Biographies
54 Products
Discover the lives behind the legends with our collection of biographies at The Works. From inspiring memoirs of modern icons to fascinating stories of historical figures, these books offer a unique glimpse into extraordinary journeys. Whether you're interested in sports stars, political leaders, entertainers or everyday heroes, our range of biographies brings real life experiences and achievements to the page. Perfect for readers who love true stories that motivate and captivate.
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Why are Scotland Yard murder detectives considered among the finest in the world? And why is so little known about how they truly work? Take a look at what lies behind that success with someone who knows. DI Steven Keogh spent over half of his 30-year police career as a Scotland Yard detective, helping to hunt down terrorists and some of the worst murderers in London. Step inside the mind of an investigator in a never-before-seen look into what it takes to catch killers and bring them to justice. In a journey from crime scene to trial, you will witness the emotional highs and lows of cracking real-life murder cases and discover why people kill, while debunking the myths that surround this detective work. Are you ready to challenge everything you thought you knew about the world of murder investigations? Product Information: • ISBN: 9781789466423 • Author: Steven Keogh • Publisher: John Blake • Format: Paperback • Pages: 352 • Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.9 x 2cm
US President John F. Kennedy's killing in Dallas, Texas, in November 1963, sent a shockwave around the world. The charismatic young Democrat was seen as a beacon of hope in the West, but his liberal reforming policies had made him many powerful enemies at home. For sixty years, numerous theories have swirled around this key event in American - and world - history. Yet whatever the conclusions of the official Warren Report - that the President had been assassinated by a lone gunman, Lee Harvey Oswald - many people doubt that to be true. Indeed, President Nixon later admitted on tape that the report was 'a hoax committed on the American people.' John Hughes-Wilson, a former colonel in British Intelligence, has sifted through the millions of words and thousands of pieces of evidence, to put together an intelligence assessment of what really happened that dreadful high noon in Dallas in 1963. Reading this astounding book, no one can be in any doubt that JFK's death was not at the hands of a lone deranged gunman, but a deadly plot to remove a President who threatened vested interests at home and abroad. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781789467376 • Author: John Hughes-Wilson • Publisher: John Blake • Format: Paperback • Pages: 368 • Dimensions: 12.9 x 2.1 x 19.8 cm
A gripping compendium of some of the world's most infamous and shocking mass murderers, such as John Wayne Gacy, the Boston Strangler, the Moors murderers and Harold Shipman, as well as some lesser-known figures. Who was the Zodiac Killer? What drove Jeffrey Dahmer to dismember his 17 victims? How many women really fell prey to Ted Bundy? Maybe it's because our animal instincts draw us to dangerous situations; maybe it's because reading about predators allows us to learn about their behaviours in a safe setting. Whatever the reason, serial killers and their crimes have fascinated us for centuries. This true crime compendium not only relates the disturbing events that transpired but also delves into the psychology of the perpetrators. The stories within are shocking and often difficult to comprehend, but with this deep dive into the world of the macabre, readers may gain a greater understanding of the motivations and thought processes of these murderers. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in the psychology of crime and the human mind. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781837991228 • Author: Jamie King • Publisher: Summersdale • Format: Paperback • Pages: 304 • Dimensions: 12.9 x 19.7 x 2.2 cm
Murray Walker was the voice of Formula One, matching the thrill of the track with his equally fast-paced and exhilarating commentary, delivering the euphoria of motor racing to millions. Commentating on his first grand prix for the BBC at Silverstone in 1949, Murray's broadcasting career spanned over fifty years. His natural warmth and infectious enthusiasm won great affection with audiences, whilst his passion and knowledge of motorsport allowed him to hone his instinctive presenting style into a craft. When Murray passed away in March 2021, tributes came flooding in from every corner of the sporting world. This book, compiled by Murray's great friend and colleague Maurice Hamilton, celebrates the extraordinary life of this truly legendary man. With contributions from drivers and industry figures, and many friends from the world of motorsport and beyond, Incredible! combines fond memories, never-before-told stories and famous Murrayisms with reflections on the highlights of a life lived at full throttle. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781804995709 • Author: Maurice Hamilton • Publisher: Penguin • Format: Paperback • Pages: 272 • Dimensions: 12.4 x 1.7 x 19.8 cm
