flora

Practical tips and engaging advice on the unsung pleasures of drinking in moderation, from one of Britain’s best-known broadcasters

Read an extract below, and buy your copy at:

Waterstones
Amazon
Bookshop.org 

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TWO IMPORTANT POINTS

1
I was drinking an awful lot of alcohol. However, I wasn’t waking up in shop doorways, wetting the bed, getting into fights or drinking Pernod in the morning. Therefore, I told myself, I obviously didn’t have this ‘disease’ called ‘alcoholism’. And, as I didn’t have this ‘disease’, logically I was fine. I wasn’t.
2
If I lined up all the drinks I’d drunk in a forty-year drinking career, stretching back to my mid-teens, that line would be around three miles long. This was quite a thought. More shocking than that, though, was the figure I got to when I considered how many of those drinks I could have done
without. Or, put another away, how many of those had I really enjoyed, wanted or needed? I reckoned it was no more than a third of them. What a waste. Two miles of pointless drinks. This couldn’t go on. All I had to do was find a way of enjoying the drinks I wanted, and not bother with the rest.

Two blokes in two streets and a bloke who wrote a book

Late one night in Manchester, I was walking back to my hotel after an evening out with some friends. A chap fell into step with me. He was plainly down on his luck, but decidedly chipper with it.

‘I’m from Tipperary,’ he told me. ‘And I wonder if I could trouble you for some money, if you could spare some?’

I grunted something and we walked on for a moment before he added, ‘And if you do give me any money, I make you this promise: I’ll not be wasting it on food.’

I looked at him.

‘No, I’ll be spending it on booze!’ he shouted in delight.

‘Because I love booze.’

He won. I gave him a tenner.

I love booze too.

And I’ve learned to love it more by drinking less of it.

TWO BLOKES IN TWO STREETS AND A BLOKE WHO WROTE A BOOK

I was minding my own business down at the shops near where I live in West London when a bloke with a dog came up to me.

‘There’s a rumour you’re off the booze,’ he said.

‘I’ve cut down a huge amount,’ I replied.

‘Oh, I see,’ he said, smiling a knowing smile.

And off he went. I knew from the pitying look on his face exactly what he was thinking. He was thinking that I was in denial about my relationship with alcohol. In his view, there was no such as thing as cutting down. As I wasn’t ‘off the booze’ completely, I plainly didn’t have my drinking under control. I was kidding myself.

I get this a lot. It is annoying. It is widely held that the only realistic option available to heavy drinkers is to give up completely. This belief is so firmly held by many people that even if you do manage to convince them that you have genuinely moderated your drinking for good, they will simply conclude that you can’t have had much of an alcohol problem in the first place. I get this a lot too. It is even more annoying. There are certainly some problem drinkers for whom the only answer is to stop drinking completely. But I believe there are many more who don’t seek help for their drinking precisely because they’re frightened of being told that abstinence is their only option. This is a tragedy because, quite unable to countenance the prospect of life without alcohol, they just continue drinking as they were. Their consumption of alcohol won’t be addressed, and they’ll sink deeper into problem drinking territory and a level of dependence that means abstinence, in the end, really could be the only answer.

Andrew Franklin, Founder and Managing Director of Profile Books, is stepping back from running the company on 1 July 2023. Rebecca Gray, currently Non-Fiction Publisher, will take over from that date. This change allows Andrew the opportunity to return to his first love – acquiring, editing and publishing books, at the same time as being able to support the company as it moves to its next phase. This is part of a wider plan to ensure the company’s future as a thriving independent. Alongside Rebecca as Managing Director, Claire Beaumont, currently Sales Director, will take up leadership of the marketing and publicity teams too as Commercial Director. With them, Frances Ford as Finance Director and Jack Murphy as Pre-Press and Production Director make up the Executive team, responsible for the day to day running of the company. Andrew will also remain on the Executive team for the time being, with the title Founder Director.

Andrew Franklin said: ‘I have always said I will retire on or before April 2026 when Profile will be 30. That remains the case, but it would have been negligent to wait until then to make a plan for the future. I am confident that I’m handing over to a group of exceptional people who know the company well and believe as strongly as I do in what we do. And of course the best part is that I am not going anywhere. I am still as attached to my authors, the books and Profile as ever. My family own the majority of the company and I will never stop caring passionately about my colleagues, the sales and the campaigns. I have enjoyed almost every day of the job but as one of our authors said: ‘it is much better to go when people ask “why?” rather than “when?”’ I am delighted that Rebecca has agreed to succeed me. I have always said that my successor must be an editor, and I wanted to hand the leadership of the company over to someone who has Profile in their bones and values its independence as much as I do. I think Rebecca is that person and have done for some time. She is a brilliant editor, publisher and leader. She is thoughtful, shrewd, entrepreneurial and wise. Most of all, she believes that we have the best books, authors and staff in the business. And I know she’s right. Claire Beaumont is the industry’s best sales director by a country mile and I am grateful for her commitment to Profile, which has had an enormous influence on the company’s success. She sees opportunities everywhere, and contributes as much to the publishing of our books as she does to selling them. Her vision is unmatched. Finally, I am sorry to disappoint everyone, but there won’t be a party because I am not retiring. You’ll have to wait for that one. Meanwhile, we can all celebrate, as we always do, at our summer party in June.’

