Sub-titled 'The Scandalous High-Society Life of the Formidable Lady Killmore'. Enid Lindeman stopped traffic in Manhattan, silenced gamblers in Monte Carlo, and walked her pet cheetah through Hyde Park on a diamond collar. She stood almost six feet tall with silver hair and flashing turquoise eyes. In early 20th century society where women were expected to be demure and obedient, Enid gallivanted through life accumulating four husbands and numerous lovers, her high-jinks fascinating British gossip columnists during the inter-war years. She drove an ambulance in World War One and hid escaped Allied airmen behind enemy lines in World War Two, played bridge with Somerset Maugham and entertained Hollywood royalty in the world's most expensive private home on the Riviera, allegedly won in a game of cards. Enid bedazzled men with her beauty, outlived four husbands - two shipping magnates, a war hero and a larger-than-life Irish Earl - spent two great fortunes and earned the nickname 'Lady Killmore'. From Sydney to New York, London to Paris and Cairo to Kenya, Robert Wainwright's biography restores the remarkable Enid to thrilling, vivid life and her contributions to fashion, culture, architecture, and horse racing across three continents. Enid is admirable for her loyalty, generous spirit and disregard for the strictures of polite society and we go with her into the winemaking industry in Australia to horse breeding in Kenya and South Africa. 356pp, paperback with many archive photos.

Sub-titled 'The Small Joy of Putting One Foot In Front of Another' in the Preamble we are told 'I walked out of the door of the hotel and into Africa.' 'For me walking fills as vital as breathing. The first thing I do, every morning I can, is to go for a walk - for an hour, or longer if I can get away with it - usually alone apart from my dogs. I find the simple action of putting one foot in front of the other, and the rhythm of that action, incredibly therapeutic. It wakes me up, unscrambles my sleep-fogged head. But it also gives me a sense of immersion, of being rooted somewhere...' Kate Humble advocates that this simple act shows us that the true purpose of walking transcends the need to get from A to B and her book is a heartfelt call to action for anyone seeking to enhance their own health and happiness, one step at a time. The connection with the seasons, with the daily shifts, how a mood is lifted by the song of a skylark, a fragrant sea of bluebells or the crashing waves on a windswept beach, the book is an encouragement to reconnect with the outside world. The reason Kate Humble was in this region of Isebania, with its people particularly hated by the Maasai, was the traditional practice of female genital mutilation. Governed by their own gods, beliefs and powerful council of elders, the people within the tribe wanted to see change too and the practice of circumcising girls to become a thing of the past. 'We were there to try to capture, as faithfully and honestly as we could, the complexities of this period of huge social upheaval.' 296pp, paperback.

The bestselling novelist of the Aubrey-Maturin series was Patrick O'Brian, and this intimate biography is written by his stepson, Nikolai Tolstoy. Well researched and bounding in humanity and compassion, the book reads like a thriller as O'Brian develops into the great novelist he became. An exquisite novelist, translator and biographer, O'Brian moved in 1949 to Collioure in the South of France where he led a secluded life with his wife Mary and wrote all his major works. The 20 books that make up the beloved Aubrey-Maturin series earned him the epithet 'Jane Austen at sea' for their authentic depiction of Nelson's navy, and the relationship between Captain Jack Aubrey and his friend and ship's surgeon Stephen Maturin. Outside his triumphant popularity in fiction, O'Brian also wrote erudite biographies of Picasso and Joseph Banks, as well as publishing translations of Simone de Beauvoir and Henri Charrière. The book draws upon Tolstoy's close relationship with his stepfather as well as his notebooks, letters and photographs, reproduced to the best quality given their age in this paperback edition. It is fascinating to see how much the author put into the characters of himself - the cyclical depression, the blind rages, the sometimes cruel wit, the intelligence, the capacity for love and the courage. Tolstoy describes well the hardscrabble existence of the first few years and the sheer bloody grind of making a living as a professional author. 576pp, paperback, photos.

