Showing 1–12 of 14 resultsSorted by latest
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£25.00
When Billy set out from Glasgow as a young man he never looked back. He played his banjo on boats and trains, under trees, and on top of famous monuments. He danced naked in snow, wind and fire. He slept in bus stations, under bridges and on strangers’ floors. He travelled by foot, bike, ship, plane, sleigh – even piggy-backed – to get to his next destination. Billy has wandered to every corner of the earth and believes that being a Rambling Man is about more than just travelling – it’s a state of mind. Rambling Men and Women are free spirits who live on their wits, are interested in people and endlessly curious about the world. They love to play music, make art or tell stories along the way but, above all, they have a longing in their heart for the open road. In his joyful book, Billy explores this philosophy and how it has shaped him, and he shares hilarious new stories from his lifetime on the road.
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£10.99
From the moment they emerge, blinking from the underground station, visitors to Piccadilly Circus face a sensory assault. Its streets and alleyway create an intoxicating thoroughfare, with the power to propel an individual onwards to adventure, romance, or something more sinister. And, ever since its iconic Eros statue appeared in 1893, the junction has been a vibrant meeting place, attracting visitors and pleasure-seekers from all walks of life: political plans and theatrical careers were hatched at its restaurant and café tables, lovers met below the statue of Eros, tourists emerged from its elegant Art Deco station to experience the bright lights of London’s nightlife. This text explores how the area has been shaped by social and historical events – from female suffrage to world wars to technological advancements – and by its colourful cast of characters.
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£25.00
From the moment they emerge, blinking from the underground station, visitors to Piccadilly Circus face a sensory assault. Its streets and alleyway create an intoxicating thoroughfare, with the power to propel an individual onwards to adventure, romance, or something more sinister. And, ever since its iconic Eros statue appeared in 1893, the junction has been a vibrant meeting place, attracting visitors and pleasure-seekers from all walks of life: political plans and theatrical careers were hatched at its restaurant and café tables, lovers met below the statue of Eros, tourists emerged from its elegant Art Deco station to experience the bright lights of London’s nightlife. This text explores how the area has been shaped by social and historical events – from female suffrage to world wars to technological advancements – and by its colourful cast of characters.
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£20.00
A dazzling portrait of a forgotten icon and her complicated journey to power, romance, and ruin. Though many have never heard her name, Alice Prin – Kiki de Montparnasse – was the icon of 1920s Paris. She captivated as a ground-breaking nightclub performer, wrote a bestselling memoir, sold out exhibitions of her paintings, and shared drinks with the likes of Pablo Picasso, Peggy Guggenheim, Marcel Duchamp and Gertrude Stein. She also shepherded along the career of the then-unknown photographer, Man Ray. Following Kiki in the years between 1921 and 1929, when she lived and worked with Many Ray, ‘Kiki Man Ray’ charts their decade-long entanglement and reveals how Man Ray – always the unabashed careerist – went on to become one of the most famous photographers of the 20th century, enjoying wealth and fame, while Kiki’s legacy was lost.
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£16.99
58-year-old Jackie Douglas thinks she has everything she wants – kids, grandchildren, and a comfortable retirement with her husband, Steve. Until one afternoon she comes home to find Steve packing a bag. Her best friend Ros, a law firm boss with an appetite for life, laughter and wine, immediately leaps in to help Jackie back to her feet but soon finds herself feeling second best to Jackie’s other priorities. Their barmaid/friend/wine protégé Jay is back home with her mum at nearly 30. After losing her job in London she’s back working in the pub job she thought she’d left behind at 18. In tipsy search of something – anything – new, they wind up the leaders of a ramshackle, barely functional netball team: The Skids. Facing confusing exes, divorce, betrayals, financial woes and more, Jackie, Ros and Jay are about to discover that finding your team might just be the key to turning things around.
