Maya Angelou's seven volumes of autobiography are a testament to the talents and resilience of this extraordinary writer. Loving the world, she also knows its cruelty. As a Black woman she has known discrimination and extreme poverty, but also hope, joy,achievement and celebration. In this first volume of her six books of autobiography, Maya Angelou beautifully evokes her childhood with her grandmother in the American south of the 1930s. She learns the power of the white folks at the other end of town and suffers the terrible trauma of rape by her mother's lover.

At its height in the nineteenth century, the Hudson's Bay Company's trading territory covered three million square miles and spanned the continent. And no one person was more responsible for its success than its larger-than-life governor, the remarkable George Simpson. The illegitimate son of a ne'er-do-well Scottish lawyer, Simpson was a master planner who laid the foundations for the greatest business enterprise of its day, a pompous dandy who was most at home in a canoe, and a man who, while ashamed of his out-of-wedlock birth, sired at least thirteen children with eight different women.

A wide cast of characters strides through the pages of this gripping story--frontier entrepreneurs, hardy voyageurs, skilled native trappers, intrepid explorers, impoverished settlers, and lords and ladies of the realm--and George Simpson was at home with all of them. The history of the Bay is that of a country in the making, but it is also a history of the clash between different ways of life in a vast, sparsely populated land far from the crowded cities, counting-houses and imperial ambitions of the British Empire.

The extraordinary story behind A Very British Scandal, starring Claire Foy and Paul Bettany ?Margaret was debutante of the year, the beautiful fairy-tale heiress immortalised in Cole Porter's 'You're The Top' - who ended up penniless and ostracised from her own family. Legal actions coloured her life - her divorce from the Duke of Argyll was one of the longest, costliest and most notorious in British legal history. Her diaries, and photographs of her with an anonymous naked man, were used in evidence. This sparkling biography draws on exclusive interviews with the late Duchess to lift the lid off her extraordinary story, and her scandalous lifestyle. The Duchess Who Dared is a fascinating chronicle of a complex, charming and surprisingly modern woman.

I feel like I'm on a boat sailing to some island where I don't know anybody. I'm on a boat someone is operating and we aren't in touch. So begins David Milch's urgent accounting of his increasingly strange present and often painful past. From the start, Milch's life seems destined to echo that of his father, a successful if drug-addicted surgeon. Almost every achievement is accompanied by an act of self-immolation, but the deepest sadnesses also contain moments of grace. Betting on race horses and stealing booze at eight years old, mentored by Robert Penn Warren and excoriated by Richard Yates at twenty-one, Milch never did anything by half. He got into Yale Law only to be expelled for shooting out streetlights with a shotgun. He paused his studies at the Iowa Writers' Workshop to manufacture acid in Cuernavaca. He created and wrote some of the most lauded television series of all time, made a family and pursued sobriety, and then lost his fortune betting horses just as his father had taught him. Like Milch's best screenwriting, Life's Work explores how chance encounters, self-deception, and luck shape the people we become, and wrestles with what it means to have felt and caused pain, even and especially with those we love, and how you keep living. It is both a masterclass on Milch's unique creative process, and a distinctive, revelatory memoir from one of the great American writers, in what may be his final dispatch to us all.

Throughout my life I have achieved many remarkable things. In Screw It, Let's Do It, I will share with you my ideas and the secrets of my success, but not simply because I hope they'll help you achieve your individual goals. Today we are increasingly aware of the effects of our actions on the environment, and I strongly believe that we each have a responsibility, as individuals and organisations, to do no harm. I will draw on Gaia Capitalism to explain why we need to take stock of how we may be damaging the environment, and why it is up to big companies like Virgin to lead the way in a more holistic approach to business. In Screw It, Let's Do It I'll be looking forwards to the future. A lot has changed since I founded Virgin in 1968, and I'll explain how I intend to take my business and my ideas to the next level and the new and exciting areas - such as launching Virgin Fuels - into which Virgin is currently moving. But I have also brought together all the important lessons, good advice and inspirational adages that have helped me along the road to success. Ironically, I have never been one to do things by the book, but I have been inspired and influenced by many remarkable people. I hope that you too might find a little inspiration between these pages.

New Orleans. April 10th, 1834. The home of Creole society belle Delphine Lalaurie and her respected physician husband catches fire. As Madame recruits her neighbors to save expensive artworks, firefighters smash through a padlocked attic door and enter a scene from Hell--a tiny, reeking room holding more than a half-dozen chained slaves. They have been starved, tortured, outrageously mutilated. The sheer horror of it spawns a haunting legend that has endured for over 150 years.

