Pulling no punches
Hard-hitting and inspirational celebrity memoirs that will have you gripped from start
Fitter. Calmer. Stronger. by Ellie Goulding (Seven Dials, £18.99)
In the last 12 years, pop superstar Ellie Goulding has sold millions of records worldwide, won countless awards and performed at the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s wedding reception.
She has also become a mother – she and husband Caspar Jopling had a baby boy in April.
Exercise has always been a huge part of her life, which is why she’s decided to share her fitness and health philosophy in her debut book. Filled with upbeat advice, healthy recipes and interviews with fitness experts, it also charts her rise to fame.
Goulding writes movingly about growing up in Hereford. When money was tight, she clashed with her stepfather and there was tension, stress and anxiety in the household. Everything changed when she was spotted by a music producer, signed with a record label and saw her debut album top the UK charts in 2010.
At the height of her success, she suffered debilitating panic attacks – “My twenties felt like a combination of complete euphoria and utter terror,” she writes – but exercise and cognitive behavioural therapy helped.
Goulding is adamant that fitness is good for mental health and helps to alleviate stress. She unwinds by listening to classical music (not pop because she starts analysing the lyrics), running and boxing. She loves boxing so much that if she hadn’t become a singer she might have become a professional boxer.
Her honest and heartfelt guide will appeal to a wide audience. Fans will love the stunning photographs and personal anecdotes while fitness enthusiasts will find it motivating and refreshingly down to earth. Emma Lee-Potter
Television’s golden girl Michaela Coel was a standout star of 2020. Her groundbreaking BBC drama I May Destroy You explored the brutal aftermath of sexual assault and earned her legions of fans on both sides of the Atlantic. Misfits: A Personal Manifesto is her first book and it will not disappoint. The bulk of Misfits is based on the knockout MacTaggart Lecture Cohen delivered at the Edinburgh International Television Festival in 2018. In 43 years of the prestigious lecture, Coel was the first person of colour – and one of only five women – to grace the lectern. In characteristic style, she delivered a speech that drew gasps from the audience as she discussed the racism, misogyny and classism that she has battled during her career. For Coel, much of her identity stems from feeling like an outsider and she frames the book as a manifesto for anyone who has ever struggled to fit in. She writes of growing up on an East London council estate, surrounding herself with “a huge gang of beautiful misfits, who found the mainstream world unattractive”. That feeling of being a “beautiful misfit” has inspired some of her finest writing. At times, Misfits veers into niche territory that will be of little interest to people outside the TV industry but overall, Coel delivers powerful messages on race, gender and inclusion. As with her screenwriting, she deals with tough subject matter with wit and verve that pack a knockout punch.