The Shepherd's Life: A Tale of the Lake District by James Rebanks

$30.00 NZD

Category: Biography

A major new talent redefines the literature of rural life. Old world met new when a shepherd in the English Lake District impulsively started a Twitter account. A routine cell phone upgrade left author James Rebanks with a pretty decent camera and a pre-loaded Twitter app--the tools to share his way of life with the world. And what began as a tentative experiment became an international phenomenon.James has worked the land for years, as did his father, and his father before him. His family has lived and farmed in the Lake District of Northern England as long as there have been written records (since 1420) and possibly much longer. And while the land itself has inspired great poets and authors we have rarely heard from the people who tend it. One Twitter account has changed all that, and now James Rebanks has broken free of the 140-character limit and produced "the book I have wanted to write my whole life." The Shepherd's Life is a memoir about growing up amidst a magical, storied landscape, of coming of age in the 1980s and 1990s among hills that seem timeless, and yet suffused with history. Broken into the four seasons, the book chronicles the author's daily experiences at work with his flock and brings alive his family and their ancient way of life, which at times can seem irreconcilable with the modern world. An astonishing original work, The Shepherd's Life is an intimate look from inside a seemingly ordinary life, one that celebrates the meaning of place, the ties of family to the land around them, and the beauty of the past. It is the untold story of the Lake District, of a people who exist and endure out of sight in the midst of the most iconic literary landscape in the world.   From the Hardcover edition. ...Show more

Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister by Jung Chang

$38.00 NZD

Category: Biography | Reading Level: 3 Biography

The best-known modern Chinese fairy tale is the story of three sisters from Shanghai, who for most of the twentieth century were at the centre of power in China. It was sometimes said that 'One loved money, one loved power and one loved her country', but there was far more to the Soong sisters than thes e caricatures. As China battled through a hundred years of wars, revolutions and seismic transformations, each sister played an important, sometimes critical role, and left an indelible mark on history. Red Sister, Ching-ling, married Sun Yat-sen, founding father of the Chinese republic, and later became Mao's vice-chair. Little Sister, May-ling, was Madame Chiang Kai-shek, first lady of the pre-Communist Nationalist China and a major political figure in her own right. Big Sister, Ei-ling, was Chiang's unofficial main adviser. She made herself one of China's richest women - and her husband Chiang's prime minister. All three sisters enjoyed tremendous privilege and glory, but also endured constant attacks and mortal danger. They showed great courage and experienced passionate love, as well as despair and heartbreak. The relationship between them was highly charged emotionally, especially once they had embraced opposing political camps and Ching-ling dedicated herself to destroying her two sisters' world. Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister is a gripping story of love, war, exile, intrigue, glamour and betrayal, which takes us on a monumental journey, from Canton to Hawaii and New York, from exiles' quarters in Japan and Berlin to secret meeting rooms in Moscow, and from the compounds of the Communist elite in Beijing to the corridors of power in democratic Taiwan. In a group biography that is by turns intimate and epic, Jung Chang reveals the lives of three extraordinary women who helped shape the history of twentieth-century China.   ...Show more

Hidden Valley Road by Robert Kolker

$37.99 NZD

Category: Biography

"Hidden Valley Road contains everything: scientific intrigue, meticulous reporting, startling revelations, and, most of all, a profound sense of humanity. It is that rare book that can be read again and again." -David Grann, author of Killers of the Flower Moon One of the New York Times' "20 most antic ipated books of 2020": the heartrending story of a mid-century American family with twelve children, six of them diagnosed with schizophrenia, that became science's great hope in the quest to understand the disease. "An extraordinary case study and tour de force of reporting." -Sylvia Nasar, author of A Beautiful Mind Don and Mimi Galvin seemed to be living the American dream. After World War II, Don's work with the Air Force brought them to Colorado, where their twelve children perfectly spanned the baby boom: the oldest born in 1945, the youngest in 1965. In those years, there was an established script for a family like the Galvins - aspiration, hard work, upward mobility, domestic harmony - and they worked hard to play their parts. But behind the scenes was a different story: psychological breakdown, sudden shocking violence, hidden abuse. By the mid-1970s, six of the ten Galvin boys, one after the other, were diagnosed as schizophrenic. How could all this happen to one family? What took place inside the house on Hidden Valley Road was so extraordinary that the Galvins became one of the first families to be studied by the National Institutes of Mental Health. Their story offers a shadow history of the science of schizophrenia, from the era of institutionalization, lobotomy, and the schizophrenogenic mother, to the search for genetic markers for the disease, always amidst profound disagreements about the nature of the illness itself. And unbeknownst to the Galvins, samples of their DNA informed decades of genetic research that continues today, offering paths to treatment, prediction, and even eradication of the disease for future generations. With clarity and compassion, bestselling and award-winning author Robert Kolker uncovers one family's unforgettable legacy of suffering, love and hope. "This book tore my heart out. It is a revelation-about the history of mental health treatment, about trauma, foremost about family-and a more-than-worthy follow-up to Robert Kolker's brilliant Lost Girls." -Megan Abbott, Edgar Award-winning author of Dare Me and Give Me Your Hand ...Show more

