Fourteen by Shannon Molloy

$35.00 NZD

Category: Biography

Fourteen is this generation’s Holding the Man – a moving coming-of-age memoir about a young man’s search for identity and acceptance in the most unforgiving and hostile of places: high school.

Bill Birch: Minister of Everything

$40.00 NZD

Category: Biography

Majesty - Elizabeth II and the Royal House of Windsor - The House of Windsor in the Second Elizabethan Age by Rod Green

$55.00 NZD

Category: Biography

Majesty is the enthralling story of the House of Windsor, focussing on the personal and political intrigues that have characterised the reign of Elizabeth II. Fully illustrated with contemporary photographs, it describes the fluctuating fortunes of the Windsors, from the dramatic abdication of the Quee n's uncle, Edward VIII, to the tumultuous relationship between Prince Charles and Princess Diana. Set against the colourful backdrop of key events - such as the 'Great Smog' that brought London to a halt in 1952; the IRA murder of Lord Mountbatten during the Northern Ireland 'Troubles'; the crisis triggered by the death of Princess Diana; the wedding of Prince William to 'commoner' Kate Middleton; and the changing face of world politics - this is the story not only of a family, but also a history of our times. ...Show more

Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo

$32.99 NZD

Category: Biography

The multi-million copy selling, international bestseller. Kim Jiyoung is a girl born to a mother whose in-laws wanted a boy. Kim Jiyoung is a sister made to share a room while her brother gets one of his own. Kim Jiyoung is a female preyed upon by male teachers at school. Kim Jiyoung is a daughter w hose father blames her when she is harassed late at night.   Kim Jiyoung is a good student who doesn't get put forward for internships. Kim Jiyoung is a model employee but gets overlooked for promotion. Kim Jiyoung is a wife who gives up her career and independence for a life of domesticity. Kim Jiyoung has started acting strangely. Kim Jiyoung is depressed. Kim Jiyoung is mad. Kim Jiyoung is her own woman. Kim Jiyoung is every woman. Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 is the South Korean sensation that has got the whole world talking. The life story of one young woman born at the end of the twentieth century raises questions about endemic misogyny and institutional oppression that are relevant to us all. Riveting, original and uncompromising, this is the most important book to have emerged from South Korea since Han Kang's The Vegetarian.      ...Show more

Three Brothers: Memories of My Family by Yan Lianke

$38.00 NZD

Category: Biography

A powerful and intimate memoir about childhood, family and politics during the Cultural Revolution, from one of China's most important contemporary voices. With his quick wit and gift for metaphor, Yan Lianke brings the reader into his home of the 1960s and early 70s in rural Henan Province. Yan's is a loving but hard childhood- his father cultivates a stony plot to grow sweet potatoes, only to have them requisitioned by the government. Yan longs to become a writer after reading on the back of a novel that the writer was allowed to remain in the city after publishing her book. But before escaping the village, he has to join the army in order to earn money for his family. Chronicling the lives of his father and uncles, as well as his own, Yan Lianke's Three Brothers is both a portrait of a singular period and a heartfelt celebration of the power of the family under the harshest circumstances. ...Show more

Jacinda Ardern by Michelle Duff

$32.99 NZD

Category: Biography

Michelle Duff sweeps up all the misogyny that's accompanied Ardern's career so far and show how it undermines women in politics. It's engaging, enraging, illuminating and funny. Jacinda Ardern, Prime Minister of New Zealand, is lauded as one of the world's most influential people. Her rise to power has been stellar. In 2017 she became leader of the Labour party just seven weeks before the election at which she claimed the top job. Newsroom Michelle Duff delves into Ardern's beginnings in small-town New Zealand, discovering a nose-ringed teen fighting for equality and her own identity in a devout Mormon family. Duff tracks Ardern's political career, from being dismissed as a 'show pony' to her compassion during one of New Zealand's biggest tragedies, the Christchurch mosque terror attack of 2019. In its aftermath, Ardern has become a global icon for her strength and decisiveness while uniting a country in shock and mourning. Ardern attracted international headlines for being the second world leader to give birth while in office. But why was having a baby so meaningful, and what does it say about the continued struggle for gender equality? Has Ardern really been a transcendent leader, and what enduring mark might she leave on the political landscape? This is an engrossing and powerful exploration of one of the most intriguing political stories of our time - telling us as much about one young woman's ascendancy as it does about the country that elected her. ...Show more

No One Here Gets Out Alive: The Biography of Jim Morrison by Jerry Hopkins

$34.99 NZD

Category: Biography

This title traces the story of Jim Morrison's tragic and triumphant life to his sudden and mysterious death in Paris on 3rd July, 1971. Today, nearly 40 years later he remains the major rock'n'roll cult hero of the 1960's.

