rosie

The days are getting longer, the weather is warming up, and spring is in the air. We’re here to make sure your Easter break and May’s many bank holidays are filled with excellent reading. From rousing manifestos like The Intersectional Environmentalist, to delicious holiday reads like Amuse Bouche, and thrilling true stories like The Illegals, at Profile we’ve got an incredibly exciting range of books to see you through the season.

What are you reading this spring? Tell us us on Bluesky @profilebooks.bsky.social, X @profilebooks and Instagram @profile.books.

All That Glitters by Orlando Whitfield

When Orlando Whitfield first meets Inigo Philbrick, they are students dreaming of dealing art for a living. Their friendship lasts for fifteen years until one day, Inigo – by then the most successful dealer of his generation – suddenly disappears, accused of a fraud so gigantic and audacious it rocks the art world to its core. A sparklingly sharp memoir of greed, ambition and madness, All That Glitters will take you to the heart of the contemporary art world, a place wilder and wealthier than you could ever imagine.

The Illegals by Shaun Walker

In 2010, two decades after the Cold War had ended, ten Russian spies were arrested in America, having hidden their true identities from their friends, neighbours and even their children. Drawing on hundreds of hours of interviews, as well as newly discovered archival material, Shaun Walker brings this history to life in a page-turning tour de force that goes to the heart of what became the most ambitious espionage programme in history.

The Anti-Ableist Manifesto by Tiffany Yu

In The Anti-Ableist Manifesto, Tiffany Yu highlights the myriad ways in which our society discriminates against people with disabilities – and what we can do about it. Foregrounding disabled identities that have too often been rendered invisible, she demonstrates how ending discrimination begins with self-reflection.

The Intersectional Environmentalist by Leah Thomas

Offering an indispensable primer for anyone wanting to make a difference and featuring empowering insight from activists around the globe, Leah Thomas’ The Intersectional Environmentalist is a call to action on the issue that will define a generation.

Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson

The threat to liberal democracy isn’t just autocrats – it’s a lack of effective action by so-called progressives. In Abundance, Ezra Klein and Derek Thomas unpick the barriers to progress and show how we can, and must, shift the political agenda to one that not only protects and preserves, but also builds. From healthcare to housing, infrastructure to innovation, they lay out a path to a future defined not by fear, but by abundance.

Ask This Book a Question by Vicki Tan

A magic-8 ball in a book, Vicki Tan’s new guide to decision-making draws from the science of cognitive bias and the wisdom of storytelling to help you navigate uncertainty and approach decisions  – both big and small – with confidence and clarity.

Amuse Bouche by Carolyn Boyd

Leading expert on French food and culture Carolyn Boyd shares the stories behind the country’s most fascinating foods and ingredients. Spanning every region of France and divided into 200 separate vignettes, each entry blends history and travel, personal anecdote and recipes, to form a suitcase essential for your next trip across the Channel.

Murder at the Beach

Join ten of the best crime writers in history for the trip of a lifetime, as they puzzle, astound and delight you with these classic mysteries. Whether on the English coast or the blistering terraces of the Mediterranean, it’s time to spread out the beach towel, put your feet up… but never forget to watch your back.

Holy Places by Kathryn Hurlock

This year, as they have for millennia, many people around the world will set out on pilgrimages. In Holy Places, join Kathryn Hurlock as she follows the trail of pilgrimage through nineteen sacred sites – from the temples of Jerusalem to the banks of the Ganges, by way of Iona, Lourdes, Amritsar and Buenos Aires – revealing the many ways in which this ancient practice has shaped our religions and our world.

 

We are proud to announce that Embers of the Hands: Hidden Histories of the Viking Age by Eleanor Barraclough has been longlisted for the 2025 Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction. Judge Emma Gannon described Embers of the Hands as, ‘an accessible gateway’ into Viking history, going on to praise its ‘great storytelling’ and lauding Eleanor as ‘an exciting new talent’. This is such important prize for amplifying the voices of women and we want to congratulate all 16 authors on their longlisting. The shortlist will be announced on 26th March.

Read more about Embers of the Hands below:

A Times best History Book of the Year 2024

‘Every page glittering with insight… [a] wonderful book’ Dominic Sandbrook
‘Brilliantly written… evokes the wonder of an entire civilisation.’ Tom Holland
‘Takes us beyond the familiar into a real, visceral, far more satisfying Viking world.’ Dan Snow

It’s time to meet the real Vikings. A comb, preserved in a bog, engraved with the earliest traces of a new writing system. A pagan shrine deep beneath a lava field. A note from an angry wife to a husband too long at the tavern. Doodles on birch-bark, made by an imaginative child.

From these tiny embers, Eleanor Barraclough blows back to life the vast, rich and complex world of the Vikings. These are not just the stories of kings, raiders and saga heroes. Here are the lives of ordinary people: the merchants, children, artisans, enslaved people, seers, travellers and storytellers who shaped the medieval Nordic world.

Immerse yourself in the day-to-day lives of an extraordinary culture that spanned centuries and spread from its Scandinavian heartlands to the remote fjords of Greenland, the Arctic wastelands, the waterways and steppes of Eurasia, all the way to the Byzantine Empire and Islamic Caliphate.

The festive season is just around the corner, and everyone is busy dusting off the decorations, stockpiling wrapping paper and making the Christmas cake. Whilst we can’t help with all the Yuletide preparations, we can provide you with some helpful gifting inspiration in the form of the season’s best non-fiction books!

