Unbound

One woman's road trip across America in search of her lost libido.

Arriving in New York with a failing relationship and a body she felt out of touch with, Stephanie Theobald set off on a 3,497 mile trip across America to re-build her orgasm from the ground up. What started as a quest for the ultimate auto-erotic experience became a fantastic voyage into her own body.

She takes us from ‘body sex’ classes with the legendary feminist Betty Dodson to an interview with the former US Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders, who was fired for suggesting that masturbation should be talked about in schools. Along the way, we are immersed in a weird, countercultural America of marijuana farms and ‘ecosexual sexologists’.

Sex Drive is a memoir about desire and pleasure, merging sexuality and spirituality, eighteenth-century porn and enlightenment philosophy. A new sexual revolution has begun – and this time round, it’s all about the women.

OVER HALF A MILLION COPIES SOLD

Six murders. One hundred pages. Millions of possible combinations… but only one is correct. Can you solve Torquemada’s murder mystery?

In 1934, the Observer’s cryptic crossword compiler, Edward Powys Mathers (aka Torquemada), released a novel that was simultaneously a murder mystery and the most fiendishly difficult literary puzzle ever written. The pages have been printed in an entirely haphazard order, but it is possible – through logic and intelligent reading – to sort the pages into the only correct order, revealing six murder victims and their respective murderers.

Only three puzzlers have ever solved the mystery of Cain’s Jawbone: do you have what it takes to join their ranks?

Please note: this puzzle is extremely difficult and not for the faint-hearted.

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

Queer as Folklore takes readers across centuries and continents to reveal the unsung heroes and villains of storytelling, magic and fantasy. Featuring images from archives, galleries and museums around the world, each chapter investigates the queer history of different mythic and folkloric characters, both old and new.

Leaving no headstone unturned, Sacha Coward will take you on a wild ride through the night from ancient Greece to the main stage of RuPaul’s Drag Race, visiting cross-dressing pirates, radical fairies and the graves of the ‘queerly departed’ along the way. Queer communities have often sought refuge in the shadows, found kinship in the in-between and created safe spaces in underworlds; but these forgotten narratives tell stories of remarkable resilience that deserve to be heard.

Join any Pride march and you are likely to see a glorious display of papier-mâché unicorn heads trailing sequins, drag queens wearing mermaid tails and more fairy wings than you can shake a trident at. But these are not just accessories: they are queer symbols with historic roots.

To truly understand who queer people are today, we must confront the twisted tales of the past and Queer as Folklore is a celebration of queer history like you've never seen it before.

I Could Read the Sky is a collaboration, in the shape of a lyrical novel, between writer Timothy O'Grady and photographer Steve Pyke. 

It tells the story of a man coming of age in the middle of this century. Now at its end, he finds himself alone, struggling to make sense of a life of dislocation and loss. He remembers his childhood in the west of Ireland and his decades of bewildered exile in the factories, potato fields and on the building sites of England. He is haunted by the faces of the family he left behind and by the land that is still within him. He remembers the country and the seascapes, the bars and the boxing booths, the music he played, and the woman he loved. This elegiac narrative is accompanied by a succession of photographs taken by Pyke during his travels in Ireland – from starkly beautiful landscapes to unforgettable portraits and scenes from everyday life – which in their counterpoint with the text produce a powerful evocation of the Irish emigrant experience.

Listen with Father is a book about the transformative power of listening, and about how we remember those we have loved and lost.

At four years old, Caroline Sanderson fell in love with the music of Mozart after listening to it with her father. At eight, she fell even harder for the songs of David Bowie. Her dad made many gentle attempts to persuade her to back to his world of classical music, but it wasn’t until after he died that she returned to it, in memory of him. Listen with Father tells of how she set out to listen, with great care and attention, to the music her dad loved, to work out why he so appreciated it and whether she could too.

In a beguiling blend of memoir and biography, Sanderson explores the music of composers from Igor Stravinsky to Clara Schumann and Frédéric Chopin, hearing Mozart recitals in Salzburg, visiting Sibelius’s house near Helsinki and playing Robert Schumann at home on the piano. Beautifully touching and absorbing, Listen with Father is a story of a beloved father, told through the classical music he cherished.

What if your best friend turned out to be a master of deception?

In 2005, Jim Phillips co-founded a marketing company with an old friend. Business boomed, contracts poured in and their client list expanded to include high-profile international brands. But as his partner’s behaviour became increasingly erratic, Jim began to wonder: did he really know the man he had built his business with? Then, in 2012, everything fell apart. 108 Psychopaths and Me is the astonishing true story of how Jim’s life was shattered by an extraordinary betrayal.

One day, Jim was a successful entrepreneur, spearheading global campaigns for elite sports clients; the next, he finds himself in front of a judge at the Old Bailey, trapped in a living nightmare. From impersonating bank officials and a Chinese government minister to fabricating multimillion-pound contracts and feigning cancer, his ‘best friend’ had orchestrated an elaborate con with devastating consequences.

In 108 Psychopaths and Me, Jim unravels a mind-boggling web of lies and offers a blow-by-blow account of how he uncovered the shocking truth about a man he once trusted. This is a cautionary tale which delves into the complexities of human nature, revealing our capacity for both callousness and compassion. Raw and unflinching, Jim seeks to understand what happened – and, more importantly, why – while proving that resilience can rebuild a life even when all hope seems lost.

An astounding insight into how white feminism is intertwined with Islamophobia, and why Muslim women are so often left out of the conversation.

Growing up, journalist Shahed Ezaydi was asked how she could possibly call herself a feminist if she also practised her faith. By treating Muslim women as invisible and excluding them from feminist spaces, or hyper-visible with an obsession of ‘saving’ them, we are perpetuating gendered Islamophobia and white feminism. But Muslim women don’t need to be saved, and religion is not the only form of oppression.

The Othered Woman is the book Ezaydi wishes her younger self could have turned to, to dispel the myths of how Muslim women are oppressed and who by. It shows that these myths translate into very real harm at state level in the UK and globally, and showcases the many intersectional feminists fighting for liberation in their own way. Accessible and compelling, this is urgent reading for anyone who considers themselves a feminist.

