Biographies & Memoirs

Where can a tin of tuna buy you clean clothes? Which British education system struggles with 50 percent illiteracy? Where do teetotal Muslims attend AA meetings? Where is it easier to get 'spice' than paracetamol? Welcome to Her Majesty's Prison Service, a creaking and surreal world that has been left to rot for decades in the shadows of polite society. Like most people, documentary-maker Chris Atkins didn't spend much time thinking about prisons. But after becoming embroiled in a dodgy scheme to fund his latest film, he was sent down for five years.

Superstar comedian and Hollywood box-office star Kevin Hart turns his immense talent to the written word by writing some words. Some of those words include: the, a, for, above, and even even. Put them together and you have the funniest, most heartfelt, and most inspirational memoir on survival, success, and the importance of believing in yourself since Old Yeller.

Looking back over his life, from schoolboy crushes (on girls and boys) to discovering the power of making people laugh (in the Cambridge Footlights with David Mitchell), and from losing his beloved mother to becoming a husband and father, Robert Webb considers the absurd expectations boys and men have thrust upon them at every stage of life.

A powerful, blazingly honest memoir: the story of an 1100-mile solo hike that broke down a young woman reeling from catastrophe and built her back up again. At 22, Cheryl Strayed thought she had lost everything. After her mother's death, her family scattered and her own marriage was destroyed. Four years later, with nothing more to lose, she decided to hike the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State - alone. She had no experience as a long-distance hiker, and the trail was little more than an idea: vague, outlandish, and full of promise.

The Mongol army led by Genghis Khan subjugated more lands and people in 25 years than the Romans did in 400. In nearly every country the Mongols conquered, they brought an unprecedented rise in cultural communication, expanded trade, and a blossoming of civilization.

One of the inspirations for the major motion picture Everest, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Keira Knightley. This is the true story of a 24-hour period on Everest when members of three separate expeditions were caught in a storm and faced a battle against hurricane-force winds, exposure, and the effects of altitude, which ended the worst single-season death toll in the peak's history.

As one-fifth of the iconic Spice Girls and judge on X Factor and America's Got Talent, Melanie Brown, aka Scary Spice, has been an international star since the age of 19. And yet there are sides of Mel that no one has ever seen, or really known. Brutally Honest is an exposé of the struggles and acute pain that lay behind the glamour and success. With deep personal insight, remarkable frankness and Melanie’s trademark Yorkshire humour, this audiobook removes the mask of fame and reveals the mother, wife and daughter behind the Spice Girl everyone thinks they know. 

From her first day at Westwind Cremation & Burial, 23-year-old Caitlin Doughty threw herself into her curious new profession. Coming face-to-face with the very thing we go to great lengths to avoid thinking about, she started to wonder about the lives of those she cremated and the mourning families they left behind, and found herself confounded by people's erratic reactions to death. Exploring our death rituals - and those of other cultures - she pleads the case for healthier attitudes around death and dying.

A reissue of this classic title, updated with never-before-published material from the original taped interviews and with a new introduction by Andrew Morton that reflects on the extraordinary circumstances surrounding the original publication of Diana: Her True Story. One of the world's best-known biographers, Andrew Morton's groundbreaking and controversial biography Diana: Her True Story changed the public's perception of the British monarchy and became an instant global best seller.

Lara Maiklem has scoured the banks of the Thames for over 15 years, in pursuit of the objects that the river unearths: from Neolithic flints to Roman hair pins, medieval buckles to Tudor buttons, Georgian clay pipes to Victorian toys. These objects tell her about London and its lost ways of life. Moving from the river's tidal origins in the west of the city to the point where it meets the sea in the east, Mudlarking is a search for urban solitude and history on the River Thames, what Lara calls 'the longest archaeological site in the world'.

In this long-awaited and candid memoir, Hitchens re-traces the footsteps of his life to date, from his childhood in Portsmouth, with his adoring, tragic mother and reserved Naval officer father; to his life in Washington DC, the base from which from he would launch fierce attacks on tyranny of all kinds. Along the way, he recalls the girls, boys and booze; the friendships and the feuds; the grand struggles and lost causes; and the mistakes and misgivings that have characterised his life.

It’s only a slight exaggeration to say that the British mathematician Alan Turing (1912-1954) saved the Allies from the Nazis, invented the computer and artificial intelligence, and anticipated gay liberation by decades--all before his suicide at age forty-one. This classic biography of the founder of computer science, reissued on the centenary of his birth with a substantial new preface by the author, is the definitive account of an extraordinary mind and life.

Billions of you have watched their videos, and millions of you have followed them on social media. So here we go: it's time to back up, because YouTube superstars The Sidemen are finally here in audiobook form, and they're dishing the dirt on each other as well as the YouTuabe universe. The guys are behind the mic, and it’s about to get messy.

