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In Pieces
by Sally FieldA Sunday Times Book of the Year &‘A memoir as soulful, wryly witty, and lyrical as it is candid and courageous&’ – Booklist, starred review &‘Impressive, candid and vivid&’ The Times &‘Beautifully written&’ Sunday Times Sally Field is one of the most celebrated, beloved and enduring actors of our time, and now she tells her story for the first time in this intimate and haunting literary memoir. In her own words, she writes about a challenging and lonely childhood, the craft that helped her find her voice, and a powerful emotional legacy that shaped her journey as a daughter and a mother. Sally Field has an infectious charm that has captivated audiences for more than five decades, beginning with her first television role at the age of 17. From Gidget&’s sweet-faced &‘girl next door&’ to the dazzling complexity of Sybil to the Academy Award-winning ferocity and depth of her role in Norma Rae and Mary Todd Lincoln, Field has stunned audiences time and time again with her artistic range and emotional acuity. Yet there is one character who always remained hidden: the shy and anxious little girl within. With raw honesty and the fresh, pitch-perfect prose of a natural-born writer, and with all the humility and authenticity her fans have come to expect, Field brings readers behind the scenes for not only the highs and lows of her star-studded early career in Hollywood, but deep into the truth of her lifelong relationships including, most importantly, her complicated love for her own mother. Powerful and unforgettable, In Pieces is an inspiring and important account of life as a woman in the second half of the twentieth century.
In Plain Sight: The Life And Lies Of Jimmy Savile
by Dan DaviesDan Davies has spent more than a decade on a quest to find the real Jimmy Savile, and interviewed him extensively over a period of seven years before his death. In the course of his quest, he spent days and nights at a time quizzing Savile at his homes in Leeds and Scarborough, lunched with him at venues ranging from humble transport cafes to the Athenaeum club in London and, most memorably, joined him for a short cruise aboard the QE2. Dan thought his quest had come to an end in October 2011 when Savile's golden coffin was lowered into a grave dug at a 45-degree angle in a Scarborough cemetery. He was wrong. In the last two and a half years, Dan has been interviewing scores of people, many of them unobtainable while Jimmy was alive. What he has discovered was that his instincts were right all along and behind the mask lay a hideous truth. Jimmy Savile was not only complex, damaged and controlling, but cynical, calculating and predatory. He revelled in his status as a Pied Piper of youth and used his power to abuse the vulnerable and underage, all the while covering his tracks by moving into the innermost circles of the establishment.
In Plain Sight: The Life and Lies of Jimmy Savile
by Dan DaviesWinner of the 2015 Gordon Burn Prize and the 2015 CWA Non-Fiction DaggerShortlisted for the Orwell Prize and the James Tait Black PrizeDan Davies has spent more than a decade on a quest to find the real Jimmy Savile, and interviewed him extensively over a period of seven years before his death. In the course of his quest, he spent days and nights at a time quizzing Savile at his homes in Leeds and Scarborough, lunched with him at venues ranging from humble transport cafes to the Athenaeum club in London and, most memorably, joined him for a short cruise aboard the QE2. Dan thought his quest had come to an end in October 2011 when Savile's golden coffin was lowered into a grave dug at a 45-degree angle in a Scarborough cemetery. He was wrong. In the last two and a half years, Dan has been interviewing scores of people, many of them unobtainable while Jimmy was alive. What he has discovered was that his instincts were right all along and behind the mask lay a hideous truth. Jimmy Savile was not only complex, damaged and controlling, but cynical, calculating and predatory. He revelled in his status as a Pied Piper of youth and used his power to abuse the vulnerable and underage, all the while covering his tracks by moving into the innermost circles of the establishment.