Tales Accursed is the second collection of classic supernatural stories selected by the artist Richard Wells. Each of the sixteen tales is accompanied by one of Richard’s striking lino-print illustrations.

This anthology contains work from both the established masters of folk horror, and some more surprising contributors: from Shirley Jackson and M. R. James to E. F. Benson and William Croft Dickinson. Tales Accursed will raise the hairs on your neck and keep you alert to the slightest rustle in the trees: through the chill splendour of moonlit nights come apparitions through the orchard; sea-witches perch on the sharp fangs of rocks as they weave their spells; fir-woods lie unnaturally still with no birdsong, no breeze, nor any undergrowth; and hooded creatures crouch on grey secluded beaches. This book combines ancient horrors from the wilderness with sinister shadows of the landscape to remind us of the settings of our ancestors.

Tales Accursed is a gloriously creepy collection of chilling folk horror tales that is both thrilling and unnerving.

A groundbreaking collection of essays about food and its powerful link to identity, culture and community, from twenty exciting voices around the world.

We hear about a family ritual of drying mango and pickling limes in India, and the search for a father’s favourite hotdog in North Carolina. We investigate Latino food in cinema and vegetarianism in Buddhist diets, the cultural appropriation of Chinese food and the effect of gentrification on Black communities. And we learn about the grassroots organisations fighting for change, for equality for farmers and for better mental health provisions in kitchens, where toxicity and micro-aggressions are rife.

Edited by renowned chef and activist Zoe Adjonyoh, and featuring a foreword by acclaimed author and broadcaster Yasmin Khan, Serving Up is an electric, urgent anthology campaigning for representation around our dinner tables, wherever that dinner table may be.

Includes essays from: Abigail Koffler, Apoorva Sripathi, Chris Nigro, Cynthia Greenlee, Duron Chavis, Fatima Tarkleman, Hassel Aviles, Izzie Ramirez, Lee Tran Lam, Lenore Adkins, Mavis-Jay Sanders, Samah Dada, Scott Alves Barton, Selasie Dotse, Tambra Raye Stevenson, Tiffani Rozier, Vanessa Parish, Yoshivel Elise Chirinos.

An Accordion Book doesn’t open, it unfolds. One side is filled with beautiful watercolour images of an animal: sometimes in motion, sometimes at rest. The other is filled with text – poems, descriptions, invocations – inspired by the same animal.

Together they work as spells to summon the animal’s spirit. Jackie Morris has painted them using antique watercolours, some from boxes which hadn't been opened for over 150 years, woken from their slumber with a single drop of water.

Hare and Hound will join the first two Accordions, Fox and Otter, in a series that will go on to include Owl and Cat among many others.

'A master storyteller with an ear, an eye and a voice that should be the envy of many men with weightier reputations' Daniel Day-Lewis on The Grass Arena

With imaginative prose and startling imagery, Healy takes us on a journey where he first works in a late-night cafe serving whores, pimps, druggies, window-ledgers, handbag snatchers, narks, and the odd psychopath. Situated at the dim end of the counter at the furthest corner from God’s light on earth, he plans his escape and ends up in a world more treacherous and dangerous than he could ever have imagined. In this world of middle-class literature, living hand to mouth, he writes The Grass Arena. To become suddenly famous in an unfamiliar world of power and privilege was completely disorienting. He finds himself thrown into unpredictable situations that call for a tact where he was more used to situations where people achieved their aims through brutality.

The Glass Cage is an unrepentant account of a life few of us could imagine. A worthy sequel to The Grass Arena, it is John Healy’s crowning achievement.

An Accordion Book doesn’t open, it unfolds. One side is filled with beautiful watercolour images of an animal: sometimes in motion, sometimes at rest. The other is filled with text – poems, descriptions, invocations – inspired by the same animal.

Together they work as spells to summon the animal’s spirit. Jackie Morris has painted them using antique watercolours, some from boxes which hadn't been opened for over 150 years, woken from their slumber with a single drop of water.

Hare and Hound will join the first two Accordions, Fox and Otter, in a series that will go on to include Owl and Cat among many others.

The Lights of Shantinagar is a warm and lively portrait of family life set in modern India where new philosophies are reshaping old traditions and one woman’s astute observations can change everything.

Aspiring quantum physicist Sumi is newly married and has moved into her husband’s family home. Here she observes that the beguilingly tranquil middle-class town of Shantinagar is not very different from her beloved quantum world: the happenings in one house are cryptically entangled with things next door, objects mysteriously disappear and unexpected interactions reveal surprising truths.

As the line between right and wrong begins to blur, new discoveries force the residents of Shantinagar to reflect on what they truly know about themselves and the ones they love. Meanwhile, Sumi must blend logic with love to make sense of her new circumstances.

The next challenge for fans of Cain's Jawbone: the TikTok sensation and international bestseller.

A body is found stabbed to death in a locked room. The police find no weapon, no motive and no suspects.

However, the murderer has in their possession a box of one hundred cryptic picture postcards which – if properly understood – would explain not just this murder, but nine others. This book contains those cards.

Solvers must rearrange the pages of text to unravel the story and identify the murderer, victim and location for each of the ten murders. They must also consider the separate puzzles presented by the curious images on the other sides.

Torquemada taught us that complete dedication is key and from devising detective pinboards to daily investigation diaries, Cain’s Jawbone puzzlers did him proud. But now the time has come to dust off that magnifying glass, because a global movement to solve the first picture postcard puzzle is about to begin. Do you have what it takes to explain The Researcher’s First Murder?

Featuring seventeen essays from people all around the world, Bloody Hell! is a collection of adventures in menopause from across the personal and political spectrum that aims to light a fire of shamelessness and break the boundaries surrounding this ‘taboo’ topic.

As a feminist of colour who often resorts to writing what she has long wanted to read, editor Mona Eltahawy has seen first-hand how when a movement takes a brave dive into the deep end of a taboo, representation can be limited. Bloody Hell! is the antidote.

