Wilfred Thesiger, the last of the great gentlemen explorer-adventurers, became a legend in his own lifetime. This authorised biography by a long-standing friend and associate, delves into his little-known character and motivations, as well as recounting the details of his extraordinary life. While Wilfred Thesiger's own classic writings, (including "The Marsh Arabs", "Arabian Sands", "Desert, Marsh and Mountain", "The Life of My Choice" and" My Kenya Days") comprehensively cover his classic journeys amongst the Marsh Arabs in southern Iraq, across the Empty Quarter in Arabia, they fail conspicuously to shed light on his character and motives, which have remained an enigma. Maitland's biography had Thesiger's support before he died in 2003, and has been written with full access, granted to no one else, to the rich Thesiger archive - vivid, intimate family correspondence, and his own letters, diaries and notebooks, which are far more confiding than his scrupulously edited published accounts. Maitland investigates in depth Thesiger's parents and family influences; his wartime experiences and the ethos of conflict; his philosophy as a hunter and conservationist; his development as a writer and photographer; his close friendships with the Arabs and Africans, amongst whom he lived; and his sexuality. In all, this major biography of a great and unusual man will take its place on the shelf of outstanding lives of the great explorers.

Heavy book, postage will be extra.

Hardcover, UK First Edition, First Printing, Signed by Dave Eggers and Valentino Achak Deng to the title page. .

At the heart of this astonishing, soul-wrenching novel is a true story of courage and endurance in the face of one of the most brutal civil wars the world has ever known. Valentino Achak Deng is just a boy when conflict separates him from his family and forces him to leave his small Sudanese village, joining thousands of other orphans on their long, long walk to Ethiopia, where they find safety - for a time. Along the way Valentino encounters enemy soldiers, liberation rebels and deadly militias, hyenas and lions, disease and starvation. But there are experiences ahead that will test his spirit in even greater ways than these...Truly epic in scope, and told with expansive humanity, deep compassion and unexpected humour, "What is the What" is an eye-opening account of life amid the madness of war and an unforgettable tale of tragedy and triumph.

Hardcover, UK First Edition, First Printing, Signed & dated (13 ix 05) by author to the title page.

"Two Lives" tells the remarkable story of Seth's great uncle and aunt. His great uncle Shanti left India for medical school in Berlin in the 1930s and lodged with a German Jewish family. In the household was a daughter, Henny, who urged her mother 'not to take the blackie'. But a friendship developed and each managed to leave Germany and found their way to Britain as the Nazis rose to power. Shanti joined the army and lost his right arm at the battle of Monte Cassino, while Henny (whose family were to die in the camps) made a life for herself in her adopted country. After the war they married and lived the migr life in north London where Shanti, despite the loss of his arm, became a much-loved dentist. During his own adolescence in England, Vikram Seth lived with Shanti and Henny and came to know and love them deeply. His is the third life in this story of "Two Lives". This is also a book about history, encompassing as it does many of the most significant themes and events in the 20th century, whose currents are reflected in the lives of Shanti, Henny and their family: from the Raj and the Indian freedom movement to the Third Reich, the Holocaust and British postwar society.

Liza Campbell was the last child to be born at Cawdor Castle, the family seat of the Campbells, as featured in Macbeth. Her father Hugh, the twenty-fifth Thane, inherited good looks, brains, wealth, an ancient title, three stately homes and 100,000 acres of land. Title Deeds tells the story of Liza’s idyllic childhood with her four siblings in Wales in the 1960s, until Hugh inherited Cawdor and moved the family up to the Scottish Highlands. Increasingly overwhelmed by his enormous responsibilities, Hugh tipped into madness fuelled by drink, drugs and extramarital affairs. Over the years the castle was transformed into an arena of reckless profligacy and terrifying domestic violence, leading to the abrupt termination of a legacy that had been passed down through the family for six hundred years.

“She could have milked the melodrama …But Campbell is too bright and too good a writer to fall for any of that schlock…she writes not from catharsis or revenge, but in the spirit of puzzlement and discovery…Completely compelling.” Daily Telegraph

“Lady Liza Campbell has come up trumps with her fanfare of an autobiography…laces her memoir with stirring anecdotes from recent and remote history…This is a sad book; yet Campbell’s lack of sentimentality and needle-sharp wit make for a guiltily voyeuristic read.” Independent

Hardcover, UK First Edition, First Printing, Signed, Quoted and Dated (pre-publication date, 16 Oct '09) by author to the title page. Book comes with a Signed flyer from the London signing event.

