True Story Books

Discover the fullest possible account of the crimes of the Yorkshire Ripper, Peter Sutcliffe, including those he was not charged with and has never previously been connected to… The police believed Sutcliffe was operating only in the Greater Manchester Police, South Yorkshire Police and West Yorkshire Metropolitan Police force areas, using his car. In fact, Sutcliffe was operating nationally and internationally, using his employer’s lorry to commit attacks. Authors Chris Clark and Tim Hicks have meticulously researched Sutcliffe’s crimes and reveal many of his previously unknown victims for the first time.  The police failed to deliver justice for the victims’ families, and the media has failed to hold the police to account for this failure – both in the original investigation and in subsequent cold-case investigations.    By bringing more of the facts of the case into the public domain and by telling the victims’ stories, this book helps to bring closure for friends and relatives of victims of the Yorkshire Ripper. Product Information:  • ISBN: 9781802472042 • Author: Chris Clark & Tim Hicks • Publisher: Ad Lib Publishers Ltd • Format: Paperback • Pages: 240 • Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.1 x 1.5 cm

When they are little girls, Cibi, Magda and Livia make a promise to their father - that they will stay together, no matter what. Years later, at just 15, Livia is ordered to Auschwitz by the Nazis. Cibi, only 19 herself, remembers their promise and follows Livia, determined to protect her sister, or die with her. Together, they fight to survive through unimaginable cruelty and hardship. Magda, only 17, stays with her mother and grandfather, hiding out in a neighbour's attic or in the forest when the Nazi militia come to round up friends, neighbours and family. She escapes for a time, but eventually she too is captured and transported to the death camp. In Auschwitz-Birkenau the three sisters are reunited and, remembering their father, they make a new promise, this time to each other: That they will survive. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781838774592 • Author: Heather Morris • Publisher: Zaffre • Format: Paperback • Pages: 400 • Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.8 x 2.54 cm

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

A story of astonishing resilience and compassion... In 1943, the Dutch champion boxer, Leen Sanders, was sent to Auschwitz. His wife and children were put to death while he was sent 'to the left' with the others who were fit enough for labour. Recognised by an SS officer, he was earmarked for a 'privileged' post in the kitchens in exchange for weekly boxing matches for the entertainment of the Nazi guards. From there, he enacted his resistance to their limitless cruelty. With great risk and danger to his own life, Leen stole, concealed and smuggled food and clothing from SS nursing units for years to alleviate the unbearable suffering of the prisoners in need. He also regularly supplied extra food to the Dutch women in Dr. Mengele's experiment, Block 10. To his fellow Jews in the camp, he acted as a rescuer, leader and role model, defending them even on their bitter death march to Dachau towards the end of the war.  Product Information:  • ISBN:  9781788404303 • Author:  Erik Brouwer  • Publisher:  Cassell • Format:  Paperback • Pages:  336 • Dimensions:  12.7 x 1.91 x 20.32 cm

I was unwanted, beaten, sold, swapped, photographed, filmed, left for dead, corrupted, blamed, betrayed, ignored and orphaned. But I was also born with a fire inside me. I call it my Phoenix Fire. I am no victim – that word only describes what happened to me. Nor am I a survivor because that implies I am over it. I am a Phoenix – a work in progress. This is my story…” Product Information: • ISBN: 9781914451003 • Author: Shy Keenan • Publisher: Mardle Books • Format: Paperback • Pages: 311 • Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.9 cm

"My life will always be in danger. My beautiful sister Banaz Mahmod was murdered in an ‘honour killing’ ordered by our father and uncle. If those evil men find me, they will kill me too." Bekhal Mahmod was one of six siblings from a Sunni Muslim family in Iraqi Kurdistan who sought a new life as asylum seekers and arrived in London in 1998. When Bekhal's father tried to force her into an arranged marriage at 15, she ran away. This caused her father to ‘lose respect’ within the Kurdish community and Bekhal became the target of an honour killing and her younger sisters Banaz and Payzee were quickly married off to restore the family's reputation. When Banaz left her husband, claiming he'd beaten and raped her, Mahmod decided this 'shame' to the family meant Banaz must die. Within weeks, she had vanished. Her body was finally discovered, crammed into a suitcase and buried in a garden in Birmingham. Banaz, age 20, had been raped and killed in a sickening plot orchestrated by her father and uncle. Still fearing for her own life, Bekhal bravely faced her father and uncle in court - making her the first female in British legal history to give evidence against family members in an honour killing trial - and won justice for her beloved sister Banaz. Bekhal now has a new identity after entering the police witness protection programme. She lives in terror of her father’s release from jail. This is her story. Product Information:  • ISBN:  9781913543051 • Author:  Bekhal Mahmod  • Publisher:  Ad Lib Publishers Ltd • Format:  Paperback • Pages:  240 • Dimensions: 12.7 x 2.03 x 19.69 cm

