Kirjahaku

A fascinating insight into the life of one of the country's bestselling and best-loved authors, marrying her work with her extraordinary life, and looking at her rise to fame and fortune against all the odds. ‘Everything I have touched in my life figures in my books. Every single book I write has something that has happened to me or my family or to my friends.’ Josephine Cox was born in Blackburn during its decline as the cotton-weaving capital of the world. Life was hard but characterful, the joys and tragedies of her youth later inspiring her multi-million selling novels. One of ten children, Josephine knew poverty, hunger and charity. Between births, her mother worked in the cotton mills, her father on the roads. Sleeping up to six in a bed, her family lived in the tightly packed, working-class terraces of Blackburn. But Josephine never felt victimised or shamed. Transforming their closed-in community into one that inspired ‘another kind of love, a deep sense of belonging’ were the characters Josephine writes about in her novels with such fondness and feeling. But alas reality was not always so easy. Hand in hand with poverty came deprivation and domestic difficulties. At the end of her tether, Jo’s mother gathered her children around her in the bus station one day and announced they were leaving Blackburn. Josephine was fourteen years old. Not only did she lose her friends, she also lost her brothers too who were left behind. ‘Belonging to a street, to a place, to a family, is the most important thing.’ Out of this tremendous loss, Josephine’s novels were born.

This oral history of London's East End spans the period after the First World War to the upsurge of prosperity at the beginning of the 60s - a time which saw fresh waves of immigrants in the area, the Fascist marches of the 30s and its spirited recovery after virtual obliteration during the Blitz. Piers Dudgeon has listened to dozens of people who remember this fiercely proud quarter to record their real-life experiences of what it was like before it was fashionable to buy a home in the Docklands. They talk of childhood and education, of work and entertainment, of family, community values, health, politics, religion and music. Their stories will make you laugh and cry. It is people's own memories that make history real and this engrossing book captures them vividly.

This oral history of Glasgow spans most of the last century - a time of economic downturn and eventual renewal, in which the many communities making up the city experienced upheavals that tore some apart and brought others closer together. It tells of the beating heart of no mean city in the words of the people who made it what it is. Piers Dudgeon has listened to dozens of people who remember the city as it was, and who have lived through its many changes. They talk of childhood and education, of work and entertainment, of family, community values, health, politics, religion and music. Their stories will make you laugh and cry. It is people's own memories that make history real and this engrossing book captures them vividly.

OUR LIVERPOOL is an oral history about the real Liverpool - about the city before its slick transformation to European City of Culture and about the spirit that remains at its heart. Here, at last, is Liverpool's grievous and glorious past. And here, through the people's voices, we find old Liverpool, without the gift-wrap. Its stories pulsate with the rhythms of an alternately funny, flippant, belligerent, stubborn and warm heart, and they broadcast the values of a community, which are the city's true legacy to the modern world. Piers Dudgeon has listened to dozens of people who remember the city as it was, and who have lived through its many changes. They talk of childhood and education, of work and entertainment, of family, community values, health, politics, religion and music. Their stories will make you laugh and cry. It is people's own memories that make history real and this engrossing book captures them vividly.

In his revelatory Neverland, Piers Dudgeon tells the tragic story of J. M. Barrie and the Du Maurier family. Driven by a need to fill the vacuum left by sexual impotence, Barrie sought out George du Maurier, Daphne du Maurier s grandfather (author of the famed Trilby), who specialized in hypnosis. Barrie s fascination and obsession with the Du Maurier family is a shocking study of greed and psychological abuse, as we observe Barrie as he applies these lessons in mind control to captivate George s daughter Sylvia, his son Gerald, as well as their children who became the inspiration for the Darling family in Barrie s immortal Peter Pan. Barrie later altered Sylvia s will after her death so that he could become the boys legal guardian, while pushing several members of the family to nervous breakdown and suicide. Barrie s compulsion to dominate was so apparent to those around him that D. H. Lawrence once wrote: J. M Barrie has a fatal touch for those he loves. They die."

Born into the bleak industrial heartland of Tyneside in 1906, an illegitimate child, with the courage to escape and discover her true self, denies her people, reaches rock bottom, and then writes her way back into their hearts as Catherine Cookson, the multi-million-selling writer.Illustrated with 30 striking personal photographs, this is the REAL Jarrow Lass, the ultimate rags-to-riches romance delivered hard-edged by folk who lived in the same street as Catherine as a child and knew first-hand the pain that hardship and alienation brings.'A powerful story and Piers Dudgeon tells it with skill and feeling' Daily Telegraph

'Astonishing... A fascinating and obsessively close look at one of the great rags-to-riches stories of our time.' Sunday ExpressFrom working-class dreamer on the cobbled streets of Yorkshire to one of the world's most successful authors on the sweeping avenues of Manhattan, the rise of Barbara Taylor Bradford is by any standard extraordinary.In this incredible story of suffering, loss and triumph over adversity, fact and fiction proceed side by side in a unique collaboration, the first time that Taylor Bradford has participated in a memoir of any kind, and one that has turned out to be as much a revelation to her as it will certainly be to her readers.'A woman of Real substance: the amazing story of how Barbara Taylor Bradford discovered she was the secret grandchild of a philandering aristocrat.' The Mail on Sunday'Enthralling - a story no less gripping than any of her blockbusters.' You Magazine'Dudgeon is a fine writer with a dogged determination to find out what makes his subject tick.' The Glasgow Herald

'A remarkable insight into the private life of the much-loved author.' Irish Independent 'A loving tribute to the popular Irish writer. Fans will find new insight to their favorite Binchy works.' USA Today 'This warm and often humorous record of a woman who was determined to be her own person.' Irish Post

A fascinating look at the remarkable life of Barbara Taylor Bradford, bestselling author of the unforgettable A Woman of Substance From the cobbled streets of Yorkshire to the sweeping avenues of Manhattan, Barbara's own story is as dramatic a tale as any one of her bestsellers. Barbara Taylor Bradford's rise to fame and fortune was a difficult one. But from an early age her mother marked her out for glory – at any cost. The drive and ambition instilled in Barbara were to reap huge rewards. From humble beginnings in Yorkshire she took London's Fleet Street by storm. And then, with the creation of Emma Harte, the unforgettable heroine of her first novel A Woman of Substance, she inspired women the world over – and became one of the world's bestselling authors. This is the first time that Barbara Taylor Bradford has been involved in a memoir of any kind and this unique collaboration has produced an extraordinary story. For Emma Harte's rise from Edwardian kitchen maid, single and pregnant, to one of the richest women in the world uncannily mirrors Barbara's own family history – something which was as much of a shock to Barbara as it will be to her millions of fans… Don’t miss this incredible story of suffering, loss and triumph over adversity, a must-read for any A Woman of Substance fan.