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Walk a mile in someone else's shoes. Immerse yourself in the lives of the famous and people whose stories you can relate to. Our biography titles come in book, eBook, eAudiobook or large print. This list updates when we add new titles to our collection.
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Large Print
"The Sackler name adorns the walls of many storied institutions – Harvard, the Metropolitan Museum of Art – Oxford – the Louvre. They are one of the richest families in the world, known for their lavish donations in the arts and the sciences. The source...
eAudiobook
Women have a long history of keeping the lights burning, from tending ancient altar flames or bonfires to modern-day lighthouse keeping. Yet most of their stories are little-known. Guiding Lights includes true stories from around the world, chronicling...
Kevin 'Dasher' Wheatley VC is one of the most extraordinary characters in Australian history. Dasher was a husband, father, champion footballer and one of the finest soldiers this country has ever produced. The story of his sacrifice is used by the ADF...
Book
"The four daughters of Nicholas II and Alexandra, the last Emperor and Empress of Russia, Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia, often collectively called OTMA, continue to capture the imagination of people more than a century after their...
From the age of eight, Ryan Wilson dreamt of being a teacher. This is the inside story of his time at the chalkface, from fresh-faced trainee with grand ideals to exhausted assistant head battling ever-changing government demands. It is a tribute to ...
"Out of the thrilling and tempestuous eighteenth century comes the sweeping family saga of beautiful Maria Theresa, a sovereign of extraordinary strength and vision, the only woman ever to inherit and rule the vast Habsburg empire in her own name, and...
"For centuries, the wilds have been male territory, while women sat safely confined at home. But not all women did as they were told, despite the dangers; history is littered with women for whom rural walking became inspiration, consolation and liberation....
"Ken Womack and Jason Kruppa explore Harrison and Clapton's musical and personal collaboration, friendship, and rivalry George Harrison and Eric Clapton embarked upon a singular personal and creative friendship that impacted rock's unfolding future i...
"From a woman known as "the Bill Belichick of cheerleading" (The Cut)-the breakout star of the Netflix series, CHEER-a motivational and inspiring guide to becoming a champion in all areas of your life. In FULL OUT, the breakout star of Netflix's CHEER,...
"Omar Mouallem grew up in a Muslim household, but always questioned the role of Islam in his life. As an adult, he used his voice to criticize what he saw as the harms of organized religion. But none of that changed the way others saw him. Now, as a father,...
"Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and dean of Trumpologists David Cay Johnston reveals years of eye-popping financial misdeeds by Donald Trump and his family. While the world watched Donald Trump's presidency in horror or delight, few noticed that his...
"It's easy to be yourself when who and what you are is in vogue. But growing up Black and gay in America has never been easy. Before Billy Porter was slaying red carpets and giving an iconic performance in the celebrated TV show Pose; before he was the...
"One of Britain’s premier historians overturns received wisdom on a much-maligned king George III, Britain’s longest-reigning king, has gone down in history as ‘the cruellest tyrant of this age’ (Thomas Paine, eighteenth century), ‘a sovereign who in...
"W. G. Sebald was one of the most extraordinary and influential writers of the twentieth century. Through books including 'The Emigrants', 'Austerlitz' and 'The Rings of Saturn', he pursued an original literary vision that combined fiction, history,....
"An actress and producer who suffered from crippling, undiagnosed depression in her teens recounts her harrowing experience of psychological manipulation and abuse at a "therapeutic" boarding school where every moment was a test of survival, and shares...
"On the occasion of his 100th birthday, we celebrate the life and achievements of His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. This highly illustrated souvenir guide depicts the major events in his life, from his boyhood in Corfu and his naval...
"'Why am I not white like everybody else?' Nan came and sat on the edge of my bed. 'What do you mean?' A tender finger brushed against my cheek. 'Well, everyone in this house is white. Why am I Black?' A generation of Nigerian children were born in Britain...
"For everyone who loves watching Amanda Owen and her family on Our Yorkshire Farm, or enjoys reading her bestselling books, comes this delightful and uplifting collection of her monthly Dalesman columns. In Tales From the Farm by the Yorkshire Shephe...
