{"title":"Emma Brockes","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"excellent-choice-book-emma-brockes-9781594206634","title":"An Excellent Choice","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49507074310417,"sku":"CIN1594206635G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51505857462545,"sku":"GOR009772270","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51695407104273,"sku":"CIN1594206635VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1594206635.jpg?v=1751088567"},{"product_id":"excellent-choice-book-emma-brockes-9780571327461","title":"An Excellent Choice","description":"I mumble 'I need to order some sperm'. The receptionist puts me through to a technician to see if what I want is available. 'Number?' says the man. I give him the reference for my sperm donor. There is a clacking of keys, followed by a short pause. Then with the smoothness of a sommelier fielding a wine order at dinner, he says 'An excellent choice'.  Emma Brockes is thirty-seven, lives alone, and wants children. She is in a relationship (good!) but they aren't doing the parenting together (weird!). Her partner, L, has her own child. Emma needs sperm, a doctor, and not to bankrupt herself before any child arrives. And that's just the beginning - there are a million choices to make when you are taking the untraditional route to motherhood.   Is she ready to be a single mother? Is there a way of talking about any of this honestly without being too defensive or too jolly?  Should the sperm donor be a writer like her, or someone with completely different talents (something equally interesting, just not too interesting ie. a mime artist)? Are high-waisted postnatal support pants essential or optional? What will her baby be to L? Will they be parallel parenting? Proximal parenting? Parenting in each other's general direction?  Brockes navigates these decisions against a background of uninvited opinion, scolding, and the general hysteria that always accompanies a woman's decision to have (or not have) children. With generous heart and humour, An Excellent Choice examines essential questions about motherhood and the modern family - and asks how and why so many women are choosing to solo parent.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49508787192081,"sku":"GOR010533395","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49546168205585,"sku":"GOR009375639","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50356490895633,"sku":"CIN057132746XG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/057132746X.jpg?v=1759230300"},{"product_id":"she-left-me-the-gun-book-emma-brockes-9780571275854","title":"She Left Me the Gun","description":"\"A beautiful, wise book. It deals with the some of the grimmest aspects of human experience, but it is also one of the most genuinely up-lifting works I have read in years. Emma Brockes' superb, clear-eyed narration is an object lesson for any aspiring memoir-writer. She Left Me the Gun deserves to become a classic.\" Zoe Heller  When Emma Brockes was ten years old, her mother said  'One day I will tell you the story of my life and you will be amazed.' Growing up in a tranquil English village, Emma knew very little of her mother's life before her. She knew Paula had grown up in South Africa and had seven siblings. She had been told stories about deadly snakes and hailstones the size of golf balls. There was mention, once, of a trial. But most of the past was a mystery.   When her mother dies of cancer, Emma - by then a successful journalist at the Guardian - is free to investigate the untold story. Her search begins in the Colindale library but then takes her to South Africa, to the extended family she has never met and their accounts of a childhood so different to her own. She encounters versions of the life her mother chose to leave behind - and realises what a gift her mother gave her.  Part investigation, part travelogue, part elegy, She Left Me the Gun is a gripping, funny and clear-eyed account of a writer's search for her mother's story.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49514023551249,"sku":"GOR005628019","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50493465657617,"sku":"GOR010810071","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":51136951681297,"sku":"NGR9780571275854","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51871592579345,"sku":"GOR005832080","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0571275850.jpg?v=1758968449"},{"product_id":"she-left-me-the-gun-book-emma-brockes-9780143125365","title":"She Left Me the Gun","description":"\u003cb\u003e\"One of those memoirs that remind you why you liked memoirs in the first place... It has the density of a very good novel... As you do with the best writers, you feel lucky to be in Ms. Brockes's company.\" --Dwight Garner, \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e A chilling work of psychological suspense and forensic memoir, \u003ci\u003eShe Left Me the Gun\u003c\/i\u003e is a tale of true transformation: the story of a young woman who reinvented herself so completely that her previous life seemed simply to vanish, and of a daughter who transcends her mother's fears and reclaims an abandoned past.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \"One day I will tell you the story of my life,\" promises Emma Brockes's mother, \"and you will be amazed.\" Brockes grew up hearing only pieces of her mother's past--stories of a rustic childhood in South Africa, glimpses of a bohemian youth in London--and yet knew that crucial facts were still in the dark. A mystery to her friends and family, Paula was clearly a strong, self-invented woman; glamorous, no-nonsense, and frequently out of place in their quaint English village. In awe of Paula's larger-than-life personality, Brockes never asked why her mother emigrated to England or why she never returned to South Africa; never questioned the source of her mother's strange fears or tremendous strengths.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Looking to unearth the truth after Paula's death, Brockes begins a dangerous journey into the land--and the life--her mother fled from years before. Brockes soon learns that Paula's father was a drunk megalomaniac who terrorized Paula and her seven half-siblings for years. After finally mustering the courage to take her father to court, Paula is horrified to see the malevolent man vindicated of all charges. As Brockes discovers, this crushing defeat left Paula with a choice: take her own life, or promise herself never to be intimidated or unhappy again. Ultimately she chooses life and happiness by booking one-way passage to London--but not before shooting her father five times, and failing to kill him. Smuggling the fateful gun through English customs would be Paula's first triumph in her new life.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eShe Left Me the Gun\u003c\/i\u003e carries Brockes to South Africa to meet her seven aunts and uncles, weighing their stories against her mother's silences. Brockes learns of the violent pathologies and racial propaganda in which her grandfather was inculcated, sees the mine shafts and train yards where he worked as an itinerant mechanic, and finds in buried government archives the court records proving his murder conviction years before he first married. Brockes also learns of the turncoat stepmother who may have perjured herself to save her husband, dooming Paula and her siblings to the machinations of their hated father.