E-books

This ground-breaking book highlights an important part of Brighton and Hove's LGBT history from the 1950s and 1960s.

Backyard Brighton is a collection of photographs and reminiscences based on material gathered by Brighton Borough Council with the intention of creating a record of houses that were scheduled for demolition during the 1930s. Originally published in 1988, this was a seminal book for QueenSpark Books, produced in association with the Lewis Cohen Urban Studies Centre. [...]

Blighty Brighton is all about memories of Brighton during the First World War. Through an examination of personal recollections and ephemera such as posters, photographs, pictures, songs, it portrays a collective memory of the city. Photographs are central to this work; for example Brighton Museum, Preston Manor and Brighton Reference Library are all featured pictorially. This [...]

With nearly 300 years of history, twenty eight writers and artists, and fourteen fantastical tales featuring unheralded characters and true events from the city’s fascinating history, Brighton:The Graphic Novel is a unique collaborative collection. Featuring pioneering drag queens, doomed pleasure gardens, smugglers, arsonists, obsessed inventors, aspiring actors, corrupt policemen, cantankerous barbers, sea swimmers, hands of death and mysterious sea forces, the stories – complete with historical footnotes – will ensure that you never look at Brighton in the same way again... As Bryan Talbot, 2013 Costa Biography Award winner, says: "This is an original anthology of entertaining and intriguing tales, at times funny, chilling and poignant - a mixture of fact and fantasy, told in a wide and refreshing gamut of illustrative styles, but all firmly rooted in the history and culture of Brighton.”

This new ebook was first published in 1975 and was so popular that it quickly sold out. Brightonian, Daisy Noakes, tells her story from the age of fourteen, when she went into service. She gives us an insight into the life of a woman born and brought up in Brighton. Daisy documents – with humour - her inevitable trials and tribulations in the often physically demanding world that she inhabited during her working life. The autobiography covers her childhood, as one of a family of ten, living in Prince’s Road and Vere Road, and her working days in service in different parts of the town. This is a special insight into Daisy’s world and is a shining example of true grit and fortitude! You can buy copies of the books using Amazon Kindle, Google Play, the Apple store, and otherAndroid outlets - just go to your chosen website and search by title for the books.

First published in 1990, Brighton Behind the Front brings together a collection of Brighton World War Two photographs and reminiscences, documenting how ordinary people were affected by the war. This was a challenging time in British history, giving rise to moving accounts of individual lives set against a society undergoing profound changes. Using personal recollections, contemporary [...]

With tales of Indian soldiers recuperating at the Royal Pavilion, Suffragettes, paranormal legends, conscientious objectors and families torn apart by conflict, Brighton’s Graphic War is a graphic novel which focuses on the impact of World War One on home life. Created by 15 new young writers and artists, the book illustrates the huge social changes that [...]

Albert Paul was a retired carpenter who lived all his life in Brighton, and he describes in vivid detail the life of a boy brought up in poverty and his struggle against adversity. Poverty - Hardship but Happiness tells the story of a working class boy’s life in the years between 1903 and 1917, from [...]