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Extraordinary stories from ordinary people

Christie Watson's book, Quilt on Fire, resting on white sheets

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Extracts

Read an extract from Quilt on Fire by Christie Watson

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Reading lists

15 Vintage stories of hope, in time for Christmas

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Features

Christie Watson: ‘Nurses need a seat at the political table’

Christie Watson: How kindness can save the NHS - if only we let it

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Acts of kindness – celebrating our nurses and the NHS

 Illustration by Ryan MacEachern for Penguin 2019

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Books to help you win every family argument this Christmas

10 of the best VINTAGE books of 2018, as chosen by the team

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Why I’m walking 10,000 steps for nurses on the 70th anniversary of the NHS

A Call for Compassion

The Courage to Care

Nurses, Families and Hope

A vital and timely book about inspirational nurses, and the bravery of patients and families, from the bestselling author of The Language of Kindness

'An inspiring book for our challenging times' Olivia Coleman 
 
 Nurses have never been more important. 
 
 We benefit from their expertise in our hospitals and beyond: in our schools, on our streets, in prisons, hospices and care homes. When we feel most alone, nurses remind us that we are not alone at all. 
 
 In The Courage to Care bestselling author Christie Watson reveals the remarkable extent of nurses' work: 
 
 - A community mental-health nurse choreographs support for a man suffering from severe depression 
 - A teen with stab wounds is treated by the critical-care team; his school nurse visits and he drops the bravado 
 - A pregnant woman loses frightening amounts of blood following a car accident; it is a military nurse who synchronises the emergency department into immaculate order and focus. 
 
 Christie makes a further discovery: that, time and again, it is patients and their families - including her own - who show exceptional strength in the most challenging times. We are all deserving of compassion, and as we share in each other's suffering, Christie Watson shows us how we can find courage too. The courage to care. 
 
 'Let's be thankful for wonderful nurses - and writers - like Christie Watson' Jacqueline Wilson 
 
 'Christie Watson writes with the fullness of her heart to give us insight into the world of patients and nursing, inspiring us to recognise it is how we treat people, how we speak and respond to them, as well as what we do, that heals' Julia Samuel

The handbook for compassion... a must-read book

She repeatedly finds the beam of light in the darkest rooms... Watson is a terrific guide to the gritty reality of hospital life... We have never needed their [nurses'] expertise more than we do now

Now more than ever, nurses are on our minds and in our hearts. Christie writes with beauty and compassion about how they do their jobs. When I wasn't crying, I was marvelling

Tracy Chevalier, author of A Single Thread

Magnificent... timely and resonant... In these unprecedented times, Watson challenges the rest of us to be more like nurses and to find the courage to care, no matter who is in need

An inspiring book for our challenging times. It's never been more important to care for one another and the amazing Christie Watson shows us the way

Watson writes with wry humour and a cheerful, conversational tone, but the world of care she describes - mental health wards, dying children or neglected elderly patients - is often hard to bear... [The Courage to Care] is a love letter to her profession; her admiration for her colleagues shines through every story

In this timely read, Watson, a former nurse who returned to work in critical care during the coronavirus peak, tells stories both heart-in-mouth and humbling. She reveals the extraordinary, beyond-the-call-of-duty work that nurses do, and the bravery of the patients and families they care for

I loved The Courage to Care - Christie Watson writes so tenderly and truthfully. It is a spirit-lifting read

Watson has an unflinching eye for detail, and her ability to put the reader in the room means that we too bear witness... As Watson explains in her introduction, she has been talking and writing about the importance of nurses for years, but Covid-19 - which came along as she was making her final edits to the book - has made her subject more poignant and timely

Generous, intimate and insightful. The Courage to Care is persuasive and powerful as a memoir of a remarkable twenty-year career, and also an adventure story through the shifting landscape of NHS nursing. This book shows why nurses top the polls every year as the most trusted, reliable professionals.

