Hoax — what the fake news of the Enlightenment age tells us about misinformation today Madeleine Pelling’s vivid history of imposters across the 18th century explores the boundaries between reason and unreason

'The lesson we might learn from those 18th and early 19th-century stories is that, “Understanding the hoax relies not simply on spotting the lie, but on questioning why it thrives at all. Who does it serve?” '

A great @financialtimes.com review for #Hoax by @maddypelling.bsky.social, out 7th May.

Mary Beard offers a spirited defence of studying classics Her book aims to excavate the discipline from the layers of argument that surround it

In her new book, Mary Beard argues that if you want to understand the similarities and differences between the past and the present, the classical world provides an ideal arena

Typos, literary feuds and the ‘patron-demon’ of scribes In Rogues, Widows and Orphans, the Penguin editor Rebecca Lee collects the juiciest examples of bookish misadventures — from bizarre mistakes to backstage bust-ups

‘Delightfully impish book of behind-the-scenes literary mishaps'

A brilliant review for #RoguesWidowsAndOrphans by Rebecca Lee in @thetimes.com this weekend 📚

A rectangular graphic with a turquoise background. In the centre is the hardback book Hoax by Maddy Pelling. The Profile Books logo is in the bottom right-hand corner.

A ghost. A witch. A princess. This is a story of those who lie. And of those who choose to believe them.

Join @maddypelling.bsky.social and Anthony Delaney at @conwayhall.bsky.social as they discuss Madeleine's thrilling new history #Hoax.

📅 Thurs 7th May
🕖 7–8:30pm
🎟️ tinyurl.com/HoaxConwayHall

We are delighted that #TheseWildEnglish by Nicola Wilding has been chosen as the Bookseller's Book of the Month for July, describing it as an 'unforgettable memoir laid bare with love'.

Out this July, These Wild English is an impactful portrait of rural working-class life.

bsky.app/profile/prof...

A rectangular landscape graphic with a yellow background. On the left-hand side of the graphic is the hardback book Talking Classics by Mary Beard. To the right of this is text that reads, 'Ancient History's New Look'. Underneath this is the Profile Books logo.

Ancient history is for everyone ✨

@wmarybeard.bsky.social returns with #TalkingClassics, an entertaining collection of lively stories, curious facts and some juicy gossip to explain why ancient history still matters today.

OUT TODAY: tinyurl.com/TalkingClassicsMaryBeard

A rectangular landscape graphic with a yellow background. On the left-hand side is the hardback book Talking Classics by Mary Beard. To the right of the text are the words, 'Celebrate Mary Beard's Talking Classics with a free pain aux raisins and hot drink*. *While stocks last, Thursday 16th April only'. The graphic features the Maison Bertaux and Profile Books logos.

Get £4 off #TalkingClassics by @wmarybeard.bsky.social at Foyles Charing Cross Road when you pick up a flyer from Maison Bertaux TOMORROW – early customers also get a free pain aux raisins and hot drink!

While stocks last, Thurs 16th April only 🥐

Don't miss this exciting event with #EscapingBabylon author, Jesse Bernard, in conversation with Adèle Oliver at The Heath Bookshop!

📍 The Heath Bookshop
📅 Friday 17th April
🕖 7:45 - 8:45pm
🎟️ tinyurl.com/5n9ybrva

Hoax: A Ghost, a Witch and a Princess in the Age of Enlightenment - Conway Hall Here lies Fanny Lynes, who, after death, became the notorious scratching ghost of Cock Lane, London. Here swings Mary Bateman, the Yorkshire Witch and apocalyptic prophetess who died a murderer. Here ...

Don't miss this exciting event with #EscapingBabylon author, Jesse Bernard, in conversation with Adèle Oliver at The Heath Bookshop!

📍 The Heath Bookshop
📅 Friday 17th April
🕖 7:45 - 8:45pm
🎟️ tinyurl.com/5n9ybrva

The best books out in paperback in April 2026 From Benjamin Wood's spellbinding Booker nominee Seascraper to Harlan Coben and Reese Witherspoon's pacey thriller Gone Before Goodbye, here's our pick of 14 great new reads

Great to see #TheIllegals by @shaunwalker7.bsky.social included in the @theipaper.com's 'best books out in paperback in April 2026'!

'It is one of those gripping, real-life tales which reads like a spy thriller'

Read the full piece here:
tinyurl.com/mr2sdmwr

A rectangular landscape graphic with a yellow background. On the left-hand side is the hardback book Talking Classics by Mary Beard. To the right of the text are the words, 'Celebrate Mary Beard's Talking Classics with a free pain aux raisins and hot drink*. *While stocks last, Thursday 16th April only'. The graphic features the Maison Bertaux and Profile Books logos.

