.

Young Hitler

The Making of the Fuhrer

Beck Dorey-Stein

_____________________________ 
‘If you’ve ever felt like you were out of your element, in over your head or working without a net, you will love this book. Funny, fast-paced, and so emotionally true it hurts.’ Piper Kerman, author of Orange is the New Black 
_____________________________ 
Guidelines for aspiring stenographers: 
· Neutral tones set the tone 
· Be discreet and neat – like a librarian or well-paid prostitute 
· Breathe quietly or not at all 
· Above all else, keep the secrets to yourself… 
 
In 2012, Beck Dorey-Stein was just scraping by in Washington DC when an unusual job interview landed her in the Oval Office as one of Barack Obama's stenographers. She joined the elite team who accompanied the President wherever he went, recorder and mic in hand. On whirlwind trips across time zones, Beck forged friendships with a tight group of fellow travellers - young men and women who, like her, left their real lives behind to hop aboard Air Force One in service of the President. But as she learned the ropes of protocol, Beck became romantically entangled with a colleague, and suddenly, the political became all too personal. 
 
 Set against the backdrop of a White House full of glamour, drama and intrigue, this is the story of a young woman making unlikely friendships, getting her heart broken, learning what truly matters and discovering her voice in the process. 
_____________________________ 
Praise for From the Corner of the Oval Office 
'Who knew the West Wing could be so sexy? Beck’s unparalleled access is obvious on every page, along with her knife-sharp humour... Lots of books claim to give real insider glimpses, but this one actually delivers.' 
Lauren Weisberger, author of The Devil Wears Prada 
 
'This memoir is good and gossipy, will make you wish that you got to hang out with Barack and Michelle on a daily basis and is the missing link between The West Wing and Bridget Jones’s Diary.' Red 
 
'Set against the backdrop of a White House full of glamour, drama and intrigue, this is the story of a young woman making unlikely friendships, getting her heart broken, learning what truly matters and discovering her voice in the process.' GLAMOUR's Best Books of 2018

From the Corner of the Oval Office

A searing summer 2019 holiday read

One woman’s true story of her accidental career in the Obama White House

Jesse Bering

'I have yet to come away from reading [Bering's] work and not feel considerably better informed than I was minutes before' (Forbes) 
__________________ 
 
This penetrating analysis aims to demystify a subject that knows no cultural or demographic boundaries. 
 
Why do people want to kill themselves? 
 
Despite the prevalence of suicide in the developed world, it's a question most of us fail to ask. On hearing news of a suicide we are devastated, but overwhelmingly we feel disbelief. 
 
In A Very Human Ending, research psychologist Jesse Bering lifts the lid on this taboo subject, examining the suicidal mindset from the inside out to reveal the subtle tricks the mind can play when we're easy emotional prey. In raising challenging questions Bering tests our contradictory superstitions about the act itself. 
 
Combining cutting-edge research with investigative journalism and first-person testimony, Bering also addresses the history of suicide and its evolutionary inheritance to offer a personal, accessible, yet scientifically sound examination of why we are the only species on earth that deliberately ends its own life.

A Very Human Ending

How suicide haunts our species

Hector Macdonald

_________________ 
 
'Macdonald zeros in on the slipperiness of factuality, offering an array of case studies from the worlds of history, commerce and – of course – politics.' New York Times 
 
True or false? It’s rarely that simple. 
 
There is always more than one truth in every story. Eating meat is nutritious but it’s also damaging to the environment. The Internet disseminates knowledge but it also spreads hatred. As communicators, we select the truths that are most useful to our agenda. 
 
We can select truths constructively to inspire nations, encourage children, and drive progressive change. Or we can select truths that give a false impression of reality, misleading people without actually lying. Others can do the same, motivating or deceiving us with the truth. 
 
In Truth, communications strategy expert Hector Macdonald explores how truth is used and abused in politics, business, the media and everyday life. Combining great storytelling with practical takeaways and a litany of fascinating, funny and insightful case studies, Truth is a chilling and engaging read about how profoundly our mindsets and actions are influenced by the truths that those around us choose to tell. 
 
For fans of Factfulness, A Field Guide to Lies and Statistics and The Art of Thinking Clearly, a fascinating dive into the many ways in which ‘competing truths’ shape our opinions, behaviours and beliefs.

