Title Tag: Biography & Memoir

Places I Stopped on the Way Home

'Fee writes with stunning honesty … utterly breathtaking' – Bustle

A beautiful memoir from an exciting young writer, Meg Fee, on finding her way in New York City. Full of the dramas and quiet moments that make up a life, told with humour, heart, and hope. 

In Places I Stopped on the Way Home, Meg Fee plots a decade of her life in New York City – from falling in love at the Lincoln Center to escaping the roommate (and bedbugs) from hell on Thompson Street, chasing false promises on 66th Street and the wrong men everywhere, and finding true friendships over glasses of wine in Harlem and Greenwich Village.

Weaving together her joys and sorrows, expectations and uncertainties, aspirations and realities, the result is an exhilarating collection of essays about love and friendship, failure and suffering, and above all hope. Join Meg on her heart-wrenching journey, as she cuts the difficult path to finding herself and finding home.

Corrupt Bodies

** SHORTLISTED FOR THE CWA'S ALCS GOLD DAGGER FOR NON-FICTION **

In 1985, Peter Everett landed the job as Superintendent of Southwark Mortuary. In just six years he'd gone from lowly assistant to running the UK's busiest murder morgue. He couldn't believe his luck.

What he didn't know was that Southwark, operating in near-Victorian conditions, was a hotbed of corruption. Attendants stole from the dead, funeral homes paid bribes, and there was a lively trade in stolen body parts and recycled coffins.

Set in the fascinating pre-DNA and psychological profiling years of 1985-87, this memoir tells a gripping and gruesome tale, with a unique insight into a world of death most of us don't ever see. Peter managed pathologists, oversaw post mortems and worked alongside Scotland Yard's Murder Squad – including on the case of the serial killer, the Stockwell Strangler.

This is a thrilling tale of murder and corruption in the mid-1980s, told with insight and compassion.

We Learnt About Hitler at the Mickey Mouse Club

For fans of Call the Midwife, a unique autobiography of a 1930s London childhood.

Enid Elliot Linder was the daughter of a butler and a lady’s maid in service in some of England’s grandest country houses. Evoking the lost world of a childhood ‘below stairs’, Linder’s touching memoir describes how her life changed as Britain headed towards war.

After the family moved to a Marylebone tenement, her father sought work in London restaurants whilst battling personal demons. Meanwhile Linder’s aunt was nanny to a high-ranking member of the British Union of Fascists as they grew in influence.

In a photorealistic and immensely charming narrative reminiscent of Patrick Hamilton, Linder evokes the sights and smells of prewar London – and of lonely Cornwall, to where she was unhappily evacuated – in a way that will appeal to fans of Downton Abbey. A unique personal account of a tumultuous time.

The Boy with Two Hearts

** The story that inspired the stage adaptation of the Amiri family, recently performed at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff **

A BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK 29 JUNE – 3 JULY 2020 READ BY SANJEEV BHASKAR (GOODNESS GRACIOUS ME, THE KUMARS AT NO. 42 AND MORE)

'Enthralling … A fascinating insight' Daily Mail

'An inspiring read' Nihal Arthanayake, BBC Radio 5 Live

A powerful tale of a family in crisis, and a moving love letter to the NHS.

Herat, Afghanistan, 2000. A mother speaks out against the fundamentalist leaders of her country. Meanwhile, her family's watchful eyes never leave their beloved son and brother, whose rare heart condition means that he will never lead a normal life.

When the Taliban gave an order for the execution of Hamed Amiri's mother, the family knew they had to escape, starting what would be a long and dangerous journey, across Russia and through Europe, with the UK as their ultimate destination.

Travelling as refugees for a year and a half, they suffered attacks from mafia and police; terrifying journeys in strangers' cars; treks across demanding terrain; days spent hidden in lorries without food or drink; and being robbed at gunpoint of every penny they owned.

The family's need to reach the UK was intensified by their eldest son's deteriorating condition, and the prospect of life-saving treatment it offered.

The Boy with Two Hearts is not only a tale of a family in crisis, but a love letter to the NHS, which provided hope and reassurance as they sought asylum in the UK and fought to save their loved ones.