Who was this woman, this "Mad Madame Lalaurie," and why would she commit such ghastly atrocities? Or did she commit them at all? For the first time, original historical research reveals the truth behind the legend. Find out what really happened in the house at 1140 Rue Royale the house some people call the most haunted place in America. For the first time, find out who the woman behind the horrifying legends really was.

Brilliant, witty, perceptive essays about fly-fishing, the natural world, and life in general by the acknowledged master of fishing writers.
For the first time, two of John Gierach's most popular fishing books are collected in one volume--a double dose of delight for longtime fans or first-time visitors to Gierach country.
As Gierach astutely observes in "Dances with Trout, ""Fly-fishing is solitary, contemplative, misanthropic, scientific in some hands, poetic in others, and laced with conflicting aesthetic considerations. It's not even clear if catching fish is actually the point." This observation might also describe Gierach's writing--catching fish might be the subject, but most of the fun and (mis)adventure comes well before that point. Whether it's fishing close to home waters (Colorado) or farther afield (Alaska, Scotland, Texas); ice-fishing, tournament fishing, or night fishing; fishing for trout, salmon, carp, splake, or grayling; fishing with familiar companions like A.K. Best or the enigmatic "Zen master among fishing guides"; no detail of the fishing life is too insignificant or too absurd for Gierach.
As he writes in "Another Lousy Day in Paradise, ""The real truth about fly-fishing is, it is beautiful beyond description in almost every way, and when a certain kind of person is confronted with a certain kind of beauty, they are either saved or ruined for life, or a little bit of both." So start reading and be saved--or ruined--by Gierach's wonderful insights into the world around us.

From Victoria Island, Lagos to Brooklyn, USA to Accra, Ghana to Paris, France; from across the Diaspora to the heart of the African continent, in this memoir Nigerian journalist Chike Frankie Edozien offers a highly personal series of contemporary snapshots of same gender loving Africans, unsung Great Men living their lives and finding joy in the face of great adversity.

At twelve years old, Lev Parikian was an avid birdwatcher. He was also a fraud, a liar and a cheat. Those lists of birds seen and ticked off? Lies. One hundred and thirty species? More like sixty. Then, when he turned fifty, he decided to right his childhood wrongs. He would go birdwatching again. He would not lie. He would aim to see two hundred British bird species in a year. Why Do Birds Suddenly Disappear? is the story of that year, a story about birds, family, music, nostalgia, the nature of obsession and obsession with nature. It's about finding adventure in life when you twig it's shorter than you thought, and about losing and regaining contact with the sights, sounds and smells of the natural world. It's a book for anyone who has ever seen a small brown bird and wondered what it was, or tried to make sense of a world in which we can ask, 'What's that bird?' and 'What's for lunch?' and get the same answer.

Alan Pryce-Jones (1908-2000) had a gift for living, for moving between countries and occupations, and above all for enjoying himself throughout. His memoir offers a highly entertaining account of these varied peregrinations and preoccupations.

After Eton and Oxford and a stint on the London Mercury he married and moved to Vienna, joined the army upon the outbreak of war, and after the collapse of France became involved in military intelligence work, returning to Vienna with the Army of Occupation. In peacetime he joined the staff of the "Times Literary Supplement," where he would be editor for twelve years. After his second marriage he moved to New York where he was book critic for the "Herald Tribune."

'There is charity, gaiety, toughness and good sense in this book.' Alan Massie, "Times"

'Engaging, stylish.' John Gross, "Observer"

Abbey and Money Singh are better known as The Modern Singhs, Kiwi social media celebrities with a rich and tangled love story to tell. Shared through the eyes of this inspiring duo, The Modern Singhs reveals their experiences as migrants to New Zealand as they struggled to find footing in new surroundings. They describe how they met and pursued a relationship that was forbidden by Money's culture, where he felt he had to choose between his family and the love of his life. The couple opens up about the difficult birth of their son, their journeys with mental health, a complicated sense of home, and what it's like to raise bilingual children across three cultures. The rest is history - or at least uploaded to YouTube, where Abbey and Money's joyful outlook and celebration of tradition unites 1.3 million viewers from all over the world, encouraging others to embrace difference with open hearts.

Khaya Dlanga has established himself as one of the most influential individuals in South African media, particularly social media, a platform he uses to promote discussion on topics that range from the frivolous to the profound. In to quote myself, Khaya recounts entertaining and moving stories about his roots and upbringing in rural Transkei, how he made his mark at school as well as his time spent studying advertising and as a stand-up comedian. He also shares his political views, how he overcame homelessness to become one of the most influential marketers in South Africa and he gives the reader a dose of the truly weird and wonderful that is routinely a part of his life.

In December 1965, in a smoke-filled hotel room in Morocco, South African journalist Terry Bell accepted a challenge: to paddle a kayak from London to Tangier.