From a delicious accompaniment to your festive cheeseboard in A Cheesemonger’s Tour de France, to an eye-opening new history of the Vikings in Embers of the Hands, to stocking filler paperbacks like Your Right to Protest and The Curious Columns of Adrian Chiles, we’ve got books for everyone this Christmas.

What’s on your Christmas list? Tell us us on X @profilebooks and Instagram @profile.books.

The Hobbyist

Whether they’re a budding trainspotter or a dedicated dog walker, a connoisseur of fine cheese or a lover of traditional craft, we’ve got an exciting range of books for the hobbyist in your life.

On the Roof by Tom Allan

Author Tom Allan quit his office job to become a thatching apprentice in Devon. Now a master of the trade, in On the Roof he goes in search of its history and future, meeting fellow thatchers from around the world, from the Hebrides to Denmark to Japan.

A Cheesemonger’s Tour de France by Ned Palmer

Bon appétit, cheese lovers! Cheesemonger and bestselling author Ned Palmer returns with this brie-lliant guide to the fromages of France. From Camembert to Comté, Roquefort to Brie, Ned Palmer explores the French cheeseboard, complete with tasting notes, serving suggestions, and the fascinating stories of artisan cheesemongers from across the country.

Bradley’s Railway Guide by Simon Bradley

‘The most attractive, comprehensive and easily digestible history of the oldest railway system in the world’ – Michael Palin

An original and absorbing chronicle of Britain’s railways from the master of the art: Bradley’s Railway Guide is essential reading for any traveller, railway enthusiast or anglophile.

Collared by Chris Pearson

Historian and dog lover Chris Pearson reveals how the shifting fortunes of dogs hold a mirror to our changing society, from the evolution of breeding standards to the fight for animal rights. By turns charming, thought-provoking and surprising, Collared reveals the fascinating tale of how we made the modern dog – the perfect read for animal lovers.

The History Fan

We all have that history buff in our lives and with our selection of fascinating history books, you’re sure to make their day this Christmas! Wander around medieval churches and stroll down our high street through the ages; uncover the hidden lives of everyday Vikings and explore the history of slavery through a family keepsake: there is much to learn through our collection of eye-opening histories.

Church Going by Andrew Ziminski

Andrew Ziminski has spent decades as a stonemason and church conservator. Church Going is his handbook to the medieval churches of the British Isles, in which he reveals their fascinating histories, features and furnishings. Beautifully written and richly illustrated, it is a charming celebration of British architectural history.

Embers of the Hands by Eleanor Barraclough

‘Brilliantly written … evokes the wonder of an entire civilisation’ – Tom Holland

Discover a new and original history of the Viking Age, told through the objects that defined the lives of its people – from powerful leaders to naughty teenagers.

The Bookshop, The Draper, The Candlestick Maker by Annie Gray

Historian Annie Gray takes us down the high street and through the ages, from medieval marketplaces to the purpose-built concrete precincts of the twentieth century. Bustling with rich detail, historical vignettes and surprising wares, this is the story of Britain’s best-loved but ever-changing public spaces.

All That She Carried by Tiya Miles

Shortlisted for the inaugural Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction, Tiya Miles’ powerful history All That She Carried traces the life of a single object handed down through three generations of Black women and crafts a deeply layered and insightful testament to people who are left out of the archives.

The Paperback Purist

Paperbacks are the perfect stocking fillers, especially for readers who favour the lighter format! These paperbacks, however, are not short on helpful advice, fascinating facts and hilarious witticisms, covering everything from protest rights, to Classical history, and the brilliant musings of Britain’s best-loved columnist.

Your Right to Protest by Christian Weaver

In this handbook, campaigning lawyer Christian Weaver brings together everything you need to know when taking a stand. Whether you are marching on the streets or making your voice heard from your own front room, organising in your workplace or writing a letter to your MP, this essential guide equips you with your fundamental rights and the laws that protect you – as well as the ones you might inadvertently break.

The Curious Columns of Adrian Chiles by Adrian Chiles

Adrian Chiles’s weekly Guardian column has gained a cult following for his unique insights into everything from the present tense in history podcasts to his legendary at-home urinal. This bumper collection takes us on a brilliant, bemused tour of British life, delivering offbeat, comforting blasts of truth, humour and warmth.

Emperor of Rome by Mary Beard

The instant Sunday Times bestseller, the Queen of Classics Mary Beard returns with a sweeping and highly entertaining account of the social and political world of the Roman emperors.

The Armchair Detective

Following its success as 2023’s Waterstones’ Gift of the Year, the bestselling Murdle family has grown! Discover even more dastardly murder mystery puzzles this Christmas, including our first ever Murdle for children.

Murdle

Discover this fiendishly compulsive and absolutely killer collection of 100 original murder mystery logic puzzles – perfect for amateur sleuths everywhere!

Murdle: More Killer Puzzles

Sherlock: Baffled. Poirot: Befuddled. This must be a MURDLE! Deductive Logico is back on the scene to investigate murders most foul in the second volume of the bestselling Murdle series.

Murdle: Even More Killer Puzzles

Our tireless detective is ready to unwind on a long-awaited vacation … until a series of fiendish murders require his particular expertise in this third instalment of Murdle: Even More Killer Puzzles.

Murdle: The School of Mystery

Freshman Logico arrives at the prestigious Deduction College with a keen interest in logic and a mission to graduate at the top of his class … when a series of mysterious killings occur in this fourth instalment of Murdle: The School of Mystery.