After three years, Jeremy Clarkson has discovered the golden rule of farming: Whatever you hope will happen, won't. Enthusiastic schemes to diversify face defeat at the hands of the Council Planning department, or derision from Kaleb. Jeremy's plans for a business empire founded on rewilding and nettle soup are doubted by Lisa. And the stifling thickets of red tape keep only one person smiling – Cheerful Charlie, who charges by the hour. But the animals couldn’t be happier. A rented bull called Break-Heart Maestro is delighting the cows. The pigs are bringing home the bacon. And the goats are . . . most probably psychopaths. Yet on the good days it hard not to be optimistic. Where else do you get to harvest blackberries with a vacuum cleaner? Maybe it’s not just Break-heart Maestro who gets a happy ending? Product Information: • ISBN: 9781405961424 • Author: Jeremy Clarkson • Publisher: Penguin • Format: Paperback • Pages: 192 • Dimensions: 12.9 x 1.2 x 19.7cm
Enthusiastic trainee farmer Jeremy Clarkson made just £144 in his first year at Diddly Squat Farm. This year he's determined to do better. Not because he now knows what he's doing. But because he's fed up of getting stick from Kaleb. Yet farming continues to be a challenge. For instance... Loading a grain trailer was more demanding than flying an Apache gunship? Cows were more dangerous than motor-racing? It's easier to get planning permission to build a nuclear plant than to turn a barn into a restaurant? Jeremy's always got a plan. Loads of them. Often cunning. Not always greeted with wild enthusiasm by Kaleb and Cheerful Charlie, however... Product Information: • ISBN: 9781405954631 • Author: Jeremy Clarkson • Publisher: Penguin • Format: Paperback • Pages: 240 • Dimensions: 19.8 x 1.5 x 12.9 cm
Christopher Berry-Dee is a world-renowned investigative criminologist. He has gained the trust of murderers across the world and now delves into the mind of perhaps the most sadistic and psychopathic killer of all time. Between 1978 and 1991, Jeffrey Dahmer murdered and dismembered seventeen boys and men. But he is most notorious for what happened to his victims after their grisly deaths and the shocking depravity that led to Dahmer being dubbed the ‘Milwaukee Cannibal’. Using his long experience and psychological expertise, Berry-Dee seeks to understand the motivation, the amoral urges and the merciless horror behind Dahmer's inhuman behaviour: what could make a man do this? Product Information: • ISBN: 9781913543310 • Author: Christopher Berry-Dee • Publisher: Ad Lib Publishers Ltd • Format: Paperback • Pages: 256 • Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.9 cm
Bob Mortimer’s life was trundling along happily until suddenly in 2015 he was diagnosed with a heart condition that required immediate surgery and forced him to cancel an upcoming tour. The episode unnerved him, but forced him to reflect on his life so far. This is the framework for his hilarious and moving memoir, And Away… Although his childhood in Middlesbrough was normal on the surface, it was tinged by the loss of his dad, and his own various misadventures, from burning down the family home to starting a short-lived punk band called Dog Dirt. As an adult, he trained as a solicitor and moved to London. Though he was doing pretty well, a chance encounter in a pub in the 1980s with a young comedian going by the name Vic Reeves set his life on a different track. And now, six years on, the heart condition that once threatened his career has instead led to new success on BBC2’s Gone Fishing. Warm, profound, and irrepressibly funny, And Away… is Bob’s full life story (with a few lies thrown in for good measure.) Product Information: • ISBN: 9781398505322 • Author: Bob Mortimer • Publisher: Gallery UK • Format: Paperback • Pages: 352 • Dimensions: 19.8 x 13 x 2.2 cm
