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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Qian Julie Wang

In China she was the daughter of professors. In Brooklyn her family is 'illegal.' 
 
Qian is seven when she moves to America, the 'Beautiful Country', where she and her parents find that the roads of New York City are not paved with gold, but crushing fear and scarcity. Unable to speak English at first, Qian and her parents must work wherever they can to survive, all while she battles hunger and loneliness at school. Thus begins an extraordinary story that describes days labouring in sweatshops and sushi factories, nights scavenging the streets for furniture, and the terrifying moment when the family emerges from the shadows to seek emergency medical treatment for Qian's mother. 
 
Qian Julie Wang's memoir is an unforgettable account of what it means to live under the perpetual threat of deportation and the small joys and sheer determination that kept her family afloat in a new land. Told from a child's perspective, in a voice that is intimate, poignant and startlingly lyrical, Beautiful Country is the story of a girl who learns first to live - and then escape - an invisible life.

Beautiful Country

A Memoir of An Undocumented Childhood

Shannon Sanders

Okay, but the afterlife? It’s nothing like it looks in the movies . . . 
 
A year after the death of her father, Aubrey Lamb receives a phone call from a distant cousin. She has inherited a share of a farm, down in the sun-streaked plains of Tennessee. Seeking distraction, and a way to erase a mounting pile of debt, Aubrey makes her way South to meet a family she barely knows. 
 
Watching her arrival with great interest, and wry scrutiny, are four ghosts: Aubrey’s ancestors, the keepers (and spillers) of the farm’s secrets. As Aubrey gets to know her living family, another story unfolds in parallel: the history of the land, beginning with its purchase by her great-grandfather, one of the first Black landowners in the community, the four children set to inherit it, their bitter rivalries, and the tragedy that echoes through the decades . . . 
 
Now, as the clock ticks on a potential sale of the farm, the ghosts fear expulsion from the home they’ve made, and Aubrey must weigh the hopes and burdens of her forebears with the very real needs of her future. 
 
Dazzling and expansive, The Great Wherever is a multigenerational portrait of the American South, exploring land and legacies, race and generational wealth, and the sharp fragments of the past – how they spark and shine against the surface of our ordinary lives.

The Great Wherever

Katherine Blake

You&rsquo;re Loretta Darling now, welcome to your brand-new flipping life. 
 
Dreams don&rsquo;t come true for girls like Loretta but she won&rsquo;t let that stop her. With her sights set on becoming a make-up artist to the stars, Loretta wangles her way from Lancashire to the bright lights of Golden Age Hollywood. 
 
Only it turns out that Sunset Boulevard is less about dashing fellas and chilled martinis &ndash; more sticky floors and misbehaving men. The gift of the gab can only get her so far but she refuses to go quietly. 
 
Hollywood has its secrets &hellip; and so does Loretta. 
 
For a start, that&rsquo;s not her real name, and much more than lipstick lurks inside her beauty case. 
 
After all, revenge is a dish best served with a perfectly painted smile.

The Unforgettable Loretta, Darling

Bimini Bon Boulash

Jules Scheele

Bimini Bon Boulash is the nation's sweetheart, capturing hearts and minds as the gag-inducing, death-dropping, plant-based breakout star of RuPaul's Drag Race UK Season 2. Not only did she make us laugh and cry, she showed us how to develop a Positive Mental Attitude and live happily and healthily outside society's idea of 'normal'. 
 
Telling the story of how drag took her from the brink of self-destruction to the mainstage, as well as life lessons drawing on convention-breaking icons from Kate Moss to Katie Price, in this book Bimini uses all her wit, charm and kindness to show us how to lead the lives we wish we could lead, through the life-changing magic of dragging up.

Release the Beast

A Drag Queen's Guide to Life

Bryony Gordon

“You’re so desperate to make everybody else happy that you’ve forgotten what makes you happy. You’ve not just forgotten it, you’ve abandoned it, on a bonfire full of all your other hopes and dreams. A bonfire you’re too scared to light in case the neighbours report you to the council.” 
 
--- 
 
Olivia Greenwood has been trying very hard to please people for a very long time. 
 
But today is going to change Olivia in a big way. A soul-crushing career disappointment, a fiery young woman with a chip on her shoulder and a cigarette in her hand, and one single blue hallucinogenic gummy all lead to a raucous night out and one hell of a hangover. And when Olivia wakes up the next morning, it seems she’s unable to please anyone but HERSELF. 
 
So who actually is Olivia Greenwood, when she’s not trying to be what everyone else wants her to be?

People Pleaser

Christina Joyce Hauser

Ten days after calling off her wedding, CJ Hauser went on an expedition to study the whooping crane. After a week wading through the gulf, she realised she had almost signed up to live somebody else's life. 
 