In Praise of Difficult Women: Life Lessons From 29 Heroines Who Dared To Break The Rules
by Cheryl Strayed Karen KarboFrom Frida Kahlo and Elizabeth Taylor to Nora Ephron, Carrie Fisher, and Lena Dunham, this witty narrative explores what we can learn from the imperfect and extraordinary legacies of 29 iconic women who forged their own unique paths in the world.Smart, sassy, and unapologetically feminine, this elegantly illustrated book is an ode to the bold and charismatic women of modern history. Best-selling author Karen Karbo (The Gospel According to Coco Chanel) spotlights the spirited rule breakers who charted their way with little regard for expectations: Amelia Earhart, Helen Gurley Brown, Edie Sedgwick, Hillary Clinton, Amy Poehler, and Shonda Rhimes, among others. Their lives--imperfect, elegant, messy, glorious--provide inspiration and instruction for the new age of feminism we have entered. Karbo distills these lessons with wit and humor, examining the universal themes that connect us to each of these mesmerizing personalities today: success and style, love and authenticity, daring and courage. Being "difficult," Karbo reveals, might not make life easier. But it can make it more fulfilling--whatever that means for you.In the Reader's Guide included in the back of the book, Karbo asks thought-provoking questions about how we relate to each woman that will make for fascinating book club conversation.
In Praise of Disobedience: Clare of Assisi, A Novel (Other Voices of Italy)
by Dacia MarainiAn author receives a mysterious e-mail begging her to tell the story of Clare of Assisi, the thirteenth-century Italian saint. At first annoyed by the request, the author begins to research Saint Clare and becomes captivated by her life. We too are transported into the strange and beautiful world of medieval Italy, witnessing the daily rituals of convent life. At the center of that life is Saint Clare, a subversive and compelling figure full of contradictions: a physically disabled woman who travels widely in her imagination, someone unforgivingly harsh to herself yet infinitely generous to the women she supervises, a practitioner of self-abnegation who nevertheless knows her own worth. A visionary who liberated herself from the chains of materialism and patriarchy, Saint Clare here becomes an inspirational figure for a new generation of readers.
In Praise of Failure: Four Lessons in Humility
by Costica BradatanSquarely challenging a culture obsessed with success, an acclaimed philosopher argues that failure is vital to a life well lived, curing us of arrogance and self-deception and engendering humility instead.Our obsession with success is hard to overlook. Everywhere we compete, rank, and measure. Yet this relentless drive to be the best blinds us to something vitally important: the need to be humble in the face of life’s challenges. Costica Bradatan mounts his case for failure through the stories of four historical figures who led lives of impact and meaning—and assiduously courted failure. Their struggles show that engaging with our limitations can be not just therapeutic but transformative.In Praise of Failure explores several arenas of failure, from the social and political to the spiritual and biological. It begins by examining the defiant choices of the French mystic Simone Weil, who, in sympathy with exploited workers, took up factory jobs that her frail body could not sustain. From there we turn to Mahatma Gandhi, whose punishing quest for purity drove him to ever more extreme acts of self-abnegation. Next we meet the self-styled loser E. M. Cioran, who deliberately turned his back on social acceptability, and Yukio Mishima, who reveled in a distinctly Japanese preoccupation with the noble failure, before looking to Seneca to tease out the ingredients of a good life.Gleefully breaching the boundaries between argument and storytelling, scholarship and spiritual quest, Bradatan concludes that while success can make us shallow, our failures can lead us to humbler, more attentive, and better lived lives. We can do without success, but we are much poorer without the gifts of failure.
In Praise of Nepotism
by Adam BellowA wide-ranging, surprising, and eloquently argued book that offers a pragmatic and erudite look at the innate human inclination toward nepotism—from ancient Chinese clans to families like the Gores, Kennedys, and Bushes. • &“Fascinating and well-researched.&” —Walter Isaacson, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Code Breaker and Steve JobsNepotism is one of those social habits we all claim to deplore in America; it offends our sense of fair play and our pride in living in a meritocracy. But somehow nepotism prevails; we all want to help our own and a quick glance around reveals any number of successful families whose sons and daughters have gone on to accomplish objectively great things, even if they got a little help from their parents.Bellow explores how nepotism has produced both positive and negative effects throughout history. As he argues, nepotism practiced badly or haphazardly is an embarrassment to all (including the incompetent beneficiary), but nepotism practiced well can satisfy a deep biological urge to provide for our children and even benefit society as a whole. In Praise of Nepotism is a judicious look at a controversial but timeless subject that has never been explored with such depth or candor, and a fascinating natural history of how families work.
