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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.

With the long weekend approaching, it’s time to turn our attention to Spring and with that a whole host of new reading opportunities. We’ve drawn up a list of books that make perfect company for the Easter weekend and the season beyond.

From eighteenth-century graffiti to piracy on the high seas, fraudulent art dealers to murderous puzzles, we’ve got a book for every reader.

 

The High Seas by Olive Heffernan

With two thirds of the ocean lying beyond national boarders, the race is on to control, protect and profit from the high seas. Heffernan has crafted a forceful and deeply researched manifesto, calling for the protection and preservation of our last remaining wilderness.

 

Eat, Poop, Die by Joe Roman

A Scientific American Top Ten Book of 2023

If forests are the lungs of the planet, then animals migrating across oceans, streams, and mountains — eating, pooping, and dying along the way — are its heart and arteries. Dr Joe Roman, a leading expert on endangered species, reveals how these fundamental animal functions can help us better understand our world and even help to save us from climate catastrophe.

 

The Observant Walker by John Wright

Now out in paperback, this charming, thoughtful book takes the reader on eight walks across the British landscape. From wild and weird fungi in woodlands, to colourful lichens on mountainsides, Wright illuminates the science, stories and natural history that can be found just off any beaten path.

 

 

All That She Carried by Tiya Miles

Shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction, Longlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize, National Book Award Winner

Renowned historian Tiya Miles traces the life of a sack, embroidered with a family history in sparse and haunting language, handed down through three generations of Black women. In this unique and heartfelt book, Miles crafts a deeply layered and insightful testament to people who are left out of History and out of the archives.

 

Writing on the Wall by Madeline Pelling

Hear the voices of the eighteenth century, told through its graffiti. Here are lives, loves, triumphs and failures, scratched into the walls of prisons and latrines, chalked up on doors and etched into windows. The names of their creators may be lost to history, but together they tell the real story of Britain’s most rebellious and transformative century.

 

The Language Puzzle by Steven Mithen

The relationship between language, thought and culture is of concern to anyone with an interest in what it means to be human. This groundbreaking new account of prehistory delves into our construction of language, from one of the most esteemed archaeologists working today.

 

All That Glitters by Orlando Whitfield

Deception is a fine art. 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 – disappears, accused of a fraud so gigantic and audacious it rocks the art world to its core.

 

Impossible City by Simon Kuper

From the bestselling author of Chums comes a captivating memoir of today’s Paris without the clichés. This century, Paris has globalised, gentrified, and been shocked into realising its role as the crucible of civilisational conflict. Sometimes it’s a multicultural paradise, and sometimes it isn’t…

 

Interwar by Gavin Stamp

An authoritative survey of British buildings between the wars by one of Britain’s best-known architecture critics. As the modernists came of age and the traditionalists began to decline, there arose a rich variety of styles and tastes in British architecture, one that reflected the restless zeitgeist of the years before the Second World War.

 

Soothe by Nahid de Belgeonne

Somatic educator Nahid de Belgeonne is here to completely change the way you breathe, move and care for your overworked nervous system. Discover body tranquillity by tuning into your senses and learning to soothe.

 

How to ADHD by Jessica McCabe

The New York Times bestseller

Forget ‘try harder’. When your brain works differently, you need to try different. Packed with practical advice, tools and chapter shortcuts designed with the neurodivergent reader in mind, this is the go to user’s manual to thriving with ADHD from the creator of the wildly popular YouTube channel How to ADHD.

 

Bald by Stuart Heritage

A warm and funny guide to life in the club that nobody wants to join. Can a man go bald with dignity? Maybe. But can a man go bald with more dignity than Stuart Heritage? Oh good god yes, and this book is his attempt to make that happen for you. What really happens, why it matters and how to feel much less crap about it.

 

Murdle by G. T. Karber

Murdle fever has been sweeping the nation, and it’s a good thing because there are no shortages of crimes to be solved and Deductive Logico needs your help! Are you the next Miss Marple or Hercule Poirot? You’ll soon find out, with the latest in the series, Murdle: Even More Killer Puzzles, the thrilling detective casebook for the sleuthing puzzler in us all.

