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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Anne Nolan

Linda Nolan

"It's ok to be scared, to feel lonely... we'll get through it, because we have to." 
 
For more than 40 years Linda and Anne have performed side by side as members of iconic Irish girl group The Nolans. But in 2020 the sisters sat next to each other for a very different experience. Soon after returning home from filming their hit TV series The Nolans Go Cruising, with their sisters Coleen and Maureen, Linda and Anne received devastating cancer diagnoses within days of each other and soon began gruelling rounds of chemotherapy together. It was a stark reminder of how cruel life can be and, of course, of their beloved sister Bernie, who also faced and lost the same battle. 
 
Stronger Together is Linda and Anne's story. A reflection on their close-knit relationship, in the limelight and behind the scenes, and of how family helped them hold it all together when things got tough. Deeply personal, incredibly moving and told with trademark humour, it's a story they hope will help you too.

Stronger Together

How We’re Living While Fighting

Elaine Lordan

Elaine Lordan is well-known to millions as EastEnders' Lynne Slater. Yet the real-life heartache and loss she came to suffer eclipsed even the rollercoaster troubles of her TV character. After leaving the show, Elaine lost her beloved mother when she took her life under a train. Then later that same year, just two days after her wedding, Elaine lost James, her one-year-old son and only child, to a rare condition. 
 
Whatever It Takes is the story of a no-nonsense working-class girl who hit the big time and enjoyed several happy years as one of the nation's favourite soap stars. Things took a downward turn as her heavy drinking and affair with a married man led to her being hounded by the press. Yet Pete would become the love of her life and together they would experience the unfathomable joy of having a child. This flush of happiness was short-lived, though, as Elaine felt the full impact of her mother's death, while her son James battled for life. It wasn't long before family life revolved around the hospital - hoping for the best, but fearing the worst. 
 
Full of larger-than-life characters from her boisterous Irish family and close circle of north London friends, Elaine tells her story with heart-wrenching candour. In this life-affirming memoir of overcoming tragedy, we see how Elaine's indomitable spirit and innate humour have carried her through even the bleakest moments, and how one woman's 'sink or swim' approach has ensured her survival.

Whatever It Takes

A Story of Family Survival

John Elder Robison

From the time he was three or four years old, John Elder Robison realised that he was different from other people. He was unable to make eye contact or connect with other children, and by the time he was a teenager his odd habits - an inclination to blurt out non-sequiturs, obsessively dismantle radios or dig five-foot holes (and stick his younger brother in them) - had earned him the label 'social deviant'. It didn't help that his mother conversed with light fixtures and his father spent evenings pickling himself in sherry. 
 
Look Me in the Eye is his story of growing up with Asperger's syndrome – a form of autism – at a time when the diagnosis simply didn't exist. Along the way it also tells the story of two brothers born eight years apart yet devoted to each other: the author and his younger brother Chris, who would grow up to become bestselling author Augusten Burroughs. 
 
This book is a rare fusion of inspiration, dark comedy and insight into the workings of the human mind. For someone who has struggled all his life to connect with other people, Robison proves to be an extraordinary storyteller.

Look Me in the Eye

My Life with Asperger's

Richard McCann

One October night in 1975 Richard, aged five, was alone in the house with his three sisters. It was 3am and their mother hadn't come home yet. Next morning, the police arrived to take the children away. Their mother had become the first victim of a serial killer soon to become known as the 'Yorkshire Ripper'. 
 
Passed from one violent home to another, the children were forgotten by all except the press. As the salacious headlines multiplied, Richard and his sisters were never able to recover from their mother's murder. Whilst Richard tried to handle the terror of his violent upbringing, his sister struggled to deal with memories of sexual abuse. Without love or support they spiralled away from help or happiness. 
 
Then one day Richard McCann, having reached suicidal rock bottom, decided no one was going to rescue their lives but him. It was the beginning of an inspirational transformation. Now he is able to tell the story of how the forgotten children of violence suffer, and how they can heal. A heartbreaking, uplifting story of survival and hope.