A revelatory memoir by the rock icon and legendary guitarist Peter Frampton. His monumental album Frampton Comes Alive! spawned three Top 20 singles and sold eight million copies the year it was released and more than 17 million to date. Frampton was first the lead singer and guitarist of The Herd and then as co-founder along with Steve Marriott of one of the first supergroups, Humble Pie. Frampton was part of a tight-knit collective of British 1960s musicians with close ties to the Rolling Stones, the Beatles and The Who. This led to Frampton playing on George Harrison's solo debut, All Things Must Pass, as well as to Ringo Starr and Billy Preston appearing on Frampton's own solo debut. By the age of 22, he was touring incessantly and finding new sounds with the talk box which would become his signature guitar effect. Frampton remembers his enduring friendship with David Bowie, growing up as classmates, crossing paths throughout their careers, and playing together on the Glass Spider Tour. He shares fascinating stories of his collaborative work with Harry Nilsson, Stevie Wonder, B. B. King and members of Pearl Jam and reveals the curse and blessing of becoming the cover boy he never wanted to be, his overcoming substance abuse, and how he has continued to play and pour his heart out into his music despite an inflammatory muscle disease and his retirement from the road. 341pp, photos.

As heard on BBC Radio 4's Start the Week, this is the inspiring story of an Icelandic sheep farmer, former model and feminist heroine who is a force of nature. 'I want to tell women they can do anything, and to show that sheep farming isn't just a man's game.' Heida is a solitary farmer with a flock of 500 sheep in a wild area bordering Iceland's highlands, an area so remote it is known as the 'End of the World'. One of her neighbours is Iceland's most notorious volcano Katla, which has periodically driven away the inhabitants of Ljotarstaoir ever since people first started farming there in the 12th century. Divided into four seasons, the book tells the story of a remarkable year, when Heida reluctantly went into politics to fight plans to raise a hydro-electric power station on her land. The book paints an unforgettable portrait of a remote life close to nature, telling a heroic tale of a charismatic young woman who walked away from a career as a model to take over the family farm at the age of 23. Vivid stories of her animals and farmwork mingle with her wry poems and sense of community and here is life from a very different angle, a shepherd's life spent watchful of the dangers of earthquakes and glaciers, herding the last sheep back from the upper mountain slopes by quadbike before the deadly snows of winter descend. 305pp, fairly large print.

With a legendary career encompassing Broadway and London stages, cinema, television, concert tours, recordings, directing assignments and the world of children's publishing, in 2000 Julie Andrews was bestowed with the title of Dame Commander of the British Empire for her lifetime achievements in the arts and humanities. She was married to film director Blake Edwards for 41 years and between them the couple had five children. Told with her trademark charm and candour, Julie Andrews? memoir begins with her arrival in Hollywood to make her screen debut in Walt Disney's Mary Poppins, followed closely by The Sound of Music. The result was an astonishing rise to fame as those now-classic films brought her almost overnight success. She reveals behind-the-scenes details and reflections on her impressive body of work, collaborations with giants of cinema like James Garner, Omar Sharif and her giggle-buddy Dudley Moore. She also unveils her personal story of adjusting to an often daunting world, a new husband addicted to painkillers, impulsively buying a yacht and overspending, dealing with unimaginable public scrutiny, being a new mother, embracing two stepchildren, adopting two more children and being in love with the brilliant and mercurial Blake Edwards. The pair worked together in numerous films including 10, S.O.B, and Victor/Victoria, the gender-bending comedy that garnered multiple Oscar nominations. Fascinating to read are her accounts of The Tamarind Seed, Hawaii, her life in the USA, finding apartments every time she filmed in the UK, family problems and a whole series of therapists. 340 desirable US roughcut pages, photos.