Rebecca Gray said: ‘It’s an absolute honour to be trusted by Andrew to take Profile into the future. His shoes are implausibly large: he is an inspiring, if occasionally stubborn, leader, and a smart, disciplined managing director. But a company, if it is to survive in the long term, has to be the sum of many people, not just one, and we are extremely lucky to have so many excellent people here. It’s an unusual opportunity: the company is well-run and has an exceptionally strong foundation. As MD, I will be able to continue to acquire and publish books as well as running the business. I love my authors, and I love my colleagues, both within the company and in the wider trade. Most of all, I believe deeply in what we do. So I think that, together, we’ve got exciting times ahead – and we’ll enjoy ourselves along the way. Which has always been the spirit of Profile.’

Claire Beaumont said: ‘Profile is my home, mostly happy and always eventful, never more so than when I was trying to save a precious reprint of Eats, Shoots and Leaves from a flood on Christmas Eve. Andrew is incredibly supportive and patient, allowing me to tell him what we need to do to sell our books and sometimes even what the books should be. He’s also driven me completely bonkers for twenty years, but he’s a genius and a rebel, so I was never going to go anywhere else. We have gone from being five people to over sixty, from twenty books a year to 120, and now along with the rest of the company and executive team, Rebecca and I are ready for the next phase, cooking up exciting plans for our authors. I can’t wait to see what we do next. My feeling is that MURDLE will be the word – and the book – of the summer!’

For more information or further comment please contact Kate McQuaid, Publicity Director – [email protected]

We are delighted that Oliver Bullough’s bestselling Butler to the World has been chosen as Blackwells Book of the Month!

With a new introduction on the Ukraine crisis

LONGLISTED FOR THE FINANCIAL TIMES BUSINESS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2022
A TIMES AND SUNDAY TIMES BUSINESS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2022
A DAILY MAIL BEST CURRENT AFFAIRS BOOK OF 2022
A DAILY MIRROR BEST NON-FICTION BOOK OF 2022
A SPECTATOR BOOK OF THE YEAR 2022
PRESENTER OF THE BBC RADIO 4 SERIES ‘HOW TO STEAL A TRILLION’
A WATERSTONES BEST POLITICS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2022
AN IRISH TIMES NON-FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR 2022
A MANAGEMENT TODAY BEST LEADERSHIP BOOK OF 2022

How did Britain become the servant of the world’s most powerful and corrupt men?

From accepting multi-million pound tips from Russian oligarchs, to the offshore tax havens, meet Butler Britain…

In his Sunday Times-bestselling expose, Oliver Bullough reveals how the UK took up its position at the elbow of the worst people on Earth: the oligarchs, kleptocrats and gangsters. Though the UK prides itself on values of fair play and the rule of law, few countries do more to frustrate global anti-corruption efforts. From the murky origins of tax havens and gambling centres in the British Virgin Islands and Gibraltar to the influence of oligarchs in the British establishment, Butler to the World is the story of how we became a nation of Jeeveses – and how it doesn’t have to be this way.

For this year’s Independent Bookshop Week, which kicks off on 18th June, we’ve asked our authors to recommend their top indies. From East London to South Devon via Hamburg and Mumbai, here are their picks.

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Meg Clothier – author of Sea Fever

A local bookshop is about so more than the books. Brendon Books is tucked away on Taunton’s tiny independent shopping street (crystals! sourdough!), but I live too far out in the sticks to drop by easily. But luckily the owner also runs a fantastic literary festival, enticing writers to our county town. Just as Covid was finally waning last year, he suggested I give a talk about Sea Fever. After all those months at home I was preposterously nervous, but I can’t tell you how good it felt to be out, in town, at night, telling my tallest tales to a lovely home crowd – every bit as uplifting as a clifftop walk. Thanks Lionel!

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Oliver Bullough – author of Butler to the World and Moneyland

My favourite local independent bookshop is Booth’s Books in Hay-on-Wye, which sells all the books I could dream of — both used and brand-new — while also having a great cafe AND a comfortable and stylish little cinema.

