82ASK

A A Gill

Andrew Swanston read law at Cambridge, but was inspired to write by his lifelong interest in early modern history. His Thomas Hill novels – The King’s Spy, The King’s Exile and The King’s Return – are set against the backdrops of the English Civil War, Cromwell’s Commonwealth and the early Restoration respectively. He is also the author of Waterloo: The Bravest Man and Beautiful Star and Other Stories. His first historical thriller set during the reign of Elizabeth I – Incendium (published in paperback as The Incendium Plot) – introduced readers to the academic, lawyer and intelligencer Dr Christopher Radcliff, whose adventures continue in Chaos. Andrew Swanston lives in Surrey.

A D Swanston

A E Langsford

A G Hopkins

A. J. BAIME is the New York Times best-selling author of The Arsenal of Democracy: FDR, Detroit, and an Epic Quest to Arm an America at War and Go Like Hell: Ford, Ferrari, and Their Battle for Speed and Glory at Le Mans. Both books are in development for major motion pictures. Baime is a longtime regular contributor to the Wall Street Journal, and his articles have also appeared in the New York Times, Popular Science, and Men’s Journal. He lives in Granite Bay, California. Visit him at facebook.com/ajbaime and trumanbook.com.

A J Baime

A J Jacobs

A J P Taylor

Anthony James Pollard is a British medieval historian, specialising in the fifteenth century and in particular the Wars of the Roses. A leading authority in the field, he is profesor emeritus of Teesside University. His books include North-Eastern England during the Wars of the Roses, Richard III and the Princes in theTower, Imagining Robin Hood: the Late Medieval Stories in Historical Context and Warwick the kingmaker: Politics, Power and Fame.

A J Pollard

A J Rochester

A K Benjamin is a clinical neuropsychologist and the author of Let Me Not Be Mad: A Story of Unravelling Minds.

A K Benjamin

A. L. Berridge read English at Oxford, and taught for ten years before moving into television, where her production credits range from period drama and thrillers to long-running soaps. She has written two previous novels, Top Ten besteller Honour and the Sword and In the Name of the King. Into the Valley of Death is her third novel.

A L Berridge

Alison Gaylin's first job was as a reporter for a celebrity tabloid, which sparked a lifelong interest in writing about people committing despicable acts. More than a decade later, she wrote and published her Edgar-nominated first novel, HIDE YOUR EYES. 
 
She's since published nine more books, including the USA Today and international bestselling Brenna Spector suspense series, which has been nominated for the Edgar, Anthony and Thriller awards and won the Shamus award. 
 
She lives in upstate New York with her husband, daughter, cat and dog.

A L Gaylin

A Maxwell-Hyslop

A McArthur

A P Wavell

A.S. Webb is the Sunday Times bestselling author of Daughter of Chaos, the first instalment of The Dark Pantheon Trilogy. She is inspired by stories rooted in history and mythology, that push the boundaries of imagination and urge us to reflect on what it means to be human.

A S Webb

A. A. Dhand is the author of six previous novels, and has been shortlisted for the CWA Steel Dagger Award. His DI Harry Virdee novels are currently being adapted for TV by the BBC. He was raised in Bradford and spent his youth observing the city from behind the counter of a small convenience store. After qualifying as a pharmacist, he worked in London and travelled extensively before returning to Bradford to start his own business and begin writing. The history, diversity and darkness of the city have inspired all his novels. For more information about A. A. Dhand and his books, follow him on X @aadhand, and on Instagram @aa_dhand.

A. A. Dhand

A. A. Gill

A. A. Milne

A. Anatoli

A. B. Poranek grew up sharing her time between Ontario, Canada and rural Poland, and eventually completed a veterinary degree at the Warsaw University of Life Sciences. A lover of mythology and history, she enjoys exploring both in her writing. Her debut novel, Where the Dark Stands Still, an instant New York Times bestseller, is an ode to Poland's folktales, while A Treachery of Swans transports readers to a world inspired by 17th century France.

