True Stories

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True Story Books have some most inspirational tales of love, survival and success throughout history— the type of tales that can stop you in your tracks and make you reevaluate life. Our range of true-life books has everything from celebrity stories to some of the most fascinating stories you've never heard of. To find the perfect one for you, just use the filters below.

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An incredible memoir by Wrexham’s star player, Paul Mullin, as seen in Welcome to Wrexham, a Disney+ documentary series by Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney. In July 2021, shortly after being named League Two's Player of the Season and Golden Boot, Paul Mullin sent shockwaves through the EFL by taking a downwards move to National League team, Wrexham AFC. Since then, 'Super Paul Mullin' has helped transform the Wrexham team, scoring goal after goal, helping secure promotion, and capturing the imaginations of football fans across the world in the process. For the first time ever, Mullin tells his own story: his roots in Liverpool, the highs and lows of English football's promotion race, lessons learnt from his young son's Autism diagnosis, and what happens when Hollywood comes knocking at your door. Product Information:  • ISBN:  9781529914733 • Author:  Paul Mullin • Publisher:  Century • Format:  Hardback • Pages:  352 • Dimensions:  15.24 x 1.7 x 23.5 cm

5 ({1})
£10.00 RRP £20.00 Save £10.00 (50% Off RRP)

An indispensable introduction to the darker side of life, revealing the often strange and grisly stories behind the world's most infamous murderers, swindlers and crooks. 100 Most Infamous Criminals is an astounding compendium of crimes and their perpetrators. Here you will find the stories of some of history's most notorious criminals, the lives they led, the crimes they committed and the destruction and sorrow they left in their wake. This collection includes such notorious villains as Jack the Ripper, Charles Manson, Ted Bundy and others. Product Information:  • ISBN:  9781398803527 • Author: Jo Durden Smith • Publisher:  Arcturus • Format:  Paperback • Pages:  208 • Dimensions: 23.5 x 1.8 x 15.3 cm

4.5 ({1})
£4.00 RRP £9.99 Save £5.99 (60% Off RRP)

The Boy Who Drew Auschwitz presents a rare living testimony through the eyes of a child who had the unique ability to observe and remember every detail around him and chose to document it all. Thomas Geve was just 15 years old when he was liberated from Buchenwald concentration camp on 11 April 1945. It was the third concentration camp he had survived. Upon arrival at Auschwitz- Birkenau, Thomas was separated from his mother and left to fend for himself in the men’s camp of Auschwitz I, at the age of 13. During the 22 months he was imprisoned, he was subjected to, and forced to observe first-hand, the inhumane world of Nazi concentration camps. On his eventual release Thomas felt compelled to capture daily life in the death camps in more than eighty profoundly moving drawings. Infamous scenarios synonymous with this dark period of history were portrayed in poignant but simplistic detail with extraordinary accuracy. Despite the unspeakable events he experienced, Thomas decided to become an active witness and tell the truth about life in the camps. He has spoken to audiences from around the world and continues to raise awareness about the Holocaust.  Product Information:  • ISBN:  9780008406394 • Author:  Thomas Geve • Publisher:  HarperCollins • Format:  Paperback • Pages:  352 • Dimensions: 12.9 x 2.7 x 19.8 cm

4.3 ({1})
£5.00 RRP £8.99 Save £3.99 (44% Off RRP)

Check out this terrifying True Crime Stories book by Al Cimino! Learn more about the world's most monstrous murderers...  Product Information:  • ISBN:  9781398827769 • Author:  Al Cimino • Publisher:  Arcturus Publishing Ltd • Format:  Paperback • Pages:  96 • Dimensions:  23.4  x 1.6 x 15.3 cm

3.9 ({1})
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'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

5 ({1})
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A gripping and explosive account of Vladimir Putin's tyranny, charting his rise from spy to tsar, exposing the events that led to his invasion of Ukraine and his assault on Europe. In Killer in the Kremlin, award-winning journalist John Sweeney takes readers from the heart of Putin's Russia to the killing fields of Chechnya, to the embattled cities of an invaded Ukraine. In a disturbing exposé of Putin's sinister ambition, Sweeney draws on thirty years of his own reporting - from the Moscow apartment bombings to the atrocities committed by the Russian Army in Chechnya, to the annexation of Crimea and a confrontation with Putin over the shooting down of flight MH17 - to understand the true extent of Putin's long war. Drawing on eyewitness accounts and compelling testimony from those who have suffered at Putin's hand, we see the heroism of the Russian opposition, the bravery of the Ukrainian resistance, and the brutality with which the Kremlin responds to such acts of defiance, assassinating or locking away its critics, and stopping at nothing to achieve its imperialist aims. In the midst of one of the darkest acts of aggression in modern history - Russia's invasion of Ukraine - this book shines a light on Putin's rule and poses urgent questions about how the world must respond.  Product Information:  • ISBN:  9781804991206 • Author:  John Sweeney • Publisher:  Penguin • Format:  Paperback • Pages:  352 • Dimensions:  12.7 x 2.1 x 19.8 cm