Murdle Junior

From the internationally-bestselling Murdle series comes a new book of immersive puzzle- and mystery-solving fun for young detectives! With over forty mysteries featuring key suspects, locations, clues and more to enter into your trusty deduction grid, Murdle Junior: Curious Crimes for Curious Minds is an introduction to a nefarious world kids will love to dive into, using logic and the power of deduction to figure out each whodunnit.

We may be past the longest day, but there are still plenty more summer evenings left for relaxing with a good book. From perfect reads for holidays abroad, to pocket-sized political manifestos, and our stalwart offering of authoritative history, Profile Books has all the best non-fiction recommendations this season. Check out our favourites below!

What are you reading this summer? Tell us us on X @profilebooks and Instagram @profile.books.

Amuse Bouche by Carolyn Boyd

Travelling to France this summer? Carolyn Boyd’s charming guide to French cuisine is a must-read. Spanning every region of France and divided into 200 separate vignettes, each entry blends history and travel, personal anecdote and recipes.

Impossible City by Simon Kuper

Simon Kuper’s guide to Paris is an unmissable accompaniment to this year’s Olympic Games. The bestselling author of Chums returns with an explorer’s tale of a naïf getting to understand a complex, glittering, beautiful and often cruel city. Now, with the Olympics in town, France is busy executing the ‘Grand Paris’ project: the most serious attempt yet to knit together the bejewelled city with its neglected suburbs.

On the Roof by Tom Allan

Join thatcher Tom Allan on a journey of discovery and a reflection on what it means for a person or a building to belong in a place. On the Roof tells Tom’s personal story, leaving an office job in the city to find fulfilment among the Devon roofs, as well as the stories of six other people who share his trade. Travel around the thatched roofs of the Hebrides, Denmark, Japan and beyond in this beautifully illustrated book.

Tracks on the Ocean by Sara Caputo

In Tracks on the Ocean, prize-winning historian Sara Caputo charts a hidden history of the modern world through the tracks left on maps and the sea. Taking us from ancient Greek itineraries to twenty-first-century digital mapping, via the voyages of Drake and Cook, the decks of Napoleonic warships and the boiler rooms of ocean liners, Caputo reveals how marks on maps have changed the course of modernity.

The Green Ages by Annette Kehnel

Fishing quotas on Lake Constance. Common lands in the UK. The medieval answer to Depop in the middle of Frankfurt. Annette Kehnel’s astounding new book uncovers the sustainability initiatives of the Middle Ages and, in doing so, shows us how the past has the power to change our future.

Emperor of Rome by Mary Beard

An instant Sunday Times bestseller, Mary Beard returns in paperback with a sweeping account of the social and political world of the Roman emperors. Emperor of Rome goes directly to the heart of Roman (and our own) fantasies about what it was to be Roman, offering an account of Roman history as it has never been presented before.

Democracy by Margaret Atwood, Mary Beard, Erica Benner, Kaja Kallas, Aditi Mittal, Vjosa Osmani, Adela Raz, Elif Shafak, Lola Shoneyin, Yuan Yang, Lea Ypi

Women are at the forefront of the fight for democratic rights, as well as being the most vulnerable when those rights disappear. Here, eleven extraordinary women – leaders, philosophers, historians, writers and activists – explore democracy’s power to uplift our societies. Between its ancient origins and its modern challenges, they share a vision for a better future – one we can build together.

What Does Israel Fear from Palestine? by Raja Shehadeh

When the state of Israel was formed in 1948, it precipitated the Nakba or ‘disaster’: the displacement of the Palestine nation, creating fracture-lines which continue to erupt in violent and tragic ways today. In his latest book, human rights lawyer and Palestine’s greatest living writer Raja Shehadeh reflects on the failures of Israel to treat Palestine and Palestinians as partners on the road to peace instead of genocide.

Your Right to Protest by Christian Weaver

In this handbook, campaigning lawyer Christian Weaver brings together everything you need to know when taking a stand. Whether you are marching on the streets or making your voice heard from your own front room, organising in your workplace or writing a letter to your MP, this essential guide equips you with your fundamental rights and the laws that protect you – as well as the ones you might plan to break.

With the general election rapidly approaching, making sense of the political landscape has become harder and harder. We encourage reading through the chaos with our expert authors. Whether that is grasping big concepts such as justice and democracy or understanding the intricacies of incredible research into corruption and housing.

Here’s a wide-ranging reading list to provide some much-needed clarity going into a tumultuous month of political performance.

Democracy: Eleven writers and leaders on what it is and why it matters 

Including the U.K, in 2024 nearly half the world will take part in a national election, with billions heading to the polls. Here, eleven extraordinary women explore democracy’s power to uplift our societies, from its ancient origins to modern challenges.

Good Chaps: How Corrupt Politicians Broke Our Law and Institutions – And What We Can do About It by Simon Kuper

Simon Kuper, author of the Sunday Times Top Ten bestseller Chums, exposes how corruption took control of public life, and asks: how can we get politicians to behave like good chaps again?

Chums: How a Tiny Caste of Oxford Tories Took Over the UK by Simon Kuper

A damning look at the university clique-turned-Commons majority that will blow the doors of Westminster wide open and change the way you look at our democracy forever.

 A Home of One’s Own: Why the Housing Crisis Matters & What Needs to Change by Hashi Mohamed

Drawing on his own history of housing insecurity and his professional career as a planning barrister, Hashi Mohamed examines the myriad aspects of housing – from Right-to-Buy to Grenfell, slums and evictions to the Bank of Mum and Dad.