In Presence of My Foes: A Memoir Calais, Colditz, and Wartime Escape Adventures
by Gris Davies-ScourfieldThis is a wartime escape memoir that ranks with the finest. Seriously wounded and captured at Calais, the Author recovered to escape from his POW camp in a load of rubbish. He was on the run thanks to the Polish Underground for nine months and was recaptured within sight of the Swiss border. Interrogation by the Gestapo failed to break him—his greatest fear was that he would betray his friends. Sent to Colditz he again escaped only to be recaptured, due to a minor misspelling on his documents.
In Pursuit of Disobedient Women: A Memoir of Love, Rebellion, and Family, Far Away
by Dionne SearceyWhen a reporter for The New York Times uproots her family to move to West Africa, she manages her new role as breadwinner while finding women cleverly navigating extraordinary circumstances in a forgotten place for much of the Western world. <P><P>In 2015, Dionne Searcey was covering the economy for The New York Times, living in Brooklyn with her husband and three young children. Saddled with the demands of a dual-career household and motherhood in an urban setting, her life was in a rut. She decided to pursue a job as the paper’s West Africa bureau chief, an amazing but daunting opportunity to cover a swath of territory encompassing two dozen countries and 500 million people. Landing with her family in Dakar, Senegal, she quickly found their lives turned upside down as they struggled to figure out their place in this new region, along with a new family dynamic where she was the main breadwinner flying off to work while her husband stayed behind to manage the home front. <P><P>In Pursuit of Disobedient Women follows Searcey’s sometimes harrowing, sometimes rollicking experiences of her work in the field, the most powerful of which, for her, center on the extraordinary lives and struggles of the women she encounters. <P><P>As she tries to get an American audience subsumed by the age of Trump and inspired by a feminist revival to pay attention, she is gone from her family for sometimes weeks at a time, covering stories like Boko Haram–conscripted teen-girl suicide bombers or young women in small villages shaking up social norms by getting out of bad marriages. <P><P>Ultimately, Searcey returns home to reconcile with skinned knees and school plays that happen without her and a begrudging husband thrown into the role of primary parent. Life, for Searcey, as with most of us, is a balancing act. She weaves a tapestry of women living at the crossroads of old-fashioned patriarchy and an increasingly globalized and connected world. <P><P>The result is a deeply personal and highly compelling look into a modern-day marriage and a world most of us have barely considered. Readers will find Searcey’s struggles, both with her family and those of the women she meets along the way, familiar and relatable in this smart and moving memoir.
In Pursuit of Fulfilment: Principle Passion Resolve
by Nemir KirdarThis is the life story of one of the most successful business leaders of our time.The formative influence upon Investcorp founder Nemir Kirdar was his father, who was mayor of Kirkuk and who instilled a public-service ethic in all of his sons. The book describes the events that drove Kirdar away from a life in politics in Iraq to the safety of the United States where he worked to establish himself in international investment banking. The first event was the assassination of King Faisal II. The second was his arrest after returning to Iraq to start his own business. By the time he flees from Iraq to Lebanon, Kirdar has married and has one daughter. In the beginning it is hard work, a long day in a training programme and then nights attending Fordham University to get his MBA. He works for a consortium of US banks and then moves on to Chase where he asks for his own department with a specialisation in financial projects in the Middle East. Kirdar is given rein to establish this project and an office in Abu Dhabi. Soon he finds the people he most wants to work with him, an international team, and then with some help from the Arab Monetary Fund he founds his company which is to be an investment company for the entire Gulf region. First he must 'explore the appetite of future investors'. He describes with great tact the difficulties of dealing with ultra-wealthy investors, and the period of the 1980s during which the company turned impressive profits in venture capital schemes through the wobbly dotcom craze to the present. He wanted Investcorp to be 'a bridge linking the Middle East and the West' and he has emphatically succeeded in this aim. IN PURSUIT OF FULFILMENT is a personal testimony from one of the world's most successful businessmen, the memoir of a vision - the story of what happens when an ideal encounters real life.
