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Books > Fiction > True stories > Endurance & survival
A TOP 10 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2018 SPORTS
BOOK AWARDS LONGLISTED FOR THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR
2017 The incredible true story of four ordinary working mums from
Yorkshire who took on an extraordinary challenge and broke a world
record along the way. Janette, Frances, Helen and Niki, though all
from Yorkshire, were four very different women, all juggling full
time jobs alongside being mothers to each of their 2 children. They
could never be described as athletes, but they were determined to
be busy and the local Saturday morning rowing club was the perfect
place to go to have a laugh and a gossip, get the blood pumping in
the open air, and feel invigorated. Brought together by their love
of rowing, they quickly became firm friends, and it wasn't long
before they cooked up a crazy idea over a few glasses of wine:
together, they were going to do something that fewer people than
had gone into space or climbed Everest had succeeded in doing. They
were going to cross 3,000 miles of treacherous ocean in the
toughest row in the world, The Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge.
Yes, they had children and husbands that they would be leaving
behind for two months, yes they had businesses to run, mortgages to
pay, responsibilities. And there was that little thing of them all
being in their 40s and 50s. But two years of planning, preparation,
fundraising, training and difficult conversations later, and they
found themselves standing on the edge of the San Sebastian harbour
in the Canary Islands, petrified, exhilarated and ready to head up
the race of their lives. This is the story of how four friends
together had the audacity to go on a wild, terrifying and beautiful
adventure, not to escape life, but for life not to escape them.
Meet Renee and Herta, two sisters who faced the unimaginable -
together. This is their true story. RENEE: I was ten years old
then, and my sister was eight. The responsibility was on me to warn
everyone when the soldiers were coming because my sister and both
my parents were deaf. I was my family's ears. As Jews living in
1940s Czechoslovakia, Renee, Herta and their parents were in
immediate danger when the Holocaust came to their door. As the only
hearing person in her family, Renee had to alert her parents and
sister whenever the sound of Nazi boots approached their home so
they could hide. But soon their parents were tragically taken away,
and the two sisters went on the run, desperate to find a safe place
to hide. Eventually they, too, would be captured and taken to the
concentration camp Bergen-Belsen. Communicating in sign language
and relying on each other for strength in the midst of illness,
death and starvation, Renee and Herta would have to fight to
survive the darkest of times. This gripping memoir, told in a vivid
'oral history' format, is a testament to the power of sisterhood
and love, and now more than ever a reminder of how important it is
to honour the past, and keep telling our own stories. A memoir of
the Holocaust Perfect for those who want to learn more about the
experiences of people during this period of time in history Written
with Joshua M. Greene, a renowned Holocaust scholar.
A powerful memoir of overcoming adversity that will inspire you to
find strength from within and shape your own destiny. Bharti Dhir
faced many challenges in her childhood that could have broken her.
As a baby, she was abandoned at a roadside in the Ugandan heat, and
miraculously found by a passerby. By divine guidance, Bharti's
adoptive mother was led to her hospital cot and welcomed Bharti
into their Punjabi-Sikh family. Despite experiencing sexism and
racism as an Asian-African girl, and developing an incurable skin
condition, Bharti found hope through the fear and prejudice. Then,
in 1972 when Idi Amin expelled Asians from Uganda, Bharti's family
were forced to flee to the UK. She remembers the horrific moment
when her adoptive mother was ordered, at gunpoint, to abandon
Bharti because of the colour of her skin. With incredible courage,
she refused, risking their lives to protect Bharti as her own.
Throughout her struggles, Bharti retained faith in a divine power
within all of us that gives us strength, protects us and loves us
unconditionally. Years later, now a social worker specializing in
child protection, Bharti lives in the UK with an adopted daughter
of her own and has found her true purpose and sense of self-worth.
Roald Amundsen records his race to be the first man to reach the
South Pole. Amundsen's expertise enabled him to succeed where his
predecessors, and competitors, did not. His rival Captain Robert F.
Scott not only failed to reach the Pole first, but due to poor
preparation and miscalculation died with the rest of his party on
their return trip. The South Pole remains one of the greatest and
most important books on polar exploration.
In 1973, Norma Cobb, her husband Lester, and the their five children, the oldest of whom was nine-years-old and the youngest, twins, barely one, pulled up stakes in the Lower Forty-eight and headed north to Alaska to follow a pioneer dream of claiming land under the Homestead Act. The only land available lay north of Fairbanks near the Arctic Circle where grizzlies outnumbered humans twenty to one. In addition to fierce winters and predatory animals, the Alaskan frontier drew the more unsavory elements of society’s fringes. From the beginning, the Cobbs found themselves pitted in a life or death feud with unscrupulous neighbors who would rob from new settlers, attempt to burn them out, shoot them, and jump their claim.
