BOOKS: NON-FICTION
Agents' initials follow each client's entry
JAD ADAMS
Jad Adams is a producer of history documentaries for television and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.
HIDEOUS ABSINTHE
Mysteriously sophisticated and even Satanic, absinthe was the drink of choice of Baudelaire, Verlaine and Wilde and inspired paintings by Picasso, Degas and Manet.
It was blamed for illnesses from sterility to madness in a campaign culminating in its being banned in almost every European country. The questionable evidence of its toxicity eventually extinguished the fin-de-siecle’s infatuation with absinthe, but not before it had influenced generations of artists on either side of the channel.
This book will be a description of ‘the green fairy’: its history in the lives of artists who were inspired - and ruined - by it; an account of the development of a belief in ‘absinthism’ and the campaign to ban the liqueur; and its return as a drink of the sophisticated today.
World rights: IB Tauris, published 2003
Published 2004 by Haus Publishing: a biography of RUDYARD KIPLING.
Already published: MADDER MUSIC, STRONGER WINE The Life of Ernest Dowson, Victorian Decadent, DYNASTY: The Nehru-Gandhi Story; TONY BENN: a biography, DOUBLE INDEMNITY and AIDS: The HIV myth.
Previous foreign sales in: USA.
For MADDER MUSIC, STRONGER WINE
“admirably sympathetic, confident and committed biography”
The Times
AGAINST NATURE: A WORLD HISTORY OF WOMEN AND THE VOTE
Against Nature: A World History of Women and the Vote is the first accessible book on the world enfranchisement of women, taking the subject from the seventeenth to the twenty-first century. The book will tell the story of how an aspiration for the idealistic in the early years became what it is now: a western principle imposed on defeated nations in the Middle East. On the way Against Nature paints vivid pictures of the dramatic lives of suffrage leaders and assesses the impact of women on the global political process.
Jad Adams has previously written biographies of Tony Benn, of Emmeline Pankhurst and of the Nehru-Gandhi family.
UK Publisher: Constable & Robinson, May 2009
DT
MARK ADKIN
Major Mark Adkin served in Germany, Malaya, Mauritius and Aden. On leaving the British Army he joined the Overseas Civil Service. Later, as a contract officer with the Barbados Defence Force, he participated in the US invasion of Grenada. He now lives in Bedford, writes military books and is the Honorary Deputy Colonel TA for Bedfordshire. His book The Sharpe Companion became a bestseller. He is now working on THE TRAFALGAR COMPANION, commissioned by Aurum Press.
There have been many books about Waterloo, but never one to rival this in terms of scale or authority. the many full colour maps, and the numerous diagrams and photographs make the pages a feast for the eye.
Already published: THE SHARPE COMPANION; THE CHARGE; THE QUIET OPERATOR; THE BEAR TRAP; GOOSE GREEN; THE LAST ELEVEN?; URGENT FURY.
Praise for THE CHARGE...
“a superb account, fully entitled to be tagged ‘the definitive work’ on this subject” Daily Telegraph
JP
Iain Aitch writes on the arts, travel and eccentricity. He’s written for The Independent, The Observer, The Guardian, The Financial Times, The London Evening Standard, Salon, The Idler and Bizarre. He is known for exposing new talent and putting into print what others think but are too polite or unsure to say. Iain’s also interested in architecture and is London editor for Dwell, which is a people-friendly modern architecture magazine based in San Francisco. In addition, he’s the inventor of World Phone-in Sick Day, and initiated the annual London Santacon: a gathering of Santas intent on festive mayhem. Guardian articles by Iain were chosen as some of the best of year in the last three years running by readers of the newspaper
WE’RE BRITISH INNIT: AN IRREVERENT A-Z OF ALL THINGS BRITISH
Unlike the Government's Citizenship Test, this is the real measure of Britishness. Written in a snappy A-Z format, Iain Aitch takes you through all things British in a funny, evocative way. Whether it's fish and chips, James Bond, red telephone boxes or white dog poo, everything you've ever regarded as being uniquely British is within these pages and guaranteed to bring a smile of recognition to even the stiffest of upper lips. With more style than Jarvis Cocker's moves and more pomp than Elgar's masterpiece, Iain Aitch celebrates all that is truly glorious about good old Blighty. A book for the entire British population - Northerner, Southerner, and even tourist and immigrant alike - this is the perfect read for someone looking for the truly British experience. Aitch gives us the real Britain, not one filtered through the eyes of civil servants or politicians. This is the dictionary of the Britain that you affectionately know and love. From asbos to garden gnomes; Tennent's Super to tube maps; to socks and sandals; and spam and Smash potato, this is the most definitive list yet created that encapsulates the sights, sounds and even smells that make Britain what it is today.
UK Publisher: HarperCollins, September 2008
…in which Iain Aitch spends the summer months travelling from Margate to Manchester and Colchester to Carlisle examining the bizarre array of hobbies, pastimes, fêtes, festivals and fights that occupy the English in their time off.
Along the way he examines the strange world of re-enactments and finds out just why grown men would choose to pretend to be members of the Luftwaffe at the weekend; especially when they don’t own any aeroplanes. He also finds out what their counterparts in the RAF re-enactment societies think of these mock-Nazis. As he travels around the country, Iain uncovers further groups of hobbyists whose interests directly conflict, such as those who enjoy the summer pursuit of crop circle-making and those who believe these are an alien phenomenon. He also follows the modern hippie trail to Stonehenge to see what draws dreadlocked twenty-somethings to the Druid’s haunt and what the Druids make of it all.
Like a very English Holidays in Hell, this book informs, amuses and leaves the reader with a strange compulsion to visit the sites Iain passes through. It also light-heartedly examines what it is to be English in the 21st century.
UK: Headline, June 2003
Praise for FETE WORSE THAN DEATH: ‘(A) hilarious Bill Bryson-meets-Hunter S. Thomspon travelogue’. Guardian
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Nick Angel is a journalist and, occasionally, documentary filmmaker. After leaving university he researched and co-wrote a book with Matthew Parris, THE GREAT UNFROCKED, about two thousand years of scandal in the Church. While engaged in this he embarked on a passionate and enduring love affair with the British Library, where he can most reliably be found. He has written for various publications including the Times, Guardian and Evening Standard, and last year made a film for Channel 4, NAMESAKES: A VERY BRITISH ODYSSEY, described by the Guardian as “a real gem...both hilarious and oddly profound.” It was the first time in broadcasting history that Maxine Carr, Genghis Khan and Donald Duck were interviewed in the same television programme
SS
DR MARK ATKINSON
Dr Mark Atkinson is holistic medical physician and one of the UK’s leading authorities on holistic approaches to cancer, depression, chronic fatigue syndrome and self-development. His vision and life’s purpose is to provide as many people as possible with the insights, tools and skills to live a healthy, authentic and fulfilled life.
Dr Mark’s time is now devoted to sharing his discoveries and approaches through his one-to-one consultations, his workshops, lectures, residential retreats and practitioner training courses and his numerous articles and alternative health columns, including his weekly feature in NOW magazine, for which he has been awarded the HFMA UK’s Health Journalist of the Year Award for 2005.
THE MIND-BODY BIBLE
Do you suffer from negative thinking, dark moods, stress or low self-esteem?
Do you have symptoms that won’t fully resolve with medical treatment?
If the answer to any of the above is ‘Yes!’, Dr Mark Atkinson, a pioneer in the field of holistic and mind-body medicine, can help you. In this landmark book he invites you to transform your health and enrich your life using his highly acclaimed Total Health Approach.
The Mind–Body Bible is based on Dr Mark’s own experience in helping thousands of patients overcome significant health challenges. Recognising that body and mind are intimately linked, Dr Mark provides detailed questionnaires to identify the underlying physical, environmental, emotional and psychological factors that are preventing your bodymind from fulfilling its health potential. He then offers tailor-made nutritional and mind-body solutions to overcome those barriers
UK Publisher: Piatkus Books, May 2007
DR
Anila Baig, now a columnist on Britain’s biggest selling newspaper
The Sun, was the winner of the Press Gazette Newspaper Columnist of the Year award for her original writing in the Yorkshire Post.
Described by judges as "A breath of fresh air with real star quality. Her uncompromising approach as a Muslim woman and single mother is both brave and funny.... with echoes of Lenny Henry and the Kumars... she is a complete original".