'I am a survivor. That comes with a survivor's obligation to represent one and half million Jewish children murdered by the Nazis. They cannot speak. So I must speak on their behalf.' Tova Friedman was one of the youngest people to emerge from Auschwitz. After surviving the liquidation of the Jewish ghetto in Central Poland where she lived as a toddler, Tova was four when she and her parents were sent to a Nazi labour camp, and almost six when she and her mother were forced into a packed cattle truck and sent to Auschwitz II, also known as the Birkenau extermination camp, while her father was transported to Dachau. During six months of incarceration in Birkenau, Tova witnessed atrocities that she could never forget, and experienced numerous escapes from death. She is one of a handful of Jews to have entered a gas chamber and lived to tell the tale. As Nazi killing squads roamed Birkenau before abandoning the camp in January 1945, Tova and her mother hid among corpses. After being liberated by the Russians they made their way back to their hometown in Poland. Eventually Tova's father tracked them down and the family was reunited. In The Daughter of Auschwitz, Tova immortalizes what she saw, to keep the story of the Holocaust alive, at a time when it's in danger of fading from memory. She has used those memories that have shaped her life to honour the victims. Written with award-winning former war reporter Malcolm Brabant, this is an extremely important book. Brabant's meticulous research has helped Tova recall her experiences in searing detail. Together they have painstakingly recreated Tova's extraordinary story about the world's worst ever crime. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781529423501 • Author: Tova Friedman & Malcolm Brabant • Publisher: Quercus • Format: Paperback • Pages: 352 • Dimensions: 12.8 x 3 x 19.6 cm
One of the last great untold stories of the Holocaust, The Survivor is an astonishing account of one man's unbreakable spirit, unshakeable faith, and extraordinary courage in the face of evil. At only sixteen years old, Josef Lewkowicz became a number, prisoner 85314. Following the Nazi invasion of Poland, he and his father were separated from their family and herded to the Kraków-Plaszów concentration camp. Forced to carry out hard labour in brutal conditions, and to live under the constant threat of extreme violence and sudden death, before the war was over Josef would witness the unique horrors of six of the most notorious Nazi concentration camps, including Auschwitz, Mauthausen and Ebensee. From salt mines to forced marches, summary executions to Amstetten, where prisoners were used as human shields in Allied bombing, Josef lived under the spectre of death for many years. When he was liberated from Ebensee at the end of the war, conditions were amongst the worst witnessed by allied forces. With his freedom, Josef returned home to find that he was the only one left alive in an extended family of 150. Compelled by the need to do something to avenge that loss, he joined the Jewish police while still in a displaced persons' camp, and was recruited as an intelligence officer for the US Army who gave him a team to search for Nazis in hiding. Whilst rounding up SS leaders, he played a critical role in identifying and bringing to justice his greatest tormentor, the Butcher of Plaszow, Amon Göth, played by Ralph Fiennes in Schindler's List. He then committed his life to helping the orphaned children of the Holocaust rebuild their lives. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781837321391 • Author: Josef Lewkowicz • Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd • Format: Paperback
Revealing the most outrageous secrets and fiercest rivalries, The Mechanic follows Priestley as he travels the world working in the high-octane atmosphere of the F1 pit lane. While the spotlight is most often on the superstar drivers, the mechanics are the guys who make every World Champion, and any mistakes can have critical consequences. However, these highly skilled engineers don't just fine-tune machinery and crunch data through high-spec computers. These boys can seriously let their hair down. Whether it's partying on luxury yachts or photo opportunities aboard gravity-defying aeroplanes, this is a world which thrills on and off the track. This is Formula One, but not like you've seen it before. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781787290631 • Author: Marc 'Elvis' Priestley • Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd • Format: Paperback • Pages: 256 • Dimensions: 19.7 x 12.9 x 1.7 cm
