The album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill sold over 420,000 copies in its first week, received ten Grammy nominations (winning five). Celebrating Twenty Years of Black Girlhood: The Lauryn Hill Reader critically engages the work of Ms. Hill, highlighting the interdisciplinary nature of the album. Beyond the album's commercial success, Ms. Hill's radical self-consciousness and exuberance for life led listeners through her Black girl journey of love, motherhood, admonition, redemption, spirituality, sexuality, politics, and nostalgia that affirmed the power of creativity, resistance, and the tradition of African storytelling. Ms. Hill's album provides inspirational energies that serve as a foundational text for Black girlhood. In many ways it is the definitive work of Black girlhood for the Hip Hop generation and beyond because it opened our eyes to a holistic narrative of woman and mother. Twenty years after the release of the album, we pay tribute to this work by adding to the quilt of Black girls' stories with the threads of feminist consciousness, which are particularly imperative in this space where we declare: Black girls matter. Celebrating Twenty Years of Black Girlhood is the first book to academically engage the work of the incomparable Ms. Hill. It intellectually wrestles with the interdisciplinary nature of Ms. Hill's album, centering the connection between the music of Ms. Hill and the lives of Black girls. The essays in this collection utilize personal narratives and professional pedagogies and invite students, scholars, and readers to reflect on how Ms. Hill's album influenced their past, present, and future.

Compassion, nurturing and pain are at the heart of everyone's story of mothers and motherhood. In this book, Matt Hopwood presents a selection of deep, powerful stories of and by mothers which were told openly and bravely to him. Women, men, children, teenagers and centenarians tell their experiences of childhood, motherhood, birth, loss, yearning, fear, contentment, love and divinity. They tell of connection with Mother and the Mother instincts that reside in every human being. Together, these stories, from as far afield as the USA, Russia, Taiwan, and Europe as well as the UK, are a gift that help bring us to a deeper understanding of our humanity and the role of the intuitive feminine Mother that is so needed by every one of us.

Treasures of the Deep is the exciting true story of one-time Barnardo's boy and now professional diver Captain Mike Hatcher. It recounts the adventurous tales of Hatcher's countless discoveries of sunken treasure beneath the seven seas. this is the story of an Australian adventurer. It is the true story of Michael Hatcher and his life trawling the bottom of the ocean for sunken treasure. Michael Hatcher is a Barnardos orphan turned millionaire. He has made his millions through the sale of artefacts that he has found in exotic locations like Indonesia and thailand. Perhaps most famous of all is the Nanking Cargo, found aboard a sunken Dutch East Indiaman in the South China Seas, which was sold for over GBP 10 million. this book tells of this adventure and others he has had as a modern-day treasure hunter which he searched for his fortune aboard sunken galleons.

Amazing and inspirational stories from Jacky Newcomb show us that our beloved pets can communicate with us from the other side. Our pets are our family, our best friends and letting go of them is hugely difficult. In this collection of stories and real-life experiences, angel and afterlife expert Jacky Newcomb explains that we will be reunited with them again. Here are wonderful, uplifting stories of times when beloved pets communicated with their loved ones from the other side. In dreams and visitations, best friends come back from the other side to protect, support and help us.

Family is not always a place of safety. Kathleen was just eight years old when her mother was tragically killed in a car accident. And when her father remarries it is to the bitter and resentful Irene who has two children of her own and no space in her heart for another. Irene goes out of her way to make Kathleen's life as miserable as possible and will stop at nothing to get her out of their lives... When Kathleen is sixteen, a shocking incident rocks the family, and life takes a darker turn. Among this darkness, Kathleen finds a glimmer of hope in an older man, but Irene is ruthless in her mission to destroy her. Can Kathleen find happiness or is she destined for tragedy?

When you are racing 435 miles through the jungles and mountains of South America, the last thing you need is a stray dog tagging along. But that's exactly what happened to Mikael Lindnord, captain of a Swedish adventure racing team, when he threw a scruffy but dignified mongrel a meatball one afternoon.

When they left the next day, the dog followed. Try as they might, they couldn't lose him - and soon Mikael realised that he didn't want to. Crossing rivers, battling illness and injury, and struggling through some of the toughest terrain on the planet, the team and the dog walked together towards the finish line, where Mikael decided he would save Arthur and bring him back to his family in Sweden, whatever it took.

