I am, I am, I am: Seventeen Brushes with Death
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I AM, I AM, I AM is Sunday Times bestseller and Costa Novel-Award winner Maggie O'Farrell's electric...
Francis Bacon in Your Blood
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"This fine memoir is more insightful than gossipy, and as a subject Bacon is just about unbeatable."...
Probably Nothing: A diary of not-your-average nine months
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Probably Nothing by Matilda Tristram - a moving, funny and inspiring graphic memoir by a woman who...
My Name is Why
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How does a government steal a child and then imprison him? How does it keep it a secret? This story...
Non-Fiction Memoir
ClareR (5991 KP) rated Fearless and Free: A Memoir by Josephine Baker in Books
Oct 14, 2025
Born in 1906, mixed race, Josephine made it from St. Louis to New York and then on to Paris - and she was still a teenager. She became famous in Paris for her banana dress in the Danse Sauvage, and she was also a jazz singer and an actress. During WW2 she was a spy, she loved animals, adopted children and donated to many causes.
This memoir ends in 1949, so we don’t get any details about her involvement in the Civil Rights movement, but we do see what happens when she travels home to the US - and it’s not good. Her reception is the complete opposite to the way she’s received in Europe.
When reading this, Josephine’s voice shines through. Her vivacious, fun, tenacious personality is there throughout, which does make up for the non-linear accounts.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book!
Toast on Toast
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Toast on Toast is the must-have book for all budding actors - and non-actors too. In this part...
Leaving Before the Rains Come
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The sequel to Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight. In her twenties Alexandra Fuller embarked on a new...
My History
Antonia Fraser and Penelope Wilton
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Antonia Fraser's memoir describes growing up in the 1930s and 1940s but its real concern is with her...
How to be a Woman
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It's a good time to be a woman: we have the vote and the Pill, and we haven't been burnt as witches...


