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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Emma Charles

'In many ways we were an ordinary family: mum, dad, two kids, three dogs, one rabbit, two guinea pigs. I stayed at home, studying with the Open University, and dad worked, and the kids went to private schools. We lived in a rather nice semi in a rather nice area of Edinburgh, with a rather nice Volvo in the drive, and took rather nice holidays, wearing rather nice clothes. I loved Daniel deeply and I thought - no, I was sure - he loved me deeply, too. And we both loved our kids deeply (I thought). And that was as it should be. We had it made. 
 
In some ways we weren't a completely ordinary family. There was Daniel, for one; he worked for most of the time we were married as a ship's engineer, and so he was away from home for up to four months and then home on leave for up to two. And Tamsin, our fifteen-year-old daughter, had specific learning difficulties. 
 
But I'm pretty ordinary: an unlikely heroine. I am disabled because of back problems. I'm pretty fat - I've put on a lot of weight through lack of exercise and, yes, comfort-eating! Not the stuff of movies. 
 
But I never for a moment dreamt that my family was all that extraordinary - until that day when Tamsin broke down and told me that her father, my loving husband, had been sexually abusing her.'

How Could He Do It?

Anne Nolan

The Nolan Sisters swung with Sinatra, sang at the Royal Variety Performance and toured the world to crowds of adoring fans. 
 
They were one of the first superstar girl groups. 
 
But darkness lurked behind their glamorous, spotless public image. 
 
As the eldest Nolan sister, Anne Nolan's life appeared exciting and glamorous - a dream come true for any young singer. Surrounded by a bevy of loving sisters, two protective brothers and parents who wanted to see their children succeed, how could Anne Nolan's childhood have been anything but idyllic? 
 
And yet behind the fairytale script, behind the fame and glitz, lay hidden dark family secrets that have, until now, never been told. What drove a wedge between the sisters? 
 
Anne's story begins in Dublin and moves to the club scene of Blackpool, the scenes of a secret life - one that had to remain hidden, one of fear and pain that has cast a terrible shadow over her entire life. Finally, after decades of silence, Anne Nolan reveals the brutal truth behind the Nolans' carefully cultivated image in this startling and gripping autobiography.

Anne's Song

Julia Scheeres

All Julia Scheeres ever wanted was to have a normal, happy family. But when her fanatical mother decides they should all move to rural Indiana, Julia's life begins to unravel. 
 
In the blistering heat of the isolating community, Julia and her adopted brother David struggle together through adolescence. But with a mother who whose first concern is her church missionaries, and a distant father whose rare presence is resented by all and feared by others, home for Julia becomes a place of unspeakable secrets...

Another Hour On A Sunday Morning

James Dodson

Celebrating the wonder, comedy and adventure to be found in the most unlikely places, best-selling author James Dodson takes his young son Jack on a once-in-lifetime trip through the great cities and eccentric byways of Europe. 
 
There are two kinds of travel, someone once said: first class and with children. During the summer of 2001, Jim Dodson discovers that travelling with a kid can almost make a grown man feel - and behave - like a child again. Two battered bags and an old baseball glove in hand, father and son set out to circle the globe and spy the wonders of the world. But the best-laid plans usually tend to go awry and Jim and Jack encounter a myriad of unforeseen obstacles during their journey - some hilarious and others heartbreaking. What they discover, on the busy marketplaces and sightseeing hot spots, the country inns and dusty back roads of Western Europe, are not the knights and dragons young Jack had once dreamed of, but something far more valuable: each other's company and a world where, at the end of the day, unexpected laughter and pain can make us all friendly small-town neighbours. With humour, warmth and wisdom, James Dodson explores the meaning of father-son relationships and the importance of finding and savouring friendship, beauty and wonder - especially when you least expect them.

The Road To Somewhere

Dinah O'Dowd

Cry Salty Tears is the tale of a mother's survival and eventual triumph over almost unbelievable domestic hardship. Not only did Dinah O'Dowd face the harsh and unforgiving elements of her background - an upbringing in poverty-stricken 50s Dublin, teenage pregnancy and a lone journey to London, but she also fought like a tigress against the shadows cast across four decades of her life by the dark central figure of her existence, her psychotically abusive husband Gerry. 
 
Over the years Dinah suffered repeated physical assault, prolonged mental torture and destructive ignorance, yet successfully raised a family of six and nurtured the unique personality of a world superstar, her son Boy George. Finally she has reached equilibrium in the wake of the death of her husband, and is now ready to tell her story, striking a chord with women everywhere. 
 
