Memoirs & Personal Stories Books

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 e…

In 1983, backstage at the Lyceum in London, Tracey Thorn and Lindy Morrison first met. Tracey's music career was just beginning, while Lindy, drummer for The Go-Betweens, was ten years her senior. They became confidantes, comrades…

Nina Mingya Powles first learned to swim in Borneo - where her mother was born and her grandfather studied freshwater fish. There, the local swimming pool became her first body of water.Through her life there have been others that…

This is a visual memoir of Alice Walker's remarkable life as a novelist, essayist, poet and activist in candid photographs, manuscript drafts - including handwritten drafts of The Color Purple - letters and other selections from t…

In Just Kids, Patti Smith's first book of prose, the legendary American artist offers a never-before-seen glimpse of her remarkable relationship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe in the epochal days of New York City and the Ch…

Marise was nine when she first realised there was trouble, 14 when her Dad tried to end it all, and 23 when he finally succeeded. In a turmoil of conflicting emotions Marise runs - from Dublin to Amsterdam to Los Angeles, leaving …

A TIMES AND SUNDAY TIMES BEST BOOK OF 2021 The must-read memoir of 2021. Michael Patrick Smith grew up in a ramshackle farmhouse where his father beat the walls and threw dinner plates. As a restless young man left unmoored by t…

We all live online now, but what does that mean in IRL? How do strange subcultures on reddit affect our local shopping centres, what do night gyms owe to Twitter, and where can we really go to get some decent sleep? Our every move…

Internationally renowned psychiatrist and author Irvin Yalom has devoted his career to counselling those suffering from anxiety and grief. But never had he faced the need to counsel himself until his wife, esteemed feminist author…

Soon, the lockdown would start. People would die alone, without any proper ceremony. Charlotte's death would be washed away, the first drop in a downpour. Nobody knew it then but hers would be the last good funeral of the year. It…

Over the past century, fans have elevated comics from the back pages of newspapers into one of our most celebrated forms of culture, from Fun Home, the Tony Award-winning musical based on Alison Bechdel's groundbreaking graphic me…

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERBBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK 'A beautiful, gentle exploration of the dark season of life and the light of spring that eventually follows' RAYNOR WINN 'My favourite book of the last five years' CAITLIN …

The New York Times bestseller from the Grammy-nominated indie rockstar Japanese Breakfast, an unflinching, deeply moving memoir about growing up mixed-race, Korean food, losing her Korean mother, and forging her own identity in th…

After the deposition of Haile Selassie in 1974, which ended the ancient rule of the Abyssinian monarchy, Ryszard Kapuscinski travelled to Ethiopia and sought out surviving courtiers to tell their stories.Here, their eloquent and i…

As a relative newcomer to the United States, Maeve Higgins can see with gimlet eyes that our country is flawed. But that doesn't stop her from loving it. With piercing political commentary, and a perfect mix of sweetness and salti…

Propulsive music and euphoric crowds; drag queens and go-go dancers; strobe lights, dark rooms and glory holes. Gay bars have long been sites of joy and solidarity, sexual expression and activism.But around the world, they are clo…

Following the international critical acclaim of The Cost of Living, this final volume of Deborah Levy's 'Living Autobiography' is an exhilarating, thought-provoking and boldly intimate meditation on home and the spectres that haun…

Twelve early pieces never before collected that offer an illuminating glimpse into the mind and process of Joan Didion. Mostly drawn from the earliest part of her astonishing five-decade career, the wide-ranging pieces in this col…

Just days into motherhood, a woman begins dying. Fast and without warning.On return from near-death, Tanya Shadrick vows to stop sleepwalking through life. To take more risks, like the characters in the fairy tales she loved as a …

From the Sunday Times bestselling author of How to Fail and Magpie 'Elizabeth Day has revolutionised the way we see failure' Stylist 'A beautiful timely and humane book' Alain de Botton 'Most failures can teach us something meanin…

A deeply personal and inspiring memoir from one of the most celebrated and influential names in British sport. Tom Daley captured the hearts of the nation with his unforgettable medal-winning performance in the London 2012 Olympic…

Surviving extreme conditions can teach us to lead a fulfilled life. No one knows this better than Erling Kagge, who was the first man in history to reach all of the Earth's poles by foot - the North, the South, and the summit of E…

This immersive, accessible and thought-provoking book takes the reader on a journey to explore the pros and cons, the myths and realities of life for LGBTQ+ people today.Shortlisted for the Polari First Book Prize 2020‘Eloquent, e…

In To Be a Gay Man, Will Young speaks out about gay shame, revealing the impact it had on his own life, how he learned to deal with it, and how he can now truthfully say he is gay and happy. We know Will as a multi-platinum recor…

'Unforgettable' The Times 'Grippingly told and brilliantly reported' Mail on Sunday 'Startlingly intimate' Sunday Times 'Fascinating' Daily Mail 'Groundbreaking' Evening Standard 'Exceptional and moving' Spectator" Hidden Valley R…

Bernardine Evaristo became the first black woman to win the Booker Prize since its inception fifty years earlier - a revolutionary landmark for Britain. Her journey was a long one, but she made it, and she made history. Manifesto …

What could be a more tempting Christmas gift than a compendium of David Sedaris's best stories, selected by the author himself? From a spectacular career spanning almost three decades, these stories have become modern classics and…

From the brilliant mind of the creator and star of I May Destroy You and Chewing Gum comes a passionate declaration against fitting in. Michaela Coel's MacTaggart Lecture touched a lot of people with her striking revelations about…

Rosaleen McDonagh writes fearlessly about a diverse experience of being Irish. Unsettled explores racism, ableism, abuse and resistance as well as the bonds of community, family and friendship. As an Irish Traveller writing from a…

Nominated for the National Book Critics Circle AwardIn this long-awaited and candid memoir, Hitchens re-traces the footsteps of his life to date, from his childhood in Portsmouth, with his adoring, tragic mother and reserved Naval…