In Pursuit of Fulfilment: Principle Passion Resolve
by Nemir KirdarThis is the life story of one of the most successful business leaders of our time.The formative influence upon Investcorp founder Nemir Kirdar was his father, who was mayor of Kirkuk and who instilled a public-service ethic in all of his sons. The book describes the events that drove Kirdar away from a life in politics in Iraq to the safety of the United States where he worked to establish himself in international investment banking. The first event was the assassination of King Faisal II. The second was his arrest after returning to Iraq to start his own business. By the time he flees from Iraq to Lebanon, Kirdar has married and has one daughter. In the beginning it is hard work, a long day in a training programme and then nights attending Fordham University to get his MBA. He works for a consortium of US banks and then moves on to Chase where he asks for his own department with a specialisation in financial projects in the Middle East. Kirdar is given rein to establish this project and an office in Abu Dhabi. Soon he finds the people he most wants to work with him, an international team, and then with some help from the Arab Monetary Fund he founds his company which is to be an investment company for the entire Gulf region. First he must 'explore the appetite of future investors'. He describes with great tact the difficulties of dealing with ultra-wealthy investors, and the period of the 1980s during which the company turned impressive profits in venture capital schemes through the wobbly dotcom craze to the present. He wanted Investcorp to be 'a bridge linking the Middle East and the West' and he has emphatically succeeded in this aim. IN PURSUIT OF FULFILMENT is a personal testimony from one of the world's most successful businessmen, the memoir of a vision - the story of what happens when an ideal encounters real life.
In Pursuit of Garlic: An Intimate Look at the Divinely Odorous Bulb
by Liz PrimeauThe author of Front Yard Gardens celebrates the joy of garlic—from its culinary history to advice on growing and cooking with the indispensable ingredient. Liz Primeau&’s love affair with garlic began when her teenaged boyfriend took her to an Italian restaurant for spaghetti served with heavenly garlic-laced meatballs, a sublime escape from the bland English dinners she was used to at home. Here, Primeau celebrates that culinary love, discussing garlic's central place in her kitchen and garden, as well as its role in history, art, medicine, and science. Primeau shares the pleasing ritual of beginning each dinner she cooks by chopping garlic, the secret of removing garlic's tight jacket with a confident smack of a knife, as well as her favorite garlic-centered recipes. Primeau also discusses the many varieties of garlic and gives invaluable tips for growing your own. She visits garlic fairs, where she tries to track down France's elusive L'ail Rose, and she explores the issue of cheap Chinese garlic, which has invaded the North American market to the exclusion of local varieties."Packed with fascinating facts, practical advice on growing, curing and storage, recipes and personal stories.&” —Winnipeg Free Press
In Pursuit of Glory
by Bradley WigginsBradley Wiggins is a British sporting legend. Not only has he won seven World Track Championships and a record-equalling seven Olympic medals, including double-gold in Beijing in 2008 and gold in the time trial in London in 2012, he is the first Briton to have won cycling's ultimate prize, the Tour de France.He is an immensely talented and dedicated endurance athlete with a gritty, down-to-earth persona - cool, outspoken, respected, inspiring - and he has helped to bring track and road cycling to a new audience in the UK.With new material by Brendan Gallagher, co-author of the original edition, this is the story of a boy with bikes in his blood, of a son abandoned by his father and of the journey from council estate to the very pinnacle of the sport. IN PURSUIT OF GLORY is a compelling, no-holds-barred account of Wiggins' rise to global success and an extraordinary insight into the world of cycling.
In Pursuit of Glory
by Bradley WigginsBradley Wiggins is a British sporting legend. Not only has he won seven World Track Championships and a record-equalling seven Olympic medals, including double-gold in Beijing in 2008 and gold in the time trial in London in 2012, he is the first Briton to have won cycling's ultimate prize, the Tour de France.He is an immensely talented and dedicated endurance athlete with a gritty, down-to-earth persona - cool, outspoken, respected, inspiring - and he has helped to bring track and road cycling to a new audience in the UK.With new material by Brendan Gallagher, co-author of the original edition, this is the story of a boy with bikes in his blood, of a son abandoned by his father and of the journey from council estate to the very pinnacle of the sport. IN PURSUIT OF GLORY is a compelling, no-holds-barred account of Wiggins' rise to global success and an extraordinary insight into the world of cycling.
