The Best Books of 2022: Biography

Spanning 75 years of the celebrated espionage novelist's eventful life - and covering topics as wide-ranging as his relationship with his fraudulent father and his observations on leading political figures - this enthralling collection of John le Carré's letters reveals a playful, intelligent and unfailingly eloquent individual.

In her inspiring follow-up to Becoming, former First Lady Michelle Obama shares practical wisdom and powerful strategies for staying hopeful and balanced in today's highly uncertain world.

Inspiring and engaging, the long-awaited memoir from the revered children's and YA author and former Waterstones Children's Laureate chronicles a childhood marked by both a voracious love of reading and the casual racism of the era, as well as a hard-fought journey to become one of the most important authors of the twenty-first century.

The celebrated author of Norwegian Wood, 1Q84 and What I Talk About When I Talk About Running presents his musings on the peculiar profession of the novelist, discussing his own creative process as well as the role of novelists in society in characteristically luminous prose.

From the splendour of royal palaces to the jungle of Mustique, the bestselling author of Lady in Waiting charts her fascinating life and the hard-won lessons learnt in diplomacy, marriage and motherhood.

From the singular pen of the incomparable Alan Bennett comes a drily witty and endlessly charming diary of life in and out of lockdown, running the gamut from park bench encounters to haircuts to Boris Johnson.

Bragg's first ever memoir reveals the working-class Cumbrian lad's path to an Oxford scholarship, whilst also tenderly evoking the close-knit community of his youth and its memorable characters as one era of tradition collapsed into another of opportunity and freedom.

From chairing Question Time for a quarter of a century to being the voice of countless historic events, David Dimbleby is one of the nation's most beloved figures, and Keep Talking is his witty, illuminating and uninhibited account of a life spent at the heart of broadcasting.

Reissued in a boldly designed new hardback edition, the intensely powerful memoir of political activist Angela Davis is a touchstone of the Black Liberation movement and packed full of incredible first-hand accounts of key events.

Following the Booker prize-winner from 1940's Manchester through a succession of dead-end jobs and bizarre teaching gigs, Mother's Boy is the hilarious and heartwarming story of how Howard Jacobson became an author.

Exploring notions of love, health and acceptance, the nurse and author of The Courage to Care takes a rueful look at mid-life and all the messiness, madness and magic that go with it.

Compiled by Suzannah Worth from notes left by her late mother, these wonderfully evocative stories transport readers back to London's East End in the 1950s and form a very special coda to the immensely popular Call the Midwife series.

The acclaimed biographer, historian and novelist A.N. Wilson delivers a startlingly honest and characteristically witty memoir of his youth, populated by a rich cast of characters from royalty to Oxford dons to journalists.

The mighty American humourist follows up Calypso with another hilarious and wryly perceptive collection of personal essays to entertain and enlighten.

The bookshop veteran and author of The Diary of a Bookseller returns with more esoteric anecdotes and eccentric vignettes from his literary emporium.

Saturated in glorious eccentricity, Darkshire's ruefully hilarious memoir of a bookselling life in one of the world's oldest antiquarian bookshops revels in its charmingly skewed anecdotes and cast of unforgettable bibliophile lunatics.

The inspiring story of a truly romantic endeavour, Donati's chronicle of how she brought bookselling to a tiny Tuscan village abounds in local charm and memorable characters.

A very funny, very intimate odyssey around the bookshops of the United Kingdom, this delightful volume from the popular comedian and author of The Importance of Being Interested is a celebration of these special spaces and the magic of the bookloving community.

The medic and author of the mega-selling This is Going to Hurt reflects on what happened after he left the NHS frontline in this characteristically sardonic and laugh-out-loud follow-up destined to become a modern classic.

The Secret Barrister returns, this time mixing memoir with jaw-dropping revelation as they chronicle their path from the Bar to Inns of Court and beyond, spotlighting as ever the shocking injustices within the justice system.

Written in profoundly moving and insightful prose, poet Michael Pedersen's tribute to the Frightened Rabbit frontman who took his own life in 2018 doubles as a poignant meditation on all male friendships.

Liptrot follows up the Wainwright Prize-winning nature classic The Outrun with an intensely intimate and erotically charged account of her time looking for love in Berlin that interweaves observations about the city's wildlife with her own compelling narrative.

The groundbreaking first Black editor of British Vogue tells his story from working-class outsider to the apex of the fashion industry and how he has always championed inclusion and representation in the worlds of design and photography.

Profoundly affecting and powerful, the Coe brothers' joint memoir documents the steady rebuilding of their sibling relationship after Manni takes the struggling Reuben out of his care home and they set up home together in the countryside.

Actor and writer Rob Delaney’s profoundly moving memoir about losing his son Henry to a brain tumour is an honest, graceful account of a harrowing experience and a solace to those who have faced devastation.

