Collections of interviews with notable modern writers

    It was, however, preferable to his day job of paving driveways, and that day in 2005 saw the start of an incredible journey for Ferris, Ulster and Ireland rugby. A Celtic League title in his very first senior season with Ulster. A Grand Slam in 2009, followed by a sensational Lions breakthrough. A starring role in Ireland's greatest World Cup win, over Australia in 2011, when Ferris famously picked up Will Genia and carried him ten yards. And leading Ulster from nowhere to the Heineken Cup final.Stephen Ferris had an incredible rugby career, tragically ended by ankle injuries so severe they will never properly heal. He is an inspiration to the population of Ulster, an emblem of the sport that serves as such a positive expression of its culture and identity, and earned the respect and admiration of fans across Ireland for his strength, pace, skill and courage. Fearless, funny and full of an incredible array of stories from behind the scenes of Ulster, Ireland and the Lions, this is the must-have rugby book of the year.

    Today, the 53-year-old's e-commerce company is valued at $519 billion, although Ma didn't start achieving career success until his 30s. He says: "In life, it's not how much we achieved, it's how much we've gone through the tough days and mistakes". This book covers the entirety of Jack Ma’s life, the challenges he faced and his struggles - how he braved all odds and swam against the tide to become one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the world today. It will give you a detailed insight into his early life, how he struggled with his education and business, how he handled pessimists and critics and how he learned to use the power of good company, sheer will and grit to achieve his dream. The well-structured book focuses on Jack Ma and his complete story, starting from his childhood. Unlike other boring biographies, it is interesting and engaging to read. The book captures the life of Jack well - his struggles, failures, strategy and thought process. Particularly, how Jack connected the dots in life and what we can learn from him. It's a perfect gift for your son, daughter or anyone who needs a dose of inspiration/motivation. The book contains valuable lessons from Jack Ma's life.

    Apart from Richards, 'all of us were eighteen years old, though Botham seemed to have lived a bit longer - or at least more vigorously - than the rest.'In this irresistible memoir of a life lived in cricket, Vic Marks returns to the heady days when Richards and Botham were young men yet to unleash their talents on the world stage while he and Roebuck looked on in awe. After the high-octane dramas of Somerset, playing for England was almost an anti-climax for Marks, who became an unlikely all-rounder in the mercurial side of the 1980s. Moving from the dressing room to the press box, with trenchant observations about the modern game along the way, Original Spin is a charmingly wry, shrewdly observed account of a golden age in cricket.

    She left him there the day he was born, with his twin brother. She also abandoned their two year old sister. This is a story of what happened next and how a child without a family can be exploited, abused and sold. Michael was continually anally raped for half a crown, sold out by Bob and Ivy Woods who he had to call Mum and Dad. Michael is now 70 years old and dying from COPD. Keen for his story to be told before he leaves this world - so that he and others can one day get peace and justice, but more importantly that this kind of horrific sexual abuse, happens to no other child. "I don’t want money, I want my story to be told. I need my story to be told before I die. " Michael Tarraga. All the proceeds of the book will be spent on helping other survivors like Michael, finally have a chance to tell their story and get it heard.

    Obviously. Matt Woodcock's frank, funny real-life diaries reveal what it was like for him to train as a vicar while struggling against all odds to become a father. In them he lays bare his joys and struggles as he attempts to reconcile his calling as a vicar with his life as a party-loving journalist, footie-freak and incorrigible extrovert. Becoming Reverend is a compelling and original account of how faith can work in the midst of a messy life, combining family, fertility, faith and friendship with the story of a divine - but unlikely - calling.

    Events in this book are so shameless that I've had to change all the names, but everything that happens is real.' Becci Fox is an Essex girl through and through. She just wants to be comfortable and spoilt, taken out to nice places and showered with presents. And she is. She lives in the grounds of her parents' manor house, drives a Mercedes SLK and had a boob job when she was nineteen. She's ambitious, working hard during the day as a bridal buyer. And at night she plays hard, clubbing at Sugar Hut and Faces, mixing with celebrities and soap stars. She knows how to handle the footballers who buy you Cristal champagne and make you feel like the most special person in the room (only they've got five other girls on speed dial). But when she falls for a sexy racing driver, is she finally out of her league? Becci shares six dramatic months in her life as she and her friends have fun, fall in love, handle heartache and betrayal, and even plan a big fat Essex wedding.

