Actors & Entertainers

‘There’s never been a more honest or raw memoir … and it may just save lives’ Daily Mail

‘Funny, fascinating, compelling … also a wonderful read for fans of Friends’ The Times

The beloved star of Friends takes us behind the scenes of the hit sitcom and his struggles with addiction in this candid, funny, and revelatory memoir that delivers a powerful message of hope and persistence.

This is the riveting story of acclaimed actor Matthew Perry, who takes us along on his journey from childhood ambition to fame to addiction and recovery in the aftermath of a life-threatening health scare. Before the frequent hospital visits and stints in rehab, there was five-year-old Matthew, who travelled from Montreal to Los Angeles, shuffling between his separated parents; fourteen-year-old Matthew, who was a nationally ranked tennis star in Canada; twenty-four-year-old Matthew, who nabbed a coveted role as a lead cast member on the talked-about pilot then called Friends Like Us. . . and so much more.

In an extraordinary story that only he could tell – and in the heartfelt, hilarious, and warmly familiar way only he could tell it – Matthew Perry lays bare the fractured family that raised him (and also left him to his own devices), the desire for recognition that drove him to fame, and the void inside him that could not be filled even by his greatest dreams coming true. But he also details the peace he’s found in sobriety and how he feels about the ubiquity of Friends, sharing stories about his castmates and other stars he met along the way. Frank, self-aware, and with his trademark humour, Perry vividly depicts his lifelong battle with addiction and what fuelled it despite seemingly having it all.

Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing is an unforgettable memoir that is both intimate and eye-opening – as well as a hand extended to anyone struggling with sobriety. Unflinchingly honest, moving, and uproariously funny, this is the book fans have been waiting for.

‘An unflinching and often harrowing must-read for 90s pop culture fans’ Guardian

‘Written with Chandler’s trademark sarcasm and self-deprecation’ Telegraph

‘A hopeful read … I started to think of [it] not as a celebrity memoir about addiction, but as an addiction memoir written by a man who understands his own history through the prism of showbiz’ Independent

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Discover the enthralling Richard & Judy Book Club pick from international bestseller Joseph O’Connor.

‘The best novel that I’ve read in the last twenty years… It’s fantastic’ RICHARD MADELEY

‘Breathtaking… A hugely entertaining book about the grand scope of friendship and love’ Sadie Jones, Guardian
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London, 1878. Three extraordinary people begin their life together – and the idea for Dracula is born.

Fresh from life in Dublin, Bram Stoker – now manager of the Lyceum Theatre – is wrestling with dark demons in a new city, in a new marriage, and with his own literary aspirations. As he walks the streets at night, streets haunted by the Ripper and the gossip which swirls around his friend Oscar Wilde, he finds new inspiration. Soon, the eerie tale of Dracula begins to emerge.

But Henry Irving, volcanic leading man and impresario, is determined that nothing will get in the way of Bram’s dedication to the Lyceum. And both men are growing ever more enchanted by the beauty and boldness of Ellen Terry, the most celebrated actress of her generation.
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Shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award 2019
Winner of the Irish Book Awards Novel of the Year

‘A colourful tale of secret love and public performance…in a romantic, lost London’ The Times

‘Hugely entertaining and atmospheric’ DEBORAH MOGGACH

‘Extraordinary’ SEBASTIAN BARRY

‘A novel I’d recommend to anyone: a rollicking and moving story’ James Naughtie, Radio Times

‘Fabulous… A truly great book you simply cannot put down’ JUDY FINNIGAN

‘Rich, sad, funny, and a beautiful read. You’ll LOVE it’ RICHARD MADELEY

‘Ingenious…hugely impressive and utterly haunting’ Sunday Mirror

*JOSEPH O’CONNOR’S STUNNING NEW NOVEL, MY FATHER’S HOUSE, IS AVAILABLE TO PRE-ORDER NOW*

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‘A wickedly entertaining new memoir’ Daily Mail

According to the Daily Mail Ian Ogilvy was ‘the undisputed star of 1970s TV as the dashing Simon Templar in Return Of The Saint’. The show turned him into a household name, causing him to be touted as the next James Bond.

From a liberal upbringing in post-war Britain, boarding school escapades and life at RADA, Ogilvy enjoyed an acting career spanning more than fifty years, including TV show Upstairs, Downstairs and films Witchfinder General, No Sex Please: We’re British and Death Becomes Her. His story plays host to a spectacular all-star cast including Boris Karloff, Hayley Mills, Penelope Keith, Derek Nimmo, Timothy Dalton, Derek Jacobi and Meryl Streep, and Ogilvy gives a vivid account from behind the scenes of the Golden Age of television and film.

