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Biographies & Memoirs

Heminsley, Alexandra

Community & Culture

Windmill Books

An honest and achingly funny account of the horrors of being dumped that finds comedy in love's most painful moments.

Ex and the City: You're Nobody 'til Somebody Dumps You

Pan/Macmillan

'Beautifully written, with such heart. Not only did it make me cry, it made me see the world in a different way' JOANNA CANNON Find escape with the beautiful, moving literary debut fromSunday Times-bestselling author Alexandra Heminsley, a stunning story of sisterhood and wilderness. Clara Seymour is trying to find her feet in London, living away from home for the first time. Brought up by her domineering mother, treasuring time any time with her adoring father, Clara's world is brought to a standstill when her dad abruptly dies. Then, a mystery comes to light in a letter from him. I am sure you are aware that before I met your mother I had a previous marriage. But what we never discussed is that we had a daughter. So begins a journey of discovery that takes Clara to remote Norway and a landscape as brutal as it is bewitching, a voyage fraught with personal and emotional danger to reveal who her father really was - and find the sister she's never met.

Under the Same Stars: A beautiful and moving tale of sisterhood and wilderness

Literature & Fiction

Genre Fiction

SPHERE

Running Like A Girl

Ulverscroft

A charming, hilarious, and practical book about one woman’s stumbling, painful efforts to start running and how becoming a runner ultimately transformed her relationships, her body, and her life. In her twenties, Alexandra Heminsley spent more time at the bar than she did in pursuit of athletic excellence. When she decided to take up running in her thirties, she had grand hopes for a blissful runner’s high and immediate physical transformation. After eating three slices of toast with honey and spending ninety minutes on iTunes creating the perfect playlist, she hit the streets—and failed miserably. The stories of her first runs turn the common notion that we are all “born to run” on its head—and expose the truth about starting to run: it can be brutal. Running Like a Girl tells the story of how Alexandra gets beyond the brutal part, makes running a part of her life, and reaps the rewards: not just the obvious things, like weight loss, health, and glowing skin, but self-confidence and immeasurable daily pleasure, along with a new closeness to her father—a marathon runner—and her brother, with whom she ultimately runs her first marathon. But before that, she has to figure out the logistics of running: the intimidating questions from a young and arrogant sales assistant when she goes to buy her first running shoes, where to get decent bras for the larger bust, how not to freeze or get sunstroke, and what (and when) to eat before a run. She’s figured out what’s important (pockets) and what isn’t (appearance), and more. For any woman who has ever run, wanted to run, tried to run, or failed to run (even if just around the block), Heminsley’s funny, warm, and motivational personal journey from nonathlete extraordinaire to someone who has completed five marathons is inspiring, entertaining, practical, and fun.

Running Like a Girl: Notes on Learning to Run

Sports & Outdoors

Biographies

Scribner

The inspiring, hilarious memoir of a “Bridget Jones-like writer” (The Washington Post) who transforms her life by learning to run, with stories of miserable defeat, complete victory, and learning to choose the right shoes. When Alexandra Heminsley decided to take up running, she had hopes for a blissful runner’s high and immediate physical transformation. After eating three slices of toast with honey and spending ninety minutes creating the perfect playlist, she hit the streets—and failed spectacularly. The stories of her first runs turn on its head the common notion that we are all “born to run”—and exposes the truth about starting to run: it can be brutal. Running Like a Girl tells the story of getting beyond the brutal part, how Alexandra makes running a part of her life, and reaps the rewards: not just the obvious things, like weight loss, health, and glowing skin; but self-confidence and immeasurable daily pleasure, along with a new closeness to her father—a marathon runner—and her brother, with whom she ultimately runs her first marathon. But before her first marathon, she has to figure out the logistics of running: the intimidating questions from a young and arrogant sales assistant when she goes to buy her first running shoes, where to get decent bras for the larger bust, how not to freeze or get sunstroke, and what (and when) to eat before a run. She’s figured out what’s important (pockets) and what isn’t (appearance), and more. For any woman who has ever run, wanted to run, tried to run, or failed to run (even if just around the block), Heminsley’s funny, warm, and motivational personal journey from nonathlete extraordinaire to someone who has completed five marathons is inspiring, entertaining, practical, and fun.

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Women's Health

At once inspiring, hilarious, and honest, the new book from Alexandra Heminsley chronicles her endeavor to tackle a whole new element, and the ensuing challenges and joys of open water swimming. “It's a meditative act,” they said. But it was far from meditative for Alexandra Heminsley when yet another wave slammed into her face. It was survival. When she laced up her shoes in Running Like a Girl, all she had to do to become a runner was to get out there and run. But swimming was something else entirely. The water was all-consuming, confusing her every move, sabotaging every breath. Determined, Alexandra would learn to adapt, find new strengths, and learn to work with the water. She does not want to stand on the beach looking at the sea any longer. She wants to leap in.
In doing so she will learn not just how to accept herself, but how to accept what lay beyond. Soon, she will be able to see water, anywhere in the world and sense not fear but adventure. She will dive into water as she hopes to dive into life. And it has nothing to do with being “sporty” or being the correct shape for a swimsuit.
Open water swimming is currently one of the fastest growing sports in the world, and marathon swimming is the only sport where men and women do not race in separate categories. The water welcomes all who are willing and prepared to take part, and as Alexandra shows in her wondrous and funny book, not knowing how to do something is not necessarily a weakness―strength lies within the desire to learn. The time is now to leap in, and revel in what you thought was beyond you, discovering that it was only ever you holding you back.

Pegasus Books

'A treatise on empathy and grace in extraordinary circumstances' Jojo Moyes\n'Today I sat on a bench facing the sea, the one where I waited for L to be born, and sobbed my heart out. I don't know if I'll ever recover.'\nThis note was written on 9 November 2017. As the seagulls squawked overhead and the sun dipped into the sea, Alexandra Heminsley's world was turning inside out.\nShe'd just been told her then-husband was going to transition. The revelation threatened to shatter their brand new, still fragile, family.\nBut this vertiginous moment represented only the latest in a series of events that had left Alex feeling more and more dissociated from her own body, turning her into a seemingly unreliable narrator of her own reality.\nSome Body to Love is Alex's profoundly open-hearted memoir about losing her husband but gaining a best friend, and together bringing up a baby in a changing world. Its exploration of what it means to have a human body, to feel connected or severed from it, and how we might learn to accept our own, makes it a vital and inspiring contribution to some of the most complex and heated conversations of our times.\n'Insightful and wise, generous and kind' David Nicholls

Some Body to Love: A Family Story

Parenting & Relationships

Chatto&Windus

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Books by Heminsley, Alexandra