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Clare Gee

In Hooked, reformed addict Clare Gee draws on her own experiences of cocaine addiction, alcoholism and prostitution in telling the sensational story of a woman living on the edge. 
 
Emotionally scarred by having never known her mother, Katie escapes to London and immerses herself in a seedy world of drugs, drink and sex, chasing happiness in the pubs and clubs, and snorting cocaine in private members' bars with her rich punters. 
 
Finding herself in a cycle of prostitution and unable to break free, she turns to drug smuggling and becomes embroiled in a bigamous marriage in an attempt to secure some emotional stability. From this dark emotional pit, Katie starts her painful journey back to 'wellness' and attempts to rid herself of her addictions for good. 
 
Hooked is a graphic tale of how life as a prostitute really is and what can happen when we search for happiness outside of ourselves. It is a poignant reminder that things can always get better, as long as we remember that when it's time to leave the party, it's time.

Hooked

Confessions of a London Call Girl

Sean Potts

Voices from Croke Park charts the journeys of 12 true greats of the Gaelic games, each of whom has helped shape the rich history of football and hurling. These are men who pursued glory in Ireland's greatest sporting arena, players whose passion and vision were embodied in their performances in their county's jersey. 
 
 The footballers featured are Bernard Flynn (Meath), Mikey Sheehy (Kerry), Ciarán Whelan (Dublin), Anthony Molloy (Donegal), Peter Canavan (Tyrone), Liam McHale (Mayo) and Cork footballer and hurler Jimmy Barry-Murphy. From hurling, Eamonn O'Donoghue (Cork), Tony Keady (Galway), DJ Carey (Kilkenny), Gerard McGrattan (Down) and Michael Duignan (Offaly) are interviewed. 
 
 This collection is a celebration of their achievements in the GAA, with their stories brought vividly to life by Ireland's leading sportswriters.

Voices from Croke Park

The Stories of 12 GAA Heroes

Jackie Todd

It was love at first sight: the huge pale-green eyes, the ruffled tawny hair and the cute way he held his head to one side. What really swung it, though, was his feet being way too big for his body, his ears too big for his head and that, while trying to look brave, he was obviously terrified. Charly was the first of what grew to be a large family of abandoned Spanish dogs taken in by Jackie Todd and her husband Stephen after they emigrated in 1997 to Frigiliana, a picturesque Spanish village in Andalucia. By the time Charly was four, something magical had happened: the people of the village had become close friends and the Todds' memories of their old lives were as weak as British sunshine. 
 
Fourteen years on from that first arrival they have ten dogs and eight cats of their own and regularly foster tiny strays that need bottle-feeding until they can be found homes. In 2007, 123 puppies and kittens passed through their door; in 2008, it was 119; and the tragic procession continues today. 
 
Millions of people dream of turning their summer holiday into permanent reality. Dog Days in Andalucía is the heart-warming and inspirational story of an ordinary British couple who did just that, making a mighty impression on the village, its people and its surrounding animal population along the way.

Dog Days in Andalucía

Tails from Spain

John Cairney

'Clutching in my hand my seven copper pennies, I ran down the two flights of stone stairs from our tenement flat and through the East End to Kinloch Street, where, puffing a bit, I joined the queue of other wee boys lining up to place their coins on the brass plate above the iron turnstile, push hard against it, then climb up onto the dirt terracing and into Paradise. The rest of the world called it Celtic Park.' 
 
This is a story seen through green-and-white spectacles. It begins when nine-year-old Glaswegian John Cairney walks through the boys' gate at Celtic Park and embarks on a series of adventures that, over the years, take him all over Scotland and beyond. 
 
The Sevenpenny Gate is about a search for heroes, Celtic heroes. It is also the tale of an East End club of humble Irish origins that has developed into a worldwide brand and continues to command the devotion of its fans, even with the Celtic diaspora now spread across the globe.

The Sevenpenny Gate

A Lifelong Love Affair with Celtic FC

Alex Caine

The Hells Angels. The Bandidos. Asian triads. Russian mobsters and corrupt cops. Even the KKK. Just part of a day's work for Alex Caine, an undercover agent who has seen it all. 
 
