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Biographies

A good biography invites you into someone else’s life. It takes you on fascinating journeys through the ups and downs of the life of legendary film stars, talented musicians, inspiring athletes, visionary politicians and many more. A good biography lets you get under the skin of your biggest idols, and you feel collected when reading their story - maybe even in the form of their own words. You will find both biographies and autobiographies in Tales’ selection, in addition to diaries and memoirs. So are you ready to be inspired by some of the world’'s most extraordinary individuals?
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  • Save 10%
    by Ewan Flynn
    £8.99

    The Wizards FC was a team of former schoolfriends who - with the help of a few star ringers - slogged their way through mud, skinheads and Staffordshire bull terriers to win the Edmonton Sunday League. Team captain Ewan Flynn brings alive a world of young men giving it their all on sloping pitches a million miles from the glamour of the Premier League, and officials who volunteer to maintain some sort of order. Along the way he charts the bittersweet stories of mates who brought success to the Wizards, despite suffering disappointment in their own all-too-brief professional football careers. It's a sometimes farcical, sometimes tragic tale of growing up in north London: family tensions, friendship, being a man, and seeing where your dreams can take you - even a Roy-of-the-Rovers rise to captaining your country against the world champions. Injuries on the pitch led the writer to many encounters with the surgeon's knife in order to keep playing. He shows how once football has you, it never lets you go.

  • Save 20%
    - My time inside Ecuador's toughest prisons
    by Pieter Tritton
    £11.99

    As a Brit banged up abroad, Pieter had to learn how to survive - and fast - because one wrong move would mean death. This is the insider account of what it's like to live in a place worse than hell and come out a changed man on the other side.

  • Save 24%
    - From the Gestapo to British Intelligence
    by Stephen Tyas
    £18.99

    The story of Gestapo officer Horst Kopkow, who was responsible for coordinating the tracking down of all British and Soviet parachute agents in Europe. He was directly implicated in the concentration camp murders of several hundred agents. Despite this, Kopkow was a consultant with Britain's Secret Intelligence Service for 20 years after the war.

  • Save 10%
    - A Graphic Biography
    by Florent Silloray
    £17.99

    A brilliant portrayal in graphic novel format of the career of the great war photographer during the Spanish Civil War and World War II.

  • Save 15%
    - Fascinating Footnotes from History
    by Giles Milton
    £10.99

    'Giles Milton is a man who can take an event from history and make it come alive . . . an inspiration for those of us who believe that history can be exciting and entertaining' Matthew Redhead, The TimesDid you know that Hitler took cocaine? That Stalin robbed a bank? That Charlie Chaplin's corpse was filched and held to ransom? Giles Milton is a master of historical narrative: in his characteristically engaging prose, Fascinating Footnotes From History details one hundred of the quirkiest historical nuggets; eye-stretching stories that read like fiction but are one hundred per cent fact.There is Hiroo Onoda, the lone Japanese soldier still fighting the Second World War in 1974; Agatha Christie, who mysteriously disappeared for eleven days in 1926; and Werner Franz, a cabin boy on the Hindenburg who lived to tell the tale when it was engulfed in flames in 1937. Fascinating Footnotes From History also answers who ate the last dodo, who really killed Rasputin and why Sergeant Stubby had four legs. Peopled with a gallery of spies, rogues, cannibals, adventurers and slaves, and spanning twenty centuries and six continents, Giles Milton's impeccably researched footnotes shed light on some of the most infamous stories and most flamboyant and colourful characters (and animals) from history.(Previoulsy published in four individual epub volumes: When Hitler Took Cocaine, When Stalin Robbed a Bank, When Lenin Lost His Brain and When Churchill Slaughtered Sheep.)

  • Save 21%
    - Reportage & Reflection from the Palestine Festival of Literature
    by J.M. Coetzee
    £13.49