Mark your diaries!

There's just 1 week until we publish @wmarybeard.bsky.social's #TalkingClassics. To celebrate, we're partnering with Maison Bertaux (on Greek Street, no less!) to give early customers a free pain aux raisins and hot drink on publication day! While stocks last, 16th Apr only 🥐

Mary Beard: ‘If you could be buried somewhere like this f... The rock star scholar strolls through Cambridge’s graveyards while discussing what ancient Rome teaches us about Donald Trump, how a piece of bread sparked her love of history, and writing job referen...

'She is as happy reading Vogue as Virgil and brings her subject to life by making classics as much about gossip and graffiti as gladiators and grammar'

Take a walk with @wmarybeard.bsky.social, ahead of this week's publication of #TalkingClassics ⚡

A graphic with a dark blue background, featuring a photo of author Matthew Cobb and the cover of his book Crick: A Mind in Motion – from DNA to the Brain. The text on the graphic reads, 'Monday 4th May, Cidermill Theatre, 2pm. Literature Festival Chipping Campden 2026.' In the bottom left-hand corner is the following author bio: 'Matthew Cobb reveals the man who changed our view of life forever. Crick is the first major biography of one of the twentieth century's most exciting minds'. The Borzoi Bookshop logo is in the bottom right-hand corner.

Explore the life of renowned scientist Francis Crick with author @matthewcobb.bsky.social as he discusses his prize-winning biography #Crick at @chipcampdenlitfest.bsky.social. Details below!

📍 Cidermill Theatre, Chipping Campden
📅 Monday 4th May
🕑️ 2pm
🎟️ Via link: tinyurl.com/mwtd63yh

Today we publish #TheIllegals, a pacy, character-driven history of the KGB's deepest cover spies in the West, by @shaunwalker7.bsky.social in paperback.

'Absolutely fascinating' Andrew Marr

Order your copy here: profilebooks.com/work/the-ill...

A rectangular landscape graphic with a yellow background. On the left-hand side is the hardback book Talking Classics by Mary Beard. To the right of the text are the words, 'Celebrate Mary Beard's Talking Classics with a free pain aux raisins and hot drink*. *While stocks last, Thursday 16th April only'. The graphic features the Maison Bertaux and Profile Books logos.

Mark your diaries!

There's just 1 week until we publish @wmarybeard.bsky.social's #TalkingClassics. To celebrate, we're partnering with Maison Bertaux (on Greek Street, no less!) to give early customers a free pain aux raisins and hot drink on publication day! While stocks last, 16th Apr only 🥐

"My" Aphrodite (of course she's not "mine") is getting around. Talking Classics is published on 16 April & if you pre order from UK from Waterstones by then, you will be entered in the prize draw for a free trip to Pompeii + tour with me.

Last orders. Here are the final dates for my upcoming book tour (only a very few tickets left for Geog Soc and Penarth)..hope to see you

Looking forward to #HardStreets event tomorrow (Thurs 9 April) @ fab Cinema Museum (the old Lambeth workhouse). Doors open 6pm, Q&A + 1959 home movie of Chaplin visiting his childhood haunts in Lambeth & Southwark @ 7pm tix £5 tube 🐘 & 🏰 @profilebooks.bsky.social
cinemamuseum.org.uk/scheduled/bo...

A rectangular graphic with a turquoise background. In the centre is the hardback book Hoax by Maddy Pelling. The Profile Books logo is in the bottom right-hand corner.

It's just 1 month to go until you can join @maddypelling.bsky.social discussing her brilliant new book #Hoax: Truth and Lies in the Age of the Enlightenment with fellow History Hit presenter Anthony Delaney!

📍 @conwayhall.bsky.social
📅 Thurs 7th May
🕖 7–8:30pm
🎟️ tinyurl.com/HoaxConwayHall

How and Why did Sexual Reproduction Evolve on our Planet? With Dr Lixing Sun Podcast Episode · Intelligence Squared · 2 April · 36min

Before sex, all reproduction on the planet happened asexually. So why did sexual reproduction evolve?

Listen to @lixingsun.bsky.social on Intelligence Squared, talking the weird and wonderful science of reproduction and his book #OnTheOriginOfSex, out now 🧬

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/h...

BBC Audio | Start the Week | Zoos, sex and conservation Adam Rutherford on the origins of zoos and sex.

