Non Fiction
Curating the best of the new titles in Economics, Science, Culture, Ideas and History.
We have separate collections for Business and Politics too!
My Good Bright Wolf, Sarah Moss ( paperback April 2025)
£10.99
A memoir about thinking and reading, eating and denying your body food, about the relationships that form us and the long tentacles of childhood. In the household of Sarah Moss's childhood she learnt that the female body and mind were battlegrounds. 1970s austerity and second-wave feminism came together: she must keep herself slim but never be vain, she must be intelligent but never angry, she must be able to cook and sew and make do and mend, but know those skills were frivolous.
Clever girls should be ambitious but women must restrain themselves. Women had to stay small. Years later, her self-control had become dangerous, and Sarah found herself in A&E.
The return of her teenage anorexia had become a medical emergency, forcing her to reckon with all that she had denied her hard-working body and furiously turning mind. My Good Bright Wolf navigates contested memories of girlhood, the chorus of relentless and controlling voices that dogged Sarah’s every thought, and the writing and books in which she could run free. Beautiful, audacious, moving and very funny, this memoir is a remarkable exercise in the way a brain turns on itself, and then finds a way out.
From Sarah Moss, the Sunday Times bestselling author of Summerwater, My Good Bright Wolf is a memoir like no other. 'Compulsive and compelling' - Emilie Pine
A History of the World in 47 Borders, John Elledge ( paperback March 2025)
£10.99
People have been drawing lines on maps for as long as there have been maps to draw on. Sometimes rooted in physical geography, sometimes entirely arbitrary, these lines might often have looked very different if a war or treaty or the decisions of a handful of tired Europeans had gone a different way. By telling the stories of these borders, we can learn a lot about how political identities are shaped, why the world looks the way it does - and about the scale of human folly.
From the Roman attempts to define the boundaries of civilisation, to the secret British-French agreement to carve up the Ottoman Empire during the First World War, to the reason why landlocked Bolivia still maintains a navy, this is a fascinating, witty and surprising look at the history of the world told through its borders.
Elledge writes with wry humour and infectious enthusiasm' OBSERVER
A Barrister for the Earth, Monica Feria-Tinta ( hardback April 2025)
£22.00
A Barrister for the Earth : Ten Cases of Hope for Our Future
From her chambers in London, one of Britain's most dazzling legal minds is taking on the challenge of a lifetime.' VOGUE'Law could be our planet's greatest hope. I was punching the air as I read this powerful, inspiring book.'ISABELLA TREE'Fascinating and compelling .
. A vital book for our times.' JULIAN HOFFMAN*Can a planet have legal rights? Could it be defended in a court of law? How do we redefine a 'right to life'? A revolution is taking place. Around the world, ordinary people are turning to courts, seeking justice for environmental wrongs.
At the forefront of this movement, pioneering barrister Monica Feria-Tinta advocates not only for people, but also for those who have no voice: for rivers, forests and endangered species. In A Barrister for the Earth, Feria-Tinta takes us behind the scenes of ten real cases as she argues against the destruction of cloud forests and for sovereign states to account for inaction. Each of these are landmarks signalling that we are at an important juncture, in which the law can be a powerful tool for the lasting change.
The Racket : On Tour with Tennis’s Golden Generation – and the other 99% by Conor Niland ( paperback june 2025)
£10.99
Conor Niland may only have managed a career-high ranking of 129 – only? that is some achievement in itself! – but The Racket, his account of how he managed this, is up there with the best half-dozen books on tennis ever written.' Geoff Dyer
WINNER OF THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD 2024
When Conor Niland was 16, he was chosen to hit with Serena Williams at Nick Bollettieri's famed tennis academy. Conor, the Irish junior number one, was feeling a bit homesick. Serena, also 16, already owned her own house beside the academy.
Conor Niland knows what it's like when Roger Federer walks into the dressing room ('Ciao, bonjour, hello!'), and he has had the exquisitely terrible experience of facing Novak Djokovic in the world's biggest tennis stadium - while suffering from food poisoning. But he never reached the very top. The Racket is the story of pro tennis's 99%: the players who roam the globe in hope of climbing the rankings and squeaking into the Grand Slam tournaments.
It brings us into a world where a few dozen super-rich players - travelling with coaches and physios - share a stage with lonely touring pros whose earnings barely cover their expenses. Painting a vivid picture of the social dynamics on tour, the economics of the game, and the shadows cast by gambling and doping, The Racket is a witty and revealing underdog's memoir and a unique look inside a fascinating hidden world.
What the WIld Sea Can Be, Helen Scales ( PB April 2025)
£10.99
SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION
No matter where we live, 'we are all ocean people,' Helen Scales observes in her bracing yet hopeful exploration of the future of the ocean. Beginning with its fascinating deep history, Scales links past to present to show how prehistoric ocean ecology holds lessons for the ocean of today. In elegant, evocative prose, she takes us into the realms of animals that epitomize current increasingly challenging conditions, from emperor penguins to sharks and orcas.
Yet despite these threats, many hopeful signs remain, in the form of highly protected reserves, the regeneration of seagrass meadows and giant kelp forests and efforts to protect coral reefs. Offering innovative ideas for protecting coastlines and cleaning the toxic seas, Scales insists we need more ethical and sustainable fisheries and must prevent the other existential threat of deep-sea mining. Inspiring us all to maintain a sense of awe and wonder at the majesty beneath the waves, she urges us to fight for the better future that still exists for the ocean.
Story of a Heart, Rachel Clarke ( paperback June 2025)
£10.99
WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION 2025
SHORTLISTED FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION 2024
BOOK OF THE YEAR IN THE SPECTATOR, NEW STATESMAN, NEW SCIENTIST, AND PROSPECTThis is the unforgettable story of how one family's grief transformed into a lifesaving gift.
With tremendous compassion and clarity, Dr Rachel Clarke relates the urgent journey of a young girl's heart and explores a history of remarkable medical innovations , stretching back over a century and involving the knowledge and dedication not just of surgeons but of countless physicians, immunologists, nurses and scientists.
'The best narrative non-fiction I've read in years. Rachel Clarke has written a profound piece of investigative journalism and wrapped it up in poetry' Christie Watson
