The Reluctant Carer

An irresistibly moving, funny and urgent memoir about the reality of caring for your parents, when you can barely care for yourself.

‘Hilarious, bitter, poignant and profound, this is the human condition laid brilliantly bare, like an existential soap opera – only with more laughs.‘ - Philip Hoare, author of Leviathan

It was the kind of phone call we all dread. Your elderly father has been admitted to hospital. He’s not well and he needs your help. Your mum is about to be left at home alone. She needs you too. The answer? Drop everything. Go. Help. The reality? Not so straightforward. Suddenly, you’re a kid again, stranded in the overheated house you grew up in. They need you 24/7, that much is obvious. And you want to help, of course you do. But soon your life starts to unravel almost as quickly as their health.

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It's the wisest, funniest, bravest and most essential life story I've read. I bloody love this book. -- Frank Cottrell-Boyce

Brave, unflinching and funny . . . This is a troubling but important read; an honest, warts and all glimpse into the reality of unpaid caring. It left me full of respect for those who care and seething that the system isn’t giving them the support and encouragement they so obviously need. -- Jan Carson ― The Irish Times

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 -- David Whitehouse, author of About A Son

Simultaneously delightfully funny and profoundly sad, the RC's book is a tonic that should be prescribed on the NHS for carers everywhere. ― TLS

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 When the Dust Settles

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 The Science of Storytelling

This is the funniest, most touching book I've read in years; it will, quite frankly, break your heart. -- Philip Hoare, author of Leviathan