THE RATS AND THE RULING SEA begins where THE RED WOLF CONSPIRACY ended; Thasha's wedding is hours away. It is a wedding that will both fulfil the promise of a mad god's return and see her murdered. Pazel has thwarted the sorcerer who would bring back the god but both sides now face deadlock. Can Thasha be saved? Can the war between two Empires be stopped? THE RATS AND THE RULING SEA is, once again, focused on the giant ancient ship, the CHATHRAND, but now she must brave the terrors of the uncharted seas; the massive storms and the ship swallowing whirlpools and explore lands forgotten by the Northern world, all the time involved in a vicious running battle with a ship half her size but nearly her match. Robert Redick's new novel takes the reader further into the labyrinthine plots and betrayals that have underscored the trilogy from the beginning. We learn more about the Ixchel as they fight for survival against the Chathrand's rats, discover more about the true motives of conspirators, live with Thasha and Pazel as they face death and deceit, and as the Chathrand sails into the infamous Ruling Sea. Robert Redick's sequel to the acclaimed THE RED WOLF CONSPIRACY is a masterpiece of plotting and adventure.

Hardcover, USA Harper, US First Edition, First Printing, Signed by author to the title page.

Before fate intervened, Joseph Needham was a distinguished biochemist at Cambridge University, married to a fellow scientist. In 1937 he was asked to supervise a young Chinese student named Lu Gwei-Djen, and in that moment began the two greatest love affairs of his life - Miss Lu, and China. Miss Lu inspired Needham to travel to China where he initially spent three dangerous years as a wartime diplomat. By the end of his life, Needham had become the pre-eminent China scholar of all time, a truly global figure, travelling endlessly and honoured by all. And in 1989, after a fifty-two year affair, he finally married the woman who had first inspired his passion. "The Man Who Love China” is Simon Winchester at his best - at once a magnificent portrait of one man's remarkable life and a riveting exploration of the country that so engaged him.

Some say that the first hint that Bill Bryson was not of Planet Earth came when his mother sent him to school in lime-green Capri pants. Others think it all started with his discovery, at the age of six, of a woollen jersey of rare fineness. Across the moth-holed chest was a golden thunderbolt. It may have looked like an old college football sweater, but young Bryson knew better. It was obviously the Sacred Jersey of Zap, and proved that he had been placed with this innocuous family in the middle of America to fly, become invisible, shoot guns out of people's hands from a distance, and wear his underpants over his jeans in the manner of Superman. Bill Bryson's first travel book opened with the immortal line, 'I come from Des Moines. Somebody had to.' In his deeply funny new memoir, he travels back in time to explore the ordinary kid he once was, and the curious world of 1950s America. It was a happy time, when almost everything was good for you, including DDT, cigarettes and nuclear fallout. This is a book about growing up in a specific time and place. But in Bryson's hands, it becomes everyone's story, one that will speak volumes - especially to anyone who has ever been young.

Hardcover, UK First Edition, First Printing, Signed  and dated (15X2008) by author to the title page. Book comes with a flyer from the London signing event.

The quintessential suave hero, Roger Moore has had an extraordinary career that has spanned seven decades, from early television to the golden age of Hollywood and on to international superstardom. Dashing, handsome and every inch the archetypal English gentleman, he is unforgettable as The Saint, as Lord Brett Sinclair in The Persuaders! and, of course, as James Bond, making seven blockbusting films as arguably the most debonair of the 007s. For the first time, Roger shares his recollections of playing some of the world's most famous roles alongside a host of legendary stars. With myriad stories from his personal life - from his childhood in London and experiences during the Second World War, to the happy and turbulent times in his later life. Along with anecdotes about his encounters with the stars and his wonderful memories from the heyday of Hollywood, "My Word is My Bond" is as frank, funny and disarmingly charming as the legend himself.

James McConnel always felt like a 'nearly' person. Alienated and bullied at school, playing music was the only time James felt in control. But as his piano playing skills developed, so did a bewildering array of strange compulsions. Initially the jerking, coughing, grunting, repeating, tapping, sniffing and counting, was dismissed as a "funny little habit". But it was clearly much more than that. Growing up, he had dreams of becoming a concert pianist, and he secured a place at the Royal College of Music. But the bittersweet discovery that drinking temporarily stopped his twitches saw him slip into alcoholism. Aged thirty-two, James was finally diagnosed with Tourette's Syndrome and at long last, began to understand himself. He still has tics and obsessive routines but his attitude to these has altered dramatically. He is happy. Touching, humorous and intimate, "Life, Interrupted" is the astonishing story of one man's journey to self-acceptance.