The Cobbs were chechakos, tenderfeet, in a lost land that consumed even toughened settlers. Everything, including their “civilized” past, conspired to defeat them. They constructed a cabin and the first snow collapsed the roof. They built too close to the creek and spring breakup threatened to flood them out. Bears prowled the nearby woods, stalking the children, and Lester Cobb would leave for months at a time in search of work.
But through it all, they survived on the strength of Norma Cobb---a woman whose love for her family knew no bounds and whose courage in the face of mortal danger is an inspiration to us all. This is her story.
Children of the Revolution is a book of converging worlds. In it
you discover the very human weave of courage, perseverance and
vision, woven with a delightful touch of humour and surprise. It
also has the beguiling pattern of a journey unfolding. And as it
unfolds, you learn. And you are inspired. Children of the
Revolution, by Feroze Dada, is a story which begins with a chance
meeting at a family gathering in Burma (Myanmar) with a freedom
fighter from the Pa'O region in the northeast of the country, and
which then takes you on to a monastery on the shores of beautiful
Inle Lake in Shan State. There, at the Buddhist monastery of Phaya
Taung, the head monk Phongyi is passionately caring for and
teaching more than 600 orphaned and refugee children of the
revolutionary wars. You discover that both the freedom fighter and
the Buddhist monk are in their different ways forces of nature, or
men of action, and while you learn about their lives, you also find
the human goodness that shines in the darkness of war, and you
witness the path of the dhamma in the world. You cannot fail to be
encouraged by Phongyi's example to `go beyond one's imagination
because there is no limit'. But at the same time, another story is
unfolding, and that is the journey of self-discovery of Feroze
Dada, who moves with his Burmese wife MuMu between his metropolitan
western life and Taunggyi in the northeast of Burma, where her
family live, and in doing so finds a new reality and purpose.
Feroze is a man of action too, as you will discover. And he has
written an inspirational story which is all the more powerful when
you consider that his reasons for making the journey are literally
a world away from what transpired. There are no accidents, the law
of karma tells us, but we're not the sole cause of our experiences
either.
THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER 'Beautifully-penned story on the
harshness of life and how hope survives' - Sun 'Absorbing . . .
Marsh writes with a novelistic flair' - Daily Mail From the grimy
streets of Acton and Notting Hill to the bright lights of the West
End, Sunday Times bestselling author Beezy Marsh's All My Mother's
Secrets is a powerful, uplifting story of a young woman's struggle
to come to terms with her family's tragic past. Annie Austin's
childhood ends at the age of twelve, when she joins her mother in
one of the slum laundries of Acton, working long hours for little
pay. What spare time she has is spent looking after her younger
brother George and her two stepsisters, under the glowering eye of
her stepfather Bill. In London between the wars, a girl like Annie
has few choices in life - but a powerful secret will change her
destiny. All Annie knows about her real father is that he died in
the Great War, and as the years pass she is haunted by the pain of
losing him. Her downtrodden mother won't tell her more and Annie's
attempts to uncover the truth threaten to destroy her family.
Distraught, she runs away to Covent Garden, but can she survive on
her own and find the love which has eluded her so far?
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Dear Kobe
(Hardcover)
Patricia Schwindt, Sidoeun Sean
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Discovery Miles 4 840
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The incredible Sunday Times No. 1 bestseller from the million-copy
bestselling author of the phenomenon and 80-week Sunday Times
bestselling The Salt Path 'Beautiful, a thrill to read . . . you
feel the world is a better place because Raynor and Moth are in it'
The Times 'Winn's writing transforms her surroundings and her
spirits, her joy coming across clearly in her shimmering prose' i
'A beautiful, luminous and magical piece of writing' Rachel Joyce,
author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry _______ 'It was the
land, the earth, the deep humming background to my very being' In
2016, days before they were unjustly evicted from their home,
Raynor Winn was told her husband Moth was dying. Instead of giving
up they embarked on a life-changing journey: walking the 630-mile
South West Coast Path, living by their wits, determination and love
of nature. But all journeys must end and when the couple return to
civilisation they find that four walls feel like a prison, cutting
them off from the sea and sky that sustained them - that had saved
Moth's life. So when the chance to rewild an old Cornish farm comes
their way, they grasp it, hoping they'll not only reconnect with
the natural world but also find themselves once again on its
healing path . . . _______ 'Confirms Raynor as a natural and
extremely talented writer with an incredible way with words. This
book gives us all what we wanted to know at the end of The Salt
Path which is what happened next. So moving, it made me cry . . .
repeatedly' Sophie Raworth, BBC 'Brilliant, powerful and touching .