The Nazi Ghost Train is an epic tale of action and adventure, uncovering a story of airmen on the run and resistance heroes carrying out espionage and sabotage. But, betrayed, they all face the same fate: a concentration camp. This thrilling new book is an incredible piece of history brought to life using interviews and meticulous research carried out over more than a decade. The courage and audacity of a small group of ordinary people were the last hope for hundreds who had risked all for the Allied cause in World War II. As they watched the railway station fill up with men and women, they pledged that the train would never reach Germany... They had the next few hours to work a miracle. The true story of how more than 1,400 men and women of the Resistance, SOE agents, and airmen from Britain, the US and Canada were saved from death in a concentration camp by the courage and cunning of a small group of civilians. The Nazi Ghost Train unfolds in a pulse-pounding narrative, describing the terror of being shot down on bombing missions, the fight to stay free and alive with Gestapo on your tail, and the gut wrenching horror of betrayal. Drawing upon a wealth of primary sources and extensive interviews, The Nazi Ghost Train brings to life a cast of unforgettable characters. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781917439695 • Author: Greg Lewis • Publisher: Ad Lib • Format: Paperback • Pages: 288 • Dimensions: 19.8 x12.9 x 2 cm
Diego's Story is the thirteenth instalment in the popular Thrown Away Children paperback series. Diego and his siblings live in desperate poverty, but nobody seems to notice or care as they come close to starving, scouring food banks to survive. But he’s wrong – someone has noticed him. County Lines gang members can see his vulnerability. With an absent father, alcoholic mother and dependent young siblings, Diego is the perfect mark. Entrapped, used, abused and witness to terrible crimes, young Diego escapes a murder scene and runs. Experienced foster carer Louise Allen steps in when 14-year-old Diego is placed with her. Can she help him overcome his disturbing past and finally feel safe again? And what will happen if the County Lines gang finds him – with Louise and her family? Product Information: • ISBN: 9781917439732 • Author: Louise Allen • Publisher: Ad Lib • Format: Paperback • Pages: 288 • Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.9 x 3 cm
The true and extraordinary story of one of the last surviving women to have worked in codebreaking at both Bletchley Park and the Pentagon. Born in 1923, Charlotte (Betty) Webb MBE, LOH (Legion of Honour) had a ringside seat to history. After graduating from school, she faced the usual limited opportunities for employment on offer to women at the time. However, with the war in full swing, fate intervened and in 1941, wanting to play her part in the war effort, Betty joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service (Women’s Army). After being interviewed by an intelligence officer, she found herself at Euston station with her kit-bag, a travel warrant in her pocket and instructions to get off the train at Bletchley Park. Between 1941 and 1945 Betty played a vital role in the top-secret efforts being made to decipher the secret communications of the Germans and later the Japanese. In 1945, as other members of the forces returned home from the war in Europe, she was sent to the Pentagon and was in Washington DC when the atomic bombs fell and when Eisenhower announced the end of the war. Betty was unable to reveal the true nature of her work, even to her parents, until years later. Visit the fascinating key moments of Betty's life as she recounts the incredible stories from her time at Bletchley Park. Betty died in 2025, at the age of 101. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781914902321 • Author: Betty Webb • Publisher: Ad Lib • Format: Paperback
It's 3 a.m. and Elizabeth Gilbert is sobbing on the bathroom floor. She's in her thirties, she has a husband, a house, they're trying for a baby - and she doesn't want any of it. A bitter divorce and a turbulent love affair later, she emerges battered and bewildered and realises it is time to pursue her own journey in search of three things she has been missing: pleasure, devotion and balance. So she travels to Rome, where she learns Italian from handsome, brown-eyed identical twins and gains twenty-five pounds, an ashram in India, where she finds that enlightenment entails getting up in the middle of the night to scrub the temple floor, and Bali where a toothless medicine man of indeterminate age offers her a new path to peace: simply sit still and smile. And slowly happiness begins to creep up on her. Product Information: • ISBN: 9780747585664 • Author: Elizabeth Gilbert • Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc • Format: Paperback
Imagine you could hold a baby hare and bottle-feed it. Imagine that it lived under your roof and lolloped around your bedroom at night, drumming on the duvet cover when it wanted your attention. Imagine that, over two years later, it still ran in from the fields when you called it and snoozed in your house for hours on end. This happened to me. When Chloe, a city-dwelling professional with a high-pressure job, finds a newly born hare, endangered, alone and no bigger than her palm, she is compelled to give it a chance at survival - despite being the least likely caregiver to this wild animal. Raising Hare is the story of their journey together. It chronicles an extraordinary relationship between human and animal, rekindling our sense of awe towards nature and wildlife. Their improbable bond of trust reminds us that the most remarkable experiences, inspiring the most hope, often arise when we least expect them. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781837260867 • Author: Chloe Dalton • Publisher: Canongate • Format: Paperback • Pages: 336