Confessions of a Bookseller (HB) by Shaun Bythell

$32.99 NZD

Category: Biography | Reading Level: very good

"Do you have a list of your books, or do I just have to stare at them?" Shaun Bythell is the owner of The Bookshop in Wigtown, Scotland. With more than a mile of shelving, real log fires in the shop and the sea lapping nearby, the shop should be an idyll for bookworms. Unfortunately, Shaun also has to c ontend with bizarre requests from people who don't understand what a shop is, home invasions during the Wigtown Book Festival and Granny, his neurotic Italian assistant who likes digging for river mud to make poultices. The Diary of a Bookseller (soon to be a major TV series) introduced us to the joys and frustrations of life lived in books. Sardonic and sympathetic in equal measure, Confessions of a Bookseller will reunite readers with the characters they've come to know and love. ...Show more

My Mother and Other Secrets by Wendyl Nissen

$36.99 NZD

Category: Biography

Uncovering old family secrets leads Wendyl Nissen to a better understanding of her mother.

Toymaker - A Life of Art, Wonder and Invention by Tom Karen

$45.00 NZD

Category: Biography

Toy inventor and designer Tom Karen recounts his colourful and creative life through the objects and mementos that have come to define it. This is a story about life, about imagination, about being in the present and existing in the past; this is a story about painting, drawing, chopping and changing; a bout thinking, discussing, arguing and listening. This is a tale of a century of creativity and how 'things' come to define who we are. Tom Karen is the Vimp, and Aircruiser and a Water Line Ship; he's a 'Big Fat Peace Bomb', a Bond Bug and the Marble Run; he's the Chopper bike and the 'man that designed the 1970s'; he's every one of his thousands of sketches contained in London's Victoria & Albert Museum - each a testament to a lifetime of artistry and creativity. He's also a living embodiment of a life immersed in inventiveness, imagination and thought: visit his home and you will see his world come to life with papier-Mache birds, life-size toy dogs and various model Marble Runs hogging every corner of his house; his work-bench is a vibrant collage of creativity, from hand-drawn maps and postcards to newly devised toys for his everspoilt grand children and their friends. He's a real-life 'Geppetto' - a man who lives for children and for creativity, and should his toys ever come to life they would have such a story to tell. From his early life in Czechoslovakia, his journey fleeing Nazi Germany across continental Europe, and his formative years in the UK as a Jewish immigrant landing on these shores with little-to-no money; through to his ascent to the top of the design tree, becoming the 'man who designed the 1970s', and his later years as a creative polymath and design mentor. In Toymaker Tom Karen presents some of the most cherished items that tell a story of not just an extraordinary life, but show the importance of nurturing one's own imagination. ...Show more

Nat Tate: An American Artist 1928-1960 by Boyd, William

$24.00 NZD

Category: Biography

The infamous literary hoax that fooled the art world On January 8 1960, artist Nat Tate set out to burn his entire life's work. Four days later he jumped off a Staten Island ferry, killing himself. His body was never found. When William Boyd published his biography of Abstract Expressionist Nat Tate, tributes poured in from a whole host of artists and critics in the New York art world. They toasted the troubled genius in a Manhattan launch party attended by David Bowie and Gore Vidal. But Nat Tate never existed. The book was a hoax. Will Boyd's biography of a fake artist is a brilliant probe into the politics of authenticity and reputation in the modern art scene. It is a playful and intelligent insight into the fascinating, often cryptic world of modern art. ...Show more

The One Tenor - A Salute to Mario Lanza by Lindsay Perigo

$29.95 NZD

Category: Biography

The Room Where It Happened by John Bolton

$39.99 NZD

Category: Biography | Reading Level: very good

Trump's National Security Advisor took detailed notes. The result is the most comprehensive and substantial account of the Trump Administration from a senior advisor who had served three previous presidents over 30 years, with stunning revelations about happened inside the most powerful room in the nati on. John Bolton served as National Security Advisor to President Donald Trump for 519 days. A seasoned public servant who had previously worked for Presidents Reagan, Bush #41, and Bush #43, Bolton brought to the administration thirty years of experience in international issues and a reputation for tough, blunt talk. In his memoir, he offers a substantive and factual account of his time in the room where it happened. ...Show more

