Women Sport Memoir

Normality is so over-rated. Boat life is better. In her debut memoir Narrow Margins, Marie Browne saved her family from financial ruin by moving her long-suffering husband, three children, and a dog on to a houseboat called Happy Go Lucky in search of a less stressful, alternative way of life. Now in Narrow Minds the family find themselves sucked back into normality, they’re pretty much back where they started: horrible house, no boat, and the kids are beginning to threaten mutiny.

Cathy has captured the drama of her Everest climbs, her passion for the challenge of climbing mountains, and her love for wild places in this story of her four attempts on the mountain. Cathy tries to answer the question of why, if climbing Everest can be so dangerous, people still want to do it.

As Ellie’s 50th birthday approaches and her ambitions of a steady income, a successful career and an ascent of Everest seem as far away as ever, she begins to doubt she’s capable of achieving anything at all. So when her best friend Mick suggests a gruelling cycle ride from Land’s End to John o’Groats, she takes up the challenge. They opt for the scenic route which takes them along cycle paths, towpaths and the back roads and byways of Britain, unable to resist sampling beers in the pubs they pass along the way.

While the household was buffeted by the coach's tumultuous firings and hirings, which periodically propelled the family to a new city, Jennifer dreamed of being the first female quarterback in the NFL. But as she grew, she yearned mostly to be someone that her father would notice. In a world where only football mattered, what could she strive for, who could she become?

The official autobiography from the Girls Aloud and Strictly Come Dancing star. In 2002 - along with Cheryl Cole, Nadine Coyle, Sarah Harding and Nicola Roberts - Kimberley Walsh won a place in the Popstars The Rivals band Girls Aloud, and her life changed forever. Ten years later, after six platinum albums, twenty top-ten singles, a Brit Award, an entry in the Guinness Book of Records and a triumphant sell-out reunion tour, the girls have decided to go their separate ways.

An intense and inspiring story of sporting triumph, from World, Commonwealth and National racing champion and Olympic silver medalist Lizzie Armitstead. On the eve of the 2016 Olympic Games, the biggest moment of her life, Lizzie Armitstead's career was throw n into turmoil. After being cleared to ride the Games at the final hour following a successful court appeal to overturn an alleged missed drugs test, the ensuing leak and backlash threatened to engulf her.

Aim High reveals what has motivated Dame Tanni Grey Thompson, the UK's leading wheelchair athlete, through the highs and lows of her outstanding career. Her triumphs, which include winning 16 medals, 11 of which are gold, countless European titles, six London Marathons and over 30 world records, have catapulted this Welsh wheelchair athlete firmly into the public consciousness.

In Life as I Know It, Michelle Payne tells her deeply moving story. It will lift your spirits, stir your heart and give you courage. Michelle was six months old, the youngest of eleven children, when the family was hit with the tragic death of their mother, Mary. Their father, Paddy, a renowned horseman, raised his children alone. As a family, they all took on the daily demands of racehorses and a dairy farm as well as school and work. Family meant everything.

Narrow Margins is the true story of one family's journey from the financial crash of the Rover car company to an alternative and better lifestyle. Faced with the loss of everything - the house, the cars, and more importantly, their rather lazy and indolent lifestyle - Marie Browne and her family took on the challenge of a whole new way of life. Strapped for cash, the family buy a decrepit 70ft barge called Happy Go Lucky which had been run as a floating hotel.

Named one of Time Magazine International's 30 most important people of 2005, Maud Fontenoy presents us with a terrific, entertaining adventure story on the high seas as she challenges the Pacific Ocean - a feat no woman before her ever accomplished. Already the first woman to row alone across the North Atlantic, Maud raised the bar to defy the elements, the daunting solitude, and the circling sharks of the South Pacific on her second solo voyage.

Voices From the Hills is a history of female participation in mountain running, a development that was fiercely resisted in its early years. Steve Chilton has researched his subject deeply, interviewing many female athletes whom he rightly describes as pioneers. Thanks to them, female participation has become accepted and followed avidly in all its aspects including the long distance, high ascent runs over ranges such as the Mamores and recognized challenges such as the Bob Graham Round.

When Betty Robinson assumed the starting position at the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam, she was participating in what was only her fourth-ever organized track meet. She crossed the finish line as a gold medalist and the fastest woman in the world. This improbable athletic phenom was an ordinary high school student, discovered running for a train in rural Illinois mere months before her Olympic debut. Amsterdam made her a star.

At the height of the Great Depression, Sam Babb, the charismatic basketball coach of tiny Oklahoma Presbyterian College, began dreaming. Like so many others, he wanted a reason to have hope. Traveling from farm to farm, he recruited talented, hardworking young women and offered them a chance at a better life: a free college education if they would come play for his basketball team, the Cardinals. Despite their fears of leaving home and the sacrifices faced by their families, the women followed Babb and his dream.

It's the 1970s, and the fight for women's rights is gaining speed. In the sports world, Billie Jean King is breaking gender barriers on the tennis court. Janet Guthrie doesn't consider herself a "women's libber," but to racing's good ol' boys, she's a threat. When Guthrie makes a bid for Indy in 1976, the other drivers slam her mercilessly, even suggesting she's really a man. Fans heckle her, hoping she'll crash. Guthrie smiles through the pain and qualifies for Indy in 1978.

Making My Pitch tells the story of Ila Jane Borders, who, despite formidable obstacles, became a Little League prodigy, MVP of her otherwise all-male middle school and high school teams, the first woman awarded a baseball scholarship, and the first to pitch and win a complete men’s collegiate game.

Documenting multiple challenges at every turn - as a target for racism from society at large and sexism both inside and outside of the Negro League - this is the unique story of the first woman to play professional baseball on a men's team, breaking barriers in sports while believing, "There's got to be a first in everything. Maybe it will be me." The text explains that as players began to leave the Negro League for major league teams, Toni Stone seized her only opportunity to play professional ball and replaced Henry Aaron on the Negro League's top team.

Mike Flynt was swapping stories with some old football buddies when he brought up the biggest regret of his life: getting kicked off the college team before his senior year. So, one of his pals said, "Why not do something about it?" Most 59-year-olds would have laughed. Flynt's only concern was his eligibility. He not only returned to college football, but actually made the team at his alma mater—Sul Ross State, an NCAA division III school.

In Unsinkable, you will follow Abby into the depths through a gripping and evocative firsthand account that starts prior to her departure, travels through her daring (and sometimes near-death) encounters on the open sea, to her dramatic rescue in the remotest part of the Indian Ocean. Today, when the most productive thing a teenager may do is play videogames, Abby's courage and tenacity shows us all what can happen when we choose to challenge our own limits, embrace faith, and aim for what our critics say is impossible.

In 2008, Lynn Barber's passion for birding led her to drive, fly, sail, walk, stalk, and sit in search of birds in 25 states and three provinces. Traveling more than 175,000 miles, she set a 21st century record at the time, second to only one other person in history. Over 272 days, Barber observed 723 species of birds in North America north of Mexico.

The inspirational story of the female motorsport pioneer who broke through the gender barrier to compete in and win some of the most iconic rallies in the world. Rosemary Smith is recognised internationally for her outstanding achievements in the world of motorsport. A female pioneer in a notoriously male-dominated sport, she drove in the Monte Carlo rally eight times, winning the Coupe des Dames on numerous occasions as well as competing in most other iconic rallies all over the world.