A. B. Poranek

A. Bradley

Professor A. C. Grayling is Principal of the New College of the Humanities at Northeastern University, London, and a Supernumerary Fellow of St Anne's College, Oxford. He has written and edited over thirty books on philosophy, history, science and current affairs. For several years he wrote columns for the Guardian newspaper and The Times and was the chairman of the 2014 Man Booker Prize.

A. C. Grayling

A.D. Miller is the author of Snowdrops, The Earl of Petticoat Lane and The Faithful Couple. Snowdrops was a bestseller and was shortlisted for many prizes including the Man Booker and the CWA Gold Dagger. It was translated into 25 languages. As Moscow Correspondent of The Economist A.D. Miller has travelled across the former Soviet Union and covered the Orange Revolution in Ukraine; he is now the magazine’s Culture Editor based in London. 
 
admillerbooks.com

A. D. Miller

A. E. Ellis

A. E. W. Mason

A. Humphreys

A. Igoni Barrett was born in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, in 1979 and lives in Lagos. He is a winner of the 2005 BBC World Service short story competition, the recipient of a Chinua Achebe Center Fellowship, a Norman Mailer Center Fellowship, and a Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center Residency. His short story collection, Love is Power, or Something Like That, was published in 2013. In 2014 he was named on the Africa39 list of sub-Saharan African writers under 40. Blackass is his first novel.

A. Igoni Barrett

The short life of A.J.A. Symons (1900-41) was described by his biographer as an intricate and largely harmless confidence trick. His many interests included the collection of musical boxes and rare books as well as the study and practice of forgery; they left him time to edit an anthology of Edwardian verse and compose studies of H.M. Stanley and other notable figures. He is remembered for The Quest for Corvo, one of the most remarkable biographies ever written, and for co-founding the Wine and Food Society.

A. J. A. Symons

PublicationStatus

Brand

Format

AgeRange

Series

Imprint

CategoryLabel

Mary Ann Sieghart

Imagine living in a world in which you were routinely patronised by women. 
 
Imagine having your views ignored or your expertise frequently challenged by them. 
 
Imagine people always addressing the woman you are with before you. 
 
Now imagine a world in which the reverse of this is true. 
 
The Authority Gap provides a startling perspective on the unseen bias at work in our everyday lives, to reveal the scale of the gap that still persists between men and women. Would you believe that US Supreme Court Justices are interrupted four times more often than male ones... 96% of the time by men? Or that British parents, when asked to estimate their child's IQ will place their son at 115 and their daughter at 107? 
 
Marshalling a wealth of data with precision and insight, and including interviews with pioneering women such as Baroness Hale, Mary Beard and Bernadine Evaristo, Mary Ann exposes unconscious bias in this fresh feminist take on how to address and counteract systemic sexism in ways that benefit us all. 
 
Includes interviews with pioneering women such as: 
 
Baroness Hale 
Mary Beard 
Bernadine Evaristo 
Mary McAleese 
Julia Gillard 
Dolly Alderton and Pandora Sykes 
Cherie Blair 
Liz Truss 
Amber Rudd 
Frances Morris 
Laura Bates 
__________ 
 
'Deeply researched, profoundly thoughtful and a book very much for the here and now: Mary Ann Sieghart's The Authority Gap is the book she was probably born to write' - Andrew Marr 
 
 'At last here is a credible roadmap that is capable of taking women from the margins to the centre by bridging the authority gap that holds back even the best and most talented of women. - Mary McAleese, Former President of Ireland

The Authority Gap

Why women are still taken less seriously than men, and what we can do about it

Joby Warrick

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Black Flags, the harrowing true story of the mission to find and destroy Syria's chemical weapons and defeat ISIS - only to lose control of both. 
 
'Presents [the story] sharply and compellingly' Washington Post 
'Excellent' Independent 
 
In August 2012, Syrian president Bashar al-Assad was clinging to power in a vicious civil war. Concerned that Assad might resort to chemical weapons, the international community warned that any such use would cross "a red line", warranting a military response. When a year later Assad bombed the Damascus suburb of Ghouta with sarin gas, killing hundreds, global leaders were torn between living up to their word and becoming mired in another unpopular Middle Eastern war. So when Russia offered to store Syria's chemical weapons, the world leaped at the solution. 
 