Tales of Hardship, Love and Happiness in Tate & Lyle's East End Factories. The Sugar Girls went straight to No.10 in the Sunday Times Bestseller List, spending five weeks in the top ten. 'On an autumn day in 1944, Ethel Alleyne walked the short distance from her house to Tate & Lyle's refinery on the shining curve of the Thames. Looking up at the giant gates, Ethel felt like she had been preparing for this moment all her life. She smoothed down her frizzy hair, scraped a bit of dirt off the corner of her shoe and strode through. She was quite unprepared for the sight that met her eyes ...' In the years leading up to and after the Second World War thousands of women left school at fourteen to work in the bustling factories of London's East End. Despite long hours, hard and often hazardous work, factory life afforded exciting opportunities for independence, friendship and romance. Of all the factories that lined the docks, it was at Tate & Lyle's where you could earn the most generous wages and enjoy the best social life, and it was here where The Sugar Girls worked. Through the Blitz and on through the years of rationing The Sugar Girls kept Britain sweet. The work was back-breakingly hard, but Tate & Lyle was more than just a factory, it was a community, a calling, a place of love and support and an uproarious, tribal part of the East End. From young Ethel to love-worn Lillian, irrepressible Gladys to Miss Smith who tries to keep a workforce of flirtatious young men and women on the straight and narrow, this is an evocative, moving story of hunger, hardship and happiness. Tales of adversity, resilience and youthful high spirits are woven together to provide a moving insight into a lost way of life, as well as a timeless testament to the experience of being young and female. www.thesugargirls.com

In the tradition of The Perfect Storm and Into Thin Air, Rachel Slade's Into the Raging Sea is a nail-biting account of the sinking of the container ship El Faro, the crew of thirty-three who perished onboard, and the destructive forces of globalisation that put the ship in harm's way. On October 1, 2015, Hurricane Joaquin barreled into the Bermuda Triangle and swallowed the container ship El Faro whole, resulting in one of the worst shipping disasters in decades. No one could fathom how a vessel equipped with satellite communications, a sophisticated navigation system, and cutting-edge weather forecasting could suddenly vanish - until now. Relying on hundreds of exclusive interviews with family members and maritime experts, as well as the words of the crew members themselves - whose conversations were captured by the ship's data recorder - journalist Rachel Slade unravels the mystery of the sinking of El Faro. As she recounts the final twenty-four hours onboard, Slade vividly depicts the officers' anguish and fear as they struggled to carry out Captain Michael Davidson's increasingly bizarre commands, which, they knew, would steer them straight into the eye of the storm. Taking a hard look at America's aging merchant marine fleet, Slade also reveals the truth about modern shipping - a cutthroat industry plagued by razor-thin profits and ever more violent hurricanes fueled by global warming. A richly reported account of a singular tragedy, Into the Raging Sea takes us into the heart of an age-old American industry, casting new light on the hardworking crew of El Faro who paid the ultimate price in the name of profit.

In the tradition of the best writing on human behaviour and moral choices in the face of disaster, physician and reporter Sheri Fink reconstructs five days at New Orleans' Memorial Medical Center during Hurricane Katrina and draws the reader into the lives of those who struggled mightily to survive and to maintain life amidst chaos. After Katrina struck and the floodwaters rose, the power failed, and the heat climbed, exhausted caregivers chose to designate certain patients last for rescue. Months later, several health professionals faced criminal allegations that they deliberately injected numerous patients with drugs to hasten their deaths. Five Days at Memorial, the culmination of six years of reporting, unspools the mystery of what happened in those days, bringing the reader into a hospital fighting for its life and into a conversation about the most terrifying form of health care rationing. In a voice at once involving and fair, masterful and intimate, Fink exposes the hidden dilemmas of end-of-life care and reveals just how ill-prepared we are for the impact of large-scale disasters - and how we can do better. A remarkable book, engrossing from start to finish, Five Days at Memorial radically transforms our understanding of human nature in crisis.

Our pets are our family. They love us, comfort us and make us laugh - so it's no wonder that letting them go is so hard. But amazing and inspirational true stories from Jacky Newcomb show that we will be reunited with them again. From dreams to visitations, there have been numerous accounts of furry friends appearing to their owners from heaven. Old dogs have been rejuvenated to puppies, injured cats restored to their former selves, and there have even been stories of horses being cared for by loved ones who have gone ahead before us. Magical, comforting and truly incredible, Dogs in Heaven reveals the uplifting truth behind your prayers.

