Book of the Day: New StatesmanBroady's major work of fiction, nearly a decade in the writing, explores the origins and development of the Independent Labour Party – the working-class political movement founded in Bradford in 1893. Detailing the exploits, fortunes, and relationships of three central characters: passionate Fred Jowett, ruthless Philip Snowden (later, the Labour Party's first chancellor), and the licentious and unforgettable Victor Grayson.Spa...

A disillusioned, drug-soaked intellectual is escaping 'The Heat' – both literal and metaphorical – by relocating to a new town in the North. What follows is a surreal immersion into the region's club culture, where fevered dancing, shadowy relationships, and the rituals of nightlife blur the boundaries between reality and delirium. Employment as a croupier leads to encounters with a cast of eccentric figures, none more vivid than Christine – a 'Superstar Croupier' whose fierce individualit...

She swims into the medals and then into oblivion – a sensuous, searing, compact debut from an outstanding British writer.This is a striking, supple and direct debut from an English writer that both promises an exceptionally exciting future and provides an unusual, accomplished and saleable debut. It’s a character piece, charting the life of a girl who becomes besotted with butterflies and swimming on the same holiday when an infant, then grows up to become a world-class swimmer bef...

A cracking collection of short stories from the author of the stupendous ‘Swimmer’.In the title story of this sharp, clever collection of short stories, an odd-job man arrives home to his Bradford council block to find a message waiting for one of its inhabitants…in ten-foot-high letters. With his white van and set of ladders, he’s the chief suspect. But who is the mysterious Slag that has the whole street gossiping; and who has she hurt?In ‘Wrestling Jacob’, a lusty academ...

The dazzlingly funny second volume of Danny Baker's memoirs: the television years.Since my first book was published I have had countless friends and family members get in touch to say how come I hadn't included this story or that tale. Was I ashamed of being shot twice, once up the arse, in Jamaica Road? How long should a man live with such a secret? If by retrospectively dropping my trousers every few pages I can reveal a fuller picture of myself during these year...

Digital download exclusive short story: a wonderfully warm comedy of mistaken identity from the incomparable Fiona Walker, ahead of her new novel The Love Letter.Allegra North's second thoughts about splitting with childhood sweetheart Francis need a first-class stamp. But with her unfinished letter to him still in her handbag, she can't find the right words to express her regrets. Invited to a big movie premiere through her work, she resolves to put all thoughts of her ex...

More antics from the much-loved TOP GEAR presenter, and the No.1 bestselling author of ON THE EDGE."There is, I discovered, a technique to performing a low-rent, comedy motorcycle jump with a bad hip joint following a low-speed fall off a horse on to your wife's Land Rover keys..."More of the wry, honest and often hilarious chronicles of Richard Hammond - TV presenter, adventurer and general drawer of the Short Straw. Continuing where AS YOU DO left off, OR...

In this book my father dies. I almost die.*** My showbiz career winds down. And yet everyone keeps telling me it's the funniest book I've ever written. If I'd known that's what the public wanted, I'd have cancelled Pets Win Prizes and just got sick sooner.Along the way this time we encounter, among others, David Bowie, Kanye West (I think), John Cleese, Peter O'Toole, and have several adventures in the Fourth Dimension. Oh, and I can reveal the Man With The Foulest Mou...

First published in 1993, Blake Morrison's And When Did You Last See Your Father? is an extraordinary portrait of family life, father-son relationships and bereavement. It became a best-seller and inspired a whole genre of confessional memoirs, winning the Waterstone's/Volvo/Esquire Award for Non-Fiction and the J. R. Ackerley Prize for Autobiography. This edition includes a new afterword by the author.

'If you have ever wondered what it would be like to crash a fairground ride, upset the Russian mob, humiliate yourself before millions of people on national television, cause thousands of pounds' damage to a McDonalds restaurant, be Santa Claus, 'accidentally' commit an armed robbery, be pursued by the paparazzi, get mugged in Paris by a gorilla-penguin, escape an assassination attempt, make weaponised plutonium or be normal... then you're no longer alone.Welcome to my world....

Edited by award winning novelist and short story writer Kevin Barry, this volume will once again mix established names with previously unpublished authors, and will seek to offer fresh renditions to the Irish story - new angles, new approaches, new modes of attack.Published in 2011, New Irish Short Stories, edited by Joseph O'Connor, has sold over 10,000 copies to date and featured Kevin Barry's 'Beer Trip to Llandudno' - winner of the 2012 Sunday Times EFG Short ...

Hancock has gathered thirty-seven of his ironic short stories. You will find them satirical and humourous.