First On Everest: The Life Of Howard Somervell by Graham Hoyland

About the book: The pioneers who attempted the first climbs of Mount Everest in 1922 and 1924 knew nothing about the mountain other than its height. They had to learn the hard way about the lack of oxygen, the jet-stream winds, the illnesses of altitude, and the vital importance of the Sherpas. They fought cerebral oedema, frostbite, hypothermia, and raging thirst in the cold, thin air. They had to find a route, avoid avalanches, and work out what to do when confronted by an insurmountable rock climb at extreme altitude. Many of them died.

Howard Somervell was George Mallory’s* closest friend on the mountain during those groundbreaking first ascents. An exceptionally gifted man, his life takes us far beyond the mountain: he had a double first from Cambridge, was a talented artist and an accomplished musician. He served as a surgeon at the Battle of the Somme during the First World War and was one of the foremost alpinists of the day when he was invited to join the 1922 expedition. After Everest, he was awarded an Olympic gold medal for Alpinism in 1924. But in India, he will be remembered as a surgeon who dedicated the remainder of his life to healing the sick.

Those early climbers showed the way. Somervell took part in the first attempt to climb the mountain, and his oxygen-free height record in 1924 stood for over 50 years.

First on Everest: The Life of Howard Somervell will be published on 14 May 2026.

* George Herbert Leigh-Mallory (1886 – 1924) was an English mountaineer who participated in the first three British Mount Everest expeditions from the early to mid-1920s. He and his climbing partner Andrew "Sandy" Irvine were reported to be last seen ascending near Everest's summit during the 1924 expedition, sparking debate as to whether they reached it before they died.

About the author: Mountaineer and sailor Graham Hoyland was the 15th Briton to climb Mount Everest and initiated the Mallory and Irvine Research Expedition, which was responsible for finding George Mallory’s body. Hoyland was a BBC producer for over 30 years and worked on programmes such as Dragon’s Den. The Independent named him as one of the ‘5 Most Inspiring Explorers’.

Sole Survivor: How I Built A Global Shoe Brand by Daniel Rubin

About the book: Sole Survivor (2025) tells the remarkable story of Daniel Rubin, founder of Dune London, and his 50-year journey in the footwear industry.

Born into a family of Russian cobblers, Daniel defied his father’s advice and pursued the trade he loved. After years of manufacturing and importing shoes, he launched Dune in 1992. 

While countless British shoemakers vanished from the high street, Daniel innovated, adapted, and built a global brand. 

Today, Dune London is stocked in over 200 stores worldwide.

For the first time, Britain’s veteran shoe expert shares how he established Dune on London’s King’s Road and navigated manufacturing disasters, technological upheaval, and market crashes to thrive in an industry notorious for thin margins and broken dreams.

Sole Survivor offers more than just an insider look at high heels, courts, and sandals. It uncovers the secrets of commercial success and failure in the UK and beyond, and the personal resilience and vision required to leave your mark.

Sole Survivor is currently priced at £9 directly from https://www.dunelondon.com.

About the author: Daniel Rubin is the founder and chairman of Dune London, a global shoe and accessories brand. He has been in the footwear industry for 50 years as manufacturer, importer, wholesaler and retailer. Born into a long line of Jewish cobblers and entrepreneurs dating back to 19th-Century Russia, he began his career in shoes working with his father in his women's fashion shoe factory in east London. Initially, he took his father's advice and resisted the pull of the family footwear business and qualified as a chartered accountant. After a spell in finance and industry he succumbed to the lure of footwear and ran two London factories making women's fashion shoes, before competition from abroad undercut margins. Faced with this threat, he set up an import and wholesale business which he ran for 20 years, designing and sourcing shoes from factories in Asia and Europe and selling them to multiple retailers.

In 1992, he founded the fashion footwear and accessories brand, Dune London, which has over 200 concessions and stores around the world, including in the US, Middle East, Europe and Asia. During his long career, he has visited factories in over 20 countries. His phone has thousands of photos of shoes and his cupboard has over 100 pairs. After 50 years in the industry, he can reliably be called a shoe dog. He remains obsessed with shoes, fascinated by the product, some of which he considers to be works of art. He remains involved in the Dune business, in particular in the design and development of the ranges. Sole Survivor: How I Built a Global Shoe Brand is his first non-fiction book.

True Crime: A Memoir by Patricia Cornwell

About the book: The No 1 Sunday Times bestselling author Patricia Cornwell finally tells the story that rivals all of the works that precede it: her own.

Patricia Cornwell is best known for her international bestselling thriller series about forensic pathologist Dr Kay Scarpetta. Every story comes from somewhere, and Scarpetta's began when Patricia Cornwell embedded herself in a morgue.

