*THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER* Could you leave behind all that you know and live in solitude for three decades? This is the extraordinary story of the last true hermit - Christopher Knight. 'This was a breath-taking book to read and many weeks later I am still thinking about the implications for our society and - by extension - for my own life' Sebastian Junger, bestselling author of The Perfect Storm 'A wry meditation on one man's attempt to escape life's distractions and look inwards, to find meaning not by doing, but by being' Martin Sixsmith, bestselling author of Philomena and Ayesha's Gift 'Not all heroes wear capes. My latest one is a man called Christopher Knight - a silent idol for anyone who has felt the urge to just sack it all off and live the life of a hermit' Lucy Mangan, Stylist 'An extraordinary story about solitude, community, identity and freedom' Guardian 'A meditation on solitude, wildness and survival. It is also, unexpectedly, a tribute to the joys of reading' The Wall Street Journal In 1986, twenty-year-old Christopher Knight left his home in Massachusetts, drove to Maine, and disappeared into the woods. He would not speak to another human being until three decades later when he was arrested for stealing food. Christopher survived by his wits and courage, developing ingenious ways to store food and water in order to avoid freezing to death in his tent during the harsh Maine winters. He broke into nearby cottages for food, clothes, reading material and other provisions, taking only what he needed. In the process, he unwittingly terrified a community unable to solve the mysterious burglaries. Myths abounded amongst the locals eager to find this legendary hermit. Based on extensive interviews with Knight himself, this is a vividly detailed account of his secluded life and the challenges he faced returning to the world. The Stranger in the Woods is a riveting story of survival that asks fundamental questions about solitude and what makes for a good life. Above all, this is a deeply moving portrait of a man determined to live life his own way.

The true story of the world’s most prolific art thief, who accumulated a collection worth over $1.4 billion. A spellbinding portrait of obsession and flawed genius, from the bestselling author of The Stranger in the Wood. For centuries, works of art have been stolen in countless ways from all over the world, but no one has been quite as successful at it as the master thief Stéphane Breitwieser. Carrying out more than 200 heists over nearly ten years - in museums and cathedrals all over Europe - Breitwieser, along with his girlfriend who worked as his lookout, stole more than 300 objects, until it all fell apart in spectacular fashion. In The Art Thief, Michael Finkel brings us into Breitwieser’s strange and fascinating world. Unlike most thieves, he never stole for money, keeping all his treasures in his home, where he could admire them to his heart’s content. Possessed of a remarkable appreciation for art and an innate ability to assess practically any security system, Breitwieser managed to pull off a breathtakingly number of audacious thefts. Yet these strange talents bred a growing disregard for risk and an addict’s need to score, leading Breitwieser to ignore his girlfriend’s pleas to stop - until one final act of hubris brought everything crashing down. This is a riveting story of art, crime, and an insatiable hunger to possess beauty at any cost. As a real page-turner that seems almost unbelievable in its twists and turns, The Art Thief explores the true story of the art collector who went to extreme lengths to expand his personal collection – and the thrill of the heist that kept him going.  

Michael Finkel was a top New York Times Magazine journalist publicly fired and disgraced for making up a composite character for a big investigative news piece about Africa. This book is about how this brilliant, high achieving journalist found himself at that point in his life. But in parallel it's also about Christian Longo, a man accused of the multiple murder of his own wife and three children. After the deaths, Longo fled to Mexico, where he passed himself off as Michael Finkel, New York Times journalist. These two weird stories come together as Finkel in turn becomes fascinated (perhaps obsessed) with Longo the accused murderer, who while in prison and during his trial would talk only to Finkel. Who is using whom...?

Michael Finkel has spent more than a decade journeying across six continents in a quest to unearth the wonders and eccentricities of the world's snowy regions. These are his remarkable discoveries. In this collection of seventeen mesmerizing, often uproarious tales, Finkel ventures from the underside of an avalanche to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro - capturing the joys, the mishaps, and the magic of each trip with rare skill.

From partnering with a gang of Kazak herdsmen in China to flying off an Olympic ski jump in Lake Placid, he tackles the dangerous and the bizarre with equal enthusiasm. And whether he is leaping out of a helicopter to make a first ever descent on a remote Alaskan peak or challenging the wretched conditions on the world's highest ski run at 17,130 feet in Brazil, Finkel captures the power and excitement of testing the limits of exploration.

But Alpine Circus is more than a simple retelling of extreme exploits. Finkel also vividly describes what it is like to be alone beneath the Northern Lights and how it feels to be an Olympic torch-carrier; throughout he searches for more than thrills, revealing the parade of strange and dynamic people and places that he encounters along the journey.

Part seat-of-the-pants adventure, part cultural investigation, and peppered throughout with humor and insight, Alpine Circus is a stirring and brilliant trip from one of the brightest new voices exploring the far reaches of the planet.