A diary of the first hundred days under the strange new regime that were the Covid laws. It is both a record of that time and a meditation on an A-Z of subjects, from Alexandria to Queneau's... read more
A deeply affecting memoir of coming of age in Albania - the last outpost of Stalinism in Europe. Tracing the transition in 1990 from repression, food shortages and political executions to po... read more
Born in 1916 to a noble St Petersburg family, he fled Russia with his parents and arrived in England with next to nothing. By the time he was 20 he had scored the winning try in England's fi... read more
This little book is a delightful treat for Advent which tells the story of the Christmas tree in Trafalgar Square and its relationship with the honourable, courageous Norwegian King Haakon V... read more
When the author's mother dies, leaving a strangely symbolic collection of everyday objects behind her, Wicha begins to sort through the belongings and constructs a minute, material history b... read more
Daughter of James I & VI, she briefly became Queen of Bohemia before being deposed along with her husband, Frederick V, Elector Palatine. This fine new biography of 'the Winter Queen' portra... read more
PP is an American academic and artist who has immersed herself in Wales, in particular the idea of hiraeth... a word for homesickness, or a deep longing for something left behind. Grappling ... read more
One of the great patrons of the Renaissance, creator of perhaps the most remarkable library outside the Vatican, the Duke of Urbino was also the most successful and feared mercenary of the a... read more
A biography of Thomas Kendrick (1881-1972), the British spy who created intelligence networks across Europe, facilitated the escape of Austrian Jews and set up a listening operation known as... read more
Wry and robust memoir from the Conservative MP of - amongst other things - 'Plebgate' notoriety. Praised by voices on both sides of the political divide.
A memoir by the former President of the Supreme Court. This remarkable and courageous woman, who took up law when told at school that she wasn't clever enough to study history, obtained a st... read more
The Booker Prize winner reflects on her long journey to literary fame, and how her personal experience is bound up in Britain's complex racial and colonial past.
A biography of the Hungarian scientist who created the first ever programmable digital computer, and whose colleagues thought his brain was too inexplicably powerful to be entirely human.