At the time, Terry and his wife Barbara were living as political exiles in London. By August 1967, they agreed it was time to get back to Africa. But they decided to up the ante. Their plan: paddle 11 000 kilometres from England to Dar es Salaam in a 5-metre glass fibre kayak.

The book includes a section on culinary kayaking – the recipes that Barbara cooked along the way.

Christian Dior: The Illustrated World of a Fashion Master is a stunning illustrated biography of legendary designer Christian Dior from internationally renowned fashion illustrator Megan Hess. Discover the key moments of Dior's fascinating life and iconic items from the fashion world that he created. Dior's love of flowers, creativity, femininity and good-luck charms were woven into everything he designed, and his New Look remains iconic to this day. Elegantly enclosed by a hardback cover and ribbon, Megan's beautiful illustrations follow Dior through three distinct chapters: the highs and lows of his early life, set against a backdrop of bohemian and wartime Paris; the couture house that he built into an empire in just ten years; and the incredible legacy he left behind for one of fashion's most influential brands. Christian Dior is a celebration of a man whose life was as remarkable as the clothes that he created, brought to life on the page by the expert hand of Megan Hess.

'Brilliantly written and incisive' Colm Toibin 'An absolute tour de force' Maggie Nelson Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Autobiography Longlisted for the Jhalak Prize 2022 Propulsive music and euphoric crowds; drag queens and go-go dancers; strobe lights, dark rooms and glory holes. Gay bars have long been sites of joy and solidarity, sexual expression and activism. But around the world, they are closing. Atherton Lin draws from his experiences of clubs, pubs and dives in London, San Francisco and Los Angeles - and a transatlantic romance that began late one restless night - to trace queer histories. An expansive and vivacious celebration of an institution, Gay Bar is also a stylish, intimate exploration of what these spaces mean, how they are changing and what we stand to lose when they close their doors. 'Essential' Vogue 'This is exceptional writing' Financial Times

"Bitch Is the New Black" follows Andrews--sexy, single, and a self-described smart-ass--on her trip from kidnapped daughter of a lesbian to Washington, D.C., political reporter who can't remember a single senator's name. Told in Andrews's singular voice, this addictive memoir explores the roller coaster of being educated and single while trying to become an "actual adult" and find love. In these unafraid and often brutally frank essays, she comes to realize that being a bitch is sometimes the best way to be...except, of course, when it's not.

From award-winning actor and food obsessive Stanley Tucci comes an intimate and charming memoir of life in and out of the kitchen. For Stanley and foodie fans, this is the perfect, irresistible gift.

Before Stanley Tucci became a household name with The Devil Wears Prada, The Hunger Games, and the perfect Negroni, he grew up in an Italian American family that spent every night around the table. He shared the magic of those meals with us in The Tucci Cookbook and The Tucci Table, and now he takes us beyond the recipes and into the stories behind them.

Taste is a reflection on the intersection of food and life, filled with anecdotes about growing up in Westchester, New York, preparing for and filming the foodie films Big Night and Julie & Julia, falling in love over dinner, and teaming up with his wife to create conversation-starting meals for their children. Each morsel of this gastronomic journey through good times and bad, five-star meals and burnt dishes, is as heartfelt and delicious as the last.

Written with Stanley's signature wry humour and nostalgia, Taste is a heartwarming read that will be irresistible for anyone who knows the power of a home-cooked meal.

""I wish to be the thinnest girl at school, or maybe even the thinnest eleven-year-old on the entire planet,"" confides Lori Gottlieb to her diary. "I mean, what are girls supposed to wish for, other than being thin?"
For a girl growing up in Beverly Hills in 1978, the motto "You can never be too rich or too thin" is writ large. Precocious Lori learns her lessons well, so when she's told that "real women don't eat dessert" and "no one could ever like a girl who has thunder thighs," she decides to become a paragon of dieting. Soon Lori has become the "stick figure" she's longed to resemble. But then what? "Stick Figure" takes the reader on a gripping journey, as Lori struggles to reclaim both her body and her spirit.
By turns painful and wry, Lori's efforts to reconcile the conflicting messages society sends women ring as true today as when she first recorded these impressions. "One diet book says that if you drink three full glasses of water one hour before every meal to fill yourself up, you'll lose a pound a day. Another book says that once you start losing weight, everyone will ask, 'How did you do it?' but you shouldn't tell them because it's 'your little secret.' Then right above that part it says, "'New York Times" bestseller.' Some secret."
With an edgy wit and keenly observant eye, "Stick Figure" delivers an engrossing glimpse into the mind of a girl in transition to adulthood. This raw, no-holds-barred account is a powerful cautionary tale about the dangers of living up to society's expectations.