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An Extra Pair of Hands

Kate Mosse

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A deeply moving story of what it means to care for those we love by bestselling author Kate Mosse, a celebration of older people and ageing, and of finding joy in the smallest acts of everyday caregiving.

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 own personal story of finding herself a carer in middle age: first, helping her heroic mother care for her beloved father through Parkinsons, 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, mindnumbing 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.

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Praise for An Extra Pair of Hands

  • Praise for Kate Mosse - :'A powerful storyteller with an abundant imagination' - Daily Telegraph'Mosse is a master storyteller'

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Kate Mosse

Kate Mosse

Kate Mosse is an international bestselling novelist, non-fiction writer, essayist and playwright. With sales of more than 8 million copies worldwide, her books have been translated into 37 languages and published in 40 countries. Her fiction includes the Languedoc trilogy (Labyrinth, Sepulchre and Citadel), the gothic novels The Winter Ghosts and The Taxidermist's Daughter, a short story collection (The Mistletoe Bride) and more recently a historical adventure series, The Burning Chambers and The City of Tears. Her non-fiction includes the highly-acclaimed memoir An Extra Pair of Hands and she is working on a book and television series based on her global 'Woman in History' campaign. The Founder Director of the Women's Prize for Fiction, Kate is a Visiting Professor of Creative Writing and Contemporary Fiction at the University of Chichester and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. An interviewer and presenter, she hosts the pre-show series at Chichester Festival Theatre, chairs Platform events for the National Theatre and is an Ambassador for Parkinson's UK. She was awarded an OBE in 2013 and a CBE in 2024 for services to literature, women and charity.

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