This is a classic real-life story of derring do on the high seas, complete with extreme risk, last-minute ingenuity and many near-misses.

Beginning in the 1960s, this book tells of the real life adventures of the author as a boy - a time of boarding schools, long holidays and an unbelievable (to today's parents) amount of freedom and danger. Encouraged by his parents (who lived abroad) to become more independent and self-sufficient, Peter decided to see how far he could get in his family's small open dinghy Calypso. Aged 16, he spent a winter restoring her, before pootling straight out into a force 7 gale and very nearly capsizing, after which he headed back to land to plan even more extreme adventures.

Calypso was a Wayfarer, a small (16ft) and very popular class of open dinghy; a boat designed for pottering around coastlines and estuaries during the day. But along with the occasional brave crewmate, Peter managed to sail her across the Channel, through the Bay of Biscay, down the French canals and into the Mediterranean, then up into the North Sea and the Baltic to Oslo, living aboard for three months at a time. These were some of the longest voyages that anyone had ever achieved in an open boat, where (as Peter says) you 'have to be like a tightrope walker, concentrating on balance day and night, fully aware of the consequence of relaxing your vigilance'. He survived huge waves, nine rudder breakages in heavy seas, dismasting, capsizes, and hallucinations caused by sleep deprivation. He also managed it on a tiny budget, working as a farm labourer, hitchhiking everywhere, and at times living on one meal of cereal a day, to save the maximum amount for his boat.

Charming, quite British in style, beautifully written and a lovely insight into a seemingly golden time, this is primarily a great read, but will be of huge practical use to anyone wanting to go that bit further in their dinghy. It also includes a lovely Foreword by world-famous yachtsman Brian Thompson.

The Personals reveals how classified ads are not just a few commercial lines of text in print or online - they can be a treasure trove of fascinating human stories; stories of love, loss, loneliness, redemption and hope. Some people do Sudoku, others watch Netflix. Brian O'Connell loves the classified ads. In an era of spin doctors and press releases, celebrities and social influencers, the classified ads can open a door into the lives of ordinary people with extraordinary stories. What draws Brian to the classified ads are the intriguing human stories he finds there, the unexpected twists and turns, the personalities, the curious objects and the range of human experience waiting to be discovered. The Personals is a diverse collection of compelling stories about the people and the lives behind the small ads.

JOIN SAS LEGEND PHIL CAMPION AS HE SHARES HIS DEEPLY PERSONAL LIFE STORY, WARTS AND ALL In WHO DARES WINS Big Phil Campion reveals his chequered past, from terrible abuse suffered in a string of kids' homes to psychological abuse suffered at a top public school. Phil guides you through his soldiering career, from the so called "green army" to the brutal trial of SAS selection and all that followed. This includes years spent providing private military services across war-torn and risk-laden Africa; in between he was body-guarded the likes of Led Zep, Oasis, Kasabian, Dizzy Rascal and Pro Green. Phil takes you on his gripping, behind-the-scenes adventure acting as a roving reporter for Sky TV in Syria and Northern Iraq, more often than not under fire. Brave, riveting and truly revelatory, WHO DARES WINS is packed full of jaw-dropping stories to quicken the blood, while also telling of the psychological toll a life in conflict took on the author. 'One of the best first-hand accounts of life in combat ever written' Andy McNab on Born Fearless

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.

A pioneering cardiac surgeon expertly sews up the heart of surgery, the health of the nation, and the NHS.

The Angina Monologues speeds from the transporting of a donor’s heart up the motorway hard shoulder, to cautionary stories of excessive intervention gone awry in US hospitals, to a traumatic trip to bring advanced cardiac surgery to the Palestinian West Bank. Nashef tells heart-stopping stories of transplants, coronary artery bypasses, aorta repair, and cardiac arrest. He also delivers humane advice about medical realities rarely observed: the futility of obsessing over diet, the necessity of calculating risks, the role of decision making, the resilience of doctor and patient alike, and the threadbare brilliance of the NHS.

Nashef is a magnificently warm and likeable doctor and writer; and he has the best imaginable bedside manner.

Now a major motion picture - starring Rosamund Pike, Stanley Tucci and Jamie Dornan. The book that inspired the film A Private War, based on acclaimed journalist Marie Brenner's centrepiece profile of Sunday Times Foreign Affairs correspondent Marie Colvin from this extraordinary collection. In February 2012, Marie Colvin illegally crossed into Syria on the back of a motorcycle. A veteran war correspondent known for her fearlessness, outspokenness and signature eye patch, she was defying a government decree preventing journalists from entering the country. Accompanied by French photographer Remi Ochlik, she was determined to report on the Syrian Civil War, adding to a long list of conflicts she had covered including Egypt, Chechnya, Kosovo and Libya. She had witnessed grenade attacks, saved more than one thousand women and children in an East Timor war zone when she refused to stop reporting until they were evacuated, and even interviewed Muammar Gaddafi. But she had no idea that the story she was looking for in Syria would be her last, culminating in the explosion of an improvised device that sent shockwaves across the world. In A Private War, veteran journalist Marie Brenner brilliantly re-creates the last days and hours of Colvin's life, moment-by-moment, to share the story of a remarkable life lived on the front lines. This collection also includes Brenner's classic accounts of encounters with Donald Trump, Roy Cohn, Malala Yousafzai and Richard Jewell.