This is not a medical textbook, nor is it a guide on how to remedy or fix anything. Rather, it is a collection of menopausal individuals – women, transmasculine and non-binary people – with their own entry point into that transition who can share unique insights and anecdotes about menopause that are deeply intimate, highly informative and hugely relatable.

Menopause can be a confusing and anxiety-ridden time spent navigating the unknown. However, it can also be an opportunity for transformation, liberation and self-love. Bloody Hell! is a chance for new beginnings, knowledge and power and these essays encourage us to embrace the messy and beautiful nature of change.

'I love this book' Fern Britton

'Laugh out loud funny' Kate Bottley

An explosive satire of gender stereotypes that flips patriarchy on its head to highlight sexist double standards.

Exploring subjects like work and comedy, history and sport, the beauty industry and domesticity, anonymous author Man Who Has It All imagines a world in which men are bombarded with the same stereotypical bullshit as women. What if men's T-shirts were emblazoned with slogans encouraging them to be smiley, positive and kind? What if we laughed at jokes about fathers-in-law, male drivers and middle-class men of a certain age? What if men's history was a niche topic? Behind the jokes about crazy cat gentlemen, testerical men and the twenty-four-hour moustache, lies a deeper, darker message about language, power and control.

Smart and provocative, Man Who Has It All shines a powerful light on the prejudice ingrained in our society. Told through fictionalised scenarios and wider cultural analysis, this is a feminist handbook that will arm you against the patriarchy.

'Funny and insightful, but also fiercely radical' Victoria Smith

'Takes on patriarchy with wit, verve and a mighty dose of good old British sarcasm' Viv Groskop, author of How to Own the Room

'We need to hide copies in every locker room, Wetherspoons and B&Q' Eleanor Morton, comedian and actor

'Man Who Has It All does a remarkable job of channelling anger into humour . . . a galvanising read' Rachel Hewitt, author of In Her Nature

Since 2016, podcasting legend Jeff Cannata has delighted Filmcast listeners with show-stopping movie reviews in poetic form. Now, lovers of the silver screen can enjoy reels of these laugh-out-loud limericks in Best Summed Up: a must-have quiz compendium for cinephiles.

From applauding filmmaking mastery in box office sell-outs to damning dismissals of action big hitters that have missed the mark, Cannata critiques every genre of contemporary film and unpicks all must-see releases from 2018 to 2024 with his signature wit and wisdom.

The challenge is simple: readers must identify the film described by each verse in five, delightfully moreish levels of brain-teasing poems. So grab some popcorn and see if you can achieve award-winning status of your own by completing the ultimate test for movie buffs.

We all want to live more healthily and ethically. This book is not just for vegans; it’s for anyone who is curious about veganism, its principles and what even non-vegans can learn from its practice.

According to reports, the number of vegans in the UK has more than quadrupled since 2014 and with the rise in plant-based foods and cruelty-free products showing no sign of stopping, Think Like a Vegan is a timely exploration of how vegan ethics can be applied to every area of our lives.

Through a personal and often irreverent lens, the authors explore a variety of contemporary topics related to animal use. From the basics of vegan logic to politics, economics, love and other aspects of being human, each chapter draws you into a thought-provoking conversation about your daily ethical decisions that will open your eyes to a new way of living in a plant-powered world.

Bardskull is the record of three journeys made by Martin Shaw, the celebrated storyteller and interpreter of myth, in the year before he turned fifty. It is unlike anything he has written before. This is not a book about myth or narrative; rather, it is a sequence of incantations, a series of battles.

Each of the three journeys sees Shaw walk alone into a Dartmoor forest and wait. What arrive are stories – fragments of myth that he has carried within him for decades: the deep history of Dartmoor itself; the lives of distant family members; Arthurian legend; and tales from India, Persia, Lapland, the Caucasus and Siberia. But these stories and their tellers don’t arrive as the bearers of solace or easy wisdom. As with all quests, Shaw is entering a domain of traps and tests.

Bardskull can be read as a fable, as memoir, as auto-fiction or as an attempt to undomesticate myth. It is a magnificent, unclassifiable work of the imagination.

A manifesto for Gentle Protest: how to change our world one stitch at a time.

Award-winning campaigner and founder of the global Craftivist Collective Sarah Corbett shows how to respond to injustice not with apathy or aggression, but with gentle, effective protest.

This is a manifesto – for a more respectful and contemplative activism; for conversation and collaboration where too often these is division and conflict; for using craft to engage, empower and encourage us all to be the change we wish to see in the world.

Sarah's craftivism has helped change laws and business policies as well as hearts and minds; here, with thoughtful principles and practical examples, she shows that quiet action can speak as powerfully as the loudest voice.

Written by an award-winning behavioral change expert, this practical guide shows how recent discoveries in the behavioural sciences can help you lead a more positive and rewarding life.

As 95 per cent of our brain activity carries on at a subconscious level, we’re not always aware of why we think what we think and do the things we do. Sometimes these subconscious wirings can make us think or act in ways that are not optimal for our happiness – they can bring out the illogical in us all.

How Your Brain Is Wired draws on recent breakthroughs in our understanding of how the brain really works, empowering the reader to take control over their own behavior. Full of insight and practical advice, it equips you with a toolkit of simple changes you can put into action to: reduce conflict and anxiety, achieve a positive mindset, make better decisions, have more fun and reach new goals.

This book is about rewiring your attitudes; re-seeing yourself and your choices. It reveals something rather magical: how tiny tweaks to your behavior can be all you need to deliver a big, sometimes thrilling, reboot to your life.

'Powerful' Irenosen Okojie, author of Butterfly Fish

The year is 1748. Elewa, known as ‘the Daughter of Peace’, bears a heavy responsibility on her young shoulders: to maintain the fragile truce between the warring peoples of her West African kingdom.

But as she begins to understand her role in the peace negotiations, even greater pressures emerge. Elewa discovers that she has Yeseni, a powerful gift that allows her to see events from any point in time, and to travel into the past and future.