Many women expect to become mothers but are childless through social rather than biological reasons - perhaps they haven't met the right person or they prioritised career or education earlier in life. Featuring international interviews by grief counsellor and researcher Lois Tonkin, this collection of first-person stories provides insight into the under-discussed situation of being childless by circumstance. Each story highlights the different aspects of being childless by circumstance, as women move through their 30s, 40s, and 50s, and beyond their ages of fertility. The book explores feelings of grief and loss, and also how women adapt positively to their changed life expectations, finding excitement in the alternative, rich and complex shapes their lives have taken.

Have you ever wondered where we go when we cross through the light at the end of the tunnel? Or what - and who - is waiting for us on the other side? Angel expert Jacky Newcomb brings light where there was darkness with more unique and incredible true stories from the world beyond the veil. Through the miraculous accounts of those brought back from the brink of death, and the astonishing stories of those who've experienced visits from loved ones who've passed on, Jacky shares with us the glimpses of heaven we could only imagine until now - and the life changing effects they have had on those lucky enough to experience them. Beautifully told and compelling in nature, "Touching Heaven" is as beguiling as it is revealing.

Behind the notorious Hudson men who dominated the Canterbury Estate for over 30 years were the girls, and my mam Shirley. Whether marrying into or determined to escape from it, the third instalment of this gritty series recounts the incredible stories of the unflinching women behind the legendary Hudson family. The Canterbury Estate in Bradford during the '50s and '60s was a tight-knit community reared on poverty, crime and violence, and at the top of the heap were the infamous Hudson family. But it wasn't just the boys who had a story to tell: from matriarch Annie, who gave birth to 13 children, to daughters Margaret and Eunice, who married up and out, each had a personality as indomitable as the last. Then came Shirley Read, who was just 17 when she fell in love with Keith, one of the Hudson lads. To Shirley, the only child of affluent parents, the poverty of the unruly estate was as exciting as it was mysterious; newspapers for tablecloths, jam jars for cups, and, even by that time, no electricity. But it was a friendship forged with Annie and June, the younger Hudson sisters, that would teach Shirley not only to how to survive, Canterbury-style, but would also give her the strength to overcome an unexpected personal tragedy that would soon become a nightmare for women across the world... Eye-opening and warm, this is the vivid account of the 'Tucker' girls; the resourceful women at the helm of a notorious Bradford family who will never be forgotten.

If you lived on the notorious Canterbury Estate in the '40s and '50s, then you knew there was one man you did not want to cross: Charlie Hudson. A solitary man, feared and respected by the gangsters of the time, Charlie was a boxer who never lost a fight, in or out of the ring - the most infamous of The Canterbury Warriors. My Uncle Charlie, the second title in the explosive series unravels a story of debauchery, crime and self-destruction. Charlie Hudson was a born leader. The eldest of eight brothers and four sisters and with a boxer for a father, fighting was in his blood. And as the young protege of local Italian gangster, Mr Cappovanni, Charlie not only learned to knock every opponent out, he also learned the tools of the crime and extortion trade well; emerging into adulthood in the middle of the war years as a natural heir: running cons, illegal books and a band of prostitutes. But when Charlie met Betty, a sweet, caring girl, he was determined to be a better man for her. He'd still deal with 'business' but no more would he bed his working girls, and the birth of their baby girl, Elizabeth, sealed it: he knew life could not get any better. But for a man who had only ever lived in the belly of the Canterbury Estate underworld, it could definitely get worse... Gritty and engrossing, book two of the Hudson family saga delves deeper into history of the infamous Canterbury Warriors; the true story of one man's ascendancy to power, and the tragedy that brought it all crashing down.

A teenage boy lies on the pavement, bleeding from a stab wound; a distraught mum watches, in mute shock, as her daughter suffers a terrifying fatal asthma attack; a young girl is gang-raped and her stricken boyfriend takes an overdose; a disturbed young man flings himself in front of a speeding train at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve. Few people can imagine living in a world where such situations are part of everyday life. Yet for veteran paramedic Lysa Walder, these and thousands of other emergency call outs are part of a day's work: scenes of tragedy, heroism loss and horror - but also stories of triumph and humour. Lysa has been a paramedic for over twenty years, working for the London Ambulance service - the world's biggest and busiest free service - for much of that time. Here, she reveals what it's really like to work in a job that brings paramedic teams face-to-face with death - and destiny - every day.