"Mercy Fontenot grew up in the San Francisco Haight Ashbury scene, and left San Francisco for the climes of Los Angeles in 1967 when the Haight 'lost its magic.' Her work in the GTOs, the Frank Zappa-produced all-female band, launched her into the pages...
"Away from the bright lights of hosting our favourite television programmes, Countryfile, The One Show, Blue Peter and many more, he is often in the company of his family, dogs, array of sheep, Mediterranean miniature donkeys and a whole host of wildlife...
"From the author of Supreme Models comes the first-ever art book dedicated to celebrating Black actresses and exploring their experiences in acting. Through stunning photographs, personal interviews, short biographies, and career milestones, Supreme ...
"Guy Martin can't sit still. He has to keep pushing - both himself and whatever machine he is piloting - to the extreme. He's a doer, not a talker.That applies whether Guy's competing in a self-supported 750-mile mountain bike race across Arizona, or...
"My child and other mistakes is the honest lowdown on Motherhood and all its grisly delights, asking the questions no one wants to admit to asking themselves do I want a child? Do I have a favourite? Do I wish I hadn't had one and spent the money on a...
"Growing up Sara Gibbs was labelled a lot of things a cry baby, a scaredy cat, a spoiled brat, a weirdo, a show off but more often than not, it was 'drama queen'. No one understood her behaviour her meltdowns and her intense emotions while Sara herself...
"William Morris (1834-1896) was a pioneer of the Arts and Crafts Movement and is one of the most influential designers in British history. With his emphasis on originality, artistry and craftsmanship, Morris helped revolutionize the late Victorian in...
"In Bright Stars, Kate Bryan examines the short lives and long legacies of artists who died before their time. In this personal, persuasive and evocative book, Kate introduces some of the most inspiring people in art and examines the myriad ways that...
"Roger Federer is an icon. One of the greatest tennis players of all time, he is also one of the most highly regarded and best-loved figures in the sporting world. Veteran tennis writer René Stauffer has been closely covering Federer's career for nea...
"In March 2020, Tony Award nominee Nick Cordero was hospitalized for what he and his wife, Amanda Kloots, believed to be a severe case of pneumonia. An eventual diagnosis of COVID-19 led to Nick's being placed on a ventilator, and Amanda took to docu...
"From the indie rockstar of Japanese Breakfast fame, and author of the viral 2018 New Yorker essay that shares the title of this book, an unflinching, powerful memoir about growing up Korean-American, losing her mother, and forging her own identity. In...
"In 1967, after a session with a psychiatrist she'd never seen before, eighteen-year-old Susanna Kaysen was put into a taxi and sent to McLean Hospital to be treated for depression. She spent most of the next two years on the ward for teenage girls in...
eBook
"Maurice Harvey is probably the most widely travelled photojournalist from New Zealand, having been to 160 countries and territories. His travels began in Africa in 1960 where for seven years he lived in Central and West Africa, then in later years, ...
"Man Ray (1890-1976), a founding father of Dada and a key player in French Surrealism, is one of the central artists of the twentieth century. He is also one of the most elusive. In this new biography, journalist and critic Arthur Lubow uses Man Ray's...
"The shocking, heart-breaking - and often very funny - true story behind Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit. In 1985 Jeanette Winterson's first novel, Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit, was published. It tells the story of a young girl adopted by Pentecostal...
"On the morning of 4 July 1975, Juanita Nielsen, a wealthy heiress, Sydney newspaper publisher and anti-development campaigner went to an appointment at a Kings Cross Nightclub and simply disappeared. For over a quarter of a century, the Juanita Nielsen...
"Once upon a time, history was written by men, for men and about men. Women were deemed less important, their letters destroyed, their stories ignored. Not any more. This is the story of women who went to war, women who stopped war and women who stayed...
"Consumed is a story of sisterhood, grief, the redemptive power of art and the strange mythologies that surround tuberculosis. It takes us from Keats's deathbed and the tubercular women of opera to the resurgence of TB in modern Britain today. Arifa travels...
"In her first book, fashion legend Norma Kamali offers readers a stylish, inspiring, and heartfelt handbook for gliding boldly through each of life's decades with purpose and power. Manifesto, memoir, and essential guide, its pages are informed by 50...