After a tour in Vietnam and a stretch in prison on marijuana-possession charges, Caine fell into the cloak-and-dagger world of a contracted agent. Thanks to his quick-wittedness and tough but unthreatening demeanour, Caine could fit into whatever unsavoury situation he found himself. Over 25 years, his assignments ran the gamut from mean bikers to triad toughs. When a job was over, he'd slip away to a new part of the continent or world, where he would assume a new identity and then go back to work on another group of bad guys. 
 
Befriend and Betray offers an unflinching look at some familiar police operations and blows the lid off others that law enforcement would much prefer to keep hidden. It provides an unvarnished account of the toll such a life takes, one that often left Caine to wonder who he really was behind the myriad identities he had assumed and whether justice was ever truly served.

Befriend and Betray

Infiltrating the Hells Angels, Bandidos and Other Criminal Brotherhoods

Nicholas Parsons

Nicholas Parsons enjoyed a long and varied career encompassing theatre, television, film and radio. He was perhaps best known as the straight man to Arthur Haynes in the '60s, as the presenter of Sale of the Century in the '70s and as the chairman of the long-running Radio 4 panel game Just a Minute. 
 
 Along the way, he performed impersonations in the lavatories of a Clydebank engineering yard during the war, was the voice of a Gerry Anderson Texan sheriff, roller-skated in Charlie Girl at the Victoria Palace and appeared in a series of Doctor Who. His comedy chat show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival ran for eighteen consecutive years. 
 
In My Life In Comedy, Nicholas recalls an extraordinary career that led him to star on the West End stage, work with some of Britain's finest comedians, including Kenneth Williams, Tony Hancock, Benny Hill and Paul Merton, and appear in stockings and suspenders in The Rocky Horror Show. 
 
 Funny, thoughtful and at times moving, Nicholas Parsons: With Just a Touch of Hesitation, Repetition and Deviation celebrates a fascinating life in comedy.

Nicholas Parsons: With Just a Touch of Hesitation, Repetition and Deviation

My Life in Comedy

Kate Barlow

The Abode of Love is Kate Barlow's remarkable account of growing up within the remnants of a religious cult. 
 
Protected from the truth about her family's past by a wall of secrecy, it was years before Kate unearthed her grandfather's controversial claim to be the reincarnation of Jesus Christ and learned of the rumours that had circulated within the local Somerset community of sexual scandals, 'spiritual brides' and peculiar rituals. 
 
This is the gripping story of how one woman pieced together a hidden family history and uncovered a more shocking truth than she ever imagined.

The Abode of Love

The Remarkable Tale of Growing Up in a Religious Cult

Eileen Munro

Carol McKay

When Eileen Munro's mother became pregnant at 16, she was told to give her baby away to a 'good family', but the couple who paid the fee at the Salvation Army mother-and-baby home in Glasgow in 1963 turned out to be alcoholics who neglected and physically abused Eileen. Then, when their marriage broke down, they failed to protect her from sexual abuse at the hands of a family friend. 
 
After watching her adoptive mother drown on inhaled vomit, Eileen and her younger sister were taken into care, but her nightmare was to continue as she was subjected to further physical, sexual and emotional abuse. 
 
At the age of only seventeen, seven months into a secret pregnancy, she decided that the only way out was through a bottle of painkillers; when she survived and gave birth to a beautiful baby boy, he became her lifeline.

As I Lay Me Down to Sleep

Jan de Vries

MOTHER AND CHILD is the long awaited follow up to Jan's phenomenally successful Preganancy and Childbirth and the next instalment in his excellent Well Woman series. In Mother and Child Jan De Vries focuses on the first crucial years of a child's life and explores the unique relationship that develops between mother and child in these formative years. The book comprises practical advice for new mothers dealing with the stress of their first baby and gives suggestions on how to recognise and treat the many diseases to which children are prone in their early years. There is also valuable advice on child healthcare and covers everything from sleep disorders to breastfeeding. Not only is Jan De Vries a professional authority on alternative healthcare, but he is also a father of four and grandfather of ten. Jan De Vries was born in 1937 and after initially graduating in pharmacy he soon moved on to study alternative medicine. He set up his first clinic in Troon in 1970 and today has clinics in Edinburgh, London, Belfast, Dublin and Manchester. Writing extensively on the value of alternative medicine and the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle, he also lectures throughout the world and makes regular television and radio appearances.

