New non-fiction for August 2023
by Brandon King
Take a look at our latest non-fiction titles for August 2023.
Looking for something new to read? Browse our recommendations.
Wifedom: Mrs Orwell's Invisible Life, by Anna Funder
Looking for wonder and some reprieve from the everyday, Anna Funder slips into the pages of her hero George Orwell. As she watches him create his writing self, she tries to remember her own - when she uncovers his forgotten wife, it's a revelation. Eileen O'Shaughnessy's literary brilliance shaped Orwell's work and her practical nous saved his life. But why - and how - was she written out of the story? Using newly discovered letters from Eileen to her best friend, Funder recreates the Orwells' marriage, through the Spanish Civil War and WWII in London. As she rolls up the screen concealing Orwell's private life she is led to question what it takes to be a writer - and what it is to be a wife.
Borrow Wifedom: Mrs Orwell's Invisible Life →
Dancing on Eggshells: My Life Through Food and Dance, by John Whaite
Well-known as the third-series winner of 'The Great British Bake Off' and runner up of 'Strictly Come Dancing' in 2021 with his same-sex dancing partner Johannes Radebe, John Whaite's personal story is a complicated narrative that embraces coming out, his ongoing body dysmorphia and bulimia as well as mental health challenges and a changing relationship with his mother, particularly after the break-up of his parents' marriage. Each chapter takes an element of food or culture and loops it back to John's northern upbringing above a fish and chip shop which instilled a strong a work ethic, as well as using baking as a form of meditation.
Word Monkey, by Christopher Fowler
Christopher Fowler's first memoir, 'Paperboy', told the story of a bookworm growing up in a house where there was nothing to read but knitting pamphlets and motorcycle manuals - a theme that was gradually crowded out by the exploits of his improbable family. 5 years later he published a second volume, 'Film Freak', about his attempts to forge a career in the British film industry in the 70s just as it was going down the pan. His accounts of dodgy producers, basement dives and dreadful B movies were elbowed to one side - this time by the exploits of his improbable friends. 'Word Monkey' is about writing and what being a writer has meant to him. Woven into the narrative is an altogether darker, more intensely personal thread: that of someone having to confront their own mortality.
The Farmer's Wife: My Life in Days, by Helen Rebanks
As dawn breaks on the farm, Helen Rebanks makes a mug of tea, relishing the few minutes of quiet before the house stirs. Within the hour the sounds of her husband, James, and their four children will fill the kitchen. There are also six sheepdogs, two ponies, 20 chickens, 50 cattle and 500 sheep to care for. Helen is a farmer's wife. Hers is a story that is rarely told, despite being one we think we know. Weaving past and present, Helen shares the days that have shaped her. This is the truth of those days: from steering the family through the Beast from the East and the local authority planning committee, to finding the quiet strength to keep going, when supper is yet to be started, another delivery man has assumed he needs to speak to the 'man of the house', and she would rather punch a cushion than plump it.
Borrow The Farmer's Wife: My Life in Days →
Ootlin: A Memoir, by Jenni Fagan
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 powerful memoir, Jenni is finally ready to share her account. 'Ootlin' is a journey through the broken UK care system - it is one of displacement and exclusion, but also of the power of storytelling. It is about the very human act of making meaning from adversity.
Bosh! Meat: Delicious, Hearty, Plant-Based, by Henry Firth and Ian Theasby
Mighty, meaty meals that will impress and delight your tastebuds. Satisfy all your meat cravings, adopt a new way of thinking about food without ever compromising on taste and flavour. Henry Firth and Ian Theasby show you how to cook delicious dishes that feel and taste like meat, but are in fact 100% plant-based. Learn to cook chilli cheeseburger nachos, lobster rolls, duck pancakes in your very own kitchen. Whether it's a quick midweek dinner or an impressive party feast, eat meat without the carbon footprint.