4.9 ({1})
£5.00 RRP £8.99 Save £3.99 (44% Off RRP)

The Cult Files explores the history, features and beliefs of thirty cults through the ages.  Riveting, sometimes amusing, often horrifying stories show the inside workings of these groups, and trace their history and often their demise. The book includes the Aum Shinrikyo followers, who killed twelve people in a poison gas attack on the Tokyo subway; Scientology (now known for its celebrity followers), which was established in the 1950s by a science fiction writer; and the People's Temple, in which Jim Jones convinced hundreds of followers to commit suicide en masse. Discover the unbelievable power and wealth held by cult leaders, and the physical and mental authority they wield over their followers.  The full story of some of these cults is told for the first time in this book. Key points: each gripping story eight to ten pages in length and 17 accounts in total is easy to finish in one reading; here true crime meets history, combining two strong-selling categories. Product Information:  • ISBN:  9781802420913 • Author: Chris Mikul  • Publisher:  Murdoch Books • Format:  Paperback • Pages:  248 • Dimensions: 15.9 x 2.8 x 24 cm

3.9 ({1})
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This highly revelatory book, based on original research and completely new analysis, presents a compelling new suspect as the most notorious serial killer of all time: Jack the Ripper. Using a different analytical approach, for the first time, Sarah Bax Horton identifies a named perpetrator as Jack the Ripper by linking eye-witness accounts of the killer’s distinctive physical characteristics to his official medical records. It argues that his broken left arm, which left him unable to work in early 1888, was one of his triggers to kill as part of a serious physical and mental decline caused by severe epilepsy. This new perpetrator fits the profile as stated by the police of the day: a local man of low class of whom they became aware after the final murder, when they launched an unsuccessful surveillance operation against him. As has never been done before, the author – an experienced former government researcher with specific expertise in research and analysis – formulates a complete analysis of the killer and his methodology, including how he accosted his victims, where he took them to their deaths, his unique modus operandi of a blitz-style attack, and how he escaped from each crime scene without detection. Each of the six murders – from Martha Tabram to Marie Kelly – is discussed and reconstructed as perpetrated by this man, with his escalating violence clearly demonstrated.  Product Information:  • ISBN:  9781789295160 • Author: Sarah Bax Horton • Publisher:  Michael O'Mara • Format:  Hardback • Pages:  304 • Dimensions:  15.3 x 2.66 x 23.4 cm

3.7 ({1})
£8.00 RRP £18.99 Save £10.99 (58% Off RRP)

The powerful true story about how nine young women, captured by Nazi for being part of the Resistance, launched a breathtakingly bold escape and found their way home… Caught out in heroic acts against the brutal occupiers, nine young women were each tortured and sent east into Greater Germany to a concentration camp, where they formed a powerful friendship. In 1945, as the war turned against Hitler, they were forced on a Death March, facing starvation and almost certain death. Determined to survive, they made a bid for freedom, and so began one of the most breathtaking tales of escape and resilience of the Second World War. The book is written by Gwen Strauss, the great-niece of one of the nine. In revealing the heart-stopping escape and survival of these heroes who fought fearlessly against Nazi Germany and lived to tell the tale.  Product Information:  • ISBN:  9781786581549 • Author:  Gwen Strauss • Publisher:  Bonnier Publishing Fiction • Format:  Paperback • Pages:  317 • Dimensions:  19.7 x 12.9 x 3 cm

3.3 ({1})
£4.00 RRP £9.99 Save £5.99 (60% Off RRP)

Enter the mind of John Wayne Gacy, the real-life 'Killer Clown', often said to be the inspiration for Stephen King's evil Pennywise in It. Gacy lured victims to his home with the promise of work or a warm bed and then duped them into putting on handcuffs, claiming he wanted to show them a magic trick. He would then rape and torture his victims before killing them by suffocating or strangling them. Twenty-six were buried in the crawl space beneath his home; others were buried elsewhere on his property, while a handful were dumped in the Des Plaines River. Gacy was executed for his crimes in 1994, but many questions remain unanswered. How many victims were there? Did Gacy act alone? And what drove John Wayne Gacy to murder? What caused the seemingly normal Gacy to sexually assault, torture and murder at least thirty-three young men and boys? Drawing on his many years' experience investigating and interviewing perpetrators of terrible crimes, Hunter seeks to understand what drove Gacy to unleash a reign of terror in suburban Chicago.  Product Information:  • ISBN:  9781802470765 • Author: Brad Hunter • Publisher:  Ad Lib Publishers • Format:  Paperback • Pages:  240 • Dimensions:  12.7 x 1.52 x 19.69 cm

4.9 ({1})
£3.00 RRP £9.99 Save £6.99 (70% Off RRP)

