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Books > Fiction > True stories > General
"Beautifully written, searingly honest, and deeply affecting ...
when the book ended, I only wanted more" - Roxane Gay "Ford is a
writer for the ages, and Somebody's Daughter will be a book of the
year" - Glennon Doyle, author of Untamed "Truly a classic in the
making" - John Green, author of The Fault in Our Stars An Oprah
book Throughout her adolescence, Ashley Ford doesn't know how to
deal with the worries that keep her up at night. If only she could
turn to her father for his advice and support. But he's in prison,
and she doesn't know what he did to end up there. After being raped
by her ex-boyfriend, Ashley desperately searches for her sense of
self. Then, her grandmother reveals the truth about her father's
incarceration... and Ashley's world is turned upside down. Ashley
embarks on a powerful journey to find the connections between who
she is and what she was born into, discovering that, however much
we might try to untether ourselves from a painful past, the ties
that bind families together are the strongest ones of all. "Sure to
be one of the best memoirs of 2021" - Kirkus Reviews "A
heart-wrenching coming-of age story" - Time "Her coming-of-age
story gets at how to both acknowledge and break away from what
we're born into" - Cosmopolitan "A beautiful, delicate memoir... a
journey toward true and powerful selfhood" - Elle
Reading The Power of Talking: Stories from the Therapy Room feels
as though you have joined author Stelios Kiosses at his favourite
coffee shop for a chat whilst enjoying a cappuccino and slice of
cake. It is a joy to read, inviting you into the psychotherapeutic
world as a welcome guest to discover the process of psychotherapy,
the role of the therapist, and the psychological defences we all
employ. 'Being a therapist is truly a lifelong journey which we
share with others towards healing.' So says Stelios Kiosses and
here he presents his journey so far. Along the way, we meet Gareth,
suffering from depression for many years. Then there is Helen,
dealing with unresolved childhood trauma. John and Alice,
experiencing difficulties in their relationship, hoping couple
therapy will help. David, successfully treated for burnout /
work-related stress over a decade ago, but now struggling with
suicidal thoughts after the loss of his job and his mother. This
case has the added resonance of the backdrop of the coronavirus
pandemic and the need to work remotely via video. And finally,
Abigail, who is struggling with hoarding and the memories and pain
of sexual abuse. These stories come to life in an engaging,
enthralling, and enjoyable read for therapists and the public
alike.
The story of two men who almost single-handedly saved their
football club from extinction. In the early 80s David Kilpatrick
and Graham Morris spied architects' plans to turn Spotland, the
home of their beloved, beleaguered Rochdale AFC, into a housing
estate. They set about saving the club but first had to take on the
alleged 'enemy within'. They worked tirelessly, persuading
companies to write off debts while securing loans and donations, a
tricky proposition when your club is bottom of the Football League.
Meanwhile, the town of Rochdale was on its knees, the last of the
cotton mills closing down. The limit of most fans' investment in
their club is routinely the price of a season ticket. Directors
often risk their houses and businesses, sometimes forfeiting
marriages, families and their health in the name of their club.
People such as Kilpatrick and Morris - moderately wealthy local
businessmen - who serve on football club boards are the unseen,
unsung heroes of football, even in the modern age.
On a Saturday morning in May 1980, Melanie Bowen, a pretty fifteen
year old, ran down the stairs of her parents' home in Port Talbot,
grabbed her leather jacket and crash helmet, yelled a goodbye, and
then walked out of the front door into the sunshine for what was to
be the last time in her life. Never Say Die is the true story of
what followed... Since the motorcycle crash that left her paralysed
from the chest down, Melanie's life has been one of extremes. On
the down side, she has endured 5 horrific months of despair and
indignity in rehabilitation, undergone a colostomy at 23, been in
another serious car crash, suffered syringomyelia and the
terrifying prospect of full quadriplegia, been diagnosed with
breast cancer and broken several bones. On the plus side, however,
she's won medals in athletics for Wales, been humbled and inspired
by Falklands veterans at RAF Chessington, raised thousands for
charity, become a major disability poster girl in America, dabbled
with the film world and been screen tested for a movie, met the
Queen, and set up her own rehabilitation charity, whose patrons
include the acclaimed actor Michael Sheen, Dame Tanni Grey Thompson
and former Welsh Rugby captain, Gwyn Jones. She has also, against
all the odds, found lasting happiness, having fallen in love with
and married the surgeon who 25 years earlier told her she would
never walk again.