Borrow Bosh! Meat: Delicious, Hearty, Plant-Based →
Compost Coach: Make Compost, Build Soil and Grow a Regenerative Garden, by Kate Flood
Spin food waste and household carbon into garden gold, learn about how and why soil matters, and make climate activism an everyday mission, with compost coach Kate Flood.
Jane's Patisserie Everyday: Easy Cakes and Comfort Bakes, by Jane Dunn
Jane Dunn shows you how easy it is to bake every day with her simple treats, foolproof cakes, and comforting savoury bakes. Covering all the classics from chunky cookies and fluffy cupcakes, deliciously flaky pastry and cheesy breads, to easy no-bake cheesecakes and quick one-tray feasts. This book has everything you need for effortless mouth-watering winners every day. With 70 new and exclusive fan-requested recipes, 30 classic favourites, tips on freezing and how to make Jane's staple bakes free-from, this book is packed with big flavours that everyone will love.
Borrow Jane's Patisserie Everyday →
Anymore for Anymore: The Ronnie Lane Story, by David and Caroline Stafford
Ronnie Lane's story is that of a working-class kid who started his musical career busking a ukulele at the age of eight. As a young man he signed with legendary manager Don Arden, who paid him in paisley shirts. He then enjoyed a phenomenal 17 consecutive Top 40 singles, womanising and LSD, and fell under the spell of a mystic before joining forces with Rod Stewart. Ronnie was later diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, moved to America, went broke and died far too young. Drawing on extensive research and interviews with friends and family, Caroline and David Stafford unearth the truth and talent of the man behind the music.
Mortification: Eight Deaths and Life After Them, by Mark Watson
Mark Watson is generally accepted to be alive. And yet he's died many times. Not just on stage - though he'll tell you about that - but in other ways, too. There's been the death of his innocence. The death of his panel-show career. And then there was the time he died inside. Eye-opening, revealing and painfully funny, this is a book about mortification, failure and all the times life doesn't work out as planned. But it also wisely questions whether the things we strive for - recognition, success, the approval of others - are really the things that matter. It's a book about death that reminds us how to live.
Jeremy Pang's School of Wok: Simple Family Feasts, by Jeremy Pang
Bringing together the best flavours from across East and South East Asia, Jeremy Pang's 'Simple Family Feasts' includes more than 80 irresistible recipes for the whole family to enjoy. Nine of the ten chapters in the book are dedicated to a different country in East and South East Asia, each one offering a range of dishes inspired by that particular cuisine. The recipes within those chapters can be enjoyed individually as a simple meal, built up with one or two other dishes or the whole chapter combined for a full-on banquet for friends and family. To simplify the cooking process, most of the recipes can be prepared using Jeremy's signature 'wok clock' technique, where the ingredients are laid out in a clock formation in the order they will be cooked.
Borrow Jeremy Pang's School of Wok →
The Simple Life, by Sarah Beeny
In 2019, Sarah and her family upped sticks and moved to the West Country to embark upon a new way of life. It wasn't without its challenges, as Sarah embarked on transforming a semi-derelict former dairy farm, surrounded by 220 acres of farmland, into the house of her family's dreams - a carbon-neutral home set in a rural idyll. In 'The Simple Life', Sarah will tell the story of moving in search of a simpler life, sharing stories and experiences in everything from parenting and multi-generational living to work/life balance, friendships, nature and the environment, to her recent cancer diagnosis.
The Funny Thing About Death, by Jo Caulfield
Six years ago, Jo was about to go on stage when she found out that her sister Annie had cancer. What transpired was a cathartic journey for both sisters as they revisited their childhood and adolescence. 'The Funny Thing About Death' is a laugh-out-loud memoir that is not afraid to ask the big questions about life, death, love and loss.
Borrow Funny Thing About Death→
The Many Lives of Mama Love, by Lara Love Hardin
'The Many Lives of Mama Love' is a beautiful, page-turning and powerful memoir about Lara Love Hardin's transformative journey from identity theft to prison matriarch and eventually prestigious writer. It is a story about reaching rock bottom - and clambering back up; about self-forgiveness and healing; and about writing a path to a new identity.