Biography & Autobiography

Shaun Bythell owns The Bookshop, Wigtown - Scotland's largest second-hand bookshop. It contains 100,000 books, spread over a mile of shelving, with twisting corridors and roaring fires, and all set in a beautiful, rural town by the edge of the sea. A book-lover's paradise? Well, ...almost ... In these wry and hilarious diaries, Shaun provides an inside look at the trials and tribulations of life in the book trade, from struggles with eccentric customers to wrangles with his own staff, who include the ski-suit-wearing, bin-foraging Nicky. He takes us with him on buying trips to old estates and auction houses, recommends books (both lost classics and new discoveries), introduces us to the thrill of the unexpected find, and evokes the rhythms and charms of small-town life, always with a sharp and sympathetic eye.
Read more

Tokelau Heroes tells the inspirational stories of achievers who have Tokelauan ancestry. It includes legends like Hina; historical figures such as Ihaia Puka; and contemporary heroes like Opetaia Foa'i. It's written to inspire young Tokelauans, to encourage reading and promote li...teracy.
Read more

Matt Calman's most consistent tool for dealing with problems throughout his life was alcohol. But it got to the stage where he was no longer willing to put up with the dark side of his drinking. So he quit. But the problems that had been simmering away for most of his life merely... came to a head. It led to a major depressive phase with panic attacks and thoughts of suicide. After reaching rock-bottom, Matt began the slow climb to rebuild himself with a much stronger foundation. Finally he was ready to find something, or for something to find him. It could have been anything. It just happened to be the Coast to Coast Multisport World Championships, the toughest endurance race in New Zealand. The Longest Day outlines Matt's path back from the depths of depression, his struggles to learn to run, cycle and kayak at an elite level, and the culmination of all that training: his Coast to Coast race. The book explores the parallels between the inner landscape (his journey to wellbeing) and the outer landscape (the world around him and tackling the Coast to Coast). Through his training he learns about process rather than outcome, and how true success and enjoyment is embedded in the journey (not the destination). Matt is a brave, honest writer with a talent for articulating what is going on inside his head.
Read more

The best-known modern Chinese fairy tale is the story of three sisters from Shanghai, who for most of the twentieth century were at the centre of power in China. It was sometimes said that `One loved money, one loved power and one loved her country', but there was far more to the... Soong sisters than these caricatures. As China battled through a hundred years of wars, revolutions and seismic transformations, each sister played an important, sometimes critical role, and left an indelible mark on history. Red Sister, Ching-ling, married Sun Yat-sen, founding father of the Chinese republic, and later became Mao's vice-chair. Little Sister, May-ling, was Madame Chiang Kai-shek, first lady of the pre-Communist Nationalist China and a major political figure in her own right. Big Sister, Ei-ling, was Chiang's unofficial main adviser. She made herself one of China's richest women - and her husband Chiang's prime minister. All three sisters enjoyed tremendous privilege and glory, but also endured constant attacks and mortal danger. They showed great courage and experienced passionate love, as well as despair and heartbreak. The relationship between them was highly charged emotionally, especially once they had embraced opposing political camps and Ching-ling dedicated herself to destroying her two sisters' world. Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister is a gripping story of love, war, exile, intrigue, glamour and betrayal, which takes us on a monumental journey, from Canton to Hawaii and New York, from exiles' quarters in Japan and Berlin to secret meeting rooms in Moscow, and from the compounds of the Communist elite in Beijing to the corridors of power in democratic Taiwan. In a group biography that is by turns intimate and epic, Jung Chang reveals the lives of three extraordinary women who helped shape the history of twentieth-century China.
Read more

From the award-winning and million-copy bestselling author of This is Going to Hurt comes 'Twas The Nightshift Before Christmas, a humorous gift book and a love letter to those who spend the festive season on the front line of the hospital ward.