‘A data-rich book that takes a close look at how deeply family structure influences both children’s current well-being and their future academic and career prospects’ – Wall Street Journal, Best Books of the Year

In The Two-Parent Privilege, Melissa S. Kearney makes a data-driven case for marriage by showing how the institution’s decline has led to a host of economic woes. When two adults marry, their economic and household lives improve, offering a number of benefits not only for the married adults but for their children. By confronting the critical role that family makeup plays in shaping children’s lives and futures, Kearney offers an assessment of what a decline in marriage means for an economy and a society – and what we must do to change course.

‘Having two parents who are married to each other, Kearney argues, provides offspring with economic and social advantages. And by joining their particular strengths, a married couple can give their progeny more than the sum of their parts’- New Yorker, Best Books of the Year

‘This novel is essence of Banville … a career summation’ Daily Telegraph

Felix Mordaunt, recently released from prison, steps from a flashy red sports car onto the estate of his youth. But there is a new family living in the drafty old house: descendants of the late, world-famous scientist Adam Godley. Felix must now vie with the idiosyncratic Godley family, with their harried housekeeper who becomes his landlady, with the recently commissioned biographer of Godley Sr., and with a wealthy and beautiful woman from his past who comes bearing an unusual request…

The much-loved inspiration behind the Netflix film featuring the voices of Whoopi Goldberg, Jacob Tremblay and Gaten Matarazzo

When Elmer Elevator hears about the baby dragon being held captive on Wild Island, he knows just what to do. First, he packs his knapsack with important supplies, like chewing gum, lollipops and lots of rubber bands. Then he stows away on a ship headed for the island. Along the way, Elmer meets many exotic animals who try to sidetrack him, but Elmer has some tricks up his sleeve … or more precisely, in his knapsack. One way or another, he will rescue the dragon! Three Tales of My Father’s Dragon contains the trilogy of classics that has been delighting children for more than seventy years, and which has inspired the Netflix film: My Father’s Dragon, Elmer and the Dragon and The Dragons of Blueland.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION

SHORTLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL WRITING

’This is what journalism is for’ – Observer

Time to Think goes behind the headlines to reveal the truth about the NHS’s flagship gender service for children.

The Tavistock’s Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) was set up initially to provide talking therapies to young people who were questioning their gender identity.

But in the last decade GIDS referred around two thousand children, some as young as nine years old, for medication to block their puberty. In the same period, the number of referrals exploded and the profile of the patients changed: from largely pre-pubescent boys to mostly adolescent girls, who were often contending with other difficulties. Was there enough clinical evidence to justify such profound medical interventions?

This urgent, scrupulous and dramatic book explains how GIDS has been the site of a serious medical scandal, in which ideological concerns took priority over clinical practice. It is a disturbing and gripping parable for our times.

A TIMES AND DAILY TELEGRAPH BOOK OF THE YEAR

SHORTLISTED FOR THE SPORTS BOOK AWARDS 2024

Sharron Davies is no stranger to battling the routine sexism of the sporting world. She missed out on Olympic Gold because of doping among East German athletes in the 1980s; now, biological males are being allowed to compete directly against women under the guise of trans ‘self-ID’.

This callous indifference towards women in sport, argue Sharron and journalist Craig Lord, is merely the latest stage in a decades-long history of sexism on the part of sport’s higher-ups. Unfair Play provides the facts, science and arguments that will help women in sport get the justice they deserve.

‘A compelling account of how women in sport continue to be subjugated’ Daily Mail

The music that would come to be known as hip-hop was born at a party in the Bronx in the summer of 1973. Now, fifty years later, it’s the most popular music genre in America. Just as jazz did in the first half of the twentieth century, hip-hop and its groundbreaking DJs and artists—nearly all of them people of colour from some of America’s most overlooked communities—pushed the boundaries of music to new frontiers, while transfixing the country’s youth and reshaping fashion, art, and even language.

And yet, the stories of many hip-hop pioneers and their individual contributions in the pre-Internet days of mixtapes and word of mouth are rarely heard—and some are at risk of being lost forever. Now, in The Come Up, the New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Abrams offers the most comprehensive account so far of hip-hop’s rise, a multi-decade chronicle told in the voices of the people who made it happen.