In Pursuit of Glory
by Bradley WigginsBradley Wiggins is a British sporting legend. Not only has he won seven World Track Championships and a record-equalling seven Olympic medals, including double-gold in Beijing in 2008 and gold in the time trial in London in 2012, he is the first Briton to have won cycling's ultimate prize, the Tour de France.He is an immensely talented and dedicated endurance athlete with a gritty, down-to-earth persona - cool, outspoken, respected, inspiring - and he has helped to bring track and road cycling to a new audience in the UK.With new material by Brendan Gallagher, co-author of the original edition, this is the story of a boy with bikes in his blood, of a son abandoned by his father and of the journey from council estate to the very pinnacle of the sport. IN PURSUIT OF GLORY is a compelling, no-holds-barred account of Wiggins' rise to global success and an extraordinary insight into the world of cycling.
In Pursuit of Glory: The Autobiography
by Bradley WigginsBradley Wiggins is a British sporting legend. Not only has he won seven World Track Championships and a record-equalling seven Olympic medals, including double-gold in Beijing in 2008 and gold in the time trial in London in 2012, he is the first Briton to have won cycling's ultimate prize, the Tour de France.He is an immensely talented and dedicated endurance athlete with a gritty, down-to-earth persona - cool, outspoken, respected, inspiring - and he has helped to bring track and road cycling to a new audience in the UK.With new material by Brendan Gallagher, co-author of the original edition, this is the story of a boy with bikes in his blood, of a son abandoned by his father and of the journey from council estate to the very pinnacle of the sport. IN PURSUIT OF GLORY is a compelling, no-holds-barred account of Wiggins' rise to global success and an extraordinary insight into the world of cycling.
In Pursuit of Happiness: Mating, Marriage, Motherhood, Money, Mayhem
by Stacey Duguid'Gripping - sometimes sad, often very funny and always jaw-droppingly honest' THE TIMESHello, my name's Stacey Duguid and I'm a reformed fashion editor. Oh, wait. Wrong meeting.I once worked for British ELLE magazine and wore expensive clothes, whereas I'm now a single mother, divorcee and love addict (wearing expensive clothes I never should've bought). I spent my entire twenties, and, err, alright, thirties, in nightclubs. Dabbling occasionally with the odd recreational drug (or five), I shopped hard, loved hard and tried very hard to find a man who could save me. From the stuff we pick-up as little girls to an ingrained internalisation of gender roles we're left to unpack for a lifetime, I'd spent a lifetime pursuing a dream marriage which, in the end, left me shattered. Who suggested 'happily ever after' was even given thing?This collection of essays tells the story of a life that, until my marital breakdown, looked absolutely f-ing fabulous. I'll talk about everything that is taboo in today's society, some of which you may have gone through, too: miscarriage, abortion, debt, affairs, divorce, single parenting, post-natal depression, sex and dating in mid-life. The cracks in my life were glossed over with a big smile, a large wine and an outfit I definitely couldn't afford.Had someone told me not to worry about meeting a man, and to stop blowing money on credit cards just because the 'spirits' (as in dead people, not vodka) told me I needed 'a new wider-shoulder jacket', despite it being a week before payday and not having enough money in my account to pay rent, would I have listened? I'm not sure. Had someone (or a spirit) mentioned that the so-called 'happily ever after' might not end up so happy, would my life be any different now? I doubt it, but in writing my story, I hope you'll feel less alone in yours.You are not alone on this journey of womanhood and we all have the right to pursue our own happiness, or perhaps our own contentment. Because happy endings, not the type you pay for but the state of mind, are they possible to ever really find? Have you?
