The original 1985 edition of Children of the Poor Clares was the first book to expose the reality of the treatment of children placed in church care in Irelands post-independence horrendous industrial school system. Giving an intimate picture, covering over four decades, of life in one of these institutions, it documented the gross physical and emotional abuse, neglect, malnourishment, exploitation, lack of proper education, deprivation, and humiliation that scarred the children for life. ...

An updated edition of Ben Pimlott’s classic biography of the Queen: ‘There is no better biography of Elizabeth II.’ PETER HENNESSY, Independent on Sunday‘A magisterial biography and the only one that seriously deals with her constitutional and political role' Tim Shipman, Sunday TimesThe royal family have been through a tumultuous decade, but with the wedding of Prince William to Kate Middleton, Prince Philip’s 90th birthday and the forthcoming Diamond Jubilee cele...

Also published as Empty Cradles.In 1986 Margaret Humphreys, a Nottingham social worker, investigated a woman's claim that, aged four, she had been put on a boat to Australia by the British government. At first incredulous, Margaret discovered that this was just the tip of an enormous iceberg. Up to 150,000 children, some as young as three years old, had been deported from children's homes in Britain and shipped off to a 'new life' in distant parts of the Empire, ri...

Clarissa was born into wealth and privilege, as a child, shooting and hunting were the norm and pigeons were flown in from Cairo for supper. Her mother was an Australian heiress, her father was a brilliant surgeon to the Royal family. But he was also a tyrannical and violent drunk who used to beat her and force her to eat carrots with slugs still clinging to them. Clarissa was determined and clever, though, and her ambition led her to a career in the law. At the age of 21, she was the youn...

Presenting the one and only Mr Paul Keating – at his straight-shooting, scumbag-calling, merciless best.Paul lets rip – on John Howard: “The little desiccated coconut is under pressure and he is attacking anything he can get his hands on.”On Peter Costello: “The thing about poor old Costello is he is all tip and no iceberg.”On John Hewson: “[His performance] is like being flogged with a warm lettuce.”On Andrew Peacock: “...what we have here is an intellectua...

For the first time since the Profumo scandal of the 1960s, the Astors’ own version of the events at Cliveden is told. Peter Stanford has been granted unprecedented access to Lady Astor, her private papers and her friends, as well as to many family members and key players in the drama.When Bronwen Pugh married into the celebrated Astor clan in 1960, she seemed to have the world at her feet. She was a media darling, BBC television presenter, the most celebrated model of her generatio...

A 61-year-old farmer Frank Cave was found dead, seemingly killed with his own shotgun on a quiet farm on the Isle of Wight, early one morning in October 1940. After a police investigation, the woman who was Frank's young housekeeper, Mabel Attrill, was charged with his murder. After many twists and turns, the trial reached an unexpected conclusion

This is a diary packed with famous names and extraordinary stories. It is also rich in incidental detail and wonderful observation, providing both a compelling record of five remarkable decades and a revealing, often hilarious and sometimes moving account of Gyles Brandreth's unusual life -- as a child living in London in the 'swinging' sixties, as a jumper-wearing TV presenter, as an MP and government whip, and as a royal biographer who has enjoyed unique access to the Queen and her famil...

'I was living in a world where a priest who spoke the words of God used me for sex, and there was no-one to tell. The world where this horror happened didn't exist for anyone else.' As a boy in Ireland where everyone -- from among his own neighbours to the powers of church and state -- chose to deny that a priest could sexually assault a child, Colm O'Gorman felt only shame, guilt and fear at the regular rape and abuse he suffered. But Colm would go on to make history, successfully suing t...

Up until the late sixties in Ireland, thousands of young children were sent to what were called industrial schools, financed by the Department of Education, and operated by various religious orders of the Catholic Church. Popular belief held that these schools were orphanages or detention centers, when in reality most of the children ended up at the schools because their parents were too poor to care for them. Mary Raftery’s award-winning three-part TV series on the industrial schools, Sta...

"Brandreth is the true Samuel Pepys of our day." Andrew Neil, BBC Radio Five Live "Brandreth, for my money, offers about the most honest, and the most amusing, account of the demented, beery futility of the Tory-ruled Commons in the 1990s." Boris Johnson, Daily Telegraph "Hilariously acute ... Irresistible." Matthew d'Ancona, Sunday Telegraph "Extremely touching ... Brandreth emerges as a decent, amusing, talented and charming man." Simon Heffer, Daily Mail "As a witty and insightful chron...

'Witty, compelling and never mawkish' Observer'Written with a sure touch . . . Adie has a natural understanding of what it is like to be unsure of your origins' Sunday Telegraph'A cracker of a subject . . . (Adie) writes with an engaging, forthright immediacy' New Statesman* * * * * *Bestselling author and BBC reporter Kate Adie writes vividly, inspiringly ...