They did what?! That would never happen here. Yes it can, and it certainly will if you don't become proactive in learning how to avoid the disastrous scenarios befalling companies every day. Written by a seasoned HR expert and employment attorney, Hard-Won Wisdom takes you inside the messy reality of situations gone wrong, including: * A joking comment taken as a command* An email exchange that escalates ridiculously out of control* A request for confidentiality that backfires in a big way* The right employee fired the wrong way* The wrong employee fired the right wayBut this collection of real-life war stories doesn't stop there. The sometimes funny, but always cautionary tales are also used to reinforce crucial lessons for managers. From failing to give feedback and withholding key information to exercising poor judgment and making faulty assumptions, every story highlights the role management plays in exacerbating (or easing) trouble. Through many unfortunate situations, other managers have learned the hard way how to better motivate underachievers, defuse angry employees, discipline without inviting legal action, and handle many other employee problems. But you don't have to learn the way they did! Learn from their hard-won wisdom before it's too late!

'It's not me then?' she says. A little bit of my heart breaks, and I struggle to swallow down the lump in my throat. 'No Jane, it's not you. You were right.' Why won't he ever let you use his phone? Why is he always going on about that girl from work? Is he cheating on you? There's one way to find out - ask him. Then (when he lies) call Rebecca Jane, founder and owner of the Lady Detective Agency. The Agency is one of the UK's most successful female private detective services. It exists for one purpose: to find the truth. Whether that means trailing a transsexual prostitute through the streets of London, following suspected cheats on stag parties, tracking down someone's beloved pet ferret or uncovering famous people's affairs, Rebecca and her elite team will help. Whatever it takes. Their extraordinary dedication stems from first-hand experience of deception. Here Rebecca not only reveals her clients' fascinating stories, but her own rollercoaster journey too - from early success to crushing failure, scandal, abuse and affairs, and ultimately to finding true love. At times heartbreaking, hilarious and eye-opening, this vibrantly-written compilation of stories introduces us to a sparkling and witty new voice in Rebecca and her crack team of female detectives who are always ready to solve any case, no matter how big or small. For the first time, the Agency is opening its doors and revealing its secrets. Guilty consciences beware.

As American astronauts were launched on death-defying missions, television cameras focused on the brave smiles of their wives. Overnight, these women were transformed from shy military spouses to American royalty: having tea with Jackie Kennedy, attending high society galas, and being featured on the cover of Life magazine. They quickly grew into fashion icons, donning sherbet-swirled Pucci dresses and lacquering their hair into extravagant rocket styles (to match their husbands' spaceships). Annie Glenn was the envy of the other wives, with her many magazine features; platinum-blonde bombshell Rene Carpenter was proclaimed JFK's favourite; homely Betty Grissom worried her husband was having affairs; Louise Shepard just wanted to be left alone to her card games; and licensed pilot Trudy Cooper arrived on base with a dirty secret. Together they rallied to form the Astronaut Wives Club, which has now turned into over 40 years of enduring friendship. Sexy and sophisticated, rich in melodrama, and set against the uniquely atmospheric backdrop of the Space Age, THE ASTRONAUTS' WIVES CLUB tells the real story behind some of the biggest heroes in American history, chronicling their romantic, domestic, and public dramas during the Mad Men era.

FROM THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR Thrown Away Child is a memoir covering Louise Allen's abusive childhood in a foster home, how she survived - using her love of art as a sanctuary - and how she hopes to right old wrongs now by fostering children herself and campaigning for the improvement of foster care services. It is a compelling and inspirational story. This book gives a voice to the many children who grew up unhappily in care.

This is an account of how an angry young man can cross the line that divides theoretical support for violence from a state of 'killing rage', in which the murder of neighbour becomes thinkable. Over 3000 people have died in Northern Ireland since 1969, and most of them have died at the hands of their neighbours. The intimacy of the Ulster conflict, what it means to carry out a political murder when in all probability the victim is personally known, or lives in a nearby street, is described accurately by an honest participant. The book does not attempt to soften the impact of the events it describes through euphemism or rhetoric. It is a truthful picture of the brutality and waste caused by the IRA's unwinnable campaign, and of its human consequences. It is also a self-portrait of the despair and disintegration, the hardening to conscience and grief, that accompany political violence.

Set amidst South Australia's beautiful but isolated mid-north, The Railway Dog tells the true story of Bob, a scruffy brown stray, bought on impulse by a local railway man as a gift for his wife - and setting in motion the beginnings of a legend...Recognised near and far for his cheery bark, waving tail, and devotion to train travel - Bob quickly became a beloved member of the tight knit railway community. Charming, humorous, and at times intensely moving, the adventures of Bob the Railway Dog, entwined with the lives of the fascinating people he meets on his journeys - make for an inspiring and touching Australian story.

