True Story Books

Suddenly there is a blow to my face, I am hurled to one side. ‘My child, I have to go with her!’ I scream. But Dr Mengel is standing before me, whip raised. ‘Maul halten, shut up!’ His eyes gleam. Filled with fear I cower down. In 1943, as the Nazi power swept across central Europe, Rosa, her husband Emanuel and their daughter, Judy, were forced into hiding. But after a year and a half of living a terrifying, day-by-day existence, they were betrayed. As they arrived in Auschwitz, Rosa was torn from her husband and her only daughter. Could she dare to hope she would see either of them again? Somehow, Rosa fought the horror and humiliation of the camp, on occasion coming dangerously close to death. In nursing the people trapped beside her, she helped others survive, but tragically she also watched them die – including a mother she had met before, with a similar story and a daughter the very same age. Her name was Edith Frank. Written immediately in the months after the war, Auschwitz – A Mother’s Story tells Rosa de Winter-Levy’s unique and heart-breaking personal story – from the atrocities of the camp to her journey out of hell. Powerful and affecting, it is the testimony of a mother, and the pain she will endure for the chance to hold her child again. It’s night. The door opens and along with 500 other women I am taken to the so-called Krätzeblock, the scabies block. Mice and rats run over us, the women scream and cry, it’s almost unbearable. There’s no chance of sleep, we’re all consumed by the same thought: tomorrow our final hour will have come. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781800962309 • Author: Rosa de Winter-Levy • Publisher: Octopus Publishing Group Ltd • Format: Paperback • Pages: 192 • Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.6 x 2 cm

The heartwarming, inspiring final chapter in the life of Max the Miracle dog A dog can be more than just a best friend. Sometimes they can be our hero. Shortly after a traumatic car accident, Kerry Irving met Max, a Springer Spaniel who completely changed his life. But Max didn’t stop there. For over ten years, he was a source of inspiration to countless others around the world, with hundreds of thousands of pounds being raised in his name. His was truly a life well lived. Forever Max sees Kerry and his trusted companion take on their final adventures around the Lake District, from providing joy to those stuck inside through lockdown to adjusting to Max’s twilight years – helped along every step of the way by fellow spaniels Paddy and Harry. Product Information: • ISBN: 9780008645076 • Author: Kerry Irving • Publisher: Harper Collins Publishers • Format: Paperback • Pages: 304 • Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.9 x 2.2 cm

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

Otto Rosenberg is 9 and living in Berlin, poor but happy, when his family are first detained. All around them, Sinti and Roma families are being torn from their homes by Nazis , leaving behind schools, jobs, friends, and businesses to live in forced encampments outside the city. One by one, families are broken up, adults and children disappear or are 'sent East'. Otto arrives in Auschwitz aged 15 and is later transferred to Buechenwald and Bergen-Belsen. He works, scrounges food whenever he can, witnesses and suffers horrific violence and is driven close to death by illness more than once. Unbelievably, he also joins an armed revolt of prisoners who, facing the SS and certain death, refuse to back down. Somehow, through luck, sheer human will to live, or both, he survives. The stories of Sinti and Roma suffering in Nazi Germany are all too often lost or untold. In this haunting account, Otto shares his story with a remarkable simplicity. Deeply moving, A Gypsy in Auschwitz is the incredible story of how a young Sinti boy miraculously survived the unimaginable darkness of the Holocaust. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781800961128 • Author: Otto Rosenberg • Publisher: Monoray • Format: Paperback • Pages: 240 • Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.6 x 2.2cm

In this extraordinary work of non-fiction, we hear the unforgettable stories of everyday heroes who look after our families, our friends and ourselves in the most challenging circumstances imaginable. When we're at our worst, nurses are at their best. Around the clock, highly skilled and compassionate men and women sacrifice and struggle for us and our loved ones. You have never heard their true stories. Not like this. From big-city and small-town hospitals. These are stories told from the heart. This book will make you laugh, make you cry, and make you understand the importance of the work they do. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781804955604 • Author: James Patterson & Matt Eversmann • Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd • Format: Paperback • Pages: 320 • Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.9 x 1.9 cm