When she experiences horrific visions of life aboard a slave ship, she realises she has to face the ultimate crossroads. She could use her gift to intervene in the past and try to prevent the transatlantic slave trade ever taking place. But that means she, as the Daughter of Peace, would be leaving her village behind at a precarious moment in the reconciliation process.

Whichever path she chooses to take, the future of her people lies on her shoulders.

The rollicking behind-the-scenes story of Sharpe's Rifles, one of British TV's most beloved shows, featuring a foreword by Sharpe author Bernard Cornwell.

In the summer of 1992, Jason Salkey was cast in a role that would change his life forever. Sharpe’s Rifles, a Napoleonic war drama, was to be shot in the Crimean Peninsula. Little did the producers know that they would be sending Jason and the crew to film in a rapidly disintegrating Soviet Union. There they faced near-starvation and danger round every corner as they set about creating one of Britain’s most successful and critically acclaimed television programmes.

From Crimea with Love documents the mishaps, blunders, incompetence and downright corruption that made Sharpe’s Rifles go down in British television folklore for its unique tales of hardship. Follow the cast through intense depravation and constant catastrophe until they become every bit the jaded, battle-hardened soldiers we saw on screen. Tapping into his diaries, photo journals and video log, Jason brings you an eye-opening, jaw-dropping insider’s account of one of the best-loved shows ever made.

YouTube sensation Stuart Ashen is back with his second instalment of terrible old computer games you’ve probably never heard of... because what the world needs right now is to know exactly how bad Domain of the Undead for the Atari 8-bit computers was.

Attack of the Flickering Skeletons is even bigger than the original Terrible Old Games You’ve Probably Never Heard Of – this second excavation of gaming’s buried past will not only unearth more appalling excuses for digital entertainment, but also feature guest contributors and several special interest chapters not based around single specific games.

These are NOT the games you’ve heard of a million times in YouTube videos. This is a compilation of truly obscure and dreadful games. Dripping with wry humour and featuring the best, worst graphics from the games themselves, this book encapsulates the atrocities produced in the days of tight budgets and low quality controls.

Welcome to a world of games you never knew existed. You will probably wish you still didn’t.

Billy Elliot meets Bend It Like Beckham in this unforgettable debut about aiming high and defying expectation – the perfect uplit read this year.

Joyful, defiant and dazzling, this is the story of Rafi Aziz – a Northern boy dreaming of his name up in lights.

It's 1981 in the suburbs of Blackburn and, as Rafi’s mother reminds him daily, the family moved here from Pakistan to give him the best opportunities. But Rafi longs to follow his own path. Flamboyant, dramatic and musically gifted, he wants to be a Bollywood star.

Twenty years later, Rafi is flying home from Australia for his best friend’s wedding. He has everything he ever wanted: starring roles in musical theatre, the perfect boyfriend and freedom from expectation. But returning to Blackburn is the ultimate test: can he show his true self to his community?

Navigating family and identity from boyhood to adulthood, as well as the changing eras of ABBA, skinheads and urbanisation, Rafi must follow his heart to achieve his dreams.

A memoir of first love, first lust, first heartbreak – and the many disappointments in between.

Rosemary Mac Cabe was always a serial monogamist – never happier than when she was in a relationship or, at the very least, on the way to being in one. But in her desperate search for ‘the one’ – from first love to first lust, through a series of disappointments and the searing sting of heartbreak – she learned that finding love might mean losing herself along the way.

This Is Not About You is a life story in a series of love stories. About Henry, with the big nose and the lovely mum, with whom sex was like having a verruca frozen off in the doctor’s surgery: ‘uncomfortable, but I had entered into this willingly’. About Dan, with the goatee. About Luke, who gave her a split condom. About Frank, who was married…

But mostly, it’s about Rosemary, figuring out just how much she was willing to sacrifice for her happy ending.

Beware the buried skull underfoot and watch out for children with fur on their backs...

Blood on Satan's Claw is widely regarded as part of the ‘unholy trinity’ of cult classics which gave birth to the film genre that would become known as folk horror. Along with The Wicker Man and Witchfinder General, it found new ways to terrify audiences using elements of superstition and folklore.

Now, fifty years after its release, readers can experience the unearthing of this terror in the film’s first official novelisation: a compelling and frightening retelling of the fate of unfortunate villagers sacrificed by their own children as devil worship infiltrates their rural existence.

Written by the film’s original screenwriter Robert Wynne-Simmons and featuring haunting new illustrations from Richard Wells, it is an atmospheric and defining cult classic in the making.

"Original, compelling, witty and historically illuminating – hilarious and essential reading." — Helen Lederer, comedian, actress and founder of Comedy Women in Print

Paris, 1940. The course of Fatiha Bin-Khalid’s life is changed forever when she befriends the Muslim feminist Doria Shafik. But after returning to Egypt and dedicating years to the fight for women’s rights, she struggles to reconcile her political ideals with the realities of motherhood.

Cairo, 1966. After being publicly shamed when her relationship with a bisexual boyfriend is revealed, Fatiha’s daughter is faced with an impossible decision. Should Yasminah accept a life she didn’t choose, or will she leave her home and country in pursuit of independence?

Bristol, 2011. British-born Nadia is battling with an identity crisis and a severe case of herpes. Feeling unfulfilled (and after a particularly disastrous one-night stand), she moves in with her old-fashioned Aunt Yasminah and realises that she must discover her purpose in the modern world before it’s too late.

Following the lives of three women from the Bin-Khalid family, Daughters of the Nile is an original and darkly funny novel that examines the enduring strength of female bonds. These women are no strangers to adversity, but they must learn from the past and relearn shame and shamelessness to radically change their futures.

Everyone’s talking about Daughters of the Nile...

"A writer to watch." — @ElementaryMyDear_

"Mesmerising." — @alicetheunique

"Not to be missed." — @Silvia_reviews

"A true gem." — @stratospherekawaiigirl

Fair or Foul considers different aspects of ambition and its place in our lives. It asks: what does success mean? When is enough enough? And is Lady Macbeth right to suggest that only those with the 'illness' of ambition achieve the highest goals?