We’re thrilled to announce that Murdle, the bestselling murder mystery puzzle book by G. T. Karber, has been shortlisted for the Book of the Year Nibbie award in the Lifestyle & Illustrated Non-fiction category!

As fans eagerly await the next instalment of this utterly addictive detective puzzle series, the recognition of its excellence by the British Book Awards is a testament to its enduring popularity, publishing excellence and overall merit.

In Murdle, readers are invited to unravel a 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.

As the anticipation builds for the announcement of the Book of the Year winner, one thing is certain: Murdle isn’t just a puzzle book series – it’s a rollercoaster ride of brain-teasing fun that has quickly become the go-to book for puzzle and crime fiction lovers everywhere.

So, grab your magnifying glass and get ready to Murdle!

Learn more about the award and the shortlist here.

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.

An authoritative and entertaining history of the Edwardian age, told through its politics and popular culture.

‘The Edwardians have long been the lost decade of British history, yet they are that history at its climax. Alwyn Turner sets the record straight, bringing its characters, strains and stresses brilliantly to life’ Simon Jenkins

‘Britain’s most electrifying contemporary social historian conjures the forgotten country of more than a century ago … fiercely recommended’ Alan Moore

‘Alwyn Turner is a wonderful raconteur of historical eras … this is history written from below, and above, and all milieus in between’ Simon Kuper

‘Every page grips and delights … a deeply researched yet gorgeously entertaining double vision of a United Kingdom in full Imperial glory – yet unnervingly familiar’ James Hawes

In Little Englanders, Alwyn Turner reconsiders the Edwardian era as a time of profound social change, with the rise of women’s suffrage and the labour movement, unrest in Ireland and the Boer republics, scandals in parliament and culture wars at home. He tells the story of the Edwardians through music halls and male beauty contests, the real Peaky Blinders and the 1908 Summer Olympics. In this colourful, detailed and hugely entertaining social history, Turner shows that, though the golden Victorian age was in the past, the birth of modern Britain was only just beginning.

Purchase your copy:
Waterstones
Amazon
Bookshop.org

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The Real Peaky Blinders: extract taken from the chapter Children and Youths

 

At the beginning of the 1880s a new phenomenon had been observed on Sunday evenings in east London: youths promenading in the streets, swaggering around in their best clothes. ‘Well-dressed roughs were pushing people about in the Bow Road and throwing stones and gravel at each other, and anyone else who happened to be passing,’ it was reported. ‘They also caught hold of one or two young girls who were passing quietly along, hugged them round the waist, and behaved towards them in a scandalous manner.’

This weekly ritual became known locally as the monkey parade, and the name – as well as the practice – caught on across the city and beyond.

…

There was no real harm in the masher or the monkey parader. A couple of steps further down the social ladder, though, the feral youths said to infest large parts of the towns and cities caused real concern. They went by different names in different places: Hooligans in London, Scuttlers in Manchester, High Rippers in Liverpool, Peaky Blinders in Birmingham. Whatever they were called, they were all of a piece: wild, uncontrollable street gangs, whose members attacked the police, each other and sometimes members of the public. They didn’t care much about the names they were given; territorial identity was the important thing. For a working-class youth in Chelsea it mattered only whether you belonged to the Oakum Bay Faction or their fierce rivals the Sandsend Faction. Glasgow gangs included the Hi Hi’s, the Tim Molloys, the San Toys, the Village Boys and the Wellingtonia, and the differences between them were more important than the similarities.

There were established fashions that amounted to a uniform – cap worn forwards over the eyes, no collar, a muffler or neckerchief instead of a tie, bell-bottom trousers, hobnailed boots – but there were also identifying marks to signal allegiance: the Silver Hatchet Gang in London, for example, wore a badge on their lapel, showing an axe with the motto ‘Tried, Tested and True.’  In some quarters there was a fashion for the Newgate fringe: a shaved face with a beard running below the jawline, in imitation of where the hangman’s noose would be placed. ‘The most characteristic part of their uniform,’ read one report, ‘is the substantial leather belt heavily mounted with metal. It is not ornamental, but then it is not intended for ornament.’  Other weapons in the arsenal included knuckledusters, sticks, knives and occasionally guns.