Truth

13 Reasons To Question Everything You Are Told

How the Many Sides to Every Story Shape Our Reality

Mary Portas

'There aren't many books that can claim to change your life, but this one will.' Clare Balding 
 
'A force for good, for change. This book will make you change the way you think. Mary is my hero.' Scarlett Curtis, author of Feminists Don't Wear Pink 
 
Are you ready to be your best self at work? 
 
Packed with advice, tips and decades of business experience from Mary Portas, this is a book for every one of us: whatever level you are, wherever you work. 
 
It's about calling time on alpha culture and helping every one of us to be happier, more productive and collaborative. 
 
It's time to #WorkLikeAWoman. 
 
'Mary Portas doesn't want to lean in, she wants a whole new office culture.' Evening Standard

Work Like a Woman

A Manifesto For Change

Nick Polson

James Scott

____________________ 
 
What is AIQ? How does it work? Most importantly, how can it help us? 
 
Two leading data scientists offer an up-close and user-friendly look at artificial intelligence and how to harness its power for a better world. 
 
'A positive and entertaining look at the great potential unlocked by marrying human creativity with powerful machines.' Steven D. Levitt, co-author of Freakonomics 
____________________ 
 
Dozens of times per day, we all interact with intelligent machines that are constantly learning from the wealth of data now available to them. These machines, from smart phones to talking robots to self-driving cars, are remaking the world in the twenty first century in the same way that the Industrial Revolution remade the world in the nineteenth. 
 
AIQ is based on a simple premise: if you want to understand the modern world, then you have to know a little bit of the mathematical language spoken by intelligent machines. AIQ will teach you that language but in an unconventional way, anchored in stories rather than equations.

How artificial intelligence works and how we can harness its power for a better world

Sophie Kinsella

Meet Rebecca Bloomwood. She's a financial journalist who spends all day writing articles on how to manage money wisely. Her own method of managing money is to hide her Visa bills under the bed and hope they'll disappear. 
Becky just can't stop shopping, whether it's stocking up on 3 for 2 offers, or buying an essential grey cardigan, or falling in lust with a pair of dreamy shoes. 
She knows she has to stop. Her bank manager is sending her sterner and sterner letters, her credit cards are being declined, her Mum and Dad have no idea . . . what is she going to do? 
Will Becky ever take control of her life, find love and regain the use of her credit card? 
The Shopaholic series begins with The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella.

Like mother, like daughter...! 
 
Shopaholic Becky Brandon (née Bloomwood)'s two-year-old is ... spirited. She knows what she wants, whether it's a grown-up Prada handbag or a toy pony (40% off, so a bargain, surely?) When yet another shopping trip turns to mayhem, Becky decides it's time to give Minnie her own pocket money. Is it a bad sign when Minnie goes instantly overdrawn? 
 
Minnie isn't the only one in financial crisis. As the Bank of London collapses, people are having to Cut Back. Everyone needs cheering up, so what better way to do it than to throw a fabulous surprise party? A thrifty party, of course. Except economising and keeping a secret have never been Becky's strong points ... 
 
Everybody loves Sophie Kinsella: 
"I almost cried with laughter" Daily Mail 
"Hilarious . . . you'll laugh and gasp on every page" Jenny Colgan 
"Properly mood-altering . . . funny, fast and farcical. I loved it" Jojo Moyes 
"A superb tale. Five stars!" Heat

Mini Shopaholic

(Shopaholic Book 6)

To Las Vegas . . . and beyond! 
 
Becky Brandon (née Bloomwood) is on a major rescue mission! Hollywood was full of surprises, and now she's on a road trip to Las Vegas to help her friends and family. 
 
She's determined to get to the bottom of why her dad has mysteriously disappeared, help her best friend Suze and even bond with Alicia Bitch Long-legs (maybe...). 
 
As Becky discovers just how much her friends and family need help, she comes up with her biggest, boldest, most brilliant plan yet! So can she save the day just when they need her most? 
 
Becky is setting out to make things right in this laugh-out-loud, feel-good conclusion to her American adventure that began with SHOPAHOLIC TO THE STARS.

Shopaholic to the Rescue

(Shopaholic Book 8)

Stephanie Rosenbloom

'Full of heart.' Michael Harris, author of Solitude 
 
Being alone isn't something to endure - it's something to relish. 
________ 
 
The average adult spends about a third of his or her waking time alone. 
 
Yet research suggests we aren't very good at using, never mind enjoying, alone time. 
 
Rising to the challenge, travel writer Stephanie Rosenbloom explores the joys and benefits of being alone in four mouth-watering journeys to the cities of Paris, Istanbul, Florence and New York, in four seasons. 
 
