Young Offender


Michael Maisey - 2019
    . . a story of redemption' Tony ParsonsMichael Maisey was excited the day he was locked up in the notorious Feltham Young Offenders Institute. He was going to be a legend to all his mates. The sixteen year old was in for attempted murder. He was innocent of this particular crime but amongst the violent and dangerous young men on his wing he was about to learn exactly how far he’d go to survive.In Young Offender we see what turned a good kid into a wanted criminal. Abused by his uncle, bullied at school, at the age of twelve he found the safety he craved in the ranks of a local gang in West London. He graduated from shoplifting to armed robbery and for five years Michael was in and out of Feltham, on a downward spiral of crime and drug and alcohol addiction. At rock bottom, he began attending AA meetings. But the road to recovery would mean changing himself in the deepest possible ways. Could Michael finally learn what it meant to be a good man?Honest and inspiring, this is a powerful story of redemption. Today Michael is a successful businessman and a loving father who spends time helping others find their way.

Unbroken: My story of survival from 7/7 Bombings to Paralympics success


Martine Wright - 2017
    You will be filled with awe at the unbreakable spirit of Martine Wright.’ CLARE BALDINGBy turns heart-breaking and heart-warming, Unbroken is the remarkable true story of a woman who turned trauma and tragedy into hope. The autobiography of 7/7 bombings survivor and GB Paralympian, Martine Wright. On the morning of 7th July 2005, Martine Wright’s life changed forever. As she boarded an eastbound circle line train at Moorgate station, amid the busy rush-hour, she didn’t pay attention to her fellow passengers. At 8.49am, one of those passengers detonated a suicide bomb that would kill seven people in the carriage, part of a wider attack on London claiming 52 lives that became known as the 7/7 bombings. Martine was, in fact, the last person to be brought out alive from the atrocities. She lost 80 per cent of her blood, was in a coma for ten days and underwent ten months of surgery. Not only did Martine survive her horrific injuries but, having never played sport seriously before, she took up sitting volleyball as part of her rehabilitation and went on to represent Great Britain at the Paralympics in London 2012 – a deeply poignant moment that marked her journey from tragedy to triumph. Since then Martine has become a national figure: a formidable, powerful, brilliantly funny, hugely engaging heroine who has come back – almost literally – from the dead. In 2012 she was awarded the Helen Rollason award at the Sports Personality of the Year and in 2015 the Independent voted her one of ’50 most powerful women in British Sport’. Beyond her phenomenal sporting achievements, Martine continues to change the lives of those around her as a charity fundraiser and inspirational speaker.

The Zombie Survival Guide Journal


Max Brooks - 2011
    This lenticular journal cover sets in motion images of slithering, shuffling zombies from the bestselling graphic novel The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks. Filled with lined pages, this all-purpose journal is perfect for jotting down notes, making to-do lists, plotting your own survival strategy, and is just the creepy thing for zombie fans everywhere.

First Love, Last Rites


Ian McEwan - 1975
    Taut, brooding, and densely atmospheric, these stories show us the ways in which murder can arise out of boredom, perversity can result from adolescent curiosity, and sheer evil might be the solution to unbearable loneliness. These tales are as horrifying as anything written by Clive Barker or Stephen King, but they are crafted with a lyricism and intensity that compel us to confront our secret kinship with the horrifying.

The Turn of the Screw/Daisy Miller


Henry James - 1878
    . . or tragedy.  But the subtle danger lurking beneath the surface in Daisy Miller evolves into a classic tale of terror and obsession in The Turn Of The Screw.  "The imagination," Henry James said to Bernard Shaw,  "has a life if its own."  In this blood-curdling story, that imagination weaves the lives of two children, a governess in love with her employer, and a sprawling country house into a flawless story, still unsurpassed as the prototype of modern horror fiction.

Milligan's Meaning of Life: An Autobiography of Sorts


Spike Milligan - 1994
    Throughout his life, Milligan wrote prolifically - scripts, poetry, fiction, as well as several volumes of memoir, in which he took an entirely idiosyncratic approach to the truth. In this ground-breaking work, Norma Farnes, his long-time manager, companion, counsellor and confidante, gathers together the loose threads, reads between the lines and draws on the full breadth of his writing to present his life in his own words: an autobiography - of sorts. From his childhood in India, through his early career as a jazz musician and sketch-show entertainer, his spells in North Africa and Italy with the Royal Artillery, to that fateful first broadcast of The Goon Show and beyond into the annals of comedy history, this is the autobiography Milligan never wrote.

The Codes of Love


Hannah Persaud - 2020
    A secret that involves certain ‘rules’. But beneath the surface trouble is brewing in the shape of Ada. Whimsical, high-spirited and beholden to no-one, she represents the freedom that Emily’s been striving for and the escape that Ryan didn’t know he wanted.

The Shadow Doctor


Adrian Plass - 2017
    Sure, you can bring him your problems - but the chances are his solutions will blow your mind. This man can see into your soul, and the cures he prescribes don't come from the pharmacy. If you have fears you just cannot face, wounds you can't even bear to remember - if you've been abused, ignored, damaged by all life throws at you - the Shadow Doctor is here to help.But the Shadow Doctor has shades of his own, and the work of helping others may be the only thing keeping him afloat. Can he stay ahead of the demons that torment him long enough to help those who need him?