Christie's a former nurse and she's such a powerful writer on caring and what it means to do it

Christie Watson writes with clarity, generosity and wisdom; her words make us feel less alone

Joanna Cannon, author of Breaking and Mending

This beautiful book captures magnificently the rawness, courage and tenderness of nursing. It made me cry, smile and gasp out loud. It sings with humanity

A call to arms and soul-baring personal odyssey, this book will set hearts and minds on fire. Very few writers can make you care this much, and make you laugh, bawl and stay up all night reading to the final page. Christie Watson writes with the sharpest wit, the finest observations, and has a heart as deep and wild as a river

Christie Watson has once again proved she is the pre-eminent voice of the nursing memoir

Nathan Filer, author of This Book Will Change Your Mind About Mental Health

Marvellous... A chronicle of the human experience written with all the sensitivity and empathy of an experienced nurse. A courageous account of our inequitable healthcare system. A magnificent collection of stories that describes primal pain, the joy of human connection and the beauty of life through the lens of a compassionate nurse, daughter and mother

Dr Rupy Aujla, author of The Doctor's Kitchen

An urgent, powerful, beautiful book, filled with courage, love and hope

John Sutherland, author of Crossing the Line: lessons from a life on duty

As we all try to work out the impact of COVID-19 on our lives, The Courage to Care is essential reading about the extraordinary work that nurses carry out every day

Caroline Elton, author of Also Human: the inner lives of doctors

This book looks inside the heart of a profession, the life of a family, and the condition of being human. Beautiful, thoughtful and compelling

Kathryn Mannix, author of With the End in Mind

Absolutely beautiful writing, Christie Watson captures both the intense joy and searing heartbreak of love

A salute to the profession, the book is also a mediation on motherhood

An insightful reminder of exactly how vital it is to treat one another with kindness and compassion, at a time when we need it most

Christie Watson's first novel, Tiny Sunbirds Far Away, won the Costa First Novel Award; her second, Where Women Are Kings, achieved international critical acclaim; and her nursing memoir, The Language of Kindness, was a number one bestseller. In 2020, during the first peak of the pandemic, she published The Courage to Care and briefly returned to clinical work. Christie was shocked not only by the changing world, but her changing body, as her perimenopause took hold. Quilt on Fire, her fifth book, is the funny, honest and liberating account of her midlife journey.

'An inspiring book for our challenging times' Olivia Coleman 
 
Nurses have never been more important. 
 
We benefit from their expertise in our hospitals and beyond: in our schools, on our streets, in prisons, hospices and care homes. When we feel most alone, nurses remind us that we are not alone at all. 
 
In The Courage to Care bestselling author Christie Watson reveals the remarkable extent of nurses' work: 
 
- A community mental-health nurse choreographs support for a man suffering from severe depression 
- A teen with stab wounds is treated by the critical-care team; his school nurse visits and he drops the bravado 
- A pregnant woman loses frightening amounts of blood following a car accident; it is a military nurse who synchronises the emergency department into immaculate order and focus. 
 
Christie makes a further discovery: that, time and again, it is patients and their families - including her own - who show exceptional strength in the most challenging times. We are all deserving of compassion, and as we share in each other's suffering, Christie Watson shows us how we can find courage too. The courage to care. 
________________ 
 
Praise for Christie Watson: 
'Let's be thankful for wonderful nurses - and writers - like Christie Watson' Jacqueline Wilson 
'Christie Watson is a remarkable writer turning her attention to a crucially important conversation' Nathan Filer 
'Christie Watson writes with the fullness of her heart to give us insight into the world of patients and nursing, inspiring us to recognise it is how we treat people, how we speak and respond to them, as well as what we do, that heals' Julia Samuel 
'The handbook for compassion...a must-read' Chris Evans

the Costa-Award winning #1 Sunday Times Bestseller

The Language of Kindness

The No. 1 Sunday Times bestselling nursing memoir

The Sunday Times bestselling memoir about nursing and an urgent call for compassion and kindness

If it's taken a very long time to get a memoir written by a nurse, then it was certainly worth the wait. I have rarely read anything that has moved me as much or taken me by the hand so confidently into an unknown world, teeming with life and haunted by death... A remarkable book that I will be pressing on everyone I love

A powerful insight into the life of nurses

It made me cry. It made me think. It made me laugh. It encouraged me to appreciate this most underappreciated of professions more than ever ... A gently remarkable book… it’s a privilege to have Christie as our guide

A deeply compassionate book… It will leave you weeping as well as hopeful

An amazing book -- terrifying at times, but tender and truthful.  Let's be thankful for wonderful nurses -- and writers -- like Christie Watson

Compared with the recent rash of doctor memoirs, this is a far quieter and more thoughtful book

I challenge anyone to get through all 336 pages without shedding a tear for what those who work in "the most undervalued of all professions" have to witness ... Expect her stories [...] to linger with you many days after the final chapter

A remarkable book about life and death and so brilliantly written it makes you hold your breath