Harry de Leyer first saw the horse he would name Snowman on a truck bound for the slaughterhouse. The recent Dutch immigrant recognized the spark in the eye of the beaten-up nag and bought him for eighty dollars. On Harry's modest farm on Long Island, he ultimately taught Snowman how to fly. Here is the dramatic and inspiring rise to stardom of an unlikely duo. One show at a time, against extraordinary odds and some of the most expensive thoroughbreds alive, the pair climbed to the very top of the sport of show jumping. Their story captured the heart of Cold War-era America-a story of unstoppable hope, inconceivable dreams, and the chance to have it all. They were the longest of all longshots-and their win was the stuff of legend.

'Haunting, wild, and quiet at once. A shimmering look at motherhood, in all gothic pain and glory. I could not stop reading.' Lisa Taddeo, author of Three Women A harrowing account of one woman's reckoning with life, death and choice in Trump's America. For readers of Educated and Hillbilly Elegy. In 2017, Christa Parravani had recently moved her family from California to West Virginia. Surviving on a teacher's salary, she was already raising two young children with her husband, screenwriter Anthony Swofford. Another pregnancy, a year after giving birth to her second child, came as a shock. Christa had a history of ectopic pregnancies and was worried that she wouldn't be able to find adequate medical care. She immediately requested a termination - but her doctor refused to help. The only doctor who would perform an abortion made it clear that this would be illicit, not condoned by her colleagues or their community. In exploring her own choice, or rather in discovering her lack of it, Christa reveals the desperate state of female healthcare in contemporary America. 'A brutally honest, rollercoaster of a journey that left me championing her bravery.' Esther Freud 'I will never forget this book. Read it. This is all I can say.' Rachel Louise Snyder 'Stunningly good' The Bookseller 'Everyone should read this book' Sarah Mansugo

In the wake of Texas enacting a bill to deny abortions after 6 weeks, Loved and Wanted shines a light on motherhood and the right to choose. 'Haunting, wild, and quiet at once. A shimmering look at motherhood, in all gothic pain and glory. I could not stop reading.' Lisa Taddeo, author of Three Women A harrowing account of one woman's reckoning with life, death and choice in Trump's America. For readers of Educated and Hillbilly Elegy. In 2017, Christa Parravani had recently moved her family from California to West Virginia. Surviving on a teacher's salary, she was already raising two young children with her husband, screenwriter Anthony Swofford. Another pregnancy, a year after giving birth to her second child, came as a shock. Christa had a history of ectopic pregnancies and was worried that she wouldn't be able to find adequate medical care. She immediately requested a termination - but her doctor refused to help. The only doctor who would perform an abortion made it clear that this would be illicit, not condoned by her colleagues or their community. In exploring her own choice, or rather in discovering her lack of it, Christa reveals the desperate state of female healthcare in contemporary America.

This is a collection of compelling, true stories of after-death communication from the experiences of psychic medium Carole J. Obley. These inspiring examples open our hearts and minds by convincingly demonstrating how contact with the spirit world can be a catalyst in healing grief. We are uplifted and comforted by realizing that the challenges we face in life can be positively transformed by the magnificent strength of undying love.

***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.

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.

The inside story of the world's most notorious cults. The strange and sinister world of cults is a source of endless fascination. Their secrets, rituals and shadowy hierarchies make for some of the most disturbing and shocking revelations in history. Most chilling of all is the fact that many of their followers forfeit all independence in order to carry out the often sadistic bidding of a mysterious master manipulator - and continue to defend their leader to this day. From Charles Manson, who instructed his followers to murder seven people, including a heavily pregnant Sharon Tate, to Aum Shinrikyo, the Japanese doomsday cult that carried out deadly terror attacks, and the People's Temple, these cults and their leaders transfix us with their extreme ability to commit savage acts of cruelty and depravity in the name of a self-appointed higher power. Many shocking and international cults are brought to life, including: - The Manson Family - People's Temple - Colonia Dignidad - Thuggees - Aum Shinrikyo - Skopsty - Raelism - Heaven's Gate

Five thousand years of military history. The best elite unites that have fought across the globe. Their story told by acclaimed adventurer and ex-SAS officer, Ranulph Fiennes. Throughout human history the art of warfare has evolved into many forms across numerous theatres, gradually becoming more sophisticated and strategized as the centuries have progressed. From the Spartans of Ancient Greece with their code of valour fighting to the last man; to the US Navy SEALs who operate using the latest technology of the 21st-century. Across the vast array of military campaigns and battles one can see that the majority of organised armies have been comprised of enlisted men who would have their basic training. As time progressed all countries saw the need to also have units that were the 'best of the best', that would be fit and strong, and enjoy the best training and weaponry available. These elite units would be deployed to achieve extremely tough objectives; to guard a valuable fortification or person; or to act as a barrier in a crisis. The term 'elite' is the ultimate accolade and one to which only the toughest would try to aspire to: undergoing intensive and harsh physical training, and ultimately, sacrificing themselves for the given objective. Ranulph Fiennes himself served in Britain's toughest formation, the SAS. Since his military days he has won acclaim as an extraordinary brave and resourceful artic adventurer. It is fitting that he now looks back across 5000 years of military history to pinpoint and celebrate the best elite units that served and fought across the globe.