So begins a race to find, remove, and destroy 1,300 tons of chemical weapons in the middle of Syria's civil war. Told in harrowing detail, the initial effort is a tactical triumph for the West, but soon Russia's long game becomes clear: it has UN cover to assist Assad's regime. Meanwhile, the territory gains of ISIS further destabilise the country, and the terrorist organisation seeks to secure Syria's chemical arsenals for itself, with horrifying consequences. 
 
Red Line is a classic Joby Warrick true-life thriller: a character-driven narrative with a cast of heroes and villains, including weapons hunters, politicians, commandos, diplomats, and spies. Through original reporting and eyewitness accounts from direct participants, Joby Warrick reveals how a well-intentioned effort to save Syrian lives became swept up in a calamitous chain of events that would spawn a terrorist movement, unleash torrents of refugees, frustrate two U.S. presidents and empower the Western alliance's most dangerous foes.

Red Line

The Unravelling of Syria and the Race to Destroy the Most Dangerous Arsenal in the World

David Hepworth

The Beatles landing in New York in February 1964 was the opening shot in a cultural revolution nobody predicted. Suddenly the youth of the richest, most powerful nation on earth was trying to emulate the music, manners and the modes of a rainy island that had recently fallen on hard times. 
 
The resulting fusion of American can-do and British fuck-you didn’t just lead to rock and roll’s most resonant music. It ushered in a golden era when a generation of kids born in ration card Britain, who had grown up with their nose pressed against the window of America’s plenty, were invited to wallow in their big neighbour’s largesse. 
 
It deals with a time when everything that was being done - from the Beatles playing Shea Stadium to the Rolling Stones at Altamont, from the Who performing their rock opera at the Metropolitan Opera House to David Bowie touching down in the USA for the first time with a couple of gowns in his luggage - was being done for the very first time. 
 
Rock and roll would never be quite so exciting again.

Overpaid, Oversexed and Over There

How a Few Skinny Brits with Bad Teeth Rocked America

Alicia Garza

Black Lives Matter began as a hashtag when Alicia Garza wrote what she calls 'a love letter to Black people' on Facebook. But hashtags don't build movements, she tells us. People do. Interwoven with Garza's experience of life as a Black woman, The Purpose of Power is the story of how she responded to the persistent message that Black lives are of less value than white lives by galvanizing people to create change. It's an insight into grass roots organizing to deliver basic needs - affordable housing, workplace protections, access to good education - to those locked out of the economy by racism. It is an attempt not only to make sense of where Black Lives Matter came from but also to understand the possibilities that Black Lives Matter and movements like it hold for our collective futures. Ultimately, it's an appeal to hearts and minds, demanding that we think about our privileges and prejudices and ask how we might contribute to the change we want to see in the world.

The Purpose of Power

From the co-founder of Black Lives Matter

Jenni Murray

At sixty-four, Jenni Murray's weight had become a disability. She avoided the scales, she wore a uniform of baggy black clothes, refused to make connections between her weight and health issues and told herself that she was fat and happy. She was certainly fat. But the happy part was an Oscar-worthy performance. In private she lived with a growing sense of fear and misery that her weight would probably kill her before she made it to seventy. Interwoven with the science, social history and psychology of weight management, Fat Cow, Fat Chance is a refreshingly honest account of what it's like to be fat when society dictates that skinny is the norm. It asks why we overeat and why, when the weight is finally lost through dieting, do we simply pile the pounds back on again? How do we help young people become comfortable with the way they look? What are the consequences of the obesity epidemic for an already overstretched NHS? And, whilst fat shaming is so often called out, why is it that shouting 'fat cow' at a woman in the street hasn't been included in the list of hate crimes? Fusing politics, science and personal pain, this is a powerful exploration of our battle with obesity.

Fat Cow, Fat Chance

The science and psychology of size

Paul Ham

'Outstanding . . . thought-provoking, readable and informative' Soldier 
 
One hundred years on... 
 
