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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Hollie Starling

It was the last of the ebbing days, the brink of the new season. It was the murky hours, the clove between sunset and sunrise. It was a tall tree with deep roots and it had been bleeding for a long while. 
 
As summer falls into autumn, Hollie Starling is hit by the heart-stopping news that her father has died by suicide. Thrust into a state of 'grief on hard mode', Hollie feels underserved by current attitudes toward grief and so seeks another way through the dark. 
 
Following her first year without her father, Hollie embraces her lifelong interest in folklore and turns to the healing power of nature, the changing seasons and the rituals of ancient communities. The Bleeding Tree is an unflinching year-zero guidebook to grief that shows us that by looking back to past traditions of bereavement we can all find our own way forward. 
 
'Starling's account of family life is riveting and narrated with grace and honesty, counterpointing the personal with the mythic.' - Irish Times

The Bleeding Tree

A Pathway Through Grief Guided by Forests, Folk Tales and the Ritual Year

Xinran

'Fast-paced and punchy ... accomplished' Independent 
 
With journalistic acumen and a novelist's flair, Xinran tells the remarkable stories of men and women born in China after 1979 - the recent generations raised under China's single-child policy. At a time when the country continues to transform at the speed of light, these generations of precious 'one and onlies' are burdened with expectation, yet have often been brought up without any sense of responsibility. Within their families, they are revered as 'little emperors' and 'suns', although such cosseting can come at a high price: isolation, confusion and an inability to deal with life's challenges. 
 
From the businessman's son unable to pack his own suitcase, to the PhD student who pulled herself out of extreme rural poverty, Xinran shows how these generations embody the hopes and fears of a great nation at a time of unprecedented change. It is a time of fragmentation, heart-breaking and inspiring in equal measure, in which capitalism vies with communism, the city with the countryside and Western opportunity with Eastern tradition. Through the fascinating stories of these only children, we catch a startling glimpse of the emerging face of China.

Buy Me the Sky

The remarkable truth of China’s one-child generations

Hannah Shah

Hannah Shah is an Imam's daughter. She lived the life of a Muslim but, for many years, her father abused her in the cellar of their home. 
 
At 16 she discovered a plan to send her to Pakistan for an arranged marriage, and she ran away. Hunted by her angry father and brothers, who were determined to make her an honour killing, she had to keep moving house to escape them. Then, worst of all, in her family's eyes, she became a Christian. Some Muslims say converting from Islam is punishable by death...One day a mob of forty men came after her, armed with hammers, sticks and knives...with her father at the front... 
 
The Imam's Daughter is Hannah's gripping - but ultimately inspiring - true story. How, through her courage and determination, she broke free from her background and found a new life beyond its confines - a new life of freedom and love.

The Imam's Daughter

Steph Booth

EXTRAORDINARY MEMOIR OF A LIFE AND LOVE TORN APART BY DEMENTIA 
 
When her husband Tony was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2004, Steph Booth had to say goodbye to life as she knew it. The disease encroached into their lives, taking away Tony day by day. 
 
Open and honest, but with heart and warmth, Steph reveals and the hardship of caring for Tony and losing herself in the midst of it. Along the way we learn of the people they were, the dynamics of their relationship – Tony’s theatrics, Steph’s stubbornness – effortlessly captured with lightness and humour. 
 
Borne out of her much-loved Irish Times column, Married to Alzheimer’s is a poignant account of a life and love torn apart by dementia and a bond that was unshakeable. Tony was never a conformist. An actor, rebel, raconteur. The frustration, the grief, the laughter, the anger, the joy meant life with him was anything but ordinary.

Married to Alzheimer's

A Life Less Ordinary with Tony Booth

Paul McDermott

It was Autumn when Paul McDermott stood on the doorstep of a house that would exert a pull on him years after he closed the door for the final time. He was nervous, and totally unprepared to meet the woman he had agreed to visit. Val lived in this house, in a small military town; she was 74 and had been diagnosed with cancer. Though bewildered and frightened underneath, she appeared simply as a small, wrinkled, elderly woman with a mischievous awareness and a penetrating stare. 
 
So began Paul's series of regular visits to Val over a number of years. As he sat and listened to her talk in her front lounge, or struggled ineptly with the tasks she set him, Val opened up her world: the secrets and memories and lessons of her life that were soon to be extinguished and perhaps forgotten. Gradually, as she came to terms with her past - and also with her future - she took on an effortless clarity and peace that brought her into a supremely human focus. And, at the same time, Paul's own perceptions were challenged in a way he would never have believed when he first arrived at her door. Somehow they created something profound and very precious between them. 
 
Full of a surprising warmth, mixed with courage and humour, this remarkable story is deeply life-affirming, not only for the two central characters on their parallel journey - but also for us all.

Pilgrims

The extraordinary story of an unlikely friendship

Martin Shaw

*INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER* 
 
‘One of the master storytellers of our time’ – Dr Gabor Maté, author of The Myth of Normal 
 
From 'one of the greatest storytellers we have' (Robert Bly), an urgent invitation to allow the oldest stories – and the Greatest Story – to reshape our own. 
 