Just A Boy

The True Story Of A Stolen Childhood

Kelly Corrigan

For Kelly Corrigan, family was everything. At thirty-six, she had a marriage that worked, two funny, active kids, and a weekly newspaper column. Yet even as a thriving adult, Kelly still saw herself as the daughter of garrulous charmer George Corrigan. She was living deep within what she calls the Middle Place - 'that sliver of time when parenthood and childhood overlap' - comfortably wedged between her adult duties and her parents' care. 
 
But Kelly is abruptly shoved into coming-of-age when she finds a lump in her breast - and gets the diagnosis no one wants to hear. When George, too, learns that he has late-stage cancer, it is Kelly's turn to take care of the man who had always taken care of her - and to show us a woman who finally takes the leap and grows up.

The Middle Place

Evelyn Prentis

'When do you have a bath?' I asked Mrs Turgoose. 
'I hope you're not suggesting that I don't look after meself properly,' she said crossly. 'There was a woman who used to use it, but that was because she was a bit stuck up. She soon went off the idea when it started to get cold.' 
 
After working as a nurse for thirty years, Evelyn left the hospital to become a full-time Matron at The Lodge - a home for elderly ladies of reduced circumstances. 
 
Evelyn was nothing like the matrons she had known and feared in the past. In spite of broken nights and hot dinners left to get cold, Mrs Peters with her temper and Mrs Harrison with her 24-hour piano playing, her new role offered a chance to make a difference to her ladies' lives. 
 
Even though it did mean she was on call twenty-four hours a day, this is Evelyn's funny and affectionate memoir of her years - at last! - as a Matron.

Matron at Last

Sheila Hocken

As a girl, Sheila never let her gradual descent into blindness prevent her from trying to do everything a sighted person could do. Then at 17, unable to see to find her way around the house she grew up in, she found herself dreading her future in an 'ever darkening vacuum'. 
 
But then the remarkable Emma enters her life, and Sheila begins a journey that brings her the independence, love and happiness she never dreamed possible. 
 
Emma and I is the moving and inspirational story of the unique bond between Sheila and her dog, and shows that, sometimes, miracles do happen.

Emma and I

Niki Shisler

What's the worst that could happen? Seriously. Where do your darkest fears lie? The one that knots your gut; that you push from your mind with a prayer and a shudder. Probably your loved ones feature; your partner, parents, friends. Or, more likely, your children... 
 
This is the story of an ordinary woman plunged into chaos. After years of abuse and addiction, single mother Niki Shisler had finally found herself with a wonderful new marriage and a perfect baby. When Niki unexpectedly becomes pregnant with twins life begins to spiral out of control with a series of dramatic events. The twins are born mysteriously ill, hanging onto life and, as family life refocuses around these two tiny beings in Great Ormond Street Hospital, Niki learns that there is always light to be found, even on the darkest days. 
 
This is a uniquely moving and compelling book. It will grab hold of you, wring your heart and leave you inspired.

Fragile

What's the worst that could happen? Where do your darkest fears lie?

'She should never have kept the business going after her husband died. Running a betting shop is no job for a woman. Especially when she's got bad legs.' 
 
After a short stay at hospital herself, Evelyn Prentis wondered what was in store for her when she returned to work. From the door-slamming Miss Cromwell to Mrs Silver's shoplifting and Mrs May coming over all queer, being Matron in charge of the Lodge was rarely straightforward. 
 
So when her ladies became unusually united in their grumbling about newest resident Ivy, the woman who'd kept the betting shop on the High Street, Evelyn was ready for all hell to break loose. 
 
But instead, with openness and kindness, Ivy won people over and even started bringing them together. Suddenly, being in charge of the Lodge was no trouble at all ...

Matron in Charge

Helen Batten

Heart-warming tales of nursing and midwifery from the Sisters who worked with Jennifer Worth. 
 
‘A second’s silence and then an almighty scream. It was the most moving thing I had ever seen … A baby, a real live baby, another human life had entered the world. It didn’t seem possible and yet I had witnessed it with my very own eyes.’ 
 
Born into a happy working-class North London family in the mid-twentieth century, Katie is determined to ‘do something’ with her life. Working in the impoverished East End in the 1950s, she meets the Sisters of St John the Divine – a community of nuns dedicated to nursing and midwifery. The Sisters have been present at births, cared for the sick and laid out the dead of the East Enders for a hundred years, and Katie soon joins them to start her journey to becoming Sister Catherine Mary. 
 