Unflinchingly honest, heart-rending in the telling and packed with inconsolable tragedy and biting wit, Cry Salty Tears recounts the long and painful journey Dinah had to take. From the moment when she first set eyes on the charming, blue-eyed Gerry, to the first blow he struck when she was pregnant with their child, the suicide attempt that depression and all encompassing fear led her to and ultimately to her release from his psychotic clutches, Cry Salty Tears tells how, despite it all, this extraordinary woman could at last reclaim her life.

Cry Salty Tears

Simon Carr

When Simon Carr's wife, Susie, tragically loses her battle with cancer, Simon is left to raise his five-year-old son, Alexander, on his own. Soon after, his eleven-year-old son from a previous marriage, Hugo, comes to live with them too. All too quickly, plumped-up cushions, crisp beds and a drifting scent of rosemary from the kitchen are replaced with a floor piled high with video-games, Lego® and comics. While visiting mothers deem his parenting 'semi-feral', Simon dryly retorts that his methods are simply 'free-range'.In this new all-male partnership, Simon faces the challenges of parenthood unaided, as father and sons alike learn to become a family again. 
 
Carr's emotionally honest, compellingly anarchic and sharply comic story of a single parent's struggle is at once heartbreaking and wonderfully life-affirming.

The Boys Are Back

Barbie Probert-Wright

Jean Ritchie

Two sisters. A broken childhood. A heartbreaking journey. 
 
The extraordinary true story of surviving the unimaginable ... 
 
In 1945, seven-year-old Barbie and her sister Eva were trapped, terrified, in wartorn Germany. With their father missing, and hundreds of miles from their mother, news of the approaching army left them confronted with an impossible choice: to face invasion, or to flee on foot. 
 
Eva, aged nineteen, was determined to find her mother. For Barbie, twelve years younger, the journey was to be more perilous but, spurred on by her sister's courage and her desperate desire to be reunited with her mother, she joined Eva on a journey no child should ever have to endure. 
 
Over three hundred miles across a country ravaged by a terrible war, they encountered unimaginable hardship, extraordinary courage and overwhelming generosity. Against all the odds, they survived. But neither sister came out of the journey unscathed ...

Little Girl Lost

Paul Tough

Why character, confidence, and curiosity are more important to your child’s success than academic results. The New York Times bestseller. For all fans of Oliver James or Steve Biddulph’s Raising Boys, Raising Girls, and The Complete Secrets of Happy Children. 
 
 
In a world where academic success can seem all-important in deciding our children’s success in adult life, Paul Tough sees things very differently. 
 
Instead of fixating on grades and exams, he argues that we, as parents, should be paying more attention to our children’s characters. 
 
Inner resilience, a sense of curiosity, the hidden power of confidence - these are the most important things we can teach our children, because it is these qualities that will enable them to live happy, fulfilled and successful lives. 
 
In this personal, thought-provoking and timely book, Paul Tough offers a clarion call to parents who are seeking to unlock their child’s true potential – and ensure they really succeed.

How Children Succeed

Two sisters. 
One extraordinary true story. 
 
Germany, 1945. Trapped between advancing armies, stranded hundreds of miles from their mother, and with their father missing in action, sisters Barbie and Eva were confronted with an impossible choice. 
 
Should they stay and face invasion or risk their lives to find their mother? 
 
Together, they set out on a perilous three-hundred mile journey on foot across a country ravaged by war. Fuelled by courage and love, Eva and seven-year-old Barbie encounter incredible hardship, extraordinary bravery, and overwhelming generosity. 
 
Against all odds, they both survived. 
But neither sister came out of the journey unscathed . . . 
 
This is the powerful true story of their escape.

Escape

Our journey home through war-torn Germany

Lyndsey Harris

Andrew Crofts

For the first six years of her life, Sarah Harris was a happy and popular little girl. Until she became the target of a dangerous but invisible enemy - and her life became a living hell. Before long she was suspended from school, alienated from her friends, and terrified of herself. 
 
For her mother, Lyndsey, it was a life beyond her worst nightmares. The daughter she loved so much seemed to have transformed overnight into a child she was almost scared of. Her little girl was doing the unthinkable: stealing razor blades, attempting to poison her friends, even accusing her parents of sexual abuse. 
 
