'Tender [and] nostalgic' The Times What's married life like from the man's point of view? What does a wedding actually mean to a man? Do men really not know how to do laundry? Now, with masculinity in crisis (again), it's more important than ever to understand the secret lives of husbands. Couldn't our relationships be better navigated if we listened, impartially, to how the world looks from inside a man's head? Do they feel sad at the thought of never falling in love again? Would they ever admit that their partner's cooking is worse than their mother's? Melissa Katsoulis's mission is not to find the perfect husband, or the worst. It's about talking to married men and understanding their world. We are inundated with statistical research about gender and domestic politics but it doesn't tell us how things really feel to real men. Through interviews with ordinary men, experts and imaginary Greek gods, Melissa will uncover everything you need to know about the man in your life. From a whistle-stop tour of husbands through history to husbands in the nursery, husbands on holiday, husbands in the kitchen and husbands of a certain age, The Secret Life of Husbands is a warm and witty journey of discovery about the modern-day husband.

'Tender [and] nostalgic' The Times What's married life like from the man's point of view? What does a wedding actually mean to a man? Do men really not know how to do laundry? Now, with masculinity in crisis (again), it's more important than ever to understand the secret lives of husbands. Couldn't our relationships be better navigated if we listened, impartially, to how the world looks from inside a man's head? Do they feel sad at the thought of never falling in love again? Would they ever admit that their partner's cooking is worse than their mother's? Melissa Katsoulis's mission is not to find the perfect husband, or the worst. It's about talking to married men and understanding their world. We are inundated with statistical research about gender and domestic politics but it doesn't tell us how things really feel to real men. Through interviews with ordinary men, experts and imaginary Greek gods, Melissa will uncover everything you need to know about the man in your life. From a whistle-stop tour of husbands through history to husbands in the nursery, husbands on holiday, husbands in the kitchen and husbands of a certain age, The Secret Life of Husbands is a warm and witty journey of discovery about the modern-day husband.

When Dionysus the Renegade faked a Sophocles text in 400BC (cunningly inserting the acrostic 'Heraclides is ignorant of letters') to humiliate an academic rival, he paved the way for two millennia of increasingly outlandish literary hoaxers. The path from his mischievous stunt to more serious tricksters like the controversial memoirist and Oprah-duper James Frey, takes in every sort of writer: from the religious zealot to the bored student, via the vengeful academic and the out-and-out joker. But whether hoaxing for fame, money, politics or simple amusement, each perpetrator represents something unique about why we write. Their stories speak volumes about how reading, writing and publishing have grown out of the fine and private places of the past into big-business, TV-book-club-led mass-marketplaces which, some would say, are ripe for the ripping. For the first time, the complete history of this fascinating sub-genre of world literature is revealed. Suitable for bookworms of all ages and persuasions, this is true crime for people who don't like true crime, and literary history for the historically illiterate. A treat to read right through or to dip into, it will make you think twice next time you slip between the covers of an author you don't know...