Quarantine Comix

‘Funny and sad and relatable and wise – Rachael Smith’s Quarantine Comix are like the hug from a friend you didn’t know you needed.' Chris Addison

‘In a period where every day seemed the same, Rachael found a way to make every day different. A tiny, comforting light of understanding, humour and hope in a dark time.’ Kieron Gillen, author and creator of The Wicked + The Divine

An award-winning graphic memoir of lockdown life, Quarantine Comix is a funny, tender, heartfelt and insightful look at isolation.

Written and drawn every day during the 2020 lockdown and shared online with #QuarantineComix, 2020 Comedy Women in Print-shortlisted Rachael Smith’s delightful comics helped people who were isolated all over the world to feel connected.

At times laugh-out-loud funny, at others bitter-sweet, philosophical or downright silly, this collection of 200 drawings tells the story of one woman overcoming loneliness and self-doubt with exquisite, wry humour and raw honesty.

During a time when many feel anxious and apart from loved ones, Quarantine Comix offers relief in shared experiences.

Praise for Stand in Your Power, shortlisted for the 2020 Comedy Women in Print prize:

‘Funny, fierce, poignant and reaches the lonely inside us all’ Helen Lederer

'Rachael uses humour to address her mental health and she does that successfully.' Jen Brister, author of The Other Mother

'The tone is self-deprecating – she takes a sad situation and creates an invitation to laugh at it.' Hannah Berry, UK Comics Laureate 2019-21

'The execution is one to admire' Janet Ellis

‘An important subject turned into pages of visual pathos’ Nicola Streeton, LDComic

Adrift

Journeying along London’s waterways on a canal boat called Pike, Helen Babbs puts down roots for two weeks at a time before moving on. From Walthamstow Marsh in the east to Uxbridge in the west, she explores the landscape in all its guises: marshland, wasteland, city centre and suburb.

From deep winter to late autumn, Babbs explores the people, politics, history and wildlife of the canals and rivers, to reveal an intimate and unusual portrait of London – and of life.

The Enlightened Mr. Parkinson

'Billy Connolly says he's no idea who Parkinson was and just wishes he'd kept his disease to himself. He should read this book.' Jeremy Paxman

Parkinson's disease is one of the most common forms of dementia, with 10,000 new cases each year in the UK alone, and yet few know anything about the man the disease is named after.

In 1817 – exactly 200 years ago – James Parkinson (1755-1824) defined the disease so precisely that we still diagnose it today by recognising the symptoms he identified. The story of this remarkable man's contributions to the Age of the Enlightenment is told through his three passions – medicine, politics and fossils.

As a political radical Parkinson was interrogated over a plot to kill King George III and revealed as the author of anti-government pamphlets, a crime for which many were transported to Australia; while helping Edward Jenner set up smallpox vaccination stations across London, he wrote the first scientific study of fossils in English, which led to fossil-hunting becoming the nation's latest craze – just a glimpse of his many achievements.

Cherry Lewis restores this neglected pioneer to his rightful place in history, while creating a vivid and pungent portrait of life as an 'apothecary surgeon' in Georgian London.

Places I Stopped on the Way Home

'Fee writes with stunning honesty … utterly breathtaking' – Bustle

A beautiful memoir from an exciting young writer, Meg Fee, on finding her way in New York City. Full of the dramas and quiet moments that make up a life, told with humour, heart, and hope. 

In Places I Stopped on the Way Home, Meg Fee plots a decade of her life in New York City – from falling in love at the Lincoln Center to escaping the roommate (and bedbugs) from hell on Thompson Street, chasing false promises on 66th Street and the wrong men everywhere, and finding true friendships over glasses of wine in Harlem and Greenwich Village.

Weaving together her joys and sorrows, expectations and uncertainties, aspirations and realities, the result is an exhilarating collection of essays about love and friendship, failure and suffering, and above all hope. Join Meg on her heart-wrenching journey, as she cuts the difficult path to finding herself and finding home.

Places I Stopped on the Way Home

'Fee writes with stunning honesty … utterly breathtaking' – Bustle

A beautiful memoir from an exciting young writer, Meg Fee, on finding her way in New York City. Full of the dramas and quiet moments that make up a life, told with humour, heart, and hope. 