As a nurse and midwife, Katie learns to deal with everything from strokes to breech births. Tragedy is never far away, but there are also moments of pure joy as lives are saved and the Poplar residents rally round. As a young novice Katie rallies against the vow of obedience, yet over the years learns much about the nature of dedication and love. 
 
Full of desperate hardship, humour and compassion, Katie’s story brings to life the unique world of these nursing Sisters in London’s East End. 
 
Sister Catherine Mary’s story was written by Helen Batten after in-depth interviews with today’s Sisters of the Community of St John the Divine. 
 
The Community of St John the Divine was founded in 1848 in a bid to make nursing a respectable profession. Early Sisters worked in the Crimea with Florence Nightingale and were instrumental in developing recognised training and qualifications for nurses and midwives. In the early 20th century they were working in areas such as Poplar and Deptford becoming a treasured part of the community. Today the Sisterhood is based in Birmingham and their website is www.csjd.org.uk. 
 
Helen Batten studied history at Cambridge and then journalism at Cardiff University. She went on to become a producer and director at the BBC and now works as a writer and a psychotherapist. She lives in West London with her three daughters.

Sisters of the East End

Tom Sykes

Tom had always drunk. Initially it was to escape the drudge of school and the distress of his rapidly disintegrating family, but as his career in journalism took off, so his alcohol consumption turned into a full-blown obsession. Having first run amok in London, it was landing the seemingly plum job of nightlife columnist at the New York Post that saw his life spiral completely out of control. Tom treated Manhattan as his Martini, until one day - hungover and alone - he realised he was totally out of his depth and, what's more, he didn't even care. What Did I Do Last Night? is the sad, funny and brutally honest tale of his descent into uncontrollable excess.

What Did I Do Last Night?

Susanna Abse

'Brilliant and touching' Maggie O'Farrell 
 
'A must-read for everyone wanting to understand more about what makes us fall in - and out - of love' Philippa Perry 
 
'A charming, useful, kind book about the pains and hopes of relationships' Alain de Botton 
 
Drawing on over 30 years of therapeutic encounters with people facing hurdles in their love lives, former Chair of the British Psychoanalytic Council Susanna Abse takes us deep inside one of the most fascinating realms there is: other people's relationships. 
 
Candid and captivating, each chapter is inspired by a classic, timeless story. Parents blow their straw house down; Rapunzel yearns for companionship but remains trapped in her castle. Couples strive to navigate the fall from Eden, the bitter taste of the poison apple and strangers in their beds. 
 
From dealing with infidelity to navigating our changing role within a single relationship over the course of a lifetime, Tell Me the Truth About Love sheds vivid light on the human heart, and its struggle to both embrace life's greatest gift and protect itself from pain. Inside, you will find solace, wisdom and unparalleled insight into how, and why, we love.

Tell Me the Truth About Love

13 Tales from Couple Therapy

13 Tales from Couples Therapy

Richard McCann's account of his childhood became a massive UK bestseller. In it he told the harrowing story of how he and his sisters were left motherless when the Yorkshire Ripper killed his first victim, Richard's mother Wilma McCann. Just A Boy was praised for its unflinching and unself-pitying account of a neglected childhood at the hands of an abusive father and uncaring authorities. 
 
The Boy Grows Up is an account of how Richard used the success of Just A Boy to try and save his sister, and of his attempts to make sense of his past whilst learning more about the effects of traumatic childhoods and loss.

The Boy Grows Up

The inspirational story of his journey from broken boy to family man

Dara McAnulty

WINNER OF BOOK OF THE YEAR, NARRATIVE NON-FICTION BRITISH BOOK AWARDS 2021 
 
Rediscover the natural world with the multi-award winning phenomenon and youngest ever major literary prize winner in UK history. 
 
'Miraculous memoir . . . profoundly moving' Observer 
 
'Dara is an extraordinary voice and vision: brave, poetic, ethical, lyrical' Robert Macfarlane 
 
 'It's a diary but essentially timeless . . . It's really, really special' Chris Packham 
 
ALSO WINNER OF: THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE FOR NATURE WRITING 2020, AN POST IRISH BOOK AWARD FOR NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR 2020, BOOKS ARE MY BAG READERS AWARDS FOR NON-FICTION 2020; SHORTLISTED FOR: WATERSTONES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020 &amp; LONGLISTED FOR: THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE 2020 
 ___________ 
 
 'This diary chronicles the turning of my world, from spring to winter, at home, in the wild, in my head.' 
 
