Eve Claxton

Mimi Baird

A woman pieces together the story of her absent father's life, beginning with his advancements in isolating the biogeochemical root of manic depression, which he then began to suffer himself, leading to years of institutionalization and confinement. 30,000 first printing.

The Madness and Medical Genius of Dr. Perry Baird, and His Daughter's Quest to Know Him

He Wanted the Moon

Nyna Giles

Gile's childhood had been spent in doctor's offices; she spent nearly every waking moment at her mother's side. As Nyna grew up, her mother became more and more distant. Carolyn Scott Reybold had been a model in 1947, a friend of Grace Kelly, and even a bridesmaid at her wedding. How had that confident, glamorous woman become the mother Giles knew growing up--the mother who was now living in a shelter? In her journey to uncover her mother's past, Giles finds answers to questions she never knew to ask.

From Grace Kelly's Wedding to a Women's Shelter - Searching for the Truth About My Mother

The Bridesmaid's Daughter

Soon to be a major motion picture, from Brad Pitt and Tony Kushner A Washington Post Best Book of 2015 A mid-century doctor's raw, unvarnished account of his own descent into madness, and his daughter's attempt to piece his life back together and make sense of her own. Texas-born and Harvard-educated, Dr. Perry Baird was a rising medical star in the late 1920s and 1930s. Early in his career, ahead of his time, he grew fascinated with identifying the biochemical root of manic depression, just as he began to suffer from it himself. By the time the results of his groundbreaking experiments were published, Dr. Baird had been institutionalized multiple times, his medical license revoked, and his wife and daughters estranged. He later received a lobotomy and died from a consequent seizure, his research incomplete, his achievements unrecognized. Mimi Baird grew up never fully knowing this story, as her family went silent about the father who had been absent for most of her childhood. Decades later, a string of extraordinary coincidences led to the recovery of a manuscript which Dr. Baird had worked on throughout his brutal institutionalization, confinement, and escape. This remarkable document, reflecting periods of both manic exhilaration and clear-headed health, presents a startling portrait of a man who was a uniquely astute observer of his own condition, struggling with a disease for which there was no cure, racing against time to unlock the key to treatment before his illness became impossible to manage. Fifty years after being told her father would forever be “ill” and “away,” Mimi Baird set off on a quest to piece together the memoir and the man. In time her fingers became stained with the lead of the pencil he had used to write his manuscript, as she devoted herself to understanding who he was, why he disappeared, and what legacy she had inherited. The result of his extraordinary record and her journey to bring his name to light is He Wanted the Moon, an unforgettable testament to the reaches of the mind and the redeeming power of a determined heart.

The reader experiences world history as the authors lived it and gains rare insight into the lives and personalities of some of the world's most important writers, thinkers, athletes and artists.

The Literature of Life from St. Augustine to Gandhi, and from Pablo Picasso to Nelson Mandela

The World's Best Memoir Writing

From childhood through to adulthood - if not necessarily maturity - The Book of Life offers the literary journal of a lifetime, in the company of the most fascinating and talented figures in history. From Alan Bennett's wartime childhood in Yorkshire to Mahatma Gandhi's experiment with cigarettes; Katherine Hepburn on her first acting job aged 21 and Primo Levi on being captured by Fascist militia at the same age; Darwin on his lifelong love - his work - and Nelson Mandela on his release from prison aged 71 ... life and living in all its manifold glories is represented. With insights that encompass generations and continents, this is a uniquely enjoyable immersion in some of the world's best, and most personal, writing.

The Book Of Life

A daughter's poignant search to understand her mother - once a bridesmaid to Princess Grace and a world-renowned Ford model, who spent her final years in a homeless shelter. Nyna Giles was picking up groceries at the supermarket one day when she looked down and saw a woman on the cover of a tabloid beneath the headline: 'Former Bridesmaid of Princess Grace Lives in Homeless Shelter'. Nyna was stunned, afraid that someone would know the woman on that cover, Carolyn Scott, was her mother. Nyna's childhood had been spent in doctor's offices. Too ill, she was told, to go to school like other children, she spent every waking moment at her mother's side at their isolated Long Island estate or on trips into the city to see the ballet. The doctors couldn't tell her what was wrong, but as Nyna grew up, her mother, who'd always seemed fragile, became more and more distant. Now Nyna was forced to confront an agonising realisation: she barely knew the woman on the magazine in front of her. She knew that her mother had been a model after arriving in 1950s New York, staying at the Barbizon Hotel, where she'd met the young Grace Kelly, and that the two had become fast friends. Nyna had met Grace and seen the photos of Carolyn at her wedding, wearing the yellow bridesmaid gown that had hung in her closet for years. But how had the seemingly confident, glamorous woman in those pictures become the mother she knew growing up - the mother who was now living in a shelter? In this powerful memoir of friendship and motherhood, Nyna Giles uncovers her mother's past to answer the questions she could never ask.

From Grace Kelly's wedding to a homeless shelter - searching for the truth about my mother

Dolce & Gabbana

Domenico Dolce

Stefano Gabbana

Straight from the personal archives of Dolce & Gabbana, here is their scrapbook featuring photographs and memorabilia of all the celebrities the designers dress. Like pages from the personal photo album of Domenico Dolce & Stefano Gabbana, Hollywood: Dolce & Gabbana brings to life the work of these two brilliant fashion designers. A scrapbook of the designers' creative lives, these pages offer an intimate glimpse into celebrities' personal and public interpretations of Dolce & Gabbana's art. Featuring photographs by some of the hottest fashion photographers of our time, both on the red carpet and in private sittings, and celebrities' personal items, such as handwritten notes and lipstick blots on napkins, this book captures the unique, young and ever-evolving cutting-edge style that is Dolce & Gabbana. It explores the designers' relationships with the beautiful people they dress, including Hollywood royalty such as Madonna and Demi Moore, Nicole Kidman, Isabella Rossellini, Susan Sarandon, Tina Turner, Gwyneth Paltrow and many others. A favorite for its fashion extremes, Dolce & Gabbana truly symbolizes both Hollywood glamour and urban style.

Eve Claxton

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