On 18 July 1917, a heavy artillery barrage was unleashed by the Allied forces against an entrenched German army outside the town of Ypres. it was to be the opening salvo of one of the most ferociously fought and debilitating encounters of the First World War. 
 
Few battles would encapsulate the utter futility of the war better that what became known as the Battle of Passchendaele. By the time the British and Canadian forces finally captured Passchendaele village on 6 November, the Allies had suffered over 271,000 casualties and the German army over 217,000. 
 
Passchendaele: Requiem for Doomed Youth shows how ordinary men on both sides endured this constant state of siege, with a very real awareness that they were being gradually, deliberately felled. Here, Paul Ham tells the story of an army caught in the grip of an extraordinary power struggle – both global and national. As Prime Minister Lloyd George and Commander Haig’s relationship deteriorated beyond repair, so a terrible battle of attrition was needlessly and painfully prolonged. 
 
Ham lays down a powerful challenge to the ways in which we have previously seen this monumental battle. Through an examination of the culpability of governments and military commanders in a catastrophe that destroyed the best part of a generation, Paul Ham argues that Passchendaele, far from being a breakthrough moment, was the battle that nearly lost the Allies the war. 
 
‘Paul Ham brings new tools to the job, unearthing fresh evidence of a deeply disturbing sort. He has a magpie eye for the telling detail.’ Ben Macintyre, The Times

Passchendaele

The Bloody Battle That Nearly Lost The Allies The War

David Jarrett

AS FEATURED ON BBC RADIO 4 'Start the Week' : 'very moving - brilliant and profound' 
 
"Brilliant - a grimly humorous yet humane account of the realities of growing old in the modern age." - Henry Marsh 
 
"A remarkably likeable guide to a grisly subject ... daunting, yet ultimately life-affirming" - Independent 
 
 What is a good death? 
 How would you choose to live your last few months? 
 How do we best care for the rising tide of very elderly? 
 
 This unusual and important book is a series of reflections on death in all its forms: the science of it, the medicine, the tragedy and the comedy. Dr David Jarrett draws on family stories and case histories from his thirty years of treating the old, demented and frail to try to find his own understanding of the end. 
 
 Profound, provocative, strangely funny and astonishingly compelling, it is an impassioned plea that we start talking frankly and openly about death. He writes about all the conversations that we, our parents, our children, the medical community, our government and society as a whole should be having. 
 And it is a call to arms for us to make radical changes to our perspective on 'the seventh age of man'. 
- 
More praise for 33 Meditations on Death: 
 
"This book will stay with you." - Derren Brown 
"Bursting with empathy, common sense and humour." - Professor Dame Sue Black

33 Meditations on Death

Notes from the Wrong End of Medicine

Jane Robinson

It is a myth that either of the World Wars liberated women. 
 
The Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act of 1919 was one of the most significant pieces of legislation in modern Britain. It marked at once political watershed and a social revolution; the point at which women of 21 and over were recognised in law as being as competent as men. But were they? What actually happened when this bill was passed? This is the story of what happened next. 
 
Ladies Can't Climb Ladders focuses on the lives of six women - six pioneers - forging paths in the fields of medicine, law, academia, architecture, engineering and the church. Robinson's startling study into the public and private lives of these women sheds light not on the desires and ambitions of her subjects but how family and society responded to the working woman and what their legacy looks like today. 
 
This book is written in their honour. It is a book about live subjects: equal opportunity, the gender pay gap, and whether women can expect, or indeed deserve, to have it at all. 
'An important and crackingly good read.' - Telegraph

Ladies Can’t Climb Ladders

The Pioneering Adventures of the First Professional Women

Clover Stroud

'Raw, elemental and beautiful.' Telegraph 
'This is quite simply the best book about motherhood I have ever read.' - Eleanor Mills in the Sunday Times 
 
Mother to five children, Clover Stroud has navigated family life across two decades, both losing and finding herself. In her touching, provocative and profoundly insightful book, she captures a sense of what motherhood really feels like - how intense, sensuous, joyful, boring, profound and dark it can be. 
 
My Wild and Sleepless Nights examines what it means to be a mother, and reveals with unflinching honesty the many conflicting emotions that this entails: the joy and the wonder, the loneliness and despair. 
 