Mother and Child

Claudia Joseph

With her glossy dark hair, classic looks, natural appearance and cut-glass accent, Kate Middleton displays all the poise and breeding expected from the wife-to-be of the heir to the throne. Sophisticated beyond her years, Kate has charmed William's louche circle of friends as well as the House of Windsor. Yet behind her polished veneer lies the extraordinary tale of an impoverished working-class family that overcame deprivation and adversity to rise to the upper echelons of society. 
 
Claudia Joseph has spoken to members of Kate's family and friends, who have provided an intriguing insight into the extraordinary journey her family has made from the mining villages of Durham to the gates of Buckingham Palace. 
 
Drawing on exclusive interviews and containing previously unpublished photographs, this is the authoritative account of Kate Middleton's life so far.

Kate

The Making of a Princess

Colin MacFarlane

In his last book, The Real Gorbals Story, Colin MacFarlane detailed how he witnessed a once great area, home to wonderful characters and grand old buildings, disappear before his eyes. By the time MacFarlane's tenement was knocked down in the early 1970s, he had left school and been rehoused in another part of the city. In an attempt to extricate himself from his Gorbals gang days, he took a job as an apprentice chef at one of Glasgow's top restaurants, where he soon discovered that his colleagues were just as insane as those he had mixed with on the city streets. Meanwhile, MacFarlane struggled to integrate into the more affluent area that his family had been moved to and soon found himself returning to his old haunts and back in trouble again. 
 
In No Mean Glasgow, MacFarlane charts his eventful, fun-packed passage from Gorbals street boy to grown man on the brink of a new beginning. He describes his adventures with a mixture of humour, sadness and delight. It is a book for those people living all over the world who remember the old Glasgow - a city teeming with warmth, passion, patter and characters who could brighten up even the darkest of days.

No Mean Glasgow

Revelations of a Gorbals Guy

Bernard O'Mahoney

Mick McGovern

Following Michelle and Lisa Taylor's conviction of the savage murder of Alison Shaugnessy, Bernard O'Mahoney embarked on a successful crusade to prove their innocence. Michelle - who had been having an affair with Alison's husband - had been found guilty of murdering Alison in a jealous rage, and her sister, Lisa, was convicted of aiding her in the brutal attack. During the appeal to clear their names, Bernard O'Mahoney and Michelle began a passionate affair. Then, his suspicions aroused by her obsessive behaviour, O'Mahoney stumbled across a letter which could only mean one thing - Michelle was guilty. Following a heated confrontation, she finally broke down and admitted her guilt. The Dream Solution tells of two dramatic legal battles - one to free the sisters, and the other to prove their guilt.

The Dream Solution

The Murder of Alison Shaughnessy - and the Fight to Name Her Killer

Andy Coogan

Andy Coogan was born in Glasgow in 1917, the oldest child of poor Irish immigrants. He was tipped for Olympic glory, but a promising running career was interrupted by war service. His capture during the fall of Singapore marked the beginning of a three-and-a-half-year nightmare of starvation, torture and disease. 
 
Andy was imprisoned in the notorious Changi camp before being transported to Taiwan, where he worked as a slave in a copper mine and was twice ordered to dig his own grave. He was later taken to Japan on a hellship voyage that nearly killed him, but Andy’s athleticism and spirit enable him to survive an ordeal in which many died. 
 
From his poverty-stricken boyhood in the slums of the Gorbals to the atomic wasteland of Nagasaki, Andy’s life story is vividly recounted in Tomorrow You Die, an epic, compassionate tale that will shock, enthral and inspire.

Tomorrow You Die

The Astonishing Survival Story of a Second World War Prisoner of the Japanese

Colin Fry

When Ron and Reg Kray were sentenced to life imprisonment in 1968, most people thought that was the last they'd hear of two of the most notorious and vicious criminals Britain has ever produced. Instead, the twins and their evil doings have since achieved almost iconic status. Simultaneously, they have become 'Ronnie and Reggie', cuddly Robin Hood characters, little more than a couple of bad lads who loved their mum. 
 
