Joseph Delaney used to be an English teacher, before becoming the best-selling author of the Spook's series, which has been published in 30 countries and sold over 4.5 million copies worldwide. The first book, The Spook's Apprentice, was adapted into a major motion picture starring Jeff Bridges and Julianne Moore.

Joseph Delaney

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Georgina Louise Hambleton

Christy Brown was severely disabled with cerebral palsy, unable to use any part of his body other than his left foot. Doctors said he was a 'mental defective' and that he would never be able to lead any kind of normal life; Christy proved them wrong. 
 
His mother taught him to write using chalk on the worn floor of their small home, and Christy grew into a talented artist and writer. His 1954 memoir My Left Foot was made into an Oscar-winning film starring Daniel Day-Lewis, while his bestselling novel Down All the Days was described by the Irish Times as 'the most important novel since Ulysses'. 
 
Using previously unpublished letters and poems, this first authorised biography marks Christy Brown's importance as a writer and celebrates his indomitable spirit. His story proves that, with hope and determination, almost impossible odds can be overcome.

Christy Brown

The Life That Inspired My Left Foot

Herbert Breslin

Anne Midgette

In 1967, Luciano Pavarotti was an up-and-coming young tenor with a voice far more impressive than his stage technique or presence. So Decca, his record company, told him, 'Luciano, you're a real nice guy. So you need a real bastard to do your publicity.' Enter Herbert Breslin. The two of them hit it off and thus began a professional association and a friendship that lasted over 36 years. 
 
The King and I is the story of that relationship, during which Breslin guided what he calls, justifiably, 'the greatest career in classical music', moving Pavarotti out of the opera house and into the arms of the mass public. He and Pavarotti changed the landscape of opera and Breslin relates the story of their journey in a candid, witty fashion that is often hysterically frank and profane. His portrait of his friend and client is full of hilarious details that could only come from a true insider. 
 
The King and I is the ultimate backstage book about the greatest opera star of the past century - and the last word comes from none other than Luciano Pavarotti himself.

The King and I

The Uncensored Tale of Luciano Pavarotti's Rise to Fame by his Manager, Friend and Sometime Adversary

David Bret

At 1.28 a.m. on Wednesday, 23 March 2011, just three weeks after celebrating her 79th birthday, the biggest star Hollywood has ever known died. The tributes and eulogies to Elizabeth Taylor were legion. A weeping Elton John said, 'We have just lost a Hollywood giant. More importantly, we have lost an incredible human being.' 
 
In Elizabeth Taylor: The Lady, The Lover, The Legend, 1932-2011, acclaimed biographer David Bret has written the revealing, incisive and definitive life story of the most controversial cinematic icon since Mae West. While never yielding in his admiration and respect, Bret has stripped away the veneer to portray the star as she really was: sometimes arrogant, attention-seeking, avaricious, reckless, monstrous towards her peers, generous, even foolish at times but, above all, through the tumultuous relationships and the personal mayhem, a survivor. 
 
 Elizabeth Taylor was the very last of the Hollywood greats. As David Bret writes, 'Most of her contemporaries - Garbo, Streisand and Dietrich excepted - were compelled to walk in the shadow of her sun. Of today's stars, not one may be deemed worthy of stepping even within a mile of that shadow.

Elizabeth Taylor

The Lady, The Lover, The Legend - 1932-2011

Roger Hutchinson

Aleister Crowley (1875-1947) - mystic, writer, poet, astrologer, sexual revolutionary, painter, mountain climber and social critic - has a terrifying reputation. The contemporary press labelled him the 'wickedest man in the world', while he called himself the 'great beast'. Crowley dabbled in the occult, supported Germany in the First World War, was addicted to opiates, and many who associated with him died tragically in mysterious circumstances. 
 
Working from the starting point that behind the demonic reputation there stood a human being, and that beyond the self-proclaimed black magician there was a man hungry for publicity and fame, Roger Hutchinson lifts the smokescreen of mythology to reveal a truly astonishing figure. 
 
Why did this curious product of the Plymouth Brethren found the first 'hippy commune' in Sicily? What led this Cambridge graduate to be celebrated 20 years after his death on the cover of The Beatles' Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album? Why did Mussolini expel him from Italy? Why did a British magazine label him 'the man we'd like to hang'? 
 
Roger Hutchinson reveals the real Crowley: warts, wickedness, talent, courage, cowardice and all.

Aleister Crowley

The Beast Demystified

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