YA MUM is a rancid collection of short stories, moments and embarrassments from Britain’s cultural underbelly. Whilst hordes of tourists take selfies in front of Tower Bridge and St. Paul’s Cathedral, a used condom is strewn lifelessly on the chewing gum infested pavement. Another spent mattress materialises overnight by the communal bins of a slumbering high-rise apartment block and the skeleton of a bike without wheels cries out for its owner. Writer and illustrator Ben Tallon invites you to take a naughty peek through the two-way mirror, onto all things dubious and dirty at the arse-end of British life.

WINNER OF THE COSTA BIOGRAPHY PRIZE 2020 'This is the story of arguably one of the most important, yet least known, events in modern British history. Lee's journey and fight for justice are both inspiring and enraging' AKALA What would you do if the people you trusted to uphold the law committed a crime against you? Who would you turn to? And how long would you fight them for? On 28th September 1985, Lee Lawrence's mother Cherry Groce was wrongly shot by police during a raid on her Brixton home. The bullet shattered her spine and she never walked again. In the chaos that followed, 11-year-old Lee watched in horror as the News falsely pronounced his mother dead. In Brixton, already a powder keg because of the deep racism that the community was experiencing, it was the spark needed to trigger two days of rioting that saw buildings brought down by petrol bombs, cars torched and shops looted. But for Lee, it was a spark that lit a flame that would burn for the next 30 years as he fought to get the police to recognise their wrongdoing. His life had changed forever: he was now his mother's carer, he had seen first-hand the prejudice that existed in his country, and he was at the mercy of a society that was working against him. And yet that flame - for justice, for peace, for change - kept him going. The Louder I Will Sing is a powerful, compelling and uplifting memoir about growing up in modern Britain as a young Black man. It's a story both of people and politics, of the underlying racism beneath many of our most important institutions, but also the positive power that hope, faith and love can bring in response.

“A record of how a city of great wealth ignored the desperate poverty at its very heart . . . It is a lesson in the price of capitalism.” —North West Labour History Journal “It is all free fighting here. Even some of the windows do not open, so it is useless to cry for help. Dampness and misery, violence and wrong, have left their handwriting in perfectly legible characters on the walls.” —Manchester Guardian, 1870 Step into the Victorian underworld of Angel Meadow, the vilest and most dangerous slum of the Industrial Revolution. In the shadow of the world’s first cotton mill, 30,000 souls trapped by poverty are fighting for survival as the British Empire is built upon their backs. Thieves and prostitutes keep company with rats in overcrowded lodging houses and deep cellars on the banks of a black river, the Irk. Gangs of “scuttlers” stalk the streets in pointed, brass-tipped clogs. Those who evade their clutches are hunted down by cholera, typhoid and tuberculosis. Lawless drinking dens and a cold slab in the dead house provide the only relief from a filthy and frightening world. In this shocking book, journalist Dean Kirby takes readers on a hair-raising journey through the gin palaces, alleyways and underground vaults of this nineteenth-century Manchester slum considered so diabolical it was re-christened “hell upon earth” by Friedrich Engels. ENTER ANGEL MEADOW IF YOU DARE . . . “In this book the author expertly achieves driving home the grim horror that was Angel Meadow. These were conditions at the bottom of human endurance and conditions that go beyond imaginations of modern-day citizens.” —Crime Traveller

It’s a story everyone thinks they know ... about the young boy from the back streets of Belfast who grew up to be the most famous footballer in the world, a legend who was the first superstar of the sport but whose troubled personal life, as much as his sporting genius, came to dominate the headlines. But Barbara and Carol, George’s sisters, and Dickie, his father, know more. Our George reveals for the first time the real story of George Best – as told by those who knew him best and loved him most. It’s the inside story of the ordinary Belfast family whose love for, and contact with, their famous son and brother never wavered through the years. It’s the story of a family desperately helping him as he battled the illness that also claimed the life of their beloved wife and mother. Our George is a searingly honest book about the influences that moulded the legend – and the demons that haunted his life. Speaking for the first time, the intensely private Best family reveals how George really felt about the people and the events that shaped his life. Barbara Best is frank in confronting George’s own failings and those of some of the people who were close to him, as well as offering a unique perspective on the many pressures to which he was subject. Our George is illustrated with a wealth of previously unseen family photographs, documents and correspondence (much of it deeply poignant) between George and his family.

A vivid and compelling memoir recounting the real lives, loves and friendship of 1940s Soho and its working girls. Barbara Tate was 17 when she heard the whispered word that would change her life: Soho. It would take four years for Barbara to escape her loveless home but when she finally made it to the forbidden streets of Soho - just as London was recovering from the trauma of the second world war - things would never be the same again. There the naive Barbara meets the beautiful and capricious Mae. When she takes a job as Mae's maid, Barbara imagines she'll be housekeeping. But down a shabby backstreet, Barbara discovers the secret lives of Soho's working girls. An astonishing world full of fierce friendships and bitter rivalries, dangerous men and desperate measures, Barbara soon learns that taking the money from a staggering supply of punters and making copious amounts of tea are only the bare essentials. She will need to be nursemaid, protector and confidante to impossible, adorable, self-destructive Mae.