A poignant and powerful account of what it’s like to be a nurse. It’s a profession that touches all our lives delivering expert and compassionate care from the cradle to the grave. A must-read for nurses and those interested in understanding the true art and science of nursing

Professor Jane Cummings, Chief Nursing Officer for England

Lyrical, moving ... Watson tackles grisly deaths and eccentric patients, but also the importance of comfort and empathy in nursing with engrossing results ... A nurse's voice has never really been heard before on this scale. Now's the time for it to ring out loud

A wise and tender book, by turns fierce, compassionate, and revelatory.  It shows the joys and the difficulties of looking after people at their most vulnerable, and makes an urgent plea: as a society we have to care better for the nurses who care for us

Dr Gavin Francis, author of Adventures in Human Being

A touching and thought-provoking memoir that makes an impassioned plea for the appreciation of the nursing profession ... [Watson] is an elegant, eloquent writer who brings an immediacy to her work. You are right there beside her all the way as she provides a fascinating insight into the trials and triumphs of life in an NHS hospital ... A rallying call for kindness and compassion that every one of us should embrace

There’s one woman who is particularly inspiring me right now…. Christie Watson, who wrote this book called The Language of Kindness... She was an NHS nurse and it is an autobiographical book and it is absolutely breath-taking and it is incredibly affecting and I think it highlights the need for us to be helping nurses where we can. She just is an incredibly strong woman

Through Watson, we are taken on an absorbing, all-seeing tour through the doors of the hospital ... In Watson's honest memoir, we are reminded that we are all made from the same fibres and are all in this together, exploring the human condition and learning the language of kindness

Christie Watson is a remarkable writer turning her attention to a crucially important conversation. This book is eloquent, moving and searingly relevant to all of us

Nathan Filer, author of The Shock of the Fall

Remarkable, unforgettable... This page-turning account of how nurses routinely dig deep into their souls to dispense care and compassion in increasingly challenging conditions also packs a massive emotional punch... A remarkable reflection on care, empathy and compassion

This beautiful memoir – tender, informative,  unflinching, every sentence filled with compassion – has reminded me that when I have felt most alone I am, of course, not alone at all

Rachel Joyce, author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

An eye-opener ... written with real tenderness

A highly intelligent writer bringing all her narrative skills to bear on a profession in which she spent 20 years ... what emerges time and again is that nursing is about so much more than medicine ... Christie Watson is a wonderful writer. But I can't help thinking she was an even better nurse

Watson writes so well, movingly but sparingly, that the result is a profoundly vivid impression of working in a busy hospital

I was enthralled from the start. Nurses’ voices are rarely heard and Christie is so honest, wise and observant of people that she is just the person to do their story justice. And of course she writes beautifully. The image that stayed with me long after I had put the book down was of the nurse always with the patient, even after everybody else has gone

Suzanne O'Sullivan, author of It's All in Your Head

Christie Watson writes with the fullness of her heart to give us insight into the world of patients and nursing, inspiring us to recognise it is how we treat people, how we speak and respond to them, as well as what we do, that heals. Its message of self-compassion and kindness is as useful for those of us outside the medical world, as in it

It's that combination of fierce compassion and unflinching honesty about the human cost of nursing which makes this such a compelling and universally relevant book. It couldn't be more topical, or timeless, and the fact that it's written with an elegant grace that makes it a joy to read doesn't hurt either

There is so much love in this book that it makes the tears bearable. Christie Watson has written a beautiful and lyrical account of the true meaning of a nurse’s life

Christie Watson shines the wisest of lights on the daily practice of caring for others. She celebrates kindness that is rooted in true respect for human dignity and equality – a kindness without which society would be a much sadder place. This piercingly tender book will make you laugh, cry and reflect on what life is all about

Nicky Parker, publisher at Amnesty International UK

Moving, eloquent, funny, inspiring -- an urgent book for our times

Sarah Bakewell, author of At the Existentialist Cafe

Terrifically moving memoir of caring and compassion on the nursing front line

A remarkable book… Watson illustrates why a nurse has a harder job than 99 per cent of lawyers (I am one) and deserves to be paid more. Absolutely brilliant!

