Biographies & Memoirs

An ex-yacht chef uncovers the dark reality of life at sea. By the age of twenty-two, Melanie is ticking life's boxes as if filling in a routine survey. Good grades at school? Check. Reliable university degree? Check. Steady graduate job? Check. Her two feet are planted firmly on solid ground; her life ...

In this revealing 'psycho-geography', Dennis Marks makes a journey through the eastern borderlands of Europe to learn about the elusive writer Joseph Roth and the world in which he lived. The result is a riveting and involving documentary that reunites Roth with his creative landscape.

A powerful, visceral memoir of a life undone. As she speeds through her twenties, Birdie is oblivious that Saturn is journeying towards its notorious return. She's far too busy searching for a connection in all the wrong places. Amid the chaos, she is unaware that twenty-seven will see her reach an ultimate ...

A collection of candid, entertaining letters, spanning thirty years of wit, wisdom, gossip and intimacy.

The unforgettable memoir from the bestselling author of The Trouble with Goats and Sheep and Three Things About Elsie.

A memoir of growing up amidst a group of the most brilliant intellectuals of a generation - now in paperback.

** THE SUNDAY TIMES TOP 5 BESTSELLER ** ** FEATURED ON BBC ARTS' BETWEEN THE COVERS ** Award-winning comedian Sara Pascoe turns her attention to the things that really matter to humans - sex, power and money. 'A genuinely hilarious explanation of the science of sex' FRANKIE BOYLE 'I've never read a book ...

How Britain's most famous female poet invented herself and defied her times.

Fictional biography featuring real photographs from Sonya Tolstoy's life

A century after his novels first came out, E.M. Forster remains one of the most widely read and best-loved authors of the twentieth century. He made his name with novels such as 'A Room with a View' and 'Howards End', which, with their detailed analyses of English snobbery and racism, established him ...

Serving as a perfect introduction to this well-known French writer, Flaubert scholar Meryl Tyers’ work covers the remarkable life of the renowned author of Madame Bovary and A Sentimental Education. Accompanying Memoirs of a Madman and November, both published by Hesperus, this highly informative work ...

"Joseph Conrad was born in the Ukraine in 1857. After finishing school he became a sailor, an experience that he would later draw upon in novels such as Hear of Darkness." "Gavin Griffiths traces the history of this intriguing man from his early childhood in Poland, through his exotic, arduous years ...

In this biography, Melisa Klimaszewski situates the writer within his own milieu and shows how his work sparks new understandings of Victorian life and letters.

After a childhood marked by loss and grief, Hölderlin studied theology in the illustrious company of Hegel and Schelling, before concentrating on poetry and writing his most famous work, Hyperion. But, afflicted by the pressures of life and a doomed love affair, he gradually went mad, and spent the ...

The extraordinary true love story of a couple who were separated during a shameful and fascinating chapter of British history.

Erica Fischer's Over the Ocean tells the extraordinary story of her own parents and sheds light on a little-known and little-discussed chapter in British history. Fischer's ...

The Diary of Anne Frank is one of the most enduring and bestselling books of all time, yet its history is as complex as it is contested. For the first time, this is the extraordinary true story behind the book, its publication and its significance.

Written by the author of "Writing Home", this book presents his family memoir recalling the marriage of his parents, the lives and deaths of his aunts, and the uncovering of a long-held family secret, travelling into his past.

A collection of intimate and explosive essays on literature, life, history, politics and place from the award-winning author of Go, Went, Gone and The End of Days.

Engaging and sharply observed, My Hair Is Pink Under This Veil gives a candid insight into the life of a hijab-wearing Muslim woman in modern Britain.