 The Kray Files is an explosive investigative work which strips away the myths that have grown up around the brothers. It examines why the twins were put away, the true extent of their crimes and the truth about the last 30 years, which Ron and Reg spent at the expense of the country while making a quiet fortune through duplicitous dealings from behind bars. It looks at why their brother Charlie turned to drugs as his only way out of a life of deprivation and misery, and tries to discover the reason why some women have found the Krays fatally attractive. 
 
 For the first time ever, The Kray Files goes behind the scenes, painting a vivid picture of the brothers' world through psychological profiling, studying the sociology of the East End of London with the help of academics, and investigating the violent legacy the brothers have left behind.

The Kray Files

The True Story of Britain's Most Notorious Murderers

Peter Mortimer

It was the worst winter in a decade, the winter of foot-and-mouth, when island power cuts ran for up to 72 hours - and two days before Peter Mortimer's planned departure, his father died.100 DAYS ON HOLY ISLAND is a quirky and often moving account of one man's self-imposed exile to a remote island off the coast of North-east England. Eschewing the usual historical or religious portrayal, Mortimer gives a vivid, humourous and often dramatic account of a confirmed urbanite in a small, tight-knit community cut off twice daily by the tides. Throwing himself into island life, he explores the landscape, people and myths that surround this remote `cradle of Chrisianity'. All of Mortimer's experiences within this unique island community are depicted with warmth and humour. The bleak winter scenery and idiosyncrasies of the island's inhabitants are described with an insight and understanding that could only have been achieved from personal experience. He helped in the local school, worked on the land, was the first person to be voluntarily cut off in the island refuge box and spent three tides isolated on the exposed outcrop, St Cuthbert's Island. The 100 days changed him - and probably changed the island. 100 DAYS ON HOLY ISLAND is a personal homage to the island and a remarkable account of a micro-society unique in modern Britain.

100 Days On Holy Island

A Writer's Exile

Sal Polisi

Steve Dougherty

The Mob was the biggest, richest business in America – until it was destroyed from within by drugs, greed and the decline of traditional crime-family values. And by guys like Sal Polisi. 
 
Born into one of the New York Mob’s feared Five Families, Polisi ran an illegal after-hours gambling den, The Sinatra Club, that was a hangout for up-and-coming mobsters like John Gotti and the three wiseguys immortalised in Goodfellas: Henry Hill, Jimmy Burke and Tommy DeSimone. Yet for Polisi, the glory days spent robbing banks and pulling heists were fleeting. When he was busted, and already sickened by the bloodbath that had engulfed the Mob as it teetered towards extinction, he flipped and became one of a breed he had loathed all his life: a rat. 
 
In this riveting first-person chronicle of his brazen crimes, wild sexual escapades and personal tragedies, Polisi tells his story of life inside the New York Mob. With shocking candour, he draws on a hard-won knowledge of Mob history to paint a revelatory picture of the inner workings of the Mafia and its larger-than-life characters.

The Sinatra Club

My Life Inside the New York Mafia

The Krays were a product of their age, nurtured by a doting mother and created by their community, the East End of London. Their name alone conjures up images of power, violence and greed - and even brother Charlie couldn't steer the twins Ron and Reg clear of murder mayhem as they killed their way to the top of the criminal tree. They lived by their own rules. And they died by them. The three brothers will never be forgotten. They are an indelible part of our history, whether we like it or not. And from media manipulation to control freak paranoia, The Krays were masters of deception. Even at the end Reg Kray was still portraying himself as just an ordinary East Ender - mistreated by the Home Office and the police, misunder-stood and mistakenly labelled `Godfather of Crime' by the media. The Kray Anthology traces their history from childhood and early adolescence to manhood and death. This book explores the brothers' fantasy lives, full as they were of mind games and false memories. Whatever you want to know about the Krays and the real reasons behind their success, you can read it here for the first time. Only now can the truth be revealed - without fear of intimidation, retribution or revenge. The Krays are dead and buried, but the myth lives on.

