Michael Symmons Roberts’s fourth book of poetry, Corpus, was the winner of the 2004 Whitbread Poetry Award, and was shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prize, the Forward Prize, and the Griffin International Prize. His sixth collection, Drysalter, was the winner of both the Forward Prize and the Costa Poetry Prize in 2013. He collaborated with Paul Farley on Edgelands (Cape/Vintage) and will do so again in The Deaths of the Poets (Cape, 2017). He has also worked many times with the composer James MacMillan. He has published two novels, and is Professor of Poetry at Manchester Metropolitan University.

Michael Symmons Roberts

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Clifford Irving

'I was down to my last chip, but it never occurred to me not to put it on the line, bet it, and roll the dice one more time . . .' 
 
In 1972 Clifford Irving pulled a sensational hoax involving Howard Hughes, a prestigious New York publishing house and over a million dollars. It made global newspaper headlines and was heralded as the biggest media scam of all time. Its dramatic events have now been made into an international blockbuster film starring Richard Gere. 
 
In his bestselling book The Hoax Clifford Irving recreates his own audacious literary sting when he and fellow conspirator, Dick Suskind, convinced US publisher McGraw-Hill that Howard Hughes, the reclusive billionaire, had commissioned Irving to write his authorised autobiography. A frantic year ensued while Irving forged letters and passports, faked interviews, set up a Swiss bank account and travelled thousands of miles to maintain his story, all the while desperately trying to juggle a wife, a mistress and an editor. Gradually the cracks in the plot started to appear and the nightmare began as Irving and Suskind realised they were set on a crash course towards indictment, conviction and jail.

The Hoax

Scott Galloway

‘A fantastic, provocative book about where we are now and where we are going’ Phil Simon Huffington Post 
 
Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google are the four most influential companies on the planet. Just about everyone thinks they know how they got there. Just about everyone is wrong. 
 
For all that’s been written about the Four over the last two decades, no one has captured their power and staggering success as insightfully as Scott Galloway. 
 
Instead of buying the myths these companies broadcast, Galloway asks fundamental questions: 
- How did the Four infiltrate our lives so completely that they’re almost impossible to avoid (or boycott)? 
- Why does the stock market forgive them for sins that would destroy other firms? 
- And as they race to become the world’s first trillion-dollar company, can anyone challenge them? 
 
In the same irreverent style that has made him one of the world’s most celebrated business professors, Galloway deconstructs the strategies of the Four that lurk beneath their shiny veneers. He shows how they manipulate the fundamental emotional needs that have driven us since our ancestors lived in caves, at a speed and scope others can’t match. And he reveals how you can apply the lessons of their ascent to your own business or career. 
 
Whether you want to compete with them, do business with them, or simply live in the world they dominate, you need to understand the Four.

The Four

The Hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google

Alan Brazil

'The only book that will give you a hangover' Chris Evans Breakfast Show 
--- 
The hilarious, no holds barred autobiography from sporting legend and broadcaster Alan Brazil. 
 
As Alan recounts tales from his extraordinary life, he relives the sporting occasions, radio broadcasts and famously long drinking sessions that have defined his career. He takes readers inside the talkSPORT studio for a behind-the-scenes view of his most memorable interviews, and talks for the first time about the on-pitch rivalries and dressing room debriefs of his footballing career. 
 
With his typically outspoken and irreverent delivery, Alan shares everything from his thoughts on how the sports he loves have changed to his top tips for picking winners (and many losers) at Cheltenham. And he revels in wine-soaked jaunts in the South of France and late-night supermarket sweeps with Ray Parlour - if you can keep up. 
 
Packed full of never-before-told stories, refreshing appraisals, sporting controversy and a cast of larger-than-life characters, this is a brutally honesty and wickedly funny insight into an extraordinary life.

Only Here For A Visit

A Life Lived to the Full – from Sporting Glories to Wild Stories

John Peel

John Ravenscroft

Alexandra Ravenscroft

Florence Ravenscroft

Sheila Ravenscroft

Thomas Ravenscroft

William Ravenscroft

Through nigh-on forty years of laconic brilliance on Radio 1, a musical taste which defined a culture and his wildly popular Radio 4 show, Home Truths, John Peel reached out to an audience that was as diverse as his record collection. He was a genuinely great Briton, beloved by millions. John's unique voice and sensibility were evident in everything he did, and nowhere is that more true than in these pages. 
 
Margrave of the Marshes is the astonishing book John Peel began to write before his untimely death in October 2004, completed by the woman who knew him best, his wife Sheila. It is a unique and intimate portrait of a life, a marriage and a family which is every bit as extraordinary as the man himself - a fitting tribute to a bona fide legend.

Margrave Of The Marshes

Danielle Steel

New York. London. Milan. Paris. Fashion week in all four cities. A month of endless interviews, parties, unflagging work and attention to detail. At the centre of the storm is Timmie O’Neill, who has created an international empire that inspires, fills, and consumes her life. 
 
 Yet as blessed as Timmie feels by her success, she harbours the private wounds of a devastating childhood and past tragedy. Always willing to take risks in business, she never risks her heart – until an intriguing Frenchman comes into her life during Paris Fashion Week. 
 
 There is every reason why they must remain apart. But neither can deny their growing friendship and the electricity that sparks whenever they meet. Are they brave enough to face what comes next?

First Sight

Brian Merchant

The secret history of the invention that changed everything and became the most profitable product in the world. 
 