In Places I Stopped on the Way Home, Meg Fee plots a decade of her life in New York City – from falling in love at the Lincoln Center to escaping the roommate (and bedbugs) from hell on Thompson Street, chasing false promises on 66th Street and the wrong men everywhere, and finding true friendships over glasses of wine in Harlem and Greenwich Village.

Weaving together her joys and sorrows, expectations and uncertainties, aspirations and realities, the result is an exhilarating collection of essays about love and friendship, failure and suffering, and above all hope. Join Meg on her heart-wrenching journey, as she cuts the difficult path to finding herself and finding home.

Corrupt Bodies

** SHORTLISTED FOR THE CWA'S ALCS GOLD DAGGER FOR NON-FICTION **

In 1985, Peter Everett landed the job as Superintendent of Southwark Mortuary. In just six years he'd gone from lowly assistant to running the UK's busiest murder morgue. He couldn't believe his luck.

What he didn't know was that Southwark, operating in near-Victorian conditions, was a hotbed of corruption. Attendants stole from the dead, funeral homes paid bribes, and there was a lively trade in stolen body parts and recycled coffins.

Set in the fascinating pre-DNA and psychological profiling years of 1985-87, this memoir tells a gripping and gruesome tale, with a unique insight into a world of death most of us don't ever see. Peter managed pathologists, oversaw post mortems and worked alongside Scotland Yard's Murder Squad – including on the case of the serial killer, the Stockwell Strangler.

This is a thrilling tale of murder and corruption in the mid-1980s, told with insight and compassion.

Corrupt Bodies

** SHORTLISTED FOR THE CWA'S ALCS GOLD DAGGER FOR NON-FICTION **

In 1985, Peter Everett landed the job as Superintendent of Southwark Mortuary. In just six years he'd gone from lowly assistant to running the UK's busiest murder morgue. He couldn't believe his luck.

What he didn't know was that Southwark, operating in near-Victorian conditions, was a hotbed of corruption. Attendants stole from the dead, funeral homes paid bribes, and there was a lively trade in stolen body parts and recycled coffins.

Set in the fascinating pre-DNA and psychological profiling years of 1985-87, this memoir tells a gripping and gruesome tale, with a unique insight into a world of death most of us don't ever see. Peter managed pathologists, oversaw post mortems and worked alongside Scotland Yard's Murder Squad – including on the case of the serial killer, the Stockwell Strangler.

This is a thrilling tale of murder and corruption in the mid-1980s, told with insight and compassion.

Corrupt Bodies

** SHORTLISTED FOR THE CWA'S ALCS GOLD DAGGER FOR NON-FICTION **

In 1985, Peter Everett landed the job as Superintendent of Southwark Mortuary. In just six years he'd gone from lowly assistant to running the UK's busiest murder morgue. He couldn't believe his luck.

What he didn't know was that Southwark, operating in near-Victorian conditions, was a hotbed of corruption. Attendants stole from the dead, funeral homes paid bribes, and there was a lively trade in stolen body parts and recycled coffins.

Set in the fascinating pre-DNA and psychological profiling years of 1985-87, this memoir tells a gripping and gruesome tale, with a unique insight into a world of death most of us don't ever see. Peter managed pathologists, oversaw post mortems and worked alongside Scotland Yard's Murder Squad – including on the case of the serial killer, the Stockwell Strangler.

This is a thrilling tale of murder and corruption in the mid-1980s, told with insight and compassion.

The Boy with Two Hearts

** BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK 29 JUNE – 3 JULY 2020 READ BY SANJEEV BHASKAR (GOODNESS GRACIOUS ME, THE KUMARS AT NO. 42 AND MORE) **

'Enthralling … A fascinating insight' Daily Mail

'An inspiring read' Nihal Arthanayake, BBC Radio 5 Live

A powerful tale of a family in crisis, and a moving love letter to the NHS.

Herat, Afghanistan, 2000. A mother speaks out against the fundamentalist leaders of her country. Meanwhile, her family's watchful eyes never leave their beloved son and brother, whose rare heart condition means that he will never lead a normal life.

When the Taliban gave an order for the execution of Hamed Amiri's mother, the family knew they had to escape, starting what would be a long and dangerous journey, across Russia and through Europe, with the UK as their ultimate destination.

Travelling as refugees for a year and a half, they suffered attacks from mafia and police; terrifying journeys in strangers' cars; treks across demanding terrain; days spent hidden in lorries without food or drink; and being robbed at gunpoint of every penny they owned.