In Pursuit of Happiness: Mating, Marriage, Motherhood, Money, Mayhem
by Stacey DuguidHello, my name's Stacey Duguid and I'm a reformed fashion editor. Oh, wait. Wrong meeting.I once worked for British ELLE magazine and wore expensive clothes, whereas I'm now a single mother, divorcee and love addict (wearing expensive clothes I never should've bought). I spent my entire twenties, and, err, alright, thirties, in nightclubs. Dabbling occasionally with the odd recreational drug (or five), I shopped hard, loved hard and tried very hard to find a man who could save me. From the stuff we pick-up as little girls to an ingrained internalisation of gender roles we're left to unpack for a lifetime, I'd spent a lifetime pursuing a dream marriage which, in the end, left me shattered. Who suggested 'happily ever after' was even given thing?This collection of essays tells the story of a life that, until my marital breakdown, looked absolutely f-ing fabulous. I'll talk about everything that is taboo in today's society, some of which you may have gone through, too: miscarriage, abortion, debt, affairs, divorce, single parenting, post-natal depression, sex and dating in mid-life. The cracks in my life were glossed over with a big smile, a large wine and an outfit I definitely couldn't afford. And then, in September 2021, I realised I had two choices: quit faking a life filled with Paris Fashion Week jaunts and expensive handbags or leave social media. I decided to tell my truth.Had someone told me not to worry about meeting a man, and to stop blowing money on credit cards just because the 'spirits' (as in dead people, not vodka) told me I needed 'a new wider-shoulder jacket', despite it being a week before payday and not having enough money in my account to pay rent, would I have listened? I'm not sure. Had someone (or a spirit) mentioned that the so-called 'happily ever after' might not end up so happy, would my life be any different now? I doubt it, but in writing my story, I hope you'll feel less alone in yours.You are not alone on this journey of womanhood and we all have the right to pursue our own happiness, or perhaps our own contentment. Because happy endings, not the type you pay for but the state of mind, are they possible to ever really find? Have you?
In Pursuit of Jefferson: Traveling through Europe with the Most Perplexing Founding Father
by Derek BaxterA debut that combines historical nonfiction with travel books, for fans of Bill Bryson and Tony Horwitz, In Pursuit of Jefferson is the story of an American on a journey through Europe, following the epic trail of Thomas Jefferson.A controversial founding father. A man ready for a change. And a completely unique trip through Europe.In 1784, Thomas Jefferson was a broken man. Reeling from the loss of his wife and stung from a political scandal during the Revolutionary war, he needed to remake himself. To do that, he traveled. Wandering through Europe, Jefferson saw and learned as much as he could, ultimately bringing his knowledge home to a young America. There, he would rise to power and shape a nation.More than two hundred years later, Derek Baxter, a devotee of American history, stumbles on an obscure travel guide written by Jefferson—Hints for Americans Traveling Through Europe—as he's going through his own personal crisis. Who better to offer advice than a founding father himself? Using Hints as his roadmap, Baxter follows Jefferson through six countries and countless lessons. But what Baxter learns isn't always what Jefferson had in mind, and as he comes to understand Jefferson better, he doesn't always like what he finds.In Pursuit of Jefferson is at once the story of a life-changing trip through Europe, an unflinching look at a founding father, and a moving personal journey. With rich historical detail, a sense of humor, and boundless heart, Baxter explores how we can be better moving forward only by first looking back.
In Pursuit of Radio Mom: Searching for the Mother I Never Had
by Terry CrylenIn Pursuit of Radio Mom brings the reader tight to Terry Crylen’s side as it traces her path from frequent and debilitating anxiety, loneliness, and shame—and a dysfunctional marriage that mirrors the dynamics of her relationship with her mother—to the discovery of her authentic self and the happiness and fulfillment such a transformation brings. Radio Mom also illuminates the ways in which one generation impacts the next—both wittingly and unwittingly—when later, while pressing along the difficult route of raising her own daughter, the author is challenged to confront, yet again, the legacy of her past. A book that also makes transparent the process of psychotherapy, In Pursuit of Radio Mom’s message is this: the excavation of pain clears space within the mind and heart—affording the growth of new insight, overturning fear, and making acceptance and forgiveness possible.
