Parenting Memoir

For years, Amy Thunig thought she knew all the details about the day she was born, often demanding that the story of her birth be retold. Years later, heavily pregnant with her own first child, she learns what really happened that day. It’s a tale that exemplifies many of the events of her early life, where circumstances sometimes dictated that things be slightly different from how they might seem–including what is meant by her dad being away for ‘work’ and why her legal last name differs from her family’s.

Born into one of the wealthiest families in America—he was the youngest son of Standard Oil scion John D. Rockefeller, Jr., and the celebrated patron of modern art Abby Aldrich Rockefeller—David Rockefeller has carried his birthright into a distinguished life of his own. His dealings with...

This is the story of John McGahern's childhood - of his mother's death, his father's anger and bafflement, and of his own discovery of literature and his ambition to become a writer. At the heart of the book is an unembarrassed homage by a loving son to a woman who protected him and his sisters from his father's unpredictable moods. His joy in her presence is recovered with great lyrical tact.

Brendan Murray redefines memoir in this haunting excavation of his own experiences as a child, teacher and parent to discover why imagination is so important throughout our lives. Why do some children grow up into happy lives, and others never make it? Brendan James Murray's childhood was one of...

Based partly on the author's experience, partly on her in-depth interviews, and partly on a questionnaire she developed with psychologist Holly Barrett to which almost 600 women responded, Father Loss provides the clearest portrait yet of a very special group of women. As a group, they express their insecurities ("Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever be able to love a man totally...because that would mean I didn't love my father anymore." - Leslie).

Rewritten is a transformative guide for anyone who is learning to heal after heartbreak, rebuild their identity, and break the patterns that have held them back for years. Through poetry, vulnerable storytelling, and raw honesty, Emily Orta offers the truth so many of us forget: time doesn’t heal you, you do.

Brought to you by Penguin. 'Endlessly entertaining... Good, rollicking stuff, and a delight to read... Sir Kingsley Amis is surely one of the funniest men alive' Auberon Waugh, Sunday Telegraph Elegant, provocative and hugely entertaining, Kingsley Amis's memoirs are filled with anecdotes...

THE MADNESS, ABSURDITY, AND UTTER CHAOS OF BEING A PARENT FROM THE HOSTS OF THE NO.1 SMASH HIT PODCAST. Read, improvised and embellished by Rob and Josh, with special guest appearances by their wives Rose and Lou, podcast producer Michael and Rob's parents Sue and Dave. What's it really like to...

From brass knuckle beatdowns on the schoolyard to showdowns with the SEC on the national news, every second of Deaton’s life has been a fight for survival. This book is the raw, wild John Deaton story, straight from the source. Born in one of the worst neighborhoods in Detroit--the kind of place the city cordoned off with warning signs--and growing up surrounded by hustlers, addicts, abusers, gang bangers, and the downtrodden, Deaton became a fighter, with violence becoming second nature.

For more than two years, BBC Radio 4's The Archers ran a disturbing storyline centred on Helen Tichener's abuse at the hands of her husband Rob. Not the kind of abuse that leaves a bruise, but the sort of coercive control that breaks your spirit and makes it almost impossible to walk away. As she listened to the unfolding story, Helen Walmsley-Johnson was forced to confront her own agonising past. Helen's first husband controlled her life, from the people she saw to what was in her bank account.

This audiobook is a collection of real-life stories from victims of domestic abuse. As a survivor of domestic violence myself, I know that there's some comfort and strength to be gained from hearing about the events and situations that other people have gone through. To know you're not alone in how you're feeling whilst in an abusive relationship can feel like a God-send. This audiobook is for those who are in, or have been in, a physically abusive relationship. The stories in this short audiobook may sound familiar as you can likely see similarities to your own situation.

"One life I’ve lived was liminal—I was not what I had been, but I had yet to become what I will be.” In her memoir Crowded Tables and Bonus Tracks, Ashley McLain moves from an adopted child in 1970s Dallas to a pioneering environmental consultant who co-founded and sold a thriving company. At 53, she found the courage to search for her biological family, confronting questions of identity, belonging, and what it means to define “enough.

It’s never too late to start again—and these women prove it. This powerful collection of true stories celebrates women over 50 who chose reinvention. Whether starting businesses, embracing creativity, or taking courageous leaps into new lives, they rewrote the rules of what’s possible later in life. Or indeed midlife. You’ll meet women who changed direction not in spite of age, but because of it. They turned experience into strength. Loss into action. Longing into impact. Each story in It’s Not Too Late is a reminder: You are not invisible. You are not too late. And you are far from finished.

As one of Australia's most celebrated athletes, Michael Klim's impact extends far beyond the pool. Klim's journey to greatness began behind the Iron Curtain, in communist-era Poland. His family made a bid for freedom in the 1980s and immigrated to Australia, where swimming became his passport...

In this deeply human memoir, Lisa Plumb confronts the reality of being abused by those entrusted with her care, and how that harm continued to shape her life long after childhood ended. With clarity and courage, she traces her path through abuse, addiction, and survival, revealing how mental health, legal, and social systems meant to help instead compounded her trauma well into adulthood.“There was a time I couldn’t even imagine a life like this, stable, peaceful, purposeful. As a child, I knew only fear, confusion, and the ache of being unprotected.

What if your soulmate died…and then came back to help you find love again? Alison and Bhima found true, once-in-a-lifetime love for the first time in their 50’s. It was the kind of love that changes everything. Then he died. Six weeks later, Bhima appeared at Alison’s kitchen table, as charming as ever, with one clear purpose: to help her find love again. It's imaginary of course. Or is it?

Sarah Ferguson's homage to her mother and a reflection on mothers and daughters. A mother's love over decades and across continents. The sudden death of Sarah's mother reveals their relationship with poignant clarity and shows her the individual who existed beyond motherhood.

In The Good Inside the Grief, Jon Imparato takes listeners on a sixty-year journey where death is never far away—lurking, chasing, and shocking. Through stories that are outrageous, heartbreaking, and unexpectedly funny, Jon reveals how grief is more than mourning. It’s a wild dance partner, a mischievous teacher, and ultimately, a force that transforms.

I was four months old when I was adopted, taken from an orphanage and placed into what was supposed to be a loving family. But love had conditions. Survival had rules. And silence was the price of staying. By sixteen, I had already learned how to disappear—into alcohol, into drugs, into the arms of men who didn’t care if I made it out alive. By eighteen, I was a mother, barely keeping my head above water, raising a child while still a child myself. When I got pregnant again at twenty-one, I knew one thing for sure: I wasn’t going to drag another innocent life into my chaos.

The power to become better, greater, more refined versions of ourselves is something that each one of us possesses. It is a power with which we are born, like infinite gold inside the equally infinite mine shafts that are our minds. Now, to get at that gold - there is the rub. Since time immemorial people have struggled to manage the darkness within themselves. How do we reckon our possibilities with our capabilities? How do we overcome the difficulties within? How do we shake off the invisible sandbags that seem to drag us down and run faster, jump higher, push harder?