Stefan Stern draws on the major themes of Macbeth and discusses how they can be applied to ambition in modern life. From the success of the first US woman vice president, Kamala Harris, the obstacles she faced and the possibilities that still lie ahead, to Boris Johnson's young aspirations to be 'world king' and the pathological intensity of his ambition, Stern considers the careers and personal lives of politicians, sports stars and business people, to name a few, to illuminate this strange and powerful driver. Expect to discover how ambition and success work together, how attitudes have shifted over time, and how gender roles have an impact on our goals.

Incisive, contemporary and accessible, this book is for anyone who is looking for a change of direction or emphasis on how to move forward. It will also provide consolation, amusement and plenty of insightful meditations on the complex nature of ambition.

A groundbreaking deep dive into the history, politics and lived experiences of three often-misunderstood identities: Asexuality, Aromanticism and Agender.

How did asexual identity form? What is aromanticism? How does agender identity function? Researcher and writer Michael Paramo explores these misunderstood experiences, from the complex challenge of coming out to navigating the western lens of attraction. Expertly mapping their history, Paramo traces the emergence of vital online communities to the origins of the Victorian binaries that still restrict us today.

Powerfully persuasive and thought-provoking, Ending the Pursuit asks us to reimagine sexuality, romance and gender without the borders imposed by society.

With a groundbreaking blend of memoir and poetry, online articles and discussions, Ending the Pursuit is a much-needed addition to the cultural conversation. It encourages us to end the search for ‘normalcy’ and gives voice to an often-misunderstood community.

We read because we want to experience lives and emotions beyond our own, to learn, to see with others’ eyes. The 32 is a collection of memoir and essays in celebration of the working class, from thirty-two established and emerging Irish voices including Kevin Barry, Dermot Bolger, Roddy Doyle, Lisa McInerney, Lyra McKee and many more. Too often, working-class writers find that the hurdles they come up against are higher and harder to leap over than those faced by writers from more affluent backgrounds. The 32 sees writers who have made that leap reach back to give a helping hand to those coming up behind. Without these working-class voices, without the vital reflection of real lives, or role models for working-class readers and writers, literature will be poorer. We will all be poorer. 

Contributors include:

Claire Allan Kevin Barry Dermot Bolger Kate Burns June Caldwell Martin Doyle Roddy Doyle Paul Dunne Trudie Gorman Marc Gregg Angela Higgins Jason Hynes Riley Johnston Erin Lindsay Dave Lordan Alison Martin Rosaleen McDonagh Linda McGrory Lisa McInerney Lyra McKee Danielle McLaughlin Eoin McNamee Maurice Neill Michael Nolan Abby Oliveira Stephen O’Reilly Rick O’Shea Dr Michael Pierse Lynn Ruane Theresa Ryder Jim Ward Elaine Cawley Weintraub

From the gothic fantasies of Walpole’s Otranto to post-modern takes on the country house by Kazuo Ishiguro and Ian McEwan, Phyllis Richardson guides us on a tour through buildings real and imagined to examine how authors’ personal experiences helped to shape the homes that have become icons of English literature. 

We encounter Jane Austen drinking “too much wine” in the lavish ballroom of a Hampshire manor, discover how Virginia Woolf’s love of Talland House at St. Ives is palpable in To the Lighthouse, and find Evelyn Waugh remembering Madresfield Court as he plots Charles Ryder’s return to Brideshead. 

Drawing on historical sources, biographies, letters, diaries, and the novels themselves, House of Fiction opens the doors to these celebrated houses while offering candid glimpses of the writers who brought them to life.

 This is the definitive history of London's most notorious drinking den, the Colony Room Club in Soho. It’s a hair-raising romp through the underbelly of the post-war scene: during its sixty-year history, more romances, more deaths, more horrors and more sex scandals took place in the Colony than anywhere else. 

 Tales from the Colony Room is an oral biography, consisting of previously unpublished and long-lost interviews with the characters who were central to the scene, giving the reader a flavour of what it was like to frequent the Club. With a glass in hand you’ll move through the decades listening to personal reminiscences, opinions and vitriol, from the authentic voices of those who were actually there. On your voyage through Soho’s lost bohemia, you’ll be served a drink by James Bond, sip champagne with Francis Bacon, queue for the loo with Christine Keeler, go racing with Jeffrey Bernard, get laid with Lucian Freud, kill time with Doctor Who, pick a fight with Frank Norman and pass out with Peter Langan. All with a stellar supporting cast including Peter O’Toole, George Melly, Suggs, Lisa Stansfield, Dylan Thomas, Jay Landesman, Sarah Lucas, Damien Hirst and many, many more.

“An entertaining and eclectic anthology of nature writing by women about the ‘east Atlantic archipelago’ or British isles.… For readers in search of a new take on the genre, this is a great place to start.” —Publishers Weekly

Now in paperback—a landmark gathering of writing, by women, about the natural world

Women, through the centuries and to present time, writing about the natural world, in this landmark anthology—with pieces gathered from works of fiction, poetry, but also household planners, gardening diaries, recipe books…

For the very first time, this anthology collects together the work of women, over the centuries and up to the present day, who have written about the natural world in Britain, Ireland and the outlying islands of that archipelago. Alongside the traditional forms of the travelog, the walking guide, books on birds, plants and wildlife, Women on Nature embraces alternative modes of seeing and recording that turn the genre on its head.

Katharine Norbury has sifted through the pages of women’s writing to show the multitude of ways in which they have observed the natural world about them, from the fourteenth-century writing of the anchorite nun Julian of Norwich to the seventeenth-century travel journal of Celia Fiennes; from the keen observations of Emily Brontë to a host of brilliant contemporary voices.

Women on Nature presents a groundbreaking vision of the natural world which, in addition to being a rich and scintillating anthology that shines a light on many unjustly overlooked writers, is of unique importance in terms of women’s history and the history of writing about nature. 

As a teacher in an inner-city school, Lucy Crehan was exasperated with ever-changing government policy claiming to be based on lessons from ‘top-performing’ education systems. She resolved to find out what was really going on in the classrooms of countries whose teenagers ranked top in the world in reading, maths and science.

