Michael Parkinson
Parky: My Autobiography

Michael Parkinson was born in a pit village in Yorkshire where he lived on the back row of the local cinema and dreamed of marrying Lauren Bacall, Vera Hruba Ralston and Veronica Lake, or anyone else who would have him. Pretending to be Humphrey Bogart, he became a journalist and a familiar sight around Barnsley. He bluffed his way on to the Manchester Guardian and the Daily Express, before working for Granada Television. He ended up at the BBC with a talk show that ran for many years. Parkinson's memoir is an inspiring story, particularly for anyone who hated school and left with two O levels, because it proves that dreams do come true.

Gyles Brandreth
Oscar Wilde and the Dead Man's Smile

Paris, 1883. Oscar Wilde, aged twenty-seven, has come to the city to collaborate with France's most celebrated actor-manager, Edmond La Grange. But he discovers dark secrets lying at the heart of the La Grange company, and is confronted by murders both foul and bizarre. Oscar embarks on a dangerous adventure to solve the mystery....

'If Oscar Wilde himself had been asked to write this book he could not have done it any better' - Alexander McCall Smith

When Harry was a boy, he left the place he knew and loved. During those long years, he was haunted by what had happened when he was a boy. He never forgot that warm, carefree girl with the laughing eyes. For Judy Saunders, the pain of her past has left her deeply scarred. Cut off from her family and married to a man she doesn't love, the distant memories of her first love are her only source of comfort. Now, Harry is heading back. Excited, afraid, and full of doubts, he needs to know how events of the past have shaped Judy's life. And most importantly, he needs to find forgiveness.