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*A younger reader's edition of the number-one bestselling memoir by former first lady of the United States, Michelle Obama. With a new introduction from Mrs Obama herself*
What's important is our story, our whole story, including those moments when we feel a little vulnerable . . .
Michelle Robinson started life sharing a bedroom with her older brother Craig, in their family's upstairs apartment in her great-aunt's house. Her parents, Fraser and Marian, poured their love and energy into their children. She would go on to become Michelle Obama, the inspirational First Lady of the United States of America.
Now adapted for younger readers, with new photographs and a new introduction from Michelle Obama herself, this memoir tells a very personal, and completely inspiring, story of how, through hard work and determination, the girl from the South Side of Chicago built an extraordinary life.
A tale of ups and downs, triumphs and failures, this is an incredibly honest account. It will take you from the early years - first kiss, first school, first love - to the wonders of the White House, and the moment Mrs Obama shook hands with the Queen of England.
A book to read, share, and talk about with the adults in your life, this is a call to action and compassion, and hope for change in uncertain times, and in a scary world.
You'll be inspired to help others, and understand that no one is perfect. Just like Michelle Obama, you too are finding out exactly who you want to be (and, actually, so are the adults in your life).
Above all, it is a book to make you think: who are you, and what do you want to become?
THE TOP 10 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
'Completely fascinating, authoritative and intriguing' William Boyd
'The big bang of Bond books... Beautiful, brilliant' Tony Parsons
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Goldeneye: the story of Ian Fleming in Jamaica and the creation of British national icon, James Bond.
From 1946 until the end of his life, Ian Fleming lived for two months of every year at Goldeneye - the house he built on a point of high land overlooking a small white sand beach on Jamaica's north coast. All the James Bond novels and stories were written here.
Fleming adored the Jamaica he had discovered, at the time an imperial backwater that seemed unchanged from the glory days of the empire. Amid its stunning natural beauty, the austerity and decline of post-war Britain could be forgotten. For Fleming, Jamaica offered the perfect mixture of British old-fashioned conservatism and imperial values, alongside the dangerous and sensual: the same curious combination that made his novels so appealing, and successful. The spirit of the island - its exotic beauty, its unpredictability, its melancholy, its love of exaggeration and gothic melodrama - infuses his writing.
Fleming threw himself into the island's hedonistic Jet Set party scene: Hollywood giants, and the cream of British aristocracy, the theatre, literary society and the secret services spent their time here drinking and bed-hopping. But while the whites partied, Jamaican blacks were rising up to demand respect and self-government. And as the imperial hero James Bond - projecting British power across the world - became ever more anachronistic and fantastical, so his popularity soared.
Drawing on extensive interviews with Ian's family, his Jamaican lover Blanche Blackwell and many other islanders, Goldeneye is a beautifully written, revealing and original exploration of a crucially important part of Ian Fleming's life and work.
SHORTLISTED FOR THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD
'I doubt there will be a better book written about this period in West Indies cricket history.'
Clive Lloyd
Cricket had never been played like this. Cricket had never meant so much.
The West Indies had always had brilliant cricketers; it hadn't always had brilliant cricket teams. But in 1974, a man called Clive Lloyd began to lead a side which would at last throw off the shackles that had hindered the region for centuries. Nowhere else had a game been so closely connected to a people's past and their future hopes; nowhere else did cricket liberate a people like it did in the Caribbean.
For almost two decades, Clive Lloyd and then Vivian Richards led the batsmen and bowlers who changed the way cricket was played and changed the way a whole nation - which existed only on a cricket pitch - saw itself.
With their pace like fire and their scorching batting, these sons of cane-cutters and fishermen brought pride to a people which had been stifled by 300 years of slavery, empire and colonialism. Their cricket roused the Caribbean and antagonised the game's traditionalists.
Told by the men who made it happen and the people who watched it unfold, Fire in Babylon is the definitive story of the greatest team that sport has known.
Readers of Princess Sultana's extraordinary biography Princess were gripped by her powerful indictment of women's lives behind the veil within the royal family of Saudi Arabia. They were every bit as fascinated by the sequel, Daughters of Arabia.
Here, the princess turns the spotlight on her two daughters, Maha and Amani, both teenagers. Surrounded by untold opulence and luxury from the day they were born, but stifled by the unbearably restrictive lifestyle imposed on them, they reacted in equally desperate ways.
