EVERY KIND OF PEOPLE, the ‘life-affirming and utterly humbling’ (Caroline Sanderson, The Bookseller) memoir by care worker Kathryn Faulke has been selected as BBC Radio 4’s Book of the Week. Published on 24 October by Penguin Fig Tree, this vital and vivid memoir will be serialised on the radio station at 11.45 each day throughout the week, starting on Monday 28 October, with the full series available on BBC Sounds for the next 30 days. The book will be read by Ayesha Antoine, who also narrated Penguin’s audiobook, and was abridged and produced by Jill Waters of the Waters Company for BBC Radio 4.
You can listen or catch up online at BBC Sounds here.
This week Kathryn also featured on BBC Radio 4’s Start the Week, where she was invited to discuss the adult social care crisis, and how to fix it, alongside journalist and editor David Goodhart (author of THE CARE DILEMMA), social policy expert Anna Coote, and host Adam Rutherford. You can listen to their discussion on BBC Sounds here – where Adam Rutherford says EVERY KIND OF PEOPLE is ‘full of love and full of warmth’ and Anna Coote adds that ‘Kathryn is the greatest recruitment officer for carers – everyone should read her book.’
After the programme EVERY KIND OF PEOPLE leaped up to Number 40 on Amazon’s ‘Hot New Releases’ list. The Daily Mail also featured an extract from EVERY KIND OF PEOPLE and Kathryn was interviewed by the Guardian about her experiences and writing the book.
Kate – as Kathryn is referred to in EVERY KIND OF PEOPLE – 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 a 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.
About Kathryn Faulke
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 South 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
‘A deeply compelling story of one of the most unsung professions, brimming with anecdotes to make you both laugh and cry. A vital book.’ – Anna Bonet, ‘The Best New Books Out in October’, i
‘Marvellously life-affirming and utterly humbling.’ – Caroline Sanderson, Editor’s Choice, The Bookseller
‘Not just essential reading for anyone curious about the realities of care work in this country; it’s also the work of a natural storyteller, and a book full of empathy, humour, and – yes – care. All kinds of brilliant.’ – Jon McGregor
‘An extraordinary and important book that will make you laugh, cry, admire and despair in equal measure. Beautifully written, it is both heart-warming and inspiring… 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; of the labour of caring, which is both physical and emotional, but also of the joy of caring and the blessing that there is in giving time and attention to others… This book is a compassionate invitation to get up close to the human condition and those who attend to it.’ – Gwen Adshead
‘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
‘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
‘Kathryn is the greatest recruitment officer for carers – everyone should read her book.’ – Anna Coote, Principal Fellow at the New Economics Foundation
‘EVERY KIND OF PEOPLE talks about what it’s actually like to be a carer: it’s full of love and full of warmth.’ – Adam Rutherford