Showing titles in Art & Literature

A terrifically engaging and original biography about one of England’s greatest novelists, and the glamorous, eccentric, debauched and ultimately tragic family that provided him with the most significant friendships of his life and inspired his masterpiece, “Brideshead Revisited”. Evelyn...

Agatha Christie’s ‘most absorbing mystery’ – her own autobiography. Over the three decades since her death on 12 January 1976, many of Agatha Christie’s readers and reviewers have maintained that her most compelling book is probably still her least well-known. Her candid Autobiography...

From her unique childhood to her all-consuming fascination with Thomas Cromwell that grew into the Wolf Hall Trilogy, Hilary Mantel had a celebrated career as a novelist. Alongside this, she long contributed to newspapers and journals, unspooling stories from her own life and illuminating the world as she found it. This strand of Hilary's writing was an integral part of how she thought of herself. 'Ink is a generative fluid,' she explains. 'If you don't mean your words to breed consequences, don't write at all.' A Memoir of My Former Self collects the finest of this writing over four decades.

Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable, audiobook edition of The Pigeon Tunnel. Written and read by John le Carré. 'Out of the secret world I once knew, I have tried to make a theatre for the larger worlds we inhabit. First comes the imagining, then the search for reality. Then back to...

From much-loved documentary maker Louis Theroux comes a funny, heartfelt and entertaining account of his life and weird times in TV. The audio edition is read by the author and contains an exclusive additional chapter. The Sunday Times Bestseller. 'Honest and soul-searching' - Sunday Express...

Stefan Zweig's memoir, The World of Yesterday, recalls the golden age of prewar Europe - its seeming permanence, its promise and its devastating fall with the onset of two world wars. Zweig's passionate, evocative prose paints a stunning portrait of an era that danced brilliantly on the brink of extinction. It is an unusually humane account of Europe from the closing years of the 19th century through to World War II, seen through the eyes of one of the most famous writers of his era.

WINNER OF THE FORTNUM & MASON DEBUT FOOD BOOK AWARD 2021 WINNER OF 2021 LAKELAND BOOK OF THE YEAR ‘Extraordinary. Vivid, irreverent, heartbreaking.’ NIGEL SLATER ‘So funny and so delicious. I could eat it.’ DAWN O’PORTER ‘Delicious.’ THE OBSERVER From Frazzles to Foie Gras: a...

A Parrot in the Pepper Tree, the sequel to Lemons, follows the lives of Chris, Ana and their daughter, Chloë, as they get to grips with a misanthropic parrot who joins their home, Spanish school life, neighbours in love, their amazement at Chris appearing on the bestseller lists . . and their shock at discovering that their beloved valley is once more under threat of a dam.

A selection of the lively letters between one of the world’s greatest literary critics and the poets, novelists, and scholars he most admired Bringing together a collection of Harold Bloom’s letters to and from eight of his favorite contemporary writers, Heather Cass White provides an...

In 1982 Murakami began running to keep fit. Here he reflects on his running experiences. Equal parts travelogue, training log, and reminiscence, this revealing memoir covers his preparation for the 2005 New York City Marathon. By turns funny and sobering, playful and philosophical, this is a must-listen for fans of this masterful author and for the increasing number of people who find a similar satisfaction in running.

This short biography of William Shakespeare by world famous writer Bill Bryson brims with the author’s inimitable wit and intelligence. Includes an exclusive Q&A session with the author. Shakespeare’s life, despite the scrutiny of generations of biographers and scholars, is still a thicket...

Taylor Sheridan is often spoken about in terms that feel larger than the man himself. He is framed as a rescuer, a restorer, a figure who rode into a fading landscape and brought something old back to life. The Western, once a dominant force in American storytelling, had for years drifted into the margins, surviving in fragments but rarely commanding attention at scale. Then came Sheridan, and suddenly the genre was not only visible again, but central. His name became synonymous with its revival, and his work began to define how modern audiences understood the American frontier.

Brought to you by Penguin. From Sunday Times bestselling author Gyles Brandreth comes the remarkable life of A.A. Milne and the bear who captured millions of hearts... ‘Whatever subject an author chooses or has chosen for him, he reveals no secret but the secret of himself’ A A Milne When...

This audiobook is narrated by Julie Maisey and Fiona's husband, Martin Frizell. 'I hope this book can show people a little about what it is like to live with Alzheimer’s. How frightening and confusing it is. But also how much life can still bring joy and be valued.' Much-loved broadcaster...

If Vasily Grossman's 1961 masterpiece, Life and Fate, had been published during his lifetime, it would have reached the world together with Pasternak's Doctor Zhivago and before Solzhenitsyn's Gulag. But Life and Fate was seized by the Russian KGB. When it emerged posthumously, decades later, it was recognized as the War and Peace of the 20th century.  

Bloomsbury presents The Peepshow by Kate Summerscale, read by Nicola Walker. FROM BRITAIN'S TOP-SELLING TRUE CRIME WRITER WINNER OF THE CWA ALCS GOLD DAGGER FOR NON-FICTION A BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR: The Times/Sunday Times, Financial Times, Spectator, Independent, Tablet and New Statesman 'I loved...

A flicker of light almost appears at the end of the tunnel for prisoner FF8282, as he is transferred to North Sea Camp near Boston, Lincolnshire, a D-category prison. Under a less strict regime, the prisoners can enjoy a more relaxed set of rules, while slowly preparing to someday rejoin the world outside the walls. However, a minor breach of conditions gets him sent off to the notorious HMP Lincoln facility for twenty-two days, where more traumatic experiences await. "Heaven" is the third book in Jeffrey Archer’s bestselling series The Prison Diaries.

Brought to you by Penguin. WINNER OF THE BRITISH SCIENCE FICTION ASSOCIATION AWARD FOR BEST NON-FICTION 'PEOPLE THINK THAT STORIES ARE SHAPED BY PEOPLE. IN FACT, IT'S THE OTHER WAY AROUND.' At the time of his death in 2015, award-winning and bestselling author Sir Terry Pratchett was working on...

**THE PHENOMENAL NEW BOOK FROM COMEDIAN AND SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE AUDACITY, KATHERINE RYAN** 'First Born Daughter is for anyone who was born into the role of unpaid family manager or simply suffers from hyper independence as a trauma response. It's part social commentary, part...

Much attention has been paid to so-called late style—but what about last style? When does last begin? How early is late? When does the end set in? In this endlessly stimulating investigation, Geoff Dyer sets his own encounter with late middle age against the last days and last achievements of writers, painters, athletes and musicians who've mattered to him throughout his life.