. . will connect with anyone who has triumphed over adversity'
Stephen Moss, author and naturalist 'Unflinching . . . There is a
luminous conviction to the prose' Observer 'Notions of home are
poignantly explored . . . wonderful' Guardian LONGLISTED FOR THE
WAINWRIGHT PRIZE 2021 **Nominated for the Holyer an Gof Memoir
Award** Praise for The Salt Path 'An astonishing narrative of two
people dragging themselves from the depths of despair along some of
the most dramatic landscapes in the country, looking for a solution
to their problems and ultimately finding themselves' Independent
'This is what you need right now to muster hope and resilience . .
. a beautiful story and a reminder that humans can endure
adversity' Stylist 'The landscape is magical: shapeshifting seas
and smugglers' coves; myriads of sea birds and mauve skies. Raynor
writes exquisitely . . . it's a tale of triumph; of hope over
despair, of love over everything' The Sunday Times 'The Salt Path
is a life-affirming tale of enduring love that smells of the sea
and tastes of a rich life. With beautiful, immersive writing, it is
a story heart-achingly and beautifully told' Jackie Morris,
illustrator of The Lost Words by Robert Macfarlane
When Mimi first started jogging on a treadmill as an unfit
36-year-old mother-of-three, she never imagined she would go on to
become a World-Record-breaking ultrarunner. After coming to terms
with the anorexia that had impacted her life from a young age, Mimi
begins to reassess her relationship with food and finds a new
resolve in running. With a renewed sense of purpose, she decides to
take the sport that saved her life to the next level, training hard
and throwing herself in at the deep end by entering the epic
Marathon des Sables in the Sahara desert, despite still being a
novice runner. One startling success leads to another, as she finds
herself taking on ever-more-challenging races - from the Badwater
Ultramarathon in Death Valley, USA, to the 6633 Arctic Ultra - all
building up to her biggest challenge yet: attempting to gain the
Guinness World Record time for a female running 840 miles from John
o'Groats to Land's End. This incredible story of how an ordinary
mum ran her way into the record books will inspire beginner runners
and die-hard marathon devotees alike, proving that, no matter where
life takes you, it's never too late to achieve your dreams and do
the impossible.
25 medal winners - the bravest of the brave - from the Army, the
Royal Marine Commandos and the RAF describe, in their own words,
the astonishing actions which led to their awards.
In October 1991, three weather systems collided off the coast of
Nova Scotia to create a storm of singular fury, boasting waves over
one hundred feet high. Among its victims was the Gloucester,
Massachusetts-based swordfishing boat the Andrea Gail, which
vanished with all six crew members aboard. "Drifting down on
swimmers is standard rescue procedure, but the seas are so violent
that Buschor keeps getting flung out of reach. There are times when
he's thirty feet higher than the men trying to rescue him. . . .
[I]f the boat's not going to Buschor, Buschor's going to have to go
to it. SWIM! they scream over the rail. SWIM! Buschor rips off his
gloves and hood and starts swimming for his life." It was the storm
of the century, boasting waves over one hundred feet high a tempest
created by so rare a combination of factors that meteorologists
deemed it "the perfect storm." When it struck in October 1991,
there was virtually no warning. "She's comin' on, boys, and she's
comin' on strong," radioed Captain Billy Tyne of the Andrea Gail
off the coast of Nova Scotia, and soon afterward the boat and its
crew of six disappeared without a trace. In a book taut with the
fury of the elements, Sebastian Junger takes us deep into the heart
of the storm, depicting with vivid detail the courage, terror, and
awe that surface in such a gale. Junger illuminates a world of
swordfishermen consumed by the dangerous but lucrative trade of
offshore fishing, "a young man's game, a single man's game," and
gives us a glimpse of their lives in the tough fishing port of
Gloucester, Massachusetts; he recreates the last moments of the
Andrea Gail crew and recounts the daring high-seas rescues that
made heroes of some and victims of others; and he weaves together
the history of the fishing industry, the science of storms, and the
candid accounts of the people whose lives the storm touched, to
produce a rich and informed narrative. The Perfect Storm is a
real-life thriller that will leave readers with the taste of salt
air on their tongues and a sense of terror of the deep.
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