Tenants: The People on the Frontline of Britain’s Housing Emergency by Vicky Spratt

Award-winning journalist Vicky Spratt traces decades of bad decisions to show how the British dream of secure housing for all has withered. This fierce and moving account tells the stories of those on the frontline, illuminating the ways this national emergency cuts across the country.

In the Long Run: The Future as a Political Idea by Jonathan White

In this eye-opening history of ideas, Jonathan White investigates how politics has long been directed by shifting visions of the future, from the birth of ideologies in the nineteenth century to Cold War secrecy and the excesses of the neoliberal age.

The Handover: How We Gave Control of Our Lives to Corporations, States and AIs by David Runciman

‘The Singularity’ is what Silicon Valley calls the idea that, eventually, we will be overrun by machines that are able to take decisions and act for themselves. What no one says is that it happened before. The Handover distils over three hundred years of thinking about how to live with artificial agency.

Butler to the World: How Britain became the servant of tycoons, tax dodgers, kleptocrats and criminals by Oliver Bullough

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.

 

After rocketing up the charts in December to secure the Christmas number one spot, Murdle by G. T. Karber won the Non-Fiction: Lifestyle and Illustrated category at the British Book Awards last night, going on to be named Book of the Year. Murdle was Profile’s third Christmas number one since Nielsen began records.

Souvenir Press’ mystery puzzle book invites readers to join Deductive Logico to decipher an addictive collection of 100 original murder mystery logic puzzles. G. T. Karber was in attendance at the ceremony to accept the awards with the Souvenir Press and Profile team, presented to him by Adrian Chiles and Lorraine Kelly. Congratulations to the inimitable G. T. Karber!

As well as a fantastic night for Murdle, Profile was also named Independent Publisher of the Year. The judges commended Profile for its ‘canny commissioning and resourceful marketing’ as well as its ‘excellent’ author care and ability to ‘squeeze every drop of potential out of every book’.

We are delighted with our wins from the Nibbies and proud of the entire Profile team for this incredible achievement.

The Profile Books and Alexander Aitken Ideas Prize is pleased to announce its shortlist for the best debut trade non-fiction proposal from an academic. The shortlisted authors will be receiving guidance from an agent at Aitken Alexander on the next steps of their proposals, after which the winner will be determined via a judging panel.

Aitken Alexander said: ‘We’re very excited at the range and potential of this year’s shortlist and can’t wait to work with the authors to turn these early sketches into fully-formed proposals.’

Izzy Everington, Editorial Director at Profile Books, said: ‘I am so pleased to have Anna, Antonia, Danni, and Liz on our shortlist. Their projects reflect the sheer breadth of submissions this year, each taking us on a grand tour, whether that is of ships bound for lives after battle, or of rocks into which history is carved – sometimes literally; from the realms of corruption politics to quantum physics. Congratulations to our shortlisted authors!’

Shortlisted authors and their projects are as follows:

Anna McKay for ShipShapes: The Transformation and Afterlives of Britain’s Ships
University of Liverpool

In an explosive period of development and change, wooden ships crossed oceans in the name of empire. Winding their way back home, they faced new threats: iron, steam, and a changing nation. Yet Britain’s ships were not consigned to scrap – their afterlives took them far away from the ocean, as prisons, hospitals, pubs, churches and schools. ShipShapes tells the story of the strange and inventive ways we transformed our nation’s ships – and how they steered us into a modern world.

Antonia Thomas for Following the Old Red: A Journey through Art, Archaeology and Time.
University of the Highlands and Islands

Tracking between art, archaeology, ecology and geology, Following the Old Red will take readers on a journey into the deep past, and into the deep future; from the Devonian period, hundreds of millions of years ago, to Neolithic Orkney, to the industrial revolution, and beyond.  Along the way we meet Victorian fossil hunters, geologists, spies, artists and archaeologists, their biographies written into the rock. Thomas’ research into stone carving, rock art and graffiti serve as a starting point for an investigation of wider contemporary issues around the politics of heritage and the Anthropocene.

Danni Holmes for Wonders of the Quantum World
University of New South Wales

Quantum particles are rebels, popping in and out of existence and appearing in more than one place at the same time. These peculiarities of nature at the smallest scales are not just interesting quirks. Far from that, they directly impact our lives and the world around us. From key intricacies of our Universe from atoms to black holes, through the emerging field of quantum biology, to futuristic technology that humanity can harness from this most bizarre realm of science, we will explore the far-reaching and profound wonders of the quantum world.

Liz David-Barrett for Power Grab: The Rise of State Capture
University of Sussex

As 2024 dawns, the End of History and the triumph of liberal democracy hailed thirty years ago seem like a fantasy. Yet, if we, ‘the West’, had properly understood the threat posed by corruption – specifically grand corruption and its logical end point, state capture – the democratic future might not have been stolen. This book is an eye-witness account of the development of the field of corruption studies over the past thirty years: the big hopes for transition and development, the missed warning signs and the rise of state capture to centre stage.

Congratulations to those who have been shortlisted, and many thanks to all who entered.

The Ideas Prize was first launched in 2019, and offers a £25,000 book contract with Profile Books, as well as representation with Aitken Alexander Associates, to the winning book proposal.