Soon Lyndsey's marriage was on the verge of collapse, social services stepped in, and Lyndsey was fighting to keep her family together - and to save her daughter's sanity. But worse was to come as Lyndsey discovered her family had been victims of the most hurtful betrayal of all...

Betrayed

FINAL ROUNDS celebrates a lifetime of golf shared by a father and son who take on a last trip together to the finest courses of England and Scotland. Their relationship is forged on the golf course, and whatever problems they have are worked out while smashing drives and lining up putts. But Jim's father is 80 years old and just before they leave for a visit to the Scottish links where his father played during the First World War, he finds out his cancer has returned and he only has few months to live. The trip to the Scottish links takes on a new meaning, as they determine to honour their lives and love together (for each other, their families, and for the game). While playing the world-renowned courses as St Andrews and Muirfield, they encounter great golf lore and legend; but more importantly, a son learns the secrets of his father's past and to admire his father even more than he thought possible. In the process, he takes home some very important lessons about the meaning of family. Written with searing honesty and unbounded wit, FINAL ROUNDS is a tribute to a very special game and the fathers and sons who make it so.

Final Rounds

Grace Saunders

Mum of three, Grace Saunders, has done all the research so you don't have to. Drawing on the advice and experiences of friends, families, professionals and fellow mums, Grace covers everything from nutrition and competitive parenting to nifty eco-friendly short-cuts and ideas for cutting back on the household's expenses. Family Life Made Easy is like a best-friend, ready to help you navigate your way through the wonderful mayhem that is family life.

Family Life Made Easy

A Fabulous Mum's Guide

Jon Edwards

Luisa Edwards

Brought up as female for fifteen years, Jon can remember feeling different from other girls since he was only five years old. 
 
But it will take years of depression, incessant bullying, self-harm and isolation before he discovers why. 
 
When Jon eventually confides to his mother that he feels like a boy, Luisa commits herself unconditionally to helping her child. 
 
For Jon, the changes that follow are his path to happiness. But for Luisa, this means coming to terms with the enormous loss of her daughter.

The Boy Who Was Born a Girl

One Mother’s Unconditional Love for Her Child

H G Cocks

'Lonely Young Officer, up to his neck in Flanders mud, would like to correspond with young lady (age 18-20), cheery and good looking.' 1916 
 
'Discreet, attractive couple 21 and 25 wish to meet couples and singles 21-35 for exciting and fun-loving adult relationships. Open-minded but not way out. No prejudices. Full length photo, address, and detailed letter assures same.' 1969 
 
From the 'sporty' girls and 'artistic' boys of the Edwardian era to the 'lonely' soldiers of the Great War, the marriage bureaux of the fifties, and on to the internet dating sites of today, Classified tells the story of those who used personal ads to search for love, friendship, marriage and adventure.

Classified

The Secret History of the Personal Column

Janine Latus

In April 2002, Janine Latus's youngest sister Amy wrote a note and taped it to the inside of her desk drawer. 'If I am gone or dead', it read, 'question Ron'. 
 
By the time the letter was found, Amy was already missing. Helicopters and 'missing' posters went up and search dogs were sent out. It took more than two weeks to find Amy's body, wrapped in a tarpaulin and buried at a building site. Ron had been Amy's boyfriend. He is now in prison for her murder. 
 
Since childhood, Janine and Amy had been sexualised and belittled. As adults the sisters, trapped in a cycle of abuse, ended up in a series of violent relationships. Finally, Janine faced her demons and, with Amy's support, escaped in time. But Amy was keeping a terrible secret of her own ... 
 
Amy never escaped. She died in silent fear and pain. Janine has resolved to break that silence so that her sister didn't die in vain.

If I am Missing or Dead

Stephen Venables

Like the swallows, our son Ollie came in the spring and left in the autumn. Dancing, singing, swooping - there was something birdlike about his energy, joy and laughter - but also the fleeting, enigmatic quality of his life. 
 
When he was two he lost all his speech, as autism turned his life - and ours - into a baffling challenge. Then at four he had to face a new challenge when he almost died from leukaemia. But chemotherapy worked its magic and he made a full recovery. He was a tough survivor and nothing seemed to dim his spirit: he could light up a room and energize everyone around him. So it was a huge shock, after several cancer-free years, when a fatal brain tumour was discovered. This time his body had had enough and he died very suddenly. He was twelve. 
 