 

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Kubra Gumusay, author of Speaking & Being

I remember the exact moment I walked into the bookshop Lüders in Hamburg – about to meet the owner of the bookshop, Ragna Lüders, an enthusiastic woman with sparkling eyes who had fallen in love with the book before meeting me, and I was about to fall in love with her and her bookshop. It was my first time in there. In fact, it was the first time in months, I had left my flat to cycle elsewhere, to meet a stranger in an enclosed space, to read from my book in an empty space, to a remote audience. Ragna and I kept our distance, wore masks. It felt surreal. Not the masks, nor the distance – I had gotten used to that by now – but to physically enter a bookshop. For months now, we had only been able to pick up books from the front doors of bookshops, if at all. Watching those long and beautiful shelves filled with worlds of imagination and knowledge from afar. But here I was, in the middle of the pandemic, April 2020, standing in an almost empty bookshop except for it’s owner Ragna, breathing the smell of antique and new books, my heart about to burst with joy. And then, I noticed a literary programme booklet by the city of Hamburg spread around the bookshop – filled with dozens of events that were supposed to happen that month. Obviously, none of that happened. The booklet had my face on it. „Wow, I had no idea!“, I exclaimed in delight. „It’s everywhere!“, said Ragna, “There are posters, leaflets, advertising your book premiere in Hamburg.“ A premiere that never happened. As I held this booklet in my hands it felt like little relict of a parallel universe that was accidentally left behind. In that other universe I might have never come to realise, how much I love these soulful bookshops, their smell, their people, how essential they are to bring us together. But in this universe, I certainly do.

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Anna Aslanyan – author of Dancing on Ropes

Burley Fisher Books are the go-to guys for anything a reader might need: from books to banter and beyond.

 

 

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Noor Mayal Khanna, author of Seva

Kitab Khana, Mumbai: I discovered this iconic Mumbai bookstore in the years when I was a Conde Nast staffer working in the heritage quarter of Mumbai. I loved the historic facade, the impossibly-tall piles of books and the charming cafe that served both fresh salads as well as home-cooked Sindhi food. I’d meet an uncle of mine here during lunch hour, grab a table, order food and then wander around smelling the unmistakable scent of freshly printed books. Sadly during the pandemic, the bookstore caught fire and every single book was burnt or drenched. However, the owners, Amrita and Samir Somaiya, have bravely overcome their losses and reopened to the public in March 2021. I highly recommend their children’s section as well as the mezzanine floor for uninterrupted browsing. In our fast paced world, taking the time to browse a bookshop and read a book seems like such a luxury and Kitab Khanna is a place that will warm the heart of any book lover.

The author of the bestselling Butler to the World: How Britain became the servant of tycoons, tax dodgers, kleptocrats and criminals, Oliver Bullough, is going on tour. Find dates and links to buy tickets below.

Sunday 15 May                 Aye Write Festival Glasgow – Tickets

Tuesday 17 May               Bath Literature Festival – Tickets

Thursday 19 May              5×15 at the British Library with Ed Miliband, Rana Ayyub, Gideon Rachman and Amelia Gentleman – Tickets

Monday 30 May               Hay Festival with Serhii Plokhy, Catherine Belton and Philippe Sands – Tickets

Tuesday 31 May               Hay Festival with Catherine Belton and Bill Browder – Tickets

Friday 10 June                   Borris House Festival of Writing & Ideas, Ireland – Tickets

Saturday 11 June             Borris House Festival of Writing & Ideas, Ireland – Tickets

Tuesday 14 June               Wimbledon Book Festival – Tickets

Thursday 23 June             Drinks with the Idler [online] – Tickets

Saturday 25 June             Buckingham Literary Festival – Tickets

Wednesday 29 June        ICIJ & Henry Jackson Society, London – Tickets

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

AS SEEN ON LED BY DONKEYS

‘Brilliant’
Marina Hyde, Guardian

‘A savage analysis of Britain’s soul. As essential as Orwell at his best’
Peter Pomerantsev

‘Horribly brilliant’
James O’Brien

How did Britain become the servant of the world’s most powerful and corrupt men?
From accepting multi-million pound tips from Russian oligarchs, to enabling Gibraltar to become an offshore gambling haven, meet Butler Britain…

The Suez Crisis of 1956 was Britain’s twentieth-century nadir, the moment when the once superpower was bullied into retreat. In the immortal words of former US Secretary of State Dean Acheson, ‘Britain has lost an empire and not yet found a role.’ But the funny thing was, Britain had already found a role. It even had the costume. The leaders of the world just hadn’t noticed it yet.

Butler to the World reveals how the UK took up its position at the elbow of the worst people on Earth: the oligarchs, kleptocrats and gangsters. We pride ourselves on values of fair play and the rule of law, but few countries do more to frustrate global anti-corruption efforts. We are now a nation of Jeeveses, snobbish enablers for rich halfwits of considerably less charm than Bertie Wooster. It doesn’t have to be that way.

In his video made by Led By Donkeys, Oliver goes on a tour of London with a difference. Watch to find out how Putin’s oligarchs hide and spend their money in the capital. .

We’re delighted to have launched a new competition to give away £100 OLPRO vouchers and a copy of John Wright’s brand new book, A Spotter’s Guide to Countryside Mysteries.