MORE PRAISE FOR CLOVER STROUD: 
'Clover's expertise is writing about family life in a way that feels both new and entirely familiar' - Pandora Sykes 
'As tender, blazing, funny and unflinching as the love it describes. I want to give this triumphant book to every mother I know' - Rachel Joyce 
'Stroud is always willing to rip open her very soul in order to reveal the truth about her life - and every time a woman tells the truth like this, it sets another woman free' - Elizabeth Gilbert 
'I read in one greedy gulp and am still slightly reeling. Extraordinary writing... For mothers and those even vaguely interested in family dynamics it is fascinating' - Alexandra Heminsley 
 
Charting the course of one year, the first in her youngest child's life, Clover searches for answers to questions that many of us would be too afraid to admit to - not only about motherhood, but also about female sexuality and identity. Her story will speak to all mothers, and anyone about to embark on that journey.

My Wild and Sleepless Nights

The brave, raw Sunday Times bestselling memoir

Viv Groskop

Part self-help guide, part master class in survival skills for life and work, Lift as You Climb examines what sisterhood looks like today, asks what you can do to make things better for other women and considers how to do that without disadvantaging yourself. It's the ultimate confidence bible for women planning careers in an ever-changing and uncertain world. And it addresses one of the biggest issues women face in the workplace - how to be ambitious without losing your sense of self. It must be possible, right? This essential handbook is full of brilliant tips and invaluable insights on everything you need to know about making life better for yourself - without making it worse for others.

Lift as You Climb

Women, Ambition and How to Change the Story

Clare Beams

'A modern scream of female outrage. A masterpiece' ELIZABETH GILBERT 
 
'Astoundingly original . . . belongs on the shelf with your Margaret Atwood' NEW YORK TIMES 
 
Haunting, intense and irresistible, The Illness Lesson is an extraordinary debut about women's minds and bodies, and the time-honoured tradition of doubting both. 
 
In 1871, at an elite new school designed to shape the minds of young women, the inscrutable and defiant Eliza Bell has been overwhelmed by an inexplicable illness. 
 
Before long, the other girls start to succumb to its peculiar symptoms - rashes, tics, 
night wanderings and fits. 
 
As the disease takes hold, teacher Caroline Hood tries desperately to hide her own symptoms, but 
the powers-that-be turn to a sinister physician with dubious methods. 
 
Does Caroline have the courage to confront the all-male, all-knowing authorities of her world 
and protect the young women in her care? 
 
 
'You want to know how horrifying things happened while decent people looked on and did nothing? Read this novel' MARY BETH KEANE 
 
'Subtle, clever, suspenseful . . . builds to a shocking climax' DIANE SETTERFIELD 
 
'A Sunday Times Book to Read in 2020: A classic ghost story for fans of Picnic at Hanging Rock, Deborah Levy, Jeffrey Eugenides' SUNDAY TIMES STYLE

The Illness Lesson

Sophy Roberts

Siberia's history is traditionally one of exiles, bitter cold and suffering. Yet there is another tale to tell. Dotted throughout this remote landscape are pianos created during the boom years of the nineteenth century. They tell the story of how, ever since entering Russian culture under the influence of Catherine the Great, piano music has run through the country like blood. How these pianos travelled into this snow-bound wilderness in the first place is remarkable. That they might still be capable of making music in such a hostile landscape is nothing less than a miracle. 
 
The Lost Pianos of Siberia is an absorbing story about a piano hunt - a quixotic journey through two centuries of Russian history and eight time zones stretching across an eleventh of the world's land surface. It reveals not only an unexpected musical legacy, but profound humanity in the last place on earth you might expect to find it.