    ________________'This anthology will help turn your intellectual understanding of oppression into an emotional one' - New Statesman'Thanks for being who you are and for giving us such exposure to wonderful people. Palestine is proud of you' - Suad Amiry________________The Palestine Festival of Literature was established in 2008. Bringing together writers from all corners of the globe, it aims to help Palestinians break the cultural siege imposed by the Israeli military occupation, to strengthen their artistic links with the rest of the world, and to reaffirm, in the words of Edward Said, 'the power of culture over the culture of power'.Celebrating the tenth anniversary of PalFest, This Is Not a Border is a collection of essays, poems and stories from some of the world's most distinguished artists, responding to their experiences at this unique festival. Both heartbreaking and hopeful, their gathered work is a testament to the power of literature to promote solidarity and courage in the most desperate of situations.Contributors: Susan Abulhawa, Suad Amiry, Victoria Brittain, Jehan Bseiso, Teju Cole, Molly Crabapple, Selma Dabbagh, Mahmoud Darwish, Najwan Darwish, Geoff Dyer, Yasmin El-Rifae, Adam Foulds, Ru Freeman, Omar Robert Hamilton, Suheir Hammad, Nathalie Handal, Mohammed Hanif, Jeremy Harding, Rachel Holmes, John Horner, Remi Kanazi, Brigid Keenan, Mercedes Kemp, Omar El-Khairy, Nancy Kricorian, Sabrina Mahfouz, Jamal Mahjoub, Henning Mankell, Claire Messud, China Miéville, Pankaj Mishra, Deborah Moggach, Muiz, Maath Musleh, Michael Palin, Ed Pavlic, Atef Abu Saif, Kamila Shamsie, Raja Shehadeh, Gillian Slovo, Ahdaf Soueif, Linda Spalding, Will Sutcliffe, Alice WalkerWith messages from China Achebe, Michael Ondaatje and J. M. Coetzee________________'Every literary act, whether it is a great epic poem or an honest piece of journalism or a simple nonsense tale for children is a blow against the forces of stupidity and ignorance and darkness . The Palestine Festival of Literature exists to do just that - and I salute it for its work. Not only this year but for as long as it is necessary' - Philip Pullman

  • Save 15%
    by Geraint Thomas
    £10.99

    Like no other cycling book, from no other rider

  • Save 24%
    - Art is Life
    by Laurie Wilson
    £18.99

    Louise Nevelson (1899-1988) was, with Calder, Noguchi and David Smith, one of the great American sculptors of the 20th century. She created extraordinary work, from room-size installations composed of boxes to gnarled and majestic steel structures. This book tells her life story.

  • Save 14%
    - A Life-Changing Journey from Banking to Buddhism in Bhutan
    by Emma Slade
    £9.49

    In 1997, Emma Slade was taken hostage in a hotel room on a business trip to Jakarta. Over the ensuing months the trauma following the event took hold. Realising her view on life had profoundly changed she embarked upon a journey, discovering the healing power of yoga and, in Bhutan, opening her eyes to a kinder, more peaceful way of living.

  • Save 27%
    - Life, Architecture and the Fair Society
    by Richard Rogers
    £21.99

    A stunningly designed memoir with pictures by one of the world's leading architects and urban thinkers - 'A towering genius' Telegraph

  • Save 15%
    - Edited and with an Introduction by Hunter Davies
    by John Lennon
    £10.99

    The first-ever collection of the letters of John Lennon, now available in paperback.

  • Save 14%
    - Autobiography of a Trial
    by Maggie Nelson
    £9.49

    In 1969, Jane Mixer, a first-year law student at the University of Michigan, posted a note on a student noticeboard to share a lift back to her hometown of Muskegon for spring break. She never made it: she was brutally murdered. In this book, the author gives an account of her aunt Jane's death, and the trial that took place 35 years afterward.

  • Save 21%
    - The True Story of a Disastrous Career at Sea
    by David Vann
    £13.49

    In this inspirational memoir, internationally bestselling author David Vann tells the true story of building his own sailing ship and of the disastrous voyage that ensues.

  • Save 23%
    - A Life of J A Baker
    by Hetty Saunders
    £15.49

    This is the first book about the enigmatic author J A Baker, author of The Peregrine.

  • Save 23%
    - 52 Pioneers
    by Kira Cochrane
    £16.99

    Modern Women is a celebration of 52 influential and inspiring women who have changed the world through their lives, work and actions

  • Save 14%
    - Hilarious tales of the rise of Lily Savage
    by Paul O'Grady
    £9.49

    At the end of the author's previous volume of autobiography, Still Standing, his brilliant comic creation Lily Savage stood on the brink of fame. In this book, Lily embraces success as to the manner born, and world domination beckons! Along the way, the stories come thick and fast.

