The courageous, inspiring story of Sarbjit Kaur Athwal, who bravely fought for justice, risking her own life, after her sister-in-law was murdered in an honor killing by her husband's familyIn 1998, Sarbjit Athwal was called by her husband to attend a family meeting. It looked like just another family gathering. An attractive house in west London, a large dining room, two brothers, their mother, one wife. But the subject they were discussing was anything but ordinary. At the head of the group sat the elderly mother. She stared proudly around, smiling at her children, then raised her hand for silence. "It's decided then," the old lady announced. "We have to get rid of her." "Her" was Surjit Athwal, Sarbjit's sister-in-law. Within three weeks of that meeting, Surjit was dead: lured from London to India, drugged, strangled, and her body dumped in the Ravi River, never to be seen again."""After the killing, risking her own life, Sarbjit fought secretly for justice for nine long, scared years. Eventually, with immense bravery, she became the first person within a murderer's family ever to go into open court in an honor killing trial as the prosecution's key witness, and the first to waive her anonymity in such a trial. As a result of her testimony, the trial led to the first successful prosecution of an honor killing without the body ever being found. But her story doesn't end there. Since the trial, her life has been threatened; her own husband arrested after an allegation of intimidation. This is a story of fear and of horror--but also of immense courage, and a woman who risked everything to see that justice was done.

Kate Holden's] road to recovery begins when she starts working in a brothel. The clients seem to fit the same distribution curve - brutish at one end, sweet at the other - but now that the trade is coming to her, she draws strength from the power of her allure, starts to take pride in her work, and discovers she's good at it. This surprising trajectory, along with its searing intellectual and emotional honesty and the quality of the writing, easily sets In My Skin apart from most other my-substance-abuse-hell memoirs. - The Independent on Sunday 21/05/06. Her vivid narrative voice lends a gritty poetry to her tale of heroin addiction, half-hearted rehab and prostitution. The book's power to shock rests in its contrasts; the life Kate led during her 20s may have been unexceptional for many young women, but not for a pretty, intelligent, middle-class girl with a classics degree, a job in a bookshop and a loving family of liberal, politically aware academics. She conjures with glittering clarity the sense of invincibility that comes with the first taste of adult life, the belief that drugs can make love and art transcendent, the conviction that you are in control.In My Skin is a compelling story of love and squalor that retains humanity and sympathy. - The Observer, 14/05/06.

THE LONG-AWAITED, MOVING MEMOIR OF HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR HANNAH PICK-GOSLAR, WHO SHARES AN INTIMATE LOOK INTO HER LIFE AND FRIENDSHIP WITH ANNE FRANK. 'As a girl I witnessed the world I loved crumble and vanish, destroyed by senseless hatred, and with it, my best friend Anne' Two best friends' lives were about to change for ever, neither would ever be forgotten... When Hannah's family flee from the Nazi to Amsterdam, she soon strikes up a friendship with a girl just like her freshly arrived from Germany. Precocious and outspoken, the girl's name is Anne Frank and for seven blissful years the inseparable pair navigate school, boys and coming of age. Then one day in 1942, as the Nazi occupation intensifies, they are separated without warning. Hannah calls on Anne and can't find a trace of her, breakfast dishes still in the sink, beds unmade. Anne and her family have seemingly vanished. They are told the Franks have fled to Switzerland. As Hannah is tormented by the fate of her friend, hoping she is alive and well elsewhere, her own family's fate unfolds. After attempts to flee themselves, the SS finally come for them and they are taken to the transit camp Westerbork. Eventually Hannah, her father and younger sister Gabi are transported to Bergen-Belsen. Amid horrific conditions with death all around, it is during Hannah's darkest point at the concentration camp that she hears astonishing of news of Anne. Desperate to save her friend who is weak and struggling to survive, Hannah risks her life to help her. In an incredible memoir of hope, strength and defiance, Hannah shares the intimate, loving portrait of her friendship with the young diarist who would go on to capture the hearts of millions around the world.

A RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK 'A love letter to police officers and the most vulnerable people they protect and serve' CHRISTIE WATSON, author of THE LANGUAGE OF KINDNESS 'Extraordinary . . . urgent and compelling. We all have lessons to learn from this book' SIMON MAYO There is much more to policing than tackling crime. Every one of us will need the help of an officer at some point in our lives, often when we're at our most vulnerable. Yet how much do we really know about the realities of policing? Using real life stories from his twenty-five years of service with the Metropolitan Police, John Sutherland invites us beyond the cordon tape to bear witness to all he has seen. In doing so, he offers a hopeful vision for how we can tackle some of the biggest challenges facing society today. Includes a new Afterword on policing during the Covid-19 pandemic