Collection: Adult

An impassioned defence of Black excellence in the arts.

What does it mean - and how does it feel - to grow up as a Black artist today?

'This exceptional book, written with a mother's love for her seven creative children, sensitively offers profound and original insights and perspectives that enrich our culture. I feel so much wiser for reading it.' Bernardine Evaristo

When Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason's eldest daughter, Isata, made her solo debut at the BBC Proms in 2023, she could not have been prouder. Watching years of hard work transform into a transcendent performance was profoundly moving, both as music-lover and parent.

All fractured when her younger daughter turned to her in tears a few days later, having read online abuse about her sister. Isata, it was declared, did not deserve to be there. How do you prepare your child for the fact that no matter their talent, technique or dedication, they will be told they do not belong?

Through conversations with her extraordinarily gifted family, Kanneh-Mason explores what it's like to come of age in these turbulent times, when Black artistic self-expression is so often met with disparagement and abuse online - and offers a hopeful, powerful way through.

**SHORTLISTED FOR 2025 THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION**
A startling exploration of slavery in the Islamic world from the 7th century to the present

Slavery in the Islamic world has a long, diverse and controversial history. Captives and Companions is a brilliant synthesis of history and contemporary reportage that brings to life the voices of the enslaved in stories of eighth-century concubines and ninth-century revolts, thirteenth-century slave soldiers who established dynastic rule over Egypt, Syria, and Iraq, eighteenth-century corsairs and twentieth-century pearl divers in the Gulf. It also has first-hand accounts of this legacy in the twenty-first century, including the depredations of Daesh and continuing hereditary slavery in Mali and Mauritania.

Justin Marozzi traces the extraordinary variety of enslavement in the Islamic world, which ranged from agricultural labour and domestic toil to elite concubinage, guardianship of sacred spaces, political leadership and even military command. He shows how Africa bore the brunt of the demand for slave labour, fuelled throughout the nineteenth century by expanding global markets and commodity chains. Slavers plied African coasts, traders raided inland for human cargo, and millions were marched across the Sahara into captivity. Meanwhile, North African corsairs turned the Mediterranean into a slave-raiding 'free-for-all' between Muslims, Christians and Jews.

Taking the reader on an extraordinary historical journey from Baghdad to Bamako, Tripoli to Timbuktu, Istanbul to the Black Sea, this is the riveting human drama of those caught up in one of history's most remarkable overlooked stories.

A provocative case for why a better world is only possible with American power by Washington Post columnist Shadi Hamid.

From acclaimed author Shadi Hamid comes an urgent and deeply personal argument for why American dominance, despite its many flaws, remains the world's best hope. Hamid traces his journey from opposing America's role in the world to reluctantly embracing it--while grappling with how recent events, from Russia's invasion of Ukraine to Israel's devastating war in Gaza, have challenged his convictions.

Drawing on his unique perspective as both an American and a Muslim who came of age in the shadow of the September 11 attacks, Hamid contends with the contradictions of American power: how a nation founded on moral purpose so often fails to live up to its ideals. Hamid confronts head-on America's failures, from the war in Iraq to support for authoritarian regimes across the Middle East. Yet, he argues that in a world where power is a fact and someone must wield it, the alternative to American leadership isn't a morally perfect superpower--it's the brutal authoritarianism of countries like China and Russia.

At once idealistic and pragmatic, this is a book about embracing our power as the only moral option in a world beset by tragedy. Because America is a democracy, it retains the potential to correct past mistakes and change for the better. That part is up to us. Bracing and timely, The Case for American Power is an ambitious work on what may be the most fundamental question facing America today: how should we think about the power we have--while we still have it?

National Bestseller

When Sanna Marin became Prime Minister of Finland at just thirty-four years old, she captivated the world's attention with her progressive ideas and her bold leadership and "proved that good leadership does not depend on age" (Time100 Next).

In her powerful memoir Hope in Action, Sanna shares the extraordinary journey of her trailblazing career and her vision for a new kind of leadership.