The Lost Pianos of Siberia

A Sunday Times Paperback of 2021

A Sunday Times Book of 2020

Camilla Bruce

'This might be the best book I've read all year' JOANNE HARRIS 
 
'A glorious, pitch-black fairytale of a book' KIRSTY LOGAN, author of Things We Say in the Dark 
 
'A feast of storytelling...lingers long after the last morsel's been consumed' SAM LLOYD, author of The Memory Wood 
 
'Brutal and beguiling story of love and revenge' LUCIE McKNIGHT HARDY, author of Water Shall Refuse Them 
 
'Lascivious and bloody' JAMES LOVEGROVE in the Financial Times 
 
Everyone knew bestselling novelist Cassandra Tipp had twice got away with murder. 
 
Even her family were convinced of her guilt. So when she disappears, leaving only a long letter behind, they can but suspect that her conscience finally killed her. 
 
But the letter is not what anyone expected. It tells two chilling, darkly disturbing stories. One is a story of children lost to the woods, of husbands made from twigs and leaves and feathers and bones . . . 
 
The other is the story of a little girl trying to make sense of a damaged life lived in the shadows . . . 
 
But which story is true? 
 
Unsettling yet unputdownable, You Let Me In dares to cross the boundary between reality and somewhere else entirely . . . 
________________________ 
 
What readers are saying... 
 
'I loved this book, was blown away by it' 
'I would certainly read more from this author' 
'Unexpected, thrilling and darkly twisted' 
'I found myself thinking about it for several days afterwards' 
'The writing was just sensational' 
'An impressive debut' 
'I would love to see Guillermo del Toro make a movie based on this story'

You Let Me In

The acclaimed, unsettling novel of haunted love, revenge and the nature of truth

Leona Deakin

'A brilliantly paced, imaginative thriller with plenty of dark twists that had me turning the pages well into the night.' Heidi Perks, author of Now You See Her 
 
 ___________________________________ 
 
HOW CAN YOU SOLVE A CRIME IF YOU CAN'T REMEMBER THE CLUES? 
 
 ___________________________________ 
 
There is an explosion at a military ball. The casualties are rushed to hospital in eight ambulances, but only seven vehicles arrive. Captain Harry Peterson is missing. 
His girlfriend calls upon her old friend Dr Augusta Bloom to support the investigation. But no one can work out if there is a connection between the bomb and the disappearance. 
When Harry is eventually discovered three days later, they hope he holds the answers to their questions. But he can't remember a single thing. 
Without any clues, will Dr Bloom find herself lost in this puzzle too? 
 
 ___________________________________ 
 
 
'Another cracking read from Leona Deakin and my favourite so far! I was totally gripped by this complex and intriguing story.' Lauren North, author of The Perfect Betrayal 
 
 ___________________________________ 
 
 
Readers love the Dr Bloom Thrillers: 
'The ultimate suspense novel' ***** 
'Gripping, mysterious, fast-paced' ***** 
'An intelligent psychological thriller' ***** 
'What a book! Completely mind-twisting' ***** 
'Debut novels don't get better than this' ***** 
'A smart and intricate cat-and-mouse tale' ***** 
'Dark, riveting, twisting, cruel' ***** 
 'I could not put it down' *****

Lost

The sensational thriller that will keep you gripped all night

Hallie Rubenhold

SOON TO BE STREAMED ON NETFLIX 
 
By the Baillie Gifford prize-winning and No. 1 Sunday Times bestselling author of THE FIVE 
 
'A fascinating expose of the seamy side of eighteenth century life' MAIL ON SUNDAY 
'Rubenhold's pages practically reek with smelly, pox-ridden Georgian Soho' GUARDIAN 
------------------------------------------------------- 
In 1757, a down-and-out Irish poet, the head waiter at the Shakespear's Head Tavern in Covent Garden, and a celebrated London courtesan became bound together by the publication of a little book: Harris's List of Covent Garden Ladies. This salacious work - detailing the names and 'specialities' of the capital's sex-workers- became one of the eighteenth century's most scandalous bestsellers. 
 
Yet beyond its titillating passages lies a glimpse into the lives of those who lived and died by its profits - a tragicomic opera of the Georgian era, motivated by poverty, passionate love, aspiration and shame. 
 
In this modern and visceral narrative, historian Hallie Rubenhold reveals the story behind Harris's List of Covent Garden Ladies, and the legion of ordinary women whose lives in the sex trade history has chosen to ignore. 
 