Hardcover, UK First Edition, First Printing Signed and dated(publication date) by Deborah Devonshire, Patrick Leigh Fermor and Editor Charlotte Mosley to the title page.

In 1956, Deborah, Duchess of Devonshire youngest of the six Mitford sisters invited the writer and war hero Patrick Leigh Fermor to visit Lismore Castle, in Ireland. This halcyon stay sparked off a deep friendship and a lifelong exchange of highly entertaining letters. There can rarely have been such contrasting styles: Debo, unashamed philistine and self-professed illiterate, darts from subject to subject, dashing off letters but hitting the nail on the head again and again without even looking, while Paddy, polyglot, widely-read prose virtuoso, replies in his characteristic fluent, polished manner.

Prose notwithstanding, they have much in common: enjoyment of life, youthful high spirits, generosity and lack of malice. There are glimpses of Kennedy’s inauguration, weekends at Sandringham, filming with Erroll Flynn and, above all, of life at Chatsworth, which Debo spent much of her life restoring, and of Kardamyli, the home that Paddy built in his beloved Greece.

UK First Edition, First Printing, Signed by author to the title page. Book comes with a flyer from the London signing event.

I'm in the process of writing my first book due for release this Christmas. It may sound ridiculous being just 23 but I've a few a good stories I'd like to share. I'm hoping the book will be honest, funny, insightful and above all life affirming. This is a chance for me to talk openly about other areas of my life. Things that people won't know. Things that I'm hoping lots of people can relate to and maybe even be inspired by.' From her childhood in Swindon to the nation's 'Most Popular Actress', via a pop career and a Las Vegas marriage to Chris Evans, this memoir will be an astonishingly candid insight into the world of Billie Piper. Famous since the age of 15 -- first as the face of Smash Hits, then as a pop singer with seven top five singles (including three No.1s) in less than three years -- Billie Piper has won over the critics and the British public for a second time by re-inventing herself as an actress in BBC productions of Much Ado About Nothing, The Canterbury Tales and, of course, Doctor Who . So how did she get from there to here? This is the funny, honest and insightful story of an extraordinary young life.

Hardcover, UK First Edition, First Printing, Signed and Dated (pre-publication date) by Richard Attenborough to the title page.

Richard Attenborough and Diana Hawkins have been friends and colleagues for nearly 50 years. They have now teamed up to write this frank and funny account of their unlikely partnership and his extraordinary life. Attenborough is the octogenarian celebrity peer, happily married since 1945, describing a lifetime of ceaseless activity as film star, director, producer, company chairman and indefatigable campaigner. Hawkins, 70, a twice divorced author and single parent who lived for a time on benefits, went on to become Attenborough's publicist, business partner and, ultimately, his co-producer. He is staunch Labour, she is a committed Conservative. His glass is always half full, hers obstinately half empty. Together, laughing and squabbling, they have travelled the world, meeting people and making films.

Among the eclectic cast of characters who appear in this two-handed memoir are Steve McQueen, Mother Teresa, Charlie Chaplin, Robert Mugabe, Edward G Robinson, Shirley MacLaine, Ronald Reagan, David Lean, Margaret Thatcher, John Mills, Steven Spielberg, Noel Coward, Tommy Lawton, Indira Gandhi, George Brown and Nelson Mandela. Prompted by his adventures in the movie business, Attenborough goes on to reflect on the highs and lows of a long life, both in and out of the public gaze. He writes revealingly of his passion for football and politics, of his avuncular relationship with Princess Diana and finally about the tsunami tragedy which engulfed his family in December 2004.

Hardcover, UK First Edition, First Printing, Signed and Dated (publication date) by author to the title page.

Before fate intervened, Joseph Needham was a distinguished biochemist at Cambridge University, married to a fellow scientist. In 1937 he was asked to supervise a young Chinese student named Lu Gwei-Djen, and in that moment began the two greatest love affairs of his life - Miss Lu, and China. Miss Lu inspired Needham to travel to China where he initially spent three dangerous years as a wartime diplomat. By the end of his life, Needham had become the pre-eminent China scholar of all time, a truly global figure, travelling endlessly and honoured by all. And in 1989, after a fifty-two year affair, he finally married the woman who had first inspired his passion. "Bomb, Book and Compass" is Simon Winchester at his best - at once a magnificent portrait of one man's remarkable life and a riveting exploration of the country that so engaged him.