Cleverlands documents Crehan’s journey around the world, weaving together her experiences with research on policy, history, psychology and culture to offer extensive new insights into what we can learn from these countries.

"I loved the creativity, the unpredictability, its dazzling coverage of so many ideas." — Rob Cowan 

"Superb . . . An original character and an original book." — David Quantick, Record Collector 

Can John Nightly be brought back to life again? 

John Nightly (b. 1948) finds his dimension in pop music, the art form of his time. His solo album becomes one of 1970's bestselling records – but success turns out to have side effects. 

Supermaxed in LA after a dazzling career, John renounces his gift, denying music and his very being, until he is rediscovered in Cornwall thirty years later by a teenage saviour dude, who persuades him to restore and complete his quasi-porto-multimedia eco-Mass, the Mink Bungalow Requiem. 

This epic novel mixes real and imagined lives in the tale of a young singer-songwriter, to tell a story about creativity at the highest level – the level of genius.

We all experience recovery at some point in our lives, whether from addiction, physical illness, mental health issues, or loss. Many of us heal, and we may discover ways to live with our changed selves, to reclaim a life. We may find a new voice, or unearth a voice that has been submerged. Vitally, recovery can mean community. This anthology—which grew out of a small creative writing class run by Lily Dunn at Hackney Recovery Service, and was later broadened into a nationwide call for submissions by Dunn and her teaching partner, Zoe Gilbert—represents a community of writers: new, unheard voices alongside emerging and established authors. Theirs are stories from the dark back alleys, the deep crevices of the mind, and from the wild, ecstatic heights of life before, during and after recovery. These are voices that urgently need to be heard, in all their variety.

In a ruined world, what survives are the stories we tell

Poppy, who speaks the languages of wild things, travels east to the mountains with the wheeled and elephantine beast Lyoobov. He’s seeking answers to the mysteries of his birth, and the origins of the fallen world in which he lives.

Up in the glacial peaks, among a strange, mountainous people, a Juniper Tree takes Poppy deep into her roots and shows him the true stories of the people who made his world, people he thought were only myths. Their tales span centuries, from three hundred years in the future all the way back to our present day. It is through this feral but redemptive folklore that Poppy begins to understand the story of his own past and his place in the present.

Tatterdemalion is a stunning collaboration between writer Sylvia V. Linsteadt and artist Rima Staines, featuring the fourteen original paintings that inspired the narrative.

From 1983 until 1991, Glam Metal was the sound of American culture. This was the world stalked by Hair Metal bands like Bon Jovi, Kiss, W.A.S.P., Skid Row, Dokken, Motley Crue, Cinderella, Ratt and many more. Big hair, massive amplifiers, drugs, alcohol, piles of money and life-threatening pyrotechnics. Armed with hairspray, spandex and strangely shaped guitars, they marked the last great era of supersize bands.

Where did Glam Metal come from? How did it spread? What killed it off? And why does nobody admit to having been a Glam Metaller anymore?

Where are the women philosophers? The answer is right here.

The history of philosophy has not done women justice: you’ve probably heard the names Plato, Kant, Nietzsche and Locke – but what about Hypatia, Arendt, Oluwole and Young?

The Philosopher Queens is a long-awaited book about the lives and works of women in philosophy by women in philosophy. This collection brings to centre stage twenty prominent women whose ideas have had a profound – but for the most part uncredited – impact on the world.

You’ll learn about Ban Zhao, the first woman historian in ancient Chinese history; Angela Davis, perhaps the most iconic symbol of the American Black Power Movement; Azizah Y. al-Hibri, known for examining the intersection of Islamic law and gender equality; and many more.

What if we responded to death... by throwing a party? Journalist Erica Buist travels to seven death festivals around the world (Nepal, Madagascar, Indonesia, Sicily, Japan, Mexico and New Orleans)

 
By the time Erica Buist’s father-in-law Chris was discovered, upstairs in his bed, his book resting on his chest, he had been dead for over a week. She searched for answers (the artery-clogging cheeses in his fridge?) and tried to reason with herself (does daughter-in-law even feature in the grief hierarchy?) and eventually landed on an inevitable, uncomfortable truth: everybody dies.

With Mexico’s Day of the Dead festivities as a starting point, Erica decided to confront death head-on by visiting seven death festivals around the world – one for every day they didn’t find Chris. From Mexico to Nepal, Sicily, Thailand, Madagascar, Japan and finally Indonesia – with a stopover in New Orleans, where the dead outnumber the living ten to one – This Party’s Dead is the account of her journey to understand how other cultures deal with mortal terror, how they move past the knowledge that they’re going to die in order to live happily day-to-day, how they celebrate rather than shy away from the topic of death – and how when this openness and acceptance are passed down through the generations, death suddenly doesn’t seem so scary after all. Now available in paperback.

Meet Tabitha Gray, a delusional girl from Topanga, California, who redefines what it means to be a truly hopeless romantic. Tabby suffers from an aggressive strain of cock-eyed optimism – no amount of failure, embarrassment or humiliation can dent her fierce belief that real, true, lasting love is just around the corner.

Where most people think, fantasise and dream, Tabby says, feels and does. Whether waiting in her lingerie for Harrison Ford to open the door of his hotel room; following Al Pacino around a Russian bathhouse; seeking passion with a blind man on the advice of a wise old woman with dementia; or sending intimate photos to a random sexter with an apparently charming dick, Tabby refuses to be crushed by her many misadventures. 

In this warmly witty novel, Sophie Kipner takes a satirical look at the extremity of romantic desperation, and pays tribute to the deep human need to keep on heroically searching for love despite our many absurdities.

GENDER EUPHORIA: a powerful feeling of happiness experienced as a result of moving away from one’s birth-assigned gender. So often the stories shared by trans people about their transition center on gender dysphoria: a feeling of deep discomfort with their birth-assigned gender, and a powerful catalyst for coming out or transitioning. But for many non-cisgender people, it’s gender euphoria that pushes forward their transition: the joy the first time a parent calls them by their new chosen name, the first time they have the confidence to cut their hair short, the first time they truly embrace themself. 