Clive Stafford Smith OBE, human rights lawyer

More than a memoir, The Language of Kindness exerts the power of a gripping novel threaded with science, philosophy, history and ethics. Like poetry, it resists paraphrase. A quick summary is out of the question, this brilliant life-changing book has to be experienced ... Watson is a funny, totally loveable narrator but this book is a serious shock to the system -- a journey to the underworld, our hard-working guide an observant Virgil to the 21st century

If you want to know what nursing is, then read this book

This is a phenomenal book, a love song for the NHS and its staff - the hundreds of millions of us who have gained from it throughout our lives have Christie Watson to thank for delivering it on our behalf. Passionate, political, heartbreaking, it is beautifully written in the fiercely honest language of kindness itself

Profoundly moving... urging us all to lead a life of greater compassion

An astonishing account of a profession defined by acts of care, compassion and kindness, and an urgent reminder of the need for these qualities in the NHS - and everyday life - from a nurse with 20 years' experience

A remarkable book - intelligent, impassioned, consistently moving - that can’t help but make readers revisit the sharpest spikes of life, where nurses often are. Christie Watson looks directly at the fragility of human existence, and the importance of what we choose to value. I can't think of many better uses of writing, nor of writing more likely to make me a better person

I defy anyone to finish this without weeping and giving thanks to the NHS ... An important book that should be on every reading list

Christie Watson’s book brings home the incredible strength and determination that nurses working in our critically underfunded NHS must possess – and how wildly underappreciated they are

Rachael Jolley, Editor, Index on Censorship

A remarkable reflection on care, empathy and compassion ... packs massive emotional impact ... I urge you to read it

This tender, truth-telling memoir will break your heart into little pieces ... This book is a salient reminder that at some point we are all going to need care and we can only hope we'll get someone like Christie who understands the need for "sympathy, compassion, empathy" in our most vulnerable moments

The award-winning novelist writes about her 20 years as a nurse, taking us from life to death of the wards in a moving account

As Watson observes, the ability to step into another’s shoes is essential for both nurse and novelist. So too is an eagle eye, and it is the details that prove so unforgettable ... I found myself compelled to go back, and freshly moved and humbled

A highly emotional and eloquent retelling of different patients, staffers, experiences and departments ... A much-needed human voice

[Watson] writes with such considered awareness of medical procedure and resources, human frailty and resilience, that you know she dug deep for this book ... You are also privy to an extraordinary world and appreciate Watson's lasting belief: that most of us are inherently kind - and the better for showing it

The Language of Kindness is teeming with humanity ... [It] puts other memoirs to shame, by narrating an ordinary working life which nevertheless confronts the dark, the sublime, the transcendental

Her book makes harrowing, heart-rendering reading.

An engaging and authentic portrait of modern care ... Through Watson’s inclusion of relevant statistics and historical facts, as well as her meticulous observation skills, readers will better understand the value of nurses

Hypnotic prose ... quiet brilliance ... This is a wake-up book in the best possible way, a study in-the-round: amusing, hilarious even, enthralling and sad, and definitely an indictment of our time

We hear far less often from nurses and therapists… It’s time we heard their side of the story. And who better to tell it than this nurse-turned-award-winning literary novelist.

Anecdotal story-telling wrapped up in hypnotic prose… This is a wake-up book in the best possible way, a study in-the-round: amusing, hilarious even, enthralling and sad, and definitely an indictment of our time.

A remarkable book. I learned more in chapter 3 than I have in all the other books I’ve read this year. Watson illustrates why a nurse has a harder job than 99 per cent of lawyers (I am one) and deserves to be paid more. Absolutely brilliant!

The Language of Kindness flows so beautifully, and naturally. Christie adds real warmth to very factual, and medical information … I urge all of you to read this book

[Watson] beautifully describes the life-affirming impact of nurses doing and saying the right thing

[The Language of Kindness is] a tender and beautifully written account of how this process – learning how to be kind – challenges, teaches, sometimes harms, and then completes a person

At the heart of Christie Watson’s philanthropic memoir…lies a remarkable thesis on life, death and the kaleidoscopic narratives…that weave us together

This stunning read reminds us that nurses are human after all

Christie Watson's memoir of 20 years as an NHS nurse is completely absorbing. The best books tell us about life as well as lives and I've read nothing recently that I found so moving and, even in its descriptions of suffering and death, so uplifting. Watson has an eye for detail that is practical, compassionate and very often funny

Christie captures life as a nurse in the humblest manner, and anyone in or considering nursing is encouraged to read it

Watson’s prose…fizzes with real life, each story and encounter containing its own epic narrative sweep

This brilliant and profound book left an indelible mark on me this year

Moving and compassionate…The Language of Kindness… is a sensitive, perceptive and blunt account of a nurse’s journey

The Language of Kindness exerts the power of a gripping novel threaded with science, philosophy, history and ethics. Like poetry, it resists paraphrase. A quick summary is out of the question, this brilliant life-changing book has to be experienced.

