Mama, something went wrong in your tummy. And it made me come out as a boy instead of a girl.' When Marlo Mack’s three-year-old utters these words, her world splits wide open. Friends and family, experts, and Marlo herself had long downplayed her “son’s” requests for pretty dresses and long hair as experimentation—as a phase—but that time is over. When little “M” begs, weeping, to be reborn, Marlo knows she has to start listening to her kid. How to Be a Girl is Mack’s unflinching memoir of M’s coming out—to her father, grandparents, classmates, and the world. Fearful of the prejudice that menaces M’s future, Mack finds her liberal values surprisingly challenged: Why can’t M just be a boy who wears skirts and loves fairies? But M doesn’t give up—She’s a girl! American writer Stephen Crane died in 1900 at the age of 28. In his short, intense life, this burning boy wrote a masterpiece, The Red Badge of Courage, as well as other novels, short stories, and dispatches from the front of two wars. His adventurous life took him to the Wild West, Mexico, then to Cuba during the Spanish American War—dodging bullets which killed those around him, and suffering shipwreck on his way home. Fleeing America because of a scandalous love affair, his last 18 months were spent in Britain where he became a close friends of H.G. Wells, Henry James and, especially, Joseph Conrad. Auster's intention is to restore Crane to the pantheon of Modernist 20th century authors. Through his skill as a novelist, Crane leaps off the page, and into the reader's heart. Madrid in the Spanish Civil War, Prague during the Munich crisis, Berlin the day Germany invaded Poland, Paris as it fell to the Germans, London on the first day of the Blitz, Virginia Cowles has seen it all. As a pioneering female correspondent, she reported from Europe from the 1930s into the Second World War, watching ‘the lights in the death-chamber go out one by one’ from the frontline. Flinging off her heels under shellfire; meeting Hitler ('an inconspicuous little man'); gossiping with Churchill by his goldfish pond; dancing in the bomb-blasted Ritz; reading The Intelligent Woman's Guide to Socialism on a Soviet train; eating reindeer with guerrilla skiers—Cowles' incredible dispatches will make you an eyewitness to the twentieth-century as you have never experienced it before. Lamps, penknives, mechanical pencils, inflatable headrests. Marcin Wicha’s mother Joanna was a collector of everyday objects. She found intrinsic—and often idiosyncratic—value in each item. When she dies and leaves her apartment intact, Wicha is left to sort through her things. Through them, Wicha begins to construct an image of Joanna as a Jewish woman, a mother, and a citizen. As Poland emerged from the Second World War into the material meanness of the Communist regime, shortages of every kind shaped its people in deep and profound ways. What they chose to buy and keep tells the story of contemporary Poland. Joanna’s Jewishness, her devotion to work, her weakness for consumer goods, all accumulate into a portrait of a woman and, ultimately, her country. Sarah Aspinall grew up in the glittering wake of her irrepressible mother Audrey, but always knew she was destined for better things and was determined to shape that destiny for herself. From the fading seaside glamour of Southport, to New York and Hollywood, to post-war London and the stately homes of the English aristocracy, Audrey kicked down every door she encountered, on a ceaseless quest for excitement—and for love. Once Sarah was born, she became Audrey’s companion on her adventures, travelling the world and living on Audrey’s charm as they veered from luxury to poverty. As Sarah grew older, she realised that theirs was a life hung about with mysteries. Diamonds at the Lost and Found tells the story of how Sarah eventually pulled free of her mother’s gravitational pull to carve out a destiny of her own. There have been many comments made and books written about Siya Kolisi, captain of the Springboks, and the first black man to lead his country in over 128 years of South African rugby. But now, for the very first time, Siya Kolisi shares his story in an extraordinarily intimate memoir, charting his journey from being born into the impoverished Zwide township, to leading his proud nation to an astonishing victory at the Rugby World Cup in 2019. However, Rise is not simply a chronology of matches played and games won; it is an exploration of a man’s race and his faith, a masterclass in attaining a positive mindset, and an inspirational reminder that it is possible to defy the odds, no matter how they are stacked against you. With his unforgettable medal-winning performance in the 2012 London Olympics, double world champion Tom Daley captured the heart of the nation. This year’s Games in Tokyo is his fourth, and Tom is embarking on them with a renewed sense of perspective about what matters in life. In Coming Up for Air, Tom explores the moments and experiences that have shaped him. With each chapter, he reveals a lesson learned along the way, from the resilience he developed competing at world-class level, to the courage he discovered while reclaiming the narrative around his sexuality, and the perspective that family life has brought him. Warm, honest and perceptive, Coming Up for Air offers a unique insight into the life and mindset of one our greatest and most-loved athletes. Lea Ypi grew up in one of the most isolated countries on earth, a place where communist ideals had officially replaced religion. Albania was almost impossible to visit, almost impossible to leave. To Lea, it was home. People were equal, neighbours helped each other, and children were expected to build a better world. Then, in December 1990, a year after the fall of the Berlin Wall, everything changed. Almost overnight, people could vote freely and worship as they wished. But factories shut, jobs disappeared and thousands fled to Italy only to be sent back. As one generation's aspirations became another's disillusionment, Lea found herself questioning what freedom really meant. Free is an engrossing memoir of coming of age amid political upheaval. With acute insight and wit, Lea Ypi traces the limits of progress and the burden of the past. How did a couple of quirky siblings from suburban Pittsburgh end up as the king and queen of eclectic-design chic with their own HGTV show? Leanne and Steve were middle-class kids growing up in Pittsburgh in the 80s and 90s. Their parents, grounded in faith and always encouraging of both creativity and hard work, gave them the confidence and the encouragement they needed to pursue the often difficult creative life. And then their individual passions converged when Leanne asked Steve to help renovate her bathroom. There was magic in their collaboration, and they began renovating for clients in Pittsburgh—creating unique, authentic spaces that manage to feel both chic and completely obtainable—before catching the eye of producers at HGTV.