Profile Books is proud to announce that All That She Carried by Tiya Miles has been shortlisted for the inaugural Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction. Described by Women’s Prize judge and fair fashion campaigner Venetia La Manna as, ‘vital … a bold and beautiful book’, historian Tiya Miles has crafted a deeply layered and insightful testament to the people who are left out of the archives. The winner will be announced at a prize ceremony on 13th June. Congratulations to Tiya and her fellow shortlistees!

Discover more about the New York Times bestselling history below.

In 1850s South Carolina, Rose, an enslaved woman, faced a crisis: the imminent sale of her daughter Ashley. Thinking quickly, she packed a cotton bag with a few items. Soon after, the nine-year-old girl was separated from her mother and sold. Decades later, Ashley’s granddaughter Ruth embroidered this family history on the sack in spare, haunting language.

That, in itself, is a story. But it’s not the whole story. How does one uncover the lives of people who, in their day, were considered property? Harvard historian Tiya Miles carefully traces these women’s faint presence in archival records, and, where archives fall short, she turns to objects, art, and the environment to write a singular history of the experience of slavery, and the uncertain freedom afterward. All That She Carried gives us history as it was lived, a poignant story of resilience and love passed down against steep odds.

The judges of the Profile Books and Alexander Aitken Ideas Prize are delighted to announce the longlist for the 2023 Ideas Prize. Now in its fourth year, The Ideas Prize is an award for the best debut trade non-fiction proposal from an academic. Izzy Everington, Editorial Director at Profile Books, commented: ‘We have seen an extraordinary range and breadth of submissions this year, and the quality has been astounding. Many thanks to all who applied, and a huge congratulations to our longlisted authors: each of your submissions was filled with ambition, creativity and panache.’

The 10 longlisted authors and their submissions are as follows:

Anna McKay for ShipShapes: The Transformation and Afterlives of Britain’s Ships
University of Liverpool

Antonia Thomas for Following the Old Red
University of the Highlands and Islands

Danni Holmes for Wonders of the Quantum World
University of New South Wales

Freya Gowrley for Unseemly: A Visual History of the Fat Body
University of Bristol

Hannah Ishmael for (Im)possible Archives: History Making and Unmaking in Black London
Kings College London

Heather Prince for The Rise and Fall of the Sea
University of Cumbria

Jade French for Crone Magic: How Four Women Aged Beyond Surrealism
Loughborough University

Liz David-Barrett for Power Grab: The Rise of State Capture
University of Sussex

Stijn Van Ewijk for The Life Cycle Logic
University College London

Thomas Keegan for Porton Down and the Search for Epidemiological Truth
Lancaster Medical School

Congratulations to those who have been longlisted, and many thanks to all who entered. The shortlist will be announced towards the end of March.

The Ideas Prize was first launched in 2019, and offers a £25,000 book contract with Profile Books, as well as representation with Aitken Alexander Associates, to the winning book proposal.

Burnout is said to be the defining feeling of the post-pandemic world – but why are we all so exhausted? Some of us struggle with perfectionism, while others are simply overwhelmed by the demands of modern life. But whatever you’re feeling, you are not alone – and this liberating, enlightening guide to exhaustion in all its forms will help you find the energy to beat burnout and weariness.

From confronting our inner critics to how our desire to be productive stops us from being free, Anna Katherina Schaffner, cultural historian and burnout coach, brings together science, medicine, literature and philosophy to explore the causes and history of exhaustion and burnout, revealing new ways to combat stress and negativity. Exhausted is an inspiring A–Z guide to getting control of your own exhaustion, and rediscovering happiness along the way.

Read an extract from Exhausted below.

 

---

B is for Burnout 

The key symptoms of burnout are exhaustion in the form of a deep kind of fatigue that isn’t curable by resting. This state tends to be accompanied by a very negative assessment of the value of our work, and resentment of the people with whom we work and the organisations in which we are embedded. When we are burnt out, we may also experience brain fog and an inability to concentrate. We may suffer from insomnia or restlessness, we may drink too much, be prone to procrastinating and engage in endless displacement activities. We often become increasingly unable to do the work we are expected to do, and may feel a great sense of shame about our inability to perform as we used to. In cases of very serious burnout, we may even suffer a full-scale nervous breakdown and suddenly become completely unable to function at work and perhaps also in other areas of our lives.

Today, everyone is talking about burnout. This is partly because the popular consensus on what burnout is has become ever looser. It is a welcoming metaphor, allowing people to project all kinds of agendas onto the term. Recently, burnout statistics have gone through the roof. What is going on? Why has burnout become so ubiquitous? Are we really more exhausted and depleted than ever before, or do we just talk about it more?

…

There is no doubt that the twenty-first-century world of work entails unique psycho-social and economic stressors. Many of them are perfidious. The demands of neo-liberal competition and the growth imperative, which is based on maximising profit and optimising resource extraction at all costs, come at a price. As do email and social media, which make some things easier and many others much harder – and our constant availability means it is much more difficult to escape the things that cause us distress. While our attention spans have shrunk, our loneliness levels have increased. Because we are constantly connected and reachable, the boundaries between work and leisure have become more porous than ever, with work constantly bleeding into our mental, digital and physical spaces. Moreover, most of the tech we use at work and at home is designed to make us addicted to it, and new technology in particular has had a significant negative impact on our mental health. Finally, economic uncertainty and the threat of climate change, as well as pandemics and war, have made many of us feel very anxious. We are constantly exposed to upsetting news, and yet have very few practical means of taking action on the key issues of our day. Although our ancestors, too, struggled with exhaustion, there can be no doubt that we live in particularly fast-changing, complex and worrying times.