Sub-titled 'My Extraordinary Life in the Shadow of the Crown', this bestseller has been described as 'The best royal book by a mile...funny, gossipy and riveting.' The remarkable life of Lady in Waiting to Princess Margaret who was also a Maid of Honour at the Queen's Coronation, Anne Glenconner has been close to the Royal Family since childhood. Eldest child of the 5th Earl of Leicester, she was as his daughter described as 'the greatest disappointment' by her family, as she was unable to inherit. Her childhood home of Holkham Hall is one of the grandest estates in England. Bordering Sandringham, the princesses Elizabeth and Margaret were frequent playmates. Lady Glenconner has been a witness to royal history and an extraordinary survivor of a generation of aristocratic women trapped without inheritance and burdened with social expectations. She married the charismatic but highly volatile Colin Tennant, Lord Glenconner, who became owner of Mustique. Together they turned the island into a paradise for the rich and famous, and welcomed guests like Mick Jagger and David Bowie. It became a favourite retreat for Princess Margaret, but underneath the glitz and glamour, there also lurked tragedy. On Lord Glenconner's death in 2010, he left his fortune to a former employee and of their five children, two grown-up sons died, while a third son had to be nursed back from a coma by Anne, having suffered a near-fatal accident. Anne writes with extraordinary wit, generosity and courage as she exposes what life was like in her gilded cage, revealing the role of her great friendship with Princess Margaret, and the freedom she can finally now enjoy in later life. 325pp, paperback with rare colour and black and white photos.

With his gravity-defying quiff, outstretched arms, shredded shirt, Dr Marten boots, jeans and bare torso, striding across the stage, the good looking young Morrissey certainly made an entrance onto the music scene. Unapologetically a photography book, Cummins' first photographed Morrissey in 1983 and the book covers the timespan from that year through to 1994, a time during which Morrissey became a prominent cultural figure and The Smiths his band had something different to say and special to offer. Morrissey always collaborated with his photographer fully and would come to the shoots full of ideas and they certainly show the excitement and chaos. There is a text about the portraiture alongside the studio shots of Morrissey, explaining what makes an articulate portrait and sharing some stories of working directly with the musician. The book includes photographs from tours at venues in Dublin and Cologne, Japan and the United States as well as the UK. In a final essay by Gail Crowther the significance of fans using their bodies as sites of devotion accompanies photos of Morrisey-inspired tattoos. Crouching arms outstretched with his reflection in a pond, with his bandmates, lounging artistically beside the same pond, posing under the sign THE QUEEN IS DEAD, at The Smiths Convention September 1988 next to the tour bus, and musing 'The only way to kill death is through photography' as Jean Cocteau said. Fans including grey haired grannies, young teenagers rushing up to hug their idol, roughly half of the images are colour and half artistic black and white. 256pp, 20.3 x 27.3cm.

Sub-titled 'A Celebration of Queen Elizabeth II On Her Platinum Jubilee', 'The Queen's biggest fan' Ab Fab actress Joanna Lumley opens a treasure chest of first-hand writings giving us an unparalleled close-up portraits of Britain's longest reigning monarch. We go behind the scenes at events, inside her homes, at the dinner table, posing for portraits, with her corgis and horses, as well as on public duty, foreign tours, at the biggest ceremonial events from her Coronation onwards. Illuminating and witty insights from voices such as Cecil Beaton, Norman Hartnell, Tony Blair, Dirk Bogarde, Nikita Khrushchev, Carol Ann Duffy, Cliff Richards, Clare Balding and Noel Coward are joined by fascinating accounts from diarists and courtiers, family members and those whose brief encounter has left a lasting memory. This includes our very own Editor Annie who presented the late Her Majesty with the gift of a handmade saddle for her 90th birthday. 309pp, 16 pages of photos both archive and colour including the moment of laughter when Prince Philip dressed up in uniform complete with bearskin hat and made the Queen laugh in 2005.

Funny, furious and foul-mouthed just as you'd expect, this Sunday Times bestselling autobiography is Billy Connolly's raucous run through his life. After 50 years of belly laughs, energy and outrage, and somewhat baggy pants and very long hair, Billy Connolly announced his retirement from live stand up comedy in December 2018. When he first started out in the late 60s he played banjo in the folk clubs of Scotland and between songs would improvise a bit, telling anecdotes from the Clyde shipyard where he had worked. He learned what audiences found funny from his own brilliant mimes to the power of speaking irreverently about politics or explicitly about sex, and soon the monologues got longer and the songs shorter. He never wrote scripts and created comedy freshly on stage in the presence of a live audience. Always with a beautiful sense of the absurd he riffed on his family, hecklers, swimming in the North Sea or naked bungee jumping, and he got away with it, his comedy spanning generations and different social tribes. 330pp.