British Memoirs

Phil Spector, born in the Bronx in 1940, grew up an outsider despised by his peers. But he formed a band, and had a number-one hit with "To Know Him Is to Love Him". He quickly became the top producer of early rock and roll and the originator of such girl groups as the Ronettes. Hit followed hit, and for all of them he used a new recording style called the "wall of sound". But the reign of the boy-man who owned pop music was doomed, and Spector spiraled into paranoid isolation and peculiar behavior.

A rich boy turned refugee tells the story of coming full circle to succeed in ways beyond his imagination. Born to a family that had recently fled British India during the partition of India and Pakistan, Ram's early life in Mombasa seemed charmed with wealth and success. However, losing all of this overnight through a second deportation, this time from Kenya to the UK, he saw the course of his life change beyond recognition.

A sensational, eye-opening account of Emma Jung’s complex marriage to Carl Gustav Jung and the hitherto unknown role she played in the early years of the psychoanalytic movement. Clever and ambitious, Emma Jung yearned to study the natural sciences at the University of Zurich. But the strict...

The Wrong Way Round is the true story of 4,000 miles of hilarious and sometimes terrifying adventure, as the odds become increasingly stacked against them making it to their destination with themselves, their motorcycle, or their relationship in one piece.

Discover the true story of the four women who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to help shape and curate the image of The Rolling Stones—perfect for fans of Girls Like Us. The Rolling Stones have long been considered one of the greatest rock-and-roll bands of all time. At the forefront of...

The British Legion was one of the most remarkable regiments, not only of the American Revolution, but of any war. A corps made up of American Loyalists, it saw its first action in New York and then engaged in almost every battle in the Southern colonies. Relying on firsthand accounts - letters, diaries, and journals - War at Saber Point: Banastre Tarleton and the British Legion is the enthralling story of those forgotten Americans and the young Englishman who led them.

From the New York Times bestselling author of Tonight in Jungleland comes the first biography in more than twenty-five years written with Bruce Springsteen’s cooperation—an intimate, powerful portrait that captures the enduring impact of the Boss: “Carlin gets across why Mr. Springsteen...

The hilarious and pubescent debut book from your favourite British Muslim comedian (that's Tez Ilyas, by the way). You may know and love Tez from his stand-up comedy, his role as Eight in Man Like Mobeen, his Radio 4 series TEZ Talks, or panel shows such as Mock the Week and The Last Leg. Where you won't know him from is 1997, when he was 13¾. (But now you will—because that's what the book is about.) In this suitably dramatic rollercoaster of a teenage memoir, Tez takes us back to where it all began.

The remarkably honest and brilliantly entertaining memoir of one of our finest acting Dames whose long and celebrated career includes her much-loved performance as Livia in I, Claudius and who was married for 20 years to the hell-raising Hollywood star Peter O'Toole. Siân Phillips has a long...

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Elizabeth II: The Steadfast by Douglas Hurd, read by Jeremy Clyde. Elizabeth II is the longest-serving monarch who ever sat on the English or British throne. Yet her personality and influence remain elusive. This book, by a senior politician who has spent significant periods of time in her company, and is also a distinguished historian, portrays her more credibly than any other yet published.

This audiobook is narrated by Julie Maisey and Fiona's husband, Martin Frizell. 'I hope this book can show people a little about what it is like to live with Alzheimer’s. How frightening and confusing it is. But also how much life can still bring joy and be valued.' Much-loved broadcaster...

In 1917, a band of communist revolutionaries stormed the Winter Palace of Tsar Nicholas II - a dramatic and explosive act marking that Vladimir Lenin’s communist revolution was now underway. But Lenin would not be satisfied with overthrowing the Tsar. His goal was a global revolt that would topple all Western capitalist regimes - starting with the British Empire. Russian Roulette tells the spectacular and harrowing story of the British spies in revolutionary Russia and their mission to stop Lenin’s red tide from washing across the free world.

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (October 2, 1869 to January 30, 1948) was an Indian lawyer, thinker, anti-colonial activist, and political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful campaign for India's independence from British rule. He inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. The honorific Mahātmā (from Sanskrit, meaning great-souled, or venerable), first applied to him in South Africa in 1914, is used worldwide.

For decades there has been argument in the media and amongst politicians about the possible existence and extent of a shoot-to-kill policy in Northern Ireland. MRF Shadow Troop confirms there was such an agenda in the early, chaotic days of British military intervention across the Irish Sea. But amongst the mountain of speculation there is little of any accuracy or authority relating to this period.

THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS' CHOICE A BOSTON GLOBE BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR This remarkable work about women writers in the English Renaissance explodes our notion of the Shakespearean period by drawing us into the lives of four women who were committed to their craft long...

An eloquent memoir of a young man's life transformed by literature. In A Jane Austen Education, Austen scholar William Deresiewicz turns to the author's novels to reveal the remarkable life lessons hidden within. With humor and candor, Deresiewicz employs his own experiences to demonstrate the...

This audiobook is strikingly and passionately read by the author, Alun Wyn Jones. 'A true warrior. He demands excellence from himself and others around him. He has had success and disappointment, joy and sadness. People think they know him but unless you read this book you will never know the...

The White Witch, Aslan, fauns and talking beasts, centaurs and epic battles between good and evil -- these have become a part of our collective imagination through the classic volumes of The Chronicles of Narnia. Yet who was the man who created this world? This audio book attempts to unearth the...

A Sunday Times number one bestseller in the United Kingdom, this is the intimate and revealing autobiography of Margaret Rhodes, first cousin of Queen Elizabeth II and niece of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. Margaret was born into the Scottish aristocracy, into a now almost vanished world of privilege. Royalty often came to stay, and her house was run in the style of Downton Abbey. During the Second World War, she "lodged" at Buckingham Palace while she worked for MI5.

Did you know that until April 1975 women in the UK were not permitted to race more than four miles and were banned from racing against men? Back in the 1960s, women started to break the rules and ‘crash’ men’s road races, challenging discrimination and showing that they were perfectly capable of running marathons – or even further.