An Extra Pair of Hands Synopsis
A deeply moving story of what it means to care for those we love - by bestselling author Kate Mosse, writer of Labyrinth and The City of Tears
As our population ages, more and more of us find ourselves caring for parents and loved ones - some 8.8 million people in the UK. An invisible army of carers holding families together.
Here, Kate Mosse tells her personal story of finding herself as a carer in middle age: first, helping her mother look after her beloved father through Parkinson's, then supporting her mother in widowhood, and finally as 'an extra pair of hands' for her 90-year-old mother-in-law.
This is a story about the gentle heroism of our carers, about small everyday acts of tenderness, and finding joy in times of crisis. It's about juggling priorities, mind-numbing repetition, about guilt and powerlessness, about grief, and the solace of nature when we're exhausted or at a loss. It is also about celebrating older people, about learning to live differently - and think differently about ageing.
But most of all, it's a story about love.
About This Edition
| ISBN: |
9781788162616 |
| Publication date: |
3rd June 2021 |
| Author: |
Kate Mosse |
| Publisher: |
Wellcome Collection an imprint of Profile Books Ltd |
| Format: |
Hardback |
| Pagination: |
208 pages |
| Primary Genre |
Biographies & Autobiographies
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| Other Genres: |
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Kate Mosse Press Reviews
A beautiful, emotional and timely read -- Matt Haig
I read it in one sitting, and will be pressing into the hands of everyone I know. A celebration of ageing, womanhood and what love really means -- Christie Watson
A beacon of light: full of candour, sorrow, joy, hard-won wisdom, and luminous with love -- Nicci Gerrard
A meditation on caring and ageing that lifts the spirits without pulling punches -- Ian Rankin
A beautiful, profoundly moving book about society's most vital glue - care -- Rachel Clarke
A brilliant read that celebrates both the fragility and resilience of human existence. It sheds light on various forms of humble, gentle heroism that often go unnoticed and remain untold. This is a profoundly moving book and although it deals with difficult subjects, including grief and caring for someone you love, it is ultimately uplifting, inspiring, a tribute to love -- Elif Shafak
This is a truly beautiful book, shot through with honesty, heartbreak and joy. I loved it -- Adam Kay
Honest, moving ... this book will be a huge help to both carers and the cared-for -- Deborah Moggach
So beautifully captures the joys, sorrows and privileges of caring for someone you love at the end of their life, as well as the deep grief of letting them go. It is the story of being a woman, of being the centre point of a family and all that entails. Mostly it is a story about what it means to love someone. A must read for anyone who has ever been, or ever will be, an extra pair of hands -- Penny Wincer
Care is hard work, but ... Kate Mosse reminds us also of how precious and deeply enriching this labour of love can be. Mosse is a wise guide to a complex territory of caring for ageing parents, and this is essential reading -- Madeleine Bunting
The power of this extraordinary memoir lies in Mosse's unsparing account of the personal costs of care-giving - and its deep and poignant joys. She writes about looking after her aged and ailing parents and her mother-in-law, the sadness of observing their increasing frailty, the moments of humour, connection and triumph and the recognition that the relationship between carer and recipient is not one-sided but multifaceted, mutual and shot through with love -- Catherine Meyer
Wonderful ... I was in tears, but the reading experience is ultimately uplifting and hopeful -- Cathy Rentzenbrink
This exploration of what it means to care for another person is both wide ranging and deeply personal, overflowing as it does with close observation and emotional wisdom, and told with wit, honesty and irresistible warmth. It celebrates both those who care, and those who grieve, as well as those who are cared for ... Books like this are like being held by the hand -- Rachel Joyce
Moving ... heartfelt ... questions how and why we fetishise independence when the reality of human experience is always interdependence. Here is a book that sees, in this, a cause for celebration -- Book of the Day - Guardian
A wise and kindly book, all the wiser for its honesty ... a heartfelt reminder of why people become carers -- Kate Saunders - Times
An incisive, profoundly humane blend of the personal and the political -- Gwendolyn Smith - The i
A moving, delicate portrait of her own time as a carer for her parents, including her Parkinson's-ravaged father. Having been through the same mill, I can honestly say that Mosse captures the experience, and the sense of powerlessness and heartbreak, with skill and tender precision -- Book of the Month, Martin Chilton - Independent
About Kate Mosse
Kate Mosse was our Guest Editor in November 2012 - click here - to see the books that inspired her writing.
Kate Mosse is a number one international bestselling novelist, playwright and non-fiction writer. The author of several novels and short-story collections – including the multimillion-selling Languedoc Trilogy (Labyrinth, Sepulchre and Citadel) and Gothic fiction The Winter Ghosts and The Taxidermist’s Daughter, which she is adapting for the stage – her books have been translated into thirty-seven languages and published in more than forty countries. She has also written four works of non-fiction – including An Extra Pair of Hands (Wellcome Collection, 2021) - four plays, contributed essays and introductions to classic novels and collections. A champion of women's creativity, Kate is the Founder Director of the Women’s Prize for Fiction and a regular interviewer for theatre and fiction events. She is the Founder of the global campaign - #WomanInHistory – launched in January 2021 to honour, celebrate and promote women’s achievements throughout history and from every corner of the world. Kate divides her time between Chichester in West Sussex and Carcassonne in south-west France. The first two novels in The Burning Chambers series, The Burning Chambers and The City of Tears, are out now.
Author photo © Roderick Field
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