The Krays - The Final Countdown

The Ultimate Biography Of Ron, Reg And Charlie Kray

Diane Blood

Diane Blood first hit the headlines in 1996 when she went to court to fight for the right to use her late husband's sperm to try for the child they had planned together before his sudden death from meningitis. Diane's case caused an ethical storm and was debated in the courts, in Parliament and in the media. With huge public support, yet against almost impossible odds, she won on appeal and went on to have two miraculous little boys. 
 
 The legal battles were not over, however, as the law still prevented Diane from naming the boys' father on their birth certificates. After many hurdles and stumbling blocks, she triumphed again and made constitutional history when the Human Fertilisation and Embryology (Deceased Fathers) Act finally came into force on 1 December 2003 and she was allowed to re-register her children's births. 
 
 Flesh and Blood asks many important questions and helps provide some of the answers. It shows how controversial policies are made that affect all our lives. Beyond that, it is a simple story of life, death and procreation: an incredibly vivid account written by the woman who lived through the despair and jubilation.

Flesh and Blood

The Harrowing and Moving Story of a Mother's Fight to Bear Her Late Husband's Children

Herbert Breslin

Anne Midgette

In 1967, Luciano Pavarotti was an up-and-coming young tenor with a voice far more impressive than his stage technique or presence. So Decca, his record company, told him, 'Luciano, you're a real nice guy. So you need a real bastard to do your publicity.' Enter Herbert Breslin. The two of them hit it off and thus began a professional association and a friendship that lasted over 36 years. 
 
The King and I is the story of that relationship, during which Breslin guided what he calls, justifiably, 'the greatest career in classical music', moving Pavarotti out of the opera house and into the arms of the mass public. He and Pavarotti changed the landscape of opera and Breslin relates the story of their journey in a candid, witty fashion that is often hysterically frank and profane. His portrait of his friend and client is full of hilarious details that could only come from a true insider. 
 
The King and I is the ultimate backstage book about the greatest opera star of the past century - and the last word comes from none other than Luciano Pavarotti himself.

The King and I

The Uncensored Tale of Luciano Pavarotti's Rise to Fame by his Manager, Friend and Sometime Adversary

Jacqueline Pascarl

Can you imagine what it would be like to be swept off your feet by a royal prince to live a charmed life in the marble palaces of an oil-rich nation - and then to watch your fairy-tale romance turn into a nightmare of Islamic superstition, isolation, betrayal and abuse? What would you do if you managed to escape your life of torment - and then your children were kidnapped by their own father? This is what happened to Jacqueline Pascarl. 
 
In Once I Was a Princess, Jacqueline recounts her part in this controversial, headline-grabbing international drama with heart-rending honesty.

Once I Was a Princess

A Mother's Worst Nightmare

Thomas Myler

In Boxing's Hall of Shame, Thomas Myler tells the inside stories of the real fight game. He reveals the sport's heroes and villains, mobsters and fixers, its shame and sorrows, providing the reader with a ringside seat at boxing's greatest and most controversial contests along the way. 
 
This no-holds-barred volume includes the enraged Mike Tyson taking a chunk out of Evander Holyfield's ear; Roberto Duran's baffling retirement against Sugar Ray Leonard; the Riddick Bowe-Andrew Golota fiasco that ended in an ugly full-scale riot; Sonny Liston - whose mobster background was not unknown to boxing authorities - going down under Muhammad Ali's phantom punch; and Jake LaMotta's botched dive against Billy Fox, which turned the 'Raging Bull' into boxing's bad boy overnight. 
 
Boxing's Hall of Shame sensationally revisits the boxing scandals, the fixed fights and the powerful influence of the underworld, taking the reader behind the scenes of the glove sport to reveal the shady underbelly of boxing through the ages.

Boxing's Hall of Shame

The Fight Game's Darkest Days

Kirk Blows

Ben Sharratt

West Ham United last won a major trophy in 1980, but the roller-coaster ride of the past three decades has produced enough twists and turns, heroes and villains and contrasting emotions to grace the script of the most thrilling TV soap opera. 
 
Since Trevor Brooking headed home the FA Cup final winner against Arsenal, the Hammers have experienced delight and despair in not so equal measure, with a cast of controversial characters - either adored or abhorred - playing the key roles in a tale of fact rather than fiction. 
 