"Michael's first book ended with his big break at the 2006 Royal Variety Performance. Waking up the next morning in the tiny rented flat he shared with his wife Kitty and their one-year-old son, he was beyond excited about the new glamorous world of ...
"Forty years of Dale Chihuly's spectacular site-specific glass installations are captured in this large-format publication examining architectural commissions, temporary art installations, and museum exhibitions around the world. Chihuly's installations...
In 2012, combat engineer Curtis McGrath was serving in the Australian army in Afghanistan when, in the line of duty, he stepped on a mine. Seriously injured but still conscious and aware he'd bleed out and die within minutes, Curtis, as the unit's ch...
The man they call 'Silk' was the ultimate team player - versatile, highly skilled and hard at the contest, with an enviable reputation for being able to stand up in big moments. Burgoyne is a proud Indigenous man, with a football pedigree that is a story...
"As Courtney Act, Shane Jenek has built a career as a drag queen, spokesperson, advocate, singer and all around performer with a strong (and beautiful) voice and advocate for change. Courtney uses her dazzling commercial profile to open up positive.....
"A hilarious and inspiring guide to transforming your life through drag, from the UK's favourite drag queen and star of RuPaul's Drag Race UK, Bimini Bon Boulash. Bimini Bon Boulash is the nation's sweetheart, capturing hearts and minds as the gag-in...
"Most biographies of Walt Disney portray him as a creative genius who revolutionised the entertainment industry during the first half of the twentieth century. While he did transform the medium of animation, quickly becoming a household name during his...
"After the Communist Revolution, Desmond Shum's grandfather was marked as belonging to a "black category" that included former landlords and rich peasants--meaning the Shums would be stigmatized and impoverished. As Desmond was growing up, he vowed his...
"You dreamed of being a journalist and the dream has come true. You love working for your local paper . . . although not everything is as you imagined. You embarrass yourself with a range of celebrities, from John Hurt to Jordan. Your best story is 'The...
"The year 2021 marks the centenary of the birth of Australian artist Jeffrey Smart, an artist with a distinctive vision whose work enables us to see the world around us afresh. This publication celebrates and commemorates this significant anniversary....
"Growing up on an isolated farm in Macau, Jones was raised to be part a religious army preparing for the End Times. Thousands of members strong, the cult followers of the Children of God looked to her grandfather as their guiding light. Over decades ...
"Public health expert Leana Wen gives an insider's account of public health and its crucial role-from opioid addiction to global pandemic-and tells an inspiring story of her journey from homeless immigrant to being named one of Time's 100 Most Influe...
"This visual celebration of the most incredible and impactful design ever produced by female designers flips the script on what is historically considered a man's world. Featuring more than 200 designers from more than 50 countries, it records and il...
"In his first full-length autobiography, comedy legend and national treasure Billy Connolly reveals the truth behind his windswept and interesting life. Born in a tenement flat in Glasgow in 1942, orphaned by the age of 4, and a survivor of appalling...
"Evanna Lynch has long been viewed as a role model for people recovering from anorexia and the story of her casting as Luna Lovegood in the Harry Potter films has reached almost mythic proportions. Here, in her memoir, Evanna confronts all the complexities...
"Emily Ratajkowski is an acclaimed model and actress, an engaged political progressive, a formidable entrepreneur, a global social media phenomenon, and now, a writer. Rocketing to world fame at age twenty-one, Ratajkowski sparked both praise and furor...
"Uncover the unique qualities within YOU that will lead you to find your true purpose, a meaningful career, and show you how to live your biggest life. I know I have a bigger purpose, but how can I find it? Dermalogica founder Jane Wurwand shows you how...
"On March 27, 1995, Maurizio Gucci, heir to the fabulous fashion dynasty, was slain by an unknown gunman as he approached his Milan office. In 1998, his ex-wife Patrizia Reggiani Martinelli--nicknamed "The Black Widow" by the press--was sentenced to 29...
"Nina Anisimova was born in 1909 in imperial St Petersburg. One of the most renowned character dancers of the Stalinist period, she won her way into the hearts of her audience over many decades. Yet few knew that her exemplary career was a fragile co...