In this intimate, frank and funny memoir in essays, CJ Hauser releases herself from her story of 'how life was supposed to be'. She goes looking for more honest ways of living, for new definitions of love. She kisses internet strangers, officiates a wedding, visits a fertility clinic. She rereads Rebecca in the house her new boyfriend shared with his ex-wife and rewinds Katharine Hepburn in The Philadelphia Story to ask whether you can ever have a fresh start with an old love. She writes about friends and lovers and blood family and chosen family and children and animals and ghosts and a whole planet in this book, and hopes you see all of these as love stories.

The Crane Wife

A Memoir in Essays

Lauren Bastide

Jeanne Damas

In Paris is a window on the world's most stylish city by two quintessentially Parisian women: Jeanne Damas, the it-girl, model, and actress, and Lauren Bastide, former editor-in-chief of French Elle. Dispelling the myth that there is only one type of Parisian woman, In Paris is made up of profiles of twenty different Parisiennes aged from fourteen to seventy, living in tiny studios or grand apartments, giving us a rare glimpse into their world: their homes, their careers, their style, and, most importantly, what being Parisian means to them. 
 
The portraits are illustrated with gorgeous full-colour photographs in Jeanne Damas' inimitable style, as well as lists of secret Parisian hideaways and style tips: from the five different types of red wine to order depending on the occasion, and the bars to drink them in, to the best red lipsticks, and places to be kissed.

In Paris

20 Women on Life in the City of Light

Sheku Kanneh-Mason

Music is what makes us alive, mindful and connected to each other. Music is what makes us human. This is the power of music. 
 
Cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason knows and feels the transformative power of music as much as any musician alive. From winning the prestigious BBC Young Musician Award to performing at Harry and Meghan’s wedding; from Bach’s solo suites to Bob Marley’s reggae; his ferocious passion shines through in every single performance, whether in a packed-out concert hall or on record. 
 
But how was it that someone like him – a person of colour, from a state school in Nottingham – rose to the upper echelons of the classical music world? What were the obstacles that he had to overcome, what did he learn along the way, and how could a young person follow in his footsteps today? 
 
In The Power of Music, Sheku explores the experiences and values that led him here, from a childhood of football practice and family music sessions, to his work today in the world’s finest concert halls and in the less privileged communities that surround them. As his star continues to rise, he shows us the darker side of an industry ruled by exclusivity and stubborn adherence to tradition. 
 
With its power to transform our mental and physical health, to effect social change, and to make a house a home, Sheku shows us that classical music is for everyone, not just an elite few. The Power of Music is a celebration of music of all sorts and those who make it, and a rallying call to change.

The Power of Music

How Music Connects Us All

Sinclair McKay

With the threat of invasion from Hitler's forces looming large in 1940, men of all ages and backgrounds assembled under the banner of the Home Guard. A voluntary force much later nicknamed ‘Dad’s Army’, at its height there were almost two million volunteers prepared to defend every corner of the kingdom, including notable figures like George Orwell, A.A. Milne, and C.S. Lewis. Many women took part too, including in the Women's Home Defence Force which formed in 1941. 
 
Far from the stereotype of charming incompetence, the Home Guard were in fact entirely serious in their approach. Many volunteers had fought in World War One, and radical veterans from the Spanish Civil War taught these men and boys new techniques in lethal guerilla fighting. Chocolate-box village greens were re-imagined as bloody battlefields, with duties including rifle and mortar training, night-time patrols and manning anti-aircraft guns – all on top of volunteers’ everyday jobs. Yet all of this was underpinned by an essential good humour, with moments of levity and comradery vital in keeping up a much-needed spirit of defiance. 
 
Sunday Times bestselling author Sinclair McKay tells the remarkable story of these courageous, highly-trained and often pioneering men and women through original archival research, vivid storytelling and insights into the beloved television comedy which has shaped the national memory of the Home Guard. With its vibrant personalities and high nostalgia factor, 'Dad's Army' tells this extraordinary story in full colour.

Dad’s Army

The Glorious True Story of the Home Guard

Deepa Paul

In the early hours of dawn in Amsterdam, Deepa Paul rises from her boyfriend’s bed. She gets dressed, slips away with a kiss and cycles home, where she is welcomed into the arms of her husband, whose contentment is mellow alongside her own. There isn’t a glimmer of shame, deception or guilt, only the honesty and compassion needed to make this kind of life possible — even if it wasn’t always this easy.You might have questions. Whose idea was it? What are the rules? Are you ever jealous? In this memoir, Deepa offers her answers openly and tenderly, as she explores the truth to questions of her own. Can I ask for what I want, and still honour the life I have chosen? Do I deserve it? Is it worth it?Unexpectedly relatable and joyfully vibrant, this is one woman’s story of discovering her own desires and how to liberate them, of shifting identities from mother to lover and back again, and of finding the courage to ask for the marriage she wanted, beyond the marriage she had.One question at a time.