Sanna has been praised for her "hardiness, resilience, and a can-do attitude" (Vogue) and her story is one of resilience and hope. The first in her family to attend university, she broke barriers to become a global icon of progressive leadership. Her term as prime minister--the youngest world leader at that time--saw historic milestones, as she led Finland through the COVID-19 pandemic, and her government implemented reforms addressing climate change, social justice, and equality. She helped the country navigate neighboring Russia's devastating full-scale invasion of Ukraine and Finland's rapid joining of NATO.

Through vivid retellings of her experiences, Marin shares how she overcame significant political challenges and how she coped with her personal life becoming public, including the incident that sparked a media frenzy and prompted women around the world to express their support.

Hope in Action is much more than a memoir--it's a "rallying cry" (Hillary Rodham Clinton). Sanna urges the next generation of leaders to bring their full, authentic selves to the job. Her story is an empowering testament to the opportunities we have to affect real change in our worlds.

Finalist for the 75th National Jewish Book Awards

The awe-inspiring and largely untold story of Hannah Senesh, a female paratrooper in World War II whose courage and sacrifice during a daring mission to rescue Europe's Jews left an indelible mark on history.

In the years before World War II, thousands of young Jewish men and women escaped Europe, seeking safety in the British Mandate for Palestine. By 1942, horrifying reports began to spread about ghettos being liquidated, industrialized killing centers in Poland, and a chilling campaign to exterminate Europe's entire Jewish population. When it became clear that the Allies were unwilling to spare any forces from the war effort to save civilians, the Jewish community in Palestine came up with a daring plan.

Working with British Military Intelligence, an elite unit of young Jewish paratroopers volunteered to return to Eastern Europe. Once behind enemy lines, they would use their expertise in the local languages and terrain to rescue thousands of downed Allied pilots and escaped POWs who were trapped with no way to communicate--highly trained airmen desperately needed by the British and American air forces to fly more bombing missions.

At the same time, these volunteer commandos would help Jewish civilians escape deportation to Auschwitz and other death camps or take up arms in resistance against the Nazis. Hannah Senesh was one of only three female paratroopers who risked everything to infiltrate occupied Europe.

In 1939, at just eighteen years old, Hannah emigrated from Hungary to the British Mandate for Palestine, where she dreamed of being a poet and a schoolteacher. Instead, she became a poet and a paratrooper. Five years after fleeing Europe, Hannah parachuted back into occupied territory as a freedom fighter with the most crucial role in her team: the wireless operator tasked with sending and deciphering top-secret British radio codes. Though captured almost immediately after crossing the border into Hungary, she refused to give up her radio codes or any information about her mission, despite enduring months of horrific torture. Her final act of defiance--choosing to die before a firing squad rather than beg for clemency--cemented her legendary status as the "Jewish Joan of Arc."

Hannah's legacy lives on today in the widely published diary she'd kept since age thirteen and in her poetry which has inspired generations. Each year on Holocaust Remembrance Day, a short poem Hannah composed on the shores of the Mediterranean in 1942 is sung at ceremonies around the world. Titled "Eli, Eli," or "My God, My God," it has become a modern hymn, taught in schools, sung in synagogues, and printed in thousands of prayerbooks.

More than just a gripping historical account of Hannah's life and afterlife, Crash of the Heavens offers a powerful reminder of the human spirit's ability to shine, even in the darkest of times.

From New York Times bestselling and award-winning author Jonathan Maberry comes the sequel to NecroTek. Cold War is an action-packed sci-fi thriller full of weird science, kick-ass heroes, humor, passion, heroism, and sacrifice!

In NecroTek, the space station Asphodel was accidentally teleported to the far side of the galaxy, where they became embroiled in a never-ending war against ancient cosmic horrors.

But there is much more to the story ...

On Earth, scientists uncover an alien spacecraft buried for millions of years beneath Antarctic ice. Inside are terrible secrets and a creature desperate to escape.

