A Sunday Times Best Book of 2025

A Guardian Best Sports Book 2025

A unique memoir from British cycling’s most fascinating competitor.

In the summer of 2020, sportswriter David Walsh invited Pippa York began a series of journeys following the Tour de France. A nostalgic voyage through the world’s most competitive bike race – for Walsh it was the chance to get to know the Tour’s most enigmatic riders. For York, it was a chance to revisit the race she had ridden eleven times as Robert Millar.

This book is the result – a unique and captivating sporting odyssey. The Escape blends the details of Pippa and David’s journeys with the iconic landmarks of the Tour de France to explore her early years in working-class Glasgow, her entry into competitive cycling, the psychological demands of the sport, and how they shaped her personality. It recounts her career highs and lows, life after racing, and her transition in her 40s.

Touching on doping, gender in sport, and the everyday magic of the Tour, The Escape is an unforgettable travelogue and a candid, one-of-a-kind memoir from one of cycling’s most enigmatic competitors.

THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
‘In his book Dear England: Lessons in Leadership, Gareth Southgate shows that he was much more than a football manager. He changed the culture of the England team – and the country' Sunday Times
‘A beautiful book … I really recommend it’ Rory Stewart
‘What is remarkable is the insight it offers into Southgate’s psychology and motivation: what sustained him through the darkest times and enabled him to become an exemplary leader’ The Times
‘Compelling, entertaining . . . Southgate articulated a moral vision that was beyond anything attempted by a generation of British politicians.' Guardian
‘A leadership manual’ Alastair Campbell
‘A tremendous book’ Chris Evans
‘Many of us find ourselves called upon to be leaders at some point in our lives. Whatever meaning leadership has for you, I hope the stories I tell in these pages may resonate with your own experiences, and may even offer you some guidance.'
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As England manager, in one of the highest profile roles in the country, Gareth Southgate forged a unique management style, combining calm empathy with mental resilience, and courageous integrity with strong accountability. His leadership at England propelled the men’s national team to its most sustained success in fifty years, reaching the 2018 Fifa World Cup semi-final, the 2022 quarter-final, and the Uefa Euro 2020 and 2024 finals. In the process, Southgate revitalised and reshaped the national team’s footballing identity.
In Dear England: Lessons in Leadership, Southgate reveals the defining moments that forged his leadership style, the principles that informed his biggest decisions, and the inner steel he developed that enabled him to perform under the most intense public scrutiny. Learn how to:

• Build resilience and define values

• Transform culture

• Shape a winning strategy

• Turn pressure into performance

• Lead through adversity

Southgate reflects on his early days as a Premier League captain, his lowest moment missing a penalty during Euro 96, through to his experiences guiding England through four major tournaments, and becoming a cultural figure whose open letter during the Covid-19 pandemic inspired a hit West End play. Southgate’s story is one of overcoming setbacks, building quiet resolve and enacting long-lasting change.

Written with warmth, honesty and wisdom, Southgate’s inspiring book transcends football to offer modern-day leadership lessons for any individual, team or organisation

'So much more than a book about football. A book about aging, community and memory. Rich in detail and great jokes. I wish I had written it.'
– Josh Widdicombe

'Mesmerising and unputdownable, like Fever Pitch meets The Sportswriter. I commend it in the highest terms.'
– Amol Rajan

From the Sunday Times bestselling author of It's Always Summer Somewhere comes a moving and often hilarious journey through the 2024/25 FA Cup – from the first muddy preliminary round in Penrith to
a glorious sunny day at Wembley.

On the brink of turning 40, Felix White sets out to watch a match from every round of the Cup, meeting fans, players and dreamers at every level of the English game. As he travels the country, football becomes a way to explore memory, identity, grief and joy. While he reflects on his own lifelong obsessions, his story becomes a unique expression of how the game communicates something vital, both literal and internal, between a child and an adult.

Told with lyrical wit and heartfelt honesty, Whatever Will Be, Will Be is more than just a story about football – it's about growing up, holding on and the strange ways sport connects us all.

*Fully Revised and Updated to Include the Road to the 2026 World Cup*

*Written by the European Football Writer of the Year and the Chief Football Correspondent at the Sunday Times*

Under the stewardship of Gareth Southgate and captained by Harry Kane, a cultural transformation saw England reach two finals, a semi-final and a quarter-final in four tournaments. Now, with Thomas Tuchel at the helm, the team and its playing style has evolved once more. After years of intricate planning and preparation, they come into the 2026 World Cup as genuine contenders with a star-studded squad that's the envy of the world. How did we get here?

Inside England: Behind the Scenes of the Three Lions' World Cup Dream charts the progress from Gareth Southgate's appointment, including the dizzying highs and the near-misses of his tenure, the fallout post-Euro 2024, the FA's search for a successor and how Thomas Tuchel shaped a team in his image. Bestselling and award-winning football writers Jonathan Northcroft and Rob Draper have had extraordinary access to the England team during both manager's reigns and take us behind the scenes of England's transformation over the last decade.

For the first time, this is the real story of England's evolution both on and off the pitch, revealing how Southgate and Tuchel inched the team ever closer to their ultimate dream: winning the World Cup.

