Biography & autobiography

The Confessions of St. Augustine

by St Augustine & Rosalie A. A. de de Rossett

St. Augustine grates hard against "the anatomy of evil" while dealing succinctly and honestly with his own proneness toward sin.  From his infatuation with its initial beauty to the discounting of his previously...

A Birmingham Backstreet Boyhood

by Graham Twist

A Birmingham Backstreet Boyhood is a fascinating recollection of the experience of growing up in the slums of Nechells and Aston. All the harshness of daily life is remembered here by local author Graham Twist....

Where I Belong: A Forest of Dean Childhood in the 1930s

by Joyce Latham

Here, in the latest edition of her first book, the late Joyce Latham looks back on her childhood days - the 1930s and the war time years - in a way that will bring memories flooding back for readers of or around...

Growing Up in Wartime Uxbridge

by James Skinnner

From a child's viewpoint, the pre-war years of the 1930s were full of carefree, halcyon days when the sun always used to shine, but for many people the 1930s were, regrettably, quite the opposite. In this nostalgic...

Growing Up In Wartime Southampton: Someone Else's Trousers

by James Marsh

This is a story spanning some of the most turbulent decades in recent world history. James Marsh was born during the first year of the Second World War and many of his infant years were spent in air-raid shelters...

Growing Up In Sussex: From Schoolboy to Soldier

by Gerry Wells

This compelling memoir starts with a boy's journey through the early years of the 1930s: days of the rag and bone man, street lamplighters, Hercule Poirot, and in the background, Hitler. Then life gets real:...

Growing Up In Cambridge: From Austerity to Prosperity

by Alex Forshaw

This fascinating story of life in Cambridge is written from the idiosyncratic perspective of an author who not only grew up in the city during the 1950s and 1960s, but who also attended its prestigious university....

Growing Up In A Welsh Valley: Beneath a Valley Sky

by Bronwen Hosie

This second collection of nostalgic, humorous and moving tales follows Rhymney - born Dai Morrissey as he leaves the Valley aged eighteen. Dai travels to England where he works for Huson and Terraplane, fitting...

Child from Home: Memories of a North London Evacuee

by John Wright

In 1939, John Wright, a four-year-old boy from a deprived but loving Middlesbrough home, was uprooted from his family and evacuated to a large house in North Yorkshire, requisitioned as a nursery school. His...

Bringing Uncle Albert Home: A Soldier's Tale

by David P Whithorn

Private Albert Turley was just an ordinary British soldier of the First World War. He died on the Somme for King and Country. He didn't win any medals for gallantry and has no known grave. Like thousands more...

Titanic Valour: The Life of Fifth Officer Harold Lowe

by Inger Sheil

Harold Lowe, Fifth Officer of RMS Titanic, was described by another survivor as 'the real hero of the Titanic'. After taking an active role in the evacuation, Lowe took command of a raft of lifeboats, distributing...

Jane Austen

by Helen Lefroy

Jane Austen's reputation rests on the six novels she wrote in her short life - enduringly popular novels which have become part of the fabric of English life, and which have reached new audiences through recent...

Mao Zedong

by Delia Davin

Mao Zedong, first chairman of the People's Republic of China, one of the founders of the Chinese Communist Party, and the architect of the Cultural Revolution, was active in Chinese politics for most of his...

Coxinga and the Fall of the Ming Dynasty

by Jonathan Clements

This is the fantastic true story of the infamous pirate; Coxinga who became king of Taiwan and was made a god - twice. From humble origins, Coxinga's father became the richest man in China and Admiral of the...

The Orphanage

by Richard Bergeron & Peter McCambridge

The story of a public personality—the possible future mayor of Montreal—this memoir recounts how Richard Bergeron and his four brothers lived in an orphanage for five years in the 1960s. Set in a small city...

The Top Gear Story: The 100% Unofficial Story of the Most Famous Car Show . . . In the World

by Martin Roach

The full story of the unstoppable rise of Clarkson, Hammond, May, and the Stig—and how they created one of the most famous TV shows of the 21st century

Reaching a peak in the 1990s thanks to presenter Jeremy...

Mad Dog

by Johnny Adair

Johnny "Mad Dog" Adair earned his reputation as a paramilitary leader seeking freedom and peace in Northern Ireland. The authorities hold him responsible for 41 murders and he became known as the most feared...

Piers Morgan: The Biography

by Emily Herbert

The real story behind the man who scored one of the biggest gigs in television, replacing Larry King as the anchor on his CNN show Piers Morgan's talents seem to know no bounds—he's interviewed scores of...

Gangsters, Guns and Me

by Jamie Foreman

Jamie Foreman is one of Britain's most iconic actors. He is also the son of Britain's most notorious gangster, Freddie Foreman. Jamie's life has been anything but ordinary. Right from the start, his world was...

Blaggers Inc: Britain's Biggest Armed Robberies

by Terry Smith

A fascinating insider's insight into Britain's most infamous organised robberies. This type of highly organised criminal trade is best left to the professionals and should be avoided at all cost-as even professionals...