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

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   

Letters from Serial Killers is a unique study of the criminal mind based on the author's extensive correspondence with convicted serial murderers.  Such a collection is extremely rare, and among the killers whose correspondence is examined are: Arthur John Shawcross, aka 'The Genesee River Killer'; Phillip Carl Jablonski, aka 'The Death Row Teddy'; Melanie Lyn McGuire, aka 'The Ice Queen'; Harvey 'The Hammer' Louis Carignan, aka 'The Want-ad Killer'; Ian Stewart Brady, aka 'The Moors Murderer'; Hal Karen and Ronald 'Butch' Joseph DeFeo Jr, aka 'The Amityville Horror'; Gary Ray Bowles, aka 'The I-95 Killer';John 'J.R.' Edward Robinson, aka 'The Slavemaster' Letters from Serial Killers is Christopher Berry-Dee at his steeliest best - exploring the downright creepy correspondence with murderers, serial killers and psychopaths behind bars, with exclusive scans of letters and eerily decorated envelopes. A must-have for fans of the series, based on a collection that will eventually be bequeathed to the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit at its headquarters at Quantico, Virginia.  Product Information:  • ISBN:  9781789466584 • Author:  Christopher Berry-Dee • Publisher:  John Blake • Format:  Paperback • Pages:  336 • Dimensions:   33.5 x 19.9 x 3.6 cm

My mother once said to me, ‘I wish you could feel the way I do for eighteen seconds. Just eighteen seconds, so you’d know how awful it is.’ I thought about it. Realised we could all learn from being in another person’s head for eighteen seconds. Eighteen seconds inside Grandma Roberts’ head as she sat alone with her evening cup of tea, us girls upstairs in bed. Eighteen seconds inside one-year-old Colin’s head when he woke up in a foster home without his family. Eighteen seconds inside the head of a girl waiting for her bedroom door to open. Writer, Louise Beech, looks back on the events that led to the day her mother wrote down her last words, then jumped off the Humber Bridge. She missed witnessing the horror herself by minutes. Louise recounts the pain and trauma of her childhood alongside her love for her siblings with a delicious dark humour and a profound voice of hope for the future. Product Information:  • ISBN:  9781837700202 • Author:  Louise Beech  • Publisher:  Mardle Book • Format:  Paperback • Pages:  240 • Dimensions: 12.7 x 2.03 x 19.69 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

At the age of sixty, and having lived with Parkinson’s disease for over ten years, Guy Deacon CBE set out on one last adventure: to drive solo from his home in the UK 18,000 miles and through twenty-five countries to Cape Town on the southern tip of Africa. This incredible journey, across Europe and down the full length of Africa, took the former British Army officer over twelve months. Along the way, he broke down five times, underwent one emergency evacuation, and took 3,650 prescription pills. There are only a handful of vehicles each year which attempt this difficult journey; many never complete it. Ongoing conflicts in Libya, South Sudan, Mozambique and many other countries make any journey exceptionally dangerous. In central Africa, road conditions, particularly in the rainy season, often make the going treacherous. Further hazards include illegal checkpoints, extortion, contaminated fuel and a lack of services. Guy drove, lived and slept in his VW Transporter, often in remote spots, hundreds of miles from the nearest village or town. Reliant on patchy GPS, he often got lost. His journey was, quite simply, an incredible feat by a man travelling alone with Stage 3 Parkinson’s disease, when simply putting on a pair of shoes can take half an hour. But not only did Guy’s journey fulfil a childhood dream to drive the length of Africa, his mission was also to raise global awareness of Parkinson’s disease, for which there is currently still no cure. Product Information:  • ISBN: 9781802471885 • Author: Guy Deacon • Publisher: Ad Lib Publishers Ltd • Format:  Paperback • Pages: 240 • Dimensions: 20 x 13 x 2cm

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

Patrick Bishop looks at the lives and the extraordinary risks that the painfully young pilots of Bomber Command took during the air-offensive against Germany from 1940-1945. As featured on the BBC 1 documentary BOMBER BOYS, presented by Ewan McGregor. They came from every corner of Britain and its Empire. They were the best of their generation…heading for one of the worst tasks of World War 2. Like RAF pilots, the thousands of brave young men who joined Bomber Command took to the air to help Britain triumph in World War Two. But in the glow of victory, the fighter pilots were lauded for their efforts while the Bomber Boys faded in national memory. Crucial in the heat of combat, they were politically awkward afterwards. Yet with an average life expectancy shorter than that of soldiers on the Western front in WWI, these men faced death, injury and capture time and again to send bombs through the shrieking flak onto enemy territory. ‘Bomber Boys’ is a tribute to their strength, courage and heroism – filling in the historical blanks and immortalising their memory. Product Information:  • ISBN:  9780007192151 • Author:  Patrick Bishop • Publisher:  Harper Perennial • Format:  Paperback • Pages:  400 • Dimensions: 12.9 x 3.2 x 19.8 cm