And yet, strange as it might seem, burnout is a diagnosis that also has positive connotations – like the ‘fashionable diseases’ of the past, melancholia and neurasthenia, a nineteenth-century forerunner of burnout that was based on the notion of nervous weakness. Melancholia was firmly aligned with creativity, scholarship and genius, while neurasthenia was associated with brain work, sensitivity and an artistic constitution. Burnout is, in part at least, a similarly heroic diagnosis, worn by some as a badge of honour. Being burnt out signifies that we have given everything, and more, to work. The burnt out literally take work deadly seriously. They are in constant demand, highly important and extremely conscientious. They care. They take on responsibility – more than they can carry. They always help out. They are not shirkers. They are not losers. In fact, research suggests that a very large percentage of the burnt out are former winners and high-flyers.

This does not mean that I wish to diminish the suffering we feel when we burn out. Nor is being in that state in any way a cakewalk. It is not. For many of my clients, burnout is an existential threat, forcing them completely to re-evaluate their lives, and often to abandon the careers for which they spent years preparing. What makes burnout so dangerous is that it traps us in a no-man’s land where we can neither work nor allow ourselves to rest. Many of us feel tremendous shame and guilt about burning out – very much the opposite of feeling heroic. My point is simply that burnout is a diagnosis that comes with some cultural validation and even status. It bears, for example, less stigma than depression and other mental health conditions. And this is the case because our culture validates work, and working hard, and, to a certain extent at least, looks kindly on those who are wounded in the battlefield of work. Being burnt out also means to be a victim of the values of our age. And there is some solace and community to be found in that.

But what can we actually do when we are burnt out? How can we heal? I continue to be struck by the paradox that looms so large at the heart of the debates: the happiness industry pushes individual coping strategies, while research shows that in the vast majority of cases, it is our working environments that are making us sick. The burnout researchers Christina Maslach and Michael P. Leiter identify six main factors causing burnout in organisations: excessive workload, insufficient autonomy, inadequate rewards, breakdown of community, mismatch of values and unfairness.9 When we experience any of these at work, we are much more likely to burn out. A growing number of healthcare professionals argue that burnout should be reconceived as ‘moral injury’, that it is a result of unbridgeable value clashes, ethical dilemmas and continuous violations of our dignity at work.

The World Health Organization clearly defines burnout as an occupational health condition, not a mental health issue. But even the WHO’s definition of burnout is troubled by what I call the ‘burnout paradox’: ‘Burnout is a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed.’ This sounds accusatory, putting the onus on the sufferer, blaming, in essence, the burnt out for their bad stress management skills. What might ‘successful management’ of chronic stress even look like? There is an undeniable tension between conceptions of the role of external structures and personal agency. What can we really do, then, to counteract occupational burnout, other than leaving our jobs or radically reforming our workplaces – both of which are not realistic options in most cases? It is, first and foremost, the organisations that cause their staff to burn out that need coaching and training, not their burnt out employees.

When in the grips of burnout, then, we need to be very discerning about what is and what isn’t our personal responsibility. Part of what makes burnout so intractable and difficult to treat is precisely that it is mostly a result of structural forces. But that insight alone can be healing: by recognising the social factors of burnout that aren’t our fault, rather than seeing it as an inherent failure of our own (or as a badge of honour), we can begin to take back some power for ourselves.

Murdle by G. T. Karber is the #1 UK Christmas Bestseller!

We are thrilled to announce mystery puzzle book sensation Murdle by G. T. Karber is 2023’s official Christmas number one bestseller, ending the year on a fantastic high note!

Earlier in December, G. T. Karber flew to the UK from Los Angeles for a packed week filled with bookshop signings, Christmas events and media to spread the Murdle mania even further alongside the festive cheer. The support for Murdle was immense – the same support that crowned it a Sunday Times Bestseller and Waterstones’ Gift of the Year. So buckle-up gumshoe, because Murdle is here to stay! And there is so much more planned for 2024, too…

Murdle is Profile’s third Christmas number one, following 2003’s Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss and Why Don’t Penguins’ Feet Freeze? in 2006 since Nielsen Bookscan records began 25 years ago. Profile is now the UK independent publisher with the most Christmas number ones, equalling the Christmas number one combined totals for Big Four conglomerates HarperCollins and Pan Macmillan.

To celebrate this wonderful occasion, Souvenir Press’ Publishing Director Cindy Chan and G. T. Karber have a special message for all our readers and armchair sleuths:

‘What a terrific result for a wonderfully deserving author! G. T. Karber is a true murder mystery anglophile and his clever mind concocted the perfect gift book for the festive season. Murdle has climbed steadily up the charts since July and smashed all expectations this Christmas – I’m incredibly proud of my Souvenir and Profile colleagues who have worked so hard to make this happen. Early in the year I mused about curling up with a nice glass and a copy of Murdle when Christmas day jollity gets too much… It seems that a nation of Murdle lovers will be doing exactly that this year. A very Merry Murdle to one and all.’

Cindy Chan, Publishing Director for Souvenir Press

 

‘Thank you so much to everyone at Profile Books, whose hard work and dedication made this possible. I also want to thank Waterstones for naming it their Gift of the Year, and to every single bookseller in the UK, for everything they did to get it in people’s hands. Finally, I want to thank my agent Melissa Edwards and my editor Courtney Littler, for helping me figure out how to make these games into a book. All I did was write some words on a page. You all took it from there.