‘Please help me,’ he said in a small voice. ‘Will you help me?’ Six-year-old Ralph has only been in the care system for three days and has already been rejected by three different foster carers. After hitting a teacher at his school and causing mayhem since he arrived four months ago, staff are unable to get a hold of his mum and her partner. Social Services are called and when Ralph turns up at Maggie’s house, she knows immediately it’s going to be a challenge. Within a couple of hours, Ralph has trashed Maggie’s house and spit on her face. After a nightmare first day though, Maggie notices that Ralph is limping and a hospital check reveals broken limbs and several injuries that are months and years old. Can Maggie help this troubled little boy who has been rejected by everyone in his life find his forever home? From Britain’s most-loved foster carer, a new powerful true story of abuse, family and hope. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781399620925 • Author: Maggie Hartley • Publisher: Orion Publishing • Format: Paperback • Pages: 336 • Dimensions: 19.56 x 12.7 x 2.29 cm

THE UK'S NO.1 MILLION COPY BESTSELLING TRUE CRIME AUTHOR - A PETRIFYING GLIMPSE INTO THE MOST EVIL MINDS OF OUR TIME... Christopher Berry-Dee is the man who talks to serial killers. A world-renowned investigative criminologist, he has gained the trust of murderers across the world, entered their high security prisons, and discussed in detail their shocking crimes. The killers' pursuit of horror and violence is described through the unique audiotape and videotape interviews which Berry-Dee conducted, deep inside the bowels of some of the world's toughest prisons. Christopher Berry-Dee has collated these interviews into this astounding, disturbing book, which, since its first publication, has gone on to become a True Crime classic. Not only does he describe his meetings with some of the world's most evil men and women, he also reproduces, verbatim, their very words as they describe their crimes, allowing the reader a glimpse into the inner workings of the people who have committed the worst crime possible- to mercilessly take the life of another human being. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781789468045 • Author: Christopher Berry-Dee • Publisher: Bonnier Books UK Limited • Format: Paperback • Pages: 368

One of the most harrowing child abuse memoirs you'll ever read . . . Please Save Me is a story of the sickening abuse to which a father subjected his daughter, which led to her giving birth to two children conceived from that abuse. Mandy's father was seen as a pillar of society but no one knew what went on behind closed doors. From the age of 11, he raped his daughter four times a week, like clockwork, forcing himself on her even when she was pregnant. After being dismissed and ignored for years, Mandy finally found someone to believe her and help bring her father to justice. This remarkable woman now tells her story in the hope of shedding light on the horrors so many children endure, as well as exploring the stigma of conception through rape. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781789467840 • Author: Mandy Yousaf • Publisher: Bonnier Books UK Limited • Format: Paperback • Pages: 272 • Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.9 x 1.7cm

A chilling look into the brutality of life behind bars and what it’s like to be locked away with some of the world’s most dangerous criminals. Widely known in the criminal underworld as the ‘Black Widow’, Linda Calvey spent the first half of her life running with the UK’s top gangsters, robbing banks and rubbing shoulders with the Kray twins. That is, until, in 1990, her lover Robbie Cook was murdered at point-blank, and she found herself falsely convicted. Linda was sent away for decades, and would go on to become Britain’s longest-serving female prisoner. This is her story of life inside, and how she learnt to survive the many years she spent behind bars. Detailing the systems, characters and rules of prison life, as well as her encounters with notorious criminals Charles Bronson, Rose West and Myra Hindley, Linda gives a full account of her time locked up. Featuring stories of fights, riots, dodgy dealings and what happens when a prison officer gets taken hostage, this is a gritty and eye-opening look at prison life from a woman who has seen it all. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781802795950 • Author: Linda Calvey • Publisher: Hodder Headline • Format: Paperback • Pages: 320 • Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.8 x 2.4 cm