The family's need to reach the UK was intensified by their eldest son's deteriorating condition, and the prospect of life-saving treatment it offered.

The Boy with Two Hearts is not only a tale of a family in crisis, but a love letter to the NHS, which provided hope and reassurance as they sought asylum in the UK and fought to save their loved ones.

The Boy with Two Hearts

** The true story that inspired the stage adaptation of the Amiri family's journey from Afghanistan to the UK **

A BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK 29 JUNE – 3 JULY 2020 READ BY SANJEEV BHASKAR (GOODNESS GRACIOUS ME, THE KUMARS AT NO. 42 AND MORE)

'Enthralling … A fascinating insight' Daily Mail

'An inspiring read' Nihal Arthanayake, BBC Radio 5 Live

A powerful tale of a family in crisis, and a moving love letter to the NHS.

Herat, Afghanistan, 2000. A mother speaks out against the fundamentalist leaders of her country. Meanwhile, her family's watchful eyes never leave their beloved son and brother, whose rare heart condition means that he will never lead a normal life.

When the Taliban gave an order for the execution of Hamed Amiri's mother, the family knew they had to escape, starting what would be a long and dangerous journey, across Russia and through Europe, with the UK as their ultimate destination.

Travelling as refugees for a year and a half, they suffered attacks from mafia and police; terrifying journeys in strangers' cars; treks across demanding terrain; days spent hidden in lorries without food or drink; and being robbed at gunpoint of every penny they owned.

The family's need to reach the UK was intensified by their eldest son's deteriorating condition, and the prospect of life-saving treatment it offered.

The Boy with Two Hearts is not only a tale of a family in crisis, but a love letter to the NHS, which provided hope and reassurance as they sought asylum in the UK and fought to save their loved ones.

We Learnt About Hitler at the Mickey Mouse Club

For fans of Call the Midwife, a unique autobiography of a 1930s London childhood.

Enid Elliot Linder was the daughter of a butler and a lady’s maid in service in some of England’s grandest country houses. Evoking the lost world of a childhood ‘below stairs’, Linder’s touching memoir describes how her life changed as Britain headed towards war.

After the family moved to a Marylebone tenement, her father sought work in London restaurants whilst battling personal demons. Meanwhile Linder’s aunt was nanny to a high-ranking member of the British Union of Fascists as they grew in influence.

In a photorealistic and immensely charming narrative reminiscent of Patrick Hamilton, Linder evokes the sights and smells of prewar London – and of lonely Cornwall, to where she was unhappily evacuated – in a way that will appeal to fans of Downton Abbey. A unique personal account of a tumultuous time.

Quarantine Comix

‘Funny and sad and relatable and wise – Rachael Smith’s Quarantine Comix are like the hug from a friend you didn’t know you needed.' Chris Addison

‘In a period where every day seemed the same, Rachael found a way to make every day different. A tiny, comforting light of understanding, humour and hope in a dark time.’ Kieron Gillen, author and creator of The Wicked + The Divine

An award-winning graphic memoir of lockdown life, Quarantine Comix is a funny, tender, heartfelt and insightful look at isolation.

Written and drawn every day during the 2020 lockdown and shared online with #QuarantineComix, 2020 Comedy Women in Print-shortlisted Rachael Smith’s delightful comics helped people who were isolated all over the world to feel connected.

At times laugh-out-loud funny, at others bitter-sweet, philosophical or downright silly, this collection of 200 drawings tells the story of one woman overcoming loneliness and self-doubt with exquisite, wry humour and raw honesty.

During a time when many feel anxious and apart from loved ones, Quarantine Comix offers relief in shared experiences.

Praise for Stand in Your Power, shortlisted for the 2020 Comedy Women in Print prize:

‘Funny, fierce, poignant and reaches the lonely inside us all’ Helen Lederer

'Rachael uses humour to address her mental health and she does that successfully.' Jen Brister, author of The Other Mother

'The tone is self-deprecating – she takes a sad situation and creates an invitation to laugh at it.' Hannah Berry, UK Comics Laureate 2019-21

'The execution is one to admire' Janet Ellis

‘An important subject turned into pages of visual pathos’ Nicola Streeton, LDComic

The Year of the End

'A moving and absorbing account' Adam Buxton

'Scorching … a brave book' Helen Brown, Telegraph

'A wise and vivid memoir of a disintegrating marriage and a study of the role of the spouse in the life of a literary giant' Fiona Sturges, i Paper

18TH JANUARY 1990

Paul left today at 8am.

