Diaries & Memoirs

A classic postpunk memoir by a cult hero of the 80s - Budgie, the drummer in Siouxsie and the Banshees - with a twist

Our latest instalment in the 'Yorkshire Vet' diaries sees Julian Norton return to 'Herriot Country', and Thirsk in particular, as he sets up a new practice in his home town.

A hybrid text and photobook by internationally-renowned photographer Lina Scheynius, combining diary extracts with essays and black-and-white photographs to explore the break-up of a relationship, alongside reflections about art, photography, motherhood, belonging and creativity.

A brave and beautiful memoir written by the first Black woman to swim for Great Britain that reflects on race, identity, trauma and power with visceral vulnerability

A forensic, propulsive book about the line between fact and fiction. Renowned scientist Professor Michael Briggs was many things:A Space expert at NASAAn adviser to the World Health OrganisationA successful Big Pharma executive But Michael Briggs had a secret.

what we must remember, what we would forget...How do we carry the past when memory begins to splinter, when daily words and faces elude us while the distant past haunts and torments? How do we carry the past as the adult children of ageing parents whose vitality has given way to a dependency the parent cannot accept? And where are the safe places for our elders in a society with no patience for the slow and the old, a society that sees them as products for an industry of 'care' that exists first for its share-holders?These questions weave through l'Aubier as Isabelle Llasera explores the final stages of her mother's life in a residential home in the South of France and as her mother's dementia escalates in an environment where profit ranks above care. Written with grace, tenderness and extraordinary clarity, the narrative is addressed to 'you'. And so we are immersed in a story that brims with frustration (the clothes that disappear, the cold air conditioning in November, the persistent odour of urine in the lounge...) alongside small acts of rebellion that we revel in (the unauthorised car trip in the rain and snow with the best rainy coffee ever). And through it all, the fragments of a long and accomplished life dissolving into moments that won't let go - the horror of whether three Jewish children ever reached safety or the teenage joy of the fur coat her father gave her...Deeply personal and searingly political, without a whiff of didacticism, l'Aubier will make you laugh and cry. But most of all it will leave you with questions. Dignity? Memory? Identity? Responsibility? So many questions society needs to face if we are to retain humanity.

WITH A FOREWORD FROM SIR ALAN BATES'Jo is an inspiration', Monica Dolan, who played Jo in the ITV drama, Mr Bates vs The Post Office'My first big discrepancy came in the shape of a £2,000 shortfall that just made no sense at all. Of all the things that kept me awake once in the thick of the nightmare that unfolded, it was being stuck in that truly incomprehensible moment where the mere touch of a button suddenly turned £2,000 into £4,000 within three minutes on that cold December night in 2003.'Jo Hamilton was one of more than 700 sub-postmasters prosecuted between 2000 and 2014 based on information from the Post Office's faulty Horizon accounting system. She was told to put right a wrong she hadn't committed and pushed to the very brink of her existence - remortgaging her house, borrowing from anyone she could in order to repay money that she hadn't taken, and questioning her own sanity. Immortalised in ITV smash hit drama, Mr Bates v The Post Office, this is Jo Hamilton's extraordinary first-hand account of how she built a Post Office that was at the very heart of her community and lost it all through no fault of her own. For the first time, beyond the headlines and the corridors of the High Court and the UK's political institutions, we will finally hear Jo's full story and the human side of this scandal as well as the untold struggle she faced during the biggest miscarriages of justice in modern history. Ultimately, this is a story of hope and the strength of community and the ability of a few to fight back against the odds.

