The Reluctant Carer
Dispatches from the Edge of Life
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The Reluctant Carer
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Narrated by:
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William Andrews
About this listen
An irresistibly moving, funny and urgent memoir about the reality of caring for your parents, when you can barely care for yourself.
'Moving and real, as well as splutter-your-tea funny' – Miranda Sawyer
It was the kind of phone call we all dread. Your elderly father has been admitted to hospital. Your mum is about to be left at home alone. 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.
In between bouts of washing, feeding, cooking and fighting there are days that test you, days where everything goes wrong and days where everyone, miraculously rises to the occasion. And in between all of that, you learn how to care. But this time with feeling.
Irresistibly funny, unflinching and deeply moving, this is a love letter to family and friends, to carers and to anyone who has ever packed a small bag intent on staying for just a few days. This is a true story of what it really means to be a carer. This is The Reluctant Carer.
‘Hilarious, bitter, poignant and profound . . . like an existential soap opera – only with more laughs.‘ - Philip Hoare, author of Leviathan
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-
Story4 out of 5 stars 246
The real nightmare starts when her daughter is returned.... A bone-chilling psychological thriller that will suit fans of Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, Daughter by Jane Shemilt, and The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins. A girl is missing. Five years old, taken from outside her school. She has vanished, traceless. The police are at a loss; her parents are beyond grief. Their daughter is lost forever, perhaps dead, perhaps enslaved.
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2 out of 5 stars
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My feedback..2 overall
- By Haneet on 09-05-16
By: Alex Lake
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The Ninth Life of Louis Drax
- By: Liz Jensen
- Narrated by: Gerard Doyle, Jeff Woodman
- Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 161
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 139
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Story4 out of 5 stars 138
Nine-year-old Louis Drax lies in a coma in a hospital bed, re-living the events that led to his near-fatal fall into a ravine. Despite being attracted to the boy's mother Natalie Drax, Louis' doctor, Pascal Dannachet, begins reluctantly to question her version of Louis' accident and the apparent culpability of her missing husband. As the boy struggles to communicate from within his coma, the chilling truth emerges....
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3 out of 5 stars
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Intriguing, but easy to figure out
- By Stephanie on 07-12-16
By: Liz Jensen
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Flesh Wounds
- By: Richard Glover
- Narrated by: Richard Glover
- Length: 7 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 35
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 34
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 34
A mother who invented her past, a father who was often absent, a son who wondered if this could really be his family...Richard Glover's favourite dinner-party game is called 'Who's Got the Weirdest Parents?' It's a game he always thinks he'll win. There was his mother, a deluded snob who made up large swathes of her past and who ran away with Richard's English teacher, a Tolkien devotee, nudist and stuffed toy collector.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Such a Meaningful Reflection
- By Awarenessing on 11-28-15
By: Richard Glover
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The Darkness Within
- By: Lisa Stone
- Narrated by: Jilly Bond
- Length: 9 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 54
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 50
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Story4 out of 5 stars 51
A lorry crashes on a dark, wet road. In the wake of the tragedy, a dying man receives another chance at life - but does he really deserve it? And if he lives, will those around him wish he hadn't? When critically ill Jacob Wilson has a heart transplant, his behaviour becomes very strange. His worried parents and girlfriend try their best to understand his sudden mood swings, but as things worsen, they begin to live in terror of what they might find in their son's bedroom next - and as Jacob's personality morphs, so, too, do the lives of those around him....
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3 out of 5 stars
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Predictable
- By K. on 07-10-24
By: Lisa Stone
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Runaway Girl
- A Beautiful Girl. Trafficked for Sex. Is There Nowhere to Hide?
- By: Casey Watson
- Narrated by: Kate Lock
- Length: 10 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 65
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 58
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 59
Brought to Casey as a short-term emergency placement, 14-year-old Adrianna arrives with nothing but her gratitude. Having turned herself in to a social services office some 100 miles away, she has no possessions, no English and, apparently, no history - not that she's willing to share, anyway. She is a beautiful young Polish girl, with the bearing of a ballerina, but is terrified, malnourished and unwell.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Reader
- By Valerie Howard on 03-06-22
By: Casey Watson
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Hope and Other Luxuries
- A Mother’s Journey Through a Daughter’s Anorexia
- By: Clare B. Dunkle
- Narrated by: Abby Craden
- Length: 22 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 95
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 89
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 88
Clare Dunkle seemed to have an ideal life - two beautiful, high-achieving teenage daughters, a loving husband, and a satisfying and successful career as a children's book novelist. But it's when you let down your guard that the ax falls. Just after one daughter successfully conquered her depression, another daughter developed a life-threatening eating disorder.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Potent and Real
- By Susie on 09-17-15
By: Clare B. Dunkle
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Hero: A Simon Serrailler Short Story
- By: Susan Hill
- Narrated by: Steven Pacey
- Length: 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 129
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 112
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Story4 out of 5 stars 111
When Simon Serrailler was a rookie constable with the Met, he did something reckless in the course of a night's work which caused a man's death. But his act was praised by his colleagues, and he was called a hero. Years later, now a detective chief superintendent who has been badly injured in the course of duty, he receives a medal for bravery at Buckingham Palace while recollecting that fateful night of his early career, when chance disguised itself as bravery.