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.
Inspiring and powerful true stories of communication with beings
from the Afterlife from one of the country's most successful and
sought after psychics. Includes amazing accounts of guardian angel
interventions, mysterious rescues, miraculous recoveries,
unexplained powers of psychic children and animals. In her new
book, outstanding psychic Dorothy Chitty presents an incredible
collection of real-life stories taken from both her own life and
from others who have experienced the power of the Afterlife. Find
out the truth behind what happens when our guardian angels appear
to us in various guises when we need them most - and often when we
least expect it. Stories include: Guardian angels we know - like
the woman's family who cheated death on the Zeebrugge ferry when
she heard her mother's warning from beyond the grave Not our time
to go - when unknown forces save us, like the rock climber who was
saved when he was lifted up by invisible hands when he fell thirty
feet Healing miracles - when asking the angels for help can save
us, like the young woman with a brain tumour who asked the spirits
for and her next scan showed it had gone, leaving just a cross
where it had been Guidance from the other side - signs that point
you on your life path, like the man who's life changed when he was
told to go to Canada and he discovered his ideal career Psychic
children - how children are more open to seeing spirits and
guardian angels, like the little girl who saw how she had died in a
previous life, and now passed on messages from her dead brother
Psychic animals - the bond between animals and their owners that
continues after death, like the man whose dead dog carried on
leaving his newspaper on the front porch
Brian Cunningham's popular first book, Under the Bonnet, was a
colourful and humorous collection of memories of his time as a car
mechanic in the 1970s and '80s. When he wrote it, he was sure he
had put everything of interest down, but it turns out there were
quite a few escapades he'd forgotten to mention. Time, then, for
part two . . . When the Wheels Come Off is a joyous return,
covering what he missed first time round: cars fixed and some
broken, fads and crazes, crashes and scrapes and near misses,
evolutionary dead-ends in technology, underhanded practices and
downright skulduggery, run-ins with management, the tools used, the
cars 'stolen' and scrapyards visited. A lively and engaging trip
back to the workshop.
***LONGLISTED FOR THE 2019 JHALAK PRIZE*** A leading new
exploration of the Windrush generation featuring David Lammy, Lenny
Henry, Corinne Bailey Rae, Sharmaine Lovegrove, Hannah Lowe, Jamz
Supernova, Natasha Gordon and Rikki Beadle-Blair. For the pioneers
of the Windrush generation, Britain was 'the Mother Country'. They
made the long journey across the sea, expecting to find a place
where they would be be welcomed with open arms; a land in which you
were free to build a new life, eight thousand miles away from home.
This remarkable book explores the reality of their experiences, and
those of their children and grandchildren, through 22 unique
real-life stories spanning more than 70 years. "The story of
Windrush, is, like any other, a story of humanity. Of life, love,
struggle, hope, misery, success and failure. It's one that is too
often neglected in our media ... but this volume acts as a remedy
to that failure of story-telling, which I ask you to both savour
and share." - David Lammy MP Contributors include: Catherine Ross,
Corinne Bailey-Rae, David Lammy, Gail Lewis, Hannah Lowe, Howard
Gardner, Jamz Supernova, Kay Montano, Kemi Alemoru, Kimberley
McIntosh, Lazare Sylvestre, Lenny Henry, Maria del Pilar Kaladeen,
Myrna Simpson, Naomi Oppenheim, Natasha Gordon, Nellie Brown, Paul
Reid, Riaz Phillips, Rikki Beadle-Blair, Sharmaine Lovegrove,
Sharon Frazer-Carroll.
The true story of a young police officer's imprisonment for a crime
he did not commit It was Michael Bunting's life ambition to follow
in his father's footsteps and become a police officer. But six
years after his family watch him pass out and begin his life's
dream, he is serving a sentence for a crime he didn't commit. This
is his story. Beaten almost senseless as he tried to arrest a
violent criminal, the 23-year-old PC was left with head injuries
and blurred vision that took him months to recover from. Back at
work he was astounded to learn that his attacker had filed a
complaint against him and that the Police Discipline and Complaints
Department were following up the allegation. Two years later he was
found guilty of common assault against his assailant and received a
prison sentence that left him living his devastated life amongst
the criminals he had previously sought to keep off the streets.