DR
Rob Bailey and Ed Hurst share an interest in double entendres, which has served them well in producing a series of books cataloguing the world’s most smutty-sounding place and street names
RUDE BRITAIN
Britain has a history common to many islands: it is one of repeated invasion, occupation and assimilation. Each phase of this history has left its mark on our culture, architecture, language and place names. A rich mix of Celtic, Norse, Scandinavian, Anglo-Saxon, French and Latin have made the English language a gift to poets and writers. However, the nuances and double meanings so favoured by creative writers have also led to a number of very rude place names. Rude Britain is a compilation of 100 of the best and rudest place names, each one photographed and explained by the authors. From streets such as Fanny Avenue, Willey Lane, Titty Ho and Asshouse Lane to a village called Cocks; Great Britain throws up a wealth of odd names that have somehow been overlooked by the nation. Until now.
Praise for Rude Britain: “downright hilarious” – Daily Mail
UK: Boxtree, September 2005
http://www.rudebritain.co.uk/
RUDE WORLD
The fantastic follow-up to 2005's hit humour title "Rude Britain" reveals 100 of the rudest place names in the world. From Fanny Bay in Australia to Dildo in Newfoundland via Wank in Bavaria, Windy Gap in Ireland and Condom in France, "Rude World" delves into the etymological and linguistic origins of each location's name to uncover the fascinating reasons behind such apparently lewd places. Also featuring excellent photographs of the road signs proving the existence of each place, this book is laugh-out-loud funny and surprisingly interesting. Prepare yourself for the rudest world tour ever!
World rights: Boxtree October 2006
RUDE UK: 100 NEWLY EXPOSED BRITISH BACK PASSAGES, STREETS AND TOWNS
After a year touring round the “Rude World”, the authors have decided to return to dear old Blighty. The result is a triumphant homecoming tour that has uncovered 100 more delightfully rude British place names to treasure, from the hidden charms of Slack Bottom and Fanny Street to an unforgettable glimpse of Cocking.
UK Publisher: Boxtree, November 2007
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Chris Bird was Caucasus correspondent for first Agency France-Presse and then the Associated Press from 1994-6 during which time he covered the Chechen war. He and his family lived in Tbilisi in Georgia, and both his young sons speak fluent Georgian. 1998 he became the Guardian’s Balkan correspondent in Belgrade – from which he was expelled three times – covering the war in Kosovo. After working for the Press Association in Sarajevo for a year, he is now a medical student in London. This is his first book.
TO CATCH A TARTAR: Notes from the Caucasus
Chris Bird spent more time in Chechnya during the years of war in the 1990s than any other Western journalist, a remote, secretive country embroiled in a centuries-old struggle against the tsars and the Soviets. He witnessed firsthand, and often in considerable personal danger, Chechen fighters hold their own against a huge invading Russian army. He witnessed the resilience, the incomprehension, the suffering of ordinary people, many of them Russians, innocent victims of the war.
TO CATCH A TARTAR is a personal journey through the violent decolonisation of the Soviet empire. It shows the human and moral costs of freedom and the courage of the Chechens, whose history burns within them in a brutal war still being fought in the valleys and mountains of the Caucasus.
UK: John Murray May, 2002.
‘Bird is a shrewd, sympathetic and very courageous observer of the recent Chechnya tragedy.’ Dervla Murphy
LL
Vivienne Bolton, originally from South Africa, has lived in the UK for many years. A self-taught expert in arts, crafts and design, she is also a professional cook, gardener and writer, and has collaborated with writers such as Barbara Segall. She currently lives in Norwich.
VINTAGE GIFTS
This is a sumptuous book showing how to make everything from a Cath Kidston style crocheted brooch to a beautiful scented bath bag. With tips on creating your own vintage style it will give new edge to burrowing and browsing at second hand stalls and provide you with the skill to make gifts you won’t want to part with! Beautifully produced with step by step instructions and lavish photographs, like its projects, it’s a book to give and treasure.
UK: New Holland 2007
Also BUMPER BOOK OF GREETINGS CARDS. A bumper book collection of Vivienne’s two previously published card books.
UK: New Holland 2007
Previous books: BIG BOOK OF WEEKEND PAPERCRAFTS and PAPERCRAFTS FOR CHILDREN (both New Holland) THE DOLL'S HOUSE DECORATOR (Dorling Kindersley), GET CRAFTY series (8 books), 365 THINGS TO MAKE AND DO (both for Paragon),THE BIG BOOK OF GREETING CARDS and THE BIG BOOK OF HANDMADE CARDS AND GIFTWRAP (both New Holland).
LL & SGB
AUDREY AND SOPHIE BOSS
French born sisters Audrey & Sophie Boss were serial dieters for many years, together they beat their body and weight demons by looking at the root of the problem. In 1999 they founded Beyond Chocolate as a workshop which provides ongoing follow up support for its participants, it has proven to be hugely successful
Beyond Chocolate is for women who are unhappy with their weight and their relationship with food.
Chapter by chapter, Beyond Chocolate debunks the myths, the shoulds and the ought tos that women live by, trapping themselves in an endless cycle of failed diets. It proposes a new, liberating approach to establishing a healthy and satisfying relationship with food and body image. Beyond Chocolate not only provides you with the tools you need to break that diet/binge cycle, it shows you practical ways to put them into practice in your everyday life. Beyond Chocolate is a radically different approach to weight loss. This book confronts the diet industry, the gurus and the fads with a sustainable alternative to diets.
Audrey and Sophie encourage women to consider their physical and emotional well-being from various angles including what they eat, why they eat, when they eat, how they eat, exercise, body image, self esteem and more. You won't just lose weight, you will enjoy eating the foods you like and never have to deprive yourself again!
World rights: Piatkus, Sept 2006
Praise for BEYOND CHOCOLATE
“Wow! I feel like someone has just switched a light on in my head! I know I can become the me I’ve not even dare dream of! Thank you”
Jayne Hall, workshop participant
DR
Martin Buckley has lived in France, Italy, Turkey and India and has worked as journalist and broadcaster in over forty countries. He is married with one young son and currently divides his time between London and Corsica.
AN INDIAN ODYSSEY
The Ramayana - the journey of Rama - is India's best-loved book, an inspiration to schoolchildren, monks and movie-makers. When Martin Buckley first encountered the Ramayana twenty-five years ago, it became a guide to the complexities of Indian life. Here, he fulfils a dream - to retrace the route of Rama from his birthplace in north India to the climax of his confrontation with evil in Sri Lanka.
AN INDIAN ODYSSEY is the story of an adventurous and sometimes perilous passage through India by motorbike, microlight, bus and train. In the course of his own odyssey - physical and spiritual - Buckley witnesses death on the chaotic Great Trunk Road and passes through a war zone in Sri Lanka where bicycle bombs are the weapon of choice. A cast of mystics and Marxists, idealists and cynics - Hindu, Muslim and Buddhist - lays out the rich fabric of contemporary India and Sri Lanka, illuminated by the remarkable story of their past - and the quest of a man to rescue the woman he loves.
‘Buckley is a born storyteller’ Observer
UK Publisher: Hutchinson, 2008
ABSOLUTE ALTITUDE
In this age of sleek 500-seat trans-global airliners, what remains of the mystery and romance of flight? Martin Buckley circumnavigated the world in a whole series of mostly small aircraft, flying by some of the oldest and strangest planes still in use to some of the remotest places on earth – places where flying is almost the only transport option; and to meet some of the oldest surviving pilots, as well as contemporary pilots who still fly by the seat of their pants. Some years ago Martin discovered that with a qualified pilot’s license you can sometimes ‘hitch-hike’ in the co-pilot’s seat (pilots like it, plane owners and insurance companies like it, and customs officials are usually well-disposed). He decided that the subject of his next book would be to try and hitch hike around the world by plane.
UK Publisher Hutchinson May 2003
Already published: GRAINS OF SAND (Hutchinson).
Previous foreign sales in: Holland, Germany, Latvia
Praise for GRAINS OF SAND...
“Buckley is a born storyteller...Read this book, it is the next best thing to crossing the deserts of the world oneself”
The Observer
DT
EMILY CHRISTIE
Now 31, Emily still has physical injuries from her childhood, and is unable to work, but she is happy to be a stay-at-home mum with her beautiful daughter, Sophie, 4, who she credits with turning her life around. She lives in Scotland.
GRANDAD’S SPECIAL LITTLE GIRL
From a respectable family, surrounded by people whose job it was to protect, Emily Christie, silently suffered years of terrible abuse at the hands of her grandad – without her family knowing.
Her ordeal began aged five when her grandad used bath times to start grooming her, calling her his ‘special little girl’. But after her parents divorce, when she was seven, he took advantage of their separation to start sexually abusing her. Often bribing her with money and sweets, he convinced her he was the only person who really loved her.
Frightened, confused and hurt, over time the abuse got worse and her grandfather revealed to her that he had abused countless young girls over the years.
