Take a look at our non-fiction picks for September! Includes books by Alison Weir, Lionel Richie, Joanna Page and more.
Want more suggested books? Take a look at our recommendations.
Fly, Wild Swans: My Mother, Myself and China
Jung Chang
Jung Chang’s Wild Swans was a book that defined a generation, an epic personal history of Jung, her mother and grandmother – ‘three daughters of China’. The book opens with her grandmother’s birth – and foot binding – in 1909, when China was under the last emperor, through Mao Zedong’s rule and the Cultural Revolution during which Jung’s parents were subject to unbelievable ordeals. It finishes in 1978 when the Mao era officially ended, and Deng Xiaoping started the post-Mao ‘Reforms’.
Jung, at that propitious juncture, became one of the first Chinese to leave Communist China for the West. Nearly half a century on, China has risen from a decrepit and isolated state to a world power, the challenger to the United States’ dominant position in the world.
Queens at War
Alison Weir
The 15th century was a turbulent age: the Hundred Years War between England and France, and the Wars of the Roses dominated the lives of people both inside and out of the royal courts. Joan of Navarre, Katherine of Valois, Margaret of Anjou, Elizabeth Wydeville and Anne Neville were the queens who stood by England’s sovereigns, caught up in wars that changed the course of their lives, and the course of history. They were also formidable women who defied the limitations of their times, often living out the brutal consequences of their determination.
Alison Weir uncovers their stories in this final volume of her ground-breaking series on the queens of medieval England – a stunning culmination of research by a historian at the full extent of her powers and gripping account of five women on the throne.
Craftland: a Journey Through Britain’s Lost Arts and Vanishing Trades
James Fox
Britain has always been a craft land. For generations what we made with our hands defined our families, communities and regions. ‘Craftland’ brings to life the vanishing skills, traditions and trades that shaped the fabric and governed the rhythms of everyday life in Britain for hundreds of years.
Through the stories of often humble-seeming objects of exquisite beauty, precision, utility and meaning, it shows how craft connects us to the land, emerging from local natural materials, and is the material expression of our regional identities and cultures. And through encounters with some of the last remaining master craftspeople at work today – weavers and wheelwrights, coopers and coppice-workers, boat-builders and bell-founders, silversmiths and watch-makers – we glimpse not only our past but another way of life, one that is not yet lost and whose wisdom could yet shape our future.
Lush!: My Story – From Swansea to Stacey and Everything in Between
Joanna Page
From a small village on the outskirts of Swansea to the sets of some of the all-time greatest movies and TV shows – like ‘Love Actually’ and ‘Gavin & Stacey’ – Joanna Page’s journey to stardom has been extraordinary. In this funny, candid and endlessly surprising memoir, Joanna shares her story in full for the first time. Inside, she takes readers behind the scenes of her most iconic roles and introduces them to a colourful cast including Ruth Jones, James Corden, Richard E. Grant, Johnny Depp, Liam Neeson and Emma Thompson.
Joanna also details her early life growing up on the glorious Welsh coastline – a life (not unlike Stacey Shipman’s) filled with family and friendly neighbours – to the sudden shock of moving to London at 18 (totally alone) to take her place at RADA, one of the most prestigious performing arts schools in the world.
Inside the Cartel
Martin Suarez and Ian Frisch
Meet Martin Suarez, an FBI special agent who specialised in Colombian drug cartels and still holds the record for the longest time spent continuously undercover. As his alter ego, “Manny,” Martin followed the rules of the cartels: use the right lingo, drink the right whiskey, wear the right watch, and avoid the wrong questions. Learning on the fly, Suarez fell deeper and deeper into the world of Colombia’s most ruthless narco-empires.
Told with the gripping, pulse-racing action of a Hollywood blockbuster, Inside the Cartel is the story of how one man’s life’s work was the first strike in America’s epic War on Drugs, and what happens when your cover is blown and the only thing protecting you is your will to survive.
Truly
Lionel Richie
As a storyteller second to none, Lionel Richie is ready to tell it all. In this intimate, deeply candid memoir, Lionel revisits hilarious and harrowing events to inspire all who doubt themselves or feel their dreams don’t matter. Lionel chronicles lessons learned during his unlikely story of remarkable success – his dramatic transformation from painfully shy, ‘tragically’ late bloomer to world-class entertainer and composer of love songs that have played as the soundtrack of our lives.
Funny, warm and riveting, ‘Truly’ is the story of an incredible life.
Someone Like Me
Penny Lancaster
Penny Lancaster counts herself as incredibly lucky. She had a loving upbringing, her life with husband Rod Stewart has spanned continents, she’s made incredible friendships, become part of an amazing family and embraced motherhood. But it’s not all been plain-sailing. From being relentlessly bullied at school and underestimated because of undiagnosed dyslexia, Penny also experienced a harrowing sexual assault as a young girl.
This has made her a staunch campaigner for women’s safety and, these days, she regularly puts in hours as a Special Constable for the City of London Police, where her primary concern is making the streets safe for women. She’s also navigated the challenges of having the weight of the world’s scrutiny thrust upon her in her twenties, undergone IVF treatment, overcome her own depression and manoeuvred through menopause.
Inside
Boris Becker
Wimbledon champion at 17, six-time Grand Slam winner and former world number one – Boris Becker achieved unparalleled success, fame and wealth throughout his tennis career. But in April 2022, everything changed when he was sentenced to 30 months in prison over bankruptcy charges.
With brutal honesty, Becker reflects on the choices that led him to prison, confronting his mistakes and the price of fame. Through new relationships, hard-learned survival skills and the philosophy of Stoicism, he embarks on the difficult journey of rebuilding his life and shattered reputation. This is the story of a legend who lost it all – how he survived, started again and found light in life’s darkest moments.
If Only You Knew
Lulu
Pop legend Lulu looks back over her astonishing life with fresh eyes, reflecting on all she has learnt and still has to learn. From the tenements of Glasgow to the Royal Albert Hall and the glittering lights of Hollywood: Lulu’s journey to fame and fortune is like no other British pop star. She shot to fame in her early teens, and has remained centre stage ever since.
Now, for the first time, she wants to talk. She wants to tell you about that journey to fame: what it gave her and what it cost her. She wants to talk about growing up in a time that claimed to be liberated, the mistakes she made and the scars she still carries. She wants us all to see the joy that can lie in beating your demons and recovering from addiction, and she wants to show us how much lies ahead.
Waterwise Garden: Sustain Your Garden Through Drought and Flood
Tom Massey
Truly successful and sustainable gardens depend on one thing – water. Whether you have too much (or not enough), water is at the root of your garden, bringing life to plants, the soil and to biodiversity. But with our changing climate, extreme weather events and limited resources, how do you make a beautiful, useful and long-term waterwise garden?
Discover how to design a garden that will use water efficiently, work out the water flow in your garden, the key plants to grow for a changing climate, and how planting can be used to soak up excess water. Whether dealing with flash flooding or ongoing summer droughts, creating sustainable drainage solutions or designing an ephemeral pond, now is the time to make your garden waterwise.
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