Sonnet is a writer. She is a professional with a wide network of important contacts. She is athletic, creative and successful. She always remembers to send Christmas cards. Sonnet also likes to be caned. She likes to be humiliated. She likes to go into a room blindfolded with ten strangers and have them do whatever they want to her. Sonnet likes wh...

Leena Norms is a half-arser. A shave-one-legger. A rinse-the-plates-and-tell-herself-any-residual-dirt-will-improve-her-immune-system-er. And yet, she is determined to live better, build a career, strengthen her relationships, be good to her body, sort out her wardrobe, find meaningful hobbies, act on her ethics, and live a full, passionate, varied...

Actress Uzo Aduba - known for Emmy-winning roles in Orange Is the New Black and Mrs. America - grew up in one of the few Black families in a white Massachusetts suburb. But she and her siblings were also grounded by a fierce sense of belonging and worth that stemmed from their mother's powerful vision for her children, and by their connection to ge...

Bill Bailey has always had dogs, including a Patterdale terrier called Rocky who would travel with him in the van to his first shows and occasionally join him on stage. Fast forward a few decades and Bill has shared his home with a variety of birds, dogs, frogs, chameleons and an armadillo called Tommy. Animals have always been at the heart of an e...

Steve Biddulph’s Raising Boys was a global phenomenon. The first book in a generation to look at boys’ specific needs, parents loved its clarity and warm insights into their sons’ inner world. But today, things have changed. It’s girls that are in trouble. There has been a sudden and universal deterioration in girls’ m...

From the winner of the Baillie Gifford Prize, an extraordinary story of the meteoric rise and fall of George Villiers, the first Duke of Buckingham. As King James I’s favourite, Buckingham was also his confidant, gatekeeper, right-hand man and lover. When Charles I succeeded his father, he was similarly enthralled and made Buckingham his best...

The 32nd fostering memoir from international bestseller Cathy Glass Struggling to cope with three young children, Janie turns to experienced foster carer Cathy Glass. Helping the family each morning, Cathy soon uncovers how dangerous their situation has truly become. Riley and his two little siblings, Jayden and Lola, are not safe at home. With all...

Candice Marie in Nuts in May. Beverly in Abigail’s Party. Mrs Bennet in Pride and Prejudice. Pamela in Gavin & Stacey – we can all name a beloved, iconic character brought to life by the magnificent Alison Steadman. Growing up in post-war, working-class Liverpool, the young Alison – ever the entertainer – would address t...

Britain is facing uncertainty, threats and risk: a new Prime Minister, new political landscape, at home and abroad. But how much will change? How To Run Britain is a plea to own what's gone wrong and make courageous reforms - from the way we manage the economy to how we vote. Over the past fifteen years, British living standards have stagnated, ine...

Hidden in the margins of history books, classical literature, and thousands of years of stories, myths and legends, through to contemporary literature, TV and film, there is a diverse and other-worldly super community of queer heroes to discover, learn from, and celebrate. Be captivated by stories of forbidden love like Patroclus & Achilles (ex...

Hidden in the margins of history books, classical literature, and thousands of years of stories, myths and legends, through to contemporary literature, TV and film, there is a diverse and other-worldly super community of queer heroes to discover, learn from, and celebrate. Be captivated by stories of forbidden love like Patroclus & Achilles (ex...

When Joanne Lefson took on a piglet at her animal shelter, the young sow proceeded to eat everything in her stable but a paint brush. In a flash of inspiration, Joanne attempted to introduce the pig to the art of painting - and thus Pigcasso was born. Starting out with a humble canvas on the sanctuary wall, Pigcasso's paintings are now owned by the...

The British Bloke appears simple and straightforward. He loves football, cricket, beer, sheds, wearing socks and books about the SAS. But beneath that simple exterior lies a mysterious and complex being. In The British Bloke Decoded, writer, comedian and regular bloke, Geoff Norcott peels back the layers of blokedom, revealing the truth behind the...

Do two trees ever appear identical? No, but why? Every small difference is a clue. Each tree we meet is filled with signs that reveal secrets about the life of that tree and the landscape we stand in. The clues are easy to spot when you know what to look for, but remain invisible to most people. In How to Read a Tree, you'll discover the simple pri...

John Donne lived myriad lives. Sometime religious outsider and social disaster, sometime celebrity preacher and establishment darling, John Donne was incapable of being just one thing. He was a scholar of law, a sea adventurer, an MP, a priest, the Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral – and perhaps the greatest love poet in the history of the En...

As the 2022 World Cup in Qatar drew to a close, there was a bitter undercurrent to Argentina's triumph. Throughout the tournament, numerous allegations of sportswashing and financial misconduct had been made against the state of Qatar. The question had been asked, who really owns and runs football? Journeying around the globe, journalist Miguel Del...

Russell Watson was at the peak of his success as a much-loved classical singer. He had gone from humble beginnings, working in a factory making nuts and bolts in Salford to singing in working men's clubs to performing to stadiums filled with thousands of fans. But then tragedy struck. In 2006 and 2007 he was diagnosed with two brain tumours. In the...

A new millennium, and a new chapter for Michael Palin unfolds. With a Hemingway travel project testing his confidence, doubts creeping in about his abilities as a writer, the death of his great friend George Harrison and the last of his children leaving home, the dawn of the twenty-first century sees Michael at his most reflective yet.  Amidst this...

This is a book for people who don't normally think about politics. We have a new government and have bid a loud goodbye to the Tories, but the issues that allowed the last government to mismanage and deceive us for so long lie deep. Amidst a landscape of economic turmoil and deepening societal fractures, we need to see a new age of accountability i...

From battlefields, cathedrals and museums to castles and stately homes, from the Lancastrians and Yorkists to the Roundheads, Royalists and an abundance of kings called Edward (and Henry!), the history of our island nation unravels its rich tapestry beneath our very feet - if only you know where to look. Take, for instance, the Tower of London, whi...

For decades, the question has haunted the Arab and Muslim world. Was it always so? When did the extremism, intolerance and bloodletting of today displace the region's cultural promise and diversity? In Black Wave, award-winning journalist and author Kim Ghattas argues that the turning point in the modern history of the Middle East can be located in...