Knowing he was a respected paramedic, Emily was too scared to speak out. Her own father was a policeman but her grandad had warned that, if she told him, he would arrest her rather than help. Emily’s bedroom was directly above the cell in the police station and she would lay awake at night terrified that she would be taken there if anyone found out her secret.
After years of abuse - including being raped in the police station house as her family celebrated a birthday downstairs - things reached a head. In turmoil as a teenager, following a decade of sexual attacks, a family member finally guessed that something was seriously wrong. After Emily was confronted, the truth came tumbling out and her grandfather eventually imprisoned.
After a dark period of drugs, depression and a suicide attempt, Emily has turned her life around. She has campaigned for justice for sexual abuse victims, gained the qualifications she was too traumatized to work for when she was at school, and she is fully at ease with who she is.
UK Publisher: Penguin, April 2009
SS
BARBARA CLARK
Barbara Clark has two children and lives in Somerset. She was voted the Sun newspaper Mother of the Year for her work in campaigning on behalf of women who have breast cancer.
THE FIGHT OF MY LIFE
The inspiring story of a mother’s fight against breast cancer.
In 2005 Barbara Clark made headlines as the nurse and mother who was diagnosed with breast cancer and fought for the right to be prescribed the wonder drug Herceptin, which was not at that time available through the Health Services, for herself and, equally importantly, for thousands of other women.
This book tells the story behind those headlines. It tells how she first found her cancer, how it affected her life and that of her children, and what gave her the will to battle, not just the disease but the authorities, for the chance of more time with the people she loves. Barbara has two boys of her own, one of whom has a serious life-limiting condition himself. These children, and the ones that she fosters and offers respite care to, are her greatest reasons for living. THE FIGHT OF MY LIFE is the story of an extraordinary woman and of great human courage in the face of despair.
UK Publisher: Hodder, January 2007
LL
Kira Jolliffe and Bay Garnett, “stylists to the stars”, are editors of Cheap Date magazine, which saucily celebrates ‘style over fashion’ and ‘value over price’. Bay, as Contributing Fashion Editor at British Vogue, and Creative Director for designer Matthew Williamson, is seen as one of fashion’s great gurus, and Kira is a writer and style consultant with a vast knowledge of fashion history, sub-cultures and trends.
This is a highly visual book about the imagination you have to use, the confidence you have to have and practicalities you need to aware of, to look and be stylish. It’s a friendly, inclusive, down-to-earth guide to the distinction between style and fashion. Without demanding the reader move the earth - we’re all busy human beings after all - Kira and Bay guarantee that she’ll feel more beautiful and excited, and be more stylish after reading this book - or they’ll eat their Burberry trench coats. As clothes obsessives and expert thrift shoppers, they can make every source of togs accessible and the book contains massive of good old fashioned tips throughout, together with interviews with (amongst others) Karl Lagerfeld, Kelis, Vivienne Westwood and Chloe Sevigny.
World rights: Transworld March 2007
THE CHEAP DATE GUIDE TO STYLE
“Kira and Bay are the real style gurus of fashion” - Erin O'Connor
“Packed with practical tips, this book is totally inspiring. I love it!” - Sophie Dahl
“Bay Garnett and Kira Jolliffe are the most genuinely stylish people I know, and their enthusiasm for fashion is infectious. They will encourage you to develop your own personal style and express yourself in an individual way, rather than following the herd and looking like everyone else. They make fashion fun and, in an age when expensive labels rule, they inspire you to rummage through the vintage stores and find that one-off piece that perfectly reflects your mood” - Rachel Weisz
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LIAM CREED
Liam Creed is a 15-year-old ADHD sufferer living in Sussex. At the age of eight, he was finally diagnosed with ADHD, and has been on medication ever since. Constantly berated at school for his disruptive behaviour, he has been singled out and excluded on countless occasions.
When he embarked on a ‘social experiment’ – as part of the BBC documentary “In The Dog House” – Liam found his true calling, realizing that he has a rapport with dogs generally and a special bond with one in particular.
Liam is writing his memoirs with
JOSHUA BURT
Joshua Burt is an established journalist and lives in London. He has spent the last eight years working for a number of publications. Originally working in the world of lad’s mags – writing for FHM – Josh moved into the women’s market. For three years he worked as a writer on More magazine, before going freelance and writing for some of the UK’s best-sellers, including New Woman, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, New, The Sun, and many many more. He has written on a million (roughly) topics, ranging from celebrities, to sport, to real life stories. At one point he was even the agony uncle for B and 19 magazines, offering useful relationship advice to concerned readers.
A PUPPY CALLED AERO
After years of suffering from ADHD, all it took was the love of an obedient puppy to put Liam’s life on the right track.
Liam has endured a torrid time – upsetting friends and family, and getting excluded from school more times than he cares to remember. All because he was born afflicted with an inability to sit still and concentrate. His outbursts have got him into fights, and to many around him, he was a lost cause. But then a ‘social experiment’ came knocking and his life was turned round, thanks to the BBC and a dog called Aero
What started as a quest for notoriety – Liam had always wanted to be on TV – soon became a personal mission to better himself. It proved a truly life-changing journey. Working for a charity called Canine Partners, Liam found himself training Aero, a Labrador puppy, to help people with disabilities live an independent life. Yet, somehow, along the way, his relationship with the pup started working on his own affliction too.
Liam thought his life was destined for failure - after all, that’s what had been drummed into him for years. But might the dog have given him a focus? An understanding of how to control his own behaviour? And most of all, a sense of hope for a better future?
This is the story of Liam and his unlikely teacher, Aero.
UK: John Murray, June 2009
SS
Victor Darkwood was born in a small hovel on the Wirral Peninsular and, despite his father’s occupation as lowly cordwainer, showed early gentlemanly flair by choosing to buff up his ragamuffin bare feet with oxblood boot polish, so that they resembled brogues. After gaining a degree in Obfuscational Studies from the University of North Acton, he went on to a life of complete lassitude. If it weren’t for a chance encounter with his future literary agent in a Limehouse bordello, things could have turned out very differently. Prone to leaning decoratively against classical architecture at an angle of 15 degrees to the perpendicular and strumming a lyre, Mr Darkwood is currently working on a guide to assist the modern traveller.
http://www.artfink.demon.co.uk/articles/articles1.html
A brief glance around the travel section of today’s bookshops will convince the reader that there is a paucity of literature dealing with the true nitty-gritty of the voyager’s art. It is quite plain that the majority of today’s travellers are still not doing it right. Blundering off on a jaunt ill-prepared, and blithely pooh-poohing the lessons of precedent, a young buck is setting himself up for a fall. In all likelihood he will eventually find himself in a merry pickle, locked up in the slammer or attempting to survive solely on a diet of twigs. Older voyagers, with their luncheon boxes and tick lists, might just as profitably stay at home, and spend their final years playing bingo or watching the televisual exploits of Mr Michael Palin. Now, for the first time, a compendium of information drawn from the travel writers of the 19th and early 20th centuries, is available for the enlightenment of the modern traveller. This illustrated guide will provide you with all you need to know about “Revolting food that may save the lives of starving men”; “Calculating the rush of an enraged animal”; and “Hunting elephants and hippos with a javelin” - as well as providing highly entertaining advice on how to deal with overseas hoteliers and the importance of packing two pairs of flannel pyjamas for travel in Central and Northern Japan.
UK PUBLISHER: John Murray, November 2006
US Publisher: St martin's Press Spring 2007
French Publisher: Scali
Previously Published (with Gustav Temple): THE CHAP MANIFESTO; THE CHAP ALMANAC; AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 MARTINIS; THE BEST OF THE CHAP
Previous Foreign Sales in: Portugal
Praise for THE LOST ART OF TRAVEL...
essential companion" Jack Dee
SS
CHELSEA DUKE
When Chelsea Duke took a year out to travel round the world alone, she had no idea what she was letting herself in for. Never having described herself as the outdoorsy type or stayed in a hostel before, life on the backpacker trail held some rather unpleasant surprises. However, by the end of the year she had amassed a range of survival techniques to rival Ray Mears, all of which she is generously passing on here. She is currently on a six-month trip to New Zealand.
HIGH HEELS AND A HEAD TORCH
Here are plenty of books out there about travelling round a particular country or region; there’s a fair few about motorcycling round the world; but there’s not much that talks about the actual experience of being a backpacker. Most of those which exist are written by men - but this one isn’t. It’s written by a girl for girls, and as well as DOs and DON’Ts and hilarious anecdotes, it contains masses of brilliant advice, making it an essential travelling companion.