"A heart-pounding military memoir from a former Army Ranger sniper and Special Operations weapon sergeant-turned-journalist about the incredible highs and devastating lows of his career. Growing up in small New York towns, Jack Murphy knew he wanted to...
"Mozart holds a central, unwavering place in our culture, and his works are widely loved and listened to, often as much-loved favourites, or as background music. But how much do we really hear and understand the music that is played, and what can it reveal...
"At just 28 years old, Ed Jackson was told he would never walk again. After a miscalculated dive into a pool, he suffered multiple cardiac arrests, a broken neck and a partially severed spinal cord. Lying paralysed in intensive care, the former rugby...
"From organizing your bills and starting a conversation, to how to read the Bible or make Christmas cookies, Kenney addresses a range of practical topics. His own father left his family-- Kenney was thirteen, and had seven siblings-- and he vowed that...
"At 8.00am on Monday 18th June 2001, Danielle Jones left home dressed in her schoolgirl uniform - and promptly vanished. The 15-year old's body was never recovered, but Danielle's parents soon learned that her 'Uncle Stuart', a close family friend, h...
"Remember Jessamyn Stanley? How could you not? She's the proudly fat, Black, queer yoga teacher and charismatic author of Every Body Yoga, who drops a lot more f-bombs than namastes and refuses to pray at the church of Lululemon. Now she's back, here...
Emily Soldene's life spanned the entire Victorian era. As both leading lady and a formidable impresario with her own opera company, she was a darling of Londons music halls and theatre land, later reinventing herself as a journalist and writer. From ...
"A chilling and revelatory expose of the KGB's renaissance, Putin's rise to power, and how Russian black cash is subverting the world. In Putin's People, former Moscow correspondent and investigative journalist Catherine Belton reveals the untold story...
"Harry was just 16 years old when he auditioned for the UK's X Factor, launching into fame through the renowned boy band One Direction. It wasn't long before the five young hopefuls were signed to Simon Cowell's label, Syco, taking the world by storm....
"Francis 'Franny' Benali played football for 20 years for Southampton FC in nearly 400 games, almost his entire career. His utter dedication to the club caused him to be a hero to Saints fans around the world. Written with the acclaimed Daily Mail sp...
"Abedin launched full steam into a college internship in the office of the First Lady in 1996, never imagining that her work at the White House would blossom into a career in public service, nor that her career would become an all-consuming way of life....
"It illustrates, mostly through people's own words, what it's been like to fight in wars, to live and die as a warrior, from Greek and Roman times through to today's Iraq and Afghanistan. The characters include the Black Prince and Cromwell, Wellington...
"Daniel Levin was at his office when he got a call from an acquaintance with an urgent, cryptic request to meet in Paris. A young man had gone missing in Syria. No government, embassy, or intelligence agency would help. Could he? Would he? So begins ...
"Hollywood to the Himalayas is an enlightening memoir of a reluctant spiritual seeker who finds her true self and lifelong calling when she travels to India. As a Stanford grad, in the midst of getting her PhD in psychology, Sadhvi Sarawati was comfo...
"Growing up on the Falls Road in 1990s Belfast, Alix O'Neill has seen it all - burnt-out buses blocking the route to school, the police mistaking her father for a leading terrorist. Not that she or her friends are up to speed with the goings-on of th...
"This is the story of a child raised in Canada by parents who embraced a puritanical version of Islam to shield them from racism. The author explores the joys and sorrows of growing up in a fundamentalist Muslim household, wedding grand historical na...
"BAFTA-winning actor, voice of everything from Monkey to the Cadbury's Caramel Rabbit, creator of a myriad of unforgettable characters from Lady Whiteadder to Professor Sprout, MIRIAM MARGOLYES, OBE, is the nation's favourite (and naughtiest) treasure....
"In this extraordinary memoir, Lucy Lewis reveals the hidden world of bomb disposal training and how she came to be the UK's first female bomb disposal expert. From joining Sandhurst to rushing to her first bomb disposal call-out, Lucy's story is full...
"Kerri ni Dochartaigh was born in Derry, on the border of the North and South of Ireland, at the very height of the Troubles. She was brought up on a council estate on the wrong side of town. But for her family, and many others, there was no right side....