Inside the Mind of Myra Hindley offers a chilling exploration into the psyche of one of Britain's most reviled criminals. This book meticulously dissects the motivations and twisted thought processes that fuelled her horrific involvement in the Moors Murders, also examining the persistent question of whether she was, in some capacity, a victim of Ian Brady's manipulation. True crime writers Tanya Farber and Jeremy Daniel unpick the complex interplay of sadism and calculated control that defined their partnership, revealing why Hindley remains a figure of enduring fascination and revulsion in true crime history. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781802473797 • Author: Tanya Farber & Jeremy Daniel • Publisher: Ad Lib • Format: Paperback • Pages: 240 • Dimensions: 19.81 x 12.9 x 5.08 cm
The world of abuse and grooming gangs couldn't have seemed further away from Kate's start in life but, as so many young women now know, that matters little. For Kate it was a situation that came out of the blue when, aged 18 and at college, her home life deteriorated and she found herself in supported housing for homeless teenagers in Telford. That's where she came into contact with a gang who were grooming young girls for sex, who threatened her with violence if she went to the police. It was the beginning of a cycle of serial and brutal abuse and repeated rape that is almost impossible to imagine. Kate is now a trained Mental Health Nurse in a secure unit which includes working with sex offenders. She's become highly skilled in what she does, having an in-depth and first-hand knowledge of the thought processes of groomers. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781917439619 • Author: Kate Elysia • Publisher: Mirror Books • Format: Paperback • Pages: 288 • Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.9 x 2 cm
Under the stewardship of Gareth Southgate and captained by Harry Kane, a cultural transformation saw England reach two finals, a semi-final and a quarter-final in four tournaments. Now, with Thomas Tuchel at the helm, the team and its playing style has evolved once more. After years of intricate planning and preparation, they come into the 2026 World Cup as genuine contenders with a star-studded squad that's the envy of the world. How did we get here? Inside England: Behind the Scenes of the Three Lions' World Cup Dream charts the progress from Gareth Southgate's appointment, including the dizzying highs and the near-misses of his tenure, the fallout post-Euro 2024, the FA's search for a successor and how Thomas Tuchel shaped a team in his image. Bestselling and award-winning football writers Jonathan Northcroft and Rob Draper have had extraordinary access to the England team during both manager's reigns and take us behind the scenes of England's transformation over the last decade. For the first time, this is the real story of England's evolution both on and off the pitch, revealing how Southgate and Tuchel inched the team ever closer to their ultimate dream: winning the World Cup. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781785122545 • Author: Jonathan Northcroft & Rob Draper • Publisher: Bonnier Books UK • Format: Paperback
Bestselling writer and criminologist Christopher Berry-Dee turns his attention to a new kind of victim: the wives or partners of serial murderers who remained unaware of exactly who they had fallen for until after their other half's arrest or, in some cases, conviction, for multiple murders. Sonia Sutcliffe first discovered that her husband, Peter, was leading a secret existence as 'the Yorkshire Ripper' only when he was arrested. The wife of the 'Hillside Strangler' only learned of her husband's crimes when state police smashed down her door in search of him. On finding out the truth, these innocents often experience a strange kind of guilt for not having recognised the killer in their home, as well as having to face the grim reality of betrayal and deceit. Christopher Berry-Dee speaks directly to killers and their oblivious loved ones to get inside the minds of the men and women who fall for murderers. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781789465617 • Author: Christopher Berry-Dee • Publisher: Bonnier Books UK Limited • Format: Paperback • Pages: 304 • Dimensions: 19.7 x 12.8 x 2.2 cm