Written by a seasoned traveller who learnt the hard way, this book tells you how to still feel glam when your backpack is smaller than your shoe cupboard; how to cope with sharing dorms with strangers (including how to avoid being the most unpopular girl in the dorm); how to keep yourself stylishly entertained whilst spending as little money as possible and; perhaps most importantly of all, it explains the indispensable nature of the sparkly flip-flop.
UK: Macmillan, May 2009
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CHARLIE ELDER
Charlie is a journalist living in Devon with his wife and two children, who he is desperately trying to instil with his enthusiasm for birdwatching.
A worrying number of Britain’s birds are in population freefall. We have lost a staggering 60 per cent of our familiar house sparrows and starlings over the last 25 years; songbirds haven’t much to sing about these days; and many birds of woodlands, wetlands and uplands are now living on a wing and a prayer. Too many of our feathered friends are in real trouble, and the number of species on the critical list both at home and abroad keeps on increasing. When ranked alongside such major worries as international terrorism, global warming and the enduring popularity of Noel Edmonds, the fact that some scarce brown warbler or other is becoming even scarcer is unlikely to have many of us waking at night in a cold sweat. And yet the fact many birds are on the decline, along with other animals, is something worth losing sleep over as birds are key indicators of the health of our countryside, and when they are in trouble, we are all in trouble. Considering a pair of great tits can get through 8,000 caterpillars in three weeks, life without such pest control experts would become decidedly uncomfortable.
Armed with a decent pair of binoculars and a biological safety suit (in case of a bird flu outbreak), Charlie Elder has travelled the length and breadth of the British Isles over the last year to see our 40 key species in decline – the national ‘Red List’ of birds of greatest conservation concern. This humorous travelogue will look at why their numbers have fallen and the efforts to encourage their recoveries, as Charlie meets with experts and enthusiasts working to make a difference. Along the way he will examine the benefits birds bring, the importance of looking after them, and the rise of the birdwatcher – one species that is certainly not in decline.
UK: Transworld, April 2009
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JOHN ELLIS
John Ellis was born in Bradford and educated at the Universities of Sussex and Manchester. He was a lecturer in the latter’s Department of Military Studies before becoming a full-time writer.
WAGING WAR: AN HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION
John Ellis is a distinguished historian of warfare and is the acclaimed author of “The Social History of the Machine Gun”. His new book looks at the whole history of warfare and examines it using the essential factors that have remained the same throughout history and identifying the core characteristics. The book aims to give the intelligent reader an overall historical and conceptual framework to better understand the intense media coverage of wars, both threatened and real.
Divided into themes, Ellis explores these core characteristics in a lively and informative way. Using many wars as examples, ranging from ancient Egypt to Afghanistan today (where incidentally allied forces are facing the same problems of terrain that defeated Alexander the Great-); ….from Thermopylae to Monte Cassino; the Incas to the Vietnam; Gettysburg to Sarajevo…..
UK: Jonathan Cape, Autumn 2009
Already published: ONE DAY IN A VERY LONG WAR; THE SHARP END:THE FIGHTING MAN IN WORLD WAR II; THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF THE MACHINE GUN; EYE DEEP IN HELL; CASSINO: THE HOLLOW VICTORY; BRUTE FORCE: ALLIED STRATEGY AND TACTICS IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR.
Previous foreign sales in: USA, Korea
For EYE DEEP IN HELL.
“crackles with items of interest. It’s hard to imagine a more stimulating study of human destructiveness” New York Times
JP
BBC RADIO FIVE LIVE: 2005 The Sporting Year
Introduction by Eamonn Holmes
The Radio Five Live Sporting Yearbook is a tribute to 2005’s most exciting sporting highlights. The BBC’s Radio Five Live top sports broadcasters bring together a wide compilation of sport’s most important moments From the FA Cup Final to the University Boat Race, from The Open to the Grand National, and from Wimbledon to the Ashes Test series, readers can now relive their favourite sporting event of the year thanks to some of the greatest voices in radio sports broadcasting.
The Sporting Yearbook includes commentary, quotes, stories from the archives, statistics and records, colour photographs, and reviews key issues on the annual sporting calendar. It features interviews with some of the biggest names in radio sports broadcasting: among them John Motson, Alan Green, Jonathan Pearce, Eamonn Holmes and Gary Richardson.
Packaged with a 30-minute audio of 2005’s sporting highlights the Radio Five Live Sporting Year Book is a comprehensive and entertaining read for any sports fan.
DR
DUNCAN FAIRHURST
Duncan Fairhurst is an English teacher. He currently lives in Hiroshima, Japan
OUR LITTLE SECRET
In September 2005, Duncan Fairhurst succeeded in getting his father jailed for the rape and sexual abuse he (and another unnamed victim) endured at his hand. This is the story of a young boy who was betrayed by the person he loved the most – his father.
After years of sexual abuse which started when he was just four years old, Duncan made an escape, of sorts, into a world of drink and drugs, only conquering his demons after a girlfriend pushed him towards counselling. He went to university and later became a school teacher – in short he made a success of his life.
Then in a chance encounter in 2004, he came upon his father in the street, clutching the hand of a little boy…
This is both a shattering and an inspirational memoir in which Duncan reveals himself to the greatest degree possible. In so doing, Duncan has begun to rid himself of his nightmares as he has compiled this work however his real intention in recording his memories is to show others who have suffered like him that there is hope and that if they can only find the courage to speak out then they can finally stop the guilty from going free.
Hodder & Stoughton, already a proven market leader with their powerful human stories, BEHIND CLOSED DOORS, UGLY and THE OTHER SIDE OF NOWHERE, are confident that OUR LITTLE SECRET will be the biggest selling memoir of 2007.
UK Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton, June 2007
Foreign rights sold: Sweden, Italy, Estonia, Denmark and Bulgaria.
DR
NEIL FORSYTH
Neil Forsyth works as a freelance journalist. His writing has appeared regularly in many of the UK's top men's and sports magazines, as well as a number of broadsheets. He is twenty-eight years old and lives in Edinburgh.
ELLIOT CASTRO is unique in the history of British financial crime. Other than organised criminal gangs, often working with former bank employees, no-one has stolen so much money for so long from the UK banking system.
This is Elliot’s remarkable story, how one young working-class kid from Glasgow was able to con his way into becoming the most successful and daring fraudster in Britain.
Quite simply, this was a young man from a modest background who wanted to see the world, to see it in style, and see it he does…”
It has all the elements of a fantastic work of fiction and will read like a fast paced thriller with the added attraction that it is all completely true.
World rights: Macmillan, Spring 2007
Foreign rights sold: Chinese
"A fascinating and illuminating story" Irvine Welsh
DR
GAZZA: MY STORY
Almost as soon as the young Geordie burst onto the scene at Newcastle United, Gazza was the centre of attention: Vinnie Jones's notorious ball-handling showed the lengths people would go to try to stop him. Then, with England on the verge of possibly reaching the World Cup final in 1990, came Gazza's tears - the moment that brought a whole new audience to the sport and helped set the football 1990s boom on its way. But then came a career-threatening injury, mental health problems, self-confessed alcoholism and family disputes, as life in the full glare of the media spotlight became too much. Now, at the end of his career in football, Gazza is finally ready to tell his own story in his own words for the first time - and it is even more amazing than you would have thought.
UK Publisher Headline June 2004
Paul Gascoigne made his league debut for Newcastle in 1984-85, moving to Spurs in 1988 in a huge £2 million deal. He was one of England's key figures in the 1990 World Cup, and moved to Lazio in Italy in 1992. He then played for Rangers, Middlesbrough, Everton, Burnley and briefly in China. He won 57 caps.
Previous foreign rights sold in: Japan, Germany
DT
GOLDEN
Golden Boy left his home on The Isle of Wight ten years ago to lead the life of a bohemian gigolo. A professional musician, he has recorded his own jazz album, played and toured the world with Wendy James’ band Racine, and DJs worldwide at venues like Sketch.
During his adventures, he has slept with everyone from A-list film stars, porn stars, and supermodels to waitresses and office girls. He wrote a successful column for New Woman on his sexual adventures, which got positive feedback from the readers – lots wrote in wanting to know if they could date him!
GIGOLO
It’s all very well noughties women twirling their nipple tassels towards extreme sexual freedom – but what about the poor men doing hard labour underneath them?
Golden Boy is a sexual entrepreneur poised to cash in on the loose g-strings of the nation’s women – he’s got the looks, the lines and the libido to go far. And like the Parisian Dandies of the past, who secured the patronage of wealthy women, there is a whole secret society of modern gigolos servicing the fantasies of a newly empowered and financially free generation of twenty- and thirty-something women.
