True Story Books

Cairo, 1942: If you had asked a British officer who Colonel Clarke was, they would have been able to point him out: always ready with a drink and a story, he was a well-known figure in the local bars. If you then asked what he did, you would have less success. Those who knew didn’t tell, and almost no one really knew at all. Clarke thought of himself as developing a new kind of weapon. Its components? Rumour, stagecraft, a sense of fun. Its target? The mind of Erwin Rommel, Hitler’s greatest general. Throughout history, military commanders have sought to mislead their opponents. Dudley Clarke set out to do it on a scale no one had imagined before. Even afterwards, almost no one understood the magnitude of his achievement. Drawing on recently released documents and hugely expanding on the louche portrait of Clarke as seen in SAS: Rogue Heroes, journalist and historian Robert Hutton reveals the amazing story of Clarke’s A Force, the invention of the SAS and the Commandos, and the masterful hoodwinking of the Desert Fox at the battle of El Alamein. The Illusionist tells for the first time the dazzling tale of how, at a pivotal moment in the war, British eccentricity and imagination combined to thwart the Nazis and save innumerable lives – on both sides. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781474626040 • Author: Robert Hutton • Publisher: Orion Publishing • Format: Paperback • Pages: 384 • Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.8 x 2.4 cm

From the time, many years ago, when Michael Palin first heard that his grandfather had a brother, Harry, he was determined to find out more about him. The quest that followed involved hundreds of hours of painstaking detective work. Michael dug out every bit of family gossip and correspondence he could. He studied every relevant official document. He tracked down what remained of his great-uncle Harry's diaries and letters, and pored over photographs of First World War battle scenes to see whether Harry appeared in any of them. He walked the route Harry took on that fatal, final day of his life amid the mud of northern France. And as he did so, a life that had previously existed in the shadows was revealed to him. Great-Uncle Harry is an utterly compelling account of an ordinary man who led an extraordinary life. A blend of biography, history, travelogue and personal memoir this is Michael Palin at his very finest. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781804959077 • Author: Michael Palin • Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd • Format: Paperback • Pages: 336 • Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.8 x 2.2 cm

In 1944, sixteen-year-old ballerina Edith was sent to Auschwitz and endured unimaginable experiences. When the camp was finally liberated, she was pulled from a pile of bodies, barely alive. Celebrated therapist and Holocaust survivor Edith Eger captivated millions with her incredible tale of survival and strength in her best-selling book The Choice. Now, in The Ballerina of Auschwitz, Edith revisits her wartime experiences in a deeply personal retelling, through the eyes and emotions of her teenage self. Through this reworking of her poignant narrative, Edith brings readers of all ages into the heart of her experiences, offering a compelling message of hope and resilience that will ensure her story is never forgotten. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781846048883 • Author: Edith Eger • Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd • Pages: 192 • Format: Paperback • Dimensions: 19.7 x 12.6 x 1.3 cm

The heart-warming tale of a life-saving friendship. In 2006, a traumatic car accident changed Kerry Irving’s life forever. Suffering from severe neck and back injuries, Kerry was unemployed and housebound, struggling with depression and even thoughts of suicide. He went from cycling over 600 miles a month to becoming a prisoner in his own home. With hope all but lost, Kerry’s wife encouraged him to go on a short walk to the local shop. In the face of unbearable pain and overwhelming panic, he persevered and along the way, met an adorable yard dog named Max. As the Spaniel peered up through the railings, Kerry found comfort and encouragement in his soulful brown eyes. This chance encounter marked a turning point in both their lives. In Max, Kerry found comfort and motivation and in Kerry, Max found someone to care for him. This is their remarkable, inspiring story. Product Information: • ISBN: 9780008353520 • Author: Kerry Irving • Publisher: Harper Collins Publishers • Format: Paperback • Pages: 272 • Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.9 x 1.8 cm