​In this achingly honest memoir, Cornwell excavates her own life, detailing her traumatic childhood being raised by neglectful parents, her father abandoning the young family on Christmas day, her mother being institutionalized twice, an abusive foster family, and developing a parental relationship with evangelist Billy Graham’s wife Ruth. Cornwell depicts a harrowing hospitalization and near-death car accident. She unflinchingly shares overcoming obstacles that later gave her the ambition to become an award-winning police reporter. From there it was research in a medical examiner’s office that would turn into a full-time job. She would become a forensic expert and worldwide publishing phenomenon.​

Cornwell leaves no stone unturned in this deeply candid account of her life, offering inspiring insight into what made her into the international sensation she is today.​

True Crime: A Memoir was published on 5 May 2026 and is on sale now.

About the author: In 1990, Patricia Cornwell sold her first novel, Postmortem, while working at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Richmond, Virginia. An auspicious debut, it went on to win the Edgar, Creasey, Anthony, and Macavity Awards, as well as the French Prix du Roman d'Aventures - the first book ever to claim all these distinctions in a single year. Growing into an international phenomenon, the Scarpetta series won Cornwell the Sherlock Award for best detective created by an American author, the Gold Dagger Award, the RBA Thriller Award, and the Medal of Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters for her contributions to literary and artistic development.

Patricia Cornwell has sold over 120 million books. Today, Cornwell's novels and iconic characters are known around the world. Beyond the Scarpetta series, Cornwell has written the definitive nonfiction account of Jack the Ripper's identity, cookbooks, a children's book, a biography of Ruth Graham, and three other fictional series based on the characters Win Garano, Andy Brazil, and Captain Calli Chase. Cornwell continues exploring the latest space-age technologies and threats relevant to contemporary life. Her interests range from the morgue to artificial intelligence and include visits to Interpol, the Pentagon, the US Secret Service and NASA.

Cornwell was born in Miami. She grew up in Montreat, North Carolina, and now lives and works in Boston. Patricia is also committed to funding scholarships and literacy programs. Her advice to aspiring authors: “Start writing. And don’t take no for an answer.” 

Turn Down The Noise

A Once Great Civilization

Read Or Lose It

 

Read, read, read, read, read!

I Wish I Knew

Shakespeare and Company Bookstore, Paris

A Founding Mother: A Novel Of Abigail Adams by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie

About the book: What is A Founding Mother: A Novel of Abigail Adams about?

In time for the 250th Anniversary of the birth of the United States comes a sweeping, intimate portrayal of Abigail Adams - wife of one president and mother to another - whose wit, willpower, and wisdom helped shape the fledgling republic. The book is a stunning historical novel with modern-day implications from the New York Times bestselling authors of America’s First Daughter and My Dear Hamilton.

In the heart of revolutionary Boston, Abigail Adams raises her children amid riots, blockades, and the outbreak of war. While her husband, John Adams, rises from country lawyer to nation-builder, often away for years at a time, Abigail builds her own independence - managing their farm, making lucrative investments, amassing savings, battling plague and loss, and defending their home. 

Unafraid to speak her mind, she famously offers fearless political counsel, urging John to “remember the ladies” in the new government. Through it all, she becomes his most trusted confidante and indispensable ally. When peace is secured, Abigail steps onto the world stage - exchanging ideas with Thomas Jefferson in the French countryside, navigating court life as the wife of the Minister to Great Britain, and presiding over the parlour politics of the early American republic in New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC. 

Even after her husband’s presidential administration, she continues battling political foes and working behind the scenes to advance her family, secure independence for the women in her life, and ensure a better life for the next generation of Americans. From war-torn streets to the chandeliered halls of power, A Founding Mother is the unforgettable story of a woman ahead of her time - one whose voice, vision, and valour still resonate powerfully today.

A Founding Mother: A Novel of Abigail Adams is out now in the US but is scheduled for publication on 18 June 2026 in the UK. 

About the authors: Stephanie Dray is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestselling author of historical fiction. Her award-winning work tops lists for the most anticipated reads of the year. She lives near the nation’s capital with her husband, cats, and history books.

Laura Kamoie is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling author of historical fiction. She holds a doctoral degree in early American history from the College of William and Mary and published two nonfiction books on early America. She writes historical fiction under her own name and romance under the name Laura Kaye.

Rating: 5/5

How To Find Time To Read

Intercepts by T J Payne

About the book: Intercepts (2026) is the 'Best of BookTok' horror sensation, now with a never-before-seen bonus chapter (only exclusive to the hardback edition)!

Joe works for a government facility. A very secret government facility, where human 'antennae' with brutally increased psychic ability are used to 'intercept' potential threats to the nation. All the test subjects went violently insane. But the research continued. Today, it has been perfected. 

Almost perfected.

Joe's government is proud of him. His conscience is clear. As long as his daughter, Riley, never finds out what he does for a living. But now Joe's work has followed him home. There is someone in the corner of Riley's eye. Someone who is not there when she turns around – and who can not just intercept her senses, but manipulate them to see and believe terrible things. 

