Best Selling Books by Wendy Holden

When Mary meets gorgeous Monty, heir to a stately pile, romantic bliss seems assured. But after the roof falls in and the pictures are flogged, happiness is thin on the ground. Beth exchanges Holland Park for simple weekends at the country cottage her banker husband''s bonus has bought. They only offered a little over the asking price - why don''t the locals like them? Uber-WAG Alexandra needs a country mansion - fast. Her footballer boyfriend is being transferred and time is running out. There must be a Hello!-tastic pile somewhere? Morag is the terror of the village. She''s a Stalin against slug pellets who wears hemp trousers and makes her own Weetabix. When the village launches an allotment project they become dramatically embroiled in a bitter struggle over sex, power and money, which threatens to blight more than everyone''s carrots.

All''ombra delle ciminiere, in una baracca di legno, Fredy Hirsch insegna ai bambini a immaginare un mondo diverso. In questo spazio angusto, i piccoli prigionieri cantano, mettono in scena spettacoli teatrali, scrivono poesie e imparano a conoscere il mondo, circondati da pareti dipinte a mano con colori vivaci. Grazie a Fredy, vengono tenuti al riparo dai parassiti, ricevono cibo migliore e imparano persino a immaginare di avere lo stomaco pieno e vivere un giorno senza paura. Essere un insegnante in un campo di concentramento non è affatto semplice. Fredy, atleta ventisettenne ebreo e gay, rischia la vita ogni giorno. La sua missione è insegnare a conservare speranza e dignità, anche in mezzo all''orrore. Ma il tempo sta per scadere per Fredy e per le centinaia di bambini a lui affidati. Può quest''uomo gentile, compassionevole e coraggioso insegnare loro la lezione più importante di tutte: come sopravvivere? Un romanzo intenso e commovente, basato su ricerche storiche accurate e testimonianze dirette, che restituisce voce a un eroe dimenticato e agli innocenti che ha ispirato.

«La musica di Bach brilla come un faro di speranza su Auschwitz e sulle brutalità del comunismo sovietico» The Financial Times «Uno straordinario memoir... Il commovente racconto di una donna che ha superato ogni ostacolo.» The Sunday Times Ha quindici anni Zuzana Růžičková, ebrea cecoslovacca, quando viene deportata nel ghetto di Terezín con la famiglia. La rau00adgazza, che ha trascorso un’infanzia felice u00adnonostante la salute cagionevole, amatissima dai genitori e con una grande passione per la musica, non ha idea dell’orrore che sta per affrontare. Ma la sua forza interiore, l’intenso legame con la madre e la musica di Johann Sebastian Bach le permetteranno di sopravvivere a Terezín, ad Auschwitz, ai campi di lavoro e a Bergen-Belsen. Non solo, riuscirà anche a partecipare a quel poco di umano che era tollerato, come la coraggiosa scuola organizzata da Fredy Hirsch per i bambini internati. Zuzana alterna il racconto dell’esperienza nei campi a quello degli anni successivi in cui, grazie all’affetto della madre e del marito, il compositore Viktor Kalabis, riesce a intraprendere con successo la carriera di clavicembalista, malgrado le mani rovinate dalla fatica e dagli stenti. Il suo amore per Bach la porterà a diventare una musicista di fama mondiale. Neppure quelli però sono anni facili: il regime comunista impone alla coppia una serie di limiti, ostacolandone la carriera e la vita. In sottofondo scorre infatti la storia della Cecoslovacchia, poi Repubblica Ceca, dalla Primavera di Praga alle repressioni, alla perestrojka, al ritorno della democrazia. Vibra in queste pagine l’appassionato racconto di una donna che ha vissuto l’orrore, ma che ha conservato sempre dentro di sé il senso del miracolo e la speranza di riportare un po’ di bellezza nel mondo attraverso la musica.

Voor lezers van De pianiste van Theresienstadt en De tatoeëerder van Auschwitz: een verhaal over tirannie, hoop, triomf en de kracht van muziek. Als de Tsjechische Zuzana zich in 1942 voor het Jodentransport moet melden, neemt ze in het geheim een flard bladmuziek mee: het begin van de vijfde Engelse suite van Bach. Omdat ze van zichzelf nooit mag vergeten dat er ook nog schoonheid in de wereld is, speelt ze in haar hoofd de suite telkens weer af. Drie concentratiekampen lang wordt het papiertje niet ontdekt. Als Zuzana na de oorlog meer dood dan levend terugkeert naar Praag, probeert ze daar het onmogelijke te bereiken: wereldfaam als klavecimbelist, terwijl het communistische regime fel ageert tegen zowel kunstenaars als Joden. Pas aan het einde van haar leven doet ze haar ontzagwekkende verhaal. Afwisselend vertelt deze grande dame van de Praagse Lente over de kampen en het Tsjechoslowakije van na de oorlog, twee werelden die jarenlang onderbelicht zijn gebleven.

Laura Lake longs to be a journalist. Now she’s an unpaid intern at a glossy magazine – sleeping in the fashion cupboard and living on canapés. And she’s just got her first big break: infiltrate three society weddings and write a juicy exposé. Security will be tighter than a Kardashian pencil skirt, but how hard can it be? She’ll don a ball-gown for the aristocrats, a festival headdress for the artisan jewellery makers, and a glitter moustache for the Shoreditch hipsters. But Laura hasn’t prepared for disappearing brides and secret royal orgies. Or the fact that her jealous office enemy will do anything to bring her down...

