LIFE STORIES
PLAYING UNDER THE PIANO by Hugh Bonneville (£22, HB, Little, Brown)
We loved him in Downton Abbey, we loved him in Paddington. Now we love reading his entertaining memoirs from life on stage and screen, as well as behind the scenes. We learn why he once played Robert De Niro’s right leg, but also how he discovered his mum worked for the secret service only after her death. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll love Hugh even more.
AGATHA CHRISTIE: A VERY ELUSIVE WOMAN by Lucy Worsley (£25, HB, Hodder & Stoughton)
While many of us know Agatha Christie as the creator of Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple, life away from her detective novels was just as intriguing and compelling. In late 1926, after a difficult year, Agatha disappeared for 11 days, only to be found at a spa hotel in Harrogate, having no idea what she was doing there. This is a meticulously detailed look into Agatha’s life and helps make sense of that dark period, why it happened, and how it shaped her for decades to come. Agatha Christie may have been a celebrated author, but this book also gives an insight into the experiences of ‘ordinary’ women at home during World War One, who did extraordinary things to survive. It’s a compelling read.
THE TWELVE DELS OF CHRISTMAS by David Jason (£22, HB, Cornerstone)
If you’re already smiling at the title, you’ll be chuckling your Christmas socks off by the end. Who can resist the wit and wisdom of David Jason, the national treasure who brought us the wheeling, dealing legend of Only Fools and Horses, Derek Trotter? It’s a merry memoir linked to the festive episodes and the life lessons that go hand in hand with them – and as Del Boy says, ‘Merry Christmas, you plonkers!’
I’LL TRY ANYTHING ONCE by Prue Leith (£12.99, PB, Quercus)
Disproving the notion that all good writers have unhappy childhoods, the celebrated chef and judge Prue Leith begins her interesting life story with tales of an idyllic sunlit youth spent in South Africa. Keen to make her mark in the world, Prue came to London in the early 60s and not long after opened Leith’s restaurant, before becoming a food columnist in the 70s. Since then, Prue has added novelist, businesswoman,