    The truth is: politics and innuendo clouded that story from the very beginning, with the result that few people really understand who The Duke and Duchess of Windsor were and what forces propelled them to their infamous fate. The Royal W.E. examines the individual and intertwined lives of Wallis and Edward – or “W.E.” as they referred to themselves – and provides readers with unique glimpses of the real people, as opposed to the sensationalized characters, that were The Duke and Duchess of Windsor. Through careful study of more than 75 years of rhetoric and scholarship, Victoria Martínez takes on the most controversial charges lodged against the couple (Was Wallis a hermaphrodite? Were the Duke and Duchess Nazi sympathizers?) with candor and evenhandedness. In analyzing the early lives of Wallis and the ex-king and their later relationships with other members of the Royal Family, her approach is to deal with all parties as human beings, whose true faults – though significant – were far less sinister than history has led us to believe. Ms. Martínez also addresses the ever-popular subject of the Duchess’s jewels, including new research on the famous 1946 Ednam Lodge jewel heist to dispel the long-held rumors that the Duke and Duchess committed jewel theft and insurance fraud. The subjects in this book are not always mainstream, well-known, or even consistent with “popular” opinion, and the objective is not to make anyone “like” the couple. Instead, readers will find refreshingly honest and accurate portrayals of W.E. that will help them understand the real people behind the myth and hype. “Prejudice and preconception are difficult things to set aside, particularly after so many years of negative stories and sordid rumor, but I think readers here will discover an alternative and convincing look at the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. I am sure they would approve and perhaps, just perhaps, the future may be a little bit kinder to Edward and Wallis because of the efforts of people like Ms. Martínez.” -Greg King, author of The Duchess of Windsor: The Uncommon Life of Wallis Simpson

    The chafing restrictions of a typical upbringing in upper-class, small town Alabama simply did not apply to Zelda, who was described as an unusual child and permitted to roam the streets with little supervision. Zelda refused to blossom into a typical 'Southern belle' on anyone's terms but her own and while still in high school enjoyed the status of a local celebrity for her shocking behavior. Everybody in town knew the name Zelda Sayre. Queen of the Montgomery social scene, Zelda had a different beau ready and willing to show her a good time for every day of the week. Before meeting F. Scott Fitzgerald, Zelda's life was a constant pursuit of pleasure. With little thought for the future and no responsibilities to speak of, Zelda committed herself fully to the mantra that accompanied her photo in her high school graduation book: "Why should all life be work, when we all can borrow. Let's think only of today, and not worry about tomorrow." But for now Zelda was still in rehearsal for her real life to begin, a life she was sure would be absolutely extraordinary. Zelda Sayre married F. Scott Fitzgerald on the 3rd of April 1920 and left sleepy Montgomery behind in order to dive headfirst into the shimmering, glamourous life of a New York socialite. With the publication of Scott's first novel, This Side of Paradise, Zelda found herself thrust into the limelight as the very epitome of the Flapper lifestyle. Concerned chiefly with fashion, wild parties and flouting social expectations, Zelda and Scott became icons of the Jazz Age, the personification of beauty and success. What Zelda and Scott shared was a romantic sense of self-importance that assured them that their life of carefree leisure and excess was the only life really worth living. Deeply in love, the Fitzgeralds were like to sides of the same coin, each reflecting the very best and worst of each other. While the world fell in love with the image of the Fitzgeralds they saw on the cover of magazines, behind the scenes the Fitzgerald's marriage could not withstand the tension of their creative arrangement. Zelda was Scott's muse and he mercilessly mined the events of their life for material for his books. Scott claimed Zelda's memories, things she said, experiences she had and even passages from her diary as his possessions and used them to form the basis of his fictional works. Zelda had a child but the domestic sphere offered no comfort or purpose for her. The Flapper lifestyle was not simply a phase she lived through, it formed the very basis of her character and once the parties grew dull, the Fitzgeralds' drinking became destructive and Zelda's beauty began to fade, the world held little allure for her. Zelda sought reprieve in work and tried to build a career as a ballet dancer. When that didn't work out she turned to writing but was forbidden by Scott from using her own life as material. Convinced that she would never leave her mark on the world as deeply or expressively as Scott had, Zelda retreated into herself and withdrew from the people she knew in happier times. The later years of Zelda's life were marred by her detachment from reality as, diagnosed with schizophrenia, Zelda spent the last eighteen years of her life living in and out of psychiatric hospitals. As Scott's life unraveled due to alcohol abuse, Zelda looked back on the years they had spent together, young and wild and beautiful, as the best of her life. She may have been right but she was wrong about one thing, Zelda did leave her mark on the world and it was a deep and expressive mark that no one could have left but her. Zelda Fitzgerald: The Biography

    Her light was abruptly extinguished at the age of forty-seven, when she died at the pinnacle of her personal happiness and professional acclaim. Fifty years later, Robin Clifford Wood stepped onto the sagging floorboards of Rachel’s long-neglected home on the rugged shores of an island in Maine and began dredging up Rachel’s history. She was determined to answer the questions that filled the house’s every crevice: Who was this vibrant, talented artist whose very name entrances those who still remember her work? Why is that work—so richly remunerated and widely celebrated in her lifetime—so largely forgotten today? The journey into Rachel’s world took Wood further than she ever dreamed possible, unveiling a life fraught with challenge, and buried by tragedy, and yet incandescent with joy.The Field House is a book about beauty—beauty in Maine island landscapes, in friendship, love, and heartbreak; beauty hidden beneath a woman’s woefully unbeautiful exterior; beauty in a rare, delightful spirit that still whispers from the past. Just listen.