John Downing was the pre-eminent press photographer of his generation: he led a life of adventure in wars and hotspots around the world. His memoir, Aperture, offers a unique and first hand insight into life behind the Fleet Street lens during one of the most interesting periods of world history and a golden age of photojournalism.

A leading male model offers a glimpse inside the decadent world of high fashion during the 1980s and 1990s, revealing the sex, drugs, extravagance, intense competition, and indulgence of the era while chronicling his own experiences.

Als de Tsjechische Zuzana zich in 1942 voor het Jodentransport moet melden, neemt ze in het geheim een flard bladmuziek mee: het begin van de vijfde Engelse suite van Bach. In haar hoofd speelt ze de suite telkens weer af, die haar eraan herinnert dat er nog schoonheid in de wereld is. Drie concentratiekampen lang wordt het papiertje niet ontdekt. Als Zuzana na de oorlog meer dood dan levend terugkeert naar Praag, probeert ze daar het onmogelijke te bereiken: wereldfaam als klavecimbelist, terwijl het communistische regime fel ageert tegen kunstenaars én Joden. Pas aan het einde van haar leven doet ze haar ontzagwekkende verhaal. Afwisselend vertelt deze grande dame van de Praagse lente over de kampen en het Tsjechoslowakije van na de oorlog, twee werelden die jarenlang onderbelicht zijn gebleven.

Levensverhaal van drie joodse vrouwen die tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog samen met hun baby''s de concentratiekampen overleefden.

Het levensverhaal van Wallis Simpson, de vrouw voor wie Edward, de koning van Engeland zijn troon opgaf.

Marion Crawford was 22 when she became governess to the young princesses Elizabeth and Margaret in 1933. A working-class girl with progressive ideas, she had intended to teach children in the Edinburgh slums. Instead, she had a ringside seat at some of the most seismic events of the 20th century. The castles and palaces housed a family frozen in time. But outside the royal gates, poverty and unemployment were breeding unrest in 1930s Britain. Hitler was on the rise in Europe. If royalty was to survive, it must draw closer to the people. And so Marion took the princesses on tubes and buses, swimming at public baths, Christmas shopping at Woolworth''s. Marion''s devotion meant personal sacrifices. Her passionate affair with a socialist ended tragically. The royals refused to let her leave to marry and start a family. But 17 years of dedication counted for nothing once she published The Little Princesses, a loving, harmless account of life as a royal governess. It earned Marion the Windsors'' lasting fury. Basing her fiction on Marion''s own accounts, plus a wide range of historical sources and her own imagination, Wendy Holden shines a captivating light into the childhood of the world''s longest reigning monarch. This is a story of conflict and contradiction, of state dinners and hunger marches, of a left-winger amongst the ultimate conservatives, of a modern woman in an ancient institution. And the divided Britain of the 1930s: the unemployment, the opportunity gap, the rise of the far right. All of this resonates with our own troubled times.

"Scheming social climber Alexa is a class-hopping cruise missile. She''s aimed at the very top of the gold-digging tree. But will she get the title, towers and tiara of her dreams? Beautiful, penniless student Polly is in love. But is there more to dashing vet Max than his animal instincts? Passionate love, eye-widening snobbery and more-than-naked ambition abound in this tale of contemporary Cinderellas"--Back cover.

Devemos aceitar cegamente o que o destino nos apresenta, ou transformar nossa má sorte em triunfo? Essa foi a escolha com que Chris Graham se deparou quando, aos 34 anos, foi diagnosticado com uma forma rara da doença de Alzheimer que já havia levado seu pai ainda jovem e colocado seu irmão numa clínica aos 43. A notícia virou o mundo de Chris de cabeça para baixo. Militar de carreira, ele havia acabado de descobrir que sua namorada, Vicky, estava grávida. Assim, ele se viu diante da dispensa do Exército, por motivos de saúde, e da terrível decisão de levar em frente a gravidez, sabendo que a criança possuía 50% de chance de herdar o gene da doença. Vicky estava convencida de que o bebê deveria viver e decidida a ficar ao lado de Chris. Após o nascimento do filho, Chris decidiu desafiar a si mesmo e embarcou em uma viagem de mais de 25 mil quilômetros pela América do Norte em sua inseparável bicicleta. Seu intuito era aumentar a conscientização para a doença de Alzheimer e arrecadar fundos para pesquisa. Munido apenas da bicicleta, de seu grande senso de humor e de uma determinação capaz de vencer todos os obstáculos, ele correu contra o tempo e contra a própria doença. Minha aventura contra o Alzheimer é a narrativa da épica jornada de Chris e da luta que ele e Vicky enfrentam todos os dias, enquanto ele se voluntaria para diversas pesquisas científicas na esperança de descobrir uma cura que certamente chegará tarde demais para si mesmo, mas talvez salve seus descendentes. Inspiradora e comovente, a história de Chris é um relato emocionante de um homem que se recusa a desistir de lutar.