There’s an old Irish belief that if you aren’t wrapped in a cloak of story you will be unprepared for what the world will hurl at you. You remain adolescent at just the moment a culture worth its salt requires you to become a real, grown, human being. 
 
In Liturgies of the Wild, acclaimed mythographer, storyteller and Christian thinker Martin Shaw argues that we live in a myth-impoverished age, cut off from the deep wells of story and meaning that once prepared us for life’s challenges. 
 
Drawing on the 'ancient technologies' of myths and initiatory rites, Shaw invites readers to rediscover the ancient stories that shape the human soul — and to encounter Christ as the ultimate, transforming story providing a road to wholeness, maturity and connection. Within these pages, Shaw:<ul><li>Teaches us to read a myth the way it wants to be read;</li><li>Provides vivid retellings of tales powerful enough to carry you through life’s travails;</li><li>Shows you how to gather and reshape your own thrown-away stories.</li></ul>Most vividly, Shaw shares his own spiritual journey and how these ancient technologies led him – unexpectedly – to Christ, 'the True Myth,' by way of a thirty-year journey and a 101-night vigil in a Dartmoor forest. 
 
Blending nimble storytelling in the tradition of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien with scholarly depth, Liturgies of the Wild s a thrilling counsel of resistance and delight in the face of many modern monsters, providing a transformative journey into story, spirit and self-discovery. 
 
Ebury Vine: The Home Of Christian Living. Drawing on the deep roots of Christianity to cultivate curious minds and inspire faith-informed growth.

Liturgies of the Wild

Myths that Make Us

Amy Willesee

Mark Whittaker

On 1 June 2001, the heir to the Nepalese throne, Crown Prince Dipendra, donned military fatigues, armed himself with four guns and walked in on a quiet family gathering.  Without speaking, he mowed his family down before turning a pistol on himself. While Nepal has been a mecca for trekkers and tourists for fifty years, very few discover what is really going on in this beautiful kingdom tucked into the shadows of Himalayas.  In fact it's one of the poorest countries in the world, with a very conservative royal family, and a serious Maoist revolution being fought throughout the countryside in the last few years. Two award-winning journalists have conducted exhaustive interviews with everyone from Maoist guerrillas to members of the royal family, gaining insights into the events behind the massacre.  At the heart of the story is the love affair between Crown Prince Dipendra and the beautiful aristocrat, Devyani Rani, that he was forbidden to marry. This fascinating book not only gives a remarkable portrait of modern Nepal but also investigates an extraordinary, colourful crime that took place in a city that looks more in keeping with the fourteenth, than the twenty-first, century.

Love & Death In Kathmandu

A Strange Tale of Royal Murder

Alua Arthur

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER 
 
 &lsquo;Joyful, hilarious, effervescent, brilliant and deeply wise&rsquo; Glennon Doyle, on Alua Arthur 
 
Thinking deeply about your death &ndash; whether it&rsquo;s imminent or not &ndash; will breathe wild new potential into your life. 
 
Warm, generous and funny, Alua Arthur is a death doula supporting people at the end of the world. What emerges in these tender moments is the unfi nished business of life, when enduring regrets, secret loves and simple pleasures are uttered aloud, in resignation or delight. 
 
Weaving together these vivid experiences along with her own personal life path full of wonder, Briefly Perfectly Human is a soul-gathering memoir. Alua&rsquo;s intimate storytelling, compassion and wisdom are a beacon of comfort to us all as well as a tour de force appeal to cherish every part of who we are, including our own mortality. 
 
&lsquo;Hold that truth in your mind,&rsquo; Alua says, &lsquo;and wondrous things will begin to grow around it.&rsquo;

Briefly Perfectly Human

Making an Authentic Life by Getting Real About the End

Robert Cooper

In Cracking the Freemason's Code, Robert Cooper explains exactly who the Freemasons are and what they do. As the Curator of the Scottish Masonic Museum and Library, the author is in a unique position to reveal the secret history of this elect brotherhood. Prompted by growing public interest and provoked by the controversial stories that circulate about Freemasonry, this is the first time that he has chosen to do so. 
 
Cracking the Freemason's Code is written with an insider's knowledge and privileged access to archive material, including never-before published images. It lays bare the intriguing symbolism, beliefs and history of the Masons, and explains the structure of Freemasonry, its ethos and connections to other secret societies. It also discloses the identities of famous Masons and the locations of important Masonic sites. This is the book that answers once and for all any questions readers may have about what Freemasonry is and the role it has played in shaping our society.

Cracking the Freemason's Code

The Truth About Solomon's Key and the Brotherhood

Philip Zimbardo

In The Lucifer Effect, the award-winning and internationally respected psychologist, Philip Zimbardo, examines how the human mind has the capacity to be infinitely caring or selfish, kind or cruel, creative or destructive. He challenges our conceptions of who we think we are, what we believe we will never do - and how and why almost any of us could be initiated into the ranks of evil doers. 
 