Evocative, raw and lyrical, this startling debut explores the natural world through the eyes of Dara McAnulty, an autistic teenager coping with the uprooting of home, school, and his mental health, while pursuing his life as a conservationist and environmental activist. 
 
Shifting from intense darkness to light, recalling his sensory encounters in the wild - with blackbirds, whooper swans, red kites, hen harriers, frogs, dandelions, Irish hares and more - McAnulty reveals worlds we have neglected to see, in a stunning world of nature writing that is a future classic. 
 
Diary of a Young Naturalist is a powerful and scintillating portrayal of the beauty of the natural world, as it shines a light on autism and of overcoming severe anxiety. It is a story of the binding love of family and home, and how we can help each other through the most difficult of times. 
 ___________ 
 
 BIG ISSUE BOOK OF THE YEAR 
HAY FESTIVAL BOOK OF THE YEAR 
A TIMES NATURE BOOK OF THE YEAR 
 
 'An extraordinary diary' The Times 
 
'A torrent of pure, unmediated fervour . . . This is writing at its wild and unruly best' Dr Rachel Clarke 
 
 'Diary of a Young Naturalist is not only one of the finest pieces of modern nature writing produced on this island in recent years, McAnulty is one of our best young writers in any genre' Irish Independent 
 
'An exceptional new voice. Dara McAnulty celebrates nature in such a fresh way and illuminates 
our understanding of autism' Martha Kearney, chair of the Baillie Gifford Prize 2020 
 
'One of the most talented and passionate writers of our era' Steve Silberman, award-winning author of NeuroTribes 
 ___________

Diary of a Young Naturalist

WINNER OF THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE FOR NATURE WRITING 2020

Michael J. Fox

In September 1998, Michael J. Fox stunned the world by announcing that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease - in fact, he had been secretly fighting it for seven years. In this candid book, with his trademark ironic sensibility and sense of the absurd, he tells his life story - from his childhood in western Canada to his meteoric rise in film and television and, most importantly, the years in which - with the unswerving support of his wife, family and friends - he has dealt with his illness. He talks about what Parkinson's has given him: the chance to appreciate a wonderful life and career, and the opportunity to help search for a cure and spread public awareness of the disease.  He feels as if he is a very lucky man indeed.

Lucky Man

A Memoir

'Matron smiled. It was the smile that one woman gives to another and not the chilly facial movement from Matrons of old. "Do you think you would be able to work 9 to 3.30?" For a moment I couldn't think at all. There seemed something not quite right in being paid for so little labour.' 
 
At the end of the Second World War, as husbands came back to Civvy Street their wives had the luxury of staying at home with the children. For a short while at least. Soon Evelyn realised she had to find part-time work to make ends meet, and to her astonishment she was offered part-time hours at her old hospital. 
 
The day-to-day job hadn't changed much, but she was now a nurse and mother. Whooping cough and measles could still kill a small child, and the early '50s polio epidemic left the whole country in shock. 
 
But the nurses worked hard, moaned incessantly about their aching feet and yet found things to laugh at, just as they did from the start of their training. If old soldiers never die, then neither do nurses.

A Nurse and Mother

Grace Maxwell

In February 2005, Edwyn Collins suffered two devastating brain haemorrhages. He should have died. Doctors advised that if he did survive, there would be little of him left. If that wasn't enough, he went on to contract MRSA as a result of an operation to his skull and spent six months in hospital. Initially, Edwyn couldn't speak, read, write, walk, sit up or feed himself. He had lost all movement in his right side and was suffering from aphasia - an inability to use or understand language. When he initially recovered consciousness the only words he could say were 'Grace', 'Maxwell', 'yes' and 'no'. 
 
But with the help of his partner Grace and their son Will, Edwyn fought back. Slowly, and with monumental effort, he began to teach his brain to read and speak all over again - with some areas of his mind it was if he had been a slate wiped utterly clean. Through a long and arduous road of therapy he began to re-inhabit his body until he could walk again. 
 