But having threesomes with liberated ladies, and enjoying £10,000 spending sprees courtesy of sex-crazed career women isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. There’s the A-list celeb who proposes to him but treats him like her pet pooch; the Trust-Fundista who spends daddy’s money on calling him Daddy; the stripper who spends her cash making him disrobe; and the estate agent who completes with him in the shop window.
He’s living every man’s dream, and taking advantage of every woman’s fantasy – but are his accumulated orgasms adding up to happiness?
UK Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton, June 2008
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In her famous weekly Guardian column, Michele has created a comic masterpiece of family life. Over fourteen years she has chronicled the teenage years of her daughter, Treasure, and the final years of her mother. The Age of Dissent, Treasure: the Trials of a Teenage Terror, and its sequel, What Treasure did Next, based on the Guardian columns, were published by Virago, serialised on Radio 4 and made into a BBC cartoon series. Michele regularly appears on radio and TV, most recently as one of the Grumpy Old Women. She lives in north London, these days mostly on her own with her two Boxer dogs, as her daughter is in Australia, and her mother recently died. She is delighted with the solitude.
Winner of BT Mind Book of the Year Award 2007
In her new collection of Guardian columns, Michele focuses on the life and death of her mother A glamorous, much admired young woman, in old age Michele’s mother still has power over everyone she meets. She alternately despairs of and adores her grand-daughter and treats her daughter, now sixty-three, as though she is twelve. Michele observes the very slow decline of her mother, as she changes from vibrant, bossy, hilarious fault-finder general and head chef to frail, bedridden, helpless, speechless, but still formidable and brave old lady, who is able, to the very end, to have a laugh. Rarely have the indignities of old age, and the trials for the loved ones who have to cope with that old age, been so brilliantly, poignantly and hilariously brought to life.
UK: Virago/Guardian Books September 2006
‘Inspired, deadpan reflections on life as the mother of a teenager ...her work is also, at a deeper level, about parental passion, family tolerance, forgiveness and love.’
Mail on Sunday
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JOHN HEALY
THE GRASS ARENA
Originally published to great acclaim in 1988, John Healy’s autobiography won in the PEN/JR Ackerley Prize (for autobiography) and was subsequently made into a TV Drama.
Born in London of poor Irish parents hardened on the streets by the age of seven, out of school at fourteen, John Healy casts himself neither as hero nor victim as he recalls the downward spiral of his teenage years, overwhelmed by alcoholism, isolated on the edge of society.
Pressed into the army, bruised by military prison and the boxing ring, dependent on booze, he ends up in the grass arena – the terrifying world ruled by psychopaths and peopled by beggars, con-men, thieves, prostitutes and killers, where the law is enforced with the broken bottle, the boot and the knife.
A sordid early death seems inevitable until, in prison, he learns to play chess. His single-minded devotion to the game combines with a remarkable natural ability: he becomes a tournament champion, he plays grandmasters; his games are reported in the national press. One addiction is abandoned for another and his life is transformed. Peace of mind, however, remains elusive – and the quest continues.
UK Publisher: Penguin, Modern Classics, September 2008
JP
Bryony Hill first came to MBA when she was runner-up for the first Harry Bowling Prize in 2000. Her first novel, PENALTY CHICK, was published by The Book Guild in 2003. About a footballing-hating girl who falls in love with the manager of a struggling football club, Bryony swore that it was not based on any personal experience she might have had as the wife of Jimmy Hill, footballer, broadcaster and national treasure
Bryony’s next book is, on the other hand, entirely autobiographical. It is also inspiring, funny and completely original.
Bryony has created the most beautiful garden at the Hills’ house in West Sussex. She is passionate about it and conveys this in her writing. She has also painted some charming water-colour pictures of her garden, and pen and ink drawings which illustrate and decorate the text. Any aspiring, amateur or armchair, gardener can’t help but be inspired by reading Bryony’s book, and will also much enjoy her company as she recreates her garden in these pages: from wildly coloured and scented flower borders, to ornamental pond complete with statue and fish, to the beds of lettuce and tomatoes. And along the way providing accommodation for nesting birds, doing battle with snails and bindweed, and of course preparing the compost heap, the pride and joy of any proper gardener. Bryony encourages you to have them all too, and have a lot of fun (and win a few prizes for vegetables in the local village fete).
'Chosen as one of the top gardening books for spring 2007 by Publishing News'
'Buy two of these - one by the bed for inspiration, one in the shed for instruction. This book will convert even me into a green-fingered enthusiast!
Tommy Walsh - Broadcaster, BBC's 'Groundforce'
UK: The Book Guild, March 2007
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JO HILL
Jo Hill is married with two children and lives in the country
NAKED
When she was ten, Jo Hill was taken to a nudist camp by her parents on the first of what would be hundreds of such visits over the next 6 years. Although her father had taken her with good intentions, he unwittingly introduced her to a number of predators, who made her a victim of sexual abuse and child pornography. Unable to confide in anyone, Jo carried inappropriate feelings of guilt about this for years, and retains an attitude towards her body which is ambivalent, at best.
At home, Jo’s father’s moods dominated the household, and her mother’s decline into the alcoholism which eventually led to her death, is poignantly described here. NAKED is very much a coming-of-age story as Jo goes through various stages of rebellion against her parents, and comes out the other side of her childhood as a determined and successful adult.
UK Publisher: Headline, August 2008
RODNEY HINDS
Rodney Hinds is the Sports Editor for The Voice Newspaper. In 1999 he was co-author of a book called "Black Pearls - An A-Z of Black Footballers in the English Game". As a respected sports journalist he has written numerous articles for various publications and interviewed many sporting personalities. He regularly acts as sports analyst for BBC television and radio.
DR
ANDREW HODGES
Andrew Hodges teaches mathematics at Oxford University, and is the author of the best selling Alan Turing: the Enigma. He is a colleague of Sir Roger Penrose, author of The Emperor’s New Mind, and The Road to Reality.
ONE TO NINE
The simple form of the book involves nine chapters exploring topics inspired by the first nine integers that is accessible to anyone with a curiosity about numbers and an interest in puzzles. ONE TO NINE is inspired by the series of columns Dr Hodges wrote for The Observer newspaper in the 1990s. It makes use of the popularity of Sudoku’s one-to-nine puzzle, keeping the mental challenge roughly on the same level and drawing on the mathematics implicit in Sudoku problems.
ONE TO NINE should also appeal to school and college students, and teachers will find it a stimulating source of ideas. Of course, it is not the first book of this kind. In 1956, Constance Reid published her popular classic From Zero to Infinity: What Makes Numbers Interesting, which was reissued in a fiftieth anniversary edition this year. This had a similar form of a series of chapters, each devoted to a number and its properties. But its emphasis was on the classical history of pure mathematics, conveying the cut-and-dried certainties of the 1950s. ONE TO NINE draws more broadly from culture and science, with more humour, a more questioning attitude, and an emphasis on recent discoveries and controversies.
UK: Short Books, 2007
JP
TONY JACKLIN
THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY
From truck-driver's son to golfing all-time great and Ryder Cup legend: the life and times of Tony Jacklin is one of the most compelling stories in the history of British sport. In 1967, when he aced the 16th hole at Royal St George's at the Dunlop Masters, it was the first time a hole in one in Britain had ever been televised. A year later, his win at the Jacksonville Open was the first by a British player on the PGA Tour.
In 1969, when he lifted the Claret Jug at Royal Lytham, it was the first time The Open had been won by an Englishman since Max Faulkner in 1951. And 34 years after his remarkable seven-shot victory at Hazeltine, he remains the last European golfer to win the US Open.
In the early 1970s, that time when he was king, Jacklin was the biggest name in British sport and he succumbed to the usual trappings -the chauffeur-driven Rolls, the mansion in the country, the photo-shoot on the roof of the Savoy hitting balls into the Thames, and the inevitable studio album, Tony Jacklin Swings, with its very credible version of Come Fly with Me.
Jacklin was the hero -the Henman, the Beckham of his time, and more. He knew how to win. But from such a height a fall was perhaps inevitable and after having a second British Open snatched from his hands, by the locquacious Lee Trevino, Tony was never the same player again.
There is a lot more to Tony Jacklin the man, than most people realize and in this book he intends to be brutally honest about his public and private life, recounting the lows along with the glorious highs.
