You wouldn’t imagine what’s behind the smiling faces of some successful people on television. Trisha Goddard has been on the 7:30 Report, and Everybody in Australia, and now hosts a talk show in England. She was brought up in Tanzania and Surrey, and has had her fair share of difficulties, from childhood abuse, drug-use, depression and grief, to marriages that have fallen apart. But her autobiography is titled Trisha: As I Am (Pan, October), and currently she is about family, communication, and promoting understanding of mental health problems.

John Grogan is already known for Marley & Me, and now he brings us a follow-up memoir The Longest Trip Home (Hachette, November). It continues on themes of growing up, and getting to know your parents as an adult. It’s sure to have the universal appeal of his former story, which is being made into a film with Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston.

This article from Thorpe Bowker's Weekly Book Newsletter and Media Extra is reproduced by kind permission of Thorpe-Bowker, a division of R R Bowker LLC. © Copyright 2008, Thorpe-Bowker

Tags: john grogan, trisha goddard