Grace's story is an intimate and inspiring account of what you do to survive when your husband is all but taken away without warning by a stroke.

Falling and Laughing

The Restoration of Edwyn Collins

Anna Lowe

'I squeezed through the narrow gap and out into the hallway and I stood for a moment, unable to decide where to go. Should I make a dash for the kitchen, where my mother would be swigging from a bottle? Or should I run upstairs and try to find somewhere to hide? It was a choice I didn't really need to make, because there was no escape' 
 
Anna Lowe grows up on the doorsteps of pubs, waiting for her mum to come out. Having to give up her bedroom to her mother's drunken friends. And regularly calling out the ambulance, after finding her mother unconscious and covered in vomit. 
 
But it is when they move in with her mother's boyfriend Carl that things take the ugliest turn. Not only is he violent with her mother, but he also sexually abuses Anna from the age of six - destroying any semblance of normal childhood she had left. 
 
Wake Up, Mummy is the heartbreaking true story of a little girl who eventually found the courage to break free from the past.

Wake Up, Mummy

The heartbreaking true story of an abused little girl whose mother was too drunk to notice

Joanne Fedler

Based on true conversations with real women, The Secret Mothers' Club is a funny, irreverent and often heartbreaking look at women, friendships and motherhood. 
 
One evening in late June a group of female friends get together for an old-school sleepover. It is a regular reunion for eight very different women, with very different lives, secrets and fantasies. The only unifying factor? They are all mothers. 
 
Be warned, you will recognise yourself and your friends within these pages - theirs are conversations we've all had: about our weight; our fantasies - sexual and otherwise; those school lunchboxes; mother's guilt; our partners; the endless struggle to balance work, housework, family and sanity; and the seemingly impossible task of deciding what to feed the family every single night of the week. 
 
This is a book about the delicate nature of mothering, the beauty and complexity of friendships, and the way in which women judge, but also support, one another.

The Secret Mothers' Club

Caitlin Moran

Waking up from another anxious night of sleep, doomscrolling on your phone and feeling the familiar thud of dread in your chest as you watch the news: sound familiar? One morning, Caitlin Moran awakes and realises that she has reached Peak Despair. In a world of worsening news, increasing tribalism and digital addiction, is it any wonder that we all feel so terrible? So, Caitlin wonders: what might be done? 
 
She starts with a Big Plan to escape to the country. But, after nearly bankrupting her family in an ill-advised bid to escape societal doom, Caitlin realises that true change starts not in escaping, but in a reckoning with ourselves. If we step back from the algorithm and take care of ourselves and each other, might amazing change be possible? 
 
And so, ditching the news, eschewing social media and throwing herself into the analogue world just beyond our screens, Caitlin shows how recognizing the goodness in the everyday can be a radical act of rebellion against the fear and anxiety of modern life. From the magic of becoming a renegade litter-picker to the joy of finding exercise that your body loves, How To Be Hopeful is an essential, serotonin-boosting companion for anyone looking to reclaim their optimism amidst global chaos, reminding us that our own revolution of hope is never far away.

How to Be Hopeful

My year of living joyfully

John Green

THE CELEBRATED INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER, NOW IN PAPERBACK 
 
Tuberculosis has been entwined with hu­manity for millennia. Once romanticized as a malady of poets, today tuberculosis is seen as a disease of poverty that walks the trails of injustice and inequity we blazed for it. 
 
In 2019, author John Green met Henry Reider, a young tuberculosis patient at Lakka Government Hospital in Sierra Leone. John be­came fast friends with Henry, a boy with spindly legs and a big, goofy smile. In the years since that first visit to Lakka, Green has become a vocal advocate for increased access to treatment and wider awareness of the healthcare inequi­ties that allow this curable, preventable infec­tious disease to also be the deadliest, killing over a million people every year. 
 
In Everything Is Tuberculosis, John tells Henry’s story, woven through with the scientific and social histories of how tuberculosis has shaped our world—and how our choices will shape the future of tuberculosis.

Everything Is Tuberculosis

The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection

Jennifer Craig

'What is your name?' she asks, staring at me. 
'Jennifer Ross.' 
'Jennifer Ross, Sister. Well, Nurse Ross, you are dressed in the uniform of a nurse from the Leeds General Infirmary. Such a uniform is not worn with a cardigan. Take it off at once.' 
'Yes Sister.' I can feel my face turn red. 
 