In this groundbreaking anthology, nineteen trans, non-binary, agender, gender-fluid, and intersex writers share their experiences of gender euphoria: an agender dominatrix being called “Daddy,” an Arab trans man getting his first tattoos, a trans woman embracing her inner fighter. What they have in common are their feelings of elation, pride, confidence, freedom and ecstasy as a direct result of coming out as non-cisgender, and how coming to terms with their gender has brought unimaginable joy into their lives.

With six consecutive number one singles and the smash hit “Merry Xmas Everybody,” Slade were unstoppable. Now, the man whose outlandish costumes and unmistakable hairstyle made Slade one of the definitive acts of the Glam Rock era tells his story.

If you’ve ever wondered what it feels like to be a working-class lad from the Midlands suddenly confronted by unimaginable fame, So Here It Is is the definitive account, told with heart and humour and filled with never-before-seen photos.

From the co-author and illustrator of The Lost Spells, and The Lost Words—single animal focused meditations in accordion form

An Accordion Book doesn’t open, it unfolds. One side is filled with beautiful watercolour images of an animal: sometimes in motion, sometimes at rest. The other is filled with text – poems, descriptions, invocations – inspired by the same animal.

Together they work as spells to summon the animal’s spirit. Jackie Morris has painted them using antique watercolours, some from boxes which hadn't been opened for over 150 years, woken from their slumber with a single drop of water. Fox and Otter are the first two Accordions in a series that will go on to include Hare, Owl, Hound and Cat among many others.

"Her prose radiates empathy, with none of the artificial distance that journalists or academics enforce between themselves and their subjects." — The Washington Post

One woman's hilarious and fascinating quest to expose the truth behind fraudulent Twitter profiles: romance scammers beware, you have met your match!

Online romance fraud is a problem across the globe. It causes financial and emotional devastation, yet many people refuse to take it seriously. This is the story of one middle-aged woman in a cardigan determined to understand this growing phenomenon. 

No other woman has had so many online romances – from Keanu Reeves to Brad Pitt to Prince William – and Becky Holmes is a favourite among peacekeeping soldiers and oil rig workers who desperately need iTunes vouchers. By winding up scammers and investigating the truth behind their profiles, Becky shines a revealing, revolting and hilarious light on a very shady corner of the internet. 

Featuring first-hand accounts of victims, examples of scripts used by fraudsters, a look into the psychology of fraud and of course plenty of Becky’s hysterical interactions with scammers, this is a must-read for anyone who needs a reminder that Keanu Reeves is NOT in love with them.

Zelda, Nora, Vera, and now Eileen – this is the story of George Orwell's first wife, a woman who shaped, supported and even saved the life of one of twentieth century's greatest writers.

This is the never-before-told story of George Orwell's first wife, Eileen, a woman who shaped, supported, and even saved the life of one of the twentieth century's greatest writers. 

In 1934, Eileen O'Shaughnessy's futuristic poem, 'End of the Century, 1984', was published. The next year, she would meet George Orwell, then known as Eric Blair, at a party. 'Now that is the kind of girl I would like to marry!' he remarked that night. Years later, Orwell would name his greatest work, Nineteen Eighty-Four, in homage to the memory of Eileen, the woman who shaped his life and his art in ways that have never been acknowledged by history, until now.

From the time they spent in a tiny village tending goats and chickens, through the Spanish Civil War, to the couple's narrow escape from the destruction of their London flat during a German bombing raid, and their adoption of a baby boy, Eileen is the first account of the Blairs' nine-year marriage. It is also a vivid picture of bohemianism, political engagement, and sexual freedom in the 1930s and '40s. 

Through impressive depth of research, illustrated throughout with photos and images from the time, this captivating and inspiring biography offers a completely new perspective on Orwell himself, and most importantly tells the life story of an exceptional woman who has been unjustly overlooked.

The British people have always been eccentric, occasionally ingenious and, sure, sometimes unhinged—from mad monarchs to mass-murdering lepers. Here, Arran Lomas shows us how they harnessed those traits to forge the British nation, and indeed the world, we know today. Follow history’s greatest adventurers from the swashbuckling waters of the Caribbean to the vast white wasteland of the Antarctic wilderness, like the British spy who infiltrated a top-secret Indian brothel and the priest who hid inside a wall but forgot to bring a packed lunch. At the very least you’ll discover Henry VIII’s favorite ass-wipe, whether the flying alchemist ever made it from Scotland to France, and the connection between Victorian coffee houses and dildos. Forget what you were taught in school—this is history like you’ve never heard it before, full of captivating historical quirks that will make you laugh out loud and scratch your head in disbelief.

As we face global challenges like climate change and inequality, what if women could use their investments to build a cleaner, fairer and more sustainable world? Financial feminism—the belief in the financial equality of women—has been gathering momentum, largely in the context of the gender pay gap: on average a woman earns 80% of what a man does. But there’s another gap—the gender investing gap—which shows women are investing less than men, saving less for retirement, and parking more in cash. When compounded by the gender pay gap, this results in a significant shortfall, but there’s more to financial feminism than simply addressing these gaps: women also care about where their money is invested and the impact it can have. 

In this practical and accessible guide, sustainable investing expert Jessica Robinson shows how through financial feminism, women can use their financial power to invest in a sustainable future and build the kind of world they want to live in. With jargon-free explanations and real-world examples, she demystifies the financial services industry, breaks down just what sustainable investing is and demonstrates the societal and environmental impact of the investment decisions we make. Arming women with the information they need to get started—and keep going—she hopes that more women will embrace financial feminism, invest to grow their own wealth and, in doing so, use their financial decisions to demand a better world.

For more than 50 years, Alan Garner has enraptured generations of readers with works like The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, The Owl Service, Red Shift, and The Stone Book Quartet. Described by Philip Pullman as 'the most important British writer of fantasy since Tolkein', Alan Garner has inspired readers and writers alike.

