**Winner of the 2025 National Outdoor Book Award (History/Biography)"Hugely entertaining.…[A]nyone who loves mountains will enjoy this book." —Sarah Wheeler, SpectatorA sweeping history of mountaineering before Everest, and the epic human quest to reach the highest places on Earth.**Whether in the name of conquest, science, or the divine, humans across the centuries have had myriad reasons to climb mountains. From the smoking volcanoes of South America to t...

From the smoking volcanoes of South America to the great snowy ranges of the Himalaya, The White Ladder follows a cast of extraordinary characters—conquistadors and captains, scientists and surveyors, alpinists and adventurers—up the slopes of the world's highest peaks.A masterpiece of edge-of-your-seat narrative history, The White Ladder describes the epic rise of mountaineering's world altitude record, a story of ever higher climbs by figures great and small of ...

****Shortlisted for the 2025 Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize**The bestselling author of Your Inner Fish takes readers on an epic adventure to the North and South Poles to reveal the secrets locked in the ice about life, the cosmos, and our planet’s future.“Urgent [and] prescient…The book captures Shubin’s reverence for both the beauty and the mysteries hidden in the cold, barren tundra.”—The New Yorker**Renowned scientist Neil Shubin has m...

From the author of the Orwell Prize-winner SHOW ME THE BODIES: HOW WE LET GRENFELL HAPPEN, the gripping story of how housing defines a city's past, present and future'Apps set the gold standard with his Grenfell coverage. With Homesick, he dismantles the sham of UK housing policy – razor-sharp, stylish, and morally unflinching.' Darren McGarveyIn London, only those with vast cash deposits can get on the property ladder, private rents have spiralled...

Brought to you by Penguin.As a child, Chris Thorogood dreamed of seeing Rafflesia - the plant with the world's largest flowers. He crafted life-size replicas in an abandoned cemetery, carefully bringing them to life with paper and paint. Today he is a botanist at the University of Oxford's Botanic Garden and has dedicated his life to studying the biology of such extraordinary plants, working alongside botanists and foresters in Southeast Asia to document t...

**Brought to you by Penguin.The untold story of post-war Britain. Told through the lives of the two men who helped shape it: Sir David Barclay and Sir Frederick Barclay.**You May Never See Us Again is the only definitive story of David and Frederick Barclay - commonly known as the Barclay brothers. Born poor, these enigmatic twins built one of the biggest fortunes in Britain together from scratch and spent six decades at the epicentre of British business, media and...

**Brought to you by Penguin.Science is a serious business, right? Wrong.**Scientists have been participants in the best reality show of all time, with all the highs, lows, bust-ups, and strange personalities of any show on telly today. From Luke O'Neill - the science teacher you wish you'd had - this hugely accessible history of science reveals the human stories behind the biggest discoveries.For example, we meet Charles Darwin as he weighs up the pros and cons of m...

A playful deep dive into anthropomorphism (our peculiar tendency to humanize the nonhuman) that will resonate with anyone who has thrown a birthday party for their dog.Bestselling science writer Justin Gregg explores the science behind our instinct to see ourselves in the creatures and objects around us. Ours is a world filled with emotional support alligators, a woman who married her briefcase, and Soviet super babies that drink dolphin milk. Deli...

'It is rare to find a tale so strange, intimate and human yet at the same time so enormous, so global in its importance. Yet again John Nichol impresses us with his ability to weave together the little details and the grand narrative'Dan Snow***Over one million British Empire soldiers were killed during the First World War. More than a century later, more than half a million still have no known grave.The scale of the fighting, the destructive...

The city of Ludlow is gripped by the hottest July on record. The asphalt is melting, the birds are dying, petty crime is on the rise, and someone in Hannah Wagnor’s peaceful suburban community is killing girls.For Hannah, the summer is a complicated one. Her best friend Lillian died six months ago, and Hannah just wants her life to go back to normal. But how can things be normal when Lillian’s ghost is haunting her bedroom, pushing her to investigate the mysterious string of murder...

“[An] extraordinary sequel . . . Distinguished by its humor, heart, and subtle political urgency, this series deserves a long life.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)“[The Kyiv Mysteries] provide timely lessons for anyone living under an oppressive regime.” —The Atlantic“Andrey Kurkov is often called Ukraine's greatest living writer, and it is a gift for crime fiction fans that he writes in this genre.”—...

A powerful debut novel that continues the legacy of ‘Master of the Genre’ Desmond Bagley with a thriller set in Australia, also appealing to a new generation of readers of who adore Jane Harper and Chris Hammer.The Sequel to Desmond Bagley’s DOMINO ISLANDInsurance investigator Bill Kemp had never wanted to trek deep into Australia’s remote interior. But when his clients Sophie and Adam Church inherit an abandoned opal mine, triggering some explosiv...