Hard-hitting and at times heart-breaking the book is a graphic
account of life behind bars for a policeman in one of England's
hardest prisons. An extract from A Fair Cop: "The prisoner arrived
once more with the trolley and placed the plate of food on to my
hatch. 'Bunting,' he shouted pleasantly. I wasn't fooled. 'Thanks,'
I said, as I walked across the cell to collect it. As I put my hand
out to reach for the plate he snatched it away. He held it up to
the hatch and peered through at me. 'PC Bunting, isn't it?' he
asked, and then took a deep breath to muster as much saliva from
the back of his throat as he could. With one swift movement he spat
a big glob in to the middle of the food. The white phlegm floated
around in brown gravy. 'Hey lads, I'm feeding the pig,' he said.
With this, two other prisoners came to my cell hatch. They looked
at me, sniggering. They then spat in my food too. The first
prisoner put the plate on the hatch and gestured for me to come
closer. 'You're in our territory now, you f***ing filth, and we're
gonna f***ing carve you up.'
Following on from the hugely popular 'Angel Saved My Life' series
comes a moving new collection of real-life stories from the
Afterlife. Following the bestsellers An Angel by My Side and An
Angel Held My Hand comes a brand new collection of heartwarming and
inspiring real-life dramas about people who have had 'a little
help' from the other side when they most needed it. Stories
include: The shouting angel whose playful antics saved a young girl
from falling down the stairs. The angel who prevented a woman's bad
judgement becoming a tragedy. The whispering angel who helped a
serial dieter lose weight for good. The angel voice that quietly
guided a woman to her soul mate. The group of friends whose
guardian angels revealed their purpose in life. The laughing angel
who helped a lost boy find his way home. These are just some of the
miraculous accounts in this inspiring new collection of true
stories.
From storytelling phenomenon The Moth: a collection about risk, courage, and facing the unknown, drawn from the best stories ever told on their stages.
All These Wonders features voices both familiar and new. Storytellers include writer Jung Chang and comedian Louis C.K, as well as a hip hop 'one hit wonder', an astronomer gazing at the surface of Pluto for the first time, and a young female spy risking everything as part of Churchill's secret army during World War II. They share their ventures into uncharted territory - and how their lives were changed forever by what they found there. These true stories have been carefully selected and adapted to the page by the creative minds at The Moth, and encompass the very best of the 17,000+ stories performed in live Moth shows around the world. It is filled with a variety of humourous, moving, and gripping tales from all walks of life that will leave you speechless.
For the first time, the UK's number one TV psychic shares some of
his most personal stories and terrifying encounters with the spirit
world, and what it's really like to be 'possessed'. The star of
LIVINGtv's 'Most Haunted' and 'Ghost Towns' goes on a new journey
that will chill you to the bone. Derek takes us with him into the
darkest places of the spirit world where he confronts people taken
over by demonic entities, the spirits of ancient Egyptians whose
malevolent presence reaches beyond the tomb, those evil ghosts with
unfinished business who are terrorising the living, and the dead
who are determined to come back from the other side, and take Derek
with them if they can... If you thought you'd already seen Derek's
most terrifying battles with the dark side - think again.
THE FIGHT FOR FORDHALL FARM is the astonishing story of a young
brother and sister faced with an unimaginable task - escaping
eviction from their home that had been in their family since the
1700s, and saving their livelihood. Ben & Charlotte's father,
Arthur Hollins, ran Fordhall Farm in Shropshire from the age of 14
until his death aged 90 in 2005, and inspired his children with his
zeal for organic farming. So when their landlord informed them in
2005 that they would have to achieve the seemingly impossible and
raise GBP800,000 to buy the farm or face eviction, 20- and
22-year-old Ben and Charlotte refused to give in without a fight.
Aided by the Community Development Manager Sophie Hopkins and
volunteers from across the country, the Hollinses set up the
Fordhall Community Land Initiative, which allows members of the
public to buy a GBP50 non-profit share in the farm. With an appeal
in national newspapers and on television, the cheques were soon
flooding in as the community rallied to save this special piece of
farming history. Today more than 8,000 people across the world own
a stake in Fordhall, and with supporters including a number of
celebrities - HRH Prince Charles, Sting, Prunella Scales and Monty
Don to name a few - the farm's future has been secured for the next
100 years.