    They were already used to a simple life, having spent the last three years living on their boat in France for the summer seasons, and returning to the UK and their caravan for the winters. This tiny cabin would now be their new home for the winter months, taking them a step further along the road to self-sufficiency. They had no electricity, no kitchen, no bathroom or bedroom and the loo was a bucket in a shed, but the property came with five acres of field and woodland.From now on their lives would be simple, pared back to the basics, but they found that an off-grid lifestyle was by no means an uncomfortable experience. Responsibilities didn’t disappear but they changed, becoming less onerous. There was more time to think, and to appreciate the natural world around them. Living in such rural isolation, each day brought something new to marvel at: deer browsing in the field at dusk, salamanders on the doorstep, owls calling by night.If their own world felt increasingly magical, the outside world was far from it. They had moved to a foreign country at an historic time, living through a pandemic and adapting to the day-to-day implications of Brexit.A Simple Life doesn’t just follow Mary-Jane and Michael as they settle into their new lives, it also raises questions about what really matters to people. What makes us happy? How does it feel to have few possessions? Will life become unbearable without a flushing toilet?Thought-provoking and amusing, this book opens a window onto a different way of living. Mary-Jane shares a wealth of information and, if you have ever found yourself longing for a simpler life, this might tempt you to take those first tentative steps on the journey.

     Here the first three books in the series are presented together. The Illegal Gardener Driven by a need for some control in her life, Juliet sells up on impulse and buys a dilapidated farmhouse in a tiny Greek village, leaving her English life behind. The house is livable by local standards, but the job of restoring the garden is too big. It requires strength. Juliet cannot bring it to life on her own. Around the olive tree, hidden beneath the covering of bindweeds, are mattresses, broken chairs, shepherds' crooks, and old goat bells, the remains of past lives intertwined in a slow decay. The beauty of the garden is lost with the years of neglect and no one to appreciate it. Juliet reluctantly enlists casual labour. She has no desire to share her world with anyone. The boys have grown, Mick has gone. This is her time now. Aaman has travelled to Greece from Pakistan illegally. His task is to find work and raise money for the harvester his village desperately needs to deliver them out of poverty. Poverty that is sending the younger generation to the cities, dividing families, and slowly destroying his community. What he imagined would be a heroic journey in reality is fraught with danger and corruption. He finds himself in Greece and follows the work, a little here, a little there. As time passes, he loses his sense of self. He is now an immigrant worker, illegal, displaced, unwanted, with no value. Some days he does not have enough money to feed himself, let alone to return home to Pakistan. In the village square, he waits for work, dawn not even broken. Juliet hires Aaman. Neither is entirely comfortable with their role. Juliet the Westerner, who has money and a valid passport, resents the intrusion even though she wants her garden cleared. Aaman needs the work and money but resents the humiliation. As the summer progresses, even though they are from vastly different backgrounds, cultures apart, they discover they have something in common, an event that has defined how they interact and even how they view themselves. Pieces of their lives they have kept hidden even from themselves are exposed. They are each other's catalysts to facing their own ghosts... ) Although the island looks harmless, Marina knows it harbours ghosts from the past. Nothing would induce her to visit there again - except to protect her daughter. Sara Alexi's second book is a romp packed with a troupe of colourful characters intertwining in a gripping story. By turn uproariously funny, touching or sad this book is the stuff of which all families are made. Hopes, fears, secrets and misunderstandings beset relationships. Discovery and acceptance bridge a divide. The Explosive Nature of Friendship Do you like books about people? Then you'll love this intimate portrait of a man searching for meaning... Set in an idyllic Greek village, with a backdrop of sea and sun, this book will transport you... Mitsos has spent the last twenty years trying to comes to terms with the events of a single day and all that led up to it. In his twilight years a surprising turn of events gives him a chance to rectify his biggest wrong and give himself the peace he is seeking. But is what he has wanted for the last twenty years what he still wants now and is he the man he thought he was? Set against a backdrop of a small Greek farming village, comedy and tragedy are present in equal measures.Sara transports you to a land of sea and sun as she explores what it means to be human, and fallible.The book examines the nature of friendship, and how our choices and our perceptions of our place in society can define us.