Their dramatic and shocking stories, together with many more which concern other members of Princess Sultana's huge family, are set against a rich backdrop of Saudi Arabian culture and social mores which she depicts with equal colour and authenticity. We learn, for example, of the fascinating ritual of the world-famous annual pilgrimage to Makkah as we accompany the princess and her family to this holiest of cities. Throughout, however, she never tires of her quest to expose the injustices which her society levels against women. In her courageous campaign to improve the lot of her own daughters of Arabia, Princess Sultana once more strikes a chord amongst all women who are lucky enough to have the freedom to speak out for themselves.
In Princess, readers were shocked by Sultana's revelations about life in Saudi Arabia's royal family. Royal women live as virtual prisoners, surrounded by unimaginable wealth and luxury, privileged beyond belief, and yet subject to every whim of their husbands, fathers, and even their sons. Daughters of Arabia featured Sultana's teenage daughters, determined to rebel but in very different ways.
And now, in Desert Royal, Sultana's fight for women's rights in a repressive, fundamentalist Islamic society, has an extra sense of urgency. The threat of world terrorism, the gathering strength of religious leaders and the discontent of impoverished Saudis are threatening to topple the comfortable world Sultana has known. But an extended family 'camping' trip in the desert brings Sultana and her relatives face to face with their nomadic roots, and nourishes her will to carry on the fight for women's rights in all Muslim countries.
This updated edition contains an all-new chapter as well as a letter from Sultana herself, encouraging all women to take up the struggle for freedom for their abused sisters throughout the world.
What's your journey of becoming? Based on Michelle Obama's bestselling memoir, this gorgeous journal contains more than 150 inspiring questions and quotes to help you discover your story.
'It's not about being perfect. It's not about where you get yourself in the end. There's power in allowing yourself to be known and heard, in owning your unique story, in using your authentic voice.' Michelle Obama
In Becoming, a work of deep reflection and mesmerizing storytelling, Michelle Obama shared her extraordinary journey, creating space for others to tell theirs. Now with Becoming: A Guided Journal for Discovering Your Voice, she helps you find your story with:
* Thought-provoking prompts to help reflect on your history
* Fun activities to outline your goals, challenges and dreams
* Enlightening questions to understand what motivates and brings hope
These pages will help you capture your voice so you can nurture your sense of becoming. Becoming creative. Becoming brave. Becoming you.
""I hope you'll use this journal to write down your experiences, thoughts, and feelings, in all their imperfections, and without judgment . . . We don't have to remember everything. But everything we remember has value.""
'If the ball's there, hit it. Don't worry about what might happen. Play for the glory. Play for the six'
Chris Gayle is the only man to have ever hit a six off the first ball of a Test match. But then producing the impossible is an everyday act for the West Indies legend: the first man to smash an international T20 century, the first to hit a World Cup 200, the fastest century in the history of the game. He has hit twice as many T20 sixes as any other man and scored two Test triple centuries. All this is delivered with cricket's biggest bat and an even bigger smile.
Off the pitch, millions follow him on Instagram and Twitter to catch a glimpse of a globe-trotting life spent in nightclubs as much as nets, hot-tubs as often as helmets and pads. He plays late, parties later, demolishes a king-size pile of pancakes and then strolls out to mangle another hapless bowling attack.
But do we really know him? Do we know what took a shy, skinny kid from a cramped tin-roofed shack in the dusty back streets of Kingston, sharing a bed with three brothers and stealing empty bottles to buy food, to the very top of the cricket world - without losing himself along the way?
Outrageous and utterly original, this unputdowneable memoir will leave you reeling. Welcome to the world of the Six Machine.
'At any time, somewhere, Chris Gayle is hitting someone for six' Guardian
Chris Gayle was born and raised in Kingston, Jamaica, the second youngest of seven children. Growing up where cricket was both the great obsession and the only escape, he was scoring centuries against adults from the age of 14 and made his West Indies 'A' team debut while still at school.
A devastating opener, cunning spin bowler and tactical fanatic, he has made more international one-day centuries than Brian Lara, played more Test matches than Ian Botham and taken more Test catches than Clive Lloyd. Captaining the West Indies from 2007 to 2010, he is one of only four players in history to score two triple centuries at Test level.
In the thrilling T20 game he is the great pioneer - highest score, highest average, most runs and, of course, twice as many sixes as anyone else. Nicknamed #WorldBoss, he has played for 16 teams in nine countries across five continents and is the most in-demand cricketer of the modern era.