In the summer of 2024, following a high profile trial at Chelmsford Crown Court, a man named Gavin Plumb was convicted and sentenced to fifteen years in prison for his obsessive online messaging in private chat groups of a harrowing plan he had formulated to abduct the famous television presenter Holly Willoughby. Who exactly was Gavin Plumb and how realistic was his abduction plan? Was he a potential killer and genuine threat or merely a sad bedroom fantasist who had become lost down the grim rabbit hole of vile misogynistic chat groups?
In 1968, in the city of Newcastle upon Tyne in Britain, eleven year-old Mary Bell murdered two boys and seemed to take a disturbing delight at what she had done. Who is Mary Bell and why did she turn out this way? And what happened to this notorious young killer after the tragic events of 1968? Find out more about this notorious murder case with this book.
Serial killers come in all shapes and sizes. They have different backgrounds, different methods, and different motivations. The only constant is that they have an insatiable urge to kill. This true crime stories book offers an entertaining (if unavoidably grisly) varied profile of the 50 craziest serial killers from the true crime history files...
25 Cromwell Street, a seemingly ordinary terraced house in Gloucester, would become notorious as a den of unspeakable crimes. The house of horrors, as it came to be known, was the residence of Fred and Rose West, a married couple who unleashed a reign of terror. This bizarre couple were involved in murder (which included some of their own children), prostitution, rape, torture, and incest. When the horrors of Cromwell Street were revealed, the neighbours of Fred and Rose West expressed astonishment that these two seemingly placid people could be capable of murder and unfathomable sadism and depravity. The book that follows will take the reader through the monstrous life and crimes of Fred West.
On Friday 21 September 2012, mother of five, Davina Williams found herself facing two policemen on her doorstep. It was the start of a year-long nightmare that still haunts the entire family. Her fifteen-year-old daughter was missing and soon after was captured on CCTV boarding a ferry to France with her thirty-year-old school teacher Jeremy Forrest.The newspapers called her The Runaway Schoolgirl and some saw their romance as nothing more than a harmless love story. But Forrest had abused his position of responsibility and engaged his pupil in a sexual relationshipNow Davina Williams, the mother of the teenager referred to as Gemma Grant, tells the story of the abduction and subsequent capture of Forrest, its harrowing aftermath and the traumatic trial to make Forrest pay for his crimes.Told only as a mother knows how, Davina Williams hopes her heart wrenching story will silence the parasites who believed they should be together and allow 'Gemma' and her family to finally move on with their lives.
Friday, Aug. 15, 1975 began as a typical summer day in the suburbs. Young children played with their friends, adults prepared for work or planned for their vacation at the Jersey Shore... That all changed in the hours before noon, when Gretchen Harrington, the 8-year-old daughter of a Presbyterian minister and his wife, was kidnapped while walking to a vacation Bible school less than a quarter-mile from her house. Her body was found by a jogger in a state park nearly two months later. The crime forever changed the lives of the children who were near Gretchen's age and their parents, many of whom chose to live in Marple Township because they considered it a safe refuge from the crime-ridden streets of Philadelphia. Journalists Mike Mathis and Joanna Falcone Sullivan examine the kidnapping, murder and the nearly five-decade long investigation through rare access to police files in what is still considered an open investigation.
THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'From the heart. It feels so authentic . . . Encompassing and inclusive . . . Reads beautifully and fluidly and feels like having a chat with your best friend' - Elizabeth Day on HOW TO FAIL 'The book is a triumph...an accessible insight into the woman behind the brand' Grazia ________________________ Have you ever found yourself in that moment where you just wonder - what's next? I could carry on as I am but there's a yearning for something else. That's where this book started for me... Presenter. Fashion icon. Wife. Mother. Holly Willoughby lights up the nation's TV screens every day but, like all of us, she has struggled with moments of self-doubt, feelings of guilt, anger and detachment. Here she shares how she has learned to reconnect with herself in order to face her fears head on. With her trademark warmth, Holly shows how listening to her inner voice and celebrating life's little moments of beauty and joy - like looking up at the moon or finding the perfect red lipstick - helped her feel whole again. Reflections is an empathetic, encouraging book that will inspire you to live your most beautiful, authentic life. WHAT READERS ARE SAYING: -'I rarely read and read this book in two days! Much of what Holly wrote about resonated with me and I've taken so much practical advice away with me.' -'Like little snippets of therapy' -'This book is brilliant. Holly addresses many things that we all face in life and gives her best advice on how to overcome them. Fantastic for anyone but mostly anyone who suffers any kind of anxieties or self consciousness. -'Amazing . . . Holly is just fabulous and I can't put it down, so nice to know we aren't in this journey alone' -'So beautifully written and relatable in lots of ways. It will be a book that I am sure I will keep taking off of my book shelf to keep going back to read for a long time'
1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up is the perfect introduction to the very best books of childhood: those books that have a special place in the heart of every reader. It introduces a wonderfully rich world of literature to parents and their children, offering both new titles and much-loved classics that many generations have read and enjoyed. From wordless picture books and books introducing the first words and sounds of the alphabet through to hard-hitting and edgy teenage fiction, the titles featured in this book reflect the wealth of reading opportunities for children.Browsing the titles in 1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up will take you on a journey of discovery into fantasy, adventure, history, contermporary life, and much more. These books will enable you to travel to some of the most famous imaginary worlds such as Narnia, Middle Earth, and Hogwart's School. And the route taken may be pretty strange, too. You may fall down a rabbit hole, as Alice does on her way to Wonderland, or go through the back of a wardrobe to reach the snowy wastes of Narnia.
Case Studies in Clinical Psychological Science demonstrates in detail how the clinical science model can be applied to actual cases. This book's unique structure presents dialogues between leading clinical researchers regarding the treatment of a wide variety of psychological problems.
NOMINATED FOR THE 2019 NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FOR AUTOBIOGRAPHY ONE OF NPR'S BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR SHORTLISTED FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE FOR NONFICTION SHORTLISTED FOR THE RATHBONES FOLIO PRIZE LONGLISTED FOR THE RSL ONDAATJE PRIZE The acclaimed New York Times bestselling author of The Vanishing Velazquez shares a riveting true story “with as many twists and turns as any mystery” (Los Angeles Times) describing her mother’s mysterious kidnapping as a toddler in a small English coastal village—“an incredible and incredibly unusual book about family secrets” (Nick Hornby, The Believer). In the fall of 1929, when Laura Cumming’s mother was three years old, she was kidnapped from a beach on the Lincolnshire coast of England. There were no screams when she was taken, suggesting the culprit was someone familiar to her, and when she turned up again in a nearby village several days later, she was happy and in perfect health. No one was ever accused of a crime. The incident quickly faded from her memory, and her parents never discussed it. To the contrary, they deliberately hid it from her, and she did not learn of it for half a century. This was not the only secret her parents kept from her. For many years, while raising her in draconian isolation and protectiveness, they also hid the fact that she’d been adopted, and that shortly after the kidnapping, her name was changed from Grace to Betty. “Both page-turning and richly absorbing” (The Providence Journal), On Chapel Sands (originally titled Five Days Gone) unspools the tale of Cumming’s mother’s life and unravels the multiple mysteries at its core. Using photographs from the time, historical documents, and works of art, Cumming investigates this case of stolen identity with the toolset of a detective and the unique intimacy of a daughter trying to understand her family’s past and its legacies. “Brilliant” (The Guardian) and “a story told with such depth of feeling and observation and such lyrical writing I couldn’t put it down” (Anna Quindlen), On Chapel Sands is a masterful blend of memoir and history, an extraordinary personal narrative unlike any other.