A fun chat with BBC's Adam Rutherford about the all-important or stupid question: why sex? Why male?

www.bbc.com/audio/play/m...

King of Sparta: Who Was Leonidas? Who was the real Leonidas from the movie 300? In this podcast episode of the Ancients with Dr Andrew Bayliss and Tristan Hughes, they uncover the ancient historical figure of King Leonidas. In 480…

⚡️ Lunchtime watching for history fans ⚡️

Catch up with historian and author of #Sparta Andrew Bayliss as he discusses the real Leonidas, made famous by the film 300, on The Ancients podcast with Tristan Hughes.

A rectangular, landscape graphic with a gold background. In the middle of the graphic is the hardback book Children of Abraham by Marc David Baer. Either side of the book is text that reads, 'An urgent, myth-free history of Muslim-Jewish relations from a Wolfson Prize-shortlisted author'. The Profile Books logo is at the bottom of the graphic.

'Fascinating and essential ... a revelatory picture of both coexistence and conflict of Muslims and Jews over a thousand years' – Simon Sebag Montefiore

#ChildrenOfAbraham by @marcdavidbaer1.bsky.social is out now!

tinyurl.com/Children-of-Abraham

Mary Beard: ‘I’ve annoyed people. It comes with the territory’ Britain’s most famous classicist on retiring from Cambridge, being a hands-off grandmother and why social media would be much better if we all studied the ancient world

'Beard was five when she fell for the ancients. Her mother ... had taken her from Much Wenlock, in Shropshire, to the British Museum to see the Egyptian collections...'

Don't miss @thetimes.com interview with @wmarybeard.bsky.social ahead of the publication of her new book #TalkingClassics.

Enough Said Signed Edition Prize Draw | Waterstones Discover our full range of books, gifts, toys, stationery and audiobooks at Waterstones.com. Click & Collect within 2 hours or buy online with Free UK Delivery on Orders Over £25.

To celebrate #EnoughSaid, Alan Bennett’s latest collection of diaries being an instant #1 Sunday Times bestseller, @waterstones.bsky.social is offering a special prize: the chance to win the only signed copy.

Order your copy before 12 April and you’ll be automatically entered: tinyurl.com/33vyjxva

Book review: Children of Abraham: The story of Jewish-Muslim relations by Marc David Baer Fitzroy Morrissey looks at relative levels of anti-Semitism in history

'Admirably even-handed'

A strong review of @marcdavidbaer1.bsky.social's history of Jewish-Muslim relations, #ChildrenOfAbraham, out today.

From the plague pit to grave-robbery, consecrated ground to the hangman's drop, cycles of death and dying are part of the fabric of our society.

A vibrant social history of death, #NoOrdinaryDeaths by @mollyconisbee.bsky.social is out today in paperback ☠️

profilebooks.com/work/no-ordi...

A graphic with a dark blue background, featuring a photo of author Matthew Cobb and the cover of his book Crick: A Mind in Motion – from DNA to the Brain. The text on the graphic reads, 'Monday 4th May, Cidermill Theatre, 2pm. Literature Festival Chipping Campden 2026.' In the bottom left-hand corner is the following author bio: 'Matthew Cobb reveals the man who changed our view of life forever. Crick is the first major biography of one of the twentieth century's most exciting minds'. The Borzoi Bookshop logo is in the bottom right-hand corner.

Discover the man behind the double-helix...

Join author of #Crick @matthewcobb.bsky.social at @chipcampdenlitfest.bsky.social festival next month. Details below!

📍 Cidermill Theatre, Chipping Campden
📅 Monday 4th May
🕑️ 2pm
🎟️ Via link: tinyurl.com/mwtd63yh

Cyberattacks are on the rise — here’s how to protect yourself In We Know You Can Pay a Million, Anja Shortland explains how criminals are making billions from ransomware

'Describes brilliantly the battle between hackers to prevent cyberattacks... the revelations are so good'

#WeKnowYouCanPayAMillion by Anja Shortland reviewed in The Times. This nail-biting expose of the multibillion-dollar hacking and industry is out tomorrow 💻

www.thetimes.com/culture/book...

Hugo Rifkind | Times Radio | The Times and the Sunday Times Listen to Times Radio live for the latest breaking news, expert analysis and well-informed discussion covering the biggest stories of the day.

Listen to @marcdavidbaer1.bsky.social discussing the history of Jewish-Muslim relations on Times Radio with Hugo Rifkind.

Baer's new book #ChildrenOfAbraham publishes this week.