This is a book about the pleasures and benefits of savouring the moment, examining things closely, using all your senses to take in your surroundings, whether travelling to faraway places or walking the streets of your own city. Through on-the-ground observations and anecdotes, and drawing on the thinking of artists, writers and innovators who have cherished solitude, Alone Time illuminates the psychological arguments for alone time and lays bare the magic of going solo.

Alone Time

Four seasons, four cities and the pleasures of solitude

Simon Thurley

'Excellent . . . Fresh, learned, readable and full of life' Dan Jones, Mail on Sunday 
 
Houses of Power is the result of Simon Thurley's thirty years of research, picking through architectural digs, and examining financial accounts, original plans and drawings to reconstruct the great Tudor houses and understand how these monarchs shaped their lives. 
________ 
 
What was it like to live as a royal Tudor? 
Why were their residences built as they were and what went on inside their walls? 
Who slept where and with who? 
Who chose the furnishings? 
And what were their passions? 
________ 
 
The Tudors ruled through the day, throughout the night, in the bath, in bed and in the saddle. Their palaces were genuine power houses - the nerve-centre of military operations, the boardroom for all executive decisions and the core of international politics. 
 
Far more than simply an architectural history - a study of private life as well as politics, diplomacy and court - it gives an entirely new and remarkable insight into the Tudor world.

Houses of Power

The Places that Shaped the Tudor World

Hannah Fry

Hello World

How  to be Human in the Age of the Machine

Sarah-Jayne Blakemore

Winner of the 2020 British Psychological Society Popular Science Prize 
Winner of the 2018 Royal Society Science Book Prize. 
........................................................................................ 
Up to the minute brain science from a world class scientist. Sarah-Jayne Blakemore explains how the adolescent brain transforms as it develops and shapes the adults we become. 'Beautifully written with clarity, expertise and honesty about the most important subject for all of us. I couldn't put it down.' - Professor Robert Winston 
 
Drawing upon her cutting-edge research Professor Blakemore explores: 
· What makes the adolescent brain different? 
· Why does an easy child become a challenging teenager? 
· What drives the excessive risk-taking and the need for intense friendships common to teenagers? 
· Why it is that many mental illnesses - depression, addiction, schizophrenia - begin during these formative years. 
And she shows that while adolescence is a period of vulnerability, it is also a time of enormous creativity and opportunity.

Inventing Ourselves

The Secret Life of the Teenage Brain

Kate Atkinson

The PRIZE-WINNING BESTSELLER, now a major BBC1 DRAMA SERIES starring Thomasin McKenzie, Sian Clifford and James McArdle, directed by BAFTA award-winning John Crowley. 
 
'Dazzling, witty, moving, joyful, mournful, profound... one of the best novels I've read this century' Gillian Flynn, bestselling author of GONE GIRL 
 
'A box of delights ... it grips the reader's imagination on the first page and never lets go.' HILARY MANTEL, author of THE MIRROR AND THE LIGHT 
___________________________________ 
 
What if you had the chance to live your life again and again, until you finally got it right? 
 
During a snowstorm in England in 1910, a baby is born and dies before she can take her first breath. 
 
During a snowstorm in England in 1910, the same baby is born and lives to tell the tale. 
 
What if there were second chances? And third chances? In fact an infinite number of chances to live your life? Would you eventually be able to save the world from its own inevitable destiny? And would you even want to? 
 
Life After Life follows Ursula Todd as she lives through the turbulent events of the last century again and again. With wit and compassion, Kate Atkinson finds warmth even in life's bleakest moments, and shows an extraordinary ability to evoke the past. Here she is at her most profound and inventive, in a novel that celebrates the best and worst of ourselves. 
 
____________________ 
 
'Merging family saga with a fluid sense of time and an extraordinarily vivid sense of history at its most human level. A dizzying and dazzling tour de force' Daily Mail 
 
'Absolutely brilliant...it reminded me a bit of her first book Behind the Scenes at the Museum, which is one of my most favourite books ever.' Marian Keyes, author of Rachel, Again 
 
'An exceptional writer' Guardian 
 
'[A] magnificently tender and humane novel' Observer 
 
'A ferociously clever writer...a big, bold novel that is enthralling, entertaining' New Statesman 
 
'Exceptionally captivating' New York Times 
 
'Truly brilliant...Think of Audrey Niffenegger's The Time Traveler's Wife or David Nicholl's One Day.. a rare book that you want to start again the minute you have finished.' The Times

Life After Life

The global bestseller, now a major BBC series

Pop music’s a simple pleasure. Is it catchy? Can you dance to it? Do you fancy the singer? 
 