SHORTLISTED, WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK of the YEAR, 2020. When Ian
Ridley's wife, the trailblazing sports reporter Vikki Orvice, died
of cancer at the age of 56, he found himself plunged deep into a
sadness that he expected and a world of madness that he did not. In
an attempt to make sense of it all and seek some solace from the
brutality of his grief and anxiety, he embarks on a summer of
watching county cricket. Reliving bitter-sweet memories in places
he and Vikki had visited together, he is alternately unnerved and
consoled by the ebbs and flows of his mourning. But gradually,
against a backdrop of the County Championship's peace and solitude
- with the sun on his back and tea, cake and crossword at his side
- he finds a way to survive the rhythms and cadences of his grief.
The Breath of Sadness is an unflinching account of how we carry on
when we are left behind, and a poignant, tender and candid
exploration of love and loss.
The remarkable true story that became a viral news sensation.
Former Royal Engineer Sean Laidlaw was working as a bomb disposal
expert in Syria when he heard whimpering from the rubble of a
school that had exploded and collapsed. Upon further inspection he
found that the source of the noise was a tiny, abandoned puppy,
surrounded by her four dead siblings. A terrified Barrie initially
rejected Sean's advances - but he refused to give up. He made sure
she was safe and brought her food and drink, and cordoned off the
area to ensure it was safe from explosives. After a few days Barrie
grew to trust Sean and eventually the two became inseparable in the
three months he was in Syria. Sean had to return to the UK, leaving
Barrie behind. When his contract wasn't renewed he knew he had to
bring Barrie home. The two created an unbreakable bond and they
were reunited in emotional scenes that have made headlines all over
the world. Sean credits Barrie with helping him with his PTSD and
their story is a powerful reminder of the incredible bond that dogs
and humans have, and how both can save the other.
'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.
From the author of the bestselling Philistines at the Hedgerow, a
mesmerizing inside account of the high-stakes world of Manhattan
residential real estate Steven Gaines takes us from New York's most
expensive condominiums and co-ops to the offices of its most
powerful real estate brokers to reveal the outlandish displays of
ego, bad behavior, and status hunger that come into play when the
best addresses in the city are on the line. With his signature
elan, Gaines weaves a gossipy tapestry of brokers, buyers, co-op
boards, and eccentric landlords and tells of the apartment hunting
and renovating adventures of many celebrities-from Tommy Hilfiger
to Donna Karan, from Jerry Seinfeld to Steven Spielberg, from
Barbra Streisand to Madonna. Gaines uncovers the secretive,
unwritten rules of co-op boards: why diplomats and pretty divorcees
are frowned upon, what not to wear to a board interview, and which
of the biggest celebrities and CEOs have been turned away from the
elite buildings of Fifth and Park Avenues. He introduces the
carriage-trade brokers who never have to advertise for clients and
gives us finely etched portraits of a few of the discreet, elderly
society ladies who decide who gets into the so-called Good
Buildings. Here, too, is a fascinating chronicle of the changes in
Manhattan's residential skyline, from the slums of the nineteenth
century to the advent of the luxury building. Gaines describes how
living in boxes stacked on boxes came to be seen as the ultimate in
status, and how the co-operative apartment, originally conceived as
a form of housing for the poor, came to be used as a legal means of
black-balling undesirable neighbors. A social history told through
brick and mortar, The Sky's the Limit is the ultimate look inside
one of the most exclusive and expensive enclaves in the world, and
at the lengths to which people will go to get in.
'Frank Tallis brings a lifetime's clinical experience and wise
reflection to a condition that, by its own strange routes, leads us
into the very heart of love itself. This is a brilliant, compelling
book' Ian McEwan Love is a great leveller. Everyone wants love,
everyone falls in love, everyone loses love, and everyone knows
something of love's madness. But the experience of obsessive love
is no trivial matter. In the course of his career psychologist Dr
Frank Tallis has treated many unusual patients, whose stories have
lessons for all of us. A barristers' clerk becomes convinced that
her dentist has fallen in love with her and they are destined to be
together for eternity; a widow is visited by the ghost of her dead
husband; an academic is besotted with his own reflection; a
beautiful woman searches jealously for a rival who isn't there; and
a night porter is possessed by a lascivious demon. These are just
some of the people whom we meet in an extraordinary and original
book that explores the conditions of longing and desire - true
accounts of psychotherapy that take the reader on a journey through
the darker realms of the amorous mind. Drawing on the latest
scientific research into the biological and psychological
mechanisms underlying romance and emotional attachment, THE
INCURABLE ROMANTIC demonstrates that ultimately love dissolves the
divide between what we judge to be normal and abnormal.
