Biography For Boys

Before he became the nation's favourite Mammy, Brendan O'Carroll was known, simply as Brendan. He's the youngest of eleven children from a poor family in Dublin, he's a boy whose father died when he was just nine years old; he's someone whose hope and determination meant he never gave up. Throughout the tough moments, Brendan always had humour and a good story to tell alongside the ever-guiding inspiration of his own Mammy, a formidable figure who became Ireland's first female Labour MP, all whilst raising eleven children by herself.

Here, in his own words, is the true story of America's wildest flying hero, of his extraordinary heroism, and of his greatest battle of all-the fight to survive. The World War II air war in the Pacific needed tough men like Colonel Pappy Boyington and his Black Sheep Squadron. The legendary Marine Corps officer and his bunch of misfits, outcasts, and daredevils gave a new definition to "hell-raising" - on the ground and in the skies.

The author writes with perfect pitch as she takes us through one woman's life - from childhood to marriage and beyond - and memorably captures the collision of youthful longing and the hard intransigencies of time and fate.

When Thomas Edison was a boy, he loved performing experiments and coming up with new inventions. His curiosity sometimes got him in trouble, though, like when he accidentally burned down his dad’s barn! By the time he turned 12, he had found ways to make a living by learning how to print newspapers and send telegraphs in Detroit, Michigan. Imagine what he did as an adult!

A Jersey girl by birth, Isabel Klee had always wanted to live in New York City. At age 20, she got her chance, ditching her college upstate for Marymount Manhattan and moving into a tiny basement apartment on the Upper East Side. Dog-obsessed since childhood, her first post-grad job was managing content for the mega-popular account The Dogist, and something clicked into place: a career focused on helping dogs was the new dream.

Listen to how George Muller was finally trusted with millions of pounds. Discover how Brother Andrew grew up to be a smuggler of Bibles. Listen to how Nicky Cruz was rescued from self-destruction and eventually went on to begin one of the largest youth organisations reaching out to hurt and confused young people throughout the world.

In unforgettable tales of innocence lost under African skies, we follow Godwin's awakening to the often savage struggle between Whites and Blacks, his horror when he is forced to fight in a civil war he detests, and his experiences as a journalist covering the country's violent transition to Black rule as Rhodesia's colonial era comes to an end and the new state of Zimbabwe is born from its bloody ashes. Mukiwa is a poignant, compelling memoir and an invaluable addition to the literature of southern Africa.

Ian Purkayastha is New York City's leading truffle importer and boasts a devoted clientele of top chefs nationwide, including Jean-Georges Vongerichten, David Chang, Sean Brock, and David Bouley. But before he was purveying the world's most expensive fungus to the country's most esteemed chefs, Ian was just a food-obsessed teenager in rural Arkansas - a misfit with a peculiar fascination for rare and exotic ingredients. The son of an Indian immigrant father and a Texan mother, Ian learned to forage for wild mushrooms from an uncle in the Ozark hills.

The Boys in the Light follows the parallel journeys of Company D and Eddie Willner, the author’s father, as they experience two sides of World War II. This is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the strength of the bonds forged during war; a must-listen for fans of Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand and Erik Larson’s The Splendid and the Vile.

At first glance Gabriel Cardona is the poster-boy American teenager: great athlete, bright, handsome, and charismatic. But the streets of his border town of Laredo, Texas, are poor and dangerous, and it isn't long before Gabriel abandons his promising future for the allure of the Zetas, a drug cartel with roots in the Mexican military. His younger friend, Bart, as well as others from Gabriel's childhood join him in working for the Zetas, boosting cars and smuggling drugs, eventually catching the eye of the cartel's leadership.

Clint Emerson is the only SEAL ever inducted into the International Spy Museum. Operating from the shadows, with an instinct for running towards trouble, his unique skill set made him the perfect hybrid of elite and modern day counterintelligence agent. Emerson spent his career on the bleeding edge of intelligence and operations, often specializing in solo missions that took advantage of subterfuge, improvisation, the best in recon and surveillance tech, and even elements of Hollywood disguise to combat the changing global battlefield.

Charmed or cursed? Doomed by their royal birthright and their parents' marital misery? Or destined to live out the best of their late mother's legacy by selflessly involving themselves in real-world problems? Only time can tell how Prince William and his brother, Harry, will play the extraordinary hands that fate has dealt them.

Ivan Coyote is a celebrated storyteller and the author of 10 previous books, including Gender Failure (with Rae Spoon) and One in Every Crowd, a collection for LGBT youth. Tomboy Survival Guide is a funny and moving memoir told in stories, in which Ivan recounts the pleasures and difficulties of growing up a tomboy in Canada's Yukon, and how they learned to embrace their tomboy past while carving out a space for those of us who don't fit neatly into boxes or identities or labels.

From the Academy Award-winning screenwriter of Milk and political activist, a heartfelt, deeply personal memoir about growing up as a gay Mormon in Texas that is also a moving tribute to the mother who taught him about surviving against all odds. Mama's Boy is a stirring celebration of the connections between mother and son, red states and blue, and the spirit of optimism and perseverance that can create positive change in the world.

In A Good Bad Boy, Margaret Wappler attempts to understand who Perry was and why he was unique among his Hollywood peers. To do so, she uses an inventive hybrid narrative. She speaks with dozens who knew Perry personally and professionally. They share insightful anecdotes: how he kept connected to his Ohio upbringing; nearly blew his 90210 audition; tried to shed his heartthrob image by joining the HBO prison drama Oz; and in the last year of his life, sought to set up two of his newly divorced friends.

From a young age, Ed Gamble's immaculate bibs and extremely dirty nappies hinted at his capacious appetite. Before he could walk, Ed already knew that he preferred poached salmon to puree, that celery was a calorie-sapping waste of time, and that mashed potatoes should be made with lashings of butter. Whilst he might ordinarily have been upset by the calls of 'precocious little s--t' coming from his family, he was too busy stuffing his gob and staging rebellions against the patronising list of misery that is a children's menu.

Set against the backdrop of life-changing events such as the Calgary Winter Olympics and the heartbreaking loss of a close friend, the author's story dives deep into the moments that forever changed his thinking and reshaped his life. Witness the evolution of a unique soul, as Ringness navigates his way through adolescence, same-sex relationships, and the complexities of newfound faith. With heartwarming anecdotes and astonishing honesty, this authentic story will both intrigue and inspire listeners to consider a life untethered from societal expectations.

In this uniquely American memoir, Homer "Sonny" Hickam beautifully captures a moment when a dying town, a divided family, and a band of teenage dreamers dared to set their sights on the stars. Looking back after a distinguished NASA career that fulfilled his boyhood ambition, Hickam shares the story of his youth, taking listeners into the life of the little mining town and the boys who came to embody both its tensions and its dreams.

In the late 2000s, Molly Bloom, a twenty something petite brunette from Loveland Colorado, ran the highest stakes, most exclusive poker game Hollywood had ever seen - she was its mistress, its lion tamer, its agent, and its oxygen. Everyone wanted in, few were invited to play. Hundreds of millions of dollars were won and lost at her table. Molly's game became the game for those in the know - celebrities, business moguls, and millionaires.

In the tradition of Uzodinma Iweala's Beasts of No Nation by way of Christopher McDougall's Born to Run, this is the inspirational true story of the Ugandan boy soldier who became a world-renowned runner, then found his calling as director of a world-renowned African children's charity.