Now, in celebration of his 80th birthday, comes First Light. A collaboration by many of the acclaimed writers, artists, archaeologists and historians he has influenced over the years, this anthology includes original contributions from David Almond, Margaret Atwood, John Burnside, Susan Cooper, Helen Dunmore, Stephen Fry, Neil Gaiman, Elizabeth Garner, Paul Kingsnorth, Katherine Langrish, Helen Macdonald, Robert Macfarlane, Gregory Maguire, Neel Mukherjee, Philip Pullman, Ali Smith, Elizabeth Wein, Michael Wood, and many, many more.

Whether a literary essay, a personal response to Alan's work, a memory of the first time they read his work, or a story about the man himself, each piece is a tribute to his remarkable impact.

Edited by the acclaimed literary journalist and novelist, Erica Wagner, First Light is a striking collection that will touch the heart of anyone who grew up reading the works of Alan Garner.

Award-winning writer Timothy O’Grady lived in Vegas for two years. He finally began to understand it when he talked to people who had grown up there, the children of the card dealers and cocktail shakers, the jugglers and the dancers, young people who had been bearing witness to their strange city all their lives. One had her student loans and credit card limits stolen by her father. Another fled a sequence of exploiters until she found herself living in the storm drains under the casinos. There is the boy whose father entered him into a drinking contest when he was eight, the casino owner’s son, the erudite contortionist turned stripper. Each tells their own tale.

 O’Grady here renews his partnership with renowned photographer Steve Pyke. Through short essays, Pyke’s portraits and ten witness testimonies, he pierces the city’s glittering façade. Children of Las Vegas shows us what we can expect to find when the global marketplace has found the addiction genes in us all. It is a book of broken dreams, but also of an extraordinary striving for transcendence.

In the must-anticipated companion volume to his first book, The Art of the Restauranteur, restaurant critic Nicholas Lander rejoices in the history, design and evolution of the world’s favourite piece of paper: the menu.

On the Menu is a stunning collection of menus, from those at the cutting edge of contemporary culinary innovation, like El Bulli and Noma, to those that are relics from another time: a 1970s menu from L’Escargot at a time when all main courses cost less than one pound; the last menu from The French House Dining Room before Fergus Henderson departed for St John; a Christmas feast of zoo animals served during the Siege of Paris in 1870; and three of the world’s original restaurant menus—now hanging proudly in London’s Le Gavroche.

Throughout, Lander examines the principles of menu design and layout; the different rules that govern separate menus for breakfast, afternoon tea and dessert; the evolution of wine and cocktail lists; and how menus can act as records of the past.

He takes us behind the scenes at Babbo, Mario Batali’s famous New York restaurant, as the staff are briefed on the evening’s menu, and he reveals insights from interviews with Michael Anthony, Heston Blumenthal, Massimo Bottura, René Redzepi, Ruth Rogers and many more of the most renowned, contemporary chefs of our time, who explain how they decide what to serve and what inspires them to create and design their menus.

These are truly pages to drool over.

“If you’re ready for an extra-hard, old-time challenge, have at it!”-- Will Shortz

From the creator and publisher behind the viral sensation Cain's Jawbone: A Very Novel Mystery, is a collection of 112 difficult cryptic crossword puzzles.

Before Edward Powys Mathers wrote the world's most fiendishly difficult literary puzzle, he was a cryptic crossword creator. Under his pseudonym "Torquemada", his puzzles would taunt readers for days. He created his first cryptic crossword puzzle in 1924 and went on to set them for the Saturday Westminster and the Observer for the next 15 years. His true identity was only revealed when he died in 1939. 

As well as earning the reputation for setting the world's toughest crosswords, Torquemada - or 'Torq' as he was often referred to - was also delightfully creative: with many puzzles written in perfectly constructed verse, or delivered as mini-narratives to their solvers. There's even a version where the clues are knock-knock jokes. 

For many years cryptic crosswords were simply known as puzzles in the 'Torquemada style'. This selection of Torquemada's best crosswords was originally published in 1942 and contains three short accounts of Torquemada's life and achievements, including one by his widow, R.C. Mathers as well as a foreword by the crossword puzzle editor for the New York Times, Will Shortz. The successful revival of Cain's Jawbone has inspired a new generation of puzzle solvers.

Here then is the next challenge for Torquemada's fans - dare you take it on?

"A labour of undiluted love and enthusiasm." — Daily Telegraph

As Daniel Hardcastle careers towards thirty, he looks back on what has really made him happy in life: the friends, the romances… the video games. Told through encounters with the most remarkable – and the most mind-boggling – games of the last thirty-odd years, Fuck Yeah, Video Games is also a love letter to the greatest hobby in the world.

From God of War to Tomb Raider, Pokémon to The Sims, Daniel relives each game with countless in-jokes, obscure references and his signature wit, as well as intricate, original illustrations by Rebecca Maughan. Alongside this march of merriment are chapters dedicated to the hardware behind the games: a veritable history of Sony, Nintendo, Sega and Atari consoles.

Joyous, absurd, personal and at times sweary, Daniel's memoir is a celebration of the sheer brilliance of video games.

Shortlisted for Harper's Bazaar Book of the Year 2019

A Guardian, Spectator and Mail on Sunday Book of the Year 2018

"A lyrical portrait of a fast-vanishing way of life . . . Thompson is a terrific writer." — New Statesman

Laura Thompson’s grandmother Violet was one of the great landladies. Born in a London pub, she became the first woman to be given a publican’s licence in her own name and, just as pubs defined her life, she seemed in many ways to embody their essence.

Laura spent part of her childhood in Violet’s Home Counties establishment, mesmerised by her gift for cultivating the mix of cosiness and glamour that defined the pub’s atmosphere, making it a unique reflection of the national character. Her memories of this time are just as intoxicating: beer and ash on the carpets in the morning, the deepening rhythms of mirth at night, the magical brightness of glass behind the bar…

Through them Laura traces the story of the English pub, asking why it has occupied such a treasured position in our culture. But even Violet, as she grew older, recognised that places like hers were a dying breed, and Laura also considers the precarious future they face. 

Part memoir, part social history, part elegy, The Last Landlady pays tribute to an extraordinary woman and the world she epitomised.