Once a Saint is an amusing and unvarnished story: a tremendously endearing tale from a working actor. His story is modest and endlessly charming, told in such a way that opens a reader’s heart to him.

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Jamie Oliver is Britain’s best-loved chef. His matey charm and down-to-earth approach to cooking – from The Naked Chef to 30-Minute Meals – have made him a household favourite the length and breadth of the country. Jamie rose from humble pastry chef to television superstar by catching the eye of producers during a documentary about the River Cafe, where he was working at the time. His on-screen charisma meant that he featured heavily in the final programme, the offers came flooding in …and so The Naked Chef was born. The programme was a huge success, offering an initmate and fresh approach to cooking on TV. Jamie’s passion shone through and a whole generation of young people were captivated by his enthusiasm. Cooking was cool! His television series and books gave Jamie fame and fortune the world over, but he always wanted to do something positive with his success. Through his Fifteen charity restaurants and campaigns to revolutionise school dinners and get Britain cooking again, Jamie had proved himself to be more than simply a celebrity chef. His desire to bring about radical change has seen him meet with top politicans and raise millions of pounds for good causes. But deep down it’s all about the cooking – after the launch of his spectacularly successful 30-Minute Meals TV series and two record-breaking books n 2010 and 2011 – Jamie’s 30-Minute Meals and Jamie’s Great Britain, he has showed that he’s still the nation’s favourite chef.

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‘It works extremely well. In large part because Bourdain is a very funny writer; sharp, honest and with a beguiling mix of belligerence and sensitivity’ Sunday Telegraph

‘Brilliantly written up in a raw, stylish gonzo prose, with pitch-black humour and a devilish turn of phrase’ Evening Standard
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Anthony Bourdain, life-long line cook and bestselling author of Kitchen Confidential, sets off to eat his way around the world.

But being Anthony Bourdain, this was never going to be a conventional culinary tour. Bourdain heads out to Saigon where he eats the still-beating heart of a live cobra, and travels deep into landmined Khmer Rouge territory to find the rumoured Wild West of Cambodia (Pailin).

Other stops include dining with gangsters in Russia, a medieval pig slaughter and feast in northern Portugal, the Basque All Male Gastronomique Society in Saint Sebastian, rural Mexico with his Mexican sous-chef, a pilgrimage to the French Laundry in the Napa Valley and a return to his roots in the tiny fishing village of La Teste, where he first ate an oyster as a child.

Written with the inimitable machismo and humour that has made Tony Bourdain such a sensation, A Cook’s Tour is an adventure story sure to give you indigestion.

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Miriam Hopkins (1902–1972) first captured moviegoers’ attention in daring precode films such as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931), The Story of Temple Drake (1933), and Ernst Lubitsch’s Trouble in Paradise (1932). Though she enjoyed popular and critical acclaim in her long career — receiving an Academy Award nomination for Becky Sharp (1935) and a Golden Globe nomination for The Heiress (1949) — she is most often remembered for being one of the most difficult actresses of Hollywood’s golden age. Whether she was fighting with studio moguls over her roles or feuding with her avowed archrival, Bette Davis, her reputation for temperamental behavior is legendary. In the first comprehensive biography of this colorful performer, Allan R. Ellenberger illuminates Hopkins’s fascinating life and legacy. Her freewheeling film career was exceptional in studio-era Hollywood, and she managed to establish herself as a top star at Paramount, RKO, Goldwyn, and Warner Bros. Over the course of five decades, Hopkins appeared in thirty-six films, forty stage plays, and countless radio programs. Later, she emerged as a pioneer of TV drama. Ellenberger also explores Hopkins’s private life, including her relationships with such intellectuals as Theodore Dreiser, Dorothy Parker, Gertrude Stein, and Tennessee Williams. Although she was never blacklisted for her suspected Communist leanings, her association with these freethinkers and her involvement with certain political organizations led the FBI to keep a file on her for nearly forty years. This skillful biography treats readers to the intriguing stories and controversies surrounding Hopkins and her career, but also looks beyond her Hollywood persona to explore the star as an uncompromising artist. The result is an entertaining portrait of a brilliant yet underappreciated performer.

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In his signature larger-than-life style, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Total Recall is a revealing self-portrait of his illustrious, controversial and truly unique life.

Born in a small Austrian town in 1947, a year of famine, he was the son of an austere police chief. He dreamed of moving to America to become a bodybuilding champion and a movie star. By the age of 21, he was living in Los Angeles and had been crowned Mr Universe. Within five years, he had learned English and become the greatest bodybuilder in the world. Within ten years, he had earned his college degree and was a millionaire from his business enterprises in real estate, landscaping and bodybuilding. He was also the winner of a Golden Globe Award for his debut as a dramatic actor in Stay Hungry.