A Spotter’s Guide to Countryside Mysteries is bestselling author and expert River Cottage forager John Wright’s gorgeous new illustrated guide to help you find wonder on your walk. From hollow-ways to ha-has, smut fungi to strip lynchets, this book will fire up the imagination of anyone, whether they’re rambling or reading from the sofa.

OLPRO creates high-quality camping equipment, awnings, tents, windbreaks, melamine and more for adventurous customers around the world.

There are 2 simple ways to be in with a chance of winning this amazing prize. On Instagram, all you have to do is ‘follow’ OLPRO’s Instagram page and share the competition post to your stories. On Twitter, simply ‘follow’ OLPRO’s Twitter account and retweet OLPRO’s competition post with the hashtag #OLPROBlackFriday

The winners of both competitions will be picked at random and announced on OLPRO’s social media on Black Friday, Friday 26th November.

For more information on OLPRO, visit OlproShop.com

‘A joy to immerse oneself in’ Andi Oliver

‘In the field of food history, Annie Gray leads the pack’ Jay Rayner

For many people Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without a turkey and trimmings, pudding and brandy butter. But where do our traditions come from – and when modern writers ‘reinvent’ the Christmas meal, are they really doing anything so very different? Annie Gray presents a delectable trip through time, from the earliest mentions of gluttonous meals at Christmas to the trappings and traditions of the present day. Tracing the birth of the twelve-day celebration under Edward I to the restoration of holiday splendour under Victoria, At Christmas We Feast is organised by festive dish, and features classic recipes alongside vibrant cultural and historical context. From the familiarity of plum pudding and mince pies to the extravagance of boar’s head and brawn, At Christmas We Feast is stuffed full of recipes, doused with history and tradition, and sprinkled with the joy of the feasts of Christmas past.

Annie Gray is a historian, cook, broadcaster and writer specialising in the history of food and dining in Britain from around 1600 to the present day, conducting her research both in libraries and in kitchens. She has worked at Audley End amongst other historical kitchens, and gives lectures all over the country. She has presented TV history documentaries including Victorian Bakers and The Sweetmakers, and appears on BBC Radio 4’s The Kitchen Cabinet. She lives in East Anglia.

Click here to grab your copy.

Read an extract below.

Follow @DrAnnieGray on Twitter and @dranniegray on Instagram.

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Banana Plum Pudding

*Elizabeth Craig, 1962, Banana Dishes

There are almost as many plum pudding recipes as there are recipe books: it is such a British staple that nearly every author has had a crack at one. For an excellent, conventional pudding, Eliza Acton’s Author’s Christmas pudding is hard to beat, but for the purposes of this book I tried a lot of them (avoid at all costs the wartime ones).

However, while lots were excellent, for something slightly different this banana-y riff on the theme is very good fun. It is also pure 1960s – earlier banana books (Many Ways with Bananas, for example, from 1900) tended towards Charlottes and fools, fritters and preserves, whereas Craig’s suggestions are gloriously bonkers from a modern perspective. Note that even as late as 1962, cooks are still advised to stone their own raisins. The instructions are exact on the ingredients, but assume the cook knows exactly what to do with a pudding cloth.

Original recipe

4oz cleaned currants, 4oz cleaned sultanas, 6oz raisins, 7oz shredded suet, 4oz flour, 1 teaspoon ground ginger, 4oz chopped candied peel, 1oz blanched almonds, 1 tablespoon ground almonds, 4oz caster sugar, 4 peeled bananas, 2 beaten eggs, ¼ pt milk. Mix currants and sultanas. Stone and chop raisins and add. Mix suet, flour and ginger. Add peel. Chop and add almonds. Stir into flour. Add prepared fruit, ground almonds and sugar.

Peel and slice bananas thinly. Stir into mixture. Stir eggs into milk. Make hollow in centre of fruit mixture. Pour in liquid and stir until thoroughly mixed. Pack into a well-greased pudding basin to within an inch of top. Cover with greased paper, then with floured pudding cloth. Tie securely. Place in saucepan. Add boiling water to half-way up the sides. Steam for about 6 hours. Unmould onto heated platter. Decorate with a sprig of holly. Sprinkle with heated brandy, rum or whisky and set a match to it. Serve with banana sauce.

Makes 1 pudding (best in a 900ml/1½ pint mould, but will just fit in a 600ml/1 pint one)

• 55g/2oz each currants, sultanas, candied peel, caster sugar and flour
• 85g/3oz raisins  – chopped in half if very large
• 100g/3½oz suet
• 14g/½oz chopped almonds
• 1 heaped tsp ground almonds
• 1 level tsp ground ginger
• 2 bananas
• 75ml/2½floz full-fat milk
• 1 lightly beaten egg

Mix all the dry ingredients. Chop or slice the bananas and add them, followed by the milk and egg. Mix well. Grease a basin or mould (it’s the 1960s, so a fluted ceramic number would be entirely appropriate), and pour in the mixture. Lay a disc of greased baking parchment on top, and tie over a cloth or foil.

