Maybe it’s because I too landed into a Carers role with my husband over 40 years now. Then my daughter. Being disabled myself it’s very hard at times and like this honest book that has been written I can relate to so many things, good, bad and the ugly. Picador has pre-empted non-fiction book The Reluctant Carer by an anonymous author whose recent article went viral.

I have a lot of time for that small downstairs bathroom. As a teenager, it was there that I first confronted my reflection having lost my virginity. And it was there, not long afterwards, that I watched the nascent stubble on my face appear to wave and ripple as I struggled with my first hit of LSD. I have found it useful to remember that one day, soon, there will be nothing to argue about and no one to argue with Trying to find time for yourself plus, a carer could feel isolated due to their life being so full on they are too tired to invest in anything else. Free time (if any) means flopping in a chair or bed! Takes less effort lolThat’s from my book https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/the-reluctant-carer/the-reluctant-carer/9781529029352 . But the more I reflect on Shakespeare, the clearer our scene on the bathroom floor becomes. 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 Your parents fight,” one of the neighbours says to me, sadly. No, I explain, that’s just them talking. Or maybe just one of them on the phone. The juxtaposition between years of caring – in which death is much in mind and was in my Dad’s case much discussed, especially by him (see book for details https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/the-reluctant-carer/the-reluctant-carer/9781529029352)

So now you know what’s a foot – and something of my father’s feet, perhaps. Use yours to visit an earthly bookshop if you like. My humour, of course, is a coping mechanism. It is a skill I learned largely from (and maybe for) my mother, and it is sad sometimes to see how she is now less able now to deploy it. There are moments in the ageing process, many moments in this house, when you have to accept that, while a person remains, the things you used to do with them, and even yesterday’s most mundane expectations, have absolutely gone. Diane in Nottinghamshire says, ‘In part a study of old age, frailty, ill health, wounds, hospitalisation, this book seems to me to be a remarkable insight into strength, endurance, heroism, family, friendship, identity, complexity and so much more. ‘It encompasses every twist and turn, high and low, success and failure, and every emotion including those we hardly dare to admit to. I couldn’t put it down!’

Jeff Bezos,” announces Dad admiringly, “richest man in the world!” He leans forward from the chair in which he will spend the rest of the day and perhaps his life and offers me the paper. I refuse it, saying “I know” and immediately dislike myself for doing so. Liam Appleby, in Tyne and Wear, says, ‘It was funny in places, moving in others and captured the full emotions throughout the journey of caring for someone. Truly a great book.’ Bosch, Hieronymus; An Angel Leading a Soul into Hell; Wellcome Library; http://www.artuk.org/artworks/an-angel-leading-a-soul-into-hell-125754