Watson evokes the topography of each arm of nursing in vivid detail.

I defy anyone to finish this without weeping and giving thanks for the NHS… An important book that should be on every reading list.

The Language of Kindness could not be more compelling or more welcome. It's about how we survive, and about the people who help us do so

[A] powerful account of her life as a nurse… reading her memoir is a truly uplifting experience.

A nurse’s voice has never really been heard before on this scale. Now’s the time for it to ring loud.

[Watson] is an elegant, eloquent writer who brings an immediacy to her work. You are right there beside her all the way as she provides a fascinating insight into the trails and triumphs of life in an NHS hospital… a rallying call for kindness and compassion that every one of us should embrace.

Through Watson, we are taken on an absorbing, all-seeing tour through the doors of the hospital

Read Costa Award-winning author Christie Watson's incredible No. 1 Sunday Times bestselling memoir of nursing today. 
 
 'It made me cry. It made me think. It made me laugh' Adam Kay, author of This is Going to Hurt and Twas the Nightshift Before Christmas 
 
 Christie Watson was a nurse for twenty years. Taking us from birth to death and from A&amp;E to the mortuary, The Language of Kindness is an astounding account of a profession defined by acts of care, compassion and kindness. 
 
 We watch Christie as she nurses a premature baby who has miraculously made it through the night, we stand by her side during her patient's agonising heart-lung transplant, and we hold our breath as she washes the hair of a child fatally injured in a fire, attempting to remove the toxic smell of smoke before the grieving family arrive. 
 
 In our most extreme moments, when life is lived most intensely, Christie is with us. She is a guide, mentor and friend. And in these dark days of division and isolationism, she encourages us all to stretch out a hand. 
 
'A powerful insight into the life of nurses' The Times, Books of the Year 
 
'A remarkable book about life and death and so brilliantly written it makes you hold your breath' Ruby Wax

a mother and teenage daughter love story

No Filters

Brilliant . . . Like having an honest conversation with a smart and funny friend

I adore Christie Watson . . . her trademark candour, compassion and humour

Christie Watson writes with clarity, generosity and wisdom; her words make us feel less alone

Very few writers can make you care this much, and make you laugh, bawl and stay up all night reading to the final page. Christie Watson writes with the sharpest wit, the finest observations, and has a heart as deep and wild as a river

Emma Jane Unsworth, on The Courage to Care

Christie Watson (Author) 
Christie Watson is Professor of Medical Humanities at UEA and worked as an NHS nurse for over twenty years. She has written five books, including her first novel Tiny Sunbirds Far Away, which won the Costa First Novel Award, and memoir, The Language of Kindness which was a number one Sunday Times bestseller. Christie is a contributor to The Times, Sunday Times, Guardian, Daily Telegraph and TEDx, and her work has been translated into 23 languages and adapted for theatre. 
 
Rowan Egberongbe (Author) 
Rowan Egberongbe was born in 2005. She graduated in Contemporary Dance from the Brit school, London, and now studies Classics at the University of Swansea.

Christie Watson

The Messy Magic of Friends, Sex & Love

A frank, funny and inspiring new memoir from the bestselling author of The Language of Kindness about the search for meaning in midlife 
 
'An insightful and outspoken exploration of middle age and the perimenopause' Observer 
 
Am I a terrible mother? Is the world ending? Did I turn the oven off? Did I pay the parking fine? Is my TV licence up to date? Will I go to prison? Who will take care of the children? 
 
This is the story of Christie Watson's journey through midlife. The joy of letting go and the pain of the morning after, the unstoppable power of female friendship and the struggle to raise teenagers as a single parent. It lays bare the exhilaration, agony, wonder and fears of being a middle-aged woman with a wild heart, a changing body and a new set of challenges. And as her world takes on a different shape, there's something else she starts to feel: the hot flush of possibility... 
 
'A superb chronicle of midlife and the chaos of the perimenopause. Candid, humorous, insightful, deeply empathetic, inspiring and utterly necessary' i Paper 
 
'Brilliant... Like having an honest conversation with a smart and funny friend' Cathy Rentzenbrink 
 
'I adore Christie Watson. Quilt on Fire is full of her trademark candour, compassion and humour' Elizabeth Day 
 
'You don't have to be in midlife to appreciate this funny, real, empathetic memoir about the multitudes contained in every woman' Red

Christie Watson

Quilt on Fire

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