Necklace: 13 Women, 1 Diamond Necklace and a Fabulous Idea

Cheryl Jarvis

HarperTrue

An inspiring true story of a life devoted to helping Downs children.Alex Bell is a 53 year old woman who lives in Swinton, on the outskirts of Manchester. She is feisty, funny with a real firecracker of a personality. She has needed that strength of character for Alex is the adoptive mother of 8 children with Downs Syndrome or other disabilities, children who some parts of society would perhaps prefer to forget.Age 28 and unmarried, Alex adopted her first Downs child, Matthew - and became one of the first people in the UK to be approved for adoption as a single woman. Amazingly, she went on to take eight more children under her wing, Simon, Adrian, Nathan, Andrew, Chloe, Tom, Emily and Callum. Some had been through a frustratingly bureaucratic care system, or moved from one foster parent to another. It sometimes seemed an impossible challenge, but Alex was determined to give these children stability, love and the best life possible.With her down-to-earth charm, Alex also brings together the families often torn apart by Downs. She encourages the birth families to get together - some of whom have sadly turned their backs on their son or daughter, but others have now long been happily involved in their children's lives.The nine children each have unique, sometimes heartbreaking stories, but they are also the most joyful, compelling and fascinating children you're ever likely to meet:* Happy-to-lucky Matthew, 24, who takes people on tours of Man. Utd - the only Downs child to be given such a privileged position, and testament to Alex's care* Adrian, the family timekeeper and numbers wiz, as if born with a clock inside his brain* Chloe, the lovable, mischievous scamp known as Little Miss DynamitePrepare to be amazed, moved and entranced by this powerful true story that will change the way we all look at disabilities. Alex believes special needs children are 'gifts', and spending any time with her it becomes obvious that she also has a very special gift of her own.

Mother Like Alex: One Defiant Woman, Nine Special Children

Politics & Social Sciences

Bernard Clark

Politics & Government

The remarkable story of Endal, voted 'Dog of the Millennium', and how, through his remarkable skills, companionship and unstinting devotion, he gave Allen Parton a reason to live again

Endal: How one extraordinary dog brought a family back from the brink

Biographies & Memoirs

Parton, Allen

Parton, Sandra

Community & Culture

Just a Little Run Around the World: 5 Years, 3 Packs of Wolves and 53 Pairs of Shoes

After her husband died of cancer, 57-year-old Rosie set off to run around the world, raising money in memory of the man she loved. Followed by wolves, knocked down by a bus, confronted by bears, chased by a naked man with a gun and stranded with severe frostbite, Rosie's breathtaking 20,000-mile solo journey is as gripping as it is inspiring. Rosie's solo run around the world started out of sorrow and heartache and a wish to turn something around. Heartbroken when she lost her husband to cancer, Rosie set off from Wales with nothing but a small backpack of food and equipment, and funded by the rent from her little cottage. So began her epic 5-year journey that would take her 20,000 miles around the world, crossing Europe, Russia, Asia, Alaska, North America, Greenland, Iceland, and back into the UK. On a good day she'd run 30 miles, on a bad day she'd only manage 500 yards, digging herself out of the snow at -62 degrees C, moving her cart inches at a time. Every inch, every mile, was a triumph, a celebration of life, and 53 pairs of shoes later Rosie arrived home to jubilant crowds in Tenby, Wales. Rosie's incredible story is a mesmerizing page-turner of the run of her life. It will wake up the sleeping adventurer in you; it will inspire hope, courage and determination in you; but most of all it will convince you to live your life to the full and make every day count.

Swale Pope, Rosie

Religion & Spirituality

On a Saturday morning in May 1980, Melanie Bowen, a pretty fifteen year old, ran down the stairs of her parents' home in Port Talbot, grabbed her leather jacket and crash helmet, yelled a goodbye, and then walked out of the front door into the sunshine for what was to be the last time in her life. Never Say Die is the true story of what followed. Since the motorcycle crash that left her paralyzed from the chest down, Melanie's life has been one of extremes. On the down side, she has endured 5 horrific months of despair and indignity in rehabilitation, undergone a colostomy at 23, been in another serious car crash, suffered syringomyelia and the terrifying prospect of full quadriplegia, been diagnosed with breast cancer and had broken several bones. On the plus side, however, she's won medals in athletics for Wales, been humbled and inspired by Falklands veterans at RAF Chessington, raised thousands for charity, become a major disability poster girl in America, dabbled with the film world and been screen tested for a movie, met the Queen, and set up her own rehabilitation charity, whose patrons include the acclaimed actor Michael Sheen, Dame Tanni Grey Thompson, and former Welsh Rugby captain, Gwyn Jones. She has also, against all the odds, found lasting happiness, fallen in love, and married the surgeon who 25 years earlier told her she would never walk again.