And they have a plan.

The government's most sinister weapon has turned itself against his own daughter. The question now is: how far will he go to save her?

About the author: T J Payne is the author of Intercepts, The Venue, and In My Father's Basement. Born and raised in Portland, OR, he moved to Hollywood with plans to write romantic comedies, but as he worked on his craft, he found his stories drifting toward more sinister themes. Eventually, he found the natural outlet for his voice - horror and thriller genres. His writing style relies on a light touch, using simple, smooth prose to build and maintain the story's horrific intensity. Through this style, Payne weaves in deeper themes and questions about human nature, particularly the subtle line between Good and Evil. Traditional Hero and Villain archetypes are often flipped in Payne's work. His characters may not always be likeable, but their faults and sins are profoundly human. 

Despite his gritty, dark work, Payne lives a very happy, non-murderous life. He married his high school sweetheart and together they enjoy exploring National Parks with their dog, Frank, (on leash and with plenty of poop bags, of course). 

Rating: 5/5

Discovering The Latin Mass by Eduard Habsburg

About the book: For centuries, the saints were formed by the prayers, silence, and sacred beauty of the ancient Roman Rite. Today, many Catholics are rediscovering this timeless liturgy and finding in it a deeper sense of reverence and awe.

Yet attending the Latin Mass for the first time can feel overwhelming. The silence is longer. The gestures are unfamiliar. The priest faces east. Much of the prayer is whispered.

What is happening? Why does it matter? How do I enter into it?

In Discovering the Traditional Latin Mass, Eduard Habsburg gently guides you through the structure, symbolism, and spiritual meaning of the "Old Mass." With clarity and personal insight, he explains not only what you see and hear but what God is doing at the altar. This brief, accessible guide will help you move from confusion to confidence, from observation to participation, and from curiosity to deeper prayer.

The Traditional Latin Mass is not a relic of the past. It is an invitation to reverence and silence and to encounter the mystery of Christ's sacrifice anew. This small book exists for one purpose: to help someone walk into the Latin Mass for the first time and understand what they are encountering.

This title will be released on 16 June 2026.

About the author: Eduard Habsburg is the great-great-great-grandson of Emperor Franz Joseph I and the son of Archduke Michael of Austria and Princess Christiana of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg. He is legally known in Austria as Eduard Habsburg-Lothringen and is referred to by the traditional title of Archduke Eduard of Austria in the Almanach de Gotha. He is a member of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, the former ruling family of Austria-Hungary. He is married to Maria Theresia von Gudenus, a descendant of Archduke Johann of Austria.

In December 2015, Habsburg was appointed to serve as Hungary’s ambassador to the Holy See and Sovereign Military Order of Malta. He concluded his mission to the Holy See in November 2025. He is not a liturgical academic writing from a distance as he is a Catholic husband, father, diplomat, and public witness who has encountered the Traditional Latin Mass personally – and profoundly. (Partly sourced from Wikipedia)

Freezing Order by Bill Browder

About the book: Following his explosive international bestseller Red Notice, Bill Browder returns with another gripping thriller chronicling how he became Vladimir Putin’s number one enemy by exposing Putin’s campaign to steal and launder hundreds of billions of dollars and kill anyone who stands in his way.

When Bill Browder’s young Russian lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, was beaten to death in a Moscow jail, Browder made it his life’s mission to go after his killers and make sure they faced justice. 

The first step of that mission was to uncover who was behind the $230 million tax refund scheme that Magnitsky was killed over. As Browder and his team tracked the money as it flowed out of Russia through the Baltics and Cyprus and on to Western Europe and the Americas, they were shocked to discovered that Vladimir Putin himself was a beneficiary of the crime.

As law enforcement agencies began freezing the money, Putin retaliated. He and his cronies set up honey traps, hired process servers to chase Browder through cities, murdered more of his Russian allies, and enlisted some of the top lawyers and politicians in America to bring him down. Putin will stop at nothing to protect his money. 

As Freezing Order (2023) reveals, it was Browder’s campaign to expose Putin’s corruption that prompted Russia’s intervention in the 2016 US presidential election.

At once a financial caper, an international adventure and a passionate plea for justice, Freezing Order is a timely and stirring morality tale about how one man can take on one of the most ruthless villains in the world.

Freezing Order is the Sunday Times No 2 Bestseller and the New York Times No 1 Bestseller.

About the author: Bill Browder is the founder and CEO of Hermitage Capital Management and was the largest foreign investor in Russia until 2005. Since 2009, when his lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, was murdered in prison after uncovering a $230 million fraud committed by Russian government officials, Browder has been leading a campaign to expose Russia’s endemic corruption and human rights abuses. Before founding Hermitage, Browder was vice president at Salomon Brothers. He holds a BA in economics from the University of Chicago and an MBA from Stanford Business School.