Stuart Woods love of music was ignited at fourteen when he, along with three schoolmates, formed a band. By the time he turned fifteen, he had left school to pursue a career as an electrician, blissfully unaware of the whirlwind that awaited him. Suddenly, he found himself living the life of a superstar, whisked away in limousines, pursued by frenzied fans on every continent, and thrust into the ranks of one of the bestselling artists in history.Between 1971 and 1975, Edinburghs Bay City Rollers achieved ten top 10 hit singles, four top 10 albums, two number-one singles and two number-one albums. For five years, they were the biggest pop teen sensation since the Beatles. But the music industry was not all glitz and glamour. Stuart had no inkling of the ruthless machinery behind the scenes, exploiting his talent and dreams for financial gain. Nor could he have foreseen the dark secrets surrounding his manager Tam Paton and his sinister agenda. Rollermania swept the globe, the Bay City Rollers conquered hearts and charts, selling a staggering 120 million records. While many claim to know the full Rollermania story, for the first time, Stuart - one of the few people who lived it - tells his story. Mania! Is a celebration of the worlds original boy band and their enduring legacy, a rollercoaster ride through fame, fortune and the unforgettable music that defined an era.

The secrets of personalised medicine and how to make it work for you by one of the UK's favourite TV presenters, Julia Bradbury.

'Brilliant and powerful' ELIZABETH GILBERT'So full of wisdom and pleasure that you don't want it to end' MAGGIE NELSONIn the wake of a disastrous two-year relationship, Melissa Febos decided to take a break - for three months she would abstain from dating, relationships and sex. Her friends were amused. Did she really think three months was a long time? But to Melissa, it was. Ever since her teens, she had been in one relationship or another. It was time to focus on herself and examine the lifelong patterns that had got her to this point. When those three months ended, she decided to extend her celibate period, fearing that she had not yet gained the clarity she was searching for. She knew she was taking on a challenge but had no idea that this year would become the most fulfilling and sensual of her life. No longer defined by her romantic pursuits, Melissa learned to relish the delights of solitude, the thrill of living on her own terms, the pleasures unmediated by lovers and the freedom to pursue her ideals without distraction or guilt. She began to see her life and her self-worth in a radical new way. Her year of divestment transformed her relationships with friends and peers, her work, creativity - and most of all her relationship to herself.The Dry Season is a memoir of Melissa's year of celibacy, and a profound exploration of independence, sexuality and deep self-knowledge.

For fans of Margaret Renkl and Lisa Wells’s Believers, World Without End circles the connections between climate change and faith in the fear and fascination of the end of the world.When Martha Park’s father announces he is retiring from the ministry after forty-two years, she moves home to Memphis to attend his United Methodist church for his last year in the pulpit. She hopes to encounter a more certain sense of herself as secular or religious. Instead, she becomes increasingly compelled by this uncertainty, and grows curious whether doubt itself could be a kind of faith that more closely echoes a world marked by loss, beauty, and constant change.In illustrated essays, World Without End: Essays on Apocalypse and After explores the intersections of faith, motherhood, and the climate crisis across the South. From man-made wetlands in Arkansas to conservation cemeteries in South Carolina, from a full-scale replica of Noah’s Ark in Kentucky to the reenactment of the Scopes Monkey Trial, Park chronicles the ways the faith she was raised in now seems like an exception to the rule and explores this divide with compassion and empathy. For fans of Margaret Renkl and Lisa Wells, World Without End considers the ways religion shapes how we understand and interact with the world—and how faith can compel us all to work to save the places we love.

'Can a planet have legal rights? Could it be defended in a court of law?' A revolution is taking place. Around the world, ordinary people are turning to courts seeking justice for environmental damage. At the forefront of this movement, pioneering barrister Monica Feria-Tinta advocates not only for the people fighting for their homes and livelihoods, but also for those who have no voice: for rivers, forests and endangered species. In A Barrister for the Earth, Monica takes us behind the scenes of ten real cases - as she argues against the destruction of cloud forests in the world's first Rights of Nature case, to holding Sovereign states to account for inaction in addressing climate change in a landmark win for the Torres Strait Islanders. Each of these hopeful stories are landmarks signalling that we are at an important juncture, in which the law can be a powerful tool for the lasting change that we need.