My greatest hope is that this little book brings people together over the holidays, and lets them share some joy with each other. From Los Angeles to the UK, I’m wishing everyone a Merry Murdle!’

G. T. Karber, Author

 

From everyone at Profile Books – Merry Murdle, and a happy New Year! Thank you for support in making 2023 truly an unforgettable year.

We are proud to announce that Murdle by G. T. Karber is the Waterstones Gift of the Year! 

It’s been an exciting year for our murder mystery puzzle sensation, with endorsements from the likes of bestselling cosy crime author Janice Hallett and many consecutive Sunday Times bestseller rankings. With our recently published Murdle: More Killer Puzzles, the bestselling puzzle phenomenon is here to stay! Don’t miss out on the gifts of the season.

---

From G. T. Karber, the creator of the popular online daily mystery game at www.Murdle.com, comes this fiendishly compulsive and absolutely killer collection of 100 original murder mystery logic puzzles. Join Deductive Logico and pit your wits against a slew of dastardly villains in order to discover:

– Who committed the ghastly deed?
– What weapon was used to dispatch the victim?
– Where did the dreadful demise occur?

These humorous mini-mystery puzzles challenge you to find whodunit, how, where, and why. Examine the clues, interview the witnesses, and use the power of deduction to complete the grid and catch the culprit. Packed with illustrations, codes, and maps, this is the must-have detective casebook for the secret sleuth in everyone.

Are you the next Miss Marple or Hercule Poirot? You’ll soon find out, if you dare to Murdle!

It may be the most wonderful time of the year, but in terms of festive gifting, Christmas is often up there with the most stressful too… We’re here to remind you that you can never go wrong with a good book – and they certainly are the easiest presents to wrap!

This festive season, we’ve got book recommendations for all, from Sunday Times bestselling puzzle books, to a chilling short story collection, and finally the triumphant return of the queen of Classics herself, Mary Beard.

What’s on your Christmas list? Tell us us on X @profilebooks and Instagram @profile.books.

Murdle All The Way

This Christmas, ditch the board games and the unavoidable family fall-outs, and get your loved ones on to Murdle. With our recently published Murdle: More Killer Puzzles, the bestselling puzzle phenomenon is here to stay.

Murdle: Vol. 1 by G. T. Karber

THE NUMBER 1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER!

Discover this fiendishly compulsive and absolutely killer collection of 100 original murder mystery logic puzzles – perfect for amateur sleuths everywhere!

Murdle: More Killer Puzzles by G. T. Karber

Sherlock: Baffled. Poirot: Befuddled. This must be a MURDLE! Deductive Logico is back on the scene to investigate murders most foul in the second volume of the bestselling Murdle series.

   Stocking Fillers 

You’ve got the chocolate, the satsuma and the classic pair of socks, now take their Christmas stockings to the next level with a stonking good read! Whether they’re fans of short stories, passionate about activism, or a self-confessed word nerd, check out our recommendations for all the family below.

The Dead of Winter edited by Cecily Gayford

As the nights draw in, the veil between worlds thins, and all sorts of ghosts and ghouls come tumbling in. In the shadows, under the bed, in wind-whipped snowy landscapes and in rooms lit by guttering candles, the dead of winter are waiting for us … and their hearts are cold as ice.

Dive into these 10 chilling short stories, perfect for the darkest nights of the year.

Disobedient Bodies by Emma Dabiri

For too long, beauty has been entangled in the forces of patriarchy and capitalism: objectification, shame, control, competition and consumerism. We need to find a way to do beauty differently. This radical and empowering essay from the bestselling author of What White People Can Do Next points to ways we can all embrace our unruly beauty and enjoy our magnificent, disobedient bodies.

The Deorhord by Hana Videen

Welcome to the strange and fascinating world of Old English reference books of animals – the ordinary and the extraordinary, the good, the bad and the baffling… From the author of The Wordhord comes another delightful dive into the realm of Old English – words and creatures that will change the way you see the world.

   Fascinating Histories

Believe it or not, we’ve got a history book for everyone this season. Take a look at the evolution of human thought through the humble notebook; the story of war through books; a singular history of slavery explored through a family keepsake; and the Romans as you have never seen them before. That’s a turn-up for the (history) books!

The Notebook by Roland Allen

A Spectator Book of the Year, The Notebook is the first cultural history of its kind, exploring the fascinating story of the humble notebook, from the bustling markets of medieval Florence to the quiet studies of our greatest thinkers. A must-have for stationery lovers!

The Book at War by Andrew Pettegree

From the author of The Library comes an enlightening look at books in wartime. In The Book at War, acclaimed historian Andrew Pettegree traces the surprising ways in which written culture – from travel guides and scientific papers to Biggles and Anne Frank – has shaped, and been shaped, by the conflicts of the modern age.

Emperor of Rome by Mary Beard

Mary Beard returns in this Sunday Times top ten bestseller. For fans of SPQR , Emperor of Rome is an entertaining and sweeping account of the social and political worlds of the rulers of ancient Rome.

All That She Carried by Tiya Miles

Longlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, All That She Carried is an eye-opening social history of love and resilience. Renowned historian Tiya Miles traces the life of a single object handed down through three generations of Black women to craft a deeply layered and insightful testament to the people who are left out of the archives.

