Born into a Romany gypsy family in 1939 Eva Petulengro's childhood seemed to her to be idyllic in every way. She would travel the country with her family in their painted caravan & spend evenings by the fire as they sang & told stories of their past. She didn't go to school or visit a doctor when she was unwell. Instead her family would gather wild herbs to make traditional remedies hunt game & rabbits & while the men tended horses to make a living the young girls would join the women in reading palms. But Eva's perfect world would be turned upside down as the countryside became increasingly hostile to all travellers. Eva describes the wonderful characters in her family from her grandfather ' Naughty' Petulengro to her four beautiful aunts who entranced everyone they met as well as the fascinating people they came across on the road. Moving evocative romantic & funny The Girl in the Painted Caravan vividly captures a way of life that has now sadly all but disappeared. ...

Kim Phuc was nine years old in 1972. Severely burned by napalm she ran from her burning village & was captured on film. Denise Chong relates Kim's experience & recovery in this astonishing biography & history of America's shameful war. The photograph of Kim seen around the world was one of many to turn public opinion against the war in Vietnam. This is the story of how the picture came to be & also what happened to Kim after it was taken. It provides an insight into the country Vietnam became after the US army left & explains why Kim finally had to flee to Canada where she now lives. ...

April Taylor isn't a little girl anymore
- but who is she really? The home she once shared with her parents & her elder sister
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The Girl in the Song tells the stories of 50 women who have inspired classic rock songs. Who was Emily in Pink Floyds See Emily Play? What happened to Suzanne Verdal immortalised in Leonard Cohens Suzanne? Did life change for Prudence Farrow after John Lennon penned Dear Prudence? & whatever happened to the girl with mousy hair an ex-girlfriend Bowie sings about in Life on Mars? This fascinating book explains how each song came about when it was released the impact it had on the charts & then gives a mini-biography of the songs muse. Suzanne Verdal was living a bohemian lifestyle by the river in Montreal when Cohen wrote his poem Suzanne which he subsequently set to music. Later in life she tried to get in touch with the star who blanked her backstage at a gig. She was last heard of living in a car in California. Apart from songs the book features sidebars on the performers who wrote about the women in their life
- Syd Barrett famously included four girls in the same song. Other examples include: Under My Thumb
- The Rolling Stones (Chrissie Shrimpton) Shes Leaving Home
- The Beatles Layla
- Derek & the Dominoes (Patti Boyd) Peggy-Sue
- Buddy Holly (Peggy-Sue Gerron) Maggie May
- Rod Stewart Light of Day
- Bruce Springsteen (Julianna Phillips) Sweet Caroline
- Neil Diamond (Caroline Kennedy).







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When Ann Kenny was four years old her foster mother hit her across the face with a fireplace shovel. She was left lying unconscious on the cold hard floor while the family went to mass. She almost lost an eye. This is just one of the childhood incidents Ann recalls in her vivid shocking memoir of growing up in rural Ireland in a house where she wasnt wanted. Her early story is Cinderella-like but without the happy ending: she had two older sisters who were loved but Ann was put to work on household chores & received constant neglect & physical abuse & sexual abuse from her grandfather. On growing up Ann found it hard to escape the shadows of her past marrying an alcoholic & effectively raised her children herself. Ann eventually found the road to recovery & her book is a testament to the strength of a survivor. She began writing the book as she set to find out who was the tiny child she remembered left in a wicker basket
- that child turned out to be herself.
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Liz Jones is Fashion Editor of the Daily Mail & a columnist for the Mail on Sunday. She is the former editor of Marie Claire which sounds quite an achievement but she was sacked three years in. A psychotherapist once told her ' What you brood on will hatch' & she was right. Nothing Liz ever did in life ever worked out. Nothing. Not one single thing. Liz grew up in Essex the youngest of seven children. Her mother was a martyr her dad so dashing that no other man could ever live up to his pressed & polished standards. Her siblings terrified her with their Afghan coats cigarettes parties sex & drugs. They made her father shout & her mother cry. Liz became an anorexic aged eleven an illness that continues to blight her life today. She remained a virgin until her thirties & even then found the wait wasn't really worth it; it was just one more thing to add to her to do list. She was named Columnist of the Year 2012 by the British Society of Magazine Editors but is still too frightened to answer the phone too filled with disgust at her own image to glance in the mirror or eat a whole avocado. She lives alone with her four rescued collies three horses & seventeen cats. Girl Least Likely To is the opposite of 'having it all'. It is a life lesson in how NOT to be a woman. ...

WOULD YOU GIVE UP THE WOMAN YOU LOVE IF HER DEATH COULD SAVE MILLIONS? Rachel Case went to the doctor for a routine blood donation. Now she is the most valuable woman in history. For Rachel possesses a unique gene
- a marker that holds the key to protecting the world from a pandemic that could wipe out humanity. The government are desperate for Rachel's DNA. So desperate they've sent in a squad to take her to a top-secret high-security facility. Only Donovan Creed killer-for-hire & Rachel's lover can free her. But only Rachel's husband Sam knows where she is. & he hates Creed with a passion...
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The first body is a mystery. Shes young. Shes beautiful. & her corpse laid out in the office of Boston medical examiner Kat Novak betrays no secrets
- except for a matchbook clutched in one stiff hand seven numbers scrawled inside. The next body is a warning. When a second victim is discovered Kat begins to fear that a serial killer is stalking the streets. The police are sceptical. The mayor wont listen. & Kats chief suspect is one of the towns most prominent citizens. The final body.. .might be hers. With the death toll rising Kat races to expose a deadly predator who is closer than she ever dreamt. & every move she makes could be her very last.
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What makes a house a home? For Eve Gallagher home is miles away in England since she & her husband relocated to an apartment building on New Yorks Upper East Side. & life isnt remotely coming up roses. What makes a neighbour a friend? violet has lived in the building for decades but shes always kept herself apart until Eves loneliness touches her heart & friendship blossoms. What makes a wife a lover? Jason Kramer in Apartment 6A is no longer sure he loves his wife but hes head-over-heels for Rachael Schulman in 6B. What makes the girl next door the woman of your dreams? Meeting Emily Mikanowski from 3A turns Trip Graylings world upside down. Its love at first sight but he needs help from Charlotte the shy romance addict in 2A if hes going to win the girl. Dreams come true hearts are broken & no one is left unchanged when the secrets & desires hidden behind closed doors are finally brought into the light. ...

You only get one chance to live your life as a child but Lily was never given that chance; her childhood was taken from her before it ever begun. From the age of four when she was first sexually abused her life changed forever; when she walked through the institution's doors in Ireland her life continued along the same path that has destroyed her soul. Her emotional pain is as strong today as it was the day it began & will never leave her alone. When I go to sleep it's in my head & when I wake up I can see it in the mirror & I am only waiting to die." A child abuse story that will stay with you forever & one that you will talk about for many years to come The Girl Nobody Wants is a harrowing true story that will appeal to fans of biographies & fans of Jodi Picoult. It has been compared to Dave Pelzer's A Child Called It Damaged by Cathy Glass & The Kid by Kevin Lewis." ...