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4 out of 5 stars
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This 'story' makes no sense to me
- By Pamela Donaldson on 05-10-17
By: Susan Hill
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The Silent Witness
- By: Casey Watson
- Narrated by: Kate Lock
- Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 60
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 56
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 56
It's the night before Christmas when Casey and Mike get the call. A 12-year-old girl, stuck between a rock and a hard place. Her father is on a ventilator, fighting for his life, while her mother is currently on remand in prison. Despite claiming she attacked him in self-defence, she's been charged with his attempted murder. The girl is called Bella, and she's refusing to say anything. The trouble is that she is also the only witness....
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5 out of 5 stars
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must listen or read this book love love love love
- By diona tease on 10-16-17
By: Casey Watson
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The Dark Flood Rises
- A Novel
- By: Dame Margaret Drabble
- Narrated by: Anna Bentinck
- Length: 13 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 136
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 124
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Story4 out of 5 stars 125
Francesca Stubbs has a very full life. A highly regarded expert on housing for the elderly who is herself getting on in age, she drives restlessly round England. Amid the professional conferences she attends, she fits in visits to old friends, brings home-cooked dinners to her ex-husband, texts her son, who is grieving over the sudden death of his girlfriend, and drops in on her daughter, a quirky young woman who lives in a floodplain in the West Country.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Life Observed By An Exceptional Writer
- By Sara on 03-22-17
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At Home with the Templetons
- By: Monica McInerney
- Narrated by: Ulli Birve
- Length: 19 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 72
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 52
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Story4 out of 5 stars 53
When the Templeton family from England takes up residence in a stately home in country Australia, they set the locals talking – and with good reason. From the outside, the seven Templetons seem so bohemian, peculiar even. No one is more intrigued by the family than their neighbours, single mother Nina Donovan and her young son Tom. Before long, the two families' lives become entwined in unexpected ways.
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2 out of 5 stars
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A dreadful mistake
- By Julie on 11-14-10
By: Monica McInerney
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Red Ribbons
- Dr. Kate Pearson, Book 1
- By: Louise Phillips
- Narrated by: Caroline Morahan
- Length: 12 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 429
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 382
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Story4 out of 5 stars 382
A missing schoolgirl is found buried in the Dublin Mountains, hands clasped together in prayer, two red ribbons in her hair. Twenty-four hours later, a second schoolgirl is found in a shallow grave - her body identically arranged. The hunt for the killer is on. The police call in criminal psychologist Kate Pearson to get inside the mind of the murderer before he strikes again. But the more Kate discovers about the killings, the more it all feels terrifyingly familiar.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A true psychological thriller
- By BARBARA WAGONER on 12-24-16
By: Louise Phillips
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The Brightest Star in the Sky
- A Novel
- By: Marian Keyes
- Narrated by: Caitriona Keyes
- Length: 17 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 135
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 76
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Story4 out of 5 stars 79
The Brightest Star in the Sky follows seven neighbors whose lives become entangled when a sassy and prescient spirit pays a visit to their Dublin townhouse with the intent of changing at least one of their lives. But what will this metamorphosis be and who will the sprite choose?
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1 out of 5 stars
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Terrible sound quality, worse narration
- By Jan on 02-23-10
By: Marian Keyes
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Hello from the Gillespies
- By: Monica McInerney
- Narrated by: Ulli Birvé
- Length: 16 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 170
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 153
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Story4 out of 5 stars 156
For the past 33 years, Angela Gillespie has sent to friends and family around the world an end-of-the-year letter titled ‘Hello from the Gillespies’. It’s always been cheery and full of good news. This year, Angela surprises herself - she tells the truth....
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4 out of 5 stars
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Engaging
- By mgn on 08-18-15
By: Monica McInerney
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This Close to Happy
- A Reckoning with Depression
- By: Daphne Merkin
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 9 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 68
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 58
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Story4 out of 5 stars 59
This Close to Happy is the rare, vividly personal account of what it feels like to suffer from clinical depression, written from a woman's perspective and informed by an acute understanding of the implications of this disease over a lifetime. Taking off from essays on depression she has written for The New Yorker and The New York Times Magazine, Daphne Merkin casts her eye back to her beginnings to try to sort out the root causes of her affliction.
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5 out of 5 stars
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I should be the last person to recommend this book
- By Mariaposa on 03-04-17
By: Daphne Merkin
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Give Me the Child
- By: Mel McGrath
- Narrated by: Adjoa Andoh
- Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 120
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 109
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Story4 out of 5 stars 109
Dr Cat Lupo aches for another child despite the psychosis which marked her first pregnancy. So when Ruby Winter, a small girl in need of help, arrives in the middle of the night, it seems like fate. But as the events behind Ruby's arrival emerge - her mother's death, her connection to Cat - Cat questions whether her decision to help Ruby has put her own daughter at risk.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Give Me the Child will give you a heck of a read!
- By Cassandra on 08-04-17
By: Mel McGrath
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Watermelon
- By: Marian Keyes
- Narrated by: Gerri Halligan
- Length: 13 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 122
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 112
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Story4 out of 5 stars 112
At 29, Claire is full of the joys of life - that is, until her husband leaves her on the day she gives birth to her baby. With a broken heart, a beautiful newly born and an expanding mirror image, she decides to visit her eccentric family in Dublin. There she starts to feel better. So much better, in fact, that James is in for a surprise when he decides to slither back into her life....
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5 out of 5 stars
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A fun read, every time
- By Audrey Smith on 01-06-23
By: Marian Keyes
What listeners say about The Reluctant Carer
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anne
- 07-30-23
Spot on!
Great narrator. I laughed out loud in places. The experience of caring for aging parents rings true. I also felt the frustrations and sadness. Excellent!
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