The Reluctant Carer

It's the wisest, funniest, bravest and most essential life story I've read. I bloody love this book. -- Frank Cottrell-Boyce An astonishing and crucial memoir exploring the outer limits of familial love. The Reluctant Carer recounts a personal nightmare any of us could face with humour, heart and total honesty, asking vital questions of elderly care, where we're at now, and where, one day, we will all be. How it's as funny as it is moving is beyond me. I loved this book -- <span>David</span><span> </span><span>Whitehouse, author of</span><span> </span><i>About A Son</i> Incredible. One of those rare books that should be dispensed on prescription to every household - captures the full glossary of emotion that goes with this role. -- Lucy Easthope, author of <i>When the Dust Settles</i> I absolutely loved this book. Moving and real, as well as splutter-your-tea funny, it's a clear-eyed, intimate description of what old age is really like, and what it's like trying to care for the old. It knocked me sideways. -- Miranda Sawyer As funny as it is moving and poetic, The Reluctant Carer marries the forensic honesty of Karl Ove Knausgaard with the dry wit of Alan Bennett, and is every bit as good as that sounds. -- Will Storr, author of <i>The Science of Storytelling</i> Compellingly written, addictive to read, The Reluctant Carer turns the demands of compassion into dark farce. Hilarious, bitter, poignant and profound, this is the human condition laid brilliantly bare, like an existential soap opera - only with more laughs. The author relays the trauma of ageing parents - and the decisions so many of us have to face - with honesty, empathy, and absolute integrity. This is the funniest, most touching book I've read in years; it will, quite frankly, break your heart. -- <span>Philip</span><span> </span><span>Hoare, author of <i>Leviathan</i></span>