Memoirs & Personal Stories Books

On the morning of 12 August 2022, Salman Rushdie was sitting onstage in upstate New York, preparing to give a lecture on the importance of keeping writers safe from harm, when a man in black – black clothes, black mask – rushed do…

From New York Times bestselling author Hampton Sides, the epic account of the most momentous voyage of the Age of Exploration, culminating in Captain James Cook's death. On July 12th, 1776, Captain James Cook, already lionized as …

Comedian Sofie Hagen has not had sex in 3,000 days (and counting).And it turns out, she's not the only one . . .In an attempt to find out why we're not having the sex we want, Sofie asks the questions: can we blame a lacking sex e…

Sociopath: A Memoir is the astoundingly honest true story of a life lived on the edge of the law, and a fascinating account of one woman’s battle to understand her diagnosis. Jaw-dropping, moving and illuminating, it will challeng…

They called him the 'angriest black man in America' . . .Celebrated and vilified the world over for his courageous but bitter fight to gain for millions of black men and women the equality and respect denied them by their white ne…

I was only sixteen when I bought an electric guitar and joined a band. A year later, I formed an all-girl band called the Marine Girls and played gigs, and signed to an indie label, and started releasing records. Then, for eightee…

Taking George Orwell's famous essay, 'Why I Write', as a jumping-off point, Deborah Levy offers her own indispensable reflections of the writing life. With wit, clarity and calm brilliance, she considers how the writer must stake …

A deeply moving memoir about growing up in the 90s, written in the wake of the senseless killing of a beloved friend.  Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in Memoir. One of The New York Times 100 Best Books of the 21st Century. When Hua …

The English language has no specific word for the parent that has lost a child. There exist words for orphan, widow and widower, but there is no word that captures and conveys this tragic type of loss. It has been eleven years sin…

How did Tiger Woods become the greatest of all time? And how did he fall so spectacularly? Before the age of twenty-five, Tiger Woods had risen to phenomenon status: twice named Sportsman of the Year by Sports Illustrated, champio…

In the archives of the national library, a researcher named Linda sees a nine year-old girl's face in the pages of a yellowed newspaper, and the seed of an obsession is planted in her mind.Birgitta Sivander was brutally murdered o…

Crazy isn't being broken or swallowing a dark secret. It's you or me amplified. If you ever told a lie and enjoyed it.If you ever wished you could be a child forever. In 1967, after a session with a psychiatrist she'd never seen b…

As a society, there is a tendency to elevate romantic love. But what about friendships? Aren't they just as – if not more – important? So why is it hard to find the right words to express what these uniquely complex bonds mean to …

Noreen Masud has always loved flat landscapes - their stark beauty, their formidable calm, their refusal to cooperate with the human gaze. They reflect her inner world: the 'flat place' she carries inside herself, emotional numbne…

Ever since he was a kid, kicking broken footballs on the streets of East London in the shadow of Canary Wharf's skyscrapers, Gary wanted something better. Something a whole lot bigger. Then he won a competition run by a bank: 'The…

An exhilarating, immersive journey into the Exclusion Zone of Chornobyl with the disaffected adventurers who illegally stalk its ruins Amidst the toxic desolation of the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone, a subculture has sprung up. They c…

Anyone who has heard David Sedaris speaking live or on the radio will tell you that a collection from him is cause for jubilation. A move to Paris from New York inspired these hilarious pieces, including 'Me Talk Pretty One Day', …

John Creedon is a renowned storyteller. Following on from the sensational success of An Irish Folklore Treasury, here he seeks to capture the folklore of his own childhood. This Boy’s Heart is set in a city-centre household bursti…

The harrowing story of a woman who escaped famine and terror in North Korea, not once but twice. ‘A gripping, suspenseful and cathartic memoir that tells a story of pain and perseverance and makes the moral case for asylum.’ David…

From the author of the #1 bestselling Born a Crime comes a gorgeously illustrated fable about a young child's journey into the world beyond the shadow of home, an enchanted landscape where he discovers the secrets of solidarity, c…

NOW WITH AN UPDATED FOREWORD AND ADDITIONAL CONTENT'An affirmation of the power of love, kindness, courage and human resilience' - Lara Marlowe, author of Love in a Time of WarBernard Phelan was working for an Iranian tour operato…

Should architecture be used for punishment? How might the spaces we inhabit nurture or damage us? How can we begin to start over after the worst has happened? Criminologist Yvonne Jewkes grapples with these questions every day as …

From a young age, Ed Gamble's immaculate bibs and extremely dirty nappies hinted at his capacious appetite. Before he could walk, Ed already knew that he preferred poached salmon to puree, that celery was a calorie-sapping waste o…

In the sequel to Seamus O’Rourke’s popular first memoir, Standing in Gaps, this innocent Leitrim lad finally flees the nest, briefly sampling life in New York, Dublin and London – before inevitably returning to his beloved, duller…

The Remastered Edition: because Theres Always More to the Story Dave Grohl' s TheStoryteller created a sensation when it was initially published, becoming a global bestseller and thrilling fans and critics alike. Readers came to t…

When death is a way of life . . .In A Life Among the Dead, David McGowan, Ireland's best known Funeral Director, and subject of the Award-winning Netflix documentary The Funeral Director, guides us through the business, the scienc…

It was love at first taste for fifteen-year-old Tadhg Hickey when he drank a can of Scrumpy Jack on the night of his exam results. Straight away it provided a cure for that constant feeling of 'something wrong, something not quite…

Delving deep into Deakin’s library of words, Patrick Barkham draws from notebooks, diaries, letters and recordings to conjure his voice back to glorious life in these pages

Joan Didion's savage masterpiece, which, since first publication in 1968, has been acknowledged as an unparalleled report on the state of America during the upheaval of the Sixties Revolution. We forget all too soon the things we …

Musician and artist Cosey Fanni Tutti has continually challenged boundaries and conventions for four decades. As a founding member of the hugely influential avant-garde band Throbbing Gristle, as one half of electronic pioneers Ch…