Paula Byrne

She was Pym to friends. Miss Pym in her diaries. Sandra in seduction mode. Pymska at her most sophisticated. English novelist Barbara Pym's career was defined, in many senses, by rejection. Her first novel 'Some Tame Gazelle' was turned down by every publisher she sent it out in 1935, finally published only fifteen years later. Though she picked up a publisher from there and received modest praise, the publishing industry grew restless and her sales...

Since her death, people have got Jane Austen wrong. The real Jane - revealed in this landmark biography - was a less cosy, more spiky, more modern figure than she is usually imagined to be. Far from retelling a familiar story, Byrne's book uses new research and new techniques to give us Jane Austen for the 21st century.

A portrait of one of the most flamboyant women of the late 18th century. Mary Robinson was married, at age 14, to Thomas Robinson. His lifestyle soon landed the couple and their baby in debtor's prison, where Mary wrote her first book of poetry. On her release, she became one of the most popular actresses of her day.

'Kick' tells the story of the remarkable life of the vivicaious, clever - and forgotten - Kennedy sister, Kathleen, who charmed the English aristocracy and was almost erased from her family history.

Discovered in a Berlin cabaret in the roaring twenties, Madou is brought to the glamour of Los Angeles. She becomes a superstar of the silver screen. She takes important men and women into her bed. Hitler wants her to return to Germany and become the star of the Third Reich, but she is busy luxuriating in life as Hollywood's darling. But the cost of beauty is always high, for those who have it and those who live in its shadow. Madou's daughter knows...