How does it feel to be betrayed by your closest friend? A close friend who turns out to be the most prolific grifter in New York City... This is the true story of Anna Delvey (real name Anna Sorokin), the fake heiress whose dizzying deceit and elaborate con-artistry deceived the Soho hipster scene before her ruse was finally and dramatically exposed. After meeting through mutual friends, the 'Russian heiress' Anna Delvey and Rachel DeLoache Williams soon became inseparable. Theirs was an intoxicating world of endless excess: high dining, personal trainer sessions, a luxury holiday... and Anna footed almost every bill. But after Anna's debit card was declined in a Moroccan medina whilst on holiday in a five-star luxury resort, Rachel began to suspect that her increasingly mysterious friend was not all she seemed. This is the incredible story of how Anna Sorokin conned the high-rollers of the NYC social scene and convinced her close friend of an entirely concocted fantasy, the product of falsified bank documents, bad cheques and carefully edited online photos. Written by Rachel DeLoache Williams, the Vanity Fair photography editor who believed Anna's lies before helping the police to track her down (fittingly, deciphering Anna's location using Instagram), this is Catch Me If You Can with Instagram filters. Between Anna, Fyre Festival's Billy McFarland (Anna even tried to scam Billy) and Elizabeth Holmes, whose start-up app duped the high and mighty of Silicon Valley, this is the year of the scammer.  Product Information:  • ISBN:  9781787478305 • Author:  Rachel DeLoache Williams  • Publisher:  Quercus • Format:  Paperback • Pages:  304 • Dimensions: 19.2 x 2 x 12.8 cm

5 ({1})
£5.00 RRP £8.99 Save £3.99 (44% Off RRP)

In November 1974, British MP and former cabinet minister John Stonehouse walked into the sea off a beach in Miami and disappeared, seemingly drowned. Then he was found - on the other side of the world, in Australia - and his extraordinary story began to come to light: a Labour cabinet minister and a devoted family man; also in a long-term affair with his secretary, and a spy for the Czech State Security agency, who had committed fraud and attempted to fake his own death to escape catastrophic business failures. Was it a mental breakdown as he later claimed? Or were there more sinister reasons for his dramatic disappearance? This is the definitive biography of Stonehouse, written by Julian Hayes, who, as the son of Stonehouse's nephew and lawyer, Michael Hayes, is uniquely placed to tell the story of this charismatic but deeply flawed politician.  Product Information:  • ISBN:  9781472146533 • Author:  Julian Hayes • Publisher:  Robinson • Format:  Paperback • Pages:  384 • Dimensions:  12.7 x 2.54 x 19.69 cm

3.5 ({1})
£6.00 RRP £10.99 Save £4.99 (45% Off RRP)

'That nickname . . .' '"Little bird." It wasn't mine. I found out later he gave it to every little girl that came in to be injected. "Little Bird" didn't mean anything. It was a trick. There were thousands of "little birds", just like me, all thinking they were the only one.' As a reporter, Jacques Peretti has spent his life investigating important stories. But there was one story, heard in scattered fragments throughout his childhood, that he never thought to investigate. The story of how his mother survived Auschwitz. In the few last months of the Second World War, thirteen-year-old Alina Peretti, along with her mother and sister, was one of thirteen thousand non-Jewish Poles sent to Auschwitz. Her experiences there cast a shadow over the rest of her life. Now ninety, Alina has been diagnosed with dementia. Together, mother and son begin a race against time to record her memories and preserve her family's story. Along the way, Jacques learns long-hidden secrets about his mother's family. He gains an understanding of his mother through retracing her past, learning more about the woman who would never let him call her 'Mum'. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781473646452 • Author: Jacques Peretti • Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton • Format: Hardback • Pages: 320 • Dimensions: 23.6 x 15.8 x 3.8 cm

3.1 ({1})
£12.00 RRP £20.00 Save £8.00 (40% Off RRP)

In a dramatic account of violence and espionage, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter Ronan Farrow exposes serial abusers and a cabal of powerful interests hell-bent on covering up the truth, at any cost. In 2017, a routine network television investigation led Ronan Farrow to a story only whispered about one of Hollywood's most powerful producers was a predator, protected by fear, wealth and a conspiracy of silence. As Farrow drew closer to the truth, shadowy operatives, from high-priced lawyers to elite war-hardened spies, mounted a secret campaign of intimidation, threatening his career, following his every move and weaponizing an account of abuse in his own family. All the while, Farrow and his producer faced a degree of resistance that could not be explained - until now. And a trail of clues revealed corruption and cover-ups from Hollywood to Washington and beyond. This is the untold story of the tactics of surveillance and intimidation deployed by wealthy and connected men to threaten journalists, evade accountability and silence victims of abuse - and it's the story of the women who risked everything to expose the truth and spark a global movement. Product Information:  • ISBN:  9780708899281 • Author:  Ronan Farrow • Publisher:  Fleet • Format:  Paperback • Pages:  480 • Dimensions: 12.6 x 3.4 x 19.6 cm

4.1 ({1})
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