"A spiritual biography of one of the most important figures of the twentieth century, a man whose ideas revolutionized modern psychology. Through over 150 ... illustrations, including rare photographs and never-before-seen artwork by Jung himself, his...
Brought to you by Penguin. 'Before Cliff Richard and the Shadows, there was nothing worth listening to in British music.' - John Lennon. Cliff Richard tells his story, in his own words, in his highly anticipated new autobiography. Achieving a hit in ...
Brought to you by Penguin. How to find an outlet for a love that demands expression? Single, in her mid-forties and having experienced a sudden early menopause, the realisation comes to Peggy quietly, and clearly; she decides to adopt a child. But th...
Written with wit, humour and candour, Regrets, None is a rare memoir that is unafraid to bare it all. It follows veteran theatre personality Dolly Thakore's life and career -- growing up in Delhi and an assortment of Air Force stations, getting her start...
From a disadvantaged childhood to becoming one of our best-loved clinical neuropsychologists, this exceptional book tells the life story of Barbara A. Wilson, who has changed the way we think about brain injury rehabilitation. Barbara's story shows how...
"The extraordinary story behind A Very British Scandal, starring Claire Foy and Paul Bettany. Margaret was debutante of the year, the beautiful fairy-tale heiress immortalised in Cole Porter's 'You're The Tops' - who ended up penniless and ostracised...
"Private equity - which buys, invests in and then sells on companies - is a powerful force in the business world today, worth many billions of dollars. Yet despite the muscle it flexes, it's a sector that is largely closed off to outsiders, operating...
"Born on the last day of apartheid in the impoverished Zwide township, Siya had no option to grow up fast. Amid the casual violence and hunger felt during his childhood, sport had always provided an outlet, as it offered everything his home life at the...
"An extraordinary memoir of illness, survival, defiance, and Huntington's Disease. Honest, intelligent and unsentimental, Patient 1 is a startling self-portrait written with wit and vulnerability, and a unique testament to the power of hope in the face...
"A definitive history of the race to unravel DNA's structure, by one of our most prominent medical historians. Biologist James Watson and physicist Francis Crick's 1953 revelation about the double helix structure of DNA is the foundation of virtually...
"Few in history can match the breadth and depth of the revolutionary career of the Marquis de Lafayette. Over fifty incredible years at the heart of the Age of Revolution, he fought as one with righteous revolutionaries on both sides of the Atlantic....
"Marin Sardy's memoir traces the path of the schizophrenia that runs in her family. Against the starkly beautiful backdrop of Anchorage, Alaska, where the author grew up, Marin Sardy weaves a fearless account of the shapeless thief--the schizophrenia...
"The unique story of Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise – British television's most iconic double act. The Morecambe and Wise Show was the creme de la creme of TV light entertainment from the late 1960s until the early 1980s. The hardy perennial comedy duo...
"Ed Balls was just three weeks old when he tried his first meal: pureed roast beef and Yorkshire pudding. While perhaps ill-advised by modern weaning standards, it worked for him in 1967, and from that moment on he was hooked on food. Appetite is a memoir...
"The Soviet Union, 1962. Shoemaker Stanislav Suvorov is imprisoned for five years. His crime? Selling his car for a profit, contravening the Kremlin's strict laws of speculation. Laws which, thirty years later, his daughter Zhanna helps to unravel. In...
"Li Juan and her mother own a small convenience store in the Altai Mountains in Northwestern China, where she writes about her life among grasslands and snowy peaks. To her neighbors' surprise, Li decides to join a family of Kazakh herders as they take...
"The long-awaited first autobiography by national treasure Bob Mortimer. Bob Mortimer's life was trundling along happily until suddenly in 2015 he was diagnosed with a heart condition that required immediate surgery and forced him to cancel an upcoming...
"'I thought I could have lots of followers, without needing followers. I thought I could monetise my account without selling out. I thought that I was different, that I wasn't like other girls. But I was, and that's why I had to stop.' When Bella You...
"Bright, attractive and well-connected, in any other family the Churchill girls - Diana, Sarah, Marigold and Mary - would have shone. But they were not in any other family, they were Churchills and neither they nor anyone else could ever forget it. From...
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