But what’s fascinating about pop is our relationship with it. David Hepworth is interested in the human side of pop. He’s interested in how people make the stuff and, more importantly, what it means to us. 
 
In this collection of essays written throughout his career, Hepworth shows how it is possible to take music seriously and, at the same time, not drain the life out of it. From the legacy of the Beatles to the dramatic decline of the record shop via the bewildering nomenclature of musical genres; with characteristic insight and humour Hepworth asks some essential questions about music and, indeed, life: is it all about the drummer; are band managers misunderstood; and is it appropriate to play ‘Angels’ at funerals? 
 
As Pope John Paul II said ‘of all the unimportant things, football is the most important’. David Hepworth believes the same to be true of music and this selection of his best writing, covering the music of last fifty years, shows you precisely why.

Nothing is Real

The Beatles Were Underrated And Other Sweeping Statements About Pop

'BRITAIN'S FINEST LIVING NATURE WRITER' - THE TIMES 
 
A SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER and BBC Radio 4 'Book of the Week' from 'indisputably, one of the best nature-writers of his generation' (Country Life) 
 
Written in diary format, The Wood is the story of English woodlands as they change with the seasons. Lyrical and informative, steeped in poetry and folklore, The Wood inhabits the mind and touches the soul. 
 
For four years John Lewis-Stempel managed Cockshutt wood, a particular wood - three and half acres of mixed woodland in south west Herefordshire - that stands as exemplar for all the small woods of England. John coppiced the trees and raised cows and pigs who roamed free there. 
 
This is the diary of the last year, by which time he had come to know it from the bottom of its beech roots to the tip of its oaks, and to know all the animals that lived there - the fox, the pheasants, the wood mice, the tawny owl - and where the best bluebells grew. For many fauna and flora, woods like Cockshutt are the last refuge. It proves a sanctuary for John too. 
 
To read The Wood is to be amongst its trees as the seasons change, following an easy path until, suddenly the view is broken by a screen of leaves, or your foot catches on a root, or a bird startles overhead. This is a wood you will never want to leave.

The Wood

The  Life & Times of Cockshutt Wood

Sue Black

'Utterly gripping' - The Guardian 
 'Fascinating' - The Sunday Times 
 'Moving' - Scotsman 
 'Engrossing' - Financial Times 
 
 Sue Black confronts death every day. As a Professor of Anatomy and Forensic Anthropology, she focuses on mortal remains in her lab, at burial sites, at scenes of violence, murder and criminal dismemberment, and when investigating mass fatalities due to war, accident or natural disaster. 
 
In All That Remains she reveals the many faces of death she has come to know, using key cases to explore how forensic science has developed, and examining what her life and work has taught her. 
 
 Do we expect a book about death to be sad? Macabre? Sue's book is neither. There is tragedy, but there is also humour in stories as gripping as the best crime novel. 
 
 Part memoir, part science, part meditation on death, her book is compassionate, surprisingly funny, and it will make you think about death in a new light. 
 ________ 
 
 SUE BLACK'S NEW BOOK, WRITTEN IN BONE, IS OUT NOW 
 _________ 
 
 'One might expect [this book] to be a grim read but it absolutely isn't. I found it invigorating!' (Andrew Marr, BBC Radio 4 'Start the Week') 
 
 'Black's utterly gripping account of her life and career as a professor of anatomy and forensic anthropology manages to be surprisingly life-affirming. As she herself says, it is "as much about life as about death"' (PD Smith Guardian) 
 
 'An engrossing memoir . . . an affecting mix of personal and professional' (Erica Wagner, Financial Times) 
 
 'A model of how to write about the effect of human evil without losing either objectivity or sensitivity . . . Heartening and anything but morbid . . . Leaves you thinking about what kind of human qualities you value, what kinds of people you actually want to be with' (Rowan Williams, New Statesman) 
 
 'For someone whose job is identifying corpses, Sue Black is a cheerful soul . . . All That Remains feels like every episode of 'Silent Witness', pre-fictionalised. Except, you know, really good' (Helen Rumbelow, The Times)