Things I Learned from Falling by Claire Nelson

$29.99 NZD

Category: Biography

An inspirational and gripping first-person account of determination, adversity and survival against the odds. Last year, Claire Nelson made international headlines. She was in her thirties and was beginning to burn out - her hectic London life of work and social activity and striving to do more and do better in the big city was frenetic and stressful. Although she was surrounded by people all of the time, she felt increasingly lonely. When the anxiety she felt finally brought her to breaking point, Claire decided to take some time off and travelled to Joshua Tree Park in California to hike and clear her head. What happened next was something she could never have anticipated. While hiking, Claire fell 30 feet, gravely injuring herself and she lay alone in the desert - mistakenly miles off any trail, without a cell phone signal, fighting for her life. She lay there for four days until she was miraculously rescued - the doctors saying she had only hours to live when she was eventually found. In THINGS I LEARNED FROM FALLING Claire tells her incredible story and what it taught her about loneliness, anxiety and transformation and how to survive it all. ...Show more

Rust by Eliese Goldbach

$34.99 NZD

Category: Biography

When Eliese Goldbach was nine years old, she decided to become a Catholic nun. Twenty years later, with a Master's degree, she found herself making steel in the Rust Belt during the 2016 US election season. A small part of her wondered if she'd got stuck inside a dream that had gone horribly wrong. Trum p was supposed to be golfing in Florida, not vying for the presidency. She was supposed to be saving souls, not stirring a vat of molten metal. The trajectory of her life had fallen short of expectations. The trajectory of the USA was going haywire. Part memoir, part social commentary, framed by Eliese's experiences as a steelworker, RUST is about perspective, and shifting perspective: it's about change. Much of Eliese's life connects the identities that seem to be driving the USA apart, and the parallels with a post-Brexit UK are uncanny. She's a former Republican turned Democrat; a feminist with Christian roots. Anti-abortion - until she herself was subjected to sexual violence - a supporter of the right to choose. She doesn't fit neatly into any one box. Appealing to readers of HILLBILLY ELEGY and EDUCATED, RUST explores Eliese's transformation from far-right to left-of-centre, detailing her first year as a steelworker, and the path that brought her to the mill in the first place. It is an American tale, but could just as easily be Sunderland, UK, as Cleveland, USA. Raw and luminous, RUST explores the USA's, and the world's, most pressing issues in an attempt to amplify our understanding of one another across the divide. It's a rally cry to a nation at a crossroads. ...Show more

Hitch-22: A Memoir by Christopher Hitchens

$29.99 NZD

Category: Biography

Over the last thirty years Christopher Hitchens has established himself as one of the world's most influential public intellectuals. His originality, bravery, range and wit made him first a leading iconoclast of the political left, and then later a formidable advocate of secular liberalism. As a sociali st he opposed the war in Vietnam, after September 11 he emerged as one of the fiercest advocates of war in Iraq. In this candid memoir, Hitchens retraces 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 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. Hitch-22 is, by turns, moving and funny, charming and irascible and inspiring. It is an indispensable companion to the life and thought of an outstanding political writer. ...Show more

Motherwell by Deborah Orr

$45.00 NZD

Category: Biography

Just shy of 18, Deborah Orr left Motherwell - the town she both loved and hated - to go to university. It was a decision her mother railed against from the moment the idea was raised. Win had very little agency in the world, every choice was determined by the men in her life. And strangely, she wanted t he same for her daughter. Attending university wasn't for the likes of the Orr family. Worse still, it would mean leaving Win behind - and Win wanted Deborah with her at all times, rather like she wanted her arm with her at all times. But while she managed to escape, Deborah's severing from her family was only superficial. She continued to travel back to Motherwell, fantasizing about the day that Win might come to accept her as good enough. Though of course it was never meant to be. MOTHERWELL is a sharp, unflinching and often humorous memoir about the long shadow that can be cast when the core relationship in your life compromises every effort you make to become an individual. It is about what we inherit - the good and the very bad - and how a deeper understanding of the place and people you have come from can bring you towards redemption. ...Show more

Heida - A Shepherd at the Edge of the World by Steinunn Sigurðardóttir

$27.99 NZD

Category: Biography

I'm not on my own because I've been sitting crying into a handkerchief or apron over a lack of interested men. I've been made every offer imaginable over the years. Men offer themselves, their sons...drunk fathers sometimes call me up and say things like: "Do you need a farmhand?" "I can lift the hay ba les" "I can repair your tractors"... Heida is a solitary farmer with a flock of 500 sheep in a remorseless area bordering Iceland's highlands. It's known as the End of the World. One of her nearest neighbours is Iceland's most notorious volcano, Katla, which has periodically driven away the inhabitants of Ljotarstadir ever since people first started farming there in the twelfth century. This portrait of Heida written with wit and humour by one of Iceland's most acclaimed novelists, Steinunn Sigurdardottir, tells a heroic tale of a charismatic young woman, who at 23 walked away from a career as a model in New York to take over the family farm when her father died. I want to tell women they can do anything, and to show that sheep farming isn't just a man's game. I guess I've always been a feminist. When I was growing up, there was a female president, and I used to wear the same clothes and play with the same toys as the boys. It was just normal to me. Divided into four seasons, HEIDA tells the story of a remarkable year, interwoven with vivid stories of her animals and farm work and paints a unforgettable portrait of a remote life close to nature. We humans are mortal; the land outlives us, new people come, new sheep, new birds and so on but the land with its rivers and lakes and resources, remains. ...Show more