If using a cloth, wet it, squeeze it out and flour lightly. Either way, put a fold in the cloth or foil to allow for expansion. Tie firmly in place (you can just scrunch if foil), and place on a saucer or small trivet in a saucepan of boiling water. The water should be just over halfway up the bowl. Put a lid on the pan and boil for 6 hours, checking regularly in case it boils dry.

The recipe is intended to be boiled and served straight away, but it can also be made a couple of weeks in advance and reheated, in which case store it in a clean cloth somewhere cool and dry. Craig suggests a sauce of maple syrup and mashed banana, but this may be a step too far.

‘An indispensable guide to the law and your rights, giving you a lawyer in your pocket for a multitude of legal questions and problems that crop up in everyday life. … Exceptional’ – The Secret Barrister

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The Digital World

Alexa wakes me up, Alexa reminds me to take my cooking out of the oven, and on a daily basis – with remarkable accuracy I might add – Alexa confirms that it will be raining today in Manchester.

Clearly, the digital world is no longer something separate from our ‘real world’, but is deeply embedded in it. Research shows people on average now spend the equivalent of a full day (24 hours) per week online. Whether it’s through our smart devices, our computers or our phones, it’s getting harder to see the distinction between online and IRL.

In the same way that knowing your rights in the ‘real world’ is crucial, knowing your rights in the digital world is too.

We’ll be looking at our rights when it comes to our devices, accounts, and what we say and do online. So, although on some occasions we may feel it insignificant when we impulsively post to our social media accounts (for example, Instagramming last night’s meal at a restaurant), there are occasions where what we post can have serious legal consequences.

This chapter won’t just consider the things being broadcast from your smartphone or laptop, but also what is contained within them. Our smartphones house some of the most private information about us. While you might see it as a nobrainer that your mates can’t have the PIN to your phone, you ought to know the laws that exist when an authority, such as the police, requests such information. There are times when you can refuse, and times it might require a bit more thought.

Laws all social media users should know

‘Think before you tweet,’ a wise person once told me. If you’ve got a social media account, you should become acquainted with the laws covered in this section. Not only can a misjudged tweet (or Facebook post, Instagram caption or TikTok video) cause reputational damage, it can also land you in trouble with the law.

Defamation

‘Defamation’ is a word we have all come across – but one we often associate with the rich and famous. Nonetheless, it can have wider applicability too.

Defamation refers to the publication of a statement that tends to lower the claimant (i.e. the ‘victim’) in the estimation of right-thinking members of society generally. A statement will not be deemed as defamatory unless its publication has caused or is likely to cause serious harm to the claimant’s reputation.

Defamation can be one of two things: libel, or slander. So what’s the difference? Libel generally relates to publications that have an element of permanence in nature – so, for example, things written in a book or newspaper, or even things said on the radio or TV. Even though ‘permanence’ may sound more like something chiselled into rock, a tweet that took you five seconds to compose could amount to libel. So could a retweet.

Slander generally relates to publications that are more fleeting in their nature. They don’t tend to have the same ‘permanence’ as libel. Spoken words between two individuals may amount to slander; even physical gestures might.

A New Statesman Essential Non-Fiction Book of 2021

‘A devastatingly clear portrait of humanity’ Iain McGilchrist

What kind of creature is a human? If we don’t know what we are, how can we know how to act? In Being a Human Charles Foster sets out to understand what a human is, inhabiting the sensory worlds of humans at three pivotal moments in our history.

Foster begins his quest in a wood in Derbyshire with his son, shivering, starving and hunting, trying to find a way of experiencing the world that recognises the deep expanse of time when we understood ourselves as hunter-gatherers, indivisible from the non-human world, and when modern consciousness was first ignited. From there he travels to the Neolithic, when we tamed animals, plants and ourselves, to a way of being defined by walls, fences, farms, sky gods and slaughterhouses, and finally to the rarefied world of the Enlightenment, when we decided that the universe was a machine and we were soulless cogs within it.

Buy your copy

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AUTHOR’S NOTE

Few of us have any idea what sort of creatures we are.

If we don’t know what we are, how can we know how we should act? How can we know what will really make us happy; what will make us thrive? This book is my attempt to find out what humans are.

It matters urgently to me because, despite what my children tell me, I am a human. I thought that if I knew where I came from, that might shed some light on what I am.

I can’t inhabit all human history. I can’t even inhabit my own. So I have tried to inhabit three pivotal times by immersing myself in the sensations, places and ideas that characterised them. It’s a prolonged thought experiment and non-thought experiment, set in woods, waves, moorlands, schools, abattoirs, wattle-and-daub huts, hospitals, rivers, cemeteries, caves, farms, kitchens, the bodies of crows, museums, beaches, laboratories, medieval dining halls, Basque eating-houses, fox-hunts, temples, deserted Middle Eastern cities and shamans’ caravans.

