Biographies & Memoirs

An immediate sensation upon its publication in 1969, Papillon is a vivid memoir of brutal penal colonies, daring prison breaks and heroic adventure on shark-infested seas.

The timely, powerful memoir of a man unjustly charged with a crime for helping his relatives, refugees from Syria. For trying to save his in-laws, who were fleeing certain death in Syria, Stéphan Pélissier was threatened with fifteen years in prison by the Greek justice system, which accused him of ...

The incredible true story of how of one British soldier escaped a prisoner war camp 200 times to see the girl he loved.

Todd McEwen left the United States in 1980, but it's still driving him crazy.

Modern Women is a celebration of 52 influential and inspiring women who have changed the world through their lives, work and actions

A page-turning, shirt-grabbing true story that follows a one-of-a-kind family required to make nearly unimaginable choices

Elizabeth Siddal, poet, artist and tragic lover, rose from the obscurity of a Southwark slum to become one of the most famous faces in Victorian Britain.
From the moment she met the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, her immortality was decreed and her future doomed. The attraction between Lizzie and the young ...

A fascinating study of how a NATO intervention can work in a nation state if backed by a strong commitment to support democratic government.

Based on interviews with Butler himself, his friends, colleagues and family, and with access to many previously unseen papers, Crick chronicles the long and energetic life of the greatest analyst of British elections - a story which weaves its way through post-war history with surprises, colour and humour.

A funny, insightful memoir by much-loved documentary maker Louis Theroux, who takes us on a weird and wonderful journey through his life and two decades of groundbreaking television.

During his remarkable lifetime, Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) served his country in many capacities, including as the third President of the United States. But ultimately, this gifted individual — an accomplished architect, naturalist, and linguist — wished to be remembered primarily as the writer ...

Born into a Jewish family in Romania, Elie Wiesel was a teenager when he and his family were rounded up by the Nazis, corralled into trains, and transported first into the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz and then to Buchanwald. This is his terrifying and intimate account of the increasing horrors he endured, ...

Primo Levi's devastating and classic account of what it meant to have survived the Holocaust.

Two days before Christmas 2013, former MP Denis MacShane entered one of Europe's harshest prisons. Having pleaded guilty to false accounting at the Old Bailey, he had been sentenced to six months in jail. Upon arrival at Belmarsh Prison, his books and personal possessions were confiscated and he was ...

Escaping the ills of the British climate, the Durrell family take off to the island of Corfu.
The Durrells find that, reluctantly, they must share their various villas with a menagerie of local fauna, thanks to the youngest of the family, budding naturalist Gerry.
Recounted with immense humour and ...

K.M.R Smythe grew up in Rhodesia Her family lived in the grounds of Ingutsheni Mental Hospital in Bulawayo from 1953-1971 where her father worked as a psychiatrist. As a child she grappled with many frightening situations and found strength and self-belief by becoming a successful tennis player. The ...

Written with the raw honesty and poignant insight that were the hallmarks of her acclaimed bestseller A Widow's Story, an affecting and observant memoir of growing up from one of our finest and most beloved literary masters.

The Lost Landscape is Joyce Carol Oates' vivid chronicle of her hardscrabble ...

In this entertaining and surprisingly moving autobiography, Timmy shares his journey through TV stardom, cycling the Camino and his passion for art

From American master Richard Ford, a memoir: his first work of nonfiction, a stirring narrative of memory and parental love How is it that we come to consider our parents as people with rich and intense lives that include but also exclude us? Richard Ford’s parents—Edna, a feisty, pretty Catholic-school ...

"Based on the true and tragic story of Eliza Whitman, the subject of America's first tabloid scandal, this 1797 sentimental novel both satirizes and pays homage to its moralistic predecessors. The heroine's dilemma -- a choice between duty, romance, and her personal freedom -- reflects the limited options ...