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Find out moreIn their own words or from the pen of a biographer, the lives of others hold a magnetic intrigue. Indulge your curiosity here… Read and find out more about the lives of well-known figures. Want more inspiration? Head to our 'Best Autobiographies Ever' blog post filled with recommendations from our bookish friends.
Shaun Bythell owns The Bookshop, Wigtown - Scotland's largest second-hand bookshop. It contains 100,000 books, spread over a mile of shelving, with twisting corridors and roaring fires, and all set in a beautiful, rural town by the edge of the sea. A book-lover's paradise? Well, almost ... In these wry and hilarious diaries, Shaun provides an inside look at the trials and tribulations of life in the book trade, from struggles with eccentric customers to wrangles with his own staff, who include the ski-suit-wearing, bin-foraging Nicky. He takes us with him on buying trips to old estates and auction houses, recommends books (both lost classics and new discoveries), introduces us to the thrill of the unexpected find, and evokes the rhythms and charms of small-town life, always with a sharp and sympathetic eye.
A Girl Behind Dark Glasses took me on an emotional journey, reading about a teenage girl trapped in her body, barely able to move or communicate, drifting in and out of consciousness. Most people have heard of M.E. (myalgic encephalomyelitis) but don’t realise how severe it can be. Jessica Taylor-Bearman was struck down by an unusually severe form of M.E. at the age of 15, the disease impacting on every aspect of her life. In her book, she writes from the heart about what was going on inside her mind as she lay motionless in hospital, her eyes protected from the light by dark sunglasses – all of her pain, frustrations, fears and confusion spilling out on to the pages of her digital diary, ‘Bug’. Her strict treatment programme seemed like a punishment, as doctors puzzled over the best way to manage her symptoms. Yet her only ‘crime’ was to catch a virus and then become seriously ill. From the devotion of her family and friends as they tried to nurse her back to health to the mishandling (and abuse) by nursing staff and other healthcare professionals, she preserved her memories to follow her dream to become an author one day. A Girl Behind Dark Glasses isn’t an easy read. But it is a lesson to us all – cherish what you have in life and don’t take your health for granted. This is a story of strength and resilience amid all of the despair – and ultimately, a story of love, survival and passion for life. Jessica’s experiences made me angry and made me weep but, above all, made me hope – that one day doctors will find a cure for this devastating, cruel disease.
No one is born a leader. But through sheer determination and by confronting life's challenges, Ant Middleton has come to know the meaning of true leadership. In First Man In, he shares the core lessons he's learned over the course of his fascinating, exhilarating life. Special forces training is no walk in the park. The rules are strict, and they make sure you learn the hard way, pushing you beyond the limits of what is physically possible. There is no mercy. Even when you are bleeding and broken, to admit defeat is failure. To survive the gruelling selection process to become a member of the elite, you need toughness, aggression, meticulous attention to detail and unrelenting self-discipline - all traits that make for the best leaders. After 13 years' service in the military, with four years as a Special Boat Service (SBS) sniper, Ant Middleton is the epitome of what it takes to excel. He served in the SBS, the naval wing of the special forces, the Royal Marines and 9 Parachute Squadron Royal, achieving what is known as the 'holy trinity' of the UK's elite forces. As a point man in the SBS, Ant was always the first man through the door, the first man into the dark and the first man in harm's way. In this fascinating, exhilarating and revealing book, Ant speaks about the highs and gut-wrenching lows of his life - from the thrill of passing Special Forces Selection to dealing with the early death of his father and ending up in prison on leaving the military - and draws valuable lessons that we can all use in our daily lives.
A Girl Behind Dark Glasses took me on an emotional journey, reading about a teenage girl trapped in her body, barely able to move or communicate, drifting in and out of consciousness. Most people have heard of M.E. (myalgic encephalomyelitis) but don’t realise how severe it can be. Jessica Taylor-Bearman was struck down by an unusually severe form of M.E. at the age of 15, the disease impacting on every aspect of her life. In her book, she writes from the heart about what was going on inside her mind as she lay motionless in hospital, her eyes protected from the light by dark sunglasses – all of her pain, frustrations, fears and confusion spilling out on to the pages of her digital diary, ‘Bug’. Her strict treatment programme seemed like a punishment, as doctors puzzled over the best way to manage her symptoms. Yet her only ‘crime’ was to catch a virus and then become seriously ill. From the devotion of her family and friends as they tried to nurse her back to health to the mishandling (and abuse) by nursing staff and other healthcare professionals, she preserved her memories to follow her dream to become an author one day. A Girl Behind Dark Glasses isn’t an easy read. But it is a lesson to us all – cherish what you have in life and don’t take your health for granted. This is a story of strength and resilience amid all of the despair – and ultimately, a story of love, survival and passion for life. Jessica’s experiences made me angry and made me weep but, above all, made me hope – that one day doctors will find a cure for this devastating, cruel disease.