In Northern Poland in 1940, at the Nazi war camp Stalag XX-A, two men struck up an unlikely friendship that was to lead to one of the most daring and remarkable wartime escape stories ever told. Antony Coulthard was the privately educated son of wealthy parents and he had a first-class honours degree in modern languages from Oxford. The other man, Fred Foster, was the son of a bricklayer from Nottinghamshire - he left school with no qualifications aged 14. This seemingly mismatched young pair bonded together and hatched a plan to disguise themselves as advertising executives working for Siemens. They would simply walk out of the camp, board a train - and head straight into the heart of Nazi Germany. Which is precisely what they did. Product Information: ISBN: 9781912624010 Author: Steve Foster Publisher: Mirror Books Format: Paperback Pages: 278 Dimensions: 20 x 13 x 2cm

When newborn baby Felix is found abandoned at a train station, the police launch a desperate search for his mum. It doesn’t take long for their inquiries to lead them to Emily. While baby Felix is placed in Maggie’s care, the police and Social Services try and work out why Emily, a single mum, who has gone through fertility treatment to get pregnant, has suddenly resorted to abandoning her much longed-for child. But it’s only when Maggie wins her trust that Emily reveals the extent of her secret. Can Maggie help a desperate mother and her baby reunite? From Britain’s best-loved foster carer, a new and inspiring true story of secrets and hope. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781399629225 • Author: Maggie Hartley • Publisher: Orion Publishing • Format: Paperback • Pages: 240 • Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.8 x 2 cm

During the Second World War, it is hard to imagine a situation where the British High Command could think that one of the only ways they could attack Hitler was to send ten canoeists with limpet mines to paddle one hundred miles up the Gironde estuary, in the middle of winter, in an attempt to sink German blockade ships in Bordeaux harbour. Yet this is precisely what happened in 1942. The man who gave the go-ahead for the audacious commando raid – Lord Louis Mountbatten, head of Combined Operations – fully anticipated that all ten men would die in the attempt. Mountbatten wasn’t far wrong – two ripped their collapsible canoes as they were manhandling them out of the submarine; two drowned when their canoes capsized entering the Gironde estuary; and a further six were captured by the Germans and later executed. By complete chance, the two canoeists who managed to escape – Major ‘Blondie’ Hasler and Marine Bill Sparks – stumbled into the arms of the French resistance. Once in their care, Hasler and Sparks made their way across France and into Spain, crossing the Pyrenees in the company (though they did not know it) of a Gestapo agent intent on bringing down the resistance network. Operation Suicide will be the first account of this enthralling raid for over fifty years. In utilizing primary source material, including detailed German records captured by the British in 1944 (which remained censored until 1976), Robert Lyman brings to life one of the most courageous and dramatic events to take place in the darkest days of the Second World War. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781529440065 • Author: Robert Lyman • Publisher: Quercus Publishing plc • Format: Paperback • Pages: 368 • Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.8 x 2.6 cm

Never told in detail before, this is the account of how, for four years, British and Allied codebreakers decrypted secret SS and Gestapo messages detailing the mass killings of the Holocaust, and how the Germans in turn deployed cryptanalysis to try to conceal their persecution of Europe's Jews. The compelling and fast-paced narrative is told from the perspectives of two central and opposing characters, who never meet. At Bletchley Park, there is the legendary but unsung British codebreaker Nigel de Grey, shy, determined, nicknamed 'the Dormouse' by his colleagues. In Nazi-occupied Poland, SS Major Hermann Höfle, a former taxi driver from Salzburg, and one of the Third Reich's ruthless bureaucrats of mass death, oversees the operations of five concentration camps, including Treblinka. De Grey fought hard to make sure the vital intelligence from decrypted signals reached Allied leaders and was acted on. Höfle, meanwhile, used complex coded messages to try to conceal the mass killings. De Grey worked with his American counterparts, as well as codebreakers and intelligence agents from the Soviet Union, France, the Vatican, Switzerland and Poland. Yet he had dangerous enemies closer to home: a cabal of senior British government and intelligence officials disbelieved or ignored repeated intelligence reports about the ongoing Holocaust. Flawlessly researched, this is the story of a battle between good and evil, between life and mass death, a cat-and-mouse war of electronic wits. More than eighty years on, as Russian leaders face war crimes charges in international courts, the words 'Never again' seem more pertinent than ever. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781789467277 • Author: Christian Jennings • Publisher: Bonnier Books UK Limited • Format: Paperback • Pages: 368 • Dimensions: 19.8 x 13 x 2.5 cm