Mad Bad and Dangerous to Know by Ranulph Fiennes

$37.99 NZD

Category: Biography

'Even readers with a broadly low tolerance for macho heroism will find themselves gripped . . . compelling' - Time Out Sir Ranulph Fiennes has travelled to the most dangerous and inaccessible places on earth, almost died countless times, lost nearly half his fingers to frostbite, raised millions of poun ds for charity and been awarded a polar medal and an OBE. He has been an elite soldier, an athlete, a mountaineer, an explorer, a bestselling author and nearly replaced Sean Connery as James Bond. In his bestselling autobiography, MAD, BAD & DANGEROUS TO KNOW, he describes how he led expeditions all over the world and became the first person to travel to both Poles on land. He tells of how he discovered the lost city of Ubar in Oman and attempted to walk solo and unsupported to the North Pole - the expedition that cost him several fingers, and very nearly his life. And now the extraordinary life story of the world's greatest living explorer is re-published to celebrate his 75th birthday, with two new chapters to bring his story up to date - telling of more mountains climbed, including his ascent to the top of Mount Everest, and even more extraordinary and risky adventures. ...Show more

The Life and Afterlife of Harry Houdini by Joe Posnanski

$35.00 NZD

Category: Biography

Award-winning journalist and New York Times bestselling author Joe Posnanski enters the world of Harry Houdini and his legions of devoted fans in an immersive, entertaining, and magical work on the illusionist's impact on American culture--and why his legacy endures to this day.   Nearly a century aft er Harry Houdini died on Halloween in 1926, he feels as modern and alive as ever. The name Houdini still leaps to mind whenever we witness a daring escape. The baby who frees herself from her crib? Houdini. The dog who vanishes and reappears in the neighbor's garden? Houdini. Every generation produces new disciples of the magician, from household names in magic like David Copperfield and David Blaine to countless other followers whose lives have been transformed by the power of Houdini.   In The Life and Afterlife of Harry Houdini, award-winning journalist and #1 New York Times bestselling author Joe Posnanski enters Houdini World to understand why the magician still enthralls people. Posnanski immerses himself in Houdini's past and present, visiting landmarks, museums (including one owned by Copperfield), attractions, and private archives. Filled with false histories and improbable facts, Houdini's life is an irresistible contradiction. His sweeping afterlife is no less fascinating.   In rural Pennsylvania, a thirteen-year-old girl finds the courage to leave a violent home after learning that Houdini ran away to join the circus; she eventually becomes the first female magician to saw a man in half on television. In Australia, an eight-year-old boy with a learning impediment feels worthless until he sees an old poster of Houdini advertising "Nothing on earth can hold Houdini prisoner," and begins his path to becoming that nation's most popular magician. In California, an actor and Vietnam War veteran finds purpose in his life by uncovering the secrets of his hero.   But the unique phenomenon of Houdini was always more than his death-defying stunts or his ability to escape handcuffs and straitjackets. It is also about the power of imagination and self-invention. His incredible transformation from Ehrich Weiss, humble Hungarian immigrant and rabbi's son, into the self-named Harry Houdini has won him a slice of immortality. No one has withstood the test of time quite like Houdini.   Fueled by Posnanski's personal obsession with the magician--and magic itself--The Life and Afterlife of Harry Houdini is a poignant odyssey of discovery, blending biography, memoir, and first-person reporting to trace Houdini's metamorphosis into an iconic figure who has inspired millions. Posnanski takes us on a joyous, thrilling, and, yes, magical journey to discover why Houdini endures--and what he still has to teach the world about wonder. ...Show more

The Bad Boy of Athens: Classics from the Greeks to Game of Thrones by Daniel Mendelsohn

$27.99 NZD

Category: Biography

'Mendelsohn takes the classical costumes off figures like Virgil and Sappho, Homer and Horace ... He writes about things so clearly they come to feel like some of the most important things you have ever been told.' - Sebastian Barry. Over the past three decades, Daniel Mendelsohn's essays and reviews h ave earned him a reputation as 'our most irresistible literary critic' (New York Times). This striking new collection exemplifies the way in which Mendelsohn - a classicist by training - uses the classics as a lens to think about urgent contemporary debates. There is much to surprise here. Mendelsohn invokes the automatons featured in Homer's epics to help explain the AI films Ex Machina and Her, and perceives how Ted Hughes sought redemption by translating a play of Euripides (the 'bad boy of Athens') about a wayward husband whose wife returns from the dead. There are essays on Sappho's sexuality and the feminism of Game of Thrones; on how Virgil's Aeneid prefigures post-World War II history and why we are still obsessed with the Titanic; on Patrick Leigh Fermor's final journey, Karl Ove Knausgaard's autofiction and the plays of Tom Stoppard, Tennessee Williams, and Noël Coward. The collection ends with a poignant account of the author's boyhood correspondence with the historical novelist Mary Renault, which inspired his ambition to become a writer. In The Bad Boy of Athens, Mendelsohn provokes and dazzles with erudition, emotion and tart wit while his essays dance across eras, cultures and genres. This is a provocative collection which sees today's master of popular criticism using the ancient past to reach into the very heart of modern culture. ...Show more