Winner of the William Hill Sports Book Award
Featured in FourFourTwo's list of 'The 10 Best Football Books Ever'
Featured in Esquire's 'Best Sports Books Ever Written'

Throughout the world, football is a potent force in the lives of billions of people. Whether national, political or cultural identities, football is the medium through which the world's hopes and fears, passions and hatreds are expressed.

Simon Kuper travelled to twenty-two countries from South Africa and Italy to Russia and the USA to examine the way football has shaped them. At the same time, he tried to find out what lies behind each nation's distinctive style of play, from the carefree self-expression of the Brazilians to the anxious calculation of the Italians. During his journeys he met an extraordinary range of players, politicians and – of course – the fans themselves, all of whom revealed in their different ways the unique place football has in the life of the planet.

An enthralling account from Zak Brown, CEO of McLaren Racing, tackling life and leadership in the high-stakes world of F1.

‘The best leadership book I read this year’ INC.COM

‘Packed with life lessons, personal growth insights, and the management principles he relies on as he leads the team’ The MANUAL

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THE STORY AND SECRETS OF ZAK BROWN, LEADER OF MCLAREN: DOUBLE WINNERS OF BOTH THE 2025 CONSTRUCTORS’ CHAMPIONSHIP & DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP

McLaren Racing’s return to the top has gone hand in hand with a well-earned reputation for team harmony, fairness and loyalty.

Now Zak’s chosen to invite readers in to experience it for themselves, with all the honesty, conviction and good humour he has brought to leading one of the most storied teams in motorsport back to the front of the grid.

Seven Tenths of Second will take readers behind the scenes and into the paddock and boardroom to explore how the team has fought its way back to the top under Zak’s leadership, and shine a light on what it takes to succeed in a sport that constantly pushes the boundaries of technology, innovation and engineering.

Sharing stories and lessons acquired through a life in motorsport, Seven Tenths of a Second will offer unprecedented insights into life at McLaren Racing and beyond.

‘Many of us find ourselves called upon to be leaders at some point in our lives. Whatever meaning leadership has for you, I hope the stories I tell in these pages may resonate with your own experiences, and may even offer you some guidance.’

As England manager, in one of the highest profile roles in the country, Gareth Southgate forged a unique management style, combining calm empathy with mental resilience, and courageous integrity with strong accountability. His leadership at England propelled the men’s national team to its most sustained success in fifty years, reaching the 2018 Fifa World Cup semi-final, the 2022 quarter-final, and the Uefa Euro 2020 and 2024 finals. In the process, Southgate revitalised and reshaped the national team’s footballing identity.

In Dear England: Lessons in Leadership, Southgate reveals the defining moments that forged his leadership style, the principles that informed his biggest decisions, and the inner steel he developed that enabled him to perform under the most intense public scrutiny.

From his early days as a Premier League captain, to his lowest moment missing a penalty during Euro 96, from guiding England through four major tournaments, to becoming a cultural figure whose open letter during the Covid-19 pandemic inspired a hit West End play, Southgate’s story is one of overcoming setbacks, building quiet resolve and enacting long-lasting change.

Written with warmth, honesty and wisdom, Southgate’s inspiring book transcends football to offer modern-day leadership lessons for any individual, team or organisation.

Carlo Ancelotti has won domestic titles in all of Europe’s top five leagues, with teams including AC Milan, Juventus, Paris St Germain, Bayern Munich, Chelsea and Real Madrid.

Yet the accolade that truly sets him apart from his contemporaries is his track record in the Champions League. As a player, Ancelotti lifted the trophy twice; as a manager he brought Champions League glory to his teams a remarkable five times.

As he embarks on an exciting new era of his career as the manager of Brazil, Ancelotti reflects on his love of the world’s most sought-after title. The Dream is a rich football memoir that takes you inside the mind of a winner. From dreaming of the trophy as a child, to the key games, players and moments of each campaign, we build a unique sense of a great tactician at work, as well as an intimate portrait of club football’s greatest competition.

From the Jockey Club to Kentucky, from Royal Ascot to Belmont Park, high society and new money celebrated a horsebreeders’ bonanza as hundreds of millions of dollars were waged in the ultimate racing gamble. Horsetrader is the thrilling, compulsive story of the rise and spectacular crash of the Sport of Kings.

Robert Sangster was the man responsible for the boom. Together with Irishmen Vincent O’Brien, the world’s finest trainer, and stallion master John Magnier, Sangster undertook the revolutionary policy of buying ‘baby’ stallions – the world’s most expensive yearlings. And the man who could win at this game, they decided, was the man who bought them all. They sent prices through the roof in bidding wars fought with breathtaking daring. Top stallions became worth three times their weight in gold – the breeding rights to them became a licence to print money.

This book traces the gripping story of how Sangster and his little band of Irish horsemen ransacked the world’s most prestigious bloodstock auction, the Keeneland Sales in Kentucky. It witnesses too the terrible crash – the bankruptcies and the ruined thoroughbred farms. Written with the full co-operation of Sangster himself, Horsetrader is the inside track on an awesome bid to corner the thoroughbred market.