SAS Great Escapes Two recounts the hitherto untold stories of six of the most dramatic and daring escapes executed by the world's most famous fighting force during WWII. From the very earliest SAS missions to the push into Nazi-occupied Europe, they cover some of the key figures in the Regiment, including its founder, David Stirling, plus other lesser-known heroes. With each story comes an edge-of-the-seat, rollercoaster ride in classic Damien Lewis fashion, as readers are plunged into the escapees' experiences - sharing their most terrifying yet inspiring moments. These stunning accounts of survival beggar belief, revealing nerve-racking bluff and deception, knife-edge encounters with enemy hunter forces hellbent on wreaking vengeance and murder, but also incredible acts of mercy and kindness from those who risk all to help the escapees on their way. Each tale of breath-taking derring-do reveals how necessity really is the mother of all invention, as with every step and at every juncture these fugitives defied fate, snatching survival and freedom from the jaws of the enemy, and all the horrors that would have followed capture. Damien Lewis has worked closely with the families of those portrayed, accessing wartime diaries, letters, mission reports, interrogation transcripts and more, to relate how the men of the SAS crossed blazing deserts, evaded enemy hunter forces and escaped through hostile lands, battling against seemingly insurmountable odds. But most of all, these uplifting tales of endurance beyond measure showcase the triumph of the human spirit and the will to survive. Product Information:  • ISBN: 9781529429428 • Author: Damien Lewis • Publisher: Quercus Publishing • Format:  Paperback • Pages: 352 • Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.8 x 3.6 cm

Two true-crime cases from the hit TV series Murder is Forever Murder Beyond the Grave: Stephen Small has it all – a Ferrari, fancy house, loving wife and three sons. But the only thing he needs right now is enough air to breathe. Kidnapped, buried in a box, and held for ransom, Stephen has forty-eight hours of oxygen. The clock is ticking . . . Murder in Paradise: High in the Sierra Nevada mountains, developers Jim and Bonnie Hood excitedly tour Camp Nelson Lodge. They intend to buy and modernise this beautiful rustic property, but the locals don't like rich outsiders changing their way of life. After a grisly shooting, everybody will discover just how you can make a killing in real estate . . . Product Information: • ISBN: 9781787468788 • Author: James Patterson • Publisher: Arrow • Format: Paperback • Pages: 304 • Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.9 x 1.9 cm

Global superstar, songwriter, singer and Princess of Pop Britney Spears tells all in her heartfelt and honest memoir that portrays her rise to fame, tumultuous relationship with her father, controversial conservatorship, widely documented mental health struggles and so much more. Battling with a parent to take control of your own life at the age of 39 seems impossible. But this is where superstar Britney Spears found herself, 13 years into a conservatorship constructed by her father. In June 2021, the whole world was listening as she spoke in open court for the first time, delivering a bombshell statement in which she described the complex legal arrangement as abusive and condemned the actions of her own father, Jamie. The impact of voicing her truth was undeniable, and it changed the course of her life and the lives of countless others. The Woman in Me reveals for the first time her incredible journey and the strength at the core of one of the greatest performers in pop music history. Written with remarkable candour and humour, Spears's ground-breaking book illuminates the enduring power of music and love and the importance of a woman telling her own story, on her own terms, at last. Product Information:  • ISBN: 9781398522541  • Author: Britney Spears • Publisher: Gallery UK • Format:  Paperback • Pages: 288 • Dimensions:  13 x 1.7 x 19.8cm

Oskar Schindler is well known for having saved a thousand Jews from Nazi extermination during World War II. Yet Felix Kersten, Heinrich Himmler’s personal physician, remains almost unknown to this day. Only Kersten was able to relieve the Reichsführer of his crippling and chronic abdominal pains. Though despising the Nazis, he continued to work for Himmler throughout the war, using his position to pass intelligence to Finland, Sweden and the Netherlands, and demanding as payment from Himmler the liberation of victims sentenced to imprisonment or death. Drawing on unseen archive material from Germany, Sweden, The Netherlands and Israel, François Kersaudy guides us in the footsteps of a man who exploited the politics of hatred and fear within the Third Reich to save the lives of over a hundred thousand people, including sixty thousand Jews. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781800699069 • Author: François Kersaudy • Publisher: Orion Publishing • Format: Paperback • Pages: 416 • Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.8 x 3.6 cm 