All That Remains

A Life in Death

Kitty Ferguson

In 1963 Stephen Hawking was given two years to live. Defying all the odds, he died in March 2018 at age seventy-six as the most celebrated scientist in the world. This carefully researched and updated biography and tribute gives a rich picture of Hawking's remarkable life - his childhood, the heart-rending beginning of his struggle with motor neurone disease, his ever-increasing international fame, and his long personal battle for survival in pursuit of a scientific understanding of the universe. 
 From more recent years, Kitty Ferguson describes his inspiring leadership at the London Paralympic Games, the release of the film The Theory of Everything, his continuing work on black holes and the origin of the universe, the discovery of 'supertranslations', and the astounding 'Starshot' program. Here also are his intense concern for the future of the Earth and his use of his celebrity to fight for environmental and humanitarian causes, and, finally, a ground-breaking paper he was working on at the time of his death, in which he took issue with some of his own earlier theories. Throughout, Ferguson summarizes and explains the cutting-edge science in which Hawking was engaged and offers vivid first-hand descriptions of his funeral in Cambridge and the interment of his ashes in Westminster Abbey. 
This is an amazing and revealing tribute, assessing Hawking's legacy in and out of science.

Stephen Hawking

A Life Well Lived

Pamela Druckerman

*MUCH RAVED ABOUT BY CHRIS EVANS ON HIS BBC RADIO 2 BREAKFAST SHOW* 
 
EVERYONE ELSE IS WINGING IT TOO. 
 
 You know you're a grown-up when... 
 
 ·You become impatient while scrolling down to your year of birth. 
 
 · You’ve lost and gained the same 10lbs so many times you now regard it as an old friend. 
 
 · Your parents have stopped trying to change you. 
 
 · You don't want to be with the cool people anymore; you want to be with your people. 
 
 · You know that 'Soul mate' isn't a pre-existing condition. It's earned over time. 
 
 Does it ever feel like everyone - except you - is a bona-fide adult? Do you wonder how real grown-ups get to be so mysteriously capable and wise? When she turns 40, Pamela Druckerman - author of the #1 Sunday Times bestseller French Children Don't Throw Food - wonders whether her mind will ever catch up with her face. Waiters start calling her ‘Madame’, and she detects a disturbing new message in mens' gazes: I would sleep with her, but only if doing so required no effort whatsoever. 
 
 There Are No Grown-Ups is a midlife coming-of-age story, a hilarious quest for wisdom, self-knowledge and the right pair of pants. It's a book for readers of all ages about - finally - becoming yourself

There Are No Grown-Ups

A midlife coming-of-age story

Jane Robinson

_______ 
 
'A history book that should be read by all' - Stylist. 
 
Set against the background of the campaign for women to win the vote, this is a story of the ordinary people effecting extraordinary change. 
 
1913: the last long summer before the war. The country is gripped by suffragette fever. These impassioned crusaders have their admirers; some agree with their aims if not their forceful methods, while others are aghast at the thought of giving any female a vote. 
 
Meanwhile, hundreds of women are stepping out on to the streets of Britain. They are the suffragists: non-militant campaigners for the vote, on an astonishing six-week protest march they call the Great Pilgrimage. Rich and poor, young and old, they defy convention, risking jobs, family relationships and even their lives to persuade the country to listen to them. 
 
Fresh and original, full of vivid detail and moments of high drama, Hearts and Minds is both funny and incredibly moving, important and wonderfully entertaining.

Hearts And Minds

The Untold Story of the Great Pilgrimage and How Women Won the Vote

A Private Thriller

A series of children's modern classic novels by renowned 20th century children's writers. All the titles in this series have the A Puffin Book logo, contemporary-style covers, and child-friendly endnotes.

A Puffin Book

A Ripley Novel

A Slice of the Moon

A Victorian Mystery

A Walk in...

A Women’s Murder Club Thriller

A chef Paul Delamare Mystery

Aberrations

Across the Universe

Actiphons

Adelia Aguilar

Adrian Mole

Adventures in Time

Aftermath

Against War

Age of X

Agent 21

Agent Z

Detective Aidan Waits is a troubled junior detective haunted by his past. Facing an uncertain future, and disconnected from his history, DC Waits and his partner, Detective Inspector Peter 'Sutty' Sutcliffe work on Manchester's streets to uncover the city's worst criminals among the grime of the underworld.

Filters

Category

Publication Date

Format

Series

Imprint

Follow penguin

Follow ladybird

Follow puffin

Sign up to the Penguin newsletter