"MAY IS GOING FROM STRENGTH TO STRENGTH... A WONDERFUL EXHIBITION OF JUST HOW GOOD MAY CAN BE." --The Daily Mail "Five of us had run away that fateful night just over a month before. Only three of us would be going home. And nothing, nothing would ever be the same again." Glasgow, 1965. Headstrong teenager Jack Mackay has just one destination on his mind--London--and successfully convinces his four friends, and fellow bandmates, to join him in abandoning their homes to pursue a goal of musical stardom. Glasgow, 2015. Jack Mackay, heavy-hearted sixty-seven-year-old is still haunted by what might have been. His recollections of the terrible events that befell him and his friends some fifty years earlier, and how he did not act when it mattered most is a memory he has tried to escape his entire adult life. London, 2015. A man lies dead in a one-room flat. His killer looks on, remorseless. What started with five teenagers following a dream five decades before has been transformed over the intervening decades into a waking nightmare that might just consume them all.

‘I love Stephanie… She’s one of my favourite truth tellers online, she pulls no punches and empowers so many women with her own commitment to equality... This book is going to mean a lot, to a lot of people.’ – Jameela Jamil Stephanie Yeboah has experienced racism and fat-phobia throughout her life. From being bullied at school to being objectified and humiliated in her dating life, Stephanie’s response to discrimination has always been to change the narrative around body-image and what we see as beautiful. In her debut book, Fattily Ever After, Stephanie speaks openly and courageously about her own experience on navigating life as a black, plus-sized woman – telling it how it really is – and how she has managed to find self-acceptance in a world where judgement and discrimination are rife. Featuring stories of every day misogynoir and being fetishized, to navigating the cesspit of online dating and experiencing loneliness, Stephanie shares her thoughts on the treatment of black women throughout history, the marginalisation of black, plus-sized women in the media (even within the body-positivity movement) whilst drawing on wisdom from other black fat liberation champions along the way. Peppered with insightful tips and honest advice and boldly illustrated throughout, this inspiring and powerful book is essential reading for a generation of black, plus-sized women, helping them to live their life openly, unapologetically and with confidence.

'A delicious evocation of place and memory from one of my favourite cooks.' Allan Jenkins, Editor of Observer Food Monthly 'This book is so much more than a cookbook, it's a love song to a very special place and we are lucky to have the brilliant Marianna as our guide.' Itamar Srulovich, co-founder of Honey & Co. 'I want to make everything in this beautiful book. An absolute treasure.' Rosie Birkett, author of The Joyful Home Cook With photography from Elena Heatherwick, the Fortnum & Mason Food and Drink Photographer of the Year 2020 Marianna Leivaditaki is a natural storyteller. She grew up in Chania, on the Greek island of Crete, and spent her childhood helping out in the family-run taverna. After school, she carried around her blue notebook, writing down all the recipes she would like to cook, helped by the Greek grannies' kitchen wisdom. Marianna's love for the food of her heritage flows off every page, but she also has a contemporary take on it. As head chef of Morito in Hackney, she has championed high-quality ingredients, presenting them in simple, stunning sharing plates, and has been critically acclaimed for doing so. These inspirational recipes derive from the SEA, the LAND and the MOUNTAINS. We all know the health benefits of a Mediterranean diet, rich in olive oil, fresh vegetables and fruit, nuts, fish and whole grains, as well as the importance of how you eat and appreciate your food. Marianna offers achievable, yet delicious dishes celebrating seasonal, fresh food that you can take time to enjoy with friends and family.

In this hilariously sweet story about an opposites-attract friendship, chock-full of Yiddish humor, a girl and her best bird friend’s perfect day turns into a perfect opportunity to see things differently. Gitty and her feathered-friend Kvetch couldn’t be more different: Gitty always sees the bright side of life, while her curmudgeonly friend Kvetch is always complaining and, well, kvetching about the trouble they get into. One perfect day, Gitty ropes Kvetch into shlepping off on a new adventure to their perfect purple treehouse. Even when Kvetch sees signs of impending doom everywhere, Gitty finds silver linings and holds onto her super special surprise reason for completing their mission. But when her perfect plan goes awry, oy vey, suddenly it’s Gitty who’s down in the dumps. Can Kvetch come out of his funk to lift Gitty’s spirits back up?

“An atmospheric, smart, often terrifying read” from the author of the Isles of Scilly Mysteries—now optioned for television (Louise Penny, #1 New York Times–bestselling author). Alice Quentin is a psychologist with some painful family secrets, but she has a good job, a good-looking boyfriend, and excellent coping skills, even when that job includes evaluating a convicted killer who’s about to be released from prison. One of the highlights of her day is going for a nice, long run around her beloved London—it’s impossible to fret or feel guilty about your mother or brother when you’re concentrating on your breathing—until she stumbles upon a dead body at a former graveyard for prostitutes, Crossbones Yard. The dead woman’s wounds are alarmingly similar to the signature style of Ray and Marie Benson, who tortured and killed thirteen women before they were caught and sent to jail. Five of their victims were never found. That was six years ago, and the last thing Alice wants to do is to enter the sordid world of the Bensons or anyone like them. But when the police ask for her help in building a psychological profile of the new murderer, she finds that the killer—and the danger to her and the people she cares about—may already be closer than she ever imagined. With gripping suspense and a terrific new heroine, Kate Rhodes’s Crossbones Yard introduces a powerful new voice in crime fiction. “A first novel by the British poet Kate Rhodes is a fast-moving, entertaining mix of sex, suspense and serial killings.” —The Washington Post