  • Save 14%
    - A London Cycle Courier's Story
    by Emily Chappell
    £9.49

    Emily Chappell was never meant to be a cycle courier. She planned to earn her living using her mind rather than her legs. She thought it'd be a useful stopgap while searching for a 'real' job. Today, six years on, she's still pedalling. 'It's my most enduring love affair; the career that's shaped my life, made me what I am, and entirely derailed any hope of a normal existence.'As she flies through the streets of the capital, dancing with the traffic, Chappell records the pain and pleasure-both mental and physical-of life on wheels: the hurtling, dangerous missions; the ebb and flow of seasonal work; the moments of fear and freedom, anger and exhaustion; the camaraderie of the courier tribe and its idiosyncratic characters; the conflict and harmony between bicycle and road, body and mind.At the same time it is a hymn to London; its changing skyline, its chaos and interconnectedness: 'the unlikeliest street corners will have some tattered threads of memory fluttering from them like a flag...It's almost as if the memories have overflowed from my head and scattered themselves about the city. Some parts of my life I can recall simply by thinking of them; others I think I'd remember better if I went back to a certain part of London and plucked them up from the tree I'd hung them from, or retraced them from the park bench I'd scratched them on, or snatched them up as they blew around in circles in an alleyway like a discarded carrier bag'. This is a book about discovery and belonging, connection and memory, choosing life's uncharted course and the delicious sensation of just riding.

  • Save 21%
    - The Man Who Conquered the World
    by Frank McLynn
    £13.49

    Genghis Khan was by far the greatest conqueror the world has ever known, whose empire stretched from the Pacific Ocean to central Europe, including all of China, the Middle East and Russia. So how did an illiterate nomad rise to such colossal power, eclipsing Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar and Napoleon?

  • Save 10%
    - Policing Roy Grace's Brighton
    by Graham Bartlett & Peter James
    £8.99

    Fans of Peter James and his bestselling Roy Grace series of crime novels know that his books draw on in-depth research into the lives of Brighton and Hove police and are set in a world every bit as gritty as the real thing. His friend Graham Bartlett was a long-serving detective in the city once described as Britain's 'crime capital'. Together, in Death Comes Knocking, they have written a gripping account of the city's most challenging cases, taking the reader from crime scenes and incident rooms to the morgue, and introducing some of the real-life detectives who inspired Peter James's characters. Whether it's the murder of a dodgy nightclub owner and his family in Sussex's worst non-terrorist mass murder or the race to find the abductor of a young girl, tracking down the antique trade's most notorious 'knocker boys' or nailing an audacious ring of forgers, hunting for a cold-blooded killer who executed a surfer or catching a pair who kidnapped a businessman, leaving him severely beaten, to die on a hillside, the authors skilfully evoke the dangerous inside story of policing, the personal toll it takes and the dedication of those who risk their lives to keep the public safe.

  • Save 20%
    - An Artist Begins Her Life's Work at 72
    by Molly Peacock
    £11.99

    In 1772, upon the death of her second husband, Mary Delany arose from her grief, picked up a pair of scissors, and, at the age of seventy-two, created a new art form: mixed-media collage. Over the next decade, Mrs. Delany produced an astonishing 985 botanically correct, breathtaking cut-paper flowers, now housed in the British Museum and referred to as the Flora Delanica. As she tracks the extraordinary life of Delany-friend of George Frideric Handel and Jonathan Swift-internationally acclaimed poet Molly Peacock weaves in delicate parallels in her own life and, in doing so, creates a profound and beautiful examination of the nature of creativity and art. This gorgeously designed book, featuring thirty-five full-color illustrations, is to be devoured as voraciously as one of the court dinners it describes.

  • Save 20%
    - Mercy on Me
    by Reinhard Kleist
    £11.99

    An enthralling portrait of an intense, uncompromising and hypnotic artist

  • Save 23%
    by John Stewart
    £30.99

    Alvar Aalto remains Finland's greatest architect, retains his place among the Modern Masters of twentieth-century architecture and is now recognized internationally as one of the world's greatest architects of all time. This is the first, frank and fully-comprehensive biography of Alvar Aalto.

  • Save 15%
    - A Collection of Essays
    by Shane Dawson
    £10.99

    Shane Dawson, YouTube comedian and bestselling author of I Hate Myselfie, returns with a new uproariously funny essay collection, replete with his signature biting wit and self-deprecating humour. Even more emotionally honest, heartwarming, and hilarious than his last collection, it will inspire and entertain his audience of more than 14 million channel subscribers.

  • Save 21%
    - A Victorian Heroine in Venice
    by Judith Harris
    £13.49

    This is the extraordinary saga of Countess Evelina van Millingen Pisani, a modern woman who lived in the age of Queen Victoria. A friend of Henry James and Isabella Stewart Gardner, she led a rich but turbulent life that spanned from Rome to Constantinople and Venice.

  • Save 24%
    by Paul Darrow
    £18.99

    Paul Darrow's career has encompassed theatre, television and film. Famed for his portrayal of Kerr Avon, a ruthless and calculating computer expert, in Terry Nation's science fiction series Blake's 7, Darrow has also appeared in Coronation Street, Emergency Ward 10 and many other productions - including two guest appearances in Doctor Who.