In more than three hundred interviews conducted over three years, Abrams has captured the stories of the DJs, executives, producers, and artists who both witnessed and themselves forged the history of hip-hop. Masterfully combining these voices into a seamless symphonic narrative, Abrams traces how the genre grew out of the resourcefulness of a neglected population in the South Bronx, and from there how it flowed into New York City’s other boroughs, and beyond—from electrifying live gatherings, then on to radio and vinyl, below to the Mason-Dixon Line, west to Los Angeles through gangster rap and G-funk, and then across generations.

Abrams has on record Grandmaster Caz detailing hip-hop’s infancy, Edward “Duke Bootee” Fletcher describing the origins of “The Message,” DMC narrating his role in introducing hip-hop to the mainstream, Ice Cube recounting N.W.A’s breakthrough and breakup, Kool Moe Dee recalling his Grammys boycott, and countless more key players. Throughout, Abrams conveys with singular vividness the drive, the stakes, and the relentless creativity that ignited one of the greatest revolutions in modern music.

The Come Up is an exhilarating behind-the-scenes account of how hip-hop came to rule the world—and an essential contribution to music history.

Three thousand years ago, deep inside the forests of India, a great ‘thought revolution’ was brewing.

In those forest labs, the brightest thinker–philosophers contemplated the universe, reflected on ancient texts called the Vedas and came up with startling insights into questions we still don’t have final answers to, like:

• What is the universe made of?

• How do I know I’m looking at a tree when I see one?

• Who am I?

And where did they put those explosive findings? In a sprawling body of goosebumpy and fascinating oral literature called the Upanishads! Intimidated? Don’t be! For this joyful, fun guide to some of India’s longest-lasting secular wisdoms, reinterpreted for first-time explorers by Roopa Pai, is guaranteed to keep you turning the pages.

The Empress is a dazzling reimagining of the courtship between one of history’s most iconic and beloved couples: Sisi and Franz of Austria.

The year is 1853, and sixteen-year-old Elisabeth “Sisi” of Bavaria has been very clear: she will wait for the sweeping, head-over-heels kind of love the poets speak of, or she will have no love at all. It is not her fault Mother refuses to listen. After all, just because her older sister Helene has chosen the line of duty, and is preparing to marry Emperor Franz of Austria, does not mean Sisi also needs to subject herself to such a passionless, regimented existence. Sisi knows there is more to life than corsets, luncheons, and woefully unfashionable dukes … if only someone would give her the chance to experience it firsthand.

Meanwhile, in Austria, the Emperor is recovering from an assassination attempt that left him wounded and scared. In a bid to keep the peace, Franz has recommitted himself to his imperial duties-and promised to romance the pliant Bavarian princess, Helene, at his upcoming birthday celebration. How better to unite the country than with the announcement of a new Empress?

But when Sisi and Franz meet unexpectedly in the palace gardens, away from the prying eyes and relentless critique of their families, their connection cannot be denied. And as their illicit conversations turn into something more, they must soon choose between the expectations of the court, and the burning desires of their hearts…

Epic, captivating, and deliciously steamy, The Empress is a remarkably contemporary tale of falling in love and finding one’s voice.

‘Gripping, endearing, dark, and funny … Highly recommended’ Harlan Coben

When 10-year-old Lukas disappears, investigator Erik Schäfer has little to work with. Until he discovers that the boy is obsessed with pareidolia – the psychological phenomenon where we see faces in random things – and has recently photographed an old barn door. Journalist Heloise Kaldan thinks she recognizes the barn – but from where?

Kaldan drops her current article, a controversial investigation into soldiers with PTSD, to cover the story of the missing boy. But when she realises that the traumatized soldiers are mixed up in Lukas’ case, Schäfer and Heloise must try to separate optical illusion from reality – before it’s too late.

HOW TO MAKE DEBT WORK FOR US

When we talk about debt and its impact on our economy, we almost always mean ‘government debt’. However, this is only a small part of the picture: individuals, private firms and households owe trillions, and these private debts are vital to understanding the economy.

In The Paradox of Debt, Richard Vague shows that the real factor that drives both financial crises and spiralling inequality – but also, paradoxically, economic growth – is ever-rising private debt. The paradox is that while debt is essential and our economy relies on it, it also brings instability unless it is periodically deleveraged – and that is very hard to do. It can, however, be carefully managed, and Vague demonstrates how to do so in areas ranging from trade and housing to financial policy and student debt.

‘Richard Vague is a successful banker, brilliant author and contrarian economist with an encyclopaedic knowledge of the history of money and banking, and the parts of economic theory that are worth knowing. No-one else comes close to his blend of professional experience, oratorical flair and critical insights’ STEVE KEEN, author of Debunking Economics