British Memoirs

For years she prayed for her mother to give birth to a son. She longed to be spared her destiny as Britain's future Queen. Her dream was to live in the country surrounded by children, dogs and horses. But Elizabeth did her duty, the young princess pledging before her people that she would dedicate her whole life to the service of Britain and the Commonwealth. She hoped that that day would be a long way off. It was not to be. Only 25 when she became Queen after the premature death of her father, King George Vl, Elizabeth has become the stuff of superlatives.

Brought to you by Penguin. The extraordinary early life in India and England of one of the world's leading public intellectuals Where is 'home'? For Amartya Sen home has been many places - Dhaka in modern Bangladesh where he grew up, the village of Santiniketan where he was raised by his...

"The heartrending story of a two people, a marriage, and a century from the author of A Suitable Boy. . . . “[A] thoughtful, evocative, moving book.”—Jonathan Yardley, Washington Post Book World Two Lives is an extraordinary tapestry of India, the Third Reich and the Second World War...

New York Times Bestseller "There is no writer quite like Dolly Alderton working today and very soon the world will know it.” —Lisa Taddeo, author of #1 New York Times bestseller Three Women “Dolly Alderton has always been a sparkling Roman candle of talent. She is funny, smart, and...

Amanda Knox spent four years in a foreign prison for a crime she did not commit, as seen in the Netflix documentary Amanda Knox. In the fall of 2007, the 20-year-old college coed left Seattle to study abroad in Italy, but her life was shattered when her roommate was murdered in their apartment...

From two-time Academy Award winner from 16 nominations, and five-time BAFTA award winner from 11 nominations, Sir Roger Deakins - widely regarded as the greatest cinematographer of all time - a one-of-a-kind visual memoir, telling his life's story by way of his iconic, beloved films, including...

From the bestselling author of The Direction of the Wind and The Taste of Ginger comes an immersive, fun and heartfelt novel about a disgraced Indian American divorcée who spends a summer in Italy, reconnecting with her passion for cooking and reckoning with cultural expectations to make the...

When he turned 65, the playwright Simon Gray began to keep a diary: not a careful honing of the days' events with a view to posterity but an account of his thoughts as he had them, honestly, turbulently, digressively expressed. One of Britain's most amusing and original writers reflects on a life filled with cigarettes (continuing), alcohol (stopped), several triumphs and many more disasters - a record of shame, adultery, friendship and love. Few diarists have ever been so frank about themselves and even fewer so entertaining.

A great many writers use their own lives as the raw material for their work, but few have done it with the wit and courage of Simon Gray. Like his previous best seller, The Smoking Diaries, The Year of the Jouncer has the rare ability to make you laugh aloud one moment and ponder the sad mysteries of mortality the next - and sometimes to do both at the same time.

Life with the Durrells is seldom straightforward. Dive headfirst into family adventures with this collection of laugh-out-loud short stories from the much-loved author of My Family and Other Animals. Notable tales include 'The Picnic', a hilarious account of an ill-fated Durrell excursion which...

Bloomsbury presents Confessions written and read by A. N. Wilson. Known for his journalism, biographies and novels, A. N. Wilson turns a merciless searchlight on his own early life, his experience of sexual abuse, his catastrophic mistakes in love (sacred and profane) and his life in Grub Street...

Bloomsbury presents Mrs Tim of the Regiment by D.E. Stevenson, read by Rebecca McClay The classic comic novel based on the author's real experiences as the wife of a British Army officer in the 1920s ‘The writer's unflagging humour, her shrewd, worldly wisdom, and her extremely realistic...

When Ugandan President Idi Amin expelled the country's entire Asian population in 1972, more than 28,000 people from Britain's former colony arrived on airstrips around the country and began building new lives - but their incredible stories remained largely hidden. Fifty years later, first and...

Written in a style similar to that of Nigel Slater’s multi-award-winning food memoir ‘Toast’, this is a celebration of the glory, humour, eccentricities and embarrassments that are The British at Table. The British have a relationship with their food that is unlike that of any other...

Read brilliantly by the author, Ben Elton. From The Young Ones and Blackadder theme music to snippets of his stand-up comedy shows, this audiobook includes bonus audio recordings showcasing special moments throughout Ben's incredible career. ‘What Have I Done? snaps, crackles and pops with wit...

LONGLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE 2022 ‘A remarkable and powerful book, the rarest of things … Nicolson is unique as a writer … I loved it’ EDMUND DE WAAL Few places are as familiar as the shore – and few as full of mystery and surprise. How do sandhoppers inherit an inbuilt compass...

In The Yankee and the British War Bride, two voices from opposite sides of the Atlantic come together to tell a deeply personal story of resilience, love, and the enduring spirit of the Greatest Generation. Through handwritten memoirs, Mary Irene Cooper-Dodd of Tipton, England, and Ernest Joseph...

“ Sparkles with humor, joy and wit. London’s Number One Dog-Walking Agency bounds along with the energy of a rambunctious pup and exudes the wisdom of a beloved canine with an old soul (you know the type)." — BookPage The irresistibly charming memoir of a young woman who started her own...

"This book has a miraculous quality.... As a memoir this is hard to put down; if you are seeking a better American future you should pick it up.”—Timothy Snyder, New York Times best-selling author of On Tyranny INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER | A celebrated foreign policy expert and key...

An award-winning writer retraces her dysfunctional, biracial, globe-trotting family’s journey as she reckons with ethnicity and belonging, diversity and race, and the complexities of life within a multicultural household. “Almost Brown is that rarest of things: a memoir that is both deeply...