Mark Hodkinson

Marianne Faithfull was the quintessential icon of the Swinging Sixties, with her long blonde hair, blue eyes, and mini skirts embodying the era's vibrant culture. Her high-profile relationship with Mick Jagger further cemented her status in the public eye. Born to an Austrian baroness and an English university professor, Marianne's life was nothing short of extraordinary. In Marianne Faithfull: As Years Go By, Mark Hodkinson offers a deeply researched and richly detailed portrait of her multifaceted journey, one that extends far beyond her association with the Rolling Stones. The biography explores her aristocratic lineage, convent school years, meteoric rise to fame, battles with addiction, and artistic evolution, from folk singer to punk icon and torch chanteuse. Based on over fifty interviews with family, former lovers, and close friends, Hodkinson seeks to uncover the woman behind the myth. Spanning decades of personal and artistic reinvention until her passing in 2025, As Years Go By captures Faithfull's remarkable resilience, adaptability and lasting influence.

Herbert Kenny, an army dispatch rider, was the first ally to push open the gates at Belsen Concentration Camp, in April 1945. He kept his story from the world until a chance correspondence with a trainee journalist brought it to light. Now, forty years on, that reporter is ready to share Herbert's incredible tale with the world. With unprecedented access to Herbert's diaries, letters and interviews, Mark Hodkinson brings to life the harrowing conditions of Bergen-Belsen and its eventual liberation. From the events leading up to its gruesome discovery, to the trauma Herbert faced and his abandonment in the aftermath, this is a testament to the power of one person in the face of unimaginable darkness. This is the tale of an ordinary man thrown into an extraordinary, life-changing situation. How can a person cope when they come face-to-face with history's darkest moment? Herbert Kenny was that man. This is his story.

Mark Hodkinson grew up among the terrace houses of Rochdale in a house with just one book. Today, Mark is an author, journalist and publisher. He still lives in Rochdale but is now surrounded by 3,500 titles, at the last count. No One Round Here Reads Tolstoy is his story of growing up a working-class lad during the 1970s and 1980s. It's about the schools, the music, the people - but pre-eminently and profoundly the books and authors that led the way and shaped his life. It's about a family who didn't see the point of reading, and a troubled grandad who taught Mark the power of stories. It's also a story of how writing and reading has changed over the last five decades.