Almost in another life, Jacklin re-emerged in 1983 and became a bigger hero than ever with his Ryder Cup exploits. For the first time ever Tony will give a full account of his years as the European Ryder Cup captain – before his captaincy of the European team the event’s reputation had substantially diminished in the public imagination. In 1983, Jacklin set the wheels in motion to end the U.S. domination and nearly pulled off an improbable upset. Losing did not diminish the European team's competitive spirit; rather it ignited an intense rivalry and was followed by European wins in 1985, 87 and 89. It was a staggering explosion of success. It created the "New Ryder Cup", the cup the Americans didn't know they had until they lost it. Every two years it is now the most popular and most talked about event in the golfing calendar.
Tony Jacklin is the Godfather of modern British Golf
- be prepared to rediscover a hero.
UK Publisher: Simon & Schuster – lead title June 2006
DR
Vicky Jaggers
Vicky lives in Essex with her husband and children.
Before the age of 12, Vicky Jaggers led a very normal life. But one night everything was turned upside down, when her brother changed from being her hero to being her rapist. Vicky left behind the innocent days of playing with her dolls, and spent her nights terrified of going to bed.
Too scared to tell anyone, she kept the vile abuse a secret but then she discovered she was pregnant. Torn between lying to her parents and tearing the family apart, she decided to keep quiet - pretending she’d spent the night with a boy she'd met on holiday six months earlier.
Unable to face the prospect of having an abortion and the resulting stillbirth, Vicky gave birth to her daughter Kirsty at the age of 13. She spent the next 18 years of her life trying to forget what her brother did but battling with constant fears - what else was David capable of? Would he rape again? Would he come after Kirsty?
Vicky became a nervous wreck, drifting into destructive relationships and deep unhappiness. And all the time, David’s behaviour became more erratic and dangerous. Then one day, in a twist of fate, Vicky was confronted with an agonising decision. Should she tell everyone what David did to her 18 years earlier and get him locked up? Or let him carry on hurting everyone he met?
It was time for Vicky to finally face her nightmares, and tell her daughter and family the truth.
UK: Hodder, May 2009
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Sam Jordison is a hugely talented, bright, young writer. He was co-editor of the bestselling CRAP TOWNS (published by Boxtree for Christmas 2003) and the follow-up book, CRAP TOWNS 2.
SOD THAT! 103 Things NOT To Do Before You Die
For anyone who is fed up of being told what to do with their time, or made to feel inferior because they don't want to fly half way round the planet on the off chance that a dolphin might swim somewhere their vicinity, this is the perfect book. A slacker's bible, it is the anti-list book in a world where we are surrounded with too many lists - '101 Things to Buy', '50 Things to do in Keighley' - offering us all too many very avoidable treats. Who has the time to read all these lists, let alone follow up on the suggestions? Is it really such a good idea to touch a tiger? All these ludicrous suggestions should be treated with the contempt they deserve. In short, this is a very funny rallying call for common sense and dignified indolence rather than wasteful over-activity. Now comes the final and best list book of all time, easily trumping those books with 100 or 101 things to do, as Life's Too Short comes up with the top 103 things not to do. You know it makes sense.
UK: Orion, September 2008
ANNUS HORRIBILIS
Mistakes, mishaps, cock-ups - they just aren't given the recognition they deserve. They make life interesting and human beings (some more than others) have a genuine flair for them. So why does history only record the world's dull and worthy achievements? "Annus Horribilis" sets the record straight by celebrating good old-fashioned failures. From the man whose spectacular escape from prison was spoiled when he was eaten by a crocodile, to the husband who choked to death on his own wife, via several exploding whales, numerous celebrity meltdowns and countless predictions that proved to be wholly inaccurate, "Annus Horribilis" proves once and for all, that there's no success like failure
UK Publisher: John Murray, November 2007
Love, as the poets have been telling us since the beginning of time, is never easy. And finding love is next to impossible. How can you locate that special someone when everyone out there is so awful? And what could be worse than finding Mr or Ms Right - and them finding you utterly wrong? Dating is generally a ritual of humiliation. And when dates go wrong, they go really wrong - with hilarious results.
Sam Jordison invited people to submit their tales of dating woe to his website www.whendatesgobad.co.uk, which went live on 3 February. Within ten days it was so popular it was reported in The Independent and featured on Wogan's Radio 2 breakfast show. Sam was also interviewed on Radio 5's lunchtime news, the World Service, RTE 2 in Ireland and so many local radio stations he could hardly speak by the end of Valentine's Day.
This Christmas a compilation of the best stories of ruptured stomachs, hideous faux-pas and so much more is now available in a side-splitting giftbook.
UK Publisher: John Murray, November 2006
THE JOY OF SECTS
An A-Z of Cults, Cranks and Religious Eccentricity
People will believe anything. And anyone is, at some time or other, likely to believe something pretty weird. From Father Christmas to eternal salvation and life after death (via a vague feeling that buying a product endorsed by David Beckham will make you feel and look better) we’re all prone to putting our trust in completely bogus superstitions. Which is why the more extreme forms of this behaviour are so fascinating.
This accessible (not to mention funny) guide to the real goings on in the seamy and ludicrous world of religious extremism provides all the enlightenment that the uninitiated crave - and even replicate the actions of all the best cults by depriving the reader of a bit of cash.
UK Publisher: Robson Books, Christmas 2005
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SHY KEENAN
BROKEN
'I was born and broken in Birkenhead. I was unwanted, beaten, sold, swapped, photographed, filmed, left for dead, corrupted, blamed, betrayed and ignored. But I was also born with a fire inside me. I call it my Phoenix Fire. I am no victim - that word only describes what happened to me. Nor am I a survivor because that implies I am over it. I am a Phoenix - a work in progress. This is my story.' Shy wasn't meant to survive her childhood. Her mother beat her so severely that Shy was deaf by her first day in school. She would have boiling water poured over her in punishment for wetting the bed. And virtually every day, from the age of four, Shy was raped by her stepfather, Stan. When she was ten she was attacked so viciously by the gang of dockworkers Stan had sold her to that she was left for dead in a field, her skull fractured. Six years ago her testimony secured the imprisonment of Stan and his associates for a catalogue of crimes against children. But it was only after a journey fraught with horror - stealing to survive on the streets of London, prison and a suicide bid. Today, Shy is the internationally admired chief advocate for Phoenix Survivors, the campaigning group she founded with Sara Payne to fight for justice for victims of child sexual abuse. They have worked tirelessly with politicians, social services, the legal system and the media for justice for victims of child sex abuse. BROKEN is the most hard-hitting memoir of overcoming abuse you will ever read. It is both a challenge and an inspiration.
UK Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton, February 2008
Pauline is a Shakespeare scholar and screenwriter. She gained a First in English and a doctorate in Shakespeare at the University of Oxford, and an MA in Playwriting Studies at the University of Birmingham She has held research fellowships and lectureships at the Universities of Oxford and Reading, was appointed Leverhulme Research Fellow at Shakespeare's Globe in its first five years, and given lectures and papers worldwide on Shakespeare and Renaissance Drama. FILTHY SHAKESPEARE is her first humour book and was selected as one of the Observer Books of the Year.
It is amazing how little attention has been given to Shakespeare's vulgar, lewd, downright filthy puns. His plays and poems are stuffed with the kind of double entendres and obscene wordplay that would make our most risqué stand-up comics blush. His more outrageous sexual puns have been all but invisible in editions of his plays and performances which has meant that in the four hundred years since they were written the world has been deprived of one of the most glorious and important aspects of his work. Until now.
This brilliant giftbook contains 100 of Shakespeare's most shocking, tantalisingly-coded sexual subtexts, ranging from Wanking to Dildos (with other sections too rude to pass the censor on this site), all of them accompanied by fascinating, little-known details about sex and sexuality in Shakespeare's day. Find out what he was REALLY saying to his audience. Read this book, and you will never see our major literary icon in quite the same light again!
UK and rest of World: Quercus November 2006
US rights: Gotham, 2007
Already Published: SHAKESPEARE'S THEORY OF DRAMA; STAGING SHAKESPEARE AT THE NEW GLOBE
Praise for FILTHY SHAKESPEARE....
'a beautifully presented guide to Elizabethan filth. As Bowdler expurgated the dirty bits, so Kiernan works her way diligently and shamelessly and hilariously through them' Stephen Bayley, The Observer
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BEE LAVENDER
Bee Lavender is the publisher of the online edition of the popular and critically acclaimed magazine Hip Mama, and created and publishes Girl-Mom, an advocacy website that has provided support and direction for thousands of young parents. The British Library and Women's Library selected her online journal Foment to become part of a permanent archive documenting life in the United Kingdom. Born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, two years ago Bee moved her family to England. She works on a narrowboat moored on the River Cam.