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Most of all, \u003ci\u003eShe Left Me the Gun\u003c\/i\u003e reveals how Paula reinvented herself to lead a full, happy life. As she follows her mother's footsteps back to South Africa, Brockes begins to find the wellsprings of her mother's strength, the tremendous endurance which allowed Paula to hide secrets from even her closest friends and family. But as the search through cherished letters and buried documents deepens, Brockes realizes with horror that her mother's great success as a parent was concealing her terrible past--and that unearthing these secrets threatens to undo her mother's work.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e A beguiling and unforgettable journey across generations and continents, \u003ci\u003eShe Left Me the Gun\u003c\/i\u003e chronicles Brockes's efforts to walk the knife-edge between understanding her mother's unspeakable traumas and embracing the happiness she chose for her daughter.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49530293649681,"sku":"GOR007381850","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50128362307857,"sku":"CIN0143125362VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50345000435985,"sku":"CIN0143125362G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50935131767057,"sku":"GOR014131468","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":53268635189521,"sku":"CIN0143125362A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0143125362.jpg?v=1751195531"},{"product_id":"she-left-me-the-gun-book-emma-brockes-9780571275823","title":"She Left Me the Gun","description":"When Emma Brockes was ten years old, her mother said 'One day I will tell you the story of my life and you will be amazed.' Growing up in a tranquil English village, Emma knew very little of her mother's life before her. She knew Paula had grown up in South Africa and had seven siblings. She had been told stories about deadly snakes and hailstones the size of golf balls. There was mention, once, of a trial. But most of the past was a mystery. When her mother dies of cancer, Emma - by then a successful journalist at the Guardian - is free to investigate the untold story.  Her search begins in the Colindale library but then takes her to South Africa, to the extended family she has never met and their accounts of a childhood so different to her own. She encounters versions of the life her mother chose to leave behind - and realises what a gift her mother gave her. Part investigation, part travelogue, part elegy, \"She Left Me the Gun\" is a gripping, funny and clear-eyed account of a writer's search for her mother's story.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49539472982289,"sku":"GOR005009053","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49543329906961,"sku":"GOR004688144","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52574383374609,"sku":"GOR012108183","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0571275826.jpg?v=1772275661"},{"product_id":"what-would-barbra-do-book-emma-brockes-9780552773188","title":"What Would Barbra Do?","description":"Film musicals: you either love them or they make you want to kill yourself slowly with plastic cutlery. 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Nothing has the power to lift your heart or turn your stomach like Howard Keel in fake sideburns singing \"Bless Your Beautiful Hide\" or Julie Andrews singing...well, just about anything. There are few situations where the question: What would Barbra do? doesn't have relevance in a world which is much better lived to a soundtrack of show-tunes. This is a book for people who know that: people don't tend to die in musicals, but those who do deserve it; true love waits long enough for an element of mistaken identity to be introduced (especially if one of the couple is a Nazi); and, women carry the show. Talented women wind up alone...But they have the consolation of the torch song, which in Hollywood musicals is more fulfilling than a husband.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49560931860753,"sku":"GOR002801902","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0593055144.jpg?v=1750943291"},{"product_id":"panic-joy-book-emma-brockes-9780571354801","title":"Panic \u0026 Joy","description":"Emma Brockes is thirty-seven, lives alone, and wants children. She is in a relationship (good!) but they aren't doing the parenting together (weird!). Emma needs sperm, a doctor, and not to bankrupt herself. And that's just the beginning - there are a million choices to make when taking the untraditional route to motherhood. Then there's the uninvited opinions, scolding and general hysteria that always accompanies a woman's decision to have (or not to have) children. With generous heart and humour, Panic \u0026amp; Joy examines essential questions about motherhood and the modern family.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49570087633169,"sku":"GOR010098419","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49730261025041,"sku":"NGR9780571354801","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50118808600849,"sku":"CIN0571354807G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51904103153937,"sku":"GOR014455320","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52591158296849,"sku":"NLS9780571354801","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52833209319697,"sku":"GOR012938094","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0571354807.jpg?v=1771502859"},{"product_id":"she-left-me-the-gun-book-emma-brockes-9780571275847","title":"She Left Me the Gun","description":"When Emma Brockes was ten years old, her mother said 'One day I will tell you the story of my life and you will be amazed.' 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Part investigation, part travelogue, part elegy, \"She Left Me the Gun\" is a gripping, funny and clear-eyed account of a writer's search for her mother's story.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49666285273361,"sku":"GOR005534305","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0571275842.jpg?v=1751359983"},{"product_id":"panic-and-joy-book-emma-brockes-9780143110316","title":"Panic and Joy","description":"\u003cb\u003eAn explosive and hilarious memoir about the exceptional and life-changing decision to conceive a child on one's own via assisted reproduction\u0026gt;\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e When British journalist, memoirist, and New York-transplant Emma Brockes decides to become pregnant, she quickly realizes that, being single, thirty-seven, and in the early stages of a same-sex relationship, she's going to have to be untraditional about it. 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With mordant wit and remarkable candor, Brockes shares the frustrations, embarrassments, surprises, and, finally, joys of her momentous and excellent choice.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":49915548631313,"sku":"CIN0143110314A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50345654223121,"sku":"CIN0143110314VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51701208744209,"sku":"CIN0143110314G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0143110314.jpg?v=1751195490"},{"product_id":"what-would-barbra-do-book-emma-brockes-9780061374647","title":"What Would Barbra Do?","description":"\u003cp\u003eEmma Brockes didn't always love musicals. 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