Collection: Adult Non-Fiction

In the summer of 1941, German troops surrounded the Russian city of Leningrad - now St Petersburg - and began the longest blockade in recorded history. By the most conservative estimates, the siege would claim the lives of three-quarters of a million people. Most died of starvation. At the centre...

Four days after Germany's surrender in May 1945, a young British officer headed east into Germany. But this was no ordinary soldier. Manfred Gans was searching for his family. As a Jewish boy in Nazi Germany, he fled to England. Once he could, he enlisted, serving in the elite British 'Three Troo...

It is said to be one of our oldest stories: a young man goes to a far-off land in search of a mythical and wondrous beast. For years, Gavin Francis yearned to go to the remotest place on our planet, to see one of the strangest beasts alive. This is how he came to spend 14 months living alongside ...

From London via Paris, Naples, Nuremberg, the Swiss Alps, Budapest, Athens and into the furthest corners of Eastern Europe across Romania and Bulgaria, join Tom Chesshyre on his fascinating journey to Istanbul and back.

'The Four Points of the Compass' takes the reader on a journey of directional discovery. Jerry Brotton reveals why Hebrew culture privileges east; why the Renaissance Europeans began drawing north at the top of their maps; why the imperial Chinese revered the south; why the Aztecs used five colou...

Explore 50 of the world's greatest running routes, from short urban runs to cross-country trails and must-do marathons. Entries include China's Great Wall Marathon, the Amalfi Coast's Path of the Gods, Australia's Blue Mountains ultra, the 10k Great Ethiopian Run, Chicago's Lakefront Trail and th...

A Short History of the Apocalypse is Frankie Boyle and Charlie Skelton's guide to overcoming the endtimes featuring exclusive illustrations from legendary comic book artist Frank Quitely *A Short History of the Apocalypse: your comprehensive guide to the challenges of Armageddon*Join Frankie Boyl...

The government told a story about me before I was born. Jenni Fagan was property of the state before birth. She drew her first breath in care and by the age of seven, she had lived in fourteen different homes and had changed name multiple times. Twenty years after her first attempt to write this ...

'You Took the Last Bus Home' is an anthology of perfectly crafted, ingeniously witty and at times surprisingly touching poems from Brian Bilston, the reclusive 'Poet Laureate of Twitter'. In a rare emergence from behind his usual pipe smoke cloud of mystery, he has collected his best-loved poems ...

Here is a vivid and profound collection of poems about life in Gaza by an award-winning Palestinian poet. Barely thirty years old, Mosab Abu Toha was already a well-known poet when the current siege of Gaza began. After the Israeli army bombed and destroyed his house, pulverizing a library he had...