Biography & Memoir

Written between the mid-fourth and late sixth centuries to commemorate and glorify the achievements of early Christian saints, these six biographies depict men who devoted themselves to solitude, poverty and prayer. Athanasius records Antony's extreme...

From the teenager in provincial Russia in 1875 to his premature death in Germany in 1904, Chekhov wrote over 4,500 letters to a range of correspondents, including family and friends, his publisher and fellow writers - not to mention actresses. These...

Eliza Acton, despite having never before boiled an egg, became one of the world’s most successful cookery writers, revolutionizing cooking and cookbooks around the world. Her story is fascinating, uplifting and truly inspiring.Told in alternate voices by...

What is a meaningful life? What does it mean to flourish? Antonia Case, the co-founder of New Philosopher and Womankind magazines, quits her corporate job in the city and, with her partner, travels across the world in search of meaning. In a quest to...

Winner of the 2022 Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-FictionWinner of the 2022 Slightly Foxed Best First Biography PrizeShortlisted for the 2023 Plutarch AwardA Wall Street Journal Top 10 Best Book of 2022A New York Times Notable Book of the YearNamed a Best...

Some people are meant to travel the globe, to unwrap its secrets and share them with the world. And some people have no sense of direction, are terrified of pigeons, and get motion sickness from tying their shoes. These people are meant to stay home and...

A companion to the Newbery Medal-winning middle grade novel The Crossover, the basis of the show streaming on Disney+!   What can we imagine for our lives? What if we were the star players, moving and grooving through the game of life? What if we had our...

100 lessons from one of Britain's most successful businessmen You must know businesses or leaders that seem to have it all – loyalty and success in equal measure. Do you aspire to the same, but worry that ‘nice guys finish last’? In Nice Is Not a...

This book describes the experiences and successes of female innovators and entrepreneurs in the still largely male-dominated tech-world in twenty candid interviews. It highlights the varied life and career stories that lead these women to the top...

Scions of a once-great southern Chinese family that produced the tutor of the last emperor, Jun and Hong were each other's best friends until, in their twenties, they were separated by chance at the end of the Chinese Civil War. For the next thirty...

NAMED A BEST BOOK OF 2021 BY THE NEW YORK POST AND BOOK RIOTNAMED A BEST TRUE CRIME BOOK OF 2021 BY CRIMEREADSFor readers of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks and The Phantom of Fifth Avenue, "a sensational story told with nuance and humanity"...

Nominated for the 2023 Edgar Award for Best Critical/Biographical book.   In the first major history of crime fiction in fifty years, The Life of Crime: Detecting the History of Mysteries and their Creators traces the evolution of the genre from the...

This biography of Vincent van Gogh’s sisters tells the fascinating story of the lives of these women whose history has largely been neglected.   Many people are familiar with the life and art of Vincent van Gogh, and his extensive correspondence with his...

In December 1888, Vincent van Gogh cut off his ear. It is the most famous story about any artist in history. But what really happened on that dark winter night?In Van Gogh's Ear, Bernadette Murphy reveals the truth. She takes us on an extraordinary...

Honest, warm, and witty, this memoir reads like a chat with a dear friend sharing her insight and taking us along as she heals. Complete with family stories over cocktails and a praying mantis named Claude.“I drive and say to myself, if I am dying, if...

“Venter instills awe for biology as it is, and as it might become in our hands.” —Publishers WeeklyOn May 20, 2010, headlines around the world announced one of the most extraordinary accomplishments in modern science: the creation of the world’s first...

“A rollicking tour through humanity’s evolutionary past, and von Hippel is the consummate tour guide. With equal parts wisdom, humor, authority, and charm, he shows how our past explains the present and why our well-being rests on an understanding of how...

A riotous collection of "witty and captivating" essays by a gay Filipino immigrant in America who is learning that everything is about sex (Bitch Magazine) — and sex is about power.When Matt Ortile moved from Manila to Las Vegas, the locals couldn't...

Named a Best Book by: The Globe and Mail, Indigo, Out Magazine, Audible, CBC, Apple, Quill & Quire, Kirkus Reviews, Brooklyn Public Library, Writers’ Trust of Canada, Autostraddle, Bitch, and BookRiot.Finalist for the 2019 Lambda Literary Award,...

An eloquent, restless, and enlightening memoir by one of the most thought-provoking journalists today about growing up Black and queer in America, reuniting with the past, and coming of age their own way.   One of nineteen children in a blended family,...