LESSONS IN TAXIDERMY
An uplifting tale of sickness and survival - this is Bee’s riveting story of a childhood spent dealing with a host of life-threatening illnesses. It was shortlisted for a Quills award and selected as an American Library Association Best Book in 2005.
Diagnosed with cancer at age twelve and perilously pregnant at eighteen, surviving surgeries and violent accidents: sometimes you can't believe Bee is still alive; sometimes you think nothing could kill her. Here she recounts her life spent in and out of hospitals and her subsequent dissociation from her own body and emotions. She struggles with health problems from birth, which are compounded by her surroundings, including frequent encounters with street fights, domestic violence and poverty. Her voice is as strong as the front she puts up for the multitude of doctors she sees, and it's hard not to be in awe of what one fragile human being can withstand in the course of such a short lifetime. Her strength and sheer determination to live make this striking book completely engrossing.
US Publisher: Punk Planet Books
UK Publisher: Phoenix, March 2006
Previous Books: Mamaphonic: Balancing Motherhood and Other Creative Acts and Breeder:
Real Life Stories from a New Generation of Mothers
Praise for LESSONS IN TAXIDERMY
“it’s hard not to be in awe of what one fragile human being can withstand in the course of such a short lifetime...witnessing her strength and sheer determination to live makes this striking book completely engrossing” – Publishers Weekly
www.foment.net
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Gary Leboff, a trained sports psychologist, was one of the stars of BBC2’s THE CHALLENGE series in which he (along with a fitness expert), helped ordinary people mentally prepare to take on some of the world’s toughest sporting events, such as an adventure race in Borneo or climbing Mt. Everest.
Gary is one of the UK’s premier performance coaches. Working across the arenas of business and sport; his clients range from Managing Directors to creative talents, Premiership footballers, endurance athletes and golfers.
Although DARE will be his first book, Gary is no newcomer to professional writing having previously worked as a rock critic for The Daily Telegraph and a television critic for The Sun for two years.
A personal coach for over a decade, Gary’s work provides individuals and business leaders with a clear sense of focus, bringing a new dimension to their lives. At the core of the process in DARE is the reconnection of individuals with their deep-rooted passions and the very reasons for doing what consumes them. Gary has created a new method for defining personal objectives (what do I really want for myself/my future?) Working from such a solid foundation, individuals generate lives built on integrity, discovering untapped resources of energy, fulfilment and dynamism.
A genuinely great communicator, Gary’s unique blend of tough but positive Inner Game techniques and Life Coaching will be equally popular with both men and women.
UK Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton April 2006
All other rights available.
DR
Photo by Chris Condon
Adam LeBor was born in London and studied at Leeds University and also at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He worked for several national British newspapers before becoming a foreign correspondent in 1991. Since then he has travelled extensively in eastern and central Europe, covering the Yugoslav wars for the Independent and The Times. Currently Central Europe Correspondent for The Times he also contributes to Literary Review, the Jerusalem Report and Condé Nast Traveller. His books have been published in ten languages.
www.adamlebor.com
UK Publisher: Bloomsbury, January 2006
COMPLICITY WITH EVIL
THE UNITED NATIONS IN THE AGE OF MODERN GENOCIDE
From the killing fields of Rwanda and Srebrenica a decade ago to those of Darfur today, the United Nations has repeatedly failed to confront genocide.This book is the first to examine in detail the crucial role of the Secretariat, its relationship with the Security Council, and the failure of UN officials themselves to confront genocide. Lebor draws on dozens of firsthand interviews with UN officials, current and former, and such international diplomats as Madeleine Albright, Richard Holbrooke, Douglas Hurd, and David Owen. This book sets the terms for discussion as UN Secretary General Kofi Annan steps down to make room for a new head of the world body, and political observers assess Annan's legacy and look to the future of the world organisation.
Quote from Fergal Keane'.... a powerfully intelligent book'
UK Publisher: Yale University Press, October 2007
Already published: A Heart Turned East: The Muslims of Europe and America (1997)
Hitler's Secret Bankers (1999)
Surviving Hitler: Choice, Corruption and Compromise in the Third Reich (with Roger Boyes) (2000)
Milosevic: A Biography (2003)
Previous foreign rights sold in: US, Japan, Israel, France, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Spain
PRAISE FOR MILOSEVIC
"I urge you to read this excellent new biography"
Mail on Sunday
PRAISE FOR CITY OF ORANGES
"Outstanding ... a magnifying lens through which to explore the entire knotted history of Israel and Palestine"
Guardian
"The most significant recent contribution to the literature"
Linda Grant, Independent
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RACHEL LICHTENSTEIN
Rachel Lichtenstein is a writer and artist who lives and works in East London. She is also a tour guide and gives lectures on the Jewish East End of London.
ON BRICK LANE
This is the first in a series of books that describe and explore London streets urban spaces of constant activity and drama that have recently been changed beyond recognition through intensive regeneration. brick Lane today is a place of extremes, a street that’s constantly reinventing itself. Since the 15th Century it’s been in a permanent state of flux, a “transition zone,” that has reflected the character of the different people who have inhabited it. Each has left the remnants of their histories compressed into the fabric of the Lane, like strata in ancient rock. During the past five years Lichtenstein has been gathering these stories and now has produced a remarkable non-fiction book that reads like a fast paced novel. The range of characters is extraordinary; an eighty-year-old Quaker woman who lives in a commune, a radicalised Muslim Rastafarian, a Jewish gangster, an anarchist priest and a transsexual artist to name a few. Interspersed within this text is archive material, fragments from contemporary journalism, literary quotes, personal testimony, maps, photography, poetry and urban myths: all these fuse together to create a beautifully designed portrait of a place.
UK: Hamish Hamilton, August 2007
Already published: RODINSKY’S ROOM, with Iain Sinclair, Granta
Previous foreign rights sold in: Germany, Netherlands.
JP
An internationally reknowned criminologist, Sean McConville has published major books on prisons and imprisonment. In addition to his academic work, he has written articles for The Observer, The Guardian and the NY Times and, during a period of residency in the US, he was the regular host of a phone-in/news programme in Chicago (WBEZ). He has worked as a consultant not only on several TV documentaries but also for the Council of Europe, the House of Commons and the Home Office.
Irish Political Prisoners 1920-2000 (working title)
This book will bring Sean’s account of Irish political prisoners up to and slightly beyond the Good Friday Agreement. The starting date is the foundation of Northern Ireland as a state. The narrative will cover imprisonment in the Irish Free State/Irish Republic, Northern Ireland and Britain. Each chapter or pair of chapters will be accompanied by a contextual chapter setting out the political and organisational developments and the paramilitary campaigns that led to successive rounds of imprisonment. This aspect of the book is intended to deepen the analysis and to open it to a wider readership, unacquainted with Irish history and Anglo-Irish relations. The style of presentation will follow that of Irish Political Prisoners 1848-1922: Theatres of War and I shall continue to aim at the highest standards of scholarship and the clearest and most accessible language throughout. The intended readership will be library/academic and informed lay people – the latter mainly in the Irish, Irish-American and Irish-Australian communities.
UK Publisher: Routledge 2007
Previous books: IRISH POLITICAL PRISONERS VOL 1 - Routledge
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VIRGINIA MCKENNA
Virginia McKenna is one of Britain’s best loved actresses. Film classics such as THE CRUEL SEA, CARVE HER NAME WITH PRIDE, RING OF BRIGHT WATER and A TOWN LIKE ALICE for which she won a BAFTA Award for Best Actress, have been highlights in a career spanning over half a century. On the stage, Virginia has performed with the RSC, had a highly successful season with the Old Vic and later went on to win the Olivier Award for Best Actress in a British musical for her performance opposite Yul Brynner in The King and I. Over the years she has also been very active with television roles where she continues to make occasional appearances.
ADVENTURES IN A LIFETIME
Virginia is perhaps best loved and remembered for her role in the film BORN FREE, the adaptation of the international bestseller which told the true story of Joy and George Adamson and Elsa the lioness. This immensely successful family film changed the attitudes of a generation towards the natural world and winning the part proved to be a life-changing experience for Virginia. After making the film she and her husband, Bill Travers, became increasingly fascinated by animals and the relationships which we can establish with them. In time the roles they had earlier played out on screen became real life when they founded Zoo Check (later renamed The Born Free Foundation) an organisation intended to prevent the abuse of captive wild animals and which aims to protect and conserve them in the wild. For her services to wildlife and the arts Virginia was awarded an OBE in 2004.
In this beautifully written and emotionally honest book Virginia reflects upon her life, her family, her triumphs and tragedies. Insightful and inspiring - like the lady herself this book is a class act.