The first of those times is the early Upper Palaeolithic (from around 35,000–40,000 years ago), when ‘behavioural modernity’ appeared. This is a confusing label. As we will see, today’s humans behave (even if they don’t think or feel) in a dramatically different way from Upper Palaeolithic hunter–gatherers. Just what is meant by ‘behavioural modernity’, and where it evolved, are bitterly contentious, but the arguments don’t matter for my purposes.

Hunter–gatherers were – and the few that survive often are – wanderers, intimately, reverently and often ecstatically connected to lots of land and many species. They lived long and relatively disease-free lives, and there is little evidence of human–human violence. For most, settlement wasn’t an option, and even if it had been, it would have been unappealing. Why chew on rusk all your life when you can graze from a vast, succulent and ever-changing buffet?

It was unusual to own much more than a flint knife or a caribou-scrotum pouch. If you knew as much as humans then did about the transience of things, it was ridiculous to assert ownership: the world isn’t the sort of place that can be owned, and they (unlike us) thought that humans shouldn’t behave in a way inconsistent with the way the world is.

It was a time of leisure. You can’t hunt or gather all day and all night. And so, I think, it was a time of reflection, of story, of trying to make sense of things. The earliest human art, on the cave walls of southern Europe, is among the best there has ever been. It is also the most allusive and elusive.

To those who might suggest that this is romantic noble savagery, for the moment I’ll just say that I don’t see that the allegation ‘Romantic’ needs a defence. ‘Romantic’ isn’t a term of abuse. Quite the opposite. Romantics just take more data into account in construing the world than do their opponents.

A Guardian 2021 Non-fiction Highlight

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AN EXTRA PAIR OF HANDS – THE BOOK TOUR

Salon LIVE Online: Kate Mosse interviewed by Sam Baker 

Date: Thursday 3 June 2021
Time: 8pm GMT
Location: Online event

Description: Join us online as we celebrate the launch of Kate Mosse’s touching memoir An Extra Pair of Hands. This heart-warming book shines a light on the joys and challenges of being a carer and shows how even the smallest act of caregiving is one of the greatest acts of love. Kate will be interviewed by journalist, broadcaster and editor Sam Baker.

Tickets: Free, available to book online.

Wellcome Collection: An Extra Pair of Hands with Kate Mosse and Rachel Clarke

Date: Tuesday 8 June 2021
Time: 7pm GMT
Location: Online event

Description: Join novelist Kate Mosse and palliative care doctor and writer Rachel Clarke in conversation about care, ageing and everyday acts of love. Kate will discuss her own experience of becoming a carer in middle age, first helping her mother to care for her father, and then supporting her mother through grief after her father’s death.

Tickets: Free, please register online. 

An Extra Pair of Hands: Chichester Festival Theatre launch

Date: Thursday 10th June
Time: 6pm GMT
Location: The Brasserie, Chichester Festival Theatre, Oaklands Park, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 6AP

Description: To celebrate her first non fiction book for a decade, Kate will be in conversation with the Chichester Observer’s Phil Hewitt. This is a special publication launch event as part of 2021 Carers’ Week UK.

Tickets: £5, available online or call the box office on 01243 781312

5×15: A Extra Pair of Hands

Date: Wednesday 30 June 2021
Time: 6.30pm GMT
Location: Online event via Zoom

Description: Join 5×15 for an open , honest and timely discussion with best-selling novelist Kate Mosse as she tells her personal story of finding herself as a carer in middle age: first, helping her mother look after her beloved father through Parkinson’s, then supporting her mother in widowhood, and finally as ‘an extra pair of hands’ for her 90-year-old mother-in-law. Kate will be in conversation with Rosie Boycott.

Tickets: Free. Please register online to access this event

We’re thrilled to announce that we’ll be publishing Spike – The Virus v. The People: The Inside Story by leading scientist and SAGE member Sir Jeremy Farrar. Co-authored with the FT’s Science columnist Anjana Ahuja, the book will tell, from the inside, how the epidemic unfolded and how the global scientific community and the world faced up to the unprecedented threat.

Jeremy Farrar, an expert in emerging infectious diseases, was one of the first people in the world to hear about a mysterious new respiratory virus in China – and to learn it could readily spread between people. Spike describes how the global scientific community mobilised an extraordinary and historic response to get tests, treatments and vaccines.

Spike will describe what it feels like as one of the key scientists at the sharp end of such a fast-moving situation, when complex decisions must be made quickly amid great uncertainty. It will also cast light on the UK government’s claim to be ‘following the science’ in its response to the virus.

Profile MD Andrew Franklin bought world rights from Peter Tallack at the Science Factory.  Profile will publish on 22 July 2021.

