Books

The Lost Boys: Inside Football's Slave Trade

From South America and Africa, kids as young as 13 are leaving poverty-stricken families for a new life in Europe, having been sold the vision of untold riches and the trappings of professional football. This is football's slave trade – the beautiful game turned ugly.

Talent-spotted by scouts, these kids are told they could be 'the next big thing'. But the reality is very different. Having spent their family's life savings to join a much-hyped academy, they soon discover the academies barely exist and that they have been exploited. Only a tiny percentage of the hopefuls are chosen just to be coached for the slim chance of a professional contract; the rest are abandoned. With no money to go home – let alone the confidence to face their heartbroken families – the Lost Boys find themselves stuck in the country they have been trafficked to, with crime often their only means of survival.

From the author of Bookie Gambler Fixer Spy (shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year award and Wisden Cricketer's Almanack 2013's book of the year), The Lost Boys exposes for the first time the anatomy of football's human-trafficking scandal, the extent of the abuse, and how it ruins lives and threatens the credibility of the sport. Hawkins gets under the fingernails of one of the most serious and heart-rending issues in sport today. 

Bookie Gambler Fixer Spy

'The most explosive book yet about corruption in cricket' Lawrence Booth, editor of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack

A startling and powerful journey to the very core of India's illegal bookmaking industry that exposes the scale of corruption and the match-fixing that now runs rife throughout world cricket. William Hill Sports Book of the Year 2013 (shortlist). Wisden Book of the Year 2013.

Sporting Chancer: one man's journey to take on the world

"Ed Hawkins, the raffish gambling "expert", if there is such a thing, and sometime contributor to this newspaper, has a book out. Shock news: it's not at all bad." --Evening Standard

"A hilarious solo journey of a dry-humoured Englishman trying to come to terms with the Australian psyche, out-of-control English cricket fans and the unique characteristics of the different places he visits whilst doing his best to reach his pre-trip target of betting winnings. This is a superb book and as ever with Ed, I'm anything but surprised." --Betfair 

Michael Holding: No Holding Back

As one of the fastest bowlers the world has seen, Michael Holding went by the haunting nickname 'Whispering Death', claiming 249 Test wickets. Despite having not laced his bowling boots since 1989, it remains a fitting sobriquet. As a commentator and administrator, Holding has delivered his views on cricket in the same manner that he played the game: he speaks softly with a rich Jamaican rhythm and is calculated in either criticism or compliment. NO HOLDING BACK charts his effortless transition from one of the great players to one of the great pundits.