The heart-warming tale of a life-saving friendship. In 2006, a traumatic car accident changed Kerry Irving’s life forever. Suffering from severe neck and back injuries, Kerry was unemployed and housebound, struggling with depression and even thoughts of suicide. He went from cycling over 600 miles a month to becoming a prisoner in his own home. With hope all but lost, Kerry’s wife encouraged him to go on a short walk to the local shop. In the face of unbearable pain and overwhelming panic, he persevered and along the way, met an adorable yard dog named Max. As the Spaniel peered up through the railings, Kerry found comfort and encouragement in his soulful brown eyes. This chance encounter marked a turning point in both their lives. In Max, Kerry found comfort and motivation and in Kerry, Max found someone to care for him. This is their remarkable, inspiring story. Product Information: • ISBN: 9780008353520 • Author: Kerry Irving • Publisher: Harper Collins Publishers • Format: Paperback • Pages: 272 • Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.9 x 1.8 cm

During the Second World War, it is hard to imagine a situation where the British High Command could think that one of the only ways they could attack Hitler was to send ten canoeists with limpet mines to paddle one hundred miles up the Gironde estuary, in the middle of winter, in an attempt to sink German blockade ships in Bordeaux harbour. Yet this is precisely what happened in 1942. The man who gave the go-ahead for the audacious commando raid – Lord Louis Mountbatten, head of Combined Operations – fully anticipated that all ten men would die in the attempt. Mountbatten wasn’t far wrong – two ripped their collapsible canoes as they were manhandling them out of the submarine; two drowned when their canoes capsized entering the Gironde estuary; and a further six were captured by the Germans and later executed. By complete chance, the two canoeists who managed to escape – Major ‘Blondie’ Hasler and Marine Bill Sparks – stumbled into the arms of the French resistance. Once in their care, Hasler and Sparks made their way across France and into Spain, crossing the Pyrenees in the company (though they did not know it) of a Gestapo agent intent on bringing down the resistance network. Operation Suicide will be the first account of this enthralling raid for over fifty years. In utilizing primary source material, including detailed German records captured by the British in 1944 (which remained censored until 1976), Robert Lyman brings to life one of the most courageous and dramatic events to take place in the darkest days of the Second World War. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781529440065 • Author: Robert Lyman • Publisher: Quercus Publishing plc • Format: Paperback • Pages: 368 • Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.8 x 2.6 cm

From No.1 bestselling author Toni Maguire comes a new true story of abuse and survival Gerri was only a young girl when she was first abused by her father. After her mother found out, and believing there was nothing she could do to help her child, nor deal with the stigma attached to it in their small Northern Irish town in the 1960s, she committed suicide. Gerri and her siblings were split up and placed in different foster homes, all knowing they were unlikely to see each other ever again. Told that her mother had committed a grave sin, Gerri was completely alone and abandoned as she confronted even more horrors from her past. After years of shame and isolation, she finally met a man who would help her heal the wounds she had been left with. With his love and support, Gerri decided it was time for her story to be told. Why, Father? is her true and moving story of survival. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781789465907 • Author: Toni Maguire • Publisher: Bonnier Books UK Limited • Format: Paperback • Pages: 352 • Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.9 x 2cm

HMP Wakefield. ‘Monster Mansion’. Hell to be inside. Almost impossible to escape. This prison has seen some of the most infamous prisoners of all time pass through its cells – from Levi Bellfield to Harold Shipman, Ian Huntley and Charles Bronson. Jonathan Levi and Emma French are the perfect authors to give chilling insight into all the terrible men who have served time there. After detailing the shocking truth of life in Britain’s most high-profile psychiatric hospital in their bestselling book Inside Broadmoor, now they will take readers behind bars in this the UK’s most notorious prison. Inside Wakefield Prison will trace its long and intriguing history, from when it was first built in 1594 all the way up to the present day. Today, just over 750 of the country’s most dangerous offenders are kept there, including ‘Hannibal the Cannibal’ Robert Maudsley, notorious killer Jeremy Bamber and former Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins. Featuring all the sinister and truly horrifying stories that have emerged from the prison, as well as new unheard tales, this book will fascinate and shock readers on every page. Told with the help of interviews with staff, experts – and even in the words of the prisoners themselves – this is a no-holds-barred journey into the dark. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781789467536 • Author: Jonathan Levi & Emma French • Publisher: Bonnier Books UK Limited • Format: Paperback • Pages: 336 • Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.9 x 2cm