Ollie had extraordinary courage and endurance. Time after time he bounced back, determined to enjoy life. He was obstinate, mischievous, playful, flirtatious, quixotic, funny. He generated - and continues to generate - huge amounts of laughter. And he was very beautiful. We always felt that if autism had not unravelled the wiring of his neural pathways, he would have achieved extraordinary things. 
 
This is the story of the journey we made with Ollie. Unlike a mountaineer, pursuing extreme experiences out of choice, he had difficulty thrust upon him: he was forced to be brave. For me, too, the journey was far more compelling than any expedition.

Ollie

The True Story of a Brief and Courageous Life

Rosy Edwards

The laugh-out-loud true story of one girl's experience of life on Tinder. 
 
Rosy Edwards is the epitome of a contradictory twenty-something year old. She’s frugal when it comes to food shopping, but is willing to splash out on shampoo. She’s career minded, she just doesn’t know which career to have in mind right now. And although she’s happy being single, a part of her kind of wants a boyfriend. 
 
So after a few unsuccessful dates with friends of friends (read: being forced to date their shortest/dullest/oddest acquaintance), she put herself on Tinder, the app that has transformed the world of online dating. And she soon learns the unspoken rules the hard way: always reject a guy with black and white profile pics (he is ginger and/or ugly); is wearing a hat (bald); has a shot of his torso (moron) or is not standing beside anything scaleable (5”8 and under). 
 
And then there are the dates themselves. From a sky-high dinner date to a borderline drug bust in Chelsea, Rosy has experienced it all, swinging through her love life on the trapeze of Tinder. She falls for the wrong guys, ditches the nice ones, but can she finally find her happy ending. 
 
Brilliantly honest and hilariously funny, Rosy’s story shows us all that the key to a successful love life could just be a swipe away.

Confessions of a Tinderella

Lorenzo Carcaterra

'IT'S TIME YOU KNEW THE TRUTH, ' 'ABOUT YOUR FATHER. ' 'WHAT ABOUT HIM?' 'HIS FIRST WIFE, ' SHE SAID. 'SHE DIDN'T DIE OF CANCER. ' 'HOW DID SHE DIE?' 'HE MURDERED HER. ' At the age of fourteen Lorenzo Carcaterra made a shocking discovery. Behind closed doors he and his mother survived the erratic, violent outbursts of his father. A powerful man, he tempered his rage with affection. To a young boy he was a man to both love and fear. Until Lorenzo learned a shattering fact that forever changed his life. His father was a murderer.

A Safe Place

Dana Fowley

At just five years old, Dana learned that there was no one she could trust. Most devastating of all, even her own mother betrayed her and in the most unimaginable way. For years, Dana and her younger sister suffered at the hands of one of Britain's largest ever-known paedophile rings. And their mother did nothing to protect them. 
 
Only now is Dana's nightmare coming to an end as she crusades to put her abusers behind bars. In June 2007 the truth was finally exposed. Dana bravely testified against her own mother. The woman who had subjected Dana and her sister to a lifetime of horror was sentenced to twelve years in prison. It was one of the most traumatic ordeals Dana has ever experienced. But a shocked world was finally forced to open its eyes to what happened to Dana. This is her story of survival.

How Could She?

Rosemary Conley

Patricia Bourne

Eat your way to diet success with over 100 superb recipes. 
 
The Hip and Thigh Diet has revolutionized the eating habits of successful slimmers across the world. Now, with this enticing new cookbook you can eat well and healthily and keep those unwanted pounds and inches at bay. Over 100 brand-new, mouthwatering recipes are included to help you cook for all the family, and any occasion. 
 
Family favourites, re-created the Conley way 
Quick and simple recipes in under 30 minutes 
Impressive but easy entertaining 
Robust recipes for everyday use 
Spicy new dishes for vegetarians and vegans 
Sumptuous desserts and party food 
 
Packed with gastronomical delights from the exotic to the economical, there has never been a tastier way to stay slim.

New Hip And Thigh Diet Cookbook

Jennifer Cox

They say there's someone for everyone. 
 
But what if 'The One' lives in Winnipeg rather than Wimbledon? Or Port Stanley instead of Livingstone? Or, even in Eden... New South Wales? 
 
How far would you go to find them? Paris, Tokyo, San Francisco? 
 
