Other books that might interest you

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  The Fall of Fayed - Lies Greed...

  Tom Bower

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  THE BESTSELLING AND CONTROVERSIAL BIOGRAPHYBritain's leading investigative writer and biographer, Tom Bower turns the full beam of his formidable powers on one of the most controversial figures of present day: Mohamed Al Fayed.Owner of Harrods, bereaved father of Dodi and instigator of the 'cash for questions' sensation, this book was originally published in 1998 to wide acclaim. But with the recent heinous accusations of sexual misconduct coming to light, this new and updated edition will offer a new focus of Tom Bower's trademark acerbic insight on this controversial figure.'[Tom Bower] is the Inspector Morse of investigative biographers, a fluent, phlegmatic story-teller and a master of intricacies.' Sunday Times'Given the extreme difficulty of researching a subject like Fayed, Bower deserves full marks for effort and courage... his Fayed is a "fuggin" good read.' Lynn Barber, Daily Telegraph'A book that displays all the forensic skills he employed in exposing Rowland and Robert Maxwell.' Sunday Times'...that rare thing - a book by turns so entertaining and alarming that even reading the index is an engrossing experience'. Oliver Burkeman, Guardian

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  Riding

  Pardis Mahdavi

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  In Riding, Pardis Mahdavi meditates on the lessons learned over a lifetime of horseback riding and the falling, failing, and joy it brings. At once a history of Caspian horses, an exploration of Mahdavi's Iranian-American identity and family history, and a consideration of the capacity for self-reflection and self-compassion through human-animal relationships, Riding offers a roadmap for learning to live in harmony with the self and the environment around us. Mahdavi shows how her relationship with horses gives her insights into intergenerational strength and tools for healing intergenerational trauma. Riding from the mountains of Iran to the beaches of California, Mahdavi shares her love affair with horses, rediscovers a homeland she longs for, and ultimately finds her strength.

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  Big Love

  Brooke Blurton

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  A raw, moving and uplifting memoir about courage, resilience and the transformative power of love, from one of Australia's most captivating personalities 
  'Powerful, heartbreaking and beautiful ... a story of incredible triumph fuelled by love and compassion' Osher Gunsberg 
  'Brooke Blurton is an icon for people of all generations and backgrounds. I love seeing her star shine.' Clementine Ford 
    
  My story is about the one thing that I never went without. Love. Big love, that filled me up and made me feel like there was a future for me. The kind of love that's unconditional, and that lasts across time and space ... 
  From the moment Brooke Blurton appeared on Australian television, she dazzled audiences with her authenticity, self-knowledge, generosity and honesty. As a proud young Noongar-Yamatji woman, Brooke's connection to her culture and country is deep, and as an openly queer woman, she knows that love is simply love. Most of all Brooke knows the importance of family, and the uplifting power of unconditional connection. 
  But behind the public persona Brooke presents to the world is a story of epic proportions and awe-inspiring resilience - she had to grow up fast from a very young age, surviving an extremely challenging childhood and youth, and overcoming the shocking legacy of intergenerational trauma, abuse and homelessness. She's also had to defy labels and perceptions about who she is, and her worth, all her life. 
  But through it all, Brooke didn't just survive, she found her voice and thrived, and in this raw, heartbreaking, often funny and ultimately life-affirming memoir, Brooke lays her journey bare about how she refused to allow the past to define her and reclaimed her own identity - and realised the power of love, for herself, for her family, and her community.

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  High Times - The Extraordinary...

  Jeremy Gordin, Roy Isacowitz

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  High Times is the true story of Michael Medjuck, whose taste for weed, women and the good life led him from late-1960s Johannesburg to notoriety as one of the biggest hash and weed smugglers in North America.
  From his base in Vancouver, Michael built up a smuggling network that supplied dealers in scores of cities across Canada and the United States. The proceeds from smuggling afforded this former King David High School pupil a lifestyle of hedonistic excess – the finest wines, the most glamorous hookers, the best weed in the world.
  In 1991, Michael was nabbed by US federal agents while smuggling an enormous shipload of Afghani hash into the West Coast of Canada. Put on trial as the scheme's mastermind, Michael was convicted and sentenced to 24 years behind bars.
  His prison experiences, from dingy county lock-ups to brutal federal penitentiaries, are the stuff of legend. Eventually, a chance remark to his lawyer led to his early release and return to Canada.
  After barely a year of freedom, Michael was again arrested – this time in Spain for an ill-judged cocaine smuggling venture – and sentenced to an additional prison term of nine years.
  This is Michael's extraordinary story, as told to fellow South Africans Roy Isacowitz, author and journalist, and the late Jeremy Gordin, award-winning journalist, editor and author.

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  Encampment - Resistance Grace...

  Maggie Helwig

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  We think, maybe, that homelessness is some kind of stable state, like being housed except without housing. Without really considering it, most people do imagine that people who are homeless live in, if not one place, at least in one condition, that their days are in some way predictable. But homelessness is, more than anything else, a life of constant displacement.
  		 
  The housing crisis plaguing major urban centres has sent countless people into the streets. In spring 2022, some of them found their way to the yard beside the Anglican church in Toronto’s Kensington Market, where Maggie Helwig is the priest. They pitched tents, formed an encampment, and settled in. Known as an outspoken social justice activist, Helwig has spent the last three years getting to know the residents and fighting tooth and nail to allow them to stay, battling various authorities that want to clear the yard and keep the results of the housing crisis out of sight and out of mind.
  		 
  Encampment tells the story of Helwig’s life-long activism as preparation for her fight to keep her churchyard open to people needing a home. More importantly, it introduces us to the Artist, to Jeff, and to Robin: their lives, their challenges, their humanity. It confronts our society’s callousness in allowing so many to go unhoused and demands, by bringing their stories to the fore, that we begin to respond with compassion and grace.

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  A Capitalist - From their pens...

  George Gissing

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  George Robert Gissing was born on November 22nd, 1857 in Wakefield, Yorkshire.  
  He was educated at Back Lane School in Wakefield. Gissing loved school. He was enthusiastic with a thirst for learning and always diligent.  By the age of ten he was reading Dickens, a lifelong hero. 
  In 1872 Gissing won a scholarship to Owens College. Whilst there Gissing worked hard but remained solitary. Unfortunately, he had run short of funds and stole from his fellow students. He was arrested, prosecuted, found guilty, expelled and sentenced to a month's hard labour in 1876. 
  On release he decided to start over.  In September 1876 he travelled to the United States. Here he wrote short stories for the Chicago Tribune and other newspapers. On his return home he was ready for novels. 
  Gissing self-published his first novel but it failed to sell.  His second was acquired but never published. His writing career was static.  Something had to change.  And it did. 
  By 1884 The Unclassed was published.  Now everything he wrote was published. Both Isabel Clarendon and Demos appeared in 1886. He mined the lives of the working class as diligently as any capitalist. 
  In 1889 Gissing used the proceeds from the sale of The Nether World to go to Italy. This trip formed the basis for his 1890 work The Emancipated. 
  Gissing's works began to command higher payments. New Grub Street (1891) brought a fee of £250.  
  Short stories followed and in 1895, three novellas were published; Eve's Ransom, The Paying Guest and Sleeping Fires. Gissing was careful to keep up with the changing attitudes of his audience.  
  Unfortunately, he was also diagnosed as suffering from emphysema. The last years of his life were spent as a semi-invalid in France but he continued to write. 1899; The Crown of Life. Our Friend the Charlatan appeared in 1901, followed two years later by The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft. 
  George Robert Gissing died aged 46 on December 28th, 1903 after catching a chill on a winter walk.

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