Blog

Discover the best in WHSmith books & products with reviews and features below.

Filtered by Memoirs

Highways and Byways

Told with Jimmy’s signature verve and flair, and richly coloured by his distinctive voice and wit, Highways and Byways sees him sharing a 1970s Texas stage with a dream line-up of US musicians; flirting with disaster in a Hawaiian high-rise; discovering a life-changing cassette tape; unearthing shattering family secrets in Glasgow; encountering charismatic and not-so-endearing superstars, ghosts of the recent and distant past, superfan traffic cops and shady salesmen; and confronting his own mortality – while pondering the more amusing effects of hospital medication.

From Here to the Great Unknown: A Memoir

Born to an American myth and raised in the wilds of Graceland, Lisa Marie Presley tells her whole story for the first time in this raw, riveting, one-of-a-kind memoir faithfully completed by her daughter, Riley Keough.

We are the Stars

From day one of her wildly unconventional childhood, Gina Chick blazed her own trail, which led her to dance through the hidden world of ’90s Sydney nightlife into the arms of a conman. She fled to the wilderness to find healing, began a wondrous love affair with the deepest lessons life – and death – can offer, and found that all the answers are written in the wisdom of the body and the whirling silence of stars.

Because I’m Not Myself, You See

Ariane Beeston is a child protection worker and newly registered psychologist when she gives birth to her first child – and very quickly begins to experience scary breaks with reality. Out of fear and shame, she keeps her delusions and hallucinations secret, but as the months pass Ariane gets worse. Much worse. Finally admitted to a mother and baby psychiatric unit, the psychologist is forced to learn how to be the patient. With medication, the support of her husband, psychotherapy and, ultimately, time, Ariane rebuilds herself.

Safe Space

Honest and heartfelt, Safe Space is unapologetically angry and sincerely hopeful. Alyssa explores the challenges she has faced as an Asian-Australian and those that made her the advocate she is today. She also offers practical advice, both to those who are victims of racism and wish to add their voice to the discourse or deepen their connection to their cultural identities, and to allies who want learn more about how they can meaningfully show their support.

All the Beautiful Things You Love

In Ask Jules, Jules Robinson puts it all out on the page. She shares her personal experiences, expert tips, and empowering lessons on style, family, motherhood, self-love, wellbeing, manifesting and practising gratitude. Jules’s mission is to give you the tools you need to go after the life you’ve always dreamed of, and to feel good about yourself while you’re doing it – exactly as you are, right now.

Ask Jules

In Ask Jules, Jules Robinson puts it all out on the page. She shares her personal experiences, expert tips, and empowering lessons on style, family, motherhood, self-love, wellbeing, manifesting and practising gratitude. Jules’s mission is to give you the tools you need to go after the life you’ve always dreamed of, and to feel good about yourself while you’re doing it – exactly as you are, right now.

Your Time Starts Now

Julie Goodwin was catapulted into our hearts as the first-ever winner of MasterChef Australia. In many ways her win was unlikely. As a child Julie adored music and art, but her career began in youth work, including in a juvenile detention centre housing troubled boys and a toxic all-male staff. After her three sons were born, she and her husband started an IT business.

Run For Your Life

What started out as a great adventure turned into a terrifying nightmare when Nick Stride and his family were forced to flee for their lives from one of the richest, most powerful men in the world. Nick moved to Russia in 1998 to help build the British Embassy in Moscow, but ended up on the run with his wife and two children after leaking secrets from Vladimir Putin’s one-time deputy.

Hope

On a warm summer’s evening in February 2014, eleven-year-old Luke Batty was killed by his father at cricket practice. It was a horrific act of family violence that shocked Australia. The next morning, his mother Rosie bravely stood before the media. Her powerful and gut-wrenching words about family violence galvanised the nation and catapulted her into the spotlight. From that day on, Rosie Batty campaigned tirelessly to protect women and children, winning hearts and minds with her courage and compassion, singlehandedly changing the conversation around domestic violence in this country.

My Dream Time

I’m only in my mid-twenties, and some might think that’s young to write a memoir. Who does that, right? But for me and my team it’s always been important to reflect on every part of the journey, especially the end. In that context, the timing is perfect to share my story, from the first time I picked up a racquet as a 5-year-old girl in Ipswich to the night I packed up my tennis bag at Melbourne Park after winning the 2022 Australian Open. This book gives me a chance to look back at every moment of the 20 years in between, and to think carefully through the highs and lows, the work and the play, the smiles and the tears.

The Girl Who Fell From the Sky

When Emma Carey was twenty, she fell from 14,000 feet and survived. In The Girl Who Fell From the Sky Emma tells us the inspirational story of how, through one of her greatest tragedies, she found her truest self.

Stronger

A puddle of water on a highway changed Dinesh Palipana’s life forever. Halfway through medical school, Dinesh was involved in a catastrophic car accident that caused a cervical spinal cord injury. After his accident, his strength and determination saw him return to complete medical school – now with quadriplegia. Dinesh was the first quadriplegic medical intern in Queensland, and the second person with quadriplegia to graduate medical school in Australia.

The Jane Austen Remedy

By Ruth Wilson An uplifting and delightfully bookish memoir about an 89-year-old woman who reclaims her life by re-reading each of Jane Austen’s novels. As she approached the age of seventy, Ruth Wilson began to have recurring dreams about losing her voice. Unable to dismiss her feelings of unexplainable sadness, she made the radical decision…