  • Save 15%
    - The Bloody Rise of Mexican Drug Cartels
    by Ioan Grillo
    £10.99

    The gripping account of the out-of-control drug wars that have brought chaos to Mexico--and are now spilling into the United States.

  • by Yogananda Paramahamsa
    £7.99

    Autobiography of a Yogi is one of the famous Spiritual Book of the Twentieth Century which is written by Paramahansa Yogananda. In this book he explained memorable findings of the world of saints and yogis and also explained science and miracles, death and resurgence. With soul-satisfying consciousness and endearing wit, he lightens the hidden secrets of life and the world opening our hearts and minds to the happiness, splendour and limitless spiritual capacities that last in the lives of every human being. This edition has been offered specially from Yogoda Satsanga Society of India, the association established by the writer. The book containing extensive content about all of his desires. Moreover, the book has several high definition pictures. It is a spiritual treasury that will make you understand the meaning of life. Hence this book is real treasure for people who are on a spiritual quest. You can easily get this book on Amazon India.

  • by Adam Phillips
    £7.99

    The biography of Donald Winnicott, a child psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who spent nearly all of his professional life at Paddington Green Children's Hospital, London. His work and writing about children has been increasingly regarded as an influential contribution to psychoanalysis.

  • Save 15%
    - Undercover in the World of Drug Barons and Dirty Banks
    by ROBERT MAZUR
    £10.99

    Robert Mazur spent five years undercover infiltrating the criminal hierarchy of Colombia's drug cartels. The dirty bankers and businessmen he befriended knew him as Bob Musella, a wealthy, mob-connected big shot living the good life.

  • Save 23%
    - Songs Are Only Half the Story
    by Jewel
    £15.49

Biographies
Biographies books are per definition a collection of someone’s life. That someone is mostly a celebrity and often comes from the world of entertainment for example a famous movie or television star. A good biography lets you under the skin of the subject. Biographies are mostly written by biography authors, who are specialized in capturing the life of another person through research and multiple interviews with both the individual and his or her relatives. The celebrity or icon can also choose to write his or her own story, which is what characterizes an autobiography. An autobiography can - if the writer is good - give you a more intimate picture of the subject. You can both find biographies and autobiographies in Tales’ wide selection of Biographies. 

Biographies best sellers
Tales’ selection contains most of the biographies best sellers. The biographies books are often about celebrities known from film, television or the music industry, but they can also be about inspiring trailblazers from the societal or political world like the biography best seller Becoming about Michelle Obama. The American first lady has inspired many Americans and people around the world. Her and her husband - the first black American first lady and President - made many extraordinary changes in the American society and advocated for more diversity and respect in the American people. Michelle Obama also fights for more equality, especially when it comes to girls and women. Read the inspiring story of how Michelle Obama became one of our times most popular, kind and obliging residents of the White House in her biography Becoming, and let it guide you to finding our own voice. 
Another best seller is Three Women by Lisa Taddeo. Taddeo has written an innovative biography that is a collection of three American women's lives. The biography is an investigation of the female lust in all its complexity. Many women have expressed that they can reflect their own life and feelings of desire in the book. 

Biographies about musicians
Take a look in our selection and find some of the best biographies about musicians. The selection has something for every taste, because you find accounts about musicians from every end of the spectre. Whether you like rock, jazz, classical music, pop or musicals you will find biographies about musicians representing every genre. 
Take for example the autobiography Me Elton John, who has gained extraordinary reviews and success all around the world making the Elton John biography an international best seller. The book is the only official biography made about the iconic musician and singer. Read the incredible and turbulent story about one of our biggest stars to date, and you might learn the secrets behind writing and performing hit after hit.
You can also dive into the fascinating story of the musical legend Julie Andrews. In the biography Home you can read about her journey from London to Broadway stardom. The triple threat is the woman behind legendary roles such as Mary Poppins and Maria from The Sound of Music, and you can follow her journey through Hollywood in the sequel Home Work. Julie Andrews is the writer of her own story and she writes in an intimate and heart-warming narrative. 

Biographies about artists
Are you an art lover, art student or an artist yourself? Then we would recommend you to find inspiration in our biographies about artists. Our collection of biographies contains among others the book Frida Kahlo - A Biography written by Claudia Schaefer. Schaefer gives an introduction to the beloved Latino artist. Frida Kahlo is one of modern times greatest female artists and her surrealist artworks are extraordinary. The biography introduces the reader to her unique form of art - Kahlo did not see herself as a surrealist - but it also gives a look into the artist behind the world famous works of art. If you want to dive into the lives of amazing artists, the story of Kahlo is just one of many wonderful biographies about artists. 

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