Soon the scientists studying the Artifact begin to have terrifying dreams, driving many of them to madness and acts of shocking violence. Dr. Evie Cronin and her team struggle to find answers, fully aware that they may only be discovered out among the stars. Their investigation brings them to the orbit of Jupiter moments before the WarpLine gun misfires. Destiny is a vicious and devious thing.

On Asphodel Station, the newly created ghost-driven NecroTek fighting machines are engaged in a desperate battle for survival against the deadly shoggoth fleets. But a new and far more dangerous race of creatures is poised to attack, both with their own fleets and with nightmares forced into the minds of the dwindling human defenders.

The group of scientists from Antarctica and the survivors on Asphodel are pitted against an unstoppable enemy. If they fail, Asphodel Station will fall, and the Outer Gods will be free to wage a war of conquest across the galaxy--to Earth itself.

Discover the Wonders of Prophet Muhammad's Miracles! The Miracle Messenger is the second book in an exciting series, following the success of The Miracles of the Prophets. This beautifully illustrated book takes children on a journey through some of Prophet Muhammad's most awe-inspiring miracles, bringing his story to life in a way young readers will love. Join Zayd and his friends as they travel back in time, exploring key moments and visiting locations connected to the Prophet's miraculous events. Each miracle is told sequentially, providing children with a beginner-friendly introduction to the life of Prophet Muhammad. With engaging storytelling and full-color illustrations on every page, The Miracle Messenger is the perfect book to captivate young minds and nurture their faith. A must-have addition to every child's Islamic book collection!

A riveting and heartwarming memoir by the actor of White Lotus and Euphoria that details his upbringing in the west coast--including a broken family, struggles with addiction, sex, borderline personality disorder--and his commitment to being the center of attention at all times, even as he actually becomes a star.

Lukas Gage was having one of the shittiest weeks of his life. His beloved grandmother was dying. And Lukas was sitting next to his father, a man who had been mostly absent in his son's childhood--except when talking to Lukas about tits because he loved nothing more than tits, and listening to Howard Stern on the radio. They were across the street from a building in Century City, where months prior, Lukas had to grapple with the dissolution of his marriage. This week had it all: death, divorce, and daddy issues. In that room, Lukas did the smartest thing anyone can do in a crisis: doom scroll to see what random people on the internet were saying about him. People were calling him an attention whore--and they were absolutely right. Lukas Gage was no stranger to going viral. He loved attention. As a toddler, he set his room on fire. As a child, he hugged and flirted with women at Hooters to his father's delight. As a teen, he stole handles of alcohol and cherry cough syrup. He had sex at a restroom in Chili's, and fell hopelessly in love with a girl who wore an ankle monitor. He became an actor and filmed that scene in White Lotus (if you know, you know). Lukas was scared of attention and yet he craved it more than anything in the world. I Wrote This for Attention is a riveting, exquisite memoir full of heart that chronicles Lukas's coming of age in the haunting underbelly of San Diego and clawing his way to stardom. Lukas captures the universal anxieties of transitioning from innocence to adulthood, of feeling too much and nothing at all. Sex and death, fame and familial strife, drug abuse and Raya, I Wrote This for Attention is a remarkable achievement of healing, of vaping through therapy sessions, and of having the courage to forgive the family that hurt you and set yourself free.

An archipelago of eight interconnecting stories and fables filled with the fantastical and a love of the craft of storytelling.

When Nancy's cat Pangur is stolen by the Faery people, she finds herself striking a deal like no other: she is now the one-and-only storyteller for the Faery Kingdom.

So starts Máire Zepf's enchanting story collection, reminiscent of fairytales and fables of past and present, but entirely new.

From ghost dragons to magical hats and a dream-weaving giantess, these are tales that awaken the senses and manage to connect with each other in a way reminiscent of 1001 Arabian Nights, perfect for voracious readers and bedtime story consumers alike.