This wasn’t an exclusively male preserve. ‘There are girls as well as boys,’ said Liberal MP and educationalist Thomas Macnamara. ‘Dirty, ragged, unwashed, unkempt, foul-mouthed girls, with tempers like tigers and habits like wild beasts, are roaming about the streets, preying on society every day.’ It was reported in 1906 that Glasgow was ‘experiencing a modified reign of terror’, with gangs that included ‘young girls of ages averaging from fourteen to seventeen, with very long draggled skirt and hair in tightly twisted pigtail’.

The rhetoric was sometimes exaggerated, but the violence was real. Even restricting the examples to assaults on the police by Birmingham’s Peaky Blinders, the charge sheet was serious. In 1900 eighteen-year-old Henry Attwood and sixteen-year-old Percy Langridge were convicted of ‘stabbing two policemen who arrested a couple of their friends for disorderly conduct’. The following year PC Charles Gunter died after being struck on the head with a brick, and three men were given fifteen years’ penal servitude for manslaughter. And the year after that, two brothers, aged twenty-eight and nineteen, were convicted of the attempted murder of PC Blinko and sentenced to penal servitude for life; the policeman had served a summons on the older brother, and in retaliation they ‘smashed in his skull with a chopper. This was in open daylight and in a crowded street.’

Not even the football pitch provided protection. During one match in Birmingham a gang of Peaky Blinders attacked and robbed a goalkeeper, while the rest of his team was in the opponents’ half. Passing sentences of hard labour, ‘Mr Justice Lawrence said he thought the football field was safe for all except the referee, but in Birmingham it was not so for either a player or goalkeeper, if his comrades were away from him.’

…

It seemed to some that violence had become endemic among the young, whatever their class. Even the pastoral idyll of Olde England was not exempt. The Berkshire village of Cookham was located on a delightful part of the Thames – ‘perhaps the sweetest stretch of all the river’, wrote Jerome K. Jerome in Three Men in a Boat (1889) – but outside the pubs in the village there were signs telling the customers ‘All fighting to be over by 10 o’clock.’

 

Continue reading in Little Englanders: Britain in the Edwardian Era by Alwyn Turner 

 

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.

 

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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.

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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

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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.

Why are some things cute, and others not? What happens to our brains when we see something cute? And how did cuteness go global, from Hello Kitty to Disney characters?

Cuteness is an area where culture and biology get tangled up. Seeing a cute animal triggers some of the most powerful psychological instincts we have – the ones that elicit our care and protection – but there is a deeper story behind the broad appeal of Japanese cats and saccharine greetings cards.

Joshua Paul Dale, a pioneer in the burgeoning field of cuteness studies, explains how the cute aesthetic spread around the globe, from pop brands to Lolita fashion, kids’ cartoons and the unstoppable rise of Hello Kitty. Irresistible delves into the surprisingly ancient origins of Japan’s kawaii culture, and uncovers the cross-cultural pollination of the globalised world. If adorable things really do rewire our brains, it can help answer some of the biggest questions we have about our evolutionary history and the mysterious origins of animal domestication.

This is the fascinating cultural history of cuteness, and a revealing look at how our most powerful psychological impulses have remade global style and culture.

 

Available from:

Waterstones

Bookshop.org

Amazon

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‘Cute Studies’ and cute science

Back when I was an undergraduate, I wanted to study children’s literature. It has since become a field that encompasses not only literary studies, but also child development and psychology and the history of childhood. At the time, however, most scholars thought it was too trivial to warrant serious research. It was hard to know what to do. When I visited one of my favourite professors to discuss the idea, he said, ‘It’s as if you’re facing two ponds: one is full of crystal-clear water to the very bottom, and the other is full of silt and pond scum with zero visibility. You seem to take a look at both, before diving straight into the muddy pond.’ At nineteen I took this as a compliment, though now I wonder if it was meant as one. At any rate, it seems he was right. Decades later, when faced with the realisation that little about cuteness was clear, I took a deep breath and decided to dive right in.