The saving of the club by David Sullivan and David Gold, as West Ham stared into the financial abyss following the ill-fated Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson reign, is the latest chapter in a saga that includes numerous promotions and relegations, great escapes, contentious changes of ownership and management, internal feuds, bust-ups and power struggles, the Carlos Tevez affair and the passing of legends Ron Greenwood, John Lyall and Bobby Moore, as well as several false dawns in the endless quest for success. 
 
Including exclusive interviews with key protoganists, Bring Me the Head of Trevor Brooking tells - for the very first time - the inside story behind 60 of the most significant developments at Upton Park in the modern era. Whether examining the contributions of Paolo Di Canio, Harry Redknapp and Frank McAvennie or Gianfranco Zola, Marco Boogers and Iain Dowie, the book celebrates the good, the bad and the ugly of West Ham United.

Bring Me the Head of Trevor Brooking

Three Decades of East End Soap Opera at West Ham United

Alexander Shannon

David Leslie

Alexander Shannon escaped a shady past to enjoy a glittering career in the army, only to end up back in the thick of criminal activity. 
 
Shannon's time as a soldier saw him posted to the Falklands, Northern Ireland and war-torn Bosnia. The rigours of army life took their toll and he found himself drawn into a series of ruthless gang wars. He used the skills he'd learned in the forces to hide weapons, work for drugs racketeers and plot a massacre, and he was offered a fortune to work as a Mafia-style contract assassin. 
 
He was questioned over brutal killings and accused of a triple murder attempt, yet his dedication and determination to succeed in the army brought him accolades and a series of promotions. In The Underworld Captain, Shannon explains how he managed to combine a successful army career with dangerous gangland dealings for so long and how he finally broke free for good.

The Underworld Captain

From Gangland Goodfella To Army Officer

For almost four decades, Margaret 'Mags' McGraw was a keeper of secrets. Her husband, Tam, the notorious 'Licensee', amassed a fortune by leading a safe-cracking gang before masterminding a spectacular £50-million drugs racket. 
 
Mags was a devotee of Tarot cards and fortune telling, so when Tam and his associates wondered whether luck would be with them, it was to her that they turned. But Mags discovered that the cards warned of much more than years in prison cells: they predicted death. She learned that her own husband was also doomed to a fate that was unexpected by everyone but her: Tam died in the arms of the wife he called his 'rock' while her secret lover frantically tried to save him. 
 
In The Gangster's Wife, Mags reveals her gripping life story, from being a London clippie through often hilarious days running an ice-cream van during the infamous Glasgow Ice Cream Wars to managing a notorious bar, being agony aunt to the toughest criminals around, hiding a secret love and sharing a life with The Licensee.

The Gangster's Wife

An Empire Built on Cards

Chris Anderson

A cult figure among loyalists, despised and feared by nationalists, Billy 'King Rat' Wright is reputed to have been involved in a number of sectarian murders before he himself was shot dead by republican gunmen inside the Maze 
Prison in 1997. 
 
Wright became involved with loyalist paramilitaries at the age of 16, and in the early 1990s he emerged as the UVF commander in the Mid-Ulster area. The Billy Boy documents Wright's role in the Drumcree dispute of 1995-96 and his split from the UVF, recounting how he ignored both a death threat and an order to leave Northern Ireland, only to remain in Portadown and form the Loyalist Volunteer Force. It covers Wright's trial and subsequent imprisonment for a crime it has been claimed was set up by the State; recounts the circumstances of his killing inside a top-security prison; and investigates the allegations of State collusion in Wright's death. 
 
Terrifically gripping and often disturbing, The Billy Boy is an exhaustive account of a notorious figure of the Troubles, whose life and death were surrounded by controversy and political debate.

The Billy Boy

The Life and Death of LVF Leader Billy Wright

William Roache

In 50 Years on the Street: My Life with Ken Barlow, William Roache reflects on half a century of treasured memories accumulated during his time working on the long-running soap. He revisits the programme's most memorable moments and ponders the secret of its success while exploring the history of the show from its very early days of live broadcasts to the current demands of the Street's schedule. 
 
Roache reveals what it is like to have played the perennially popular role of Ken Barlow since the very first episode in December 1960 and reflects upon the actors he has worked with during the past 50 years, using his unique perspective to provide insights and anecdotes galore. 
 