The Liar


Ayelet Gundar-Goshen - 2019
    Serving customers ice cream all summer long, she is desperate for some kind of escape.But one afternoon, a terrible lie slips from her tongue. And suddenly everyone wants to talk to her: the press, her schoolmates, and even the boy upstairs. He is the only one who knows the truth, and he is demanding a price for his silence.Then Nofar meets Raymonde, an elderly immigrant whose best friend has just died. Raymonde keeps her friend alive the only way she knows how, by inhabiting her stories. But soon, Raymonde's lies take on a life of their own.Written with propulsive energy, dark humor, and deep insight, The Liar reveals the far-reaching consequences of even our smallest choices, and explores the hidden corners of human nature to reveal the liar, and the truth-teller, in all of us.

Diving for Pearls


Jamie O’Connell - 2021
    Her death alters the fates of six people, each one striving for a better life in an unforgiving city.A young Irish man comes to stay with his sister, keen to erase his troubled past in the heat of the Dubai sun. A Russian sex worker has outsmarted the system so far - but will her luck run out? A Pakistani taxi driver dreams of a future for his daughters. An Emirate man hides the truth about who he really is. An Ethiopian maid tries to carve out a path of her own. From every corner of the globe, Dubai has made promises to them all. Promises of gilded opportunities and bright new horizons, the chance to forget the past and protect long-held secrets.But Dubai breaks its promises, with deadly consequences. In a city of mirages, how do you find your way out?

Nelson's Dream


J.M. Newsome - 2008
    At seven levels, from Starter to Advanced, this impressive selection of carefully graded readers offers exciting reading for every student's capabilities. Nelson Mbizi returns to his home in southern Africa after studying in Britain. When he tries to help a family of orphans he meets Viki, a South African TV presenter. The story of Nelson and Viki's relationship is told against a background of HIV/AIDS and government corruption on the one hand, and great good humour and wonderful music on the other. Contains a paperback and 3 Audio CDs with complete text recordings from the book.

Catch Your Breath: The Secret Life of a Sleepless Anaesthetist


Ed Patrick - 2021
    “They’re just fantastic! Then I remembered, Ed you’re an anesthesiologist…f*cking hell! I can’t believe that…”.  I like to think I’m an inspiration to all budding doctors that anything is achievable.Ed is a sleepless anesthesiologist. His shifts involve snatching five-minute lunch breaks in the staff bathrooms, navigating emergencies and living with the all too terrifying sense of responsibility. And that was before Coronavirus arrived, which quickly turned his job into a nightmare queue of struggling with ill-fitting PPE, balancing staff shortages and intubating Covid-19 patients who can’t breathe on their own.Hilariously funny and moving, Catch Your Breath follows Ed’s journey from bewildered medical student in Aberdeen to unflinching anesthesiologist on the NHS frontline. It offers a unique insight into life on the hospital wards during the pandemic, while also sharing the hope that we will all get through this.

The Female Persuasion


Meg Wolitzer - 2018
    But sometimes it can also mean entry to a new kind of life, a bigger world. Greer Kadetsky is a shy college freshman when she meets the woman she hopes will change her life. Faith Frank, dazzlingly persuasive and elegant at sixty-three, has been a central pillar of the women’s movement for decades, a figure who inspires others to influence the world. Upon hearing Faith speak for the first time, Greer—madly in love with her boyfriend, Cory, but still full of longing for an ambition that she can’t quite place—feels her inner world light up. And then, astonishingly, Faith invites Greer to make something out of that sense of purpose, leading Greer down the most exciting path of her life as it winds toward and away from her meant-to-be love story with Cory and the future she’d always imagined. Charming and wise, knowing and witty, Meg Wolitzer delivers a novel about power and influence, ego and loyalty, womanhood and ambition. At its heart, The Female Persuasion is about the flame we all believe is flickering inside of us, waiting to be seen and fanned by the right person at the right time. It’s a story about the people who guide and the people who follow (and how those roles evolve over time), and the desire within all of us to be pulled into the light.

The Ringer


Bill Scheft - 2002
    He thinks Mount Sinai Hospital is an exclusive golf course and his catheter is a gym bag. His only link to reality is his thirty-five-year-old nephew, who makes his living as a hired gun for thirteen softball teams and still goes by the name College Boy.But College Boy's body has begun to betray him -- almost as much as his lack of ambition. (His only legitimate paycheck comes from a gig as a laugher on a morning radio show.) Not only that, the Dirt King, a small-time gangster who controls all the replacement soil in Central Park, is after College Boy. As their lives collide, College Boy takes refuge in the arms of Sheila -- his uncle's cleaning woman and a part-time call girl.And then it gets weird.

Realm Breaker


Victoria Aveyard - 2021
    But she won’t be alone. Even as darkness falls, she is joined by a band of unlikely companions:A squire, forced to choose between home and honor.An immortal, avenging a broken promise.An assassin, exiled and bloodthirsty.An ancient sorceress, whose riddles hide an eerie foresight.A forger with a secret past.A bounty hunter with a score to settle.Together they stand against a vicious opponent, invincible and determined to burn all kingdoms to ash, and an army unlike anything the realm has ever witnessed.