Evelyn Waugh was born in Hampstead in 1903 and educated at Hertford College, Oxford. In 1928 he published his first novel, Decline and Fall, which was soon followed by Vile Bodies (1930), Black Mischief (1932), A Handful of Dust (1934) and Scoop (1938). During these years he also travelled extensively and converted to Catholicism. In 1939 Waugh was commissioned in the Royal Marines and later transferred to the Royal Horse Guards, experiences which informed his Sword of Honour trilogy (1952-61). His most famous novel, Brideshead Revisited (1945), was written while on leave from the army. Waugh died in 1966.

Evelyn Waugh

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Stephanie Merritt

'I was nearly twenty before I understood that there was a name for what sometimes happened to me. Later, I learned that it has gone by many names - the black dog, the bell jar, the noonday demon, darkness visible, malignant sadness - but in my teens I'd just assumed that my fierce highs and days of disproportionate, isolating despair were part of every teenager's repertoire - how else would Morrissey have sold so many records? These pitches in mood were something I didn't speak about to anyone, because I was afraid of two things - either that it was nothing serious, and I would be told to pull myself together, or that it was serious, and I would be told that, yes, I was a mental case.' 
 
Stephanie Merritt has a career as a novelist and journalist, a beautiful son and a supportive family. Why then did she want to kill herself at the age of 29? Why could no one, neither the system of GPs and health professionals, nor her closest family and friends help her? 
 
Reading like a hybrid of Elizabeth Wurtzel's Prozac Nation and Rachel Cusk's more sober A Life's Work, Stephanie's unflinchingly honest memoir explores areas of experience commonly associated with depression such as love, solitude and self-medication through the prism of her own experience. 
 
Beautifully written and intensely honest this is an extraordinarily moving, life-affirming book about a debilitating illness that affects one in six people in the UK alone.

The Devil Within

A Memoir of Depression

Sharon Hamilton

'God only knows what fate befell Vicky after, cold and alone at that bus stop, she accepted a lift home.' 
 
Abducted from a local bus stop, schoolgirl Vicky Hamilton vanished into thin air. Her disappearance left the country in shock and a family torn apart. Sharon - her sister and best friend - never stopped looking for her. Then, seventeen years later, the search came to an abrupt and tragic end. 
 
Taken is Sharon Hamilton's heartbreaking true story of what happens to a family when one of its most loved members disappears without a trace. It's about never giving up hope that one day they will come home, and that justice will be done.

Taken

The Agonising True Story of My Missing Sister

Leslie Kenton

Leslie Kenton was the only child of Violet, a stunning Hitchcock blonde, and Stanley - the legendary jazz giant Stan Kenton. Their story takes place on the road in 1950s America and in the mania of Hollywood - a world of jazz clubs, dance halls and one-nighters, where lives were lived on a razor's edge. 
 
Love Affair takes us beyond the bright lights and glamour into an intense, claustrophobic world of a father and his child. Too closely matched, their shared DNA traps them in a double helix - one strand forged in terror, the other luminous with a shared passion for music, joy and laughter. As the strands become entwined, blood on white tiles obliterates innocence and a forbidden honeymoon brings a terrifying, unbounded freedom. Gradually, as Stanley grapples with alcohol and his personal demons, his actions threaten to destroy the only real, untainted thing in his life: Leslie. 
 
A true story of obsession, tragedy and grace, Love Affair is Leslie Kenton's powerful memoir. At its heart is the complex relationship with her father - a union so powerful it defines all that comes after. As their lives become increasingly entangled, so do the forces of darkness and light that exist within us all, leading to destruction for him and heartbreaking redemption for her.

Love Affair

The memoir of a forbidden father-daughter relationship

Mathilde Monaque

Mathilde Monaque developed severe depression when she was just 14. The eldest in a family of six and an exceptionally bright and gifted little girl, the discovery shook her family to the core. 
 
Trouble in My Head is Mathilde's tender and illuminating account of her struggle to surface from a disease that could have taken her life. With remarkable sensitivity and lucidity she describes her experience of depression, her days in the teenage hospital and her battle to conquer the disease. 
 
Mathilde's perspective as a sufferer of teenage depression is unique. Unlike adult depression which involves feelings of guilt, Mathilde describes teenage depression as a breaking down of certainties, the fear of being oneself, the fear of not loving and of not being loved. Adults and teenagers alike will find inspiration and insight in her touching and remarkable account.

Trouble in My Head

A Young Girl's Fight with Depression

Richard K. Baer

In 1989 a woman named Karen showed up at author and psychiatrist Richard Baer's practice, terribly frightened and at breaking point. She explained that her husband beat her, her mother stole from her; she was in tremendous physical pain and wanted to die. Within a few sessions she also revealed that her father and grandfather had raped and tortured her repeatedly over the course of her childhood, frequently in the company of other neighbourhood men. She was now married with two children, but often could not account for stretches of minutes, hours, sometimes even days. 
 
As Karen's story unfolded over the following months, Baer realised that he was dealing with a severe case of Multiple Personality Disorder. Although it would take time and deep, hard-won trust before any of Karen's alternated personalities presented themselves in her psychiatrist's office, over the next five years Baer would encounter seventeen distinct personalities, all of whom had been living inside Karen since she was a young child, shielding her from an otherwise unbearable life. 
 