50 Years on the Street: My Life with Ken Barlow is a celebration of William Roache's acting career following a year that marked a very special anniversary both for him and for Coronation Street.

50 Years on the Street

My Life with Ken Barlow

Elaine C Smith

'How did I end up here?' A question Elaine C. Smith asked herself when sitting in the dressing-room of a top theatre in London's West End, about to go on stage with one of the UK's most successful plays. 
 
In Nothing Like a Dame, Elaine reflects on a 50-year journey that took her to the peak of the entertainment world. She recounts her long struggle to make it in a male-dominated, working-class society when women were supposed to just shut up and stay thin, especially in the sexist world of theatre and television, where she was told, 'Look, women just aren't funny.' 
 
Despite many highs and lows, she proceeded to forge a stellar career in show business, hosting her own TV series and becoming a household name thanks to her comic portrayal of Mary Nesbitt, the long-suffering wife in the award-winning BBC comedy Rab C. Nesbitt. 
 
Nothing Like a Dame is a heart-warming memoir: candid, outspoken, hilarious and at times deeply sad.

Nothing Like a Dame

My Autobiography

At seventeen, Jacqueline Pascarl married a royal prince and embarked on what she believed would be a fairy-tale existence. But it soon became a nightmare. After years of abuse at the hands of her husband, Jacqueline escaped with her children, hoping to leave her past behind. But what followed would haunt her for the next fourteen years. 
 
In this heart-rending story, Jacqueline describes how her husband kidnapped their two young children and forced them to cut off all contact with her. She tells of the pain and helplessness she felt at their loss but also of how she channelled her grief, forging an existence as an aid worker and humanitarian ambassador, all the while desperately hoping to hear news of them. 
 
In 2006, she was reunited with her long-lost children, and in Abducted she reveals the dramatic events that led to their meeting. This is a candid, compelling account of living under the shadow of child abduction. It is an unforgettable ride through tragedy, loss and, finally, triumph.

Abducted

The Fourteen-Year Fight to Find My Children

Chelsea Haywood

Step into the surreal world of a Tokyo hostess club and gain an exclusive underground pass courtesy of Chelsea Haywood as she sets out to explore a vocation where £400 dinners, Harajuku shopping sprees and first-class trips to Kyoto are just part of the job. 
 
This is the true story of one girl's immersion in the world of hostessing, a late-night entertainment for wealthy Japanese men drawn from the traditional institution of the geisha. In an attempt to make the foreign familiar, Chelsea's initial fascination takes an unexpected turn as she struggles to maintain sanity in an illusory world full of empty flattery, unrelenting temptation and material excess.

90-Day Geisha

My Time as a Tokyo Hostess

David Lister

Hugh Jordan

A mindless sectarian psychopath or a loyalist folk hero who took the war to the IRA's front door? The name Johnny 'Mad Dog' Adair is synonymous with a killing spree by loyalist terrorists that took Northern Ireland to the brink of civil war. 
 
From humble beginnings as a rioter and glue-sniffer on Belfast's Shankill Road, Adair rose through the ranks of the outlawed Ulster Freedom Fighters to head its merciless killing machine, 'C Company'. Surrounded by a group of trusted friends, his reign of terror in the early 1990s claimed the lives of up to 40 Catholics, picked out at random as Adair's hitmen roamed Belfast. Determined to lead from the front, his men even fired a rocket at Sinn Fein's headquarters, writing themselves into loyalist mythology and embarrassing the IRA in its republican heartland. Its desperate attempts to kill Adair culminated in October 1993, when a bomb on the Shankill Road, intended for the loyalist godfather, claimed the lives of nine Protestant civilians. 
 
Mad Dog: The Rise and Fall of Johnny Adair and 'C Company' describes in graphic detail Adair's criminal empire and an egomaniac's bloody war against Catholics and anybody else who got in his way. Adair's friends and enemies talk for the first time about the murders he ordered, his sordid personal life, and his attempts - ultimately disastrous - to become Northern Ireland's supreme loyalist figurehead.

Mad Dog

The Rise and Fall of Johnny Adair and 'C Company'

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