We had been married just over 22 years. The previous evening we had gone out to eat at a local restaurant, where we drank champagne and reminisced. In a short story which he wrote about that final evening of a marriage, the central characters talk wittily and poignantly about the explorer Sir Richard Burton and the sad, misunderstood wife who burnt his books.

The reality was different.

'This memoir is based on the diary I kept during 1990, the year that my first marriage came to an end.'

After 22 years, spent across four continents, with two children – Louis and Marcel – in 1990 Anne and Paul Theroux decided to separate. For that year, Anne – later a professional relationship therapist herself – kept a diary, noting not only her day-to-day experiences as a busy freelance journalist and broadcaster, but the contrasts in her feelings between despairing grief and hope for a new future.

With reflections on truth and fiction, literature and art, and the nature of marriage, alongside commentary on notable political and cultural events, and interviews with prominent writers of the time, including Kingsley Amis and Barbara Cartland, The Year of the End offers a unique insight into the unravelling of a relationship and the attempt to rebuild a life.

The Year of the End

'A moving and absorbing account' Adam Buxton

'Scorching … a brave book' Helen Brown, Telegraph

'A wise and vivid memoir of a disintegrating marriage and a study of the role of the spouse in the life of a literary giant' Fiona Sturges, i Paper

18TH JANUARY 1990

Paul left today at 8am.

We had been married just over 22 years. The previous evening we had gone out to eat at a local restaurant, where we drank champagne and reminisced. In a short story which he wrote about that final evening of a marriage, the central characters talk wittily and poignantly about the explorer Sir Richard Burton and the sad, misunderstood wife who burnt his books.

The reality was different.

'This memoir is based on the diary I kept during 1990, the year that my first marriage came to an end.'

After 22 years, spent across four continents, with two children – Louis and Marcel – in 1990 Anne and Paul Theroux decided to separate. For that year, Anne – later a professional relationship therapist herself – kept a diary, noting not only her day-to-day experiences as a busy freelance journalist and broadcaster, but the contrasts in her feelings between despairing grief and hope for a new future.

With reflections on truth and fiction, literature and art, and the nature of marriage, alongside commentary on notable political and cultural events, and interviews with prominent writers of the time, including Kingsley Amis and Barbara Cartland, The Year of the End offers a unique insight into the unravelling of a relationship and the attempt to rebuild a life.

Fordlandia

In 1927, Henry Ford, the founder of the famous motor company and the richest man in the world, bought a 5,000 square mile-tract of land in the Brazilian Amazon. There he was going to build a rubber plantation.

To the unkempt rainforest he would bring the principles of mass production – order, efficiency and productivity. He would harness the river itself in order to transplant capitalist civilisation to the dark heart of the jungle. But Ford wanted more than just rubber. Across the United States, small-town America was giving way to growing cities, consumerism and crass, brash new society. Ford wanted to create in the Amazon an America in his own image – Fordlandia, full of neat houses, straight roads and restrained Puritanism. By 1945 it was abandoned in ruins.

Fordlandia is the powerful, never-before-told fable of the pride and arrogance of the man who thought he alone could tame the Amazon. Filled with clash and contradiction, it is the battle between industrialised capitalism and the raw power of nature; it is the struggle too within Ford himself, the man who despised the new America that he himself had set in motion, who spent twenty years and several fortunes on his Amazonian dream, yet never set foot inside it. Superbly researched and grippingly told, Greg Grandin gives us a portrait of a man suffering under the grand delusion that the forces of capitalism, once released, might then be contained.

Adrift

Journeying along London’s waterways on a canal boat called Pike, Helen Babbs puts down roots for two weeks at a time before moving on. From Walthamstow Marsh in the east to Uxbridge in the west, she explores the landscape in all its guises: marshland, wasteland, city centre and suburb.

From deep winter to late autumn, Babbs explores the people, politics, history and wildlife of the canals and rivers, to reveal an intimate and unusual portrait of London – and of life.