I was starting to wonder if cuteness deserved more than the odd article or book. Was there enough there to justify an entirely new field of study? After all, it had worked for children’s literature. If I got it right, I could be the founder of a whole new field. Well, either that or I could be ignored completely.

I considered Linda Williams, who created the field of Porn Studies when she realised that this multibillion-dollar industry was virtually unstudied. Just like pornography, cuteness makes billions in revenue without anyone paying much attention, and it’s also viewed as too trivial to warrant scholarly attention. And at least it’s not as controversial.

Williams announced the arrival of Porn Studies by editing a volume of scholarly essays with the same name. I decided to begin a bit more modestly; I reached out to other scholars interested in cuteness by editing a special issue of an academic journal that I would call ‘Cute Studies’. I planned to write an editorial declaring this new field open for business. But would anyone want to join it?

I put out an open call for papers on various academic websites, then waited to see what would show up. And while I wasn’t exactly flooded with submissions, I did receive some fascinating articles, on topics including young women who wear Lolita fashion, how Singaporean influencers use cuteness to gain an audience, and an analysis of the kawaii lunchboxes that Japanese mothers make for their children. But one of them was a real game-changer. It was from Hiroshi Nittono, now director of the Cognitive Psychophysiology Laboratory at Osaka University.

Like me, Hiroshi had noticed that kawaii in Japan extends beyond the traits listed in Lorenz’s child schema. However, virtually all the empirical research in his field focused on Lorenz’s infantile traits. Because of the outsized presence of kawaii in Japan, Hiroshi felt that analysing how people there feel about it could broaden Lorenz’s schema in ways that could be useful to anyone interested in the nature of cuteness.

Hiroshi distributed questionnaires to hundreds of university students and office workers willing to take part in a survey and analysed their responses. He found that things such as sweets, flowers and smiles, which are not part of the child schema, could also trigger the feeling of kawaii. In fact ‘smile’ received the highest kawaii rating from study participants, exceeding even that for ‘baby’. This was an indication that Lorenz’s child schema wasn’t telling the whole story.

The university students and office workers who filled in Hiroshi’s questionnaire also referred to kawaii things as ‘yuru’. This is a hard word to translate. It can mean wobbly – an attribute that appears in the child schema – but it also means amateurish or imperfect. I had seen this for myself at the Pikachu Outbreak when people smiled and shouted ‘Kawaii!’ at Pikachus who mistimed their synchronised steps and fell on their fluffy backsides.

If cuteness is all about an irresistible instinct to nurture, then the watching crowd surely should have involuntarily leapt forward to help the fallen Pikachu. But that didn’t happen and, when you think about it, a child in need of real help – suffering and in pain – is not cute, either. Scientists like Hiroshi concluded that the feeling of kawaii encourages affiliation, which is social bonding in a broader sense than just nurturing. This is why feeling that something is cute makes us want to get closer to it, even if we have no particular desire to protect or nurture it. The suggestion that cuteness is a releaser of social engagement would explain why I found myself wanting to wave at and hug the marching Pikachus.

This Black History Month, we’re showcasing some of our award-winning and eye-opening non-fiction from Black female authors. Discover Tiya Miles’ Baillie Gifford Prize-longlisted history, Emma Dabiri’s rebellious look at beauty, and Dr Annabel Sowemimo’s vital exploration of race and healthcare. Look no further for unmissable non-fiction to dive into this month and beyond…

What are you reading for Black History Month? Let us know at @ProfileBooks on X and @profile.books on Instagram.

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All That She Carried by Tiya Miles

LONGLISTED FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION

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.

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.

 

Disobedient Bodies: Reclaim Your Unruly Beauty by Emma Dabiri

From the bestselling author of What White People Can Do Next. 

What part of your beautiful self were you taught to hate? We spend a lot of time trying to improve our ‘defects’, according to society’s ideals of beauty. But these ideals that are often reductive, tyrannical and commercially entangled, are imposed upon us by oppressive systems and further strengthened by our conditioned self-loathing.