Jeremy Farrar says,’Covid-19 cast the world into turmoil. The breath-taking scientific advances; the challenge to world leaders to respond for the global good; addressing inequalities that hold back success against the virus; decisions, chances taken or lost to learn from mistakes and successes. All these shape how the world ultimately fares not just against Covid, but against all the major health challenges we face globally. I hope this book not only plays a part in a record of the Covid response, but also in making sure we learn lessons to ensure scientific progress saves and protects lives in as far-reaching and fair way as possible.’

Farrar will be donating his royalties from Spike to charity.

Sir Jeremy Farrar is Director of The Wellcome Trust and, as an expert on infectious disease, is a member of SAGE. He was one of the first people in the world to know about and alert the global community to COVID-19. A full bio can be found here.

Anjana Ahuja is the Financial Times science columnist and a freelance writer who has covered the coronavirus outbreak extensively since its onset in January 2020.  She holds a PhD from Imperial College London.

Ahoy, landlubbers!

Are you desperate to feel the sand between your toes? Keen to learn a sea shanty, or tie a bowline? Puzzled as to what the shipping forecast actually means?

Then this is the book for you. Stacked to the gunnels with interesting facts, practical advice and esoteric seaside lore, once you’ve read it, you’ll never feel like a landlubber again. So, dive on in to uncover the secrets of dead reckoning, the dark arts of crabbing and the charms of the morning star.

Pre-order your copy

Read an extract below.

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THE ART AND SCIENCE OF SKIMMING STONES

THE STONE

A good skimmer blames his stones. Be ruthless. If the stones on offer aren’t up to scratch, don’t bother. But what is the right kind of stone?

1. Flat and smooth
2. As round as possible. Oval will do
3. Clean – no sand, seaweed or barnacles
4. About 1 cm thick, perhaps 2 cm if you’re strong or it’s windy
5. Heavier than you might think
6. Small enough to nestle between your index finger and the crook of your thumb, resting on your middle finger

THE STANCE

When you release the stone from your hand, it’s important that it’s close to the water. This ensures the shallow angle of first contact that is key to a good throw. You can achieve this simply by standing in the water, but then it’s hard to take a good step forwards as you throw, which is what helps you achieve distance. Good skimmers, therefore, often stay out of the water, but manage a good release height by taking a long, low stride as they throw. Either way, stand side-on to the direction you want the stone to travel.

THE ACTION

Stand on your back foot, coil yourself up – a bit like a baseball pitcher – and then uncoil, taking a big step forward onto your front foot and throwing all in one go.

THE RELEASE

The most important part. Your forearm should be parallel to the water with the elbow leading the wrist, the wrist leading the hand, and the hand leading the index finger. You’re aiming to whip or flick your wrist and hand on release, like a forehand frisbee throw.

Make sure your index finger stays in contact with the stone for as long as possible. This achieves two things. First, it gives the stone lots of spin, stabilising it as it flies through the air. Each time the stone skims, it loses some rotational energy, so the more spin, the truer it will fly, even after lots of bounces. Second, maximum stone-finger contact means more acceleration, similar to the effect achieved by a pelota
player’s xistera (a sort of long hooked glove) or by those plastic ball-throwers that make playing fetch extra fun for dogs.

This might sound counter-intuitive, but if you try too hard, if you put all your weight into it, the results are often strangely disappointing. Holding a bit back gets you a bit more.

FIRST CONTACT

If the stone makes contact with the water too close to you, the angle will be too steep. The stone will either disappear or rise sharply in an impressive first hop, followed by an unimpressive plop as it sinks.

If the stone makes contact too far away, the risk is that it starts to turn over in the air, makes poor contact with the water and doesn’t skim very far, if at all. In this case, the first skip sometimes jags at a perfect right angle before plopping into the water. If this happens it’s best to nod approvingly, giving the impression that’s what you meant to do all along.

In general, you want the stone to hit the water three to four metres in front of you. This distance, combined with the height at which you release the stone, determines the angle at which it enters the water. There’s been a surprising amount of scientific – and some less scientific – research into this, and the conclusion is that 20 degrees is best.

THE CONDITIONS

The ideal is no wind and flat water. If there’s a breeze, skim downwind. If there’s tide or current, throw with the flow. Of the two, wind (and the accompanying wavelets) has more impact.

CHILDREN

Just because skimming stones sounds simple, doesn’t mean it’s easy. Small children are rubbish at it. Don’t bother trying to teach them before the age of seven.

Having children in tow, however, needn’t diminish your skimming pleasure. Challenge them to find the perfect stone, allowing you to focus on the job in hand – skimming – while your minions scour the beach. Keep them interested by telling them how well their stones are doing. ‘Oh, I can never find any that good! Oh, that really was the best stone ever!’ When that starts to pall, fall back on the great stalwart:
who can make the biggest splash?

COMPETITIVE SKIMMING

Inevitably, there are stone-skimming championships. Some are won by distance. Some are won by number of bounces. Much as we endorse anyone’s dedication to their craft, we fear they’re missing the point of skimming entirely.

