EVERY KIND OF PEOPLE
Memoir, 352 pages, Fig Tree, 2024
A luminous, uplifting and deeply moving memoir by a care worker, told through her funny, heartbreaking, sometimes frustrating, and always eye-opening encounters with the often overlooked and marginalised people she cares for.
Kate never expected to become a home care worker. But when she left her senior role in the NHS, burnt-out and disheartened, she thought caring for people in their own homes would be a simpler job. Despite being determined not to become too involved with her 'customers', she soon found herself developing firm friendships, forging deep connections and bearing witness to the extraordinary drama to be found in ordinary lives.
With energy, compassion and clarity, her memoir gives an astonishing insight into this unsung - and often maligned - profession, and into the hidden lives of the housebound and infirm. From Beryl who screams like a banshee whenever Kate tries to wash her, but collapses in giggles when her toes are tickled, to bawdy Mr Radbert who 'promised to give me his car when he can remember where he left it'.
Every Kind of People is clear-eyed about the challenges facing the NHS and the care system. But it is above all a celebration of humanity and of the life-changing impact of caring, on those who offer it and those who receive it.
Kathryn Faulke
Agent: Isobel Dixon
Assistant: Finlay Charlesworth
Biography: Kathryn Faulke was runner-up in the Wasafiri International New Writing Prize in 2020, and in 2021 she won the Mslexia Memoir Prize for an earlier version of her debut, EVERY KIND OF PEOPLE. She has now moved out of London but continues to work in care in the East of England.
EVERY KIND OF PEOPLE: A Journey into the Heart of Carework is a vivid, moving and unforgettable memoir recounting Kathryn Faulke’s experiences as a careworker in London. It was selected as a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week and has received widespread praise and media attention.
Praise for EVERY KIND OF PEOPLE:
‘The work of a natural storyteller, and a book full of empathy, humour, and – yes – care. All kinds of brilliant.’ – Jon McGregor
‘Marvelously life-affirming and utterly humbling.’ – Caroline Sanderson, Editor’s Choice, The Bookseller
‘I am in love with Kate's storytelling, her ability to see the person and her fabulous, dry humour. This is a book about caring, and it's also a book about being in love with humanity’ – Kathryn Mannix
‘Beautifully written, it is both heart-warming and inspiring… EVERY KIND OF PEOPLE is a wonderful achievement.’ – Dr Sir David Haslam
‘Kathryn Faulke is an extraordinary person and this is an extraordinary account of what it is to care for others… This book is a compassionate invitation to get up close to the human condition and those who attend to it.’ – Dr Gwen Adshead
‘This is a fantastic and important book. It reads like a novel, complete with vivid characters, humour and tragedy. Above all, it is an insight into the hidden life of a care worker. I was lost in admiration.’ – Tom Shakespeare