'Scrupulously researched' DAILY TELEGRAPH 
 
'Crackles with drama and tension' GUARDIAN 
 
'Compelling and ingenious' INDEPENDENT 
 
WHAT READERS ARE SAYING: 
 
'This book is an absolute 'must'-read for any person interested in English social history' 5 **** 
'Fascinating' 5 **** 
'Brilliant. Full of intelligent insight which brings this period to vibrant life' 5 **** 
________ 
 
**BUY THE AUTHOR'S BRAND NEW WORK, STORY OF A MURDER** 
'Terrific' Ian Rankin 
'I dare you to put it down' Lucy Worsley 
'Fascinating' Val McDermid

The Covent Garden Ladies

the book that inspired BBC2’s ‘Harlots’

Richard Davies

*Winner of the Enlightened Economist Prize 2019* 
*Winner of Debut Writer of the Year at the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards 2020* 
*Longlisted for the Financial Times &amp; McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award 2019* 
 
'Extreme Economies is a revelation - and a must-read.' Andy Haldane, Chief Economist at the Bank of England 
 
To understand how humans react and adapt to economic change we need to study people who live in harsh environments. From death-row prisoners trading in institutions where money is banned to flourishing entrepreneurs in the world's largest refugee camp, from the unrealised potential of cities like Kinshasa to the hyper-modern economy of Estonia, every life in this book has been hit by a seismic shock, violently broken or changed in some way. 
 
In his quest for a purer view of how economies succeed and fail, Richard Davies takes the reader off the beaten path to places where part of the economy has been repressed, removed, destroyed or turbocharged. He tells the personal stories of humans living in these extreme situations, and of the financial infrastructure they create. Far from the familiar stock reports, housing crises, or banking scandals of the financial pages, Extreme Economies reveals the importance of human and social capital, and in so doing tells small stories that shed light on today's biggest economic questions. 
 
'A highly original approach to understanding what really makes economies tick.' Mervyn King, former Governor of the Bank of England

Extreme Economies

Survival, Failure, Future – Lessons from the World’s Limits

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

_______ 
 
'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

Edward Stourton

"An engaging, balanced and thoroughly researched history. It is often a moving and amusing tale containing plenty of mavericks and colourful episodes." (Lawrence James, The Times) 
 
Auntie's War is a love letter to radio. 
 
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British institution unlike any other, and its story during the Second World War is also our story. This was Britain’s first total war, engaging the whole nation, and the wireless played a crucial role in it. For the first time, news of the conflict reached every living room – sometimes almost as it happened; and at key moments: 
- Chamberlain’s announcement of war 
- The Blitz 
- The D-Day landings 
- De Gaulle's broadcasts from exile 
- Churchill's fighting speeches 
 
Radio offered an incomparable tool for propaganda; it was how coded messages, both political and personal, were sent across Europe, and it was a means of sending less than truthful information to the enemy. 
 
Edward Stourton is a sharp-eyed, wry and affectionate companion on the BBC’s wartime journey, investigating archives, diaries, letters and memoirs to examine what the BBC was and what it stood for. Auntie’s War is an incomparable insight into why we have the broadcast culture we do today. 
 
A BBC RADIO 4: BOOK OF THE WEEK

Auntie's War

The BBC during the Second World War

The year is 1Q84. This is the real world, there is no doubt about that. But in this world, there are two moons in the sky. Discover the 1Q84 Trilogy by Haruki Murakami.

1Q84

365 Days of Art

A BBC Christmas

A Black Book Thriller

A Box Full of Murders

A Cal Leandros Novel

A Christmas Mystery

The intelligent and capable police commissioner Guido Brunetti confronts crime in and around his home town of Venice.

A Commissario Brunetti Mystery

A DC Smith / Kings Lake Investigation Series

A Daisy Story

Chronicling the lives of over three hundred characters, unrivalled for its scope and humour, this is a unique evocation of life in twentieth-century England.

Filters

Category

Publication Date

Format

Series

Imprint

Follow penguin

Follow ladybird

Follow puffin

Sign up to the Penguin newsletter