SAS Great Escapes Two recounts the hitherto untold stories of six of the most dramatic and daring escapes executed by the world's most famous fighting force during WWII. From the very earliest SAS missions to the push into Nazi-occupied Europe, they cover some of the key figures in the Regiment, including its founder, David Stirling, plus other lesser-known heroes. With each story comes an edge-of-the-seat, rollercoaster ride in classic Damien Lewis fashion, as readers are plunged into the escapees' experiences - sharing their most terrifying yet inspiring moments. These stunning accounts of survival beggar belief, revealing nerve-racking bluff and deception, knife-edge encounters with enemy hunter forces hellbent on wreaking vengeance and murder, but also incredible acts of mercy and kindness from those who risk all to help the escapees on their way. Each tale of breath-taking derring-do reveals how necessity really is the mother of all invention, as with every step and at every juncture these fugitives defied fate, snatching survival and freedom from the jaws of the enemy, and all the horrors that would have followed capture. Damien Lewis has worked closely with the families of those portrayed, accessing wartime diaries, letters, mission reports, interrogation transcripts and more, to relate how the men of the SAS crossed blazing deserts, evaded enemy hunter forces and escaped through hostile lands, battling against seemingly insurmountable odds. But most of all, these uplifting tales of endurance beyond measure showcase the triumph of the human spirit and the will to survive. Product Information:  • ISBN: 9781529429428 • Author: Damien Lewis • Publisher: Quercus Publishing • Format:  Paperback • Pages: 352 • Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.8 x 3.6 cm

Alice Vinten, a former Met Police Constable with over 10 years of service on the force, shares the stories of brave and dedicated policewomen who have been involved in real-life cases in the UK, based on a series of interviews with these women who have spent their entire careers at the sharp end of crime-fighting.  The Real Happy Valley reveals what life on the beat is really like. From dealing with domestic abuse cases to facing personal assaults, gang crime and murder, these courageous women stop at nothing to bring criminals to justice, never failing to put others' safety before their own.  Gripping and inspiring, The Real Happy Valley is a celebration of our finest policewomen's extraordinary courage, and their peerless commitment to protect and serve. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781804997031 • Author: Alice Vinten • Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd • Format: Paperback • Pages: 288 • Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.8 x 1.7cm

A dramatic, gripping account of the rise and fall of the notorious business tycoon Robert Maxwell from the acclaimed author of A Very English Scandal. Robert Maxwell was a very British success. Born an Orthodox Jew, he escaped the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia, fought in the Second World War, and was decorated for his heroism with the Military Cross. He went on to become a Labour MP and an astonishingly successful businessman, owning a number of newspapers and publishing companies. But after his dead body was discovered floating in waters around his superyacht, his empire fell apart as long-hidden debts and unscrupulous dealings came to light. Within a few days, Maxwell was being reviled as the embodiment of greed and corruption. What went so wrong? How did a man who had once laid such store on the importance of ethics and good behaviour become reduced to a bloated, amoral wreck? In this gripping book, John Preston delivers the definitive account of Maxwell's extraordinary rise and scandalous fall. Product Information: • ISBN: 9780241388686 • Author: John Preston • Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd • Format: Paperback • Pages: 352 • Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.9 x 2.1cm

One of the most remarkable stories in the history of Special Forces' operations - Daily Express In the bleak moments after defeat on mainland Europe in winter 1939, wartime leader Winston Churchill knew that Britain had to strike back hard. He recruited a band of eccentric free-thinking warriors to become the first 'deniable' secret operatives behind enemy lines, offering these volunteers nothing but the potential for glory and all-but-certain death. The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare tells of the daring victories for this small force of 'freelance pirates' in their many missions against the Nazis, often dressed in enemy uniforms and breaking all previously held rules of warfare. Master storyteller and military historian Damien Lewis brings the true adventures of the secret unit to life, from their earliest missions to the death of the group's leader just weeks before the end of World War Two. Product Information:  • ISBN: 9781529439526 • Author: Damien Lewis • Publisher: Quercus • Format:  Paperback • Pages: 416 • Dimensions: 12.8 x 2.8 x 19.6 cm

