Tell it Like it Is! (Biographies & Memoirs)

FINALIST FOR THE 2020 NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FOR AUTOBIOGRAPHYAn engrossing memoir of escaping the First Liberian Civil War and building a life in the United StatesWhen Wayétu Moore turns five years old, her father and grandmother throw her a big birthday party at their home in Monrovia, Liberia, but all she can think about is how... Read more »

Tina Turner—living legend, icon to millions, and author of the “brave and wry” (Vulture) memoir My Love Story—returns with a deeply personal book of wisdom that explores her longstanding faith in Buddhism and provides a guide to these timeless principles so you can find happiness in your own life.

I dedicate this book to you…
in honor of your
... Read more »

The Sun Is a Compass

“The Sun is a Compass is a biologist’s candid journey of self discovery complete with aggressive bears, playful humpback whales, feisty hummingbirds and scolding chickadees. Heading into the most remote areas of Alaska and Canada, Caroline Van Hemert and her husband Pat rowed, rafted, hiked, skied and canoed 4000 miles from Bellingham, Washington to Kotzebue, Alaska. How do two people have such resilience to survive dangerous situations – unpredictable storms, the threat of an avalanche, swimming across a frigid Arctic river, and a depleting food supply? This memoir and others such as Raynor Winn’s The Salt Path, will compel you to observe and appreciate the healing forces of your own natural environment.”

Mindy, The River's End Bookstore

A New York Times Editors' Choice • Best Book of the Year: Time, NPR, Bookpage, L.A. Times

What does it mean to be American? In this starkly illuminating and impassioned book, Pulitzer Prize­­–finalist Laila Lalami recounts her unlikely journey from Moroccan immigrant to U.S. citizen, using it as a starting point for her exploration of American... Read more »

Memorial Drive

“When poets write memoirs, I read them. And this shocking coming-of-age reflection on violence, race and motherless daughters evoked a subtle rage that later boiled and then recoiled in me by the end of the book. I am so grateful to witness Threthewey's survival on the page and in her own voice, as read in the audiobook. Unforgettable. ”

Nicole, Bookworm of Edwards

Now a Netflix original series!

Unorthodox is the bestselling memoir of a young Jewish woman’s escape from a religious sect, in the tradition of Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s Infidel and Carolyn Jessop’s Escape, featuring a new epilogue by the author.

As a member of the strictly religious Satmar sect of Hasidic Judaism, Deborah Feldman grew up under a code... Read more »

Most people want to avoid thinking about death, but Caitlin Doughty - a twenty-something with a degree in medieval history and a flair for the macabre - took a job at a crematory, turning morbid curiosity into her life's work. With an original voice that combines fearless curiosity and mordant wit, Caitlin tells an unusual coming-of-age story... Read more »

A New York Times Bestseller

“I’ll be forever changed by Dr. Eger’s story…The Choice is a reminder of what courage looks like in the worst of times and that we all have the ability to pay attention to what we’ve lost, or to pay attention to what we still have.”—Oprah

“Dr. Eger’s life reveals our capacity to transcend even the greatest of horrors... Read more »

Read Kathleen Flinn's posts on the Penguin Blog.

This is the funny and inspiring account of Kathleen Flinn’s struggle in a stew of hot-tempered chefs, competitive classmates, her own “wretchedly inadequate” French, and the basics of French cuisine. Flinn was a thirty-six-year-old middle manager trapped on the corporate ladder—until her boss... Read more »

Discover untold secrets with this extraordinary memoir of drama and tragedy by Anne Glenconner—a close member of the royal circle and lady-in-waiting to Princess Margaret. 

Anne Glenconner has been at the center of the royal circle from childhood, when she met and befriended the future Queen Elizabeth II and her sister, the Princess Margaret.... Read more »