But that was only the beginning. The Terminator spawned numerous sequels and made him one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, as he had a series of hit films including Predator, Total Recall, True Lies and Twins. He married Maria Shriver, becoming part of the Kennedy clan, while going on to become the Republican governor of California, where he led the state through a budget crisis, natural disasters and political turmoil. 

It is the greatest immigrant success story of our time. His story is unique, and uniquely entertaining, and he tells it brilliantly in these pages. Until now, he has never told the full story of his life, in his own voice. Here is Arnold, with total recall.

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In this electrifying autobiography, Rik stands naked in front of his vast legions of fans and disciples and invites them to take communion with the blood he has spilled for them during his thirty year war on show business.

He invented alternative comedy with The Young Ones, he brought down the Thatcher administration with The New Statesman and he changed the face of global culture with his masterpiece Bottom. Not only was his number one single ‘Living Doll’ the saviour of rock ‘n’ roll but he also rescued the British film industry with the vast revenues created by his legendary movie Drop Dead Fred. In 1998, he survived an assassination attempt and spent five days in a coma before he literally came back from the dead. Having completed countless phenomenal feature films, TV series, live extravaganzas and radio voice-overs since then, Rik Mayall is now poised on the brink of a whole new epoch-shattering revolution.

For the first time ever, Rik reveals in print the deep inner truth behind his gargantuan ascent to the pinnacle of international light entertainment – the mental hospitals he has broken out of, the television executives he has assaulted, the drugs he has definitely not taken, the charities he has bankrupted, the countless pregnancies he has engendered, and so much more.

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Raw and unflinching

This is a mother’s account of her daughter’s life

And of Katie Price and her turbulent rise to fame

The Sunday Times bestselling memoir from Amy Price.

Katie Price’s life has long been lived in the public eye, documented both by her own books, reality tv, and the tabloids. But what does this story look like from the inside?

While battling a terminal illness, Katie’s mother, Amy Price, has the last word in this honest and insightful memoir, where she reveals how her family’s past has shaped her daughter’s future.

The Last Word is the definitive story of how Katrina Amy Alexandria Alexis Infield became Katie Price. It documents how her life has been shaped by a tradition of strong women, by cycles of abuse which have been repeated through generations, and by the impact of fame and trauma on a close family unit.

The Last Word was Number 2 in the Sunday Times Hardback Non-Fiction bestseller list on Sunday 16th July.

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THE #1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER: a hilarious and heartfelt new autobiography from the national treasure Sir David Jason

‘There are British telly icons and then there is Sir David Jason. This book is such gold . . . an absolute delight’ ZOE BALL
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‘During my life and career I have been given all sorts of advice and learned huge amounts from some great and enormously talented people. I’ve been blessed to play characters such as Derek Trotter, Granville, Pop Larkin and Frost, who have changed my life in all sorts of ways, and taught me lessons that go far beyond the television set. And I’ve worked a few things out for myself as well, about friendship, ambition, rejection, success, failure, adversity and fortune.

With any luck, some of these thoughts and observations will chime with episodes and challenges you have faced, or are facing, in your own life. And if they don’t. . . well, hopefully, at the very least you’ll get to have a good old laugh at my expense.

So lean back, pour yourself a glass, and try not to fall through the bar flap . . .’
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‘An absolute delight . . . a romp with so much detail. Offers wisdom in difficult times . . . like being invited into his living room’ BBC BREAKFAST

‘It’s beautifully written . . . so conversational and chatty . . . it’s so lovely and warm’ CHRIS MOYLES

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‘We jumped in at the deep end and bought a farm! A reluctant wife, a couple of crazy kids and a husband whose knowledge of farming you could write on the back of a stamp… What could go wrong?!’ – Kelvin

‘Exactly! And the journey has only just begun…’ – Liz

Join the Fletchers as they navigate the peaks and troughs of life on a lively farm.

When Kelvin and Liz Fletcher left their happy home in Oldham for a 120-acre farm in the Peak District, they were totally unaware of the surprises that lay in store. Come along for the ride as they navigate the Mishaps, like shearing sheep in a way that costs more than the price for the wool; the Lessons, such as never turn your back on a flock of sheep – or, put simply, ‘always close the gate!’ – and the Adventures, going from self-professed ‘townies’ to farmhands overnight.

In Fletchers on the Farm, childhood sweethearts Kelvin and Liz reflect on their history, their future and their daily balancing act of juggling acting careers, four young children and a farmyard full of animals. With wise words on building and nurturing a happy farm and family, this uplifting, heartwarming book is about following your dreams – even if you have no clue how to do it!

Time to pull on those wellies and get stuck into a farming adventure like no other.

‘Like any farm, determination and perseverance are vital. We took a huge step into the unknown and, together, we haven’t looked back. The adventure continues!’

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