ERIN BROCKOVICH meets SILENT SPRING in this astounding true story of a lawyer who spent two decades building a case against one of the world's largest chemical companies, uncovering a shocking history of environmental pollution and heartless cover-up. The story that inspired the motion picture from Participant Media/Focus Features, starring Mark Ruffalo, Anne Hathaway, Bill Pullman and Tim Robbins, directed by Todd Haynes. In 1998, Robert Bilott was a 33-year-old Cincinnati lawyer on the verge of making partner when his career and life took an unforeseen turn. He was taken by surprise when he received a call from a man named Earl Tennant, a farmer from West Virginia with a slight connection to Robert's family. Earl was convinced the creek on his property, where his cattle grazed, was being poisoned by run-off from a neighbouring factory landfill. His cattle were dying in hideous ways, and he hadn't even been able to get a water sample tested by local agencies, politicians or vets. As soon as they heard the name DuPont - the area's largest employer - he felt they were reluctant to investigate further. Once Robert saw the thick, foamy water that bubbled into the creek, the gruesome effects it seemed to have on livestock, and the disturbing frequency of cancer and lung problems in the surrounding area, he was persuaded to fight against the type of corporation his firm routinely represented. With all the cards stacked against him, Rob happened upon a stray reference in a random memo to a chemical called PFOA - a substance he'd never heard of that is used in the manufacture of Teflon. From that one reference, he ultimately gained access to 110,000 pages of DuPont documents, some of them fifty years old, that reveal decades of medical studies proving the harmful - more often than not fatal - effects of PFOA in animals and humans. And yet PFOA sludge had still been dumped into rivers and landfill, endangering many lives. The case of one farmer soon spawns a class-action suit and the shocking realisation that virtually every person on the planet has been exposed to PFOA and carries the chemical in his or her blood. This is the unforgettable story of the lawyer who worked tirelessly for twenty years to get justice for all those who had suffered because of this chemical.

The amazing true story of how London became home to the Russian super-rich. A dazzling tale of incredible wealth, ferocious disputes, beautiful women, private jets, mega-yachts, the world s best footballers and chauffeur-driven Range Rovers with tinted windows.

A group of buccaneering Russian oligarchs made colossal fortunes after the collapse of communism and many of them came to London to enjoy their new-found wealth. Londongrad tells for the first time the true story of their journeys from Moscow and St Petersburg to mansions in Mayfair, Knightsbridge and Surrey and takes you into a shimmering world of audacious multi-billion pound deals, outrageous spending and rancorous feuds.

But while London's flashiest restaurants echoed to Russian laughter and Bond Street shop-owners totted up their profits, darker events also played themselves out. The killing of ex-KGB man Alexander Litvinenko in London to the death in a helicopter crash he all but predicted of Stephen Curtis, the lawyer to many of Britain's richest Russians, chilled London's Russians and many of those who know them.

This is the story of how Russia's wealth was harvested and brought to London some of it spent by Roman Abramovich on his beloved Chelsea Football Club, some of it spent by Boris Berezovsky in his battles with Russia's all-powerful Vladimir Putin. Londongrad is a must-read for anyone interested in how vast wealth is created, the luxury it can buy and the power and intrigue it produces."

'I listen to those stories - told by women who have been drugged, beaten, imprisoned, raped and terrorised within the walls of the homes they grew up in. I listen and I am humbled by their resilience.' Jasvinder Sanghera knows what it means to flee from your family under threat of forced marriage - and to face the terrible consequences that follow. As a young girl that was just what she had to do. Jasvinder is now at the frontline of the battle to save women from the honour-based violence and threat of forced marriage that destroyed her own youth. Daughters of Shame reveals the stories of young women such as Shazia, kidnapped and taken to Pakistan to marry a man she had never met; and Banaz, murdered by her own family after escaping an abusive marriage. By turns frightening, enthralling and uplifting, Daughters of Shame reveals Jasvinder as a woman heedless of her own personal safety as she fights to help these women, in a world where the suffering and abuse of many is challenged by the courage of the few.

A true account of Felicity's search for justice following the murder of her husband, Victor Prazak, in Libya. Victor died on the 22nd of December 1992 when the passenger plane he was travelling on was brought down by a Libyan military MiG. Victor, the only Westerner on board the plane, was buried in a mass grave in the Libyan Desert without Felicity's consent. She was not even allowed to attend the burial. After nineteen years of fighting to uncover the truth, the recent uprising in Libya has brought to light the facts of the case. She is still petitioning the British government for an inquest, and is involved in legal action against the Libyan state.