A leading journalist's intense, riveting and personal investigation into the worlds and minds of cults. At a new age festival in Byron Bay, Australia, German journalist Anke Richter is finding her spiritual awakening when she meets a woman – a survivor of the Centrepoint cult – who will change the course of her life and career. Over the next ten years, Anke pursued a labyrinthine investigation into how and why cults attract, entrap and destroy otherwise ordinary people, asking what the line is between tribe and cult, participant and perpetrator, seduction and sexual abuse.  From the emotional and criminal carnage of Centrepoint in Auckland, New Zealand, to an anti-cult conference in Manchester, the infamous Osho’s ashram in India, the tantric Agama Yoga school in remote Thailand and culminating in a visit to Gloriavale on the west coast of New Zealand’s South Island, Anke uncovers a disturbing pattern of violence and suffering.  Cult Trip is a powerful exploration of what really goes on inside the groups we call cults, and how to reckon with their aftermath. Product Information:  • ISBN:  9781802471762 • Author:  Anke Richter  • Publisher:  Ad Lib Publishers Ltd • Format:  Paperback • Pages:  352 • Dimensions: 20.5 x 2.5 x 12.8 cm

Bobby's heartbreaking true story of neglect, secrets and abuse. Three young siblings arrive at Maggie's door after being taken into care. Teachers of eight-year-old Bobby spotted distinct hand-shaped bruises on his arm and his dad and stepmother are uncooperative and hostile to Social Services. While they investigate, Bobby, as well as Melodie and Poppy, are looked after in Maggie's home. As the children settle in, a thought won't let Maggie go. While Melodie and Poppy are clean, well-fed and immaculately dressed, Bobby is pale, severely underweight and extremely quiet. What looks like a case of neglect is actually something much more sinister. Bobby and his half-sisters are hiding a cruel secret, but can Maggie find the truth? Product Information:  • ISBN:  9781399606608 • Author:  Maggie Hartley • Publisher:  Seven Dials • Format:  Paperback • Pages:  272 • Dimensions: 12.7 x 1.91 x 19.05 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 

From the crime scene to the courtroom, When the Dogs Don't Bark is the remarkable story of a life spent searching for the truth... Never before has criminal justice rested so heavily on scientific evidence. With ever-more sophisticated and powerful techniques at their disposal, forensic scientists have an unprecedented ability to help solve even the most complex cases. Angela Gallop has been a forensic scientist for over 40 years. After joining the Forensic Science Service, the first crime scene she attended was for a case involving the Yorkshire Ripper. As well as working on a wide range of cases in many countries around the world, she is now the most sought-after forensic scientist in the UK, where she has helped solve numerous high-profile cases, including the investigation that finally absolved the Cardiff Three the Pembrokeshire Coastal Path murders, and the killings of Stephen Lawrence, Damilola Taylor, Rachel Nickell and Roberto Calvi. Product Information:  • ISBN:  9781473678859 • Author:  Angela Gallop • Publisher:  Hodder Paperbacks • Format:  Paperback • Pages:  368 • Dimensions: 12.8 x 2.6 x 19.6 cm

Fred and Rose West are virtually unique in British criminal history: a husband and wife who loved and killed together. During their long relationship, the Wests murdered a series of young women, burying the remains of nine victims under their home at 25 Cromwell Street, Gloucester, including those of their daughter. What was left of Fred West's eight-year-old stepdaughter was dug up from under the Wests' previous Gloucester home; his first wife and nanny were buried in open country. Most victims had been decapitated and dismembered, their remains showing signs of sexual torture. These twelve are just the ones police found when the Wests were arrested in 1994. There may be more whose bones have not been located... Howard Sounes broke the first major story about the Wests as a journalist, and covered the murder trial of Rosemary West, before writing Fred & Rose, the definitive account of this infamous case. Beginning with Fred's and Rose's bizarre childhoods, Sounes charts their lives and crimes in forensic detail, creating a fascinating and truly frightening account of a marriage soaked in blood. Product Information:  • ISBN:  9780751577501 • Author: Howard Sounes • Publisher:  Little, Brown • Format:  Paperback • Pages:  392 • Dimensions: 12.8 x 19.8 x 2.7 cm

The story of the unsung heroines who flew the newest, fastest, aeroplanes in World War II – mostly in southern England where the RAF was desperately short of pilots. Why would the well-bred daughter of a New England factory-owner brave the U-boat blockades of the North Atlantic in the bitter winter of 1941? What made a South African diamond heiress give up her life of house parties and London balls to spend the war in a freezing barracks on the Solent? And why did young Margaret Frost start lying to her father during the Battle of Britain? They – and scores of other women – weren't allowed to fly in combat, but what they did was nearly as dangerous. Unarmed and without instruments or radios, they delivered planes for the Air Transport Auxiliary to the RAF bases from which male pilots flew into battle. At the mercy of the weather and any long-range enemy aircraft that pounced on them, fifteen of these women died, among them Amy Johnson, Britain's most famous flyer. But the survivors shared four unrepeatable years of life, adrenaline and love. The story of this 'tough bunch of babes' (in the words of one of them) has never been told properly before. The author has travelled to four continents to interview all the surviving women pilots, who came not just from the shires of England, but also from the U.S.A, Chile, Australia, Poland and Argentina. Paid £ 6 a week, they flew up to 16 hours a day in 140 different types of aircraft, though most of them liked Spitfires the best. Product Information: • ISBN:  9780008490607 • Author:  Giles Whittell • Publisher:  Harper Press • Format:  Paperback • Pages:  304 • Dimensions:  12.9 x 2.2 x 19.8 cm