 

Happy birthday to us! We are thrilled to be celebrating 25 years of top-notch independent publishing. Born on April Fool’s Day, in a tiny office in Marylebone, we have been dedicated to publishing the best non-fiction by incredible authors from around the world.

Since then, we have acquired over eight imprints among many other areas and can call ourselves one of the most admired independent publishers in the UK. We are home to incredible authors, powerful voices, bestselling books and a brilliant, dynamic workforce.

Our new editorial intern Georgia Poplett interviews Managing Director Andrew Franklin about the origins of Profile, 90s parcel deliveries, and independent publishing.

Follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook and sign up to our literary newsletter here.

Andrew Franklin and Stephen Brough, two of Profile’s founders

 

GP: Why did you want to start Profile?

AF: The idea of an independent publisher that would not be tied to any corporate agenda and free to publish what the publisher believed best was very attractive.  I had worked at Penguin (now Penguin Random House) for 11 years so I had learned a huge amount and felt it would be worth having a go.

GP: How did you go about setting up the company?

AF: When you are inside a huge company, there are specialists who do everything for you and you believe it would be impossible to do it on your own.  That turns out not to be true because there are brilliant freelancers and specialists out there to help people setting up companies.  Everyone was incredibly kind – literary agents, other publishers, bookshops and suppliers.  Some of the obvious things you have to do like opening a bank account, producing a business plan and raising capital seem daunting but actually it turns out to be less of a challenge than one might expect.  More people should do it.

GP: What was your first day in the office like?

AF: Our current offices are absolutely beautiful – wedged between the Norman church of St Bartholomew-the-Great and Smithfield meat market.  Our first office in Marylebone was very different.  It was on the sixth floor of a building with no lift.  In those days there was no email, so couriers used to deliver manuscripts all the time.  Each day was devoted to arguing between the three of us then working for the company about who would go down the six floors to answer the door and then drag ourselves up again with the manuscript, parcel or post.

GP: What was the first book you published and how did it do?

AF: We started at Profile publishing The Economist Books so within three months of setting up the company we had an Economist backlist that we took over from Penguin.  Some of those great stalwarts like The Pocket World In Figures and The Economist Style Guide are still in print 25 years later.  The first book with a Profile P in it was Amitai Etzioni’s New Golden Rule.  It wasn’t the best book that we have ever published and that has been long out of print.

GP: What do you hope to see in Profile’s future?

AF: We have always wanted to publish interesting and lively nonfiction.  We didn’t do a bad job 25 years ago but we are doing it so much better now.  Look at our backlist, look at our forthcoming titles: there are books here that really matter and that change the way people think.  And, with the acquisition of Serpent’s Tail from its founder in 2007 we added fiction and crime.  We have published some amazing novels and short stories.  In fact only last week  a Serpent’s Tail title won the Folio Prize.  Now Souvenir, acquired from the estate of its founder who ran the company for 61 years.  So we publish really good distinctive books.  The sort that corporates don’t see, don’t understand or won’t take the risk to publish.  I am immensely proud of our authors and books and hope that they, like us, can see continuity in our ambitions and ideals.

Follow @andrewprofile and @georgiapoplett

 

We are thrilled to announce that we have acquired former Demos president Heather McGhee’s The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together, a deeply compassionate and meticulously argued investigation of the economic costs of racism.

It instantly made the New York Times bestseller list upon its US publication in mid-February and is currently at #2 in the NYT hardcover non-fiction chart. It’s been garnering rave press reviews and glowing praise across the board, from How to Be an Antiracist author Ibram X. Kendi (‘This is the book I’ve been waiting for’) and Black Lives Matter co-founder Alicia Garza (‘A must-read’), to Elizabeth Gilbert (‘A powerhouse of a book’) and George Saunders (‘Vital, urgent, stirring, beautifully written’).

Heather McGhee is an expert in economic and social policy. The former president of the inequality-focused think tank Demos, she has drafted US legislation, testified before Congress and appeared on numerous news discussion shows. She chairs the board of Color of Change, America’s largest online racial justice organization. Her TED Talk on how racism makes the economy worse has pulled in over 2 million views to date.

In The Sum of Us, McGhee sets out across America to learn why white voters so often act against their own interests. Why do they block changes that would help them, and even destroy their own advantages, whenever people of colour also stand to benefit? Their tragedy is that they believe they can’t win unless somebody else loses. But this is a lie, and McGhee marshals overwhelming economic evidence, and a profound well of empathy, to reveal the surprising truth: even racists lose out under white supremacy. As McGhee shows, it was racist lending policies that triggered the 2008 financial crisis, and there can be little prospect of tackling global climate change until its zero-sum delusions are defeated.

America’s racism is everybody’s problem. The Sum of Us is a heartbreaking, panoramic insight into the workings of prejudice – and a timely invitation to solidarity among all humans, ‘to piece together a new story of who we could be to one another’.

Follow @hcghee

Pre-order your copy at Waterstones or from your local indie bookseller.