    That became even more important after our father's death when the ranch came under my control. I had to put my own dreams aside to make sure the ranch kept going. I'd always wanted a family of my own to fill the big house on the ranch, but as busy as my life got, I thought that would never happen. Especially not with our rival family. But I shared a hot kiss with one, and the rest is history. She’s a tough girl, but I’m about to break her in. If she doesn’t break me first.

    Houses, shops and entire streets are wiped from the map. The underworld is in flux: the Italian criminals who dominated the West End have been interned and now their rivals are fighting to replace them. Meanwhile, hidden in the shadows, the Black-Out Ripper sharpens his knife and sets to his grisly work.Henry Irving is a disgraced reporter on a Fleet Street scandal rag. Genius detective sergeant Charlie Murphy is a fresh face in the Metropolitan police, hunting corrupt colleagues but blinkered by ambition and jealousy. His brother, detective inspector Frank Murphy, searches frantically for his runaway daughter, terrified that she will be the killer's next victim.As the Ripper stalks the terrified streets, the three men discover that his handiwork is not quite what it seems. Conspirators are afoot, taking advantage of the chaos to settle old scores. The murders invade the lives of the victims and victimizers on both sides of the law, as everyone is sucked deeper and deeper into Soho's black heart.GASLIGHT (Book 2)It's London, 1920. Newly demobilized soldiers have flooded the capital's streets but an ungrateful country isn't ready for them. Harry Costello has returned from the horrors of the Somme to no job, no money and no prospects. Desperate times demand desperate measures and when an opportunity to burgle a house presents itself, Harry seizes the chance.When Harry and his brother Frank are blackmailed into paying off a local hood they decide to take care of the problem themselves. But when all of London's underworld is in thrall to the man's boss, was their plan audacious or the most foolish thing that they could possibly have done?You think crime doesn't pay? Meet the Costelllos - the kind of criminal family that might make you change your mind.THE IMPOSTER (Book 3)VE Day, London, 1945: a city on its knees and ripe for plunder. Rationing has created a monstrous black market that needs to be fed. It's the perfect time to make a killing.Meet the Costellos. Violet is in charge - ruthless, brilliant, heartless. Threaten her family and it'll be the last thing you do. Joseph is the soldier the army doesn't want and so he joins the family business instead. Brutish Frank fronts violence with rough charm and seedy glamour. The family has a box at the Opera and a South London lock-up no-one wants to visit.War hero Edward Fabian finds himself drawn into the Costello's web of vice and soon he is an accomplice to the family's scheming. But he's not the man they think he is--he's far more dangerous than they could possibly imagine.

    It's the hard that makes it great.” – Tom Hanks Tom Hanks is a much-beloved American film actor whose cheerful everyman persona made him a natural for starring roles in many popular films. He is one of the most critically acclaimed actors in Hollywood today and with good reason. Throughout the span of his successful and impressive career, Hanks has excelled in nearly every genre, heading the casts of some of the most well-received films in history. Widely regarded as one of Hollywood’s nicest actors, Hanks is known for his amiable, approachable personality and his ability to portray characters audiences can relate to and love. His characters are often immensely likeable ordinary guys. Despite the fact that he originally wanted to be an astronaut, Hanks has enjoyed great success and fulfillment as an actor. He may even have predicted his future career in film when he was just a teenager. In 1974, Hanks wrote a letter to industry big shot George Roy Hill, the Oscar-winning director of the film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), with the hope that he might one day be “discovered.” Hanks was eighteen years old at the time and most likely wrote the letter before studying theatre at a junior college in Hayward, California. Hanks was grateful for his community college experience, describing himself as an underachieving high school student with lousy SAT scores and the junior college as one that was humble, but offered salvation and opportunity for many young men and women just like him, all with simple, hometown America roots, and a desire to do something great. In the letter, Hanks introduces himself to Hill as “a nobody.” he continues, saying that no one has ever heard of him, that his looks are not stunning, and that he can’t even grow a mustache. He outlines the details of his future discovery for Hill so that he might recognize the opportunity in the future. Toward the end, Hanks reminds Hill, “I do not want to be some big time, Hollywood superstar with girls crawling all over me, just a hometown American boy who has hit the big time, owns a Porsche, and calls Robert Redford 'Bob'." Hanks was indeed discovered, albeit not by Hill, and has enjoyed enormous success. But the part of Hanks’ prediction that has held remarkably true is that he never has strayed far from his beginnings. Hanks has indeed remained that likeable hometown boy who rubs elbows with – and, in fact, has become friends with – some of the greatest names in movie making history... Buy Now and Discover the Entertaining Story of Tom Hanks