FIVE OF THE MOST DARING ESCAPES CARRIED OUT BY THE SAS DURING WORLD WAR TWO SAS Great Escapes Three recounts how warriors of the world’s most famous fighting force, the SAS, carried out five of the most daring escapes of World War Two. Ranging from the very birth of the SAS, to the post D-Day battles for Nazi-occupied Europe, these gripping true stories cover some of the most iconic operations of the regiment, and its key characters, while also including untold tales of courage and endurance beyond compare. Told in classic Damien Lewis style, each account plunges the reader into the escapees’ experiences – sharing the most terrifying yet astounding moments of their lives. They include unimaginable accounts of survival in the face of staggering odds, episodes of nerve-wracking bluff and deception, plus knife-edge ambushes with enemy forces hell-bent on wreaking vengeance. In this new volume of incredible special forces feats, bestselling author Damien Lewis has worked closely with World War Two veterans and the families of those portrayed, accessing wartime diaries, letters, mission reports, interrogation transcripts and more, to relate how the men of the SAS were hunted by the enemy and forced to fight their way out of certain death or capture. Around every corner, upon every decision and every movement lurked the possibility of discovery. Yet with every step, breath and turn taken, these fugitives epitomized the do-or-die spirit of the SAS to overcome. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781529429473 • Author: Damien Lewis • Publisher: Quercus Publishing plc • Format: Paperback • Pages: 368 • Dimensions: 19.7 x 12.8 x 2.7 cm

A dramatic, gripping account of the rise and fall of the notorious business tycoon Robert Maxwell from the acclaimed author of A Very English Scandal. Robert Maxwell was a very British success. Born an Orthodox Jew, he escaped the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia, fought in the Second World War, and was decorated for his heroism with the Military Cross. He went on to become a Labour MP and an astonishingly successful businessman, owning a number of newspapers and publishing companies. But after his dead body was discovered floating in waters around his superyacht, his empire fell apart as long-hidden debts and unscrupulous dealings came to light. Within a few days, Maxwell was being reviled as the embodiment of greed and corruption. What went so wrong? How did a man who had once laid such store on the importance of ethics and good behaviour become reduced to a bloated, amoral wreck? In this gripping book, John Preston delivers the definitive account of Maxwell's extraordinary rise and scandalous fall. Product Information: • ISBN: 9780241388686 • Author: John Preston • Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd • Format: Paperback • Pages: 352 • Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.9 x 2.1cm

The epic story of the RAF’s legendary heavy bomber: the Avro Lancaster The Lancaster Story takes readers on a remarkable journey through the history of an aviation icon. This is an informative and engaging account of the true workhorse of the RAF’s bomber corps and the emotional human stories of quiet courage, sacrifice, and hard work of the men and women who flew, designed, constructed and maintained it. Between its introduction in 1942 and the end of the Second World War, the Avro Lancaster flew more than 150,000 sorties, dropped more than 600,000 tons of explosives and took the Allied fight to Nazi Germany. The ‘Lanc’ featured on some of the most daring and celebrated missions of the war, including the heroic Dambusters raid and the Operation Hydra bombing. These and many other successes came at a significant cost, however: almost half of the 7,377 Lancasters deployed into service were lost in action. Using archival documents, letters and first-hand accounts, The Lancaster Story delivers a dramatic and vividly rendered account of the most successful RAF bomber of the Second World War. Combining individual stories into a gripping, panoramic narrative, it paints a complete portrait of the battle over Europe, and the Lancaster’s unique and decisive role in it. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781789297485 • Author: Sarah-Louise Miller • Publisher: Michael O'Mara • Format: Paperback     • Pages: 256 • Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.9 x 1.95 cm