A trainee nurse in the 1950s had a lot to bear. In Jennifer Craig's enchanting memoir, we meet these warm-hearted yet naïve young girls as they get to grips with strict discipline, long hours and bodily fluids. But we also see the camaraderie that develops in evening study sessions, sneaked trips to the cinema and mischievous escapades with the young trainee doctors. 
 
The harsh conditions prove too much for some girls, but the opportunity to help her patients in their time of need is too much of a pull for Jenny. As she commits to her vocation and knuckles down to her exams, she is determined that when she reaches the heights of Ward Sister herself she will not become the frightening matron that struck fear into her student heart ... 
 
Rich in period detail, and told with a good dose of Yorkshire humour, Yes Sister, No Sister is a life-affirming true story of a life long past.

Yes Sister, No Sister

My Life as a Trainee Nurse in 1950s Yorkshire

Mark Steel

‘I feel like there’s a leopard in my house, locked in a room. I’ve contacted the leopard authorities and they assure me they are used to dealing with leopards like this, and they have a plan for removing the leopard. It will take a while, though, and once in a while I can hear it growl.And that’s all very reassuring. Even so, several times a day I think to myself: “Hang on, there’s a leopard in my house.”’One morning, while shaving, the comedian Mark Steel noticed that one side of his neck seemed larger than the other. After a whistlestop tour of assorted medical professionals, a consultant delivered the ominous words that would define the next months of his life: ‘I’m afraid it’s not good news, Mr Steel’.And so began a journey into the heart of the NHS, as he embarked on the long and uncertain road to cancer recovery via a range of mildly torturous and entirely miraculous treatments. What, if anything, might he learn about himself – and our capacity for coping with life when times get tough – as he becomes part of a club that one in two British people will ultimately join?A frank and funny diary of one man’s rather trying year, this is an unforgettable and uplifting story of getting ill, getting on with it, and getting better.

The Leopard in my House

One man’s adventures in cancerland

Katie Piper

'I heard a horrible screaming sound, like an animal being slaughtered ... then I realised it was me.' 
 
When Katie Piper was 24, her life was near perfect. Young and beautiful, she was well on her way to fulfilling her dream of becoming a model. 
 
But then she met Daniel Lynch on Facebook and her world quickly turned into a nightmare ... 
 
After being held captive and brutally raped by her new boyfriend, Katie was subjected to a vicious acid attack. Within seconds, this bright and bubbly girl could feel her looks and the life she loved melting away. 
 
Beautiful is the moving true story of how one young woman had her mind, body and spirit cruelly snatched from her and how she inspired millions with her fight to get them back.

Beautiful

A beautiful girl. An evil man. One inspiring true story of courage

'We were quickly learning to live with war. We became very proficient at moving the patients who could walk quickly to the shelters when the sirens went. We were equally proficient at talking those who couldn't walk into believing that they would be safe where they were. Some believed us, others didn't.' 
 
Surprising Matron as well as herself, Evelyn Prentis managed to pass her Finals and become a staff-nurse. Encouraged, she took the brave leap of moving from Nottingham to London - brave not least because war was about to break. 
 
Not only did the nurses have to cope with stray bombs and influxes of patients from as far away Dunkirk, but there were also RAF men stationed nearby - which caused considerable entertainment and disappointment, and a good number of marriages ... 
 
But despite all the disruption to the hospital routine, Evelyn's warm and compelling account of a nurse in action, shows a nurse's life would always revolve around the comforting discomfort of porridge and rissoles, bandages and bedpans.

A Nurse in Action

'It must be stressed from the start that I was not a born nurse. Not every girl is. Not every nurse is either, however wholeheartedly she may throw herself into the project once she gets going. Born nurses can be easily recognised. They have a little something the others haven't got which never seems to desert them however desperate the circumstances may become' 
 
Desperate circumstances were something Evelyn Prentis had to get very used to when she began her life as a nurse. It was in 1934 that Evelyn left home for the first time to enrol as a trainee at a busy Nottingham hospital in the hope of £25 a year. 
 
A Nurse in Time is her affectionate and funny account of those days of dedication and hardship, when never-ending nightshifts, strict Sisters and permanent hunger ruled life, and joy was to be found in a late-night pass and a packet of Woodbines.