The intriguing story of how wireless was invented by Guglielmo
Marconi - and how it amused Queen Victoria, saved the lives of the
Titanic survivors, tracked down criminals and began the radio
revolution. Wireless was the most fabulous invention of the 19th
century: the public thought it was magic, the popular newspapers
regarded it as miraculous, and the leading scientists of the day
(in Europe and America) could not understand how it worked. In
1897, when the first wireless station was established by Marconi in
a few rooms of the Royal Needles Hotel on the Isle of Wight, nobody
knew how far these invisible waves could travel through the
'ether', carrying Morse Coded messages decipherable at a receiving
station. (The definitive answer was not discovered till the 1920s,
by which time radio had become a sophisticated industry filling the
airwaves with a cacaphony of sounds - most of it American.) Marconi
himself was the son of an Italian father and an Irish mother (from
the Jameson whiskey family); he grew up in Italy and was fluent in
Italian and English, but it was in England that his invention first
caught on. Marconi was in his early twenties at the time (he died
in 1937). With the 'new telegraphy' came the real prospect of
replacing the network of telegraphic cables that criss-crossed land
and sea at colossal expense. Initially it was the great ships that
benefited from the new invention - including the Titanic, whose
survivors owed their lives to the wireless.
Ulick O'Connor takes the reader into the heart of Irish life during
the 1970s and 1980s, evoking the streets and bars of Dublin with
their now legendary characters: the world of Abbey Theatre and that
of the Gate Theatre of Michale MacLiammoir. He recreates the
atmosphere and talk of the great Anglo-Irish country houses such as
Lexlip Castle and Tullynally, where he often stayed as a guest of
the Guinesses and the Longfords. He also reveals the secret part he
played as a go-between for the Taoiseach, Jack Lynch.;But
O'Connor's stage isn't just Irish, it is international. In New York
he makes friends with Viva, the star of Andy Warhol's infamous
"Blue Movie", talks to Robert Kennedy, and witnesses the
anti-Vietnam protests and the growth of the Civil Rights movement.
In London he appears on Wogan, he dines with Alec Waugh and Paul
Bowles in Tangiers, and in Stockholm he plays a practical joke on
Edna O'Brien that unhappily misfires.
From award-winning "Financial Times" journalist Gillian Tett, who
enraged Wall Street leaders with her newsbreaking warnings of a
crisis more than a year ahead of the curve, "Fool's Gold" tells the
astonishing unknown story at the heart of the 2008 meltdown.
Drawing on exclusive access to J.P. Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon and a
tightly bonded team of bankers known on Wall Street as the "Morgan
Mafia," as well as in-depth interviews with dozens of other key
players, including Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, Tett brings
to life in gripping detail how the Morgan team's bold ideas for a
whole new kind of financial alchemy helped to ignite a revolution
in banking, and how that revolution escalated wildly out of
control.
The deeply reported and lively narrative takes readers behind the
scenes, to the inner sanctums of elite finance and to the secretive
reaches of what came to be known as the "shadow banking" world. The
story begins with the intense Morgan brainstorming session in 1994
beside a pool in Boca Raton, where the team cooked up a dazzling
new idea for the exotic financial product known as credit
derivatives. That idea would rip around the banking world, catapult
Morgan to the top of the turbocharged derivatives trade, and fuel
an extraordinary banking boom that seemed to have unleashed banks
from ages-old constraints of risk.
But when the Morgan team's derivatives dream collided with the
housing boom, and was perverted -- through hubris, delusion, and
sheer greed -- by titans of banking that included Citigroup, UBS,
Deutsche Bank, and the thundering herd at Merrill Lynch -- even as
J.P. Morgan itself stayed well away from the risky concoctions
others were peddling -- catastrophe followed. Tett's access to
Dimon and the J.P. Morgan leaders who so skillfully steered their
bank away from the wild excesses of others sheds invaluable light
not only on the untold story of how they engineered their bank's
escape from carnage but also on how possible it was for the larger
banking world, regulators, and rating agencies to have spotted, and
heeded, the terrible risks of a meltdown.
A tale of blistering brilliance and willfully blind ambition,
"Fool's Gold" is both a rare journey deep inside the arcane and
wildly competitive world of high finance and a vital contribution
to understanding how the worst economic crisis since the Great
Depression was perpetrated.
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