This is a biography of James Baldwin, author, one-time preacher, and civil rights activist. He chose David Leeming, a close friend and colleague, to write his biography and granted him access to his correspondence. Leeming traces his life from his birth in Harlem in 1924 to his self-imposed exile in Europe, his later years as political activist, and his public funeral in 1987.

World snooker champion Ronnie O'Sullivan's first-volume autobiography Ronnie was a major best seller, acclaimed for its candour and insight into the life of a top sports star. In his second book, Ronnie reflects on how much of his life has been running away or running towards (often inadvisable) things.

Drummer with The Police, Stewart Copeland, sets out to uncover the truth about his father, Miles Axe Copeland ll - musician, raconteur, international businessman... and, it turns out, secret CIA operative....

Sir Michael Caine - perhaps best known as gang leader Charlie Croker in 60s crime caper The Italian Job - tells the stories of remarkable heists and extraordinary robberies from around the world, as remembered by the masterminds, detectives, victims, journalists and witnesses....

For David Goggins, childhood was a nightmare - poverty, prejudice, and physical abuse colored his days and haunted his nights. But through self-discipline, mental toughness, and hard work, Goggins transformed himself....

It’s the week before Easter in 1971, and at the local power plant in rural Lapland, the workers are heading out for the morning shift. But something’s different - a safe has been robbed, and no one knows how. In Vietas, award-winning crime author Jenny Rogneby explores....

Mary Trump spent much of her childhood in her grandparents’ large, imposing house in New York, where Donald and his four siblings grew up....

A funny, insightful memoir by much-loved documentary maker Louis Theroux, taking us on a weird and wonderful journey through two decades of groundbreaking television....

This much we do know: Sophie Toscan du Plantier was murdered days before Christmas in 1996, her broken body discovered at the edge of her property near the town of Schull in West Cork, Ireland....

The long-awaited, rambling, tender and very funny memoir from Adam Buxton....

For the first time, Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson opens up about his amazing comeback - from tragic personal loss to thriving businessman and cable’s highest-paid executive - in this unique self-help guide, his first since his blockbuster New York Times best seller....

For the very first time, Finding Freedom goes beyond the headlines to reveal unknown details of Harry and Meghan’s life together, dispelling the many rumours and misconceptions that plague the couple on both sides of the pond....

Some crimes are so horrific they attract the harshest punishment possible: a sentence that means the guilty will die behind bars. From ‘the Crossbow Cannibal’ to Moors murderer Myra Hindley, journalist Julian Druker explores the cases of eight criminals with whole life orders.... 

In Search Of Black History with Bonnie Greer brings you face-to-face with the people you never knew existed. People whose stories tell us a different tale about who we all are....

It’s the $10 million heist you’ve never heard of. In a matter of months, dozens of truckloads disappeared from American highways. But what were they carrying? Nuts....

On New Year’s Eve 1999, a young Vladimir Putin appeared on Russian TV screens — awkward, self-conscious... and the new President. Two decades later, Putin is still in power, standing self-assured and at ease on the world stage....

Part inspiration, part memoir, Untamed explores the joy and peace we discover when we stop striving to meet the expectations of the world and instead dare to listen to and trust in the voice deep inside us.... 

The slap you in your face, stop you in your tracks, colour run from your face moment that changed everything. Six speakers from across the globe unravel the moment that redefined how they perceive themselves and how they view the world – put together with arresting sound design....

The compelling, inspiring (often comic) coming-of-age story of Trevor Noah, set during the twilight of apartheid and the tumultuous days of freedom that followed....

Tara Westover and her family grew up preparing for the End of Days but, according to the government, she didn’t exist....

Imagine having three life-coaches who had been through the toughest mental and physical challenges; a crack team of problem-solvers who knew in their day job that one mistake could be the difference between life - and death....

Growing up in a poor Yiddish speaking home in 1950s London, Lillian – then just a teenager – marries charming older man Raymond. One day he takes their children to the local park. But he never returns. When they reappear 40 years later – the search for the truth begins....

A woman disappears on her way to work. A man is convicted of her murder. But this case is different. Though the police believe they have the right man, key components of the prosecution case are missing....

No one is born a leader. But through sheer determination and by confronting life’s challenges, Ant Middleton has come to know the meaning of true leadership....

Women Don't Owe You Pretty is the ultimate audiobook for anyone who wants to challenge the out-dated narratives supplied to us by the patriarchy....

Murdoch is an innovator who has re-shaped a media industry across continents, from Australia to the UK to the US. He is a disruptor who has changed the nature of our politics with a steadfast focus on giving the people what he believes they want....

To the Woman is Audible UK’s flagship podcast series for International Women’s Day. Season two is hosted by June Sarpong OBE - a former To the Woman (Season 1) contributor and the BBC’s first Director of Creative Diversity....

Welcome to the world of the Secret Barrister. These are the stories of life inside the courtroom. They are sometimes funny, often moving and ultimately life-changing....