This book encourages unruliness, exploring the ways in which we can rebel against and subvert the current system. Offering alternative ways of seeing beauty, drawing on other cultures, worldviews, times, and places – to reconnect with our birthright and find the inherent joy in our disobedient bodies.

 

Divided: Racism, Medicine and Why We Need to Decolonise Healthcare by Annabel Sowemimo

A FINALIST FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL WRITING 2023
A FINANCIAL TIMES BEST SUMMER BOOK OF 2023

In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, we are all too aware of the urgent health inequalities that plague our world. But these inequalities have always been urgent: modern medicine has a colonial and racist history.

Here, in an essential and searing account, Annabel Sowemimo unravels the colonial roots of modern medicine. Tackling systemic racism, hidden histories and healthcare myths, Sowemimo recounts her own experiences as a doctor, patient and activist.

This book will reshape how we see health and medicine – forever.

As the cold autumn nights approach, we all want to be wrapped up in a big blanket for a cosy evening of reading. And what better company than our latest season of fascinating non-fiction?

From the thrilling history of the Roman emperors, to the secret life of John le Carré, and eye-opening facts about healthcare inequality, read on to discover autumn’s most horizon-expanding reads!

What are you planning to read this autumn? Join us on X @profilebooks and Instagram @profile.books for daily bookish chat.

EYE-OPENING NON-FICTION

The Book at War by Andrew Pettegree (Out now)

From the bestselling author of The Library, The Book at War explores the unexpected ways in which written culture has shaped modern conflicts and why books have often found themselves on the frontline.

Divided by Annabel Sowemimo (Out now)

A FINALIST FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL WRITING 2023 * A FINANCIAL TIMES BEST SUMMER BOOK 2023
Out now in paperback, Divided is a vital exploration of race and health by activist, doctor, and patient Annabel Sowemimo. An urgent call for change, this book reinserts Black and Indigenous doctors into the historical narrative of our racist and colonialist medical system.

The Handover by David Runciman (Out now)

We built the artificial entities, known as states and corporations, that now rule our world. While they have made us richer, safer, and healthier, they will also never die and might one day destroy us. How did we give control of our lives to artificial entities and how do we reclaim our agency?

TRANSFORMATIVE READS

Discipline is Destiny by Ryan Holiday (Out now)

The New York Times bestselling author tackles the ancient virtue of self-control – drawing on the wisdom of great thinkers and leaders including Toni Morrison, Queen Elizabeth II, and Martin Luther King Jr, who all understood the power of directing habits and setting limits. Find self-discipline and reap its rewards with Ryan Holiday’s latest Stoic manual.

Disobedient Bodies by Emma Dabiri (Out now)

Too often, beauty culture becomes yet another tool of oppression, encouraging self-loathing and conditioning us to critique and discipline our bodies. Disobedient Bodies finds inherent joy in unruliness and is an accessible manifesto for lasting change. Rebel and reclaim what beauty means to you with this radical essay from bestselling author Emma Dabiri. 

How to Leave a Narcissist… For Good by Dr Sarah Davies (Out now)

A practical guide to moving on and healing from relationships with narcissists from an experienced psychologist. Full of case studies and expert guidance, How to Leave a Narcissist… For Good helps you break the cycle of abuse and master self-care so you can look forward to future healthy relationships.

The Secret Life of John le Carré by Adam Sisman (Publishing October)

The spy-turned-novelist John le Carré fought to keep certain subjects hidden during his lifetime, especially from Sisman’s 2015 biography. This extraordinary secret history is the story of what was left out. Get inside the mind of the complex, driven, but restless John le Carré.

Emperor of Rome by Mary Beard (Out now)

Britain’s most famous classicist is back to shine the spotlight on Rome’s notorious figureheads – its emperors. But this isn’t the usual account. Emperor of Rome draws comparisons between the imperial elite and the modern world, as Beard explores what it really was to be Roman.

Fear by Robert Peckham (Out now)

World history has always been driven by fear and the panic it produces. Its impact has made it a coercive tool of power and a catalyst for social change. Cultural historian Robert Peckham traces a shadow of history from the Black Death to the current digital age in this fascinating alternative history of the world. How can a better understanding of fear equip us for the future?