Odds are that as you read this, an iPhone is within reach. But before Steve Jobs introduced us to 'the one device', as he called it, a mobile phone was merely what you used to make calls on the go. 
 
How did the iPhone transform our world and turn Apple into the most valuable company ever? Veteran technology journalist Brian Merchant reveals the inside story you won't hear from Cupertino - based on his exclusive interviews with the engineers, inventors and developers who guided every stage of the iPhone's creation. 
 
This deep dive takes you from inside 1 Infinite Loop to nineteenth-century France to WWII America, from the driest place on earth to a Kenyan pit of toxic e-waste, and even deep inside Shenzhen's notorious 'suicide factories'. It's a first-hand look at how the cutting-edge tech that makes the world work - touch screens, motion trackers and even AI - made its way into our pockets. 
 
The One Device is a road map for design and engineering genius, an anthropology of the modern age and an unprecedented view into one of the most secretive companies in history. This is the untold account, ten years in the making, of the device that changed everything.

The One Device

The Secret History of the iPhone

John Sweeney

North Korea is like no other tyranny on earth. It is Orwell’s 1984 made reality. 
 
The regime controls the flow of information to its citizens, pouring relentless propaganda through omnipresent loud speakers. Free speech is an illusion: one word out of line and the gulag awaits. State spies are everywhere, ready to punish disloyalty and the slightest sign of discontent. 
 
You must bow to Kim Il Sung, the Eternal Leader and to his son, Generalissimo Kim Jong Il. Worship the dead and then hail the living, the Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un. 
 
North Koreans are told their home is the greatest nation on earth. Big Brother is always watching. 
 
Posing as a university professor, award-winning BBC journalist John Sweeney travelled undercover to gain unprecedented access to the world’s most secret state. Drawing on his own experiences and his extensive interviews with defectors and other key witnesses, North Korea Undercover pulls back the curtain, providing a rare insight into life there today, examining the country’s troubled history and addressing important questions about its uncertain future. 
 
Sweeney’s highly engaging, authoritative account illuminates the dark side of the Hermit Kingdom and challenges the West’s perception of this paranoid nationalist state.

North Korea Undercover

Jack Ewing

A shocking exposé of Volkswagen’s fraud by the New York Times reporter who covered the scandal. 
 
Updated with a New Afterword by the Author. 
 
When news of Volkswagen’s clean diesel fraud first broke in September 2015, it sent shockwaves around the world. Overnight, the company long associated with quality, reliability and trust became a universal symbol of greed and deception. Consumers were outraged, investors panicked, the company embarrassed and facing bankruptcy. 
 
As lawsuits and criminal investigations piled up, by August 2016 VW had settled with American regulators and car-owners for $15 billion, with additional fines and claims still looming. 
 
In Faster, Higher, Farther, Jack Ewing rips the lid off the scandal. He describes VW’s rise from “the people’s car” during the Nazi era to one of Germany’s most prestigious and important global brands, touted for being “green.” He paints vivid portraits of Volkswagen chairman Ferdinand Piëch and chief executive Martin Winterkorn, arguing that their unremitting ambition drove employees, working feverishly in pursuit of impossible sales targets, to illegal methods. 
 
With unprecedented access to key players and a ringside seat during the course of the legal proceedings, Faster, Higher, Farther reveals how the succeed-at-all-costs culture prevalent in modern boardrooms led to one of corporate history’s farthest-reaching cases of fraud—with potentially devastating consequences. 
 
As the future of one of the world’s biggest companies remains uncertain, this is the extraordinary story of Volkswagen’s downfall.

Faster, Higher, Farther

The Inside Story of the Volkswagen Scandal

Imogen Edwards-Jones

How does it feel to live and work in the world's most beautiful and luxurious tropical island resort, surrounded by white sandy beaches and aquamarine seas? How does it feel to be in the lap of luxury when you're thousands of miles from anywhere else? And when the guests are some of the richest and most demanding people in the world, where do you find the energy every day to smile, smile and smile again? 
 
Beach Babylon takes you behind the scenes at a five-star tropical island resort. Do all the stories which take place behind the closed doors of the exclusive spa have happy endings? What do the world's richest people expect from room service during their fortnight in paradise? What does the windsurfing instructor do to keep sane after hours? 
 
In the bestselling tradition of her previous Babylon books, Imogen Edwards-Jones investigates the rivalries and alliances between the staff at a resort where pandering to the guests' most extravagant whims is de rigueur. With a cast of millionaires, celebrities, hangers-on and prostitutes, Beach Babylon takes you to a world where extreme luxury is the norm and where excess somehow isn't always enough...

Beach Babylon

Brad Stone

**Winner of the Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award** 
 'Brad Stone's definitive book on Amazon and Bezos' The Guardian 
 
'A masterclass in deeply researched investigative financial journalism . . . riveting' The Times 
 
The definitive story of the largest and most influential company in the world and the man whose drive and determination changed business forever. 
 
Though Amazon.com started off delivering books through the mail, its visionary founder, Jeff Bezos, was never content with being just a bookseller. He wanted Amazon to become 'the everything store', offering limitless selection and seductive convenience at disruptively low prices. To achieve that end, he developed a corporate culture of relentless ambition and secrecy that's never been cracked. Until now... 
 
Jeff Bezos stands out for his relentless pursuit of new markets, leading Amazon into risky new ventures like the Kindle and cloud computing, and transforming retail in the same way that Henry Ford revolutionised manufacturing. 
Amazon placed one of the first and largest bets on the Internet. Nothing would ever be the same again.

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