'I knew dogs could make a difference to the children's lives. I knew it the moment I watched a little boy, exhausted by pain and sickness, stretch out his hand to touch my dog's paw, and then...he smiled.' Lyndsey Uglow has endured and overcome mental health challenges and much personal pain, including her young son's battle with Leukaemia. Lyndsey knows only too well the emotional rollercoaster experienced by parents supporting their children through critical illness, but she also knows just how much the company of dogs can alleviate just some of their worry and pain. The healing bond with dogs that helped her, she now shares with others - in the shape of a dynasty of exceptional Golden Retrievers, including the incredible Leo. Since 2012, Lyndsey has made it possible for therapy dogs to visit more than 10,000 children, many critically ill, bringing smiles of simple joy and a sense of normality to lives ruled by pain, sadness and uncertainty in paediatric intensive care, cancer wards and palliative care. Leo has also faced his own battles. After suffering a serious injury on a beach run, he was saved by a pioneering technique which restored him to full health for the sake of the children who were missing him so much. This is Lyndsey and Leo's story and how they have brought the extraordinary healing powers of dogs to others; while sharing the stories of just some of the thousands of children for whom a soft paw or wet nose has brought comfort, care, laughter and joy at the darkest of times.

Neal Koblitz is a co-inventor of one of the two most popular forms of encryption and digital signature, and his autobiographical memoirs are collected in this volume. Besides his own personal career in mathematics and cryptography, Koblitz details his travels to the Soviet Union, Latin America, Vietnam and elsewhere; political activism; and academic controversies relating to math education, the C. P. Snow "two-culture" problem, and mistreatment of women in academia. These engaging stories fully capture the experiences of a student and later a scientist caught up in the tumultuous events of his generation.

Deryn Blackwell is a walking, talking miracle. At the age of 10, he was diagnosed with Leukaemia. Then, 18 months later, he developed another rare form of cancer called Langerhan's cell sarcoma. Only five other people in the world have it. He is the youngest of them all, and the only person in the world known to be fighting it alongside another cancer... ...making him one in seven billion. He and his parents were told that there was no hope of survival. And so, at the age of 14, after four years of intensive treatment, exhausted by the fight and with just days to live, Deryn planned his own funeral. But on the point of death, Deryn's condition suddenly and dramatically changed. His medical team had deemed this an impossibility. His recovery was nothing short of a miracle. Unexplainable. However, Deryn's desperate mother, Callie was hiding a secret... An inspirational story that will grip you from the very first pages.

This riveting book offers 20 harrowing, real-life tales of sea kayaking accidents that will not only keep readers on the edge of their seats, but also instruct them with potentially life-saving lessons.

She has to be OK, I pleaded silently to myself. She has to be. 'We've alerted the RNLI and they're sending a lifeboat out.' 'The RNLI?' I said, surprised. 'They do that?' Saved from the Waves is a heart-warming collection of first-hand accounts from RNLI volunteers of the myriad dangers they face during each mission to save beloved pets, wildlife and livestock. This remarkable book shines a light on the bravery of the volunteers, and the necessity of these rescues - not only to save animals at risk of drowning, but to prevent people putting themselves in danger when trying to save a cherished furry friend. Each mission requires courage, determination and an unrelenting commitment to helping those in danger. Each day brings a new challenge for the extraordinary volunteer crews who are the lifeblood of the RNLI.

'There's great power in talking, but there's greater power in laughing. Even the best doctor in the world would be hard pushed to find a treatment with better medicinal properties than a good laugh. This is why you can't beat the wit of real-life Irish stories and why I have filled this book with various incidents that occurred throughout my family's lives - some humorous, some poignant, some heartbreaking - but each one of them is the God's honest truth. I hope the stories in this book will entertain you and distract you from your troubles for a bit.' Michael Healy-Rae The biggest regret of Michael Healy-Rae's life was a time he didn't talk when somebody needed him the most. After that, he vowed to never stop talking, listening and trying to really hear what people were saying. In his first book, which is neither political nor a memoir, Michael celebrates the power of talk to forge real human connections and sustain us. In a collection of true stories that are sometimes humorous, sometimes poignant and sometimes heartbreaking, he follows in the tradition of the great Kerry storytellers with a collection that truly captures the heartbeat of rural Ireland.