A Nurse in Time

George Best

George Best needs little introduction. A legend in his own lifetime, he is undoubtedly the greatest footballer the UK has ever produced. Blessed with an extraordinary gift he brought a beauty and grace to the game never before seen. But Best was unable to cope with the success and fame his football genius brought. His fabled story is littered with tales of women and sex and, of course, alcohol. 
 
Much has been written about Best, but very little substantiated by the man himself. That is until George Best opened his heart and engaged us in one of the most exhilarating life stories for years, Blessed. In his own words George recounts the halcyon days at Manchester United, the big games and European Cup win of '68. And then there's the heartbreaking truth about the death of his mother and his struggles with alcohol that forced him to face up to a life without drink. 
 
Blessed reveals the man behind the up-for-a-laugh, boozy, womanizing stereotype that had dogged George Best for so long. Open and honest about his mistakes, George is also incredibly candid about his triumphs, his regrets, and, only three years before his death, what he had hoped for the future. 
 
'Don't coach him, he's a genius' Sir Matt Busby 
 
'Unquestionably the greatest' Sir Alex Ferguson

Blessed - The Autobiography

Edith Cotterill

'Never had I seen so many fleas! Startled by the daylight, they leapt in all directions, particularly mine. Quickly I peeled off her stockings and threw them on the fire, but by now the fleas had invaded her combinations. As for the fur coat, I shuddered to think ...' 
 
Training in a hospital in the 1930s, Edith Cotterill's long hours on the wards included encouraging leeches to attach to patients (a task much harder than you might think) and the disposal in the furnace of amputated limbs. Although hospital life did have its compensations - it was there during World War 2 an injured sailor who became her husband. 
 
After the birth of their two daughters, Edith returned to work in the 1950s as a district nurse. Whether she was ridding ageing spinsters of fleas or dishing out penicillin and enemas, Edith approached even the most wayward of patients with humour, compassion and warmth.

Nurse On Call

The True Story of a 1950s District Nurse

Koren Zailckas

The day Koren turned fourteen she tasted alcohol for the first time. At fifteen she was piecing together forgotten fragments of drink, men and misplaced clothes. At sixteen she was being carried through hospital doors unconscious. And so it began... 
 
Brought up by loving parents in a stable middle-class home, Koren was a sweet and altogether normal child. Yet from her mid-teens until her early twenties, she thought nothing of regularly drinking herself into a state of amnesia. Alcohol became her safeguard and prop, providing her with a self-confidence she couldn't otherwise feel. And whilst drinking to excess was perfectly acceptable, even actively encouraged, amongst her friends, it quickly reached a destructive monotony that bordered on dependency. It took a number of terrifying incidents - from stumbling home alone covered in vomit to waking up naked in bed unsure of whether she had lost her virginity - before Koren could finally say to herself enough was enough and seek help for her problem. 
 
Smashed is the shocking but all-too-recognisable story of a young woman coming of age within a society that finds it easier to turn a blind eye to binge-drinking than address the problem head on. Beautifully written and brutally honest, compelling without preaching, this is a book that demands to be read.

Smashed

Growing Up A Drunk Girl

Kay Gilderdale

Watching her child die is the hardest thing a mother can ever do. But for Kay Gilderdale, saying a final goodbye to her only daughter Lynn was exceptionally painful: she'd played a part in her death. 
 
Lynn was just 14 when she was struck down by the crippling disease ME, leaving her paralysed and in constant agony. Over the next 17 years, she became desperate to escape her miserable existence, even begging her mum to help her die. So, one night, when Kay found Lynn attempting suicide, she was forced to make an impossible decision. Continue watching her child suffer or help her end the pain? 
 
Eventually, fighting her every instinct, Kay helped her precious daughter take a fatal overdose. But while Lynn was finally free, her mother faced a fresh agony - a possible lifetime behind bars. The highly controversial trial that followed opened a fierce public debate on assisted suicide. Is it murder or mercy? 
 
Here, in her heartbreaking story, Kay reveals the harrowing truth behind the headlines and the desperate lengths a mother will go to for the love of a child.

One Last Goodbye

Sometimes only a mother's love can help end the pain

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