The Reading List
Warmth and wisdom are on offer in this winter’s books with a beautiful selection of work sharing some of life’s hardest won lessons
Manifest: 7 Steps to Living Your Best Life by Roxie Nafousi
Self-development coach, manifesting expert and mental health ambassador Roxie Nafousi is known for her sell-out workshops, which she runs on everything from self-love and relationships to reducing stress – but by far her most popular are the sessions she runs on manifesting. Now she’s taken her pearls of wisdom and collected them into this book, the first practical guide on manifesting. A meeting of science and wisdom, she reveals how to harness this philosophical practice to reach your life goals.
Awakening Artemis: Deepening Intimacy with the Living Earth and Reclaiming Our Wild Nature by Vanessa Chakour
This beautiful love letter to the earth, written by the founder of the rewilding programme Sacred Warrior, takes us on a journey to deepen our relationship with ourselves and the environment. Through sharing her personal life lessons, Chakour’s stories act as tools, both practical and inspirational, to encourage recovery and reconnection to the regenerative power of the natural world. An intimate portrayal of how one woman’s quest for healing opens up a world of potential growth for us all.
The Swimmers by Julie Otsuka
This lyrical new novel by bestselling author Julie Otsuka is her most personal yet, inspired by the many years she spent swimming at her local pool and her mother’s heart-breaking decline to dementia. It follows Alice, whose recreational swimming group has become the centre of her life – until one day a crack appears beneath its surface, just as they are beginning to appear in her memory. A story about mothers and daughters, love and loss, it will make you reconsider what’s truly important in life.
Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before? by Dr Julie Smith
A positive, practical handbook for better mental health from a top clinical psychologist, this useful guide is filled with secrets from a therapist’s toolkit, all delivered with Dr Julie Smith’s signature warmth and wisdom. From helping to manage anxiety and battling low mood to finding motivation or learning to forgive yourself, the book tackles everyday issues and offers up practical advice in the form of short, bite-sized entries and powerful coping techniques that will help you stay resilient in the face of whatever life throws your way.
Growing Out by Barbara Blake Hannah
This insightful autobiography was written by the first black female TV journalist and chronicles her experience of migrating from the Caribbean to the UK. On the surface, her life sparkles – travelling around the world, covering incredible celebrity stories and mixing with the likes of Germaine Greer and Michael Caine – but Hannah reveals the darker side of trying to carve a life for yourself when those around you are intent on tearing it down. A dazzling, revelatory depiction of race and womanhood in the 1960s.
Happy Days: The Guided Path from Trauma to Profound Freedom and Inner Peace by Gabrielle Bernstein
In her new book, author Gabrielle Bernstein explores why we get stuck in patterns that make us unhappy and offers guidance for transformation. Bernstein is already well-known for her unique ability to cut through to what matters and shift negative mindset patterns, but here her thoughts on past trauma and energy are especially enlightening. In the authors own words, if you were free from fear, who would you have the freedom to be?
Hope is coming by Louise Blyth
In this beautiful and gripping memoir, debut author Louise Blyth charts story of her marriage from a romantic start to a hauntingly premature grief as her husband George is diagnosed with advanced cancer at just thirty-three years old. Told innovatively through letters, love notes and text messages, this enchanting true-story shares insight into some of life’s biggest questions, namely, why are we truly here. This book will speak to all of those who have loved, lost and search for the meaning of life in death.