'When the person who loves the alcoholic declares their powerlessness, it is not about their own relationship with alcohol, nor necessarily about their own relationship with the alcoholic: it is about the alcoholic’s relationship with alcohol.' Robert Lockhart – piano virtuoso and former musical director of the National Theatre – met Louisa Young for the first time when they were both just 17. Their on-off relationship lasted for decades during which time Louisa also achieved great success with her Costa short-listed novel My Dear I wanted to Tell You and the sequels The Heroes’ Welcome and Devotion. You Left Early is an engaging, thought-provoking and challenging account of a partner struggling to survive a relationship with a man who has an ‘evil twin’, an alter-ego addicted to alcohol. Louisa Young has a gift, an ability to put into words and describe a subject that many, many people have been affected by, either though personal addiction or as a family member or friend. This book isn’t simply entertaining, it is an education. Reading it will leave you with understanding, sympathy and knowledge. It is a fascinating tale – of how to survive and what drives that ‘Evil Twin'.
Blending the tactics he learned from America's elite force with lessons from the Spartans, samurai, Apache scouts, and other great warrior traditions, Mark Divine has distilled the fundamentals of success into eight powerful principles that will transform you into the leader you always knew you could be. Learn to think like a SEAL and take charge of your destiny at work, at home, and at life. Want to be tough? Cool under fire? Able to sense danger before it's too late? In The Way of the SEAL, Updated and Expanded Edition, retired Navy SEAL Commander Mark Divine reveals exercises, meditations, and focusing techniques to train your mind for mental toughness, emotional resilience, and uncanny intuition. Along the way, you'll reaffirm your ultimate purpose, define your most important goals, and take concrete steps to make them happen. In this updated and expanded edition, timely new chapters apply the principles to leading in an ever-accelerating world and leading in teams. Plus, new key takeaways distill the principles in the book into easier-to-use chunks.
TWO YOUNG MEN WITH EXPECTATIONS. ONE PREDICTED TO SUCCEED, THE OTHER TO FAIL... Prince Albert Victor is heir presumptive to the British throne at its late Victorian zenith. Handsome and good-hearted, he is regarded as disastrously inadequate to be the king. By contrast, Jem Stephen is a golden boy worshipped by all - a renowned intellectual and the Keeper and outstanding player of the famous Eton Wall Game. He is appointed as Prince Albert's tutor at Cambridge - the relationship that will change both of their lives. 'A gilded cast of characters parades through this sumptuous tale. A clever mixture of history, psychology and sex.' - Alastair Stewart OBE, ITN anchor
No one is born a leader. But through sheer determination and by confronting life's challenges, Ant Middleton has come to know the meaning of true leadership. In First Man In, he shares the core lessons he's learned over the course of his fascinating, exhilarating life. Special forces training is no walk in the park. The rules are strict and they make sure you learn the hard way, pushing you beyond the limits of what is physically possible. There is no mercy. Even when you are bleeding and broken, to admit defeat is failure. To survive the gruelling selection process to become a member of the elite you need toughness, aggression, meticulous attention to detail and unrelenting self-discipline, all traits that make for the best leaders. After 13 years service in the military, with 4 years as a Special Boat Service (SBS) sniper, Ant Middleton is the epitome of what it takes to excel. He served in the SBS, the naval wing of the special forces, the Royal Marines and 9 Parachute Squadron Royal, achieving what is known as the `Holy Trinity' of the UK's Elite Forces. As a point man in the SBS, Ant was always the first man through the door, the first man into the dark, and the first man in harm's way. In this fascinating, exhilarating and revealing book, Ant speaks about the highs and gut-wrenching lows of his life - from the thrill of passing Special Forces Selection to dealing with the early death of his father and ending up in prison on leaving the military - and draws valuable lessons that we can all use in our daily lives.