Profile Books are incredibly proud to announce that we have two books on the 2023 Waterstones Book of the Year shortlist. In a listing of just 14 titles, we are thrilled to see Mary Beard’s magisterial Emperor of Rome and G. T. Karber’s devilishly devious Murdle Vol. 1 honoured. Take a look at the full Waterstones shortlist here.

A Sunday Times bestseller, Mary Beard’s critically-acclaimed Emperor of Rome is a fascinating look at the social and political world of ancient Rome’s rulers. Beard’s sweeping account is more than a chronology of the Roman emperors, but instead asks the bigger questions: What power did emperors actually have? Was the Roman palace really so bloodstained? And what was it truly like to be a Roman? This is ancient history as it has never been seen before.

Another Sunday Times bestseller, Murdle Vol. 1 is the utterly addictive murderous puzzle book for armchair detectives everywhere. Join Deductive Logico and pit your wits against a slew of dastardly villains in order to solve 100 original murder mystery logic puzzles. Fiendishly compulsive, Murdle Vol. 1 is the must-have puzzle book this Christmas. It’s time to discover your secret inner sleuth!

Get 10% or more off both Emperor of Rome and Murdle Vol. 1 at Waterstones.com now.

‘A sparkling tour through the stories of the symbols we know so well’ – Tim Marshall

Starting with flags that we know, this captivating history explains the origins and hidden meanings of flags, taking a chatty but always entertaining path through this universal subject.

Each chapter starts with a well-known flag and shows how that flag led to a number of other flags – so, for example, how the French tricolor led to the red, white and green tricolor of Italy, and then to a host of other tricolors in different parts of the world.

Many of the over 200 colour illustrations feature alternative versions of existing flags – the flags that might have been – such as the red Canadian maple leaf between two bands of blue, representing the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

This entertaining and very likeable history of flags was written by Ukrainian businessman and ex-cabinet minister Dmytro Dubilet and first published in Ukrainian six months before the start of the Ukrainian-Russian war.

Available from:

Waterstones

Bookshop.org

Amazon

---

The Union Jack

Once upon a time, many centuries ago, a small settlement near Beirut in Lebanon faced a serious problem – a dragon settled next to it. The monster constantly demanded victims. Initially, the dragon was content with sheep, but at some point he decided he preferred eating people. Every day, the inhabitants of the city sacrificed their children to the dragon. Finally came the turn of the daughter of the local ruler. The unfortunate girl was dressed in a beautiful outfit, adorned with gold and taken to be devoured by the dragon. But, fortunately, at that very moment a Roman soldier and a devout Christian named George was passing by. He fought with the dragon, defeated it and dragged it to the village. There he announced that he would kill the monster if the locals converted to Christianity. All means are good in missionary work.

I cannot know whether this dragon story is true, but today George is one of the most revered saints in the Christian world, among Catholics and Orthodox. Moreover, George is also respected by Muslims.

We vexillologists also deeply revere St George. After all, it was the St George’s cross that formed the basis of the English flag, as well as many other banners.

The origins of the English flag can be traced back to the Crusades, with the cross representing the country’s link to Christianity. Henry II of England used a white cross, but at some point the English forces began to use a red cross instead. One legend has it that Henry’s son, Richard the Lionheart, adopted the red cross for the Third Crusade to symbolise St George, as it was at about this time that St George was made the patron saint of England.

Richard spent almost all his money on equipping his army, but the campaign ended in failure, for he managed to quarrel with almost all his allies. Relations with the French king Philip II deteriorated after he refused to marry Richard’s sister. And there was a quarrel with Leopold V, Duke of Austria, after the fall of the Palestinian city of Acre; when the banners of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, England, France and Leopold’s ducal flag were raised on one of the captured city’s walls, but Richard ordered Leopold’s colours to be removed.

This banner incident is another example of how flags can influence the course of history. It is believed that it was why Leopold arrested Richard a couple of years later, when he was finally returning home from the Crusade. Then almost all the inhabitants of England had to chip in money to ransom Richard.

The main rival of European kings in that campaign was the legendary Muslim ruler Saladin, who also left his mark on world heraldry. We will talk about him in another chapter.

Richard left another vexillological trace in history by giving the world three lions, which became the coat of arms of England. We will meet English lions in this book more than once, because they are not only on the British coat of arms but also on many flags around the world.

While visiting the Tower of London I was amused to see these lions painted on the mantelpiece in the bedroom of King Edward I, who lived a century after Richard. It was evident that the artist had only a rough
idea of what lions looked like, so he depicted them very much like people with tails. The flag of England with a red cross on a white background became the first layer (to use Photoshop terms) on the flag of Great Britain.

The next milestone in the development of the British flag came after Queen Elizabeth I died in 1603, without any direct heirs, and the Scottish king James VI came to the English throne as James I. So England and Scotland had the same monarch, while formally remaining separate countries. The flag of the new union was obtained by superimposing the English cross of St George on the Scottish cross of St Andrew.

According to the Bible, St Andrew was the first disciple of Christ (which is why he is sometimes known as Andrew the First-Called). He was crucified for his faith, just like Christ, but his cross was X-shaped.

The question of whose cross should be on top was far from a purely aesthetic issue. Although the union was formally equal, the English were somewhat ‘more equal’, so, in 1606, the English cross was placed on top of the Scottish one, which was not to the liking of many Scots at the time. That is why Scotland had an unofficial version of the union flag with the white cross over the red one. It is thought that Scottish ships flew flags with this unofficial design during the seventeenth century.