The author of My Wild and Sleepless Nights delivers an intensely powerful, unflinching and reflective account of the first year after her sister's death from breast cancer.

Both a warm-hearted and wryly funny memoir of growing up in a Chinese takeaway and a sobering account of racism and otherness in contemporary Britain, the revealing autobiography from the Time Out London food and drink writer is suffused with love for Hui's culinary heritage and East Asian traditions.

Poignant and heartbreaking but resolutely unwilling to rely on sentimental platitudes, Morgan's memoir about a tragic change in her family circustances is a profoundly powerful and perceptive read on love, grief and the eternal promise of hope.

A sublimely written account of refusing to be defined by social constructs and embracing life-enhancing change, The Cure for Sleep is a poignant and inspiring slice of literary memoir.

From the Boxing Day tsunami to the Covid-19 pandemic, Lucy Easthope has worked on the frontline in the wake of numerous disasters over the past two decades and in this inspiring and unflinching memoir she recounts a life spent confronting other people's trauma and helping them to move forward.

Deftly blending self-help manual with memoir, Baek Sehee's wryly witty and perceptive book documents her psychiatric sessions over a twelve-week period and how disentangling the causes of depression and anxiety can be such a complex, contradictory process.

Throwing open the vibrant underbelly of the City of Light in all its depraved, degenerate and dangerously addictive magnificence, Chisholm's account of his time spent as a Parisian waiter abounds in electrifying anecdote and jaw-dropping revelations.

Drawing on records of conversations and meetings the author and raconteur had with Elizabeth II, Brandreth delivers a moving, intimate portrait of the much-missed monarch, laced with his trademark gentle humour and unfailing eloquence.

The celebrated royal biographer and author of Queen of the World delivers the definitive account of Elizabeth II's record-breaking tenure as British monarch, highlighting her inspirational commitment to duty and embodiment of the very best of British values.

Perfect reading for fans of Ma'am Darling, this rollicking biography of the Queen Mother is comprised of 101 sparkling vignettes that showcase her ready wit and wisdom.

Penned by one of the people who knew him best, this official biography of the storytelling genius that was Terry Pratchett draws on both Pratchett's own unpublished notes and interviews from close friends and family to create a resounding tribute to a unique literary talent.

A superlative biography of the Queen of Crime from one of our most noted historians, Worsley's page-turning volume emphasises not just Christie's unique gifts as a storyteller but her pioneering qualities as a determined, successful and thoroughly modern woman.

A multi-faceted biography of a complex creative maverick, Dennison's concise life of Roald Dahl examines many sources anew to create the definitive portrait of the beloved children's author.

One of the finest children's writers of her generation turns her attention to the rambunctious life of notorious metaphysical poet John Donne, chronicling his misadventures, myriad occupations and jaw-dropping exploits with gusto, pace and thrilling immediacy.

Fearlessly honest, insightful and revelatory, The Secret Heart paints a never-before-seen picture of spy fiction’s greatest writer and the long-standing secret love affair the author Suleika Dawson had with him.

With wit, originality and daring, the author of High Fidelity brings together two prolific geniuses from radically different eras in a fascinating and persuasive extended essay on the nature of art, creativity and celebrity status.

From the author of the bestselling The Invention of Nature comes a riveting group biography of the Jena Set - the collective of pioneering artists and intellectuals who kickstarted the Romantic movement and fundamentally changed the course of European culture and society.

The definitive account of a truly eventful life, Clements' brilliantly structured biography of the beloved travel writer, foreign correspondent and transgender pioneer abounds in incident, anecdote and perceptive analysis.

Written in Dyer's distinctive, quixotic prose, The Last Days of Roger Federer takes the great tennis player's twilight years as a jumping off point to explore late flowerings of artistic and intellectual genius and asks what really defines the final segment of a long-lived career.

Encompassing both the frivolity and pioneering changes of Oxford University between the wars, Dunn's immersive account of the educational establishment immortalised in Brideshead Revisited is packed full of evocative anecdote and dramatic foreboding.

Charting the fascinating life and extraordinary achievements of one of the most famous Black Victorian Britons, Helen Rappaport's deeply-researched biography pays long-due tribute to Mary Seacole, as well as busting myths surrounding her life.

Casting light on the progressive attitudes of liberation, equality and inclusivity forged by the 1920s incarnation of the Bloomsbury set, Strachey's colourful group biography highlights fascinating figures from novelist Eddy Sackville-West to writer Julia Strachey.

Charting the life and legacy of the mercurial Austrian novelist and journalist Joseph Roth, this engrossing biography traces the development of his literary genius through a life darkened by tragedy and haunted by a never-ending search for belonging.