Never Say Die

Barrett-Lee, Lynne

Davies, Melanie

An inspiring and searingly honest memoir of how one woman had the strength and courage to change her life. Sylvia Harris was homeless, her children had been taken from her, and she was using crack cocaine. She is also a manic depressive. Now she's a prize-winning jockey with the world at her feet. Alcohol. Lithium. Buddhist chanting. To quiet the voices in her mind, Sylvia Harris tried all of the above. At times, her manic behavior led her to dress up as a cowgirl and show off her imaginary rope skills in the middle of a quaint Northern California village, or spend the night in a torpor of fear awaiting the alien invasion she knew was on the horizon. At its worst, it led her to look for love in all the wrong places and create a family she had difficulty caring for. Although she sometimes found temporary relief and brief moments of calm, darkness always followed. At the nadir of her twenty-year battle with bipolar depression, Harris found salvation in the most unlikely of places: Cardin

Long Shot: My Bipolar Life and the Horses Who Saved Me

Harris, Sylvia

The moving and inspirational true story of one little girl's battle against the medical odds and a mother's unwavering love for her daughter.
'If I could have any wish it wouldn't be a part in High School Musical. I'd like to live just one day without having to rest when my heart gets tired: I'd just waste my energy, doing stuff with friends. But I can't and feeling unhappy about it is a waste of time. Being happy gives me energy - so much so that sometimes I want to do a cartwheel even though I can't actually manage it. My decision wasn't about dying. It's about living.'
When her daughter Hannah was only four years old, Kirsty Jones received the news that no mother ever wants to hear. Her little girl had leukaemia. But Kirsty knew that Hannah was a fighter, and after gruelling chemotheraphy she beat the disease. But there was more trauma to come: the chemotherapy drugs had damaged Hannah's heart.
At first, doctors hoped that Hannah's body would compensate for the damaged muscle, but when Hannah was only twelve her heart failed without warning. As her life hung in the balance, Doctors advised that Hannah's only chance of survival was a heart transplant, but the operation was very risky and the anti-rejection drugs might bring back the leukaemia.
Kirsty knew one thing: Hannah deserved to decide her own destiny. Wise beyond her years after learning to cope with so much, Hannah made her choice: she did not want the transplant. She'd had enough of hospitals and wanted to be at home with her family.
Then in July 2009, the right side of Hannah’s heart completely stopped working and her kidneys started to fail. Days later Hannah celebrated her 14th birthday – a milestone she was never expected to reach – and Hannah was ready to make a different choice. She agreed to have the transplant.
Now Kirsty and Hannah tell their unique story and, with wit and honesty, their interweaving voices describe how facing and overcoming death has taught them so much about living. Filled with wisdom and grace, tears and laughter, Hannah's Choice is about beating the odds and finding joy in each day.

Hannah’s Choice: A daughter's love for life. The mother who let her make the hardest decision of all.

Jones, Hannah

Jones, Kirsty

Professionals & Academics

They said it couldn't be done. But Anne Wafula achieved many remarkable things in her life. This is her incredible story.
Struck down with polio at the age of two and a half, Anne overcame the prejudice rife in her native village in Kenya, where neighbours believed she was cursed and called her a snake because of her disability, which left her paralysed below the waist.
Losing her mother at a tender age, and sent to a school far away from home, she achieved fantastic academic results, amidst the challenges of a military coup. She went to university and qualified as a teacher, and fell in love with a British man who truly valued her defiant spirit.
She moved from a world with no running water to make a life for herself in modern Britain. Where, against all odds, she bore a child, and went on to be the first East African to compete in her sport internationally. Anne is currently in further training, and will be representing Great Britain at the 2012 Paralympics, where she has been tipped as one of our top hundred hopefuls.
Meet Anne Wafula, a woman whose determination knows no bounds.

In My Dreams I Dance

Wafula-Strike, Anne

Arts & Literature

On August 27, 1979, Paul Burns' life changed forever. Traveling through Warren Point in Northern Ireland when the IRA detonated two massive bombs, he was involved in a devastating explosion—18 soldiers were killed that day; Paul was one of only two who survived. His story is a remarkable tale of one man's determination to make the most of his life against the odds.

A Fighting Spirit (My Story)

Burns, Paul

Debbie Purdy doesn't want to die. She has far too much to live for. But when the time comes, and the pain is so unbearable that she cannot go on, she wants her husband to be by her side, holding her hand until the end; and she wants to know that he won't be arrested. Debbie Purdy—the face of Britain's right-to-die campaign—suffers from multiple sclerosis. She was diagnosed in 1995—barely a month after she met her now-husband, Omar Puente, in a bar in Singapore. Within weeks she flew back out to meet Omar and, despite her devastating diagnosis, their relationship grew, as together they traveled Asia doing all the things they loved. When Debbie's health left her no choice but to go back to the UK, Omar followed. They married in 1998. But since the death in 2002 of motor neuron disease sufferer Diane Pretty, who lost her legal battle to have her husband help her take her own life, there has been dark cloud on the horizon for Debbie. She is in pain all the time, with poor circulation, headaches, bed sores, and muscle cramps. Once or twice a week, she falls in the shower, presses her panic button and waits for complete strangers to come and help. People pity Debbie, saying she must feel undignified. She disagrees. The only thing she thinks is undignified is having no control over her life or death. When the pain becomes unbearable Debbie wants to be able to choose to end her life, surrounded by her loved ones. In England and Wales this is considered assisting suicide—a crime punishable by up to 14 years imprisonment. Debbie fears as a black foreigner Omar is more likely to face prosecution. All she wants is for the law to be clarified. Then she can make sure Omar never crosses the line. At the end of July 2009 Debbie's long fight was finally rewarded with a court ruling that the current lack of clarity is a violation of the right to a private and family life, and the Director of Public Prosecutions being ordered to issue clear guidance on when prosecutions can be brought in assisted suicide cases, bringing hope and reassurance thousands nationwide. Now, with passion and honesty, Debbie shares her unique story. Told with the joie-de-vivre and grace for which she has become known, Debbie describes her life and her battle.

It’s Not Because I Want to Die

Purdy, Debbie

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