Johan Jakob Astor left Germany for a flute-making business in London in the late C18th, and then moved to New York where he dealt in pianos, opium, furs and real estate: what glistered was i... read more
The memoirs of Henry 'Bunter' Somerset - rock singer and songwriter, formerly the Marquess of Worcester, now the 17th Duke of Beaufort and the owner of Badminton House.
The subject's death released the official biographer from the prohibition against writing about Le Carr?'s private life. Hence this second book from Sisman. Not to be confused with Suleika D... read more
Cavendish - the Duchess of Newcastle - was attached to the exiled court of Henrietta Maria when she published her amazing proto-sci-fi novel, The Blazing World. A clever and subtle debut bio... read more
Suburban decorum befriends dysfunction: a re-issue by Slightly Foxed of Cobb's famous memoir in which he recounts not only his schooldays shared with 'Edward', but also Edward's murder of hi... read more
Please note that this hardback - which was published on a limited print run - is now out of print. There might be a reissue in paperback; please email us to put your name down.
The Marchi... read more
An account of Edward VIII that looks at early drafts of the abdicated King's own writings, and counterbalances the recent tabloid view of him as a traitor.
Fleming's own ideal of the 'complete man' is the source for the subtitle. NS has left no stone unturned in pursuit of a 'complete' portrait in writing this immense and engaging biography.
Prominent in both Thatcher and Major's cabinets, the author is a shrewd observer of the corridors of power, with their surprising chicanes and U-turns.
An account by a London financier of her family in Japan over the last 150 years. The huge changes they have navigated are described with sympathy and careful research.
An exceptional memoir of growing up in northern Germany in the 1930s and of the slide into war. The historian and novelist is warm and humorous as well as observant and meticulous. An unnerv... read more
From New Jersey she went to Iran, where she abandoned her PhD on Jane Austen while fleeing the 1979 Revolution; then China and Saudi Arabia, before settling in Venice. There she began lookin... read more
He was Churchill's secretary and edited the work of Somerset Maugham and Sassoon; his proteg?s included Rupert Brooke, Robert Graves, Mark Gertler, Stanley Spencer and many others.
Brought up in late-Victorian Presbyterian Aberdeenshire, McBey became a war artist in WW1. A decade later he married the American Marguerite Loeb and went to live in Tangier, in a house on O... read more
The pursuit of two grandmothers, purged from the author's family history by her Hampstead communist parents: the vicissitudes of genealogy and family politics.
A multi-generational story of the remarkable Swedish family who made their fortune in Russia (founding the Russian oil industry) and then moved back to Sweden in 1917.
Ambassador for Henry VIII, Lord Protector of Edward VI, queen-maker and marriage broker for Mary, Paget continued to wield influence at Elizabeth I's court. He kept his head - by a whisker -... read more
A wry memoir of his recovery from a stroke in 2011, during which time his thoughts turned to his father too. Completed shortly before his death earlier this year.
Her life in disarray, La Stibbe returns to London for a sabbatical and lodges with Deborah Moggach. As ever she's funny, but there is pathos and pain here too.
Born in 1833, Watt was a servant from the age of nine; later, she sold her husband's catch from door to door. After the death of most of her male relatives at sea, she was cared for in the C... read more
A vivid portrait of a complex man approached through twelve books, including his mother's diary and Lolita. Beguiling and intriguing, he did not shun controversy.
Xi Jinping is head of the CCP, head of state and commander-in-chief of the military, with an indefinite period in office; he's centralised power, increased state control of the economy and i... read more