Marlena de Blasi
The Lady in the Palazzo

With the breathless anticipation that seduced her readers to fall in love with ~£!!~ Venice and then Tuscany, Marlena de Blasi now takes us on a new journey as she moves with her husband, Fernando, to Orvieto, a large and ancient city in Italy's Umbria. With neither an edge to a sea nor a face to a foreign land, it's a region less trampled by travellers and, in turn, less accepting of strangers. So de Blasi sets out to establish her niche ...

Donald Spoto
Otherwise Engaged: The Life of Alan Bates

In 1956, at the age of 22, Alan Bates was cast in John Osborne's controversial play, Look Back in Anger. The play changed the course of British theatre - and of Alan's life. He worked steadily in major films, from A Kind of Loving and Zorba the Greek to Women in Love - and he won international acclaim for An Englishman Abroad. Drawing on interviews with Alan Bates's family, his lovers, colleagues and friends, and mining a rich store of primary research, this exclusively authorised biography paints a portrait of a complex and remarkable personality.

From pirate radio to Buckingham Palace and an MBE, Johnnie Walker tells the amazing story of how he came to be one of the best-known broadcasters in Britain, with a voice recognized by millions. He talks of his forty years at the heart of British broadcasting; about the people he has met and worked with; and of life at the BBC as a radio DJ winning the hearts of listeners with his warm personality and his devotion to pioneering new music. He speaks candidly about the many challenges he has faced: divorce, exile and public struggles with drug addiction and cancer. This is a captivating insight into an amazing life that will both inspire and entertain.