As a seasoned travel writer and broadcaster, Jennifer has embarked on plenty of epic adventures before and explored some of the world's most remote regions. She's bonded with people the world over - but she can't, for the life of her, seem to find a soul mate in London. She's tried every dating technique known to womankind, all to no avail. And so she decides to set out on the trip of a lifetime, dating her way around the globe to find the man of her dreams. And date them she does: From the Skate Date in Paris to the High Roller in Vegas, from the Love Professor in Sweden and the Dead Date in Italy to the Penguin Ranger in Australia. But just as she crosses the international dateline one more time, juggling doubts and excess baggage, the impossible happens - has she finally met Mr Right?

Around The World In 80 Dates

Fiona Phillips

Fiona Phillips is one of our best-loved television presenters. Well-known for being warm, chatty and down to earth, she attended her local comprehensive in Southampton before studying English in Birmingham. For over twelve years she presented GMTV, during which time she interviewed some of the most famous and influential people on the planet, from film stars to royalty, politicians to local heroes. But in August 2008 Fiona announced that she was to quit the job she loved, revealing that her father, Phil, had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's just a year after her mother had died of the same disease and that she had decided to devote more time to him and to her family. 
 
Before I Forget is a wonderfully honest account of growing up in the 1960s and 70s within a complex family. During her childhood her father could sometimes be distant and demanding which both saddened her and drove her to succeed, her mother always the devoted wife and the steady heart of the family. When Fiona lands the job at GMTV she revels in how proud they are of her achievement. When her mother and then her father succumb to Alzheimer's we share in Fiona's sadness as she movingly describes watching them fade away, one moment interviewing George Clooney the next taking a call from Pembrokeshire Social Services to say that her mother had wandered away from her care home. 
 
Before I Forget is an extraordinary book which will resonate with Fiona's millions of fans and the millions of people who day-by-day are going through, or have gone through, the same experiences.

Before I Forget

Mavis Marsh

On 12th October 1995, Mavis Marsh answered her door to the news every parent dreads most. 'It's your son,' the policeman told her. 'He's been in an accident.' Only hours earlier Matthew had been set for a dazzling future but, in one terrible night, a devastating tragedy altered everything. 
 
Days later, Mavis found herself standing at her son's bedside as doctors told her to give up all hope. According to them, the damage to Matthew's brain was too severe for him to recover, and the boy she had known and loved was gone forever. 
 
But Mavis and her husband Keith couldn't give up on their only son. And refusing to accept the diagnosis, they started to work with Matthew themselves, desperately urging their comatose son to fight. For months they tried, to no avail. But then, almost half a year later, he suddenly started to respond ...

Shattered

Lisa Gee

When Lisa Gee's six-year-old daughter, Dora, goes to an open audition for the West End production of The Sound of Music, it's just a fun way to occupy some time in the Easter holidays. But when Dora unexpectedly lands the role, Lisa soon learns that Dora's brush with fame has less to do with paparazzi and lucrative paydays and more to do with endless rehearsals and outsize egos. 
 
Part fairy tale, part cautionary tale, this is the hilarious, engaging account of one child's step into the limelight. From the initial try-out with over a thousand Von Trapp hopefuls to performing on the London stage with Connie Fisher and an encounter with Julie Andrews, mother and daughter navigate the minefield of rehearsals, auditions and fame. This is a heart-warming glimpse into the sometimes not-so-glamorous world of show business and the delicate balance between being proud and being pushy. Stage Mum is a story for every parent who dreams big and every child who dreams bigger.

Stage Mum

Chelsea Handler

'Many people feel like a one-night stand is something to be ashamed or embarrassed of. I disagree...' 
 
We've all (well not quite all, perhaps) had at least one: a one-night stand. Often embarrassing and uncomfortable, occasionally outlandish, but most times just a necessary and irresistible evil, the one-night-stand is a social rite as old as sex itself and as common as a bar stool. 
 
Enter Chelsea Handler. Gorgeous, sharp, and anything but shy, Chelsea loves men... Lots of them. My Horizontal Life chronicles Chelsea's romps through the bedrooms of a host of potential suitors, uncovering what can happen in one night of passion between a man and a sometimes very intoxicated woman. 
 
From her short fling with a Vegas stripper named Thunder to her even shorter fling with a very short man, she recalls her myriad one-night stands with hilarious honesty. My Horizontal Life is a sensationally frank and funny memoir of sexual life, and a gloriously quirky take on why we do the things we do. Whether you have been there yourself or not, its one guilty pleasure you won't be ashamed to talk about in the morning...

My Horizontal Life

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