In the tradition of Oliver Saks and Irvin Yalom, Baer chronicles his nine years of work with Karen and all her distinct personalities, his often futile efforts to use the tools of his trade, and his patient's ultimate invention of her own cure. An unforgettable story of unimaginable suffering and ultimate recovery, A Life In Pieces: How One Woman's Personality was Shattered by Years of Abuse is the first account of life with Multiple Personality Disorder written by the treating psychiatrist.

A Life in Pieces

The harrowing story of a woman with 17 personalities

Lisa Lloyd

I have always been weird. Not in a mysterious, sexy way. More like a ‘Where’s her carer?’ kind of way. 
 
Like any new parent, when Lisa Lloyd became a mum, her own needs were put at the bottom of a very long list. But for Lisa, adapting to life with kids was an uphill struggle – one with frequent meltdowns, from her as well as them. When both her children were diagnosed with autism, it all started to add up. Her behaviours growing up, the jobs she couldn’t keep, ALL the emotions … maybe there was a reason for it all. 
 
In Unmasking Mum, Lisa draws on her story of being diagnosed with autism at age 41 to shine a light on the highs and lows of parenting when you’re neurodivergent and offer helpful tips she's learnt along the way. From the sensory overload of life with kids, to their terrible sense of personal space and the imposter syndrome that rears its ugly head when other people’s children are just perfect – with humour and honesty, Lisa is pulling off the mask, for every parent who feels they too are 'weird'. The mask is stuck quite hard, but bit-by-bit, it’s peeling away, revealing a Lisa who has been hiding all along.

Unmasking Mum

The Highs and Lows of Life as a Neurodivergent Parent

Kate Konopicky

If there's one thing that everyone has an opinion about it's how to bring up a child - especially your child. Kate Konopicky found herself an embattled mother, knowing that however hard she worked everything was wrong. If she went back to full-time employment she was neglecting her child. If she stayed at home the child would be clingy and shy. So, she became a combination of teacher, nurse, nutritionist, psychologist, entertainer and mind reader. She didn't get weekends off and never phoned in sick when she wanted a lie-in. The boss was illogical, demanding, incapable of undertaking the simplest task. Yes, we've all had jobs like that but at least we got paid for them. 
 
Kate Konopicky is an anarchic voice in the face of regimented parenting books. With brilliant humour, she'll make you believe you're not a failure when your fairy cakes don't rise, and you'll slowly come to realise that you may not be perfect but that you are doing your best. 
 
'A wildly irreverent look at the parenting game. This riotous look back over her first five years of motherhood will come as a relief to imperfect parents everywhere - in other words, to all parents.' You Magazine

A Woman Of No Importance

A tenderly observed, ruthlessly honest and hilariously funny memoir about the joys and horrors of motherhood

John Diamond

Shortly before his 44th birthday, John Diamond received a call from the doctor who had removed a lump from his neck. Having been assured for the previous 2 years that this was a benign cyst, Diamond was told that it was, in fact, cancerous. Suddenly, this man who'd until this point been one of the world's greatest hypochondriacs, was genuinely faced with mortality. And what he saw scared the wits out of him. Out of necessity, he wrote about his feelings in his TIMES column and the response was staggering. Mailbag followed Diamond's story of life with, and without, a lump - the humiliations, the ridiculous bits, the funny bits, the tearful bits. It's compelling, profound, witty, in the mould of THE DIVING BELL &amp; THE BUTTERFLY.

C: Because Cowards Get Cancer Too

John Gray

Gray

John Gray has become a publishing phenomenon. His first book, MEN ARE FROM MARS, WOMEN ARE FROM VENUS is still a No 1 New York Times bestseller after 3 years, and is in the UK Top 100 too. He is renowned as THE international relationships guru. John Gray has brought a powerful message to millions of people across the world. He explains how better communication and the recognition of men and women's different emotional needs leads to greater intimacy. 
 
In MARS AND VENUS IN LOVE, all those who embraced his ideas will see them in action in first-person stories told by people who, using his advice and counsel, have created fulfilling, healthy and loving relationships. After the incredible response to his work, Dr Gray thought the success of some couples might inspire others like them. Readers will find hope, encouragement and humour in this collection of experiences, which everyone who has ever had difficulty communicating with the opposite sex will find something to identify with.

Mars And Venus In Love

Inspiring and Heartfelt Stories of Relationships That Work

Glennon Doyle

#1 Sunday Times bestseller#1 New York Times bestsellerReese Witherspoon Book Club Pick 
 
'This book will shake your brain and make your soul scream. I am so ready for myself after reading this book!' Adele 
 
'Untamed will liberate women - emotionally, spiritually and physically. It is phenomenal.' Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat Pray Love 
 
Who were you before the world told you who to be? 
 
Part inspiration, part memoir, Untamed explores the joy and peace we discover when we stop striving to meet the expectations of the world, and instead dare to listen to and trust in the voice deep inside us, from the beloved bestselling author and award-winning podcast host Glennon Doyle. 
 
 'This memoir is so packed with incredible insight about what it means to be a woman today… I highlighted something in EVERY chapter.' Reese Witherspoon

Untamed

Stop Pleasing, Start Living

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