At the same time he describes the safeguards we can put in place to prevent ourselves from corrupting - or being corrupted by - others, and what sets some people apart as heroes and heroines, able to resist powerful pressures to go along with the group, and to refuse to be team players when personal integrity is at stake. 
 
Using the first in-depth analysis of his classic Stanford Prison Experiment, and his personal experiences as an expert witness for one of the Abu Ghraib prison guards, Zimbardo's stimulating and provocative book raises fundamental questions about the nature of good and evil, and how each one of us needs to be vigilant to prevent becoming trapped in the 'Lucifer Effect', no matter what kind of character or morality we believe ourselves to have. 
 
The Lucifer Effect won the William James Book Award in 2008.

The Lucifer Effect

How Good People Turn Evil

Bonnie Tsui

'A jewel of a book, a paean to the wonders of water and our place within it' James Nestor, bestselling of author of Breath 
 
'Glorious' The New York Times 
 
 Take a dive into the deep and discover what it is about water that seduces us, heals us and brings us together. 
 
Join writer and swimmer Bonnie Tsui as she explores the unique skill of swimming from the five angles of survival, wellbeing, community, competition and flow. Propelled by stories of polar swim champions, a Baghdad swim club, Olympian athletes and modern-day samurai swimmers, Why We Swim takes us around the globe in a remarkable, all-encompassing account of the world of swimming. This is a joyous meditation on our innate connection to water and a true celebration of the wonders of swimming.

Why We Swim

Anthony Ray Hinton

**WINNER OF THE 2019 MOORE PRIZE ** 
 
**THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER** 
 
‘A riveting account of the multiple outrages of the criminal justice system of Alabama. A harrowing masterpiece’ Guardian 
 
‘Hinton somehow navigates through his rage and despair to a state of forgiveness and grace’ Independent 
 
At age 29, Anthony Ray Hinton was wrongfully charged with robbery and murder, and sentenced to death by electrocution for crimes he didn’t commit. The only thing he had in common with the perpetrator was the colour of his skin. 
 
Anthony spent the next 28 years of his life on death row, watching fellow inmates march to their deaths, knowing he would follow soon. 
 
Hinton’s incredible story reveals the injustices and inherent racism of the American legal system, but it is also testament to the hope and humanity in us all. 
 
‘You will be swept away in this unbelievable, dramatic true story’ Oprah Winfrey

The Sun Does Shine

How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row

David Charles Manners

This is the remarkable true story of a young man's initiation in the Himalayas. David Manners was trekking in Nepal when he stumbled upon the mountain home of a jhankri, or Nepalese shaman. The jhankri accepted David as his pupil, and so began the next stage of David's extraordinary journey, in which he embarked upon an adventure that was more challenging and, ultimately, life-affirming than anything he could have imagined. 
 
In Limitless Sky, David shares the wisdom and insights he learnt from those transformational days in the Himalayas. These include practical guidance on how to live a full and fearless life, how to find happiness and how to live in ways that nurture both ourselves and others. As David reveals, the life lessons he learned amongst the mountains of the Himalayas could benefit us all today.

Limitless Sky

Life lessons from the Himalayas

Raymond Moody

'The Light Beyond' is based on more than a thousand case studies of adults and children who clinically reached the point of death and survived, as well as amazing new research. It shows the many striking similarities shared by all near-death experiences (NDEs), and uncovers secrets and opens the doors to a powerful message of love from the frontier between life and death. 
 
Raymond Moody's research throws new light on the following topics: 
--how recent findings in medicine, psychiatry and sociology bring us closer to unravelling mankind's greatest mystery: what happens to us after we die? 
--Startling, newly confirmed phenomena such as: the experience of meeting one's loved ones in the afterlife and the ability to 'tap into' knowledge of any sort 
--What the moving near-death experiences of children can teach us 
--Why NDE's inspire permanent change, greater appreciation of life, more concern for others, increased belief in an afterlife, and decreased fear of death 
--Why doctors want more research into near-death experiences-and much more 
 
Based on Dr Moody's groundbreaking studies, 'The Light Beyond' offers both answers and peace of mind to anyone who has ever wondered about death and beyond.

The Light Beyond

The extraordinary sequel to the classic Life After Life

Few people have the opportunity to change the face of modern medicine. However, Raymond Moody achieved precisely this with the publication in 1975 of Life After Life, which introduced the phrase 'near death experience' (NDE) into popular use. In that bestseller, Dr Moody researched what happens when we die, including the amazing stories of those who have had out-of-body experiences and witnessed the afterlife for themselves. And he has remained at the forefront of investigations into the paranormal ever since. Now, at long last, he has decided to share his discoveries and the story of his own unusual life in this gripping account. 
 
Searingly honest and extremely engaging, in Paranormal Dr Moody recalls his pioneering research into NDEs, reincarnation and ghosts. He also exorcises many of his own demons, revealing the trials and tribulations that have beset him personally - nearly driving him to suicide. The autobiography of a truly extraordinary life, Paranormal makes for compulsive reading.

Paranormal

My Life in Pursuit of the Afterlife

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