UK Publisher: Oberon Books, Sept 09
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MICHAEL MORAN
Michael Moran is a nice enough chap of middling height who made a number of tolerable, but not remotely successful records in the Eighties and Nineties. Since he learned to spell around the turn of the Century he has been a regular contributor to Arena, The Word, and The Face. You may also have encountered his work in publications as diverse as Bizarre and New Woman. As if that were not enough, he is also Reviews Editor of TechDigest, the UK’s premier gadget blog. Michael is part of the world-beating team responsible for ROCK AND POP ELEVENS, and THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF GUILTY PLEASURES. SOD ABROAD is his first solo project.
SOD ABROAD: Why you'd be mad to leave the comfort of your own home
Finally, the awful truth about holidays is out. This useful guide provides 101 reasons why you would be better off staying home than spending your precious fortnight’s holiday in exotic locales. Sections on “Things you can only do at home” explain why being parted from your Playstation and a decent cup of tea are things to be avoided at all costs, while other entries range from “Where do I look? An Englishman’s guide to the topless beach” to “Recharging your iPod in Budapest, and seven other impossibilities.” Some book’s strapline is “Don’t leave home without it!” This book’s message is simply “Don’t leave home!”
UK Publisher: John Murray, Summer 2008
Previous Books: ROCK AND POP ELEVENS (Michael O’Mara) and THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF GUILTY PLEASURES (John Murray)
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Anne is a practitioner of the form of psychotherapy known as transactional analysis. She lives and works in Birmingham, and runs courses for the charity MIND, as well as treating individual patients and is also the Agony Aunt for the Internet Service Provider Tiscali. She writes science fiction novels and short stories under the name Anne Gay.
www.tiscali.co.uk/lifestyle/agonyaunt
IS YOUR FAMILY DRIVING YOU MAD?
How to achieve happier relationships
Family relationships are probably the most complex and far reaching you’ll ever experience. This book provides tried and tested strategies for making family life safer, warmer and more nurturing all round.
It shows you practical ways to:
- minimise arguments and promote harmony
- build confidence in your children
- balance family demands with personal freedom
Piatkus June 2004
Previous book by Anne Nicholls: MAKING LOVE WORK: A toolkit for finding happiness in your relationship (Piatkus)
Praise for MAKING LOVE WORK:
‘A well crafted book… refreshingly free from therapeutic jargon. .. an immediately practical and useful tool for anyone wanting to repair or enhance their personal relationships.’ Ian Stewart, author of Transactional Analysis Today.
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JAN PARKER
Former deputy environment editor at the Guardian, Jan Parker is now a full-time writer and the mother of three children including twins. Together with colleague Jan Stimpson, leading Parentlink Counsellor and mother of two children, she has written two groundbreaking books on parenting.
RAISING HAPPY CHILDREN
What Every Child Needs their Parents to Know - from 0 to 11 years.
A different kind of parenting book - insightful, warm, funny, confidence-boosting and refreshingly honest. It will appeal to all parents keen to nurture happy strong relationships with their children from infancy through the primary school years.
What parents say:
‘This book has helped me get closer to our children. I can’t believe what a difference that’s made to our lives’.
‘Covers almost every subject a parent needs answers to - including some questions we are afraid to ask.’
Reissued by Hodder May 2004
Reissued in October 2004,
RAISING HAPPY BROTHERS AND SISTERS
Formerly entitled SIBLING RIVALRY, SIBLING LOVE, this book offers unprecedented insight into the development of sibling relationships and what parents can do to help, from children’s earliest days together to adolescence and beyond. On first publication it was chosen by the Independent as #1book on parenting in their selection of 50 best books on childcare and parenting.
‘At last, a book for parents with more than one child! Warm, thought-provoking and packed with helpful ideas, I thoroughly recommend it.’
Belinda Phipps, Chief Executive of National Childbirth Trust.
‘The best advice available for these crucial formative relationships.’
Amazon.co.uk
Praise for SIBLING RIVALRY, SIBLING LOVE
‘Very accessible. Perfect for that one minute of reading time that parents have per day’ The Times
LL
Sir ROGER PENROSE
Roger Penrose is the Emeritus Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford. He has received a number of prizes and awards, including the 1988 Wolf Prize for physics which he shared with Stephen Hawking for their joint contribution to our understanding of the universe. He was knighted in 1994 for services to science.
This book is presents the fundamentals of modern physics in a way accessible to people with no special knowledge of physics or of mathematics but who are prepared to make a serious effort to comprehend the essentials of modern physical theory. The first part will provide an overview of classical physics and the second quantum physics and theory. While the book sets out present day theory and views in an uncontentious way, it also deals in the last chapters with problems of the present theories and discusses speculative ideas in current thinking. The underlying theme of the book is that present theories, despite their marvellous accuracy, are provisional.
UK: Cape/Vintage July 2004
US: Knopf (2005)
CYCLES OF TIME
Following the outstanding success of THE ROAD TO REALITY (130.000 hardbacks sold so far in the English Language - translated into ten languages) which has been hailed as one of the most important science books of the decade, Sir Roger turns to cosmology….
“The purpose of this proposed book is to explain, in accessible terms, a certain dramatic “crazy idea” (which is just possibly a not-so-crazy idea!) that recently came to me concerning cosmology and the nature of the Big Bang and of time. Basically, it provides a completely new perspective on the often-asked question “What came before the Big Bang?”. The answer that I am proposing involves a curious, but fully rational way of looking at the expected ultimate fate of our observed accelerating expanding universe, and showing how this can be re-interpreted …..”
Also to be delivered 2008/9 Eschermatics- enjoying and understanding Mathematics through the Art of Escher (Jonathan Cape/ Knopf)
Already published: THE EMPEROR’S NEW MIND, SHADOWS OF THE MIND and WHITE MARS with Brian Aldiss.
Foreign rights sold: USA, France, Japan, Italy, Germany, Poland, Spain, Greece, Korea, Russia, China.
For SHADOWS OF THE MIND...
“Penrose reveals several worlds that are normally very hard to see but thanks to his guidance are thrilling to imagine” The New York Times
JP
Gervase Phinn leads a very full and active life: a bestselling author and poet, teacher, freelance lecturer, educational consultant, school inspector, visiting professor of education and, last but by no means least, father of four. The majority of his time is spent in schools with teachers and children.
UP AND DOWN IN THE DALES
Gervase Phinn faces more challenges from the school children of the Yorkshire Dales and faces all of them with a sense of humour that is rarely far from the surface. As another school year passes with the changing seasons never failing to move him, Gervase and Christine Phinn settle down to blissful married life and the joy of parenthood.
Wonderfully entertaining and wryly funny, Gervase Phinn’s new book about his time as a school inspector in the Yorkshire Dales is guaranteed to delight.
Already published: THE OTHER SIDE OF THE DALE, OVER HILL AND DALE, HEAD OVER HEELS IN THE DALE (all Penguin) and CLASSROOM CREATURES – an anthology of his own poems for children and other collections of poetry for children all published by Puffin.
“Phinn writes warmly, and with great wit, about the children and adults he meets in Yorkshire’s schools. An enchanting montage of experiences. Colourful, funny and honest.” Express on Sunday
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BOB SERVANT
Bob Servant is a 62-year-old, semi-retired citizen of Broughty Ferry, Dundee. He has previously worked as a merchant sailor and window cleaner. Servant is also widely believed to have enjoyed considerable financial rewards during Dundee’s infamous Cheese Burger Wars of 1988, in which he operated several cheese burger vans. He now describes himself as an unemployed gigolo. This is his first book which has been edited by another MBA author Neil Forsyth
Spam is the plague of the electronic age. It infects 90% of all emails and £150m was conned from Britons in 2006 alone. Into this wave of corruption steps the brave figure of Bob Servant, a former window cleaner and cheese burger magnate with a love of wine, women and song and a keen sense of fair play.
This wickedly funny and original humour book features the anarchic exchanges between Bob and the hapless spam merchants, who grow increasingly bamboozled as their offers of lost African millions, Russian brides and get-rich-quick scams soon tempt Bob into some outlandish schemes of his own.
The spammers may have breached his firewall, but they have met their match as Bob Servant rises heroically to the challenge, and leaves confusion in his wake.
seriously funny, and satisfyingly merciless - this must be what happens if you combine the clever manipulation of Sacha Baron Cohen’s Borat with Henry Root’s letter writing. Christmas 07 has found its new star and his name is Servant!”
"Reminds me how good good comic writing can be" - Scotland on Sunday
"Genius! Highly entertaining and brilliantly deranged" – Maxim
UK & Comm: Aurum, Oct 2007
US Publisher: Skyhorse Books
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