Assaults. Riots. Cell fires. Medical emergencies. Understaffed wings. Suicides. Hooch. Weapons. It's all in a week's work at HMP Parkhurst. After 28 years working as a prison officer, with 22 years at HMP Parkhurst, once one of Britain's most high security prisons, David Berridge has had to deal with it all: serial killers and gangsters, terrorists and sex offenders, psychopaths and addicts. Inside Parkhurst is his raw, uncompromising look at what really goes on behind the massive walls and menacing gates. Thrown in at the deep end, David quickly had to work out how to deal with the most cunning and volatile of prisoners, and learn how to avoid their many scams. He has been assaulted and abused; he has tackled cell fires and attempted suicides, riots and dirty protests; he has helped to foil escaped plans, talked inmates down from rooftop protests, witnessed prisoners setting fire to themselves, and prevented prisoners from attempting to murder other prisoners. And now he takes us inside this secret world for the first time. With this searingly honest account he guides us around the wings, the segregation unit, the hospital and the exercise yard, and gives vivid portraits of the drug taking, the hooch making, the constant and irrepressible violence, and the extraordinary lengths our prison officers go to everyday. Divided into three parts - the first from David's early years on the wings, the second the middle of his career, and the third his disillusioned later years - David will take readers into the heart of life inside and shine a light on the escalating violence and the impact the government cuts are having on the wings. Both horrifying and hilarious, David's diaries are guaranteed to shock and entertain in equal measure. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781841884226 • Author: David Berridge • Publisher: Seven Dials • Format: Paperback • Pages: 304 • Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.8 x 2.4 cm

In December 2018, after fifty years of belly-laughs, energy and outrage, Billy Connolly announced his retirement from live stand-up comedy. It had been an extraordinary career. When he first started out in the late sixties, Billy played the banjo in the folk clubs of Scotland. Between songs, he would improvise a bit, telling anecdotes from the Clyde shipyard where he'd worked. In the process, he made all kinds of discoveries about what audiences found funny, from his own brilliant mimes to the power of speaking irreverently about politics or explicitly about sex. He began to understand the craft of great storytelling. Soon the songs became shorter and the monologues longer, and Billy quickly became recognised as one of the most exciting comedians of his generation. Tall Tales and Wee Stories brings together the very best of Billy's storytelling for the first time. With an introduction and original illustrations by Billy throughout, it is an inspirational, energetic and riotously funny read, and a fitting celebration of our greatest ever comedian. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781529361360 • Author: Billy Connolly • Publisher: Two Roads • Format: Paperback • Pages: 336 • Dimensions: 19.69 x 12.7 x 2.22 cm

In 1938, before Kindertransport, Jewish parents in Vienna took out adverts in the Manchester Guardian asking for people to take in their children – a desperate, last ditch attempt to save them from the Nazis. Eighty-three years later, Julian Borger discovers an advert for an ‘intelligent boy, aged 11, Viennese of good family’. It was his father, Robert. Like almost everything about his childhood, Robert had kept this a secret, until he took his own life. Starting with nothing but the adverts, Borger traces the remarkable stories of his father, the other advertised children and their families. From a Viennese radio shop to the Shanghai ghetto, internment camps and family homes across Britain, forests and concentration camps in Germany, smugglers saving Jewish lives in Holland, an improbable French Resistance cell, and a redemptive story of survival in New York, he unearths the astonishing journeys and legacies of children left in the hands of fate – and at the mercy of other people’s kindness. I Seek a Kind Person is a gripping story of grief, inheritance, courage and hope. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781399803311 • Author: Julian Borger • Publisher: Orion Publishing • Format: Paperback • Pages: 304 • Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.8 x 3 cm