Books

Lord Hain in his office with his treasured Nelson Mandela portrait (Image: Jonathan Buckmaster) When people contact the office of Lord Peter Hain at Millbank House in Westminster, they may be surprised to find the life peer himself answering the phone. “People will ask to be put through to my …

What’s more, House of the Dragon’s source material, Fire and Blood, is also available on Audible in audiobook form right now. By getting up to date on Martin’s spin-off book, you’ll be ahead of the curve when season two of House of the Dragon hits NOW and Sky Cinema. Audible …

JK Rowling has become a polarising figure in recent years with her outspoken views on transgenderism. Most recently she challenged Scotland’s new hate crime law, describing several transgender women (biological males who identify as women) as men on social media. The Harry Potter author has continued to double down on …

45-year-old mortgage adviser Nicola Bulley who went missing. (Image: ) I live in the Scottish Highlands where, last year, I read about a lone hiker who disappeared. Literally. He went off hill walking one day and never returned. The story made a few paragraphs in a local paper, that was …

45-year-old mortgage adviser Nicola Bulley who went missing. (Image: ) I live in the Scottish Highlands where, last year, I read about a lone hiker who disappeared. Literally. He went off hill walking one day and never returned. The story made a few paragraphs in a local paper, that was …

Six in 10 adults have been inspired to take up or do something new after reading – including change career, learn a new language, and climb a mountain, research has found. A poll of 2,000 adults, who read for pleasure, found 26 percent have been compelled to make a positive …

Amazon is giving shoppers the chance to bag three months of audiobooks for just 99p and the options are seemingly endless. Audible is the shopping giant’s audiobook service and would usually set you back £7.99 a month for one credit which you can cash in for any book on the …

The Tower of London was a prison until the 1950s (Image: Rudy Sulgan/Getty) The mass escape of Allied airmen from a German prisoner of war camp remains one of history’s most famous jail-breaks. Stalag Luft III was designed to be escape-proof but PoWs, using impressive ingenuity to remain undetected, dug …

It’s World Book Day, the internationally celebrated holiday where literature is praised around the globe, and children are encouraged to pick up a book and put down their phones. Of course, there are an almost infinite amount of loveable characters from hundreds of years of publishing. And while Alice in …

Millions of holidaymakers have chosen a destination based on a book they’ve read – with “Under the Tuscan Sun”, by Frances Mayes, named as the top inspiration. A study of 2,000 adults found one in four have booked a holiday in order to visit a location referenced in a novel. …

James Timpson, right, with his father Sir John Timpson (Image: John Gladwin / Reach Plc) James Timpson is reading an email from one of his shop managers, asking for a second-hand car and a prom dress for their daughter. This might seem unusual for the CEO of a business turning …

The Harry Potter main novel series may be over, but that doesn’t mean that’s the end of official books set in JK Rowling’s Wizarding World. Following last year’s Harry Potter Wizarding Almanac comes Christmas at Hogwarts. Unveiled today by Bloomsbury and Scholastic, the festive illustrated book focuses on Harry’s first …