In Pursuit of Right and Justice: Edward Weinfeld as Lawyer and Judge
by William E NelsonIn Pursuit of Right and Justice chronicles the life of the United States District Court's Judge Edward Weinfeld, from his humble Lower East Side origins to his distinction as one of the nation's most respected federal judges. Judge Edward Weinfeld's personal growth and socio-economic mobility provides an excellent illustration of how Catholics and Jews descended from turn-of-the-century immigrants were assimilated into the mainstream of New York and American life during the course of the twentieth century. Weinfeld left a rich collection of personal papers that William E. Nelson examines, which depict the compromises and sacrifices Weinfeld had to make to attain professional advancement. Weinfeld's jurisprudence remained closely tied to his own personal values and to the historical contexts in which cases came to his court. Nelson aptly describes how Weinfeld strove to avoid making new law. He tried to make decisions on preexisting rules or bedrock legal principles; he achieved just results by searching for and finding facts that called those rules into play. Weinfeld's vision of justice was simultaneously a liberal one that enabled him to develop law that reflected societal change, and an apolitical one that did not rest on contested policy judgments.
In Pursuit of a Pig
by Henry David ThoreauAmerican essayist and philosopher Henry David Thoreau regales his tale of tracking down a lost farm pig.
In Pursuit of the English: A Documentary
by Doris Lessing"One of the most authentic books ever written about the English....Funny, touching and so real that the smell and taste of London seem to rise from its pages." — San Francisco ChronicleIn Pursuit of the English is a novelist's account of a lusty, quarrelsome, unscrupulous, funny, pathetic, full-blooded life in a working-class rooming house. It is a shrewd and unsentimental picture of Londoners you've probably never met or even read about--though they are the real English. The cast of characters — if that term can be applied to real people — includes: Bobby Brent, a con man; Mrs. Skeffington, a genteel woman who bullies her small child and flings herself down two flights of stairs to avoid having another; and Miss Priest, a prostitute, who replies to Lessing's question "Don't you ever like sex?" with "If you're going to talk dirty, I'm not interested."In swift, barbed style, in high, hard, farcical writing that is eruptively funny, Doris Lessing records the joys and terrors of everyday life. The truth of her perception shines through the pages of a work that is a brilliant piece of cultural interpretation, an intriguing memoir and a thoroughly engaging read.
In Pursuit of the Truth: My life cracking the Met’s most notorious cases (subject of the ITV series, Stephen)
by Clive DriscollThe true story behind the ITV series, StephenFormer Detective Chief Inspector Clive Driscoll is most famous for being the man who finally secured convictions for the murder of Stephen Lawrence, a case previously mired by claims of institutional racism and corruption. For Clive, it was the pinnacle of a 35-year career with the world's most famous police force, the Metropolitan Police Service.Clive's prodigious rise through the ranks of the Met saw him front some of the most high-profile units at Scotland Yard. He was put in charge of their policy for sexual offences, domestic violence, child protection and the paedophile unit before heading up the Racial and Violent Crime Task Force tackling their backlist of cold cases. From action-packed moments chasing down criminals to more tender occasions, like gaining the trust of a murder victim's family, to making crucial legal history, and unearthing huge national scandals, In Pursuit of the Truth is the definitive account of modern day policing, its successes and failings included, seen through the eyes of a man who has dedicated his life to making a difference. This is a book that every part of society can learn from.
In Quisling's Shadow: The Memoirs of Vidkun Quisling's First Wife, Alexandra
by Alexandra Yourieff W. George YourieffAlexandra Andreevna Voronine Yourieff, wife of Vidkun Quisling, reveals firsthand in this detailed memoir the tragedy, betrayals, misunderstandings, and happiness of her fascinating life. Not just a tale of saints and sinners, but of three people—Alexandra, Quisling, and his second wife, Maria—whose fates were intertwined under the extreme conditions created by revolution, war, and famine in Russia. She discloses every particular of her long and tumultuous life, from her happy early childhood on the Crimean peninsula thorough the horrors of the revolution, her marriage to Quisling and his ultimate betrayals of both her and his country, to her later life in France and California.