Ask Me How It Works

Love in an Open Marriage

A Memoir of Love and Motherhood in an Open Marriage

Nadifa Mohamed

Mahmood Mattan is a fixture in Cardiff's Tiger Bay, 1952, which bustles with Somali and West Indian sailors, Maltese businessmen and Jewish families. He is a father, chancer, petty criminal. He is many things, but he is not a murderer. So when a shopkeeper is brutally killed and all eyes fall on him, Mahmood isn't too worried. Witnesses allegedly saw him enter a shop that night and love lends him immunity too: the fierce love of his wife, who forgives his gambling in a heartbeat, and his children. It is only in the run-up to the trial, as the prospect of returning home dwindles, that it will dawn on Mahmood that he is in a fight for his life - against conspiracy, prejudice and cruelty - and the truth may not be enough to save him.

The Fortune Men

Shortlisted for the Costa Novel Of The Year Award

Naomi Alderman

All over the world women are discovering they have the power. 
With a flick of the fingers they can inflict terrible pain - even death. 
Suddenly, every man on the planet finds they've lost control. 
The Day of the Girls has arrived - but where will it end? 
 
With this single twist, the four lives at the heart of Naomi Alderman's shocking and visceral novel are utterly transformed, and we look at the world in an entirely new light. What if the power to hurt were in women's hands? 
 
The iconic bestseller, winner of the Women's Prize, and soon-to-be-TV series, The Power is a truly extraordinary modern classic.

The Power

Caleb Azumah Nelson

Two young people meet at a pub in South East London. Both are Black British, both won scholarships to private schools where they struggled to belong, both are now artists - he a photographer, she a dancer - trying to make their mark in a city that by turns celebrates and rejects them. Tentatively, tenderly, they fall in love. But two people who seem destined to be together can still be torn apart by fear and violence. 
 
At once an achingly beautiful love story and a potent insight into race and masculinity, Open Water asks what it means to be a person in a world that sees you only as a Black body, to be vulnerable when you are only respected for strength, to find safety in love, only to lose it. With gorgeous, soulful intensity, Caleb Azumah Nelson has written the most essential British debut of recent years.

Open Water

Winner of the Costa First Novel Award 2021

Devi Sridhar

**THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER | BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK** 
 
The definitive story of COVID-19 and how global politics shape our health - from a world-leading expert and the pandemic's go-to science communicator 
 
Professor Devi Sridhar has risen to prominence for her vital roles in communicating science to the public and speaking truth to power. In Preventable she highlights lessons learned from outbreaks past and present in a narrative that traces the COVID-19 pandemic - including her personal experience as a scientist - and sets out a vision for how we can better protect ourselves from the inevitable health crises to come. 
 
In gripping and heartfelt prose, Sridhar exposes the varied realities of those affected and puts you in the room with key decision makers at crucial moments. She vibrantly conveys the twists and turns of a plot that saw: deadlier varients emerge (contrary to the predictions of social media pundits who argued it would mutate to a milder form); countries with weak health systems like Senegal and Vietnam fare better than countries like the US and UK (which were consistently ranked as the most prepared); and the quickest development of game-changing vaccines in history (and their unfair distribution) 
 
Combining science, politics, ethics and economics, this definitive book dissects the global structures that determine our fate, and reveals the deep-seated economic and social inequalities at their heart - it will challenge, outrage and inspire. 
 
'A brutally compelling reminder that if voices like Devi's had been listened to, so many more could have lived' OWEN JONES 
 
'One of the most brilliant scientists in the world who has been proven consistently right in this crisis' PIERS MORGAN 
 
'Excellent . . . Fair, clear and compelling' NICOLA STURGEON 
 
'Those who have found Professor Devi Sridhar's expertise and calm advice invaluable since the arrival of Covid-19 will be glad to know that she has written Preventable' RACHEL COOKE, Guardian, Non-fiction to look out for in 2022

Preventable

How a Pandemic Changed the World & How to Stop the Next One

Chris Smalls

The remarkable true story of the man who took on a corporate giant - and won 
 
In the early days of the Covid pandemic, warehouse worker Chris Smalls and his colleagues continued showing up as the rest of the world was shutting down. A dedicated and experienced Amazon employee, increasingly frustrated by the inner workings of the retail giant, Smalls had already felt himself reaching breaking point. So when coworkers around him began falling ill, and with no assurances of safety coming from those at the top, he made the only choice left available to him. He staged a walkout with friend Derrick Palmer, eventually finding himself on the picket line without a job. 
 
What began as a demand to keep essential employees safe in a crisis would grow into a movement devoted to achieving dignity and security for the wage worker, triggering a groundswell of organizers at the most notable companies across America – including Starbucks, Trader Joe’s and Apple – and leading to lasting change for workers’ rights. 
 
When the Revolution Comes is the riveting inside story of how a young Black man from Hackensack, NJ with little-to-no resources led a scrappy band of Staten Island warehouse workers in an improbable fight against Amazon – and won. An epic David-and-Goliath tale, a searing exposé and a terrifying depiction of what it’s like to be working class in America today, this book tells a new, empowering story of what is possible when the overworked, underpaid and disempowered join together, a movement born in community.

When the Revolution Comes

A Story About Capitalism

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