An unforgettable memoir of growing up in Syria under al-Assad's regime, surviving a gas attack, and rallying worldwide support to break the siege of cities across the country, with a foreword by Janine di Giovanni Chosen for the Big Issue's Best Summer Non-fiction 2018 Born to Palestinian refugees, Kassem Eid grew up in the small town of Moadamiya on the outskirts of the ancient city of Damascus. The streets that he and his many siblings played on were perfumed with jasmine. A precocious child, he excelled at school, and had a natural gift for languages. But it didn't take long for Kassem to realise that he was treated differently at school because of his family's resistance to the brutal government regime. When Bashar al-Assad succeeded his father in 2000, hopes that he would ease its severity were swiftly crushed. When the 2011 Arab Spring protests in Syria were met with extreme violence, it was yet another blow - and as Kassem reached young adulthood, life in Syria became increasingly precarious, as the country spiralled into civil war. Then, on 21 August 2013, Kassem nearly died in a sarin gas attack that killed hundreds of civilians. Later that day, he would pick up a gun for the first time, to join the Free Syrian Army as they fought government forces. For Kassem, this marked the moment that he and his country changed forever. A searing account of oppression, war, survival and escape, My Country is both a brave and deeply felt memoir of one man's life, as well as a compelling indictment of a world that turned its face away as a nation fell apart.
Finding herself in a new home in Brighton, Kate Bradbury sets about transforming her decked, barren backyard into a beautiful wildlife garden. She documents the unbuttoning of the earth and the rebirth of the garden, the rewilding of a tiny urban space. On her own she unscrews, saws and hammers the decking away, she clears the builders' rubble and rubbish beneath it, and she digs and enriches the soil, gradually planting it up with plants she knows will attract wildlife. She erects bird boxes and bee hotels, hangs feeders and grows nectar - and pollen-rich plants, and slowly brings life back to the garden. But while she's doing this Kate's neighbours continue to pave and deck their gardens locking them away, the wildlife she tries to save is further threatened, and she feels she's fighting an uphill battle. Is there any point in gardening for wildlife when everyone else is drowning the land in poison and cement? Sadly, events take Kate away from her garden, and she finds herself back home in Birmingham where she grew up, travelling the roads she used to race down on her bike in the eighties, thinking of the gardens and wildlife she loved, witnessing more land lost beneath paving stones. If the dead could return, what would they say about the land we have taken, the ancient routes we have carved up, the wildlife we have lost?
I think all of us at some time in our lives when we reach a certain age worry a little about cancer. I think the thought, “how will I react” crosses our minds occasionally. That this brave lady chooses to make her ordeal so public, she produced video diaries and tweets and now her written diary, has helped thousands. At the end of the book she encloses some messages of thanks, a few from those who didn’t make it. It is tear-jerking but it is also laced with humour. Throughout, whenever possible, she kept working, collecting the kids from school and running her hectic household with the enormous support of her wonderful partner. During the end stages of thirty sessions of chemo, she had to drive forty-odd miles round trip between work and school collection for a ten minute appointment her local hospital couldn’t do. Well she was certainly a fighter, although that is not what she calls herself. She believed talking about it really helped alleviate the fear and despair. She was diagnosed shortly after she started hosting a daily news and current affairs show for BBC2 and takes us through her fascinating work as well as the 301 days of treatment. A brave lady.
'Shocking and entertaining. The surprising story of the campaigning women who changed Britain.' Virginia Nicholson When Mrs Pankhurst stormed the House of Commons with her crack squad of militant suffragettes in 1908, she wore on her hat a voluptuous purple feather. This is the intriguing story behind that feather. Twelve years before the suffragette movement began dominating headlines, a very different women's campaign captured the public imagination. Its aim was radical: to stamp out the fashion for feathers in hats. Leading the fight was a character just as heroic as Emmeline Pankhurst, but with opposite beliefs. Her name was Etta Lemon, and she was anti-fashion, anti-feminist - and anti-suffrage. Mrs Lemon has been forgotten by history, but her mighty society lives on. Few, today, are aware that Britain's biggest conservation charity, the RSPB, was born through the determined efforts of a handful of women, led by the indomitable Mrs Lemon. While the suffragettes were slashing paintings and smashing shop windows, Etta Lemon and her local secretaries were challenging `murderous millinery' all the way up to Parliament. This gripping narrative explores two singular heroines - one lionised, the other forgotten - and their rival, overlapping campaigns. Moving from the feather workers' slums to the highest courtly circles, from the first female political rally to the first forcible feeding, Mrs Pankhurst's Purple Feather is a unique journey through a society in transformation. This is a highly original story of women stepping into the public sphere, agitating for change - and finally finding a voice.
There are people who just read biographies, interested only in the details of the lives of real people. There are others, like us, who enjoy dipping a toe, every now and then, into the deep inviting waters of the biography pool, to see first-hand the experiences of a person, past or present, who captures our imagination or pique’s our interest. From the First Man on the Moon to the latest winner of a jungle-based reality TV programme; sport-star to leading politician; religious leader to Arctic explorer, the choice is vast!
Want more inspiration? Head to our 'Best Autobiographies Ever' blog post filled with recommendations from our bookish friends.