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£20.00
In 1933, the same year Hitler came to power, Anna Essinger voluntarily exiled her small, progressive school from Germany. Anna – a pioneering German-Jewish schoolteacher – had read ‘Mein Kampf’ and knew the terrible danger that Hitler’s hate-fuelled ideologies posed to her pupils. And so she hatched a courageous and daring plan: to smuggle her school to the safety of England. The school she established in Kent, Bunce Court, flourished despite the many challenges it faced, but the news from her home country continued to darken and Anna watched as Europe slid towards war, with devastating consequences for the Jewish children left behind in Germany and Nazi-occupied territories. Anna was compelled to head a rescue unit at a requisitioned Butlins camp, receiving the children from the horrific events that followed Kristallnacht.
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£8.99
Madame Burova – Tarot Reader, Palmist and Clairvoyant is retiring and leaving her booth on the Brighton seafront after 50 years. Imelda Burova has spent a lifetime keeping other people’s secrets and her silence has come at a price. She has seen the lovers and the liars, the angels and the devils, the dreamers and the fools. Her cards had unmasked them all and her cards never lied. But Madame Burova is weary of other people’s lives and other people’s secrets, she needs rest and a little piece of life for herself. Before that, however, she has to fulfill a promise made a long time ago. She holds two brown envelopes in her hand, and she has to deliver them. In London, it is time for another woman to make a fresh start. Billie has lost her university job, her marriage, and her place in the world when she discovers something that leaves her very identity in question.
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£10.99
The story of extraordinary women who lost their way – their sense of self, their identity, their freedom – and found it again through walking in the wild. A feminist exploration of the power of walking in nature, following in the footsteps of Gwen John, Georgia O’Keeffe, Frieda Lawrence, Clara Vyvyan, Simone de Beauvoir and Nan Shepherd. Recovering from a life-threatening accident, Annabel Abbs rediscovered a lost love of long, wild hikes. Consequently fascinated by the art, literature and philosophy of walking in nature, she realised it had never before been told from a woman’s point of view. She retraces the lives and walks of remarkable women who found solace, redemption and personal and artistic freedom in walking.
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£9.99
This title paints a colourful, glamorous portrait of the lives of these young women, who came to New York looking for something more. It’s a story of pushing the boundaries, of women’s emancipation and of the generations of brilliant women who passed through its halls.
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£8.99
Paris, 1939. Odile Souchet is obsessed with books, and her new job at the American Library in Paris – with its thriving community of students, writers and book lovers – is a dream come true. When war is declared, the Library is determined to remain open. But then the Nazis invade Paris, and everything changes. In Occupied Paris, choices as black and white as the words on a page become a murky shade of grey – choices that will put many on the wrong side of history, and the consequences of which will echo for decades to come. Montana, 1983. Lily is a lonely teenage desperate to escape small-town Montana. She grows close to her neighbour Odile, discovering they share the same love of language, the same longings. But as Lily uncovers more about Odile’s mysterious past, she discovers a dark secret, closely guarded and long hidden.
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£25.00
In this full-length autobiography, comedy legend and national treasure Billy Connolly reveals the truth behind his windswept and interesting life. Born in a tenement flat in Glasgow in 1942, orphaned by the age of 4, and a survivor of appalling abuse at the hands of his own family, Billy’s life is a remarkable story of success against all the odds. Billy found his escape first as an apprentice welder in the shipyards of the River Clyde. Later he became a folk musician – a ‘rambling man’ – with a genuine talent for playing the banjo. But it was his ability to spin stories, tell jokes and hold an audience in the palm of his hand that truly set him apart. As a young comedian Billy broke all the rules. He was fearless and outspoken – willing to call out hypocrisy wherever he saw it. But his stand-up was full of warmth, humility, and silliness too.
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£20.00
In 1939 17-year-old Mary found herself in an extraordinary position at an extraordinary time: it was the outbreak of the Second World War and her father, Winston Churchill, had been appointed First Lord of the Admiralty; within months he would be Prime Minister. The young Mary Churchill was uniquely placed to observe this remarkable historical moment, and her diaries – most of which have never been published – provide a front-row view of the great events of war, as well as exchanges and intimate moments with her father. But they also capture what it was like to be a young woman during wartime.
