Tim Adams – författare

Read a fan's eye view of one of tennis's most notorious stars, and an exploration into the idea of sporting obsession. The perfect nostalgic treat for any Wimbledon fan.The greatest sports stars characterise their times. They also help to tell us who we are. John McEnroe, at his best and worst, encapsulated the story of the eighties. His improvised quest for tennis perfection, and his inability to find a way to grow up, dramatised the volatile self-absorption of a generation. His matches were open therapy sessions, and they allowed us all to be armchair shrinks. Tim Adams sets out to explore what it might have meant to be John McEnroe during those times, and in his subsequent lives, and to define exactly what it is we want from our sporting heroes: how we require them to play out our own dramas; how the best of them provide an intensity that we can measure our own lives by. Talking to McEnroe, his friends and rivals, and drawing on a range of reference, he presents a book that is both a fan's-eye portrait of the most vivid player ever to pick up a racket, and an original study of the idea of sporting obsession.

For as long as she can remember, Alara Martin has had strange dreams about a beautiful, faraway world. They increase with intensity as she approaches her fifteenth birthday, and Alara has a hard time distinguishing them from reality. She thinks about them constantlyand wonders why no one else in her family experiences them.

After suffering from a particularly traumatic and vivid nightmare, Alara learns an astonishing truth from her parents: she is not their real daughter! Alara is devastated by the news and riddled with more questions than answers. Who are her real parents? Where does she belong? And why do these strange dreams plague her every night?

Alaras daily routine is interrupted by extraordinary landscapes, unbelievable creatures, and strange waking visions. Her search for answers will thrust her into the middle of a conflict for which she is completely unprepared. Can Alaras destiny really